January went by in a sort of blur. Did anyone else find that so? Our weather was unusually warm and mild, with one dip down into below-freezing temperatures and a four-inch snowfall that didn't stick around very long. Thomas had to miss a bit of work because of the snow and some cold and windy days when they canceled work. He was so glad to get back to work after his injury, and I was so glad for him to get back to work, that being off a few extra days in January pushed both of us closer to the breaking point than the entire eight weeks he was off in the fall. It really was strange. While he was off because of the broken thumb we were both relaxed, but on the days he was off because of the weather, both of us were on edge and grumpy. We're both over it now, though. :)
My mother turned 92 in December, and my eldest sister turned 68 in January. Mom is doing very well at 92. She gets tired more easily and naps more often, but she is still very healthy and does whatever she feels up to doing. She reads a lot, listens to audio books with Alton, works puzzles with Barbara, and cooks only if she wants to. We're very fortunate to have Barbara, Lois, and Dennice right there with her and Alton. And Dennice is still a whirlwind, even at 68.
The kids are doing very well. Eler Beth loves her job. Right now she is happy and satisfied doing what she does and caring for her own animals. She is busy all the time, and we still have never had any angst or drama with her. She is 20 now, but she says she has trouble not thinking of herself as 12! Andrew's job is working out well, too. He's second-in-command of quality control at the company where he works, and they are giving him more and more training responsibilities as well. Right now he is working a lot of overtime while they are meeting a deadline. He and Alexandria are still together, and we still hope to hear wedding bells in the near future -- but we don't want them to feel rushed,so we keep that to ourselves. :)
As for my reading goals I was able in January to cross off two of the books that had been on my To Be Read list for years, The Sherlockian and Virginia of Elk Creek Valley. I also read two more in January which puts me on track for my goal of 50 books total in 2016 (24 of which must be off that TBR pile). The other two books I read in January were Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code and Cover Her Face. I first read Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl years ago and enjoyed it immensely. A couple of years ago I read the second in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, and meant to continue with all the books in the series, but got out of the mood. So I decided I'd pick up the series this year and try to complete it if I could. I began the series on audio all those years ago and love the narrator, so I'm continuing on audio. Cover Her Face by P.D. James is a re-read, but I read it so long ago that I honestly couldn't remember how it ended. It was her first novel, and I had only read it once. I want to read her entire Dalgliesh canon, since there is only one that I have read more than once, and there are two I have never read; don't know how that happened. We'll see how many I can get read this year.
And that's about it, I guess. I have much fodder for continuing my "Letters From My Sister" series; I just have to make myself sit down to write them. (I actually have drafts of several entries started.) I haven't felt much like writing for the past couple of months, but perhaps as March gets closer the muse will visit again. I'll be back soon with a new post, hopefully.
~ ~ Lori
