Merry New Year!!!!!!

I've been sadly neglectful of LJ over the past few weeks and, despite doing the occasional drive-by posting on other LJs when I've had time, I've missed several holidays and birthdays as a result. So, all of you out there in LJ-land, hope everything was good and that all is well with you and yours!

We had a fantastic Christmas, but then we're in Utah visiting my in-laws with all but one of rackham's siblings and their assorted families present for at least some of the festivities -- that always leads to a good time. It makes for a delightfully full house, too, with much laughing, talking, and game-playing to be had.

Rackham and I had agreed that *the* Christmas present this year for the two of us was going to be the kitchen (anything that requires you to refinance your house in order to pay for it, should probably count as presents for holidays for the next few years), which didn't stop us from tracking down some fun smaller things. And, of course, there were presents from family and friends, which largely consisted of new kitchen items to go with our new kitchen (it's probably about time, anyway... there's nothing like a shiny new kitchen to make you realize that the stuff you've been using for the last 15+ years is beginning to look a bit shabby and worn around the edges).

I'm still really pleased that I managed to get Christmas cards sent out before the holiday this year (even if some of them wound up not getting sent until the day before), and it was wonderful getting cards from so many of you (both from LJ and from Club Jade). Not to mention the lovely baked goods from rahirah and wildrider (oh, and funny story: When I opened your present on Christmas morning, my youngest sister-in-law asked, excitedly, "Oh! Is that out on DVD?!?!?" I did my best dead-pan, looked at the DVD, then at her and replied "Apparently." She's fun to tease.)

The day after Christmas we headed up for a quite overnight trip to Idaho Falls... visiting with my Grandmother on Sunday night, then getting up at 4:00am to take her into the hospital for her surgery. ( Cut for a post-surgery update on my grandmother. )

Overall, things are looking incredibly good and the surgeon is very optimistic, saying that when she's recovered from the surgery, she'll be amazed at how good she feels and how bad things had gotten... and that she'll likely feel better than she has in years and years.

Barring incredibly bad weather, we're planning to swing back through there on our way home for a bit more of a visit (plus we got her a brand new handheld electronic Tetris game to replace her old one that finally died recently (yes, she's a Tetris addict)). I'll be coming back to Idaho Falls later in January when she's released from the hospital in order to help a bit more during her recovery.

Like everyone else, I've been horrified watching the utter destruction in Indonesia and the surrounding areas... rackham is incredibly worried about several of his co-workers who are from that region and had gone home over the holidays, there's been no word yet on his work email about how any of them are doing. Even amidst the nightmarish events, though, I've been heartened by the stories of charity and heroism that have been pouring out of the area and from around the world. Times of crisis are so polarizing... bringing out both the worst and the best in people, and I only hold out hope that the best prevails.

Endings and Beginnings

I don't normally do the resolution thing, but there's a lull in the activities here -- there's a game of pinochle being played in the other room (a game I've never been able to understand) and a game of "Fable" on the Xbox in this room, while the kids are playing Sims2 on rackham's laptop in the dining room. So, with three more hours to midnight in my current timezone and nothing better to do...

( Cut because it got kinda longish. )

There are probably more I should add, but those are the best I could come up with off the top of my head.

I finally had a chance to finish A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey earlier today... Daughter of Time by the same author had been recommended by several friends over the past year (I believe one was my Local Buffy Friend and the other may have been queenofthorns or perhaps ww1614, I'm not sure. I stumbled across Shilling at a used bookstore not too long ago and it sounded interesting enough I figured I'd give it a try.

I've decided I quite like mystery novels from the era (this one was written in 1937), they're fun to read, if only to see the changes in culture and word usage. Shilling was enjoyable, if a bit meandering... I guessed who the killer was not long after the character was introduced, and some of the other points and characters in the story seemed randomly tossed in, almost as if there was more to the tale that we weren't getting. Also, there's the question of the "shilling for candles" that makes up the title... we never find out the significance of it in the victims will. Not really.

Despite all of that, I enjoyed the book... if only because the characters were fun and quirky.