The hours and hours I spent reading these past few days…

I am a fan of Wally Lamb. He only has 2 previously published books, She’s Come Undone, and I Know This Much Is True, both of which met with great success after being tapped by Oprah amongst other people. Both are monstrous books, both in size and intensity. You pick them up and you spend literally every waking moment devouring them until they’re done. Must.Finish.Book. As those of you with four-year-olds know, though, those days are over. I have been a voracious reader for much of my life, but those all-day-Saturdays and half-the-day-Sundays and late, late nights in bed reading are a thing of the past. However, I managed to consume this latest Lamb work in a mere 2 3/4 days. Having Tuesday and Wednesday off helped immensely.

It’s hard to describe Lamb’s work because it is intense, the characters complex, and the stories riveting. It’s a great read. Just be very careful – you won’t be able to stop reading until that 734th page!

Just about forgot my password!

It has been too long! Since the three people who read this blog have *all* e-mailed me and said get with the program, here I am. I always feel like I have nothing exciting to post about. I have recently noticed that of all the blogs that I regularly read and enjoy, none of them are written by working moms. They have exciting play dates, volunteering opportunities, they make cute videos, delicious meals…something different every day to post about. My daily chronicles read more like a newspaper – eat breakfast, get in car, drive to work, work all day, drive home exhausted. Nothing too earth-shattering.

So what’s been keeping me busy lately? Well, gestating for one thing. We are expecting a baby this summer and the usual first-trimester yuckies kept me down for much of the count over the Christmas holidays. I seem to have turned the corner and now spend most of my time eating or thinking about what the next thing I’ll be preparing to eat will be. I’ve been a sub-par wife and mom at best of late, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Hopefully C’s brain hasn’t turned to mush with the amount of TV she’s watched in the past 4-6 weeks.

We have also been enduring an exceptionally cold January after a foolishly-mild November/December. We had about 10 days of bitter cold, followed by a 2-3 day reprieve, and now it’s started back up again. I think our record low temperature was a very cool 11 degrees below zero about 2 weeks ago. That kind of cold causes great pain, even in short periods outside. It was pretty phenomenal. Snow has been an off and on thing (more on than off). I finally had to get my car washed on Tuesday in spite of the fact it was 17 degrees, as I could no longer see out of my windows.

I haven’t been much for picture-taking lately, but here are a few of our latest adventures.

Here is what 11 below will get you. This picture doesn’t really do it justice, but the icicles were so cool. Very thick, probably 1-2 inches in diameter, and if you’d have needed a deadly weapon in a hurry, these would have done the trick. Our neighbors actually had icicles from their eaves to the ground in one solid stick.

Our little snow pro. She loves being outside and snowblowing and shoveling. She had me pulling her in this sled and I was huffing and puffing in my compromised state. She shouted “Faster! Faster!” and I thought, “You are lucky we are even moving.”