The regular party animal, I am blogging at 10:30 on New Years Eve, and all I can say is that I’m so thankful that my husband is so creative. Very creative–way more creative than me. My sons’ birthdays are coming up, and I just wanted to do a simple, laid-back party at our neighborhood park. I thought we’d have some games or sports or whatever, let all those boys run and run and run, fill them up with ice cream and cake, and send them on their merry (rowdy, hopped-up) way. But my husband took things one step further…

Now the party theme is to be a Junior Olympics, with teams and activities loosely based on Olympic events (i.e. discus with an enormous frisbee, archery with a bow that shoots marshmallows, basketball, a relay race, etc.) So now we’re thinking up team names, logistics, and party bag goodies. So far I’m thinking some sort of Earth ball, a medal, and some gold and silver wrapped bubblegum coins. My idea for the cake is a selection of cupcakes arranged as Olympic rings, frosted in white and edged in the colors of the Olympic rings.

So now…who among you is as creative as my husband? Who has further, stellar ideas to make this the party to remember among the six and eight-year-old sets? Bring ’em, people.

Okay. I hope no one got too excited about ‘the books I got for Christmas’. There were only four–four good ones, but just four. They are as follows:

1. Flip Dictionary. Mentioned on Barrie’s blog, I checked it out on Amazon, thought it sounded perfect for me, and promptly asked my brother for it. I’ve only had a few moments to page through it, but it looks right up my alley. It’s a dictionary for people who have an inkling of the word they’re looking for, but can’t quite pinpoint it. I also like how it has lists of things, like fruit, fabric, and mythological creatures, just in case you need the big picture.

2. An Exultation of Larks. My husband and I heard about this book on that NPR show about words–imagine that, I can’t think of what it’s called right now–and I knew immediately I had to have it. It’s from my husband. In essence, it’s a book about groupings or classifications. For example: a bunch of larks is called an exultation. I’ll be posting a selection of my favorites shortly.

3. Neptune Noir. A Smart Pop Series book from BenBella Books, with essays on the recently cancelled Veronica Mars television series. I’m fascinated by that show and wanted some further insights. Also from my brother.

4. Blind Submission. I noticed this, a Bookmarked book, while shopping for others in Target. The same day, my mom asked me what was on my Christmas list. My return email listed only this book. It’s basically about a mix-up/mystery at a publishing house. I scanned the back cover, the quotes, etc, not to mention checking it on Amazon, but that’s really all I want to know. I’m sure I’ll be posting about it at some future point.

And that’s it. Anyone else get any good books…?

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes! I had a very nice birthday, even if it was without a cake. (I bought my own Pepperidge Farm chocolate fudge cake at the store this morning–tonight my husband ‘plated’ it with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, probably just hoping for a little credit).

Things are starting to work their way back to normal here. We said goodbye to my sister’s family today, and we have one more day with my sister-in-law before she goes, and then it’s just us. I’m hoping that at least by next week, I get back to the writing. Several Christmas cards and well-meaning comments probed into the progress on Novel #2–my progress report was far from impressive. Clearly I won’t finish the book this year–quite the disappointment. My new goal is definitely, no-excuses by the end of the school year, and I’ll probably try to have queried a few agents before then. That’s the plan, and I’m sticking to it. I think I may even write down some daily goals–imagine that…

Since my last book update, I’ve finished The Luxe, which I enjoyed very much. Really it was a light but very eloquent book, a romance of sorts with some dicier topics. I’m actually a little surprised that they’re billing it as appropriate for forteen years old and up. There is quite a little bit of innuendo and inappropriate behavior going on, and while I certainly read romances at that age myself, I wasn’t reading teen-geared novels with the same sort of implications. It (The Luxe) definitely wasn’t explicit, just read-between-the-lines racy.

Right now I’m reading Sharie Kohler’s Marked at Midnight–my RWA PAL’s debut paranormal romance. Very edge-of-your-seat creepy so far. In a good way. Maybe I’ll finish in the next couple of days–before I get back to writing. A few minutes to myself…that sounds nice…. I have so many good books on my stack… Tomorrow I’ll post on the books I got for Christmas.