even more snow!

so, it's been a week and a half but it still looks the same outside - white! we are so ready for this craziness to end....although we wouldn't mind being able to get out of the city once to go cross-country skiing or downhill skiing and snowboarding. we'll see if that happens!

anyway, if there's anyone out there who hasn't seen it yet, "juno" was really good. it was sweet, quirky and all the actors were great. the style kind of reminded me of the tv show "gilmore girls" which was a favorite of mine. so i really hope it wins some oscars.

i don't really have any new books to write about. i am about to embark on a journey of several months to read through tolstoy's "anna karenina" for my book group. i am excited - i like tackling the big books - i had such a sense of accomplishment after completing "atlas shrugged" (which i struggled through and would not necessarily recommend to everyone, but am glad i stuck w/ it) as well as "the count of monte cristo" (which was great but a bit difficult to keep up w/ all the characters).

let's see, what else to write about.....well, for those who haven't heard we are planning to move when our lease is up april 1st. i know, i know - when will we stay put??? i don't know! :) but if anyone in the city hears of a reasonable 2 bedroom apt. a bit closer to wrigley field than we already are, let us know. it's such a difficult thing - we want to be closer to church but the closer we get to church, the closer we get to wrigleyville....which is crazy during baseball season and a more expensive area. so we'll see - i know God will provide. we were hoping our current landlord would have something for us, but it sounds like he won't. so now begins the fun of checking craig's list mutiple times a day and making lots of phone calls - yay!

well, i guess that's all for now. i'm contemplating baking some cookies tonight...it just sounds really yummy. maybe i'll make bars so that it won't take as long. :) then i'll have to deliver them to some college students for valentine's day so that we don't eat them all! anyway, happy valentine's day a couple days early. hope you get to do something fun - phil and i are gonna go to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch (stir fry)- we have gift certificates from christmas so it's a free date anyway! later!

"snowed in"

ha! yeah right...not in this city! we got around 10 inches of snow on thursday and overnight into friday - i know a few people who didn't have to go to work, but mostly life just keeps going. so sad, that's one thing i miss about living in the boonies: staying hunkered down at home b/c there's too much snow to get out. i guess you could say i got a "4 hr. delay" b/c i didn't go to my usual nannying gig until noon, so that was kinda nice.

so, i know this is supposed to be a book blog, but i'm going w/ some friends this afternoon to see the movie "juno" and i'm very excited about it. i guess that's really all i can say about it for now...i'll have to give my critique next time i blog. :) i've seen so many reviews and clips of it on tv that i just hope i don't feel like i've already seen the entire movie....but from what i've heard i doubt i'll be disappointed.

now on to the books.....a little devotional book that my mom gave me over the summer that i've really enjoyed is "come away my beloved" by frances j. roberts. i don't usually get into the daily devotionals b/c they just always seem so fluffy, and too "easy", if you know what i mean. i guess the fact that life doesn't come at us in such specific, topical, easy to swallow little packages is part of what turns me off. anyway, to me this one is different. it's kind of written almost like little love letters directly from God to me. and although they are usually just a page or two long i feel like there is depth to them -truths to really cling to. there have been a lot of days when i read a selection and feel like it was written just for me, for what i am going thru. i sometimes use the verses and thoughts in them to launch into my prayer time. so, even if it's not your thing i highly recommend it - it also makes a great gift....just ask my mom, she's given away several of them!

the novel i just finished reading for my book group is "the memory keeper's daughter" by kim edwards. good book...quick read....and a different sort of plot. w/o giving too much away, the story revolves around a lie that one of the main characters tells his family and how it affects their life. it's an interesting look into how we think we know what's best, but when we take matters into our own hands things can turn out quite differently than we expected. another interesting aspect of the book is that one of the characters has down's syndrome, but was born in the 60's....so it sheds some light into how, in general, our society has changed it's view of those w/ disabilities.

so, i guess that's about all for now. hope you're enjoying your weekend!