The Sunday Salon and NaBloPoMo

This seemed to be more of a reading week for me. I finished two books- Complications (review here) and Fearless Fourteen by Evanovich. Both of these will be included with a Christmas gift, so it was nice to knock them off my list. I also started The Freedom Writer's Diary, and made a pretty good start in it. I'm starting to get a little torn between things that look great and finishing up some of the things I've already started before the end of the year.

Fearless Fourteen was ok. It wasn't any different than any of the others in the series though, and it seems like maybe it's time for Stephanie to change a little. The Ranger/Morelli conflict is well done, but it's been a lot of books now, it's time. I did not miss Stephanie's sister or her kids at all. Grandma Mazur starts playing online games, which is possibly the best part of the entire book. I heard a rumor that there will only be one more in the series, and I think that's probably for the best.

In other news- today is the last day of NaBloPoMo and I managed to post every single day! Let's see if I can do it through the end of the year, shall we?

We put up most of our indoor Christmas decorations today and it looks great. I did a few things differently this year and will take some pictures once all the boxes are back in the basement. My advent calendar turned out great and if the Pirate ever naps I'll go find some little goodies to put in it. I found some cards I bought on clearance last year in the boxes, so will just print a photo to put in them, not photo cards.

We went out and cut our own tree out of the Black Hills National Forest. We live fairly close to the forest, it's a nice drive through some very low hills. There was snow on the ground, so it felt all Christmas-y. It's a steal at $10 a tree, but you have to take your tree how nature makes it. We have a great one this year- tall and skinny but kinda sparse. We don't put a lot on our tree so it looks good this way.

On the way to get the tree we were one of the first cars to arrive on the scene of an accident. It was very clear that someone had been thrown from a vehicle into the road. He was covered so the Pirate didn't ask questions, but it was very sobering to be on the way to a fun family event, and be faced with this instead. The paramedics and cops arrived very soon after us and it was about 45 minutes before we were able to leave the scene. It was surreal to be singing and talking about Christmas in the truck, knowing what was happening just a very VERY short distance away. Thankfully, a fire truck parked in front of us, blocking our view. From what we pieced together, it was just a freak accident at 8 am on a Sunday. It looked very likely that the people in the two vehicles involved knew each other. My family was together having fun, while in town another family was getting the worst possible news. It really hit home that we need to be present in the present, and really savor every moment. And also, wear your seatbelt EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Now go hug your kids.