Busy, Busy, Busy! Boon Richter, and Crescent Lake in January 2014:

It has been a very busy past 30 days around this joint.  Besides the usual hectic time of Christmas, I changed classes and classrooms at work.  

Christmas was fun, despite the fact that I didn't buy any gifts until three days before we went to Eugene to spend it with my side of the family.  I went to Bi-Mart and knocked it all out within an hour.  Everybody seemed very pleased with their gifts, and I was very pleased with Bi-Mart's selection and prices.  I didn't even have to go into Bend.  I ordered a book for my son Nigel off of Amazon.com and that was it.  Easy-peasy!

I gave Kristin my shotgun and Kari my two dining room chairs that I had inherited from my great-uncle John.  (Kari had just gotten Grandma T.'s table and four chairs from our cousin Mike.) Now Grandma T. and Uncle John (brother and sister) are back together on a daily basis.  It makes my heart feel good.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day over at Cary's Mom's house and that was a lot of fun.  

On the Wednesday before Christmas, it was decided that instead of me teaching the 2's/3's class that I would be teaching the 3's/4's class.  The next morning, we began setting up my new room.  Here are a few of pictures of it:

There is more that you can't see here, and soon I'll do a photo-shoot with my real camera and do a post on it.  In addition to designing the room and figuring out my curriculum, I set up a Facebook page for our child development center and continue to work on our website.  

This weekend, I decided to take time for myself (hence these two blog posts) and to finally take down our Christmas tree.

Now, here is some real news!  Do you remember earlier videos that I have put on here about the young dancer Boon Richter?  (Boon is my sister's boyfriend's kiddo).  Well, he is in first place an online dance contest where if he wins he will be able to meet his idol.  In addition, Boon was featured on the local news last night "Music is moving you, rather than you moving to the music."  This morning, Boon made the front page of the Eugene Register Guard, "Please click here to read that article."

If you have the chance, please check out his video on You Tube and vote by giving him a thumbs up.

Well, that is a summary/excuse on why I haven't been on my blog or visiting yours.  I'm going to do my best to get caught up with that.

This post is already long and full of a lot of links, but please be sure to scroll down to the other post that I made this morning about my friends who are busy getting published.

I'll leave you with some pretty pictures that I took last weekend at Crescent Lake, in the Oregon Cascades.  Notice the lack of snow:

Hugs, my friends!!!  By the way, this is post number 2019, and I began blogging in November 2008.  Wow.

~ Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Recent Publications by My Blog Friends:

I began this post before Christmas, and am finally finishing it.  I am trying to play catch up this weekend, since I have been totally immersed in changing classrooms at work, which took up around three weeks of energy beginning right before Christmas.

Lisa Ricard Claro

I just received a copy of this book from my sweet friend Lisa Ricard Claro.  I recently won it in her blog contest.  I have read her contribution and not only is it a tribute describing a special friendship of hers, but I am always so impressed by Lisa's style of award winning writing.  I can't wait until she finishes the novel that she is currently working on.

My blog friends  Sioux Roslawski and Linda O'Connell also have stories published in this book, and I enjoyed reading them too.

I started thinking about how many of the people that I have met through blogging that have become my friends over time.  Many of them are getting published often, through traditional methods or by becoming Indi/Self Publishers.  Some write for anthologies, and others are writing their own books.  I have so many books to buy and read from people that I know! 

My friend Becky Lewellen Povich has recently released her memoir, From Pigtails to Chin Hairs and I can't wait to get a copy of my own. 

Also arriving in the mail was a handcrafted Christmas card from my friend Lynn Obermoeller.  Lynn is so good about sending out handwritten letters, remembering my birthday and keeping me on her holiday list.  She is very thoughtful like that.

Lynn is published frequently.  Here she is with her friends at a books signing for Gloria Ganynor's We Will Survive.  She is in black, and Linda O'Connell is in red. They all get to hang out together.  Lynn is also working on a book of her own.  Lynn's blog is Present Letters. There is a long list of places where she has been published on her sidebar. 
 

This summer, I won this book from my blogging friend Sioux Roslawski.  She writes about a fun trip that she took with her son, where they had to rent him a swimsuit so that he could be admitted to a waterpark in another country.  Sioux is currently working on her own book.  

Ah, and then there is Hart.  Hart Johnson works full-time and writes full-time (or so it seems to me).  She has just put out a new series as an independent publisher, and her second Cozy Mystery is now available under her pen name, Alyse Carlson.  I am so way behind on reading Hart's books, but I sure do enjoy this lady.  Hart's blog is Confessions of a Watery Tart.

Elizabeth Spann Craig has made things easy for me on this post, because her latest post tells all about her work and titles.  Her books are super fun to read.  She also writes under the name of Riley Adams.  Her blog is very informative about all matters concerning writing:  Elizabeth Spann Craig (Mystery Writing is Murder).

Jenny the Bloggess is famous, and she is my sister's blog friend, but she doesn't know who I am.  Still, I recently checked her memoir out from the library and I loved it.  I whipped through it in just a couple of days.  It is funny, with some sad parts, but that is how real life is.  The thing about Jenny is that she is so honest and enjoyable.

I am sure that I am missing someone, but I am excited for all of you who have been working so hard and who are seeing your finished products on the shelves.  Keep up the great work!

Hey, I even got published, thanks to Alan over at Sepia Saturday!  (Alan's personal blog is News From Nowhere.)   I haven't even bought a copy of the book that I am in yet, so please don't feel bad if I haven't bought one of yours.  I will very soon.  Cary gave me some Christmas money, and one of the things that I am going to do with it is to buy some books.  

Here is the link to the book that my story of Uncle John is in: The Best Of Sepia Saturday.  Congratulations to all of my Sepia Saturday friends for all of your hard work, and for your friendship over the years.

Hugs,

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.