Did you hear that?  That was my life changing. It happened with so little transition it was like Forrest Gump running, running, running, across the country and then he just decides to be done. That's what happened with me and my phone. First I took social media off of it.  And I knew that meant social media wasn't happening much thereafter because it would mean being holed up in another room or not sleeping.  Then when moving my phone it slipped from my hand.  After all of 20in to the floor it gave up the ghost.  And I was… fine. I am not replacing it here and my only draw to replacing it later is the camera aspect. Time will tell. 

One thing that had been bothering me before this was a transition from reading whole books to reading articles and essays.  Both have their place but the latter was taking up all the precious reading time I had and leaving me with harried bits and bobs of news and exhortations keeping my mind aflutter. I have been carving out time to read and think and am happily 2/3 through Sense and Sensibility.  Alannah and I watched the BBC version.  Moira finished the novel for British lit a while back but I am rewatching the movie with her because it is becoming a metaphor in my discussions with young women lately.  My even younger woman, Tess, is meantime happily making her way through Dancing Shoes. She has lots of time before dealing with Willoughby's.  Instead she is bringing me her book daily asking what a plait is and arguing with her brother that Vera is too a real name for a girl even if she hasn't heard it before. 

In other news we are working on my poor sleep habits of late.  (no pun intended)  Going to bed earlier, tired or not, and getting up and staying up earlier.  It's working. Especially since British prose is much more condusive to even keels and deep sleep than CNN or its ilk.

Alannah got started on Christmas treats this afternoon since her boxes are almost ready to ship. She had some help…

This one subtitled "How we do Candy Crush…"

We have pretzel turtles and eggnog snickerdoodles now. There was a little drama with the darn chocolate chips seizing up. We saved them by adding melted butter and making peppermint brownies like these except it's more like peppermint sprinkles than chunks thanks to our zealous crusher.  See above. : ) 

And now there is that bedtime thing again. It's worth it.  

It has been a productive couple days thanks to my family. My husband took off yesterday so I could do some shopping.  Alannah rode along and we made a day of it.  We found some lovely clothes for Tess which have inspired me finally.  (Ready made wardrobe items for the school aged girl are generally UNinspiring, if not downright discouraging.) While shopping locally we found some lovely pieces in shell pinks and champagne colors.  Soft and elegant and sweet.  

 After clothes shopping we managed to find many of the gifts on my list.  As we drove home Alannah said I hear the bell ringing. I said what are you talking about?  She said, "The bells, on that thing you bought."  Still nothing for me.  "What? Am I the only one who believes?" she laughed.  Which of course meant Polar Express for the next bedtime book. Yes, that was a change of topic.  Husband usually asks me to preface these with "break, break" To which I usually say, " Keep UP people!" 

Today she and I helped the little girls put ornaments on the trees the guys set up this weekend. We didn't use all the decorations this year because that move date keeps creeping closer – literally, it's creeping closer. Still we are doing a little bit every day.   I told you, Austin Family Christmas. (Have you read it?  You must read it.  Take my word ok? : ))  

And that's it.  Am blogging like I am decorating, a little bit each day.  And am going to reload that winter reading list back onto the sidebar on that note.