blame...and a double dose of good stuff

 Yikes...I have to admit that I totally forgot to keep track of blame points in December. I'm going to chalk it up to illness and pure crazy busyness. I'm sorry. :(  And I did acquire several books through paperbackswap and seemingly truckloads from the library. But while I don't have actual figures, I can say without question that the persons doing the most damage to my tbr pile during the last couple months of 2009 were Ana and Eva. (So, in retaliation ladies, something will be coming to add to your book piles soon!) And I've decided to keep playing my little game here...you know, because it's ever so much nicer than accepting personal responsibility for my book acquiring habits. So Blame Game 5 runs through the end of April.

January 2nd "Good Stuff"
*Little boys in giggle fits. Seriously, there is no way I can avoid laughing, too, when one of the boys goes off in a bout of giggling. Their laughter is just pure magic.

*The fact that Annie is old enough to babysit! Rich and I went out book shopping yesterday...ahhhh, all by ourselves. :D And Annie comes cheap, too...she's beyond thrilled that we pay her $2/hour. She's just started saving for an iPod Nano, so she's now trying to get us to go out and let her babysit all the time. ;)

*Shiny new books. Especially when they're bought guilt-free. I mean, book buying bans just have to take a back seat when someone generously gives you a gift card, right? (Side note: these purchases also bring with them the first points...points to both Ana and Kelly for Flora Segunda and a point to Eva for When We Were Romans.)

*Related to the previous entry: finding a book you've been looking for for ages! I literally let out a little squeal when I saw Flora Segunda in the store yesterday. Seriously, since the day that Ana and Kelly reviewed it, I've checked for it every blasted time I've been in a bookstore and no one has ever had it. Always figured one day I'd get around to ordering it on-line. But now I don't need to! :D

January 3rd "Good Stuff"
*The birthday of one of very favorite people in all of the whole entire world!!! Seriously, I think the birthdays of the people you love are so much better than one's own birthday...you get to celebrate the incredible gift that their birth has given you. And Ana, since I really don't think it's that big a secret anymore, I hope that you don't mind that I wish you a very, very, very Happy Birthday once again here in "public." You truly are one of my most treasured gifts, every single day!

*Waking up to happy e-mail! Seriously, what an awesome way to start the day!!! So thank you, Chris! Thank you, Ana! (You know what I'm talking about, right?...reading your good stuff makes me so incredibly happy!!! Seriously, happier than I can say!)

*Cold, blustery winter days. (At least when you can sit snuggly warm inside your house all day.)