Christina Suzann Nelson

My planned blog post was an update on my yearly goals. Boring! I think instead I’ll give you a glimpse into my crazy life.

The week began with twin lambs. Now most years lambing takes place in the coldest of weather. I’m usually trekking back and forth to the barn as icy rain assaults me and wind chills any part of my body that the rain missed. This year the weather has turned mild, but the lambs don’t seem to be as thrilled as I am. They keep dieing.  Well, not all of them, but half. Many years we get by without losing a single lamb. One of the twins didn’t do so well and I spent an afternoon tube feeding it and trying to convince the little guy to live. She had other plans. Heartbreak aside, it looks like we’ll still have enough lambs for the girls to take to the fair.

Speaking of fair, Ryan is bringing his steer home after the first weigh in on Saturday so the steer pen needs to be ready and the feed for the beast needs to be bought and hauled home. Hopefully we’ll have room for another ton of hay on the trailer so we won’t need to make another trip for the horse.

Thursday found me hooking up the stock trailer to take our dear Bella for a riding lesson. She’s been a real pill and has decided that she doesn’t want to move when the girls want her to. After thirty minutes of brushing dirt off the horse that thinks mud is from rolling in, we took off. I took a wrong turn and spent way too many minutes trying to back the trailer into a tiny place so I could turn around. We made it to the stables though and the lesson was fabulous. Bella even exerted herself (a little).

In other news, our house is 112 years old. With an elderly house comes surprises. This week’s present came in the form of a plugged drain line. After much work from my husband, we finally called in a plumber. The verdict wasn’t too sweet. Apparently a great portion of our drain pipe is made of a special kind of material called Orangeburg. I won’t go into the details, but I will say that this is not a good thing. The pipe needs to be dug up and redone. The plumber cleared the plug and we thought we could get to this project in the near future. Surprise! Last night the clog reappeared. This morning I was in the backyard digging up the drain line. Okay, I’ll be totally honest. I was in the backyard wearing my robe and green rubber boots, digging up the drain line.

So why do we live like this? It sounds like a lot of work and it is, but what I didn’t mention is the sweet lambs that I can see from my window. They chase each other around the field adding the occasional twist in the air. And I didn’t tell you how proud my oldest daughter was of that stubborn horse of hers and how big her smile was when she cantered. I left out the satisfaction I got from finding the pipe way down in the dirt and the thrill of turning that trailer around all by my self.

All this work leads to a feeling of accomplishment and a life full of adventure. And it sure beats doing the dishes!

Generally, I’m very much a letter and word kind of girl. I leave the numbers to my accountant husband and life has a way of remaining balanced. There is this one exception though. Stats. I love to watch the stats on my website. I check them throughout the day. And those graphs. Those are a lot of fun too. I can see in one peep of my eyes how today compares with all the other days this month, or week by week, or month by month.

That brings me to some very exciting news!

January 2011 is a new record month for hits to my website. Yay! (Balloons and confetti here)

Since you’re reading this you must be one of the lovely people that has made this moment a reality. Please stand up and give yourself a hand.

Thanks! And do come back soon.

The girls are charged to cut into this years big project. They, along with three of their friends, are making quilts for their beds. The patterns have been chosen, the calculations made, and today we took a trip to the fabric store.

My girls scoured the racks evaluating each and every possibility. Aleasha needed six fabrics and Emma only three. If you knew my girls you’d see how very classic this is. Emma is simple and to the point. She chose bright colors that match her personality. Aleasha is more serious. Her pattern is complicated, and the colors are deeper. Regardless of how different the selections, both quilts will be beautiful like my girls.

I must mention the best part of the fabric store trip. We didn’t take any of the boys. You can count the seconds on one hand from the time we step through the doors until my boys (including my husband) are begging to go.

Maybe the girls project will inspire me to finish the quilt I started in 1999. No that’s not a typo. It’s been twelve years. These moments sure do make me take a look at how fast time goes by.

Keep coming back to see how we’re doing. Next big step, cutting.

Have a great week,

Christina

This Christmas my family blessed me with a Kindle. I love it more than I even thought I would. The size is perfect and I can carry a bookshelf full of stories with me wherever I go. To top it off, I bought a bright pink cover. Truly lovely.

So are ebooks as good as the paper variety? Well here’s the thing, it’s the story that counts, regardless of the format. I was concerned that I’d miss holding a book, and I still think for non-fiction I’ll stick with paper, but the Kindle is just the right size and it holds my place for me. Oh, and the screen is awesome. I can read in bright sunlight with no problem, not that I’ve seen much sunlight lately.

Another benefit: Amazon offers free books. I recently read a blog post bashing this practice. The blog writer was concerned about books being giving away causing the value of books to diminish. I have to disagree. My first ebook, Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent, I downloaded free. The story was so wonderful that I will not hesitate to buy anything else this author writes.  In fact I plan to buy the next two books in the series right away. The free book paid off for her as I’m sure I’m not the only reader that loved this story.

Whichever format you prefer, don’t miss this book.

From the website of Jennifer Erin Valent:

Fireflies in December

“The summer I turned thirteen, I thought I killed a man.”

So begins the story of Jessilyn Lassiter, a young girl whose world is torn apart the summer of 1932. When Jessilyn’s best friend, Gemma, loses her parents in a tragic fire, Jessilyn’s father vows to care for her as his own, despite the fact that Gemma is black and prejudice is prevalent in their southern Virginia town.

It doesn’t take long for the Lassiters to attract the attention of a local band of Ku Klux Klan members, who make increasingly violent threats on Jessilyn and her family.

As she struggles to navigate a complex world of first crushes, loyalties, and betrayals, Jessilyn ultimately discovers what it takes to be a bright light in a dark world.