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Wow.  It's been one year since my last personal blog post.  I don't think I've had much to say in the last year, been a pretty boring person.  My kids turned a year older.  I am now 45.  I ran a half marathon in December and have been burned out on running ever since.  My husband is doing fine, still working.  Mom is settling into life in Dallas.  She is busier than I am, what with bridge, volunteering, church, book club.

I have read several good books with my own book club this year:

• The Round House
• The Thirteenth Tale
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

And a few I did not like, such as On Beauty.

Several good movies have hit the theaters:

• Silver Linings Playbook
• Argo
• Les Miserables
• Beasts of the Southern Wild

I've only seen the last two, and loved them.  However, I absolutely despised the Meryl Streep movie Hope Springs.  This one I saw with my mother, and we both came away shocked- that a great actress would star in that move, and that we wasted our money on it.  It's all about an empty nester married couple who never have sex, sleep separately, and have grown apart.  The wife signs them up for marriage counseling and in the end, things work out great.  Pathetic.  Steve Carell played the counselor.  I kept hoping he'd turn out twisted in some way, or at least comedic.  However, he just played it straight and boring.  Such a disappointment.  So, did you see it?  What did you think?

Today is Canton Trade Days.  Luckily, I'm not going.  On the one hand, I'd love to but on the other, I just don't need to buy anything.  Today is also a great estate sale in Dallas featuring vintage Barbies and Barbie cases, old Madame Alexander dolls, vintage clothing, and more.  I'm pretty proud of myself for abstaining from that sale.  It's tempting, but I first need to list and sell the items currently in my etsy shop.  Just can't bring anymore treasures in until I move some out.

Oh!  One new item.  Running dogs.  Yes, running dogs is my new idea for a possible business.  Yes, there are other "bonded" agencies that do this, but I'm planning to start my own little neighborhood job.  So far, I run my neighbor's dogs for free.  Just information gathering at this point.  Question, do you see this as a good business idea?

Thought for the day, from Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman on TV's Parks and Recreation:
"When people get a little too chummy with me, I like to call them by the wrong name." 

 - from January 2012 Reader's Digest