update - multiple items

Lots going on and I haven't been posting lately. In no particular order the recent events are:

1. Blogger finally got me to switch to the new version. hrmph! I'll have to poke around and investigate. I had resisted as long as I could, I'm not a fan of beta software and quite frankly these days I don't have massive amounts of time to waste spend working around bugs. Hopefully all the complaints that I had read about from other readers are now a non-issue.

2. Went to FL for a week. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Can we say warm? Steve stayed home with the girls while I took a few days R&R. V was happy for me that I got away. D wanted to know why I was going without her. I told her it was so that I would miss her while I was gone. And I did miss all of them but I very much appreciated the peacefulness of being in a different place and being spoiled by my aunt.

3. I've been busy with my new business grains&more. It's an exciting venture for me and I'm really learning a lot. I've had a talk at a local mini-conference of organic/natural food producers and will be giving two classes in the upcoming months. One on baking with grains (not baking bread thought) and the other on what else can you do with grains-soups, stews, etc. So I may not be blogging much as I organize this new venture in my life.

4. Reading!!!! As some of you may remember I had joined the Winter Reading Challenge. Had a whole list of books to read. Still plugging away but there have been some changes.

a) I did manage to read The Memory Keeper's Daughter while I was in FL. My aunt had recommended it to me and had a copy for me to read. Good story, very engrossing. I will confess that I was a little disappointed in the ending as I feel that it was a bit rushed. But the story was very well written and thought provoking in some areas. Definitely worth reading.

b) I had mentioned that I received a copy of Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey for the holidays. I am thoroughly enjoying this book. I find it to be easy to read and should be finished soon.

c) Steve had taken a copy of Freakonomics'> Freakonomics out of the library and recommended it to me. Surprisingly I really liked it. I had thought it would be dry, boring and statistical. Instead it was interesting, insightful and thought provoking. Lots of amazing connections that I never would have thought of, written in an easy to understand style. Good stuff.

d) I've also been reading crockpot cookbooks. Now that cold weather has finally appeared I find myself using it more and more. The Healthy Slow Cooker It's very good - I've already made a couple of recipes and enjoyed them. I like the way Judith Findlayson writes. The other is Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. Lots of good looking recipes in this one. I've been enjoying browsing through both of these cookbooks for winter meal inspiration.

5. Weather? cold (see #2 above). It's been in the single digits and teens. Winds howling, the woodburning stove is not keeping up. Thank goodness for modern heat. And sunshine. At least if it's bitter cold outside it's sunny so it looks nice.

No promises on when I'll blog again, but I will try to duck in and out for a brief note here and there.