Snow!

Yep, it snowed here today. Came down pretty good for about an hour, or maybe a little more. It's drizzling rain now, so I expect that will melt off all the snow. The kids are a little disappointed. They were hoping school would be canceled tomorrow. Also they wanted to play in the snow.

I can't believe it's March already. February flew by. I stitched just a little. I'm mostly through with a pinkeep exchange piece, which is good, since the mailing date is March 9. I started Quaker Bat by The Workbasket. I did aquire more stash, including the first three Halloween double flips by Lizzie Kate. I may make a start on that today.

DD has been stitching more than me. She finished French Country Rabbit by JBW and made a tiny start on French Country Cat. She is really liking the French Country series. They are small, cute, and mostly use one color of thread, and so are easy for her.

She took a kids beginning needlepoint class at our local store yesterday and had a blast. She was a bit younger than the two other girls, but that didn't hold her back. The teacher said she did very well, and specifically commented on her good tension. She has been buzzing right along on the fish that was her class piece. The two of us are going to take a punchneedle class that will be offered in April. It's not specifically geared toward kids, but I asked if it would be appropriate to bring her, and it turns out kids are more than welcome. :) I am trying to get DS to go too, but he really doesn't seem interested, which is okay. Sometimes he seems to want to do stitchy things, but mostly not. I just make sure to offer it to him.

DS did start tap dance lessons this month. I wasn't sure about it, but seeing how much he enjoys it, I'm glad we decided to do it. He may not participate in the recital dance at the end of the year since he started too late. The school director, tap teacher, DS and I all agreed to take a wait and see approach on this.

I did a lot more reading than stitching this month. Here's the list for February, it's long.

1. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris-- I finally started reading this series. It falls into the category I think of as "fluff mysteries". Entertaining, easy to read, sometimes humorous. I enjoyed it, and will probably read the whole series. Gotta love telepaths, shapeshifters, and vampires. I think my favorite character may be Eric.

2. Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir-- Historical fiction by an author of many factual historical books. Follows the life of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen. Tudor England is probably my favorite historical period. I quite liked this book, and will eventually read her other historical novel dealing with Elizabeth Tudor. And of course will continue to read her factual books.

3. Fatal Drop: True Tales from the Chicago Gallows by William Griffith-- Another book from the Weird Chicago folks. Obviously this book isn't for everyone, being about the history of hangings in Chicago. Interesting from a historical standpoint, and I learned a bit more about Chicago history. A worthwhile read if you aren't put off by the subject matter.

4. The Purrfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown-- Another fluff mystery, this one involving cats and dogs rather than supernatural critters. The latest in the Mrs. Murphy series.

5. The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey-- The latest in Misty's Fairy Godmother series, this one is mostly based off Anderson's Snow Queen story, as one might guess. Bits of other legends creep in too, of course. Not my favorite of Lackey's work, but a nice enjoyable read.

6. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress XXIII edited by Elisabeth Waters-- When Marion passed away, Elisabeth took up editing the long running Sword and Sorceress series, which is exactly what it sounds like, short stories featuring female fighters and magic users. Many returning authors, and good solid stories. Sword and Sorceress is always worth reading.

7. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade-- I started reading this short series because of DH. Lord John is a minor character in the Outlander series of books, which he listened to on audio. He mentioned the Lord John character to me, and he sounded interesting, so I picked up the first of the Lord John books a couple of months ago. Got the urge to read more this month, and this is the second of the series. Lord John deals with his mother's wedding, old rumors/accusations against his late father, war, and a ahem, "forbidden affair".

8. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris-- The second of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. More fluffy supernatural goodness.

9. Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon-- The last of the Lord John books, though I understand there is another in the works. Three short stories/novellas, two of which were previously published elsewhere. I hadn't read them, and so was happy to have them all in one place. Lord John has dealings with the notorious Hellfire club, an alleged succubus, and an inquiry into the explosion of a cannon on a battlefield.

10. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon-- This is DH's fault. I'd never read this series, thinking it couldn't really be that good. As I wrote above, he listened to it on audio and really liked it. After I was done with Lord John, I realized I liked her work and gave in and read Outlander. And I am hooked. I will soon be starting Dragonfly in Amber, and may well do my best to finish off the series in March.

11. Coraline by Neil Gaiman-- While the kids were out of school for "winter break" in Feb. I took them to see Coraline in 3D. DD loved it, DS and I were less than impressed. It wasn't bad, really, we just didn't think it was that good. Certainly not worth what it cost to see it in the theater. Afterwards, I ran across the book used and picked it up to see if it was any better than the movie. Still not impressed. Sorry all you Coraline fans, I just don't like this one.

12. Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey-- Another in the Fairy Godmother series, this one dealing with seventh sons, fortunate fools, sea kings and their daughters, and Jinn. Even a bit of Japanese stuff at the very beginning.

13. The Haunted South by Nancy Roberts-- Two volumes in one. Sadly neither is very good, or even good at all. Roberts collects local/regional ghost stories. I think this must have been early work of hers, as I've liked other books by her.