Random Bits

My friend Lisa who blogs at Book Lists Life does a Random Friday post most weeks, which I love to read so I thought I'd give it a try, too. Lisa loves to read and craft--she's very talented with the sewing needle! Best of all, Lisa has three adorable little kids who bring all sorts of adventures to her days. Stop by her blog and say hello.

• My 16 year old (11th grade) now has her driver's learning permit and is asking to drive all the time. It's a little terrifying. Please send me calmness or strength or ... something!  
• She is also in the very early stages of the whole college process. She recently took the PSATs and is starting to think about college options. She went to her guidance counselor this week to find out her GPA and it's a 3.94! (wow!) She's an honors student, does sports and is involved with a club or two and actively pursues photography recreationally and for the school. We are so proud of her!
• My 12 year old (7th grade) is driving us crazy half the time with her tween attitude. Thank goodness she's so cute and sweet and fun the other half of the time. ;o) 
• Right now, I'm in the middle of reading four different books, something I rarely do. I find it extremely distracting and I make no progress reading any of the books. I'm going to focus on just ONE book at a time starting today with the one due back to the library the soonest and that would be The Girl Who Circumvented Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. It's a charming middle grade novel about a girl who does all fun stuff in the title, meeting all sorts of fascinating beings along the way. The writing is whimsical and pretty insightful to this journey of life we're all on. 
• After much deliberation on my part, I agreed on a 2 hour bike ride with my cycling partner last Saturday morning at 7:30am when it was barely light out [the morning before the time change] and only 34 F (1 C)! Brrr! I don't have all the proper technical clothing for this sort of riding, but I made do with some layers, wool ski socks and a borrowed bacaclava [like this one] from my husband, which helped a lot. I actually wasn't as cold as I thought I'd be on the bike, especially since we climbed three tough hills during the ride to keep warm. ; ) My toes were pretty much cold the entire time, though, so I don't know if I'd want to ride more than 2 hrs. in cold weather and probably only when there's no wind. The wind chill on the bike is cold enough!
• Yesterday we cleaned up the branches and tree limbs in the yard that fell in last weekend's freak snow storm and I used a chain saw for the first time ever! It was actually kind of fun. Now we have a decent sized wood pile in our backyard. Would be nice if we had a fireplace to go with it... 
• Halloween was a week ago today and I still haven't had a single piece of Halloween candy, BUT I have had some cookies and ice cream and a piece of coconut layer cake in the past week, though, so I I've essentially lost my bragging rights on this one... : /   
• Normally I try to pretend not to notice all the Christmas stuff in stores until at least Thanksgiving weekend, but Trader Joe's has put out their holiday cookies and candies and other holiday treats and I admit I investigated. Everything is so tempting... maybe I'll buy something on my next visit. You know... for taste testing purposes so I know what would make a good hostess gift or something like that during the holiday season. 
• Now that I mentioned Christmas, I may as well ask if anyone started their Christmas [or Hanukkah] shopping yet?  I have a few gift ideas for my family, but that's about as far as I've gotten. 

Your turn. What random bits do you have to share?