Please stick

So much for blogging during the afternoon nap ... Claire ended up snoozing while I strolled her around Harris Teeter after lunch, and there wasn't much sleep left in her once we got home. Which was OK, since my empty to-do list meant I didn't need that time to myself. And really, is there a better way to spend an afternoon than on the floor with a belly-laughing baby?

Supposedly it's going to snow/ice around here tonight and this weekend. I'll believe it when I see it, but I really hope we get something of substance. So far it's just very, very cold. But Matt grilled burgers for us anyway. I wonder how many other people in Moore County cooked out tonight? I love Matt. And I love burgers.

Nights like tonight are my favorite: good books fresh from the library, an overflow of good food and drinks, and a soundly sleeping baby. Reading for hours at opposite ends of a couch is one of our favorite ways to spend an evening, but for some reason it rarely happens except on vacation.

So Matt's read and loved the first two books of a series by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. I guess there were supposed to be 10 books in the series, but it's turned out to be a trilogy because only three were written before Larsson died a few years ago. The third book, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest," isn't scheduled for publication in the United States until this summer, but a few days ago Matt was at the library and was surprised to discover it there on the shelf.

He asked the librarian how that was possible. Turns out the head librarian for that branch is also a big fan of the series and couldn't wait for summer, so he special-ordered this book from a British publisher. Matt's probably one of the first people in the state to read this book -- at least without ordering it from Amazon.co.uk or something similar (why do good Christmas gift ideas wait until the end of January to occur to me?). Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool how that worked out, and lucky for Matt.

Slightly related: Anne Tyler has a new book that I can't wait to get my hands on. I'm so glad so many of my favorite authors are so prolific!

I keep walking outside and we're getting the slightest bit of accumulation on the deck. I had planned to have an open house at this condo tomorrow afternoon, but I'm guessing that will have to be postponed. No big deal except I hate to have wasted the advertising. C'est la vie.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!