Two - Two - Two posts in one

Confession time.
I went out to do those all important errands with the children on Sunday afternoon, and promptly fell down the latest literary rabbit hole. Yes, gentle readers, I've fallen under the spell of Edward and Bella, and would be held captive in the pages still, had I not come abruptly to the end of the third book just an hour ago. I don't know what made me pick up the first two volumes, but I found myself standing in Target with both of them clutched in my hands. Something about the crazed look in Noemi's face as she'd been describing the story to me, the hushed tones her voice took on... reverent and incredulous... awestruck. She's not even, by her own admission, much of a reader. I had to see for myself.

Today was reserved for Herr Becher, and after my dentist appointment, he surprised me with a trip to the bookstore to score the other two tomes. Of course, the holiday crush of shoppers had left the store with exactly zero copies of book four, but the third was waiting for me. Once home, and with a fist full of cookies, I kicked off my shoes and crawled into bed. The grey skies and rain outside the window set the perfect backdrop for an afternoon of reading under the covers. Tomorrow I'll start the hunt for the fourth book. In the meantime, here's the belated 'snowman' that I couldn't be bothered to post in a timely fashion (hey, blame Edward, not me):

More function than form, this little half-bucket is perfectly adorable. My plan was always to hide peppermints in it, though I always forget to buy any in time to hide in the tree. This year should be different, since I've now been forced to remember in time. Good plan.
The next one didn't photograph nearly as well as I would have liked, but over the past few years he's become a tad cloudy in his little glass bubble of a snow globe. A good shaking gets the fluff flying, but I can only play with it when the kids aren't looking. I have to set a good example, you know.

And that's all there is to say about the tiny obsessions on the tree for today. Yesterday, though technically a day I'm not in the shop, found me not only at the shop, but solving my own computer glitch. Gasp. It also brought in Rachael's quilt top (done in car/Route 66 fabrics... perfect for a boy!) and even as she was en route to deliver it, braving the icy roads, I was in contact with another blogger about quilty-bits for our donation quilts... all the way from California. Yay. You guys are just amazing. Thank you both. Time to get busy and get them ready for the quilter. We might need to have a bake sale or something to offset the very minimal (thanks to Laura) quilting costs. More to think about. I might even be persuaded to offer up my chocolate croissants for this. But for now, I'm off to enjoy a quiet evening of not reading, but knitting, next to the Herr. Latah, crafty chicas. C