First time in weeks. Hope I remember how to bard! Must… pack… ukulele!

Well, Monstro's back from MLA and spent seven hours in front of his computer today. I shuttled children hither and yon, and ate yummy Italian lunch with Mom (thanks Mom!). Today's tally: WalMart, drive-thru ATM, watch-repair (and, lamp-repair, which was great because I just happened to have a shorted-out lamp in the back of the van) repair shop — they replaced mom's watch battery while I waited (and waited), with a floor show of the couple who 1) didn't have their ticket, 2) were trying to pick up their buddy's watch, and 3) the buddy is apparently “I'd rather have the Hells Angel's after me than this guy” psychotic, the type of guy, when he asks for a favor, you don't say “no” — and CVS, twice, and tried to give my pastor a new TV (from when I helped Shannon move) but he and his wife had Christmas-gifted a big new LCD to each other, and unpacking and laundry and, oh yeah, a blog post, and some unpalatable records researching. Time for Wii bowling, I think. Nice Throw!

2010. Weird. Everyone's been bagging on the last decade but, it brought me two kids and the man of my dreams, so really, not so bad. Monstro and I put the kids to bed a bit early, watched the most pirated movie of 2009 (Star Trek), killed a magnum of sparkling wine and a couple of boxes of YUMMY appetizers (jalepeno bites and crab rangoon), and were asleep well before midnight. This morning I got up with the kids and the hangover encroached so I was back to bed for a 3-hour nap at 8:30. So far, not such a bad year. Much love and best wishes to all!

He said he asked a “really hard question” during the panel, “How to Get Hired.”

If you want to meet me live and in person, THIS is where I'll be on the evening of January 30th.

2009. BK turned one in August and three months later Lex turned four. Motormouth and Monstro celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary. Busy busy busy!

Monstro's dissertation defense was late-October. “Congratulations, you passed,” his professor said at the end of five minutes of making us wait in the hallway. Brian will graduate with a Ph.D in the spring. Right now he is waiting to hear about interviews at MLA. If you don’t know what that means, we haven’t talked in a while, so please call.

Motormouth went to Monstro’s dissertation defense where he rendered her breathless with his impromptu 10-minute opening. Simply brilliant; you would have been proud.

Motormouth took an online class called “Get Funny” and earned an A. She tried to get on “Wheel of Fortune” when the Wheelmobile came out to Massachusetts but didn’t make it, though she’ll forever regret not having yelled the answer “National Holiday” for an event with NO letters showing. Stupid. As penance, she has re-read both Infinite Jest and Ulysses, which has helped. She also started running again in April and between running and Rhythmball has lost 50 pounds.

Monstro, the boys, and Motormouth look forward to an early January trip to visit the Johnsons of San Antonio, (including our niece Amber’s baby son, Caiden), where it is pretty certain not to have snowed.

In any case, we are happy to be together, if not perhaps touched with PTSD and ongoing California-to-New-England culture shock even after 5 years.

2010. Can you believe it? Here’s to a happy. We pray for you. Please consider doing the same for Amber’s husband, who is stationed in Afghanistan. Love, Lynn

The actress Brittany Murphy died today. She was 32. Loved her in “Clueless.” Too young, too young.

The boys are good. BK is in nursery school now. He has the same teachers Lex had, and we love them, so that's great. I know they aren't supposed to play favorites but on Theo's first day, his teacher June hauled him onto her lap and said, “I've been waiting a long time for this.” So he's in excellent hands, though of course we miss our nanny, who touched the house with a calmness rarely felt around here. It is, however, wonderful that the boys are in university-subsidized childcare that is so top-flight, we'd pay for if we had to. And Lex's imagination and memory are flummoxing his teachers but that's kind of fun in its own way.

It feels like 10 degrees outside and I'm back from a run. For such cold-weather running, I need a proper scarf, or a cashmere balaclava, or a down burka. In any case, I did two down-and-backs, to stay within 1/2 mile of the house at all times. And yes, I had my ID and my cell phone with two ICE numbers. At my first turnaround, I was ready to throw in the towel, but by the time I got to the house, I felt warm and pretty good, so I ran up the street a little ways, always walking on the concrete and traversing sidewalk-ice as athletically as possible. Not too shabby. So, now I know I can run in non-windy 10-degree weather. And my iPod never fails to come up with a song that cracks me up: today's was “The Boys of Summer.” I nearly fell down.

Could those of you who are praying that we don't move, stop it already?

Please? Yes? Thanks.