Amber Morn

Doogie had a major assignment due this morning that he put off until yesterday afternoon, so the entire family pitched in to help. He had to make a timeline from his birth until the present with world events on one side and events from his life on the other. And it had to be accompanied by pictures from his childhood. I made up the timeline, Jesse helped him make the lines on the paper, and Molly went through a box of pictures to find just the right ones. Mia just kind of hovered around and offered to help with no one taking her up on it. It was fun going through the box of pictures. I have purchased hundreds of dollars of scrapbooking supplies, but I never work on pages unless I'm at an actual scrapbook party, so the pictures sit on the hard drive or in boxes (and boxes and a trunk and the buffet drawer and next to the bed, etc, etc). Picking out the pictures took the longest, because the three kids and I poured over every one. They wanted to know the stories behind several of them (like the burned out car).

We even discovered a few of my childhood pictures, including today's pic (and my new profile pic) which is my absolute favorite picture of me ever. I'm about four years old (and yes, that's the Kool-Aid man on my shirt) with my dog Nicky. Many of my early memories are about that great big dog. Here's one of my favorites. If you look closely in the picture, you can see that the ground around us is completely dug up. That's what huskies do when they're bored. He dug deep holes all around as far as his chain would let him go. Once when I was just about the age I am in the picture, my mom came outside to bring me in from playing. I was nowhere to be found. She walked around the yard calling my name while Nicky jumped up and down barking happily. Before she reached the point of panic, I climbed out from one of Nicky's holes. He had dug deep into the ground, and I was actually under Mom's feet. A memory of my mother's that I'm too young to share: when I was about 18 months old, Mom decided to use Nicky as a real sled dog, and tied my sled to him...with me on it...and he mushed! Apparently I thought it was great fun. Mom, not so much.


Amber Morn by Brandilyn Collins is the fourth and final book in the Kanner Lake Series. Kent Wicksell's son T.J. is in prison for a crime he claims he didn't commit, so Kent and his other two sons, Mitch and Brad, decide that the only way to get the world to hear of his innocence is to take the bloggers from Scenes & Beans blog hostage when they gather for a party. All the favorites from the previous three books are back and ready to celebrate S-Man's signing of his book contract. But these three volatile men storm in, shoot one of them, and in a systematic way set about getting their story out to the world. Only police chief Vince Edwards can negotiate with the Kent and find out the truth about T.J. Collins is known for writing Seatbelt Suspense, and she lives up to that title again in this book. The scenes are fast and furious leaving me often breathless. I had one small disappointment with this book: the Wicksells were completely unsympathetic, and while I know there are monsters like that in the real world, it would have made for a more complex story. Collins continues to develop the other characters and move their stories forward to a satisfying conclusion.



It's almost 50 degrees out today, but it's so windy I'm chilled to the bone! I refuse to turn the furnace up, so I'm huddled under blankets and enjoying the warmth of the laptop.