Join Kelly, the Professor and Maryanne over at This Ain’t the Lyceum for Seven Quick Takes Friday

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I spent New Year’s Eve at a Grown-Up New Year’s Eve Facebook party that was all about books.  And first crushes.  And music.  And alcohol.  And Speed Racer.  It was surely one of the best NYE parties I’ve attended.  Meanwhile I still got to stay home with the fam and play Bananagrams and Wii and finish off the chocolate crackers.

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Don’t try to go out for lunch on January 1.  It won’t go well.  The wait staff who do show up will be hung over, and those who don’t stayed home for being even more hung over.

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We took most of December off.  My kids wanted to start back to schooling LAST NIGHT.  #endtimes

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Speaking of homeschooling, after our first two horrible, HORRIBLE January-February spans (one of which even included a trip to Disneyworld, fercryinoutloud), I am tackling the post-holiday malaise head-on.  The month of January will be spent doing service projects (local orphanage, local food cupboard, nursing home, hopefully a trip to a Ronald McDonald House).  The month’s reading/writing project is a report on what life is like in one of the world’s poorest countries.   This morning First Shift spent over an hour looking on our globe for countries on that list, then requesting pertinent books & videos from the library.  January and February (and last year even most of March) have previously been defeated by a terrible, family-wide case of Poor Victim Me.  I’m hoping that getting a dose of gratitude will combat the symptoms and help us recover our sense of how good God is to us–and, perhaps, how good we should be to each other.

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Santa brought First Shift iPad minis.  I covet your recommendations for any middle school range learning apps that you have found effective.

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“Working Mother” seems (seems) to be doing well.  I’m loving all the Working Mother Interviews.

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And now to get a few paragraphs done on the sequel to Don’t You Forget About Me.