Here it is a new year and I’ve yet to write an entry.

I’m working on finding an excuse.

I don’t think I really have one. I was sick for most of the month of January. I think it might have been the flu, even went to the doctor to get medicine, but it didn’t do much good.

I still have a cough that just doesn’t seem to go away. It has lessened considerably, and is non-existent if I take the prescription cough medicine with codeine, but that knocks me flat. I have to take it knowing that I can be in bed within twenty minutes and can sleep for a good eight hours. Then when I get up I need to be prepared to feel as if I have a hangover.

I don’t take the stuff very often.

Instead I take a decongestant, some good old Robitussin and smear my throat and chest with Vicks Vaporub. I stink to high heaven, but I swear that the stuff works!

Basically what this illness has done is simple cause me to be so exhausted that I’m in bed and asleep most nights by nine. Ten at the latest. (Ally McBeal is a must – I’m in love with Robert Downey Jr.)

School is the same story it always is.

It’s busy, the parents can either be fabulous or irritating (there’s no in-between) and the kids are always a challenge.

My reading girls are making really nice progress. I found a great kid’s series called "The Magic Tree House" and the characters go on adventures in the past when they look at a picture in a book and make a wish.

I started with the first one in the series "Dinosaurs Before Dark", and the girls loved it. They asked me to buy two more and we’ll be starting "mummies in the Morning" soon. After that we’ll do "Titanic Tonight".

I designed a unit on dinosaurs that led into dragons, which then led into Chinese New Year. I really enjoyed doing that. I love to make all learning connect.

For the next few days we’ll do some Valentine’s Day things. These girls just love holidays.

But then again I do too. I’ve already started thinking about St. Patrick’s Day.

On the home front things remain pretty much the same. I try to talk to my mother every day, but I’m really bad at getting over there on a regular basis. I just can’t seem to find the time.

I know that’s really awful of me. I just find that I have so much to do, and so little time to get it done.

I’ve given up trying to make the apartment look good. I can’t get all my projects finished so nothing seems to get put away. This is not a new story, so I won’t beat you over the head with it again.

I still find it hard to think about my father being gone. I know that it’s still bad for my mother as well.

I still miss Encore, too. I love the two new cats, and they are loving and fun and have their own quirks, but they just aren’t’ my Encore. I know they’re not supposed to be, but I think about it nonetheless.

Broadway is just huge. There are times that I look at him and he reminds me of a bear cub – and he’s not even a year old yet! He’s very sweet, though. He’s the cat who likes to touch noses in greeting and who climbs onto my lap and flops like a rag doll.

Bravo, on the other hand, is Mr. Independence. But he’s very quirky. I think I should have named him Sonar. He is just obsessed with water. His favorite spot is the bathroom sink. He waits for me to fill it so he can drink, then asks me to empty it so that he can watch the water drain and then try to play with the plug.

If the sink is empty he sleeps in it.

He also waits outside the bathtub while I take my shower in the morning, then hops up on the sink to sub against my wet body, and wait for me to pet him.

Strange cat. The thing is, though, that I indulge him and have to start thinking about getting up earlier in the morning as my bathroom time is taking much longer than it used to!

I don’t know how often I’ll be updating, but I hope to make a better effort than I have been.

I got a very nice e-mail from someone who found this site and I think that she may have motivated me to keep going.

I hope so.