Well, hello there!

It's not that I don't have time to write anymore, but the time is so fractured and I run around like a headless hen, trying to figure out what to do first.

Strangely enough, the best time now is when I breastfeed my baby (he is five months now! That's how often I post!) because I have a guilt-free time to read that I didn't have for a while.

Of course, my to-read pile still just keeps growing, anyway. There are more and more books I'd love to read, and I still love to re-read old ones.

Last book read – Seanan McGuire “Half-Off Ragnarok”, the last in InCryptid series. I couldn't bring myself to read her acclaimed Mira Grant books – just can't read serious fiction about zombies, so I picked up something else, and loved it. High entertaining value, fun people and monsters. So I went to buy something else – her new novel Indexing is $2.00 on Kindle. Yay!

Now, back to my life. It's fun and busy and interesting with occasional bouts of despair.

For the first time ever I am a homeowner. And I know next to nothing about owning a house here. So I am learning – about painting, plumbing, gardening, masonry, pest control and such. And trying to do all this in between playing with one kid and the other.

There is always something to be done, and never quite enough time to do it. I gave up on the lawn – we mow it, and that's about it. I look how it gets taken over by weeds I didn't even know existed, and smile sadly. Whatever. On the other hand, I bought a blueberry bush and hope beyond hope that it survives my agricultural skills.

Daniel finished 1st grade, did some gymnastics, karate, and chess, not to mention soccer in the fall. He is ok, but not brilliant with any of it – but he reads a lot (English and Russian) and has decent math skills.

George, the baby does what babies do: growing fast and being adorable. Laughs, chews on blankets and tries to crawl.

And the political situation left me in a state of an eternal freak-out.