And the Good News Is...

1. A brand new niece is a great way to end the week. Here are all the details, courtesy of my mother:

 

We wanted to share with you our joy in the safe arrival of Brandon and Piper's beautiful and healthy daughter, Madelynn Grace. After a long labor, it was decided that she was too big for Pi to deliver and she was also face up, so they did a C-section about 4:15 Pacific time yesterday and all is well with Pi and Maddy, and her Daddy is so happy! :-) as are we! She weighed 7lbs 13oz and is 20 1/2 " long. 

 

And here's a picture of our new darling girl:

 

 My first thought was, my goodness, she looks healthy!

My mother leaves for California on January 23 to visit with my Grandma and Aunt Katie, enjoy my other sister-in-law Stephanie's baby shower (yes, I get to be an aunt again come Easter!), and then spend at least 2 weeks helping Bran and Pi with baby Maddy. I expect to be absolutely drowning in adorable pictures of her right quick!

We hope to be able to visit my family in California again this summer, after summer school is over. But right at this moment, waiting until August to meet Maddy seems a terrible hardship. Dang.

2. I love my library! This week I read Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops by James Robert Parish and am two-thirds of the way through The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies: Featuring the 100 Greatest Gangster Films of All Time by George Anastasia and Glen Macnow. I can't remember how I found the first book (somewhere online while reading movie reviews) but I really enjoyed it. The second book was written by local writers who were interviewed by Marty Moss-Coane on Radio Times and I loved the interview. One of the privileges of being home in the mornings is having the opportunity to listen to Marty's show on a regular basis. Even though I don't always agree with her, she is a fair and excellent journalist who introduces me to all kinds of new writers and stories.

3. Speaking of movies, Marshall and I are going to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol tonight and tomorrow morning my father and I are going to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I'm just praying my ankle survives all that sitting in chairs. Or, maybe, the theatres will be empty enough for me to put it up somehow. It is still healing, but, as my doctor warned me, it is a very slow process.

4. The new Sherlock series tackled The Hound of the Baskervilles, transforming it into The Hounds of Baskerville. The changes from the original story are pretty significant, which I approved of, even though it didn't make me love it. It was good, just not as brilliant as the previous week's episode. It does set us up for another encounter with Moriarty in the series two finale, The Reichenbach Fall. 

 

Even though Series 3 has yet to be announced, they would be stupid to stop now, so I don't expect Holmes to die at the end, at least not permanently. Steven Moffat can be infuriating in his writing but he is always conscious of the bottom line.

5. My mother is helping me to clean up various piles stuff that have remained undisturbed for months because of our difficult 2011. On Sunday, with the able assistance of an old friend, Marshall disassembled our bed frame and moved it into the garage for a decent quarantine and bug spray interval, which meant we had to shift the piles in our bedroom anyway. On Tuesday, my cleaning ladies came through, which gave everything a boost. We haven't conquered all the chaos yet, but we still have another 9 days before she leaves for California, so there's hope.

6. Our technical upgrade to Comcast Digital is still in progress. Marshall had to take the server apart again to upgrade it to Windows 7, so the status on the ground is a little shaky, although we should still have access to all the video data we've accumulated since it went down right before Christmas. Should. I haven't tested it this morning. Miranda's been happy to play pbskids.org instead of watching Pocoyo.

7. Our sleep schedule this week has been a little rocky. Marshall is working the early shift, which means he leaves the house just after 6 am to arrive at the office before 7. Miranda has been up at or before 6 every day but if you hand her a bowl of dry cereal and turn on the computer for her, she seems happy until Alex and I get up at 7. Thankfully, most nights we've all been able to get to bed early. 

And here's Jen.