So, I decided to start out with… WHY home school? There are reasons to and not to home school. I personally love home-edjumication, and it works great for our family (and there are so many fun ways to say it!), but I have known one person who wished she wasn’t homeschooled. And I’ll get to that later. First…

Why I Like Homeschooling

I have been homeschooled my whole life. And though I only really have the stereotypes of a normal school to go on, I’m happy staying where I am.  But what are my favorite parts of home education? First off, probably flexibility, followed by free time.

What do I mean by flexibility? I mean the fact that we rarely stay with a math book/system for more than one year. Why? Because we keep trying new things: each one works for a while then we get bored with it, or it gets too hard, or we find something new and more interesting. Currently we’re doing a Charlotte Mason system which includes a lot — a LOT — of reading. Which for me — being a book-addict — is great.

But what if your kids aren’t really into reading? Well, there are tons of other methods to try, such as unschooling, text-book, eclectic, and many more. Seriously, if you wrote about all the different ways to homeschool, and then put all those papers on a scale, it would probably be a ton. Anyway, most are rather roughly defined. To make them even more confusing, they can overlap so that, for instance, we COULD fall into a few different categories.

Overall, it’s like hiring a tutor for your kid like people use to do, only instead of hiring a tutor, YOU are the tutor. And the advantage is the same, only more (you don’t have to pay anyone ). You can fit the schedule to whatever works for you and your kid(s), because some people like one learning style, and other people like others. And if you find a learning style that works for you, school will go much more smoothly. A classroom environment just isn’t capable of doing that: half the kids might be fine with the way the teacher teaches and flourish, while the other half get confused, and teachers just don’t have the ability to cater to each individual child.

But enough about that. I also mentioned free time. Here’s what I mean: on a good day, I wake up around 8-9 and have most of my school done by 1, and what I don’t is all independent reading that is easy to do in bed at night. I then have the rest of the day to drink coffee, free read, practice programming, watch YouTube, play violin, or whatever I may feel like doing. Granted, sometimes it’s hard to time manage and get done what I need to, but I still have the free time to use as I wish (for the most part).

Those are my favorite things about homeschooling, now for…

Some Cons of Homeschooling

Now I’m probably not the best person to ask about cons. Personally there’s nothing I really dislike about homeschooling. But I know a couple of reasons people might not like home-ejucation.

The biggest problem I hear is “I couldn’t teach everything.” I mean, not very many people are even OK at all the subjects, and trying to teach something you don’t fully understand yourself is a scary idea.

Another is the fear that homeschooling’s not social enough, especially if you live out in the country like me. Of course there are often siblings to play with, but if you have an only child, or the closest sibling is five years older, that may not work as well. And your child probably won’t get as much contact with school friends, at least not during the school year, which I believe is why my one friend disliked it.

And then, of course, there’s the problem of both parents working and the child(ren) being too young to stay home alone.

However

First off, let’s point out why some of those aren’t really a problem.

1. “I couldn’t teach everything!”

REST YOUR FEARS. Why? Because the fact you’re reading this tells me you have the single most important tool for making sure your child learns everything. *dramatic pause*
THE INTERNET.

That’s right. If you have the internet your problems in that quarter will be largely solved. Why? Because there are all sorts of online things that are FREE and can teach subjects for you. Khan Academy, AoPS, etc. Plus plenty of places to get ideas from.

Still not sure? Besides the internet there’s always the handy-dandy *another dramatic pause* LIBRARY.

If you have the internet and are reading this, you probably also have a library. Libraries are a great source of educational books, and you don’t have to pay (unless you return them late, but that’s your own fault) and libraries are especially good for trying out books you aren’t sure you want to buy, but that sound interesting.

2. “Not social enough.”

Now I’m not really a social bunny (though I’m pretty sure my Chinese zodiac animal is the rabbit†… Hmm), so this has never been a problem for me. But here are a few ideas:

Co-ops and similar home school groups: ask around, you probably have one in your nearest city, and if you don’t, you could always try starting one!

School’s extracurricular activities: just because you don’t send your kids to the school’s math class, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get them involved with their extracurricular activities such as sports, bands, etc. I don’t know too much about this, but I have friends who do football and such. Plus, if your kid’s school friends also do the activity, it’s two birds with one stone. Or something like that.

And outside the school there are 4H, boy/girl scouts, church activities, dance/play groups, math competitions, and other such things that you can pick between, depending on your child’s interests (and some of these even help with teaching everything). Even if you don’t know about any activities, asking around is always a good — even great — plan. And if you feel awkward… well, you’re the one who wanted your kids to be more social, and who better to set the example than you .

3. “No parents at home.”

Okay, this one I admit doesn’t have an easy fix.  One does not simply walk into Mordor— er, leave kids at home. Same difference, right? *cough cough*.

But seriously, this just isn’t going work. Of course, this depends a lot on the kids and how long the time is that they’ll be alone. If it’s a short time, you may be able to work out something with a friend, and if it’s a mature kid than you can probably trust them not to do anything too drastic.

But sometimes things just doesn’t work out, and I really got nothing.

But if the kid is older, then (s)he can probably be left home alone for a while, assuming you trust them not to get distracted by video games or whatever. I mean, depending how you work out your system, you might be amazed how much they can get done on school alone.

But whether you leave your kid home or not is very touch and go, much like what system of schooling you use. And if you’re still interested in homeschooling, you might wait till your child is old enough to be home alone.

In Other News

There are many other reasons to do (and not to do, I suppose…. :L) home-edjumication. But I think I’ve gone over some of the bigger pros/cons of homeschooling. And like with the social activities, talking to people you know who homeschool can be very helpful in the decision process — just remember you don’t have to homeschool the way they do. Now, until next time, *flourish and bow*.

†Actually, we looked it up: my zodiac is a tiger (silly Chinese new year ;P). Guess that’s why I love cats so much.

Anyway, it’s Monday now, and I was like, “Hey, it’s Monday. School… fun… yay…. I’m going back to bed.” But instead, I dragged myself downstairs and did math… with decimals… I don’t like decimals. At all.

But I do like snow! And fractals, and pictures, and algebra (I was working in pre-algebra, and I’m all like: Yay! and then it was like: Hey, do some decimals, and now I’m all like: ). And stuff. You have no idea how long I spent trying to make that sad face a crying face… But alas, earwax… Er, failure. (If you get that reference, ten points to your house!)

Anyway, what I’m about to talk about has nothing to do with fractals or earwax, and only half to do with algebra, depending on how you define algebra. And snow, part of it has to do with snow.  It does have pictures, though! I like pictures.

Anyway it’s Monday, and the fact you are reading this may hint at how bored you are. But I decided, “Hey, what could make today’s math more fun…”

And the best part, let me tell you: it has nothing to do with decimals. Or numbers, for that matter. First: snow! We all love snow, right? Or at least snowflakes. So today, regardless of whether you have any snow outside or not, you can have fun going back to that holiday craft of paper snowflakes.

Or, if you have a lot of blow-up beach ball balloons and such (Which I don’t… ah well), you can do plastic sphereflakes.

Well, while that’s fun, there’s still math to be done. And that’s where sort-of-algebra and pictures comes in: How ’bout working on some Imbalance Problems. They’re challenging and have nothing to do with numbers. Or (more importantly, says I) decimals. I don’t know if I’ll be making any, but solving them is fun. And once you’re done with those three, here are twelve more! These are fun because they’re logic. And I think almost everyone enjoys logic a bit. In my opinion it’s the best type of math, because it doesn’t feel like math.

Anyway, I need to finish up the imbalance problems, and then decorate my computer with some snowflakes (which may be tricky, since most of it is white…).

But of course, besides those two things, I want to go play in the snow! (This is the first snow we’ve gotten in a few years that is actually both the right consistency and there’s enough of it to do stuff with.)

So this is my semi-review, semi-tutorial (basically, some brief instructions on the things I had the hardest time figuring out).

Why Not Buy It?

Let’s start by covering the cons of a Windows 8. Firstly (and mainly) Windows 8 would not be nearly as fun without touch, and there aren’t that many good touch screens for it yet. When I was shopping, the two monitors I ended up coming down to were an Acer and a Dell.

I bought the Dell. Why? Because from what I’d read online, the Acer had a poor quality control, and if you got a bad apple, it was nigh impossible to get it replaced/fixed. The Dell was practically equal in every way: 23 inch, ten touch, etc., etc. The two main differences were: The Dell has a lower contrast ratio than the Acer, and a better tilt. The Dell screen can go from ten degrees forward to completely flat. I’m not kidding. The Acer had a better contrast, but couldn’t even get up to 90 degrees (straight up and down).

Of course, a touch screen is not absolutely required for using Windows 8 — in fact, sometimes I prefer using the mouse. But admit it: it’s really, really, really fun to swipe your finger across the screen and watch things go flying by.

The most annoying thing I’ve encountered so far is that practically all the apps my computer came with (including Skype) need a Microsoft account. It’s not so bad, but that is my biggest dislike. Though, I suppose, it’s easier than making different passwords for everything. And it probably makes more sense on a tablet. So yeah… not really a biggie.

Anyway, now I shall mention the really nice features of Windows 8, and why it is cool:

Why To Buy/The Neatio Features:

There are a few things that take a bit of figuring out, such as how to switch between screens, or (this is one I saw people complaining about, but is really not that hard at all) how to shut down/restart the computer without using the little button for it on the computer itself. How to search your apps. How to shut down your windows.

Shutting Down

Most of the complaints I saw about this were that the people couldn’t find where to shut down or restart their computer. Turning off is easy: there’s a little sidebar thing that you go to (Windows shows you how to use the sidebar during set up), and then you click “Settings.” This gives you access to many things, including the power button, which has “Sleep”, “Shutdown”, and “Restart” options. Now you know where to find it — it’s easy.

Moving Between Windows

Also, many Windows 8 apps and such are designed for things such as tablets, and because of this, they open up a whole ‘nother screen for themselves. And I don’t mean a new window on your desktop bar. I mean completely separate, like your desktop is separate from your start menu. To switch between these screens with your mouse, just move the pointer to the bottom or top left-hand corners of your screen, and then a small icon thing will pop up. If it’s the one you want, you can just click it. If it isn’t, then move your mouse pointer up or down the side of your screen. A sidebar will pop out, showing all your open windows, and you can click which one you want.

Moving between windows is even easier with touch: just swipe from off-screen on the left, and the computer will scroll to the next screen, and then the next, and the next — which is quick and easy, as long as you don’t go past the window you were looking for.

Closing Said Windows

If you right-click the window icon, it will pop up a little… well… right-click-menu thing, which gives you the option to close that window (and a couple other things I won’t go into).

When it comes to closing a window in touch, I tend to swipe down from the top. Basically: Just drag it to the bottom of the screen. Or, if the window is not currently open, you can swipe it in from the side and then drag it down. You can also do this with a mouse (most of the time) by moving it to the top of the screen. A little hand will appear, and if you click on it, the hand will close. Then you can drag the window around, just like with touch — and, incidentally, drag it to the bottom of the screen to be closed.

Note: when I said that the mouse method works most of the time, it’s because when you’re on the desktop, if you have a program open full-screen (like now, I have Firefox open to write this post), then the mouse won’t work until you shrink the program. Touch does work, if you swipe from off-screen. But otherwise, the mouse just grabs whatever thing is open and makes it smaller. Basically, on the desktop window, it helps to have the top of the screen free.

And Some Stuff About This Thing Called a “Start Menu”

One of the best features of Windows 8 (in my opinion) is the Start Menu. It lets you pin way more things than the earlier versions, and it gives more reason for the little Start Menu button on your keyboard. Before, you might as well move your mouse over and click it on the screen (btw, the bottom left corner is still the place to click to get to the start menu — it just doesn’t have the little round symbol anymore) since you would need your mouse over there anyway. Now, between touch capabilities and the fact that the Start Menu takes up the full screen, there is no point to moving your mouse when you can just tap a button. And tapping it again takes you right back to the desktop.

Also, you should know you can’t just swipe the Start Menu in from the left, like the other screens. But if you swipe in the little sidebar thing that I mentioned earlier, there is also a button for going to the Start Menu.

In Conclusion

There’s a lot more I could tell you, but I think those are the main things. Mostly, Windows 8 is just a bit of a challenge to learn, and after that it’s great. (And I’m loving having my own desktop, instead of having to borrow Mom’s!) If there’s any other features you have questions about, ask!

But overall, I think Windows 8 is a great system. I mean, it does take some getting used to, and obviously we live in an imperfect world, so of course there are going be problems. But so far, I’ve liked it a lot, and if you’re searching for a new computer, don’t go out of your way to get a 7 instead.

P.S: I should mention, the biggest reason I’m enjoying my Windows 8 so much:

Because it’s MINE! Haha, lol. And now I shall go play with it more…

Exeunt!

Tawney smelled the thick brew she was making. It was almost ready, but she felt like something was missing. She stirred, trying to decide what. Maybe a pinch more salt or maybe—

“Mother, they’re calling a meeting,” said Pierre as he entered, not even waiting for the door to swing all the way open. Tawney looked up in time to see it narrowly miss the water bucket before it slammed against the wall.

“When?” asked his mother, whose name, Tawney had learned, was Marianne.

Tawney glanced between them as she stirred the pot of medicine, leaning against her walking stick.

“Tonight.”

“No surprise. It’s probably about the villagers.  They’ll be wanting to warn anyone who doesn’t already know. It’s a bother, though. I’d hoped to stay with Jane.”

“I suppose I could go alone, Mother, or with Abby. Then you could take care of Jane.”

Tawney turned her gaze back to the pot of medicine and gave a small, “Oh!”

In her distraction, she’d stopped stirring, and the mixture had begun to boil fiercely and was threatening to overflow. Tawney dropped the spoon and grabbed the handles of the pot to pull it off the fire and set it on the floor. Her walking stick hit the floor with a loud bang. There was a short pause, and then she slapped her hands against her leggings and hissed through her teeth at the burns, bouncing her weight from foot to foot. A second later, pain shot through her twisted foot.

“Tawney, sit,” commanded Marianne. Tawney quickly obeyed, hopping on one foot backwards to the wooden bench. She lifted her smarting hands to stare at the red skin.

“Pierre, get fresh, cool water,” said Marianne, taking long strides across the room, picking up the water bucket by the door as she went. She set it in front of Tawney and said sharply, “Soak your hand.”

Tawney obeyed, dipping her hands into the water and shutting her eyes. “I’m sorry, but it was boiling. I didn’t want it that hot.” She paused and sniffed the aroma coming from the pot, adding, “It should be ready soon, I think. It just needs more salt.”

Marianne shook her head. “Don’t be sorry to me. Now, stay here and tell me how to finish it. Then when Pierre gets back, I’ll bandage your hand.”

Tawney gave a small nod, squeezing her hands into fists under the water, and then releasing them. “It should only take a pinch of salt, thoroughly stirred in. Then put a couple full scoops in a small bowl for Jane. The rest can store. I am sorry, though. I should have been paying attention.”

Marianne rolled her eyes, picked up the pot from where Tawney had left it on the floor, and proceeded to add salt. Pierre returned as she was ladling the brew into a wooden bowl. She glanced up at him and said, “Leave that water by the door and get Tawney some ointment and bandages. I’m going to take care of Jane.”

Pierre gave his mother a nod, and went to the small cabinet. He barely gave its contents a glance before grabbing a jar and a roll of white bandages. Coming over to Tawney, he said roughly, “Let me see your hands.”

Tawney pulled them out of the water and hesitantly held them out. They prickled and looked red, but nothing worse than that. Pierre opened the jar and applied a thick ointment to them, and almost as soon as it touched, a cooling sensation ran through her hands. After he had rubbed it around he started to wrap her hands in bandages.

Tawney bit her tongue anxiously. Pierre was working with a frown on his face that scared her. Though she was curious, her shyness won out and she remained silent until he finished. Then she asked, “Who’s calling a meeting?”

The boy shrugged. “The people like us, who live in the woods.”

“You mean you’re not the only ones?” said Tawney in surprise.

Pierre gave a wry smile. “Yes, because only one of us could have escaped your knowledge. Obviously, your village could not have been ignorant of an entire society of people like us, living in peace in the forest and hoping that your folk wouldn’t disturb us, and therefore being very careful to remain hidden.”

Tawney blushed. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I’m sorry.”

Pierre grunted, then stalked out of the house. Tawney slumped back against the wall.

To be continued…

Review

GAHGEESHGAROO! (That should be some type of animal… *strokes imaginary beard*…) I just realized I missed my 2012 blogiversary… which mean I’ve now been blogging 5.5 years………… *turns inside out and then explodes*. FIVE AND A HALF YEARS? It feels closer to three and a half… Ah well, let’s look at what I have to show for my five and a half years.

Posts: Counting this one? 111. A cool number, granted, but…. Really? Only 111??? That’s like… 20 posts per year!

Comments: 345 goodies, (again a cool number) and 3,645 spammies.

Subscribers/Followers: 7ish. Mostly family and friends.

My biggest categories are:

1. Stories, at 25
2. Blogging, at 21
3. Miscellaneous, at 20

So, yeah… That’s all I have to show for the first 5.5 years, but what comes next?

Moving On!

I’m fourteen now, for those of you who didn’t know. (My birthday is Jan 1st. I’m convinced that the Rose Parade is really in celebration of it ). When I started this blog, I was eight. I was story loving, cat obsessed, and maybe a little bit set on proving that I could do things my older brother did (like start a blog). Now I’m… Still story loving, still cat obsessed, and I ‘m now also crazy and random and weird… Hmmmmmmmm, hm, hm, hmmmm. Anywho, (how, and when):

I’ve been a teenager for a whole year. I was always pretty spotty on the whole posting thing, but I think I’ve been getting worse lately. I haven’t done anything story related for ages. That was what my blog was about when it first started: it was my writing outlet. But since I really got down and wrote a book, I haven’t been as into writing stories on my blog. I just kind of fell out of the blogging-van this past year.

But I love my blog. It’s fun to be able to get on and write totally random stuff. But I think it’s time to move it in another direction. I don’t know quite yet what EXACTLY that direction will be, but I have some ideas to get started. And I’m hoping that having that direction will let me post more.

Now I will not stop posting stories. This is after all, “Kitten’s Purring, stories for a cozy lap”, but I think of the increase in “postage”, part of that will have to include having a lot of non-story stuff. Here are some of my goals for how this blog will move, though:

• Posts that reflect God. I don’t feel like I make him a big enough part of my posts. I want to fix that problem in the upcoming year.
• More schoolish things. I’ve made some math posts, but… I think I might start making posts about the school books/methods/etc. that I like. You know, for all you teachers out there.
• Just… More. I want to get back into posting a lot. I’m hoping to get at least 2 posts a week. Or at least closer to that than 2 posts per 6 months.

You’re right if you guessed that this has to do partly with having read Do Hard Things. The book really inspired me to get out of my rut… I’ve been slacking at a lot of stuff besides my blog! So this is part of my movement to a God centered life. So yeah, here’s to 2013!

Fireworks!!!! YAY (photo by nigelhowe on flickr)

Do Hard Things was written by Alex and Brett Harris when they were teens. It’s about how teenagers have been trapped by low expectations, how they think of the teen years as a time to party. And how it’s not.

Alex and Brett challenge teenagers to do hard things. Not hard things like lift weights, or denying self pleasure, but five type of hard things that can be scary, HARD, but good.

1. Things outside your comfort zone.
2. Things that go beyond what’s expected/required.
3. Things that take more than one person to accomplish.
4. Things that don’t have an immediate payoff.
5. Things that go against the crowd.

They tell inspiring stories and give ideas of how to get started. And though Do Hard Things is by Christian teens for Christian teens, I think that it would be a good read for anyone.

All in all I give the book 5/5 stars, and would encourage you to check it out if you haven’t — if for no other reason than that the forward was written by Chuck Norris .

Stars:

I’d give it 4/5. Not as good as the LotR (Lord of the Rings), but pretty good. A good movie even if you’ve read the book (which you should go do, if you haven’t).

Rating:

It’s rated PG-13. I’d say if you have seen the Lord of the Rings, it’ll be more than fine.

I didn’t notice much blood, (though I’ve never minded blood that much, so that could just be me) or anything. There were battle scenes, but y’know, that’s LotR for you. So I say again: If you’ve seen LotR, you’ll be fine.

Plot (may contain spoilers):

Pretty good. Mostly it followed the book, and the extras they added fit well.

Gandolf and 13 dwarves recruit a usually ‘proper’ stay-at-home-type hobbit named Bilbo Baggins to help them take back the dwarves’ mountain home from a fierce dragon, Smaug — though they believe it’s possible that Smaug is dead, since he has not been seen for a long time.

At first Bilbo is reluctant, but then he is pulled into the spirit of Adventure and rushes off to join the dwarves (unfortunately forgetting his handkerchiefs!) On this adventure he faces many dangers.

However it seems that more is going on than just the dwarves taking back their mountain. Gandolf’s problems include a dark wizard called “The Necromancer” who seems to be raising dark forces, including the Witch King. Because of him, the forest is turning dark, plants and animals dying…

And Bilbo and the dwarves? They have an angry Orc, eager for revenge.

Overall (maybe some spoilers):

The movie did have at least one line that was completely hilarious and rather out of character. For those of you who have read the book: They changed what saved them from the Trolls a bit, but what they did with it probably worked better for the movie.

I loved the brown wizard — first that the movie included him, second that just his character was fun. My memories of the book is foggy, but I don’t remember him being in it. However, I think his addition was great.

The movie did alright for the songs. Of course they had to drop the elves’ songs when the dwarves reached Rivendell. Otherwise they would have seemed far to silly to fit in with LotR.

In general, the changes worked well, the characters were portrayed well, etc., etc., and I think it was a good movie, and I’m eager for the next two. It wasn’t as good as LotR by any means, but those were very good movies and would be hard to beat.

On a brighter note, it’s Christmas! And this is a Christmas post! And sooooooooooooooooooooo:

How is/was your Christmas? Or whatever you celebrate. This year, as always, we had lots of food. Some of it we gave nick-names like “Beam-me-up-Scottie” (biscotti) and “Iced muffins”. Long story.

Here’s some of my presents:

• A logic puzzle book thing
• A coffee mug and yummy-looking chocolate mixes
• Panera gift card
• The Hunger Games (movie)
• X-Men Destiny for the WII
• And a couple other things

So, that’s all good and fun. And I vote that the game means I get to play on the WII today… Right?

What type of things did you get? I’m going to stuff myself with nuts, and put my things away, and then I’m going to think about writing a Christmas story. I have an IDEA… it’s just not complete yet. So I may or may not do it.

Also I have some pictures of Cimorene that I might put up sometime soon.

So, yeah, that was my Christmas, ttyl!

P.S. This might be my first ever Christmas Post that is actually posted on Christmas! Lol

So how is everyone? End of the world and all, tons of fun, right? Yup, I have everything set up for the zombie apocalypse already.

Unfortunately, my throat is rebelling. It’s been sore most of the morning… I REFUSE TO BE SICK AT THE END OF THE WORLD!!! Honestly, who would want to be sick at the end of the world?

Also, I finished writing The Riddle Stone Book 2 yesterday. *sigh* One day short of 12, 12, 12. If only I’d realized that yesterday and stopped myself. On a brighter note, while the zombies are busy dying in my piranha trap, I can be editing! Ho, ho ho, Merry Christmas… Yeah, I really don’t look forward to editing that much, actually…

Anyway, why is 12:12:12:12:12:12 so special? I mean, besides the end of the world and all. Last year there was an 11:11:11:11:11:11. And the year before that a 10:10:10:10:10:10. You get the picture? There’s even two 12:12:etc. in a day: one AM, one PM. Of course, this will be the last megarepetitive date for a while… *pause while I calculate*… The next one will be in just over 88 years, and 88 is a repeat number, too. Lol. But it is sadly not 88.8 years — that’d be just too hilarious.

But you realize, in 88 years (roughly) there will be a set of 12 years that all have repeat digits like today. That’s actually exactly 100 years per cycle… Lol. All the interesting things we can discover and then be like “OH! That makes total sense because…”

So yeah, end of the world, big explosion, piranhas, zombies… Why is it always zombies? There are way too many games and movies and songs and books and EVERYTHING about zombies. Maybe it’s just an apocalypse thing. Maybe next year it’ll be hippogryphs. That would be cool.

By the way, while I can’t schedule this post down to the second, I can schedule it so it’ll be posted at 12:12:12:12. So that’s cool, right?

Anyway, happy 12:12:12:12:12:12, end of the world, Merry Christmas, and all that jazz!

Literally, there is snow on the blog. I love that feature.

But the point is, it’s starting to feel a bit like winter over here in rural Illinois, so I’m asking you: What things make it winter for you?

Winter winds blowing,
It’s freezing, it’s snowing,
Next year is coming so fast.
Together we’re laughing,
Everyone ‘s shopping,
Remembering Christmases past.

So that poem was a bit rough around the edges, but hey, I’m out of practice — and poems were never my forte anyway.

Anyway, in case I don’t get a chance to say this later: Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you — wherever you are, and regardless of what holiday you celebrate this month.

Cheers,
P. Kitten

P.S. You can make the snow go different ways by moving your mouse.