Early morning

Jay is still lying in the bed. I just don't understand how he does it! My body won't let me sleep late anymore, now that I get up for work at 6:30 (that's what time I'm SUPPOSED to get up; it's usually closer to 7). So I have been up, hanging out on the couch with Abby watching reruns on television. She is much better. She was droopy all day yesterday but she finally ate a little after we got back from dinner. Now she is back to her old self! :) I guess she just ate something that she wasn't supposed to. Abby is into everything; it's hard to keep track of her constantly. I have a tendency to be overly concerned about her. She started limping one day, and I panicked and took her to the vet. I found out, $200 later, that she was perfectly fine. Oh well, she is our child for the time being.

Jay's dad gave me the most charming little book for Christmas (in addition to the gift card to Outback-yum!). I didn't have the chance to read for pleasure much in the past year and a half, (Becker study guides don't count) so that is yet another thing I am looking forward to this year. It is From Manhattan to Mississippi: A New Yorker Falls in Love with the South. Daisy Karam-Read, the author, moved to the coast when she married a southern boy. She discusses southerners' mannerisms, our food, and our hospitality. Her assessments are so true, they made me laugh at loud. One observation in particular, about fencing in the backyard, really hit home. Her husband said it would make them appear to be "unfriendly." How true this is. When we were looking at homes to purchase back in August, I noticed how many homes now have fences. When I was growing up (before my parents moved to the middle of nowhere), no one had fences in their backyards, except people who had pools. I remember the names of all of the neighbors who lived around us.

Now, we live in a neighborhood where fences are the norm, not the exception. While I'm thankful for the fenced-in yard because it means Abby can go out and play safely when she's been particularly annoying, I do feel that it shuts other people out. I have been living here for three months now (Jay - one month), and I haven't even SEEN the people who live to the right of us. The husband in the neighboring family to the left made a point to introduce himself while I was moving in. I have yet to meet the neighbors across the street. But I still object to the fence on principle!

If you get some time to check out the book, I highly recommend it. I even learned a few new things about the south that I didn't know before: the difference in Cajun and Creole cooking. Never knew there was one!

I will have lots of time to read with Jay going back to school (2 nights a week) and then going to a LSAT review course (2 nights a week + Saturday mornings + Sunday afternoons). I don't know what I am going to do without him! The library is less than 5 minutes from our house, so I guess I'll have to go check out a stack of books. I don't think I've been since I started studying for the exam, but that may have more to do with the fines I still owe on the last stack of books I checked out.