What's new in 2012?

Our oldest granddaughter, Anne, is living with us. She is tall, lanky, beautiful, smart and never sucks the air out of a room. I love her more than my own skin. She goes to university and works in a fast food place. She's planning to be in Mexico next summer with her best friend, Anna. I already miss her.

I gained seven pounds over the Christmas holidays and it doesn't look good. Although, I have to say I intended to run fudge through an IV directly into my arm way before Christmas. So it's back to diet class and a competition with other dieters. I love dieting competitions. I like to win.

Tonight was my third watercolor class and I'm in love with my teacher, Marian Dunn, 81, a pistol if there ever was one. She spouts watercolor wisdom for three hours while we paint. Better than prozac.

Well, maybe not.

I drove down to UVU today and filled out the tax forms and collected the two textbooks for the

English composition classes I'll be teaching. What a pleasure it still is to receive free books.

I will love being in the classroom again, and I will hate reading their papers, but as I always like to say, every silver lining has its cloud.

I like the sound of 2012, like saying it aloud. Like even numbers. I will turn 70 this year. I was conceived in January of 1942. January was a good month for conceiving for my parents. They had four of their nine children in September.

January is a good month to make a baby, or a watercolor picture, teach a class and go on that diet. Who doesn't go on a diet in January?

If I were young I'd say to Tom, "Let's make a baby." He'd be all enthusiastic about the idea.

Right now, he's sleeping in a sitting position with his laptop open to a backgammon game that he has forfeited. I will have to walk around the bed, close his laptop, put it on the floor, remove his glasses, turn off his bedside lamp, turn off my own lamp and wait for the Ambien to kick in.

What's new with you?