ATSK is wishing everyone a Frightfully Good New Year!

HAPPY 2011 EVERYONE!   Wishing everyone health, wealth, happiness, and plenty of free time to read in 2011! 


This morning when my eyes were still blurry from sleep, a myriad of thoughts flooded my mind, I just knew I had to blog today.  Hold on, this is going to be a long post.

When looking back on this past year, I reminiced about all the good fortune and times I have personally had. (The first in many years.)  I'm kind of sad to see 2010 pass for many reasons.  I can only hope that 2011 can bring more of the same happiness, luck, and good fortune.

I'm starting this 1st of January thoroughly enjoying the movie Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.  My family and I are watching it right now while writing this blog post.  My son has been reading this thrilling series for school this year.  Rent this movie, it is a must see film. 

A wise friend once told me that whatever you do on the first day of the new year is what you will be stuck doing the rest of the entire year so choose your actions wisely.  So I have adopted to avoiding at all costs cleaning toilets, washing dishes, cleaning my house, doing laundry, eating heavy meals, and anything I don't wish to spend the rest of the year doing.  I want to be spending more time blogging, reading, spending time with my family, watching frightingly good movies, and working out.  What would be better than that?  I've got a good anwer for that one, maybe getting to see Stephen King in person today. :)

One of the best things about the new year is awaiting a new book (or two lately) from Stephen King.  I am just about out of my mind trying to figure out what book(s) he may have in store for us this year.  Is it going to be Wind Through The Keyhole or Doctor Sleep?  Is he going to surprise us again with two new books this year?  Will the 3 CD's for The Ghost Brothers Of Darkland County be released or will it be pushed back to 2012?  Will the musical The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County finally be on stage in 2011?  Will there be more information on the Spielberg project Under The Dome TV series? 

There are so many questions to ascertain in a new year about Stephen King such as releases, book signings, and public appearances.  These are some of the questions that come to mind:

• Will Stephen King recieve any awards this year for his Blockade Billy or Full Dark, No Stars?
• Will he do another UStream chat for his fall upcoming TBA release? 
• I would love to know if SK will be consulted about casting choices for Roland?
• (These are just a few of the questions, as more questions come to mind I will post them here.)

No way all that happened in 2010 and this is what I've got planned for 2011. 

I try not to make too many goals that seem unattainable but I have found that one day at a time is the only way to succeed at anything.

Last year, on January 11, 2010 I began a lifestyle change to work out each day for at least 30 minutes.  I have worked out for 30 minutes or more everyday since then, despite getting pneumonia in October.  I made up the days I missed to contiue on course to my goal.  My 2011 goal, beginning the 11th of January is to increase from a half hour daily to 1 hour.  I'm hoping to reach that goal too.

Another choice I have made it to try to make a blog post everyday.  That is going to be difficult so there may be some days with  only one-sentence posts. 

Book Chick City's Stephen King Challenge is on my list and the my first tiny book is going to be The Colorado Kid since I will be spending a lot more time on the treadmill this year I will have time for this challenge.  I'm going to knock out all the small books that he has written first that should get me the six then I will go for the 12.

I got to see Stephen King in person 2 times this year.  Hoping he will come to the DC area so I don't have to travel so far next year.

Last year was a lucky year for me, really lucky and I'll tell you why.  I didn't mention that I found out about winning another caption contest the same week I found out about winning Stephen's Empire, two days later actually.  Do you remember when I went to The New Yorker Festival to see SK back in October?  On the back of the ticket it mentioned that Acura was hosting a cartoon caption contest for the festival.  My husband got up and grabbed a form for me to come up with a caption for the cartoon, I sat there a couple of minutes looking at the cartoon.  The cartoon was of a valet with a helmet on his head and the Acura car owner fearfully handing over his keys.  My caption was, "I've been looking forward to 'parking' one of these."   The funny thing about winning these two contests was that I had never entered a caption contest in my life before these two contests.  Funny, huh?  Oh, what did I win, you ask?  My winnings were an 64 GB wifi iPad, $100 iTunes gift card, and a one of a kind framed cartoon with my caption.  I was one of 3 winners.  But that's not all, I am a collector of Hallmark Ornaments (mainly pop culture e.g. Harry Potter, Wizard of Oz, and Disney) and this year they were having a drawing for a limited free ornament at each store.  My name was picked from the Rockville, MD location.    I won this repaint of  Ten Terrific Years Colorway, I also bought the regular issue for this year of Ten Terrific Years.  Note that the colors of the hats and the scarves are different on each ornament.  Another contest that I won this past year was again with Hallmark. They have a wonderful collection of Willow Tree nativities.  When they called I about fell over because this was about the 4th time I won this year.  I thought it would be a single figure and very small.  These figures were about 18 inches tall!  They fit perfectly on my bookshelves.  The edition was The Christmas Story Figurines on the left with a bonus which was signed by the artist Susan Lordi!!!!!!  Lastly, I had never won any money in the past when I picked numbers for the lottery.  My mother kept urging me to play the lottery because of my lucky streak so I bought a Powerball ticket and guess what I won?  A whopping three dollars ha ha ha!  Happy New Year wishing you a lucky streak that lasts forever!  :0)



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