Winter. There’s something special about all that snow and ice, but that specialness wears off sometime after the holidays when there’s nothing but small celebrations like Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s days to look forward to. The gloom can settle in, making it hard to see what’s just so special about the everyday.

Us snowbound folk can’t claim to be the only ones who have predictable periods of gloom in our lives. Sometimes the clouds gather not in the sky but in our heads even in the sunniest weather.

And sometimes we’re lucky. Sometimes we notice a sparkle of light and sun in the most mundane moment, and it beats the gloom into submission. For me, sometimes it’s a student’s silly comment or the sight of T bringing me a special, unexpected treat. It could be a sky of beautiful stars, or if I’m lucky, a startling northern lights display. Maybe it’s just the breathless giggle of a very happy and very ticklish little boy.

What brings out your inner sunshine when the gloom takes over?

First, write a post about your sunshine or take a picture of it and provide us with a caption.

Then, when you’re finished, link the entry to this blog and leave a comment on this post by 8 p.m. CST on Friday, January 18.

On Friday, I’ll post links to all your entries and ask readers to visit your blogs. Everyone will get a chance to vote for a favorite entry through a poll like the one on the left through 8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 23. The blogger with the most popular entry according to my very unscientific poll gets a measly $20 Amazon gift certificate.

And, at the end of this, I think we’ll all be winners :) Good luck!

**EDIT**

After thinking about it, I shifted the dates just a little bit so that I didn’t interfere with Stacy’s Thursday theme, which happens to be winter. So, comment and post by Friday, January 18; voting is over by Tuesday, January 23.

I L-O-V-E to read really crappy Chick Lit books. Sorry, I do. I’m also pretty pleased to find me a new novel by a southern woman writer or maybe some nice mystical realism…and then there’s my fascination with Amy Tan and Toni Morrison.

I’ve got way too many books sitting on my bookshelf, as you might imagine any self-respecting English teacher might. Oh, and then there’s the fact that my husband is also an English teacher. See the problem?

So, when I stumbled upon PaperBackSwap two weeks ago, I was guardedly excited. I added thirty books to my list, got a couple of free credits and requested a few books. A week later, I had some new books to read and I hadn’t spent dime, yet. It was like the library with no due dates.

Last week, I had my first request for one of the books I’d listed. I mailed it for $2.13 at the post office to the address the PaperBackSwap system provided me, and tonight I was notified that the person who I sent the book to had recieved it, so I was awarded another credit.

So now, I get to request another book, which will probably arrive in a week or so. I’ve mailed two more books since the first and should soon be able to get two more books.

By the way, the list of available books? Huge.

Now I just wish more people would request the 30 or so books I have on my list so that I can get more credits and more books.

If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to use the button at the left if you want…and only if you want. If you click it, sign up as my referral and post nine books, I get a credit. I’m not posting this for that reason, though. Really, I’m just so excited about all these books and how much more room there is on my bookshelf now that I’ve moved all those book onto my desk and the “staging area.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUq2A2tOcgU[/youtube] With the weekend starting, I thought you might want to view this little precautionary tale. Whatever you do, stay away from the chimney.