In January 2008, I bought a 2002 Prius with 126,000 miles on it. I hoped it would last long enough for me to pay what I borrowed to buy it – and it has lasted long past that.

Now it has more than 224,000 miles on it. Earlier this year, I brought it in after I knocked off the driver-side mirror, and later when a warning light went off. Both times, I ended up paying more than $1000 for other problems they found.

So today it was with much trepidation that I brought it in for a state inspection and servicing. The only thing they found was that a tail light was out! It only cost me $134.

It still gets around 40 miles per gallon, and is such a wonderful car. Now I hope it will keep running until I can pay down my debt enough to be able to afford a new one. That may take awhile! But meanwhile, I’m so thankful for my little car!

Tonight I received a check in the mail to cover my attendance at the January 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting and ALSC Mini-institute! Since I charged the trip to credit cards, it will be so lovely to pay them off.

And the trip was fantastic – and probably the crucial thing that got me elected to the 2019 Newbery Award committee, because I asked many people there to vote for me.

Last week, when updating a blog post – two of my blogs crashed. It looked like I might lose all of Project 52 – the year-long project where I’d written the story of my life.

I’m very thankful that – after two messages saying it was fixed when it wasn’t – my web hosting company was able to restore the blogs to the week before the problem happened.

So I’ve got it all back – and I made an extra copy of Project 52.

And I have new appreciation for my blogs.