Real estate

Good news! There's a new family moving into the neighbourhood. Meet the Nutkins.

Mr. & Mrs. Nutkin are newlyweds who've been renting until now. Poor things. Their landlord hasn't been very willing to fix up the place.

Mr. Nutkin loves to bake. He's doing pretty well with this old wood stove but would prefer newer appliances.

Mrs. Nutkin wants her own home. She's sitting at the dining table, sipping hot tea and enjoying cake, while daydreaming about wallpaper and new sofas and fireplaces.

She also wishes the roof didn't leak every time it rains. The darn rental house needs a new roof pretty badly. Miserly landlord.

Mr. Nutkin wishes they had windows. It gets a bit drafty in the winter.

And of course there needs to be room for sewing in the new house. Mrs. Nutkin is very crafty, you know.

After looking around, the Nutkins decided to build their dream house.

They picked the Arthur Limited Edition by Greenleaf. What luck! We have one in stock right now. And guess what?

The Nutkins hired me to be their builder and decorator.

What fun!

10 for 2010

January 19th isn't too late for New Year's resolutions is it? I've been thinking about them since the beginning of the month. That should count for something, right?

1. Stop being guilty for doing nothing on my days off.

2. Be nice.

3. Preserve something this summer. Pickles or jam or something like that.

4. Play in the snow. Once, just once.

5. Be patient. With people. With circumstances. With myself.

6. Learn to swim.

7. Pray.

8. Accept my body.

9. Cook more meals.

10. Start running again.

So there you go. These are my promises to myself this year. I really hate the whole idea of resolutions at New Year's, but I need some goals.

Neighbours

Well, I'm being slightly more productive. Laundry was done (& mostly folded and put away). Dishes were washed. Stuff always gets done eventually around here.

I was feeling a bit sad yesterday. Board meetings can be difficult at times. Put a dozen opinionated women (plus the occasional brave man) in a room together for 2 1/2 hours and someone's feelings are bound to get hurt. Mine got bruised, which left me feeling a little wary about my fellow human being. I was pretty wired after the meeting so I couldn't sleep.

PLUS, some person complained about ice on our sidewalk, which prompted a visit from the by-law officer! In our defense, shiftwork, holidays, sickness, and the fact our sidewalk is busy with pedestrian who pack down the snow faster than we can shovel it, creates a lot of difficulty getting our sidewalk cleared of snow. We've had some above seasonal temperatures the last week or so, so the snow melts quickly but turns to ice at night. We, of course, would have felt very badly should someone have fallen and hurt themselves on our sidewalk, and will probably do everything in our power to ensure that this type of ice build up never occurs again, but still. They called by the by-law officer. A kindly worded note would have worked too.

So, our sidewalk looked a lot like this. Only worse. This is after we (meaning mostly Javier) cleared away some ice. It was back breaking and arm exhausting work.

So I was feeling a bit delicate emotionally yesterday and very, very tired.

Javier and I took turns clearing the sidewalk. I'd like to emphasize that Javier did most of the work. We got most of it done in the afternoon. I sprinkled the remaining ice with some environmentally-friendly snow melter and we planned to finish the rest after dinner.

And this is where my faith in the goodness of humanity was restored.

Our very, very kind neighbour finished clearing the ice from the rest of the sidewalk while we were both out! "It was fun", he said. How nice is that? There are still good people in my world.

And I am very happy about the sunny weather, though it makes for very messy and wet footwear and dirty cars. I'm able to go out in just a sweater instead of a heavy winter coat.

I think I may have heard the lions panting from heat exhaustion yesterday. If it gets any warmer, maybe I'll have to swap the scarves out for sun hats and SPF!

A good housewife, I'm not

I'm having difficulty getting things done these past two days. My cupboards and fridge are bare. There are mountains of laundry to be washed, dried, & folded. The dishwasher needs to be emptied and reloaded. Oliver needs to go to the vet. And I have to prepare for a board meeting tonight.

Have I done any of this? No. Well, actually I did 1 1/2 loads of laundry.

The good news is that I still have my priorities in order.

In the past two days I've mastered the basics of Photoshop Elements, designed three new blog headers, reformatted by blog to be three columns, attempted to add a new background to my blog, cleaned the craft room, played with my dollhouse furniture, and made three lattes. Oh and I made dinner too.

I may not be a good housewife, but I'm staying true to my blogging and crafting inclinations. Reprioritize? Nah...

A New Year's Holiday

We just got back from our post-Christmas holiday. Can you guess where we went?

Two hints: It's the birthplace of Starbucks and there are one (if not two or three) of these coffee shops on practically every corner.

Seattle!

We debated going away for Christmas this year, but decided we'd prefer to wake up at home on Christmas morning and still have a vacation to get us through the post-holiday blues.

We arrived on New Years Eve, braved the market for some fresh provisions to get us through the evening, and settled into the house we rented on Elliot Bay in the Magnolia area of Seattle. We spent the evening in front of a warm fire. Dinner was marvelous, as was the company. We assembled a puzzle together and were all tucked in bed well before the new year came in. We had bold plans to view the fireworks at the Space Needle, but decided not to brave the rain. All in all, one of the best New Years Eves I've ever had.

There was plenty of seafood to be eaten.

And places to explore.

Yummy cupcakes were devoured, on several occasions actually.

Walls were climbed. My arms still ache.

The views from our deck were magnificent, especially when it was sunny.

Creamy clam chowders were gobbled.

And pretty shells were discovered on a late night trek on the beach at low tide.

It was such a great holiday, especially after a hectic fall and the usual Christmas hustle & bustle. Lots of laughs and quality family time.

Now it's back to our regular routine (boo). Oh well, all good things must come to an end.