Dec 30, 2009

WAHOO!!!!! The papers have been signed. . .

As you may remember, our house was on the market. We had gotten one low-ball offer, so we were about to get SERIOUS about the lipstick we were putting on it. We went out and bought new kitchen appliances last night (we got a screamin' deal) and had plans to begin putting in new flooring beginning next week. Well, the low-ball offer came up enough for us to accept it this evening, which means the appliances will be headed for our new place on the island (wherever THAT is). AND we won't have to deal with the floors now. . .YAY!

We will probably begin searching in earnest for our new place next week, followed quickly by all the business of packing up and relocating. If everything goes through the way it is supposed to, we need to be outta here by the last week of February. After some big-time insomnia last night, I'm hoping for some shut-eye tonight, but we'll see how it goes.

I managed to do some hair maintenance on the guys today and I finally got the holiday letter written, but I guess it is already outdated! I may decide to wait and send it in a month or so when I have our new address. . .I dunno. . .What do you think?

Christmas Day 2009

This is the bowl of cioppino that Ron had for dinner last night as is our Christmas eve tradition. I think this batch came out pretty well considering the limited access to fresh shellfish in this neck of the woods.

I think everyone had a nice day at home today, we got started at about 6:30 am. For breakfast, we ate a bread I made of multigrain flour with a cinnamon-apple-raisin filling yesterday. it was nice to have it all ready except for baking this morning. There has been nearly non-stop Wii fun with the new games today (MarioKart and Wii Sports Resort). I think my shoulders may be a bit tender tomorrow after my turns paddling in the canoe races with Ron and Dax this afternoon. There were the usual holiday family phone calls made and received. It is always good to talk to our folks. The dogs got new stuffies and they have been loving them up all day.

We had a fairly simple early meal of roast turkey, brussels sprouts and spicy yam oven fries. The kids have been munching on candy all day today, so I think the pumpkin pies will be saved for a meal tomorrow sometime. I will probably also make the dressing, cranberries and gravy at that time so we can have it with the left-over turkey. It was really nice just to "chill" with the family today.

The weather was beautifully clear, cool (+/- 37 F) and crisp today.

December 21, 2009

Last week we went to the "Holiday Train" where I volunteered with St. John, we made donations to the food bank and enjoyed some chilly evening entertainment. I also covered the "Wildlights" display at the wildlife park for St. John one evening AND we had 4 more showings of our house. Apparently, we are expecting a "low offer" on Wednesday. We'll see just how low, low is.

I have finally managed to get a bit of the Christmas baking done today. I made some applets, rocky road fudge, almond roca and another batch of spritz today. Tomorrow I plan to do a batch of hrstula, then package up the goodies and make a few small deliveries.

There is a light dusting of snow outside, but we have rain in the forecast. . .time will tell if it will be a white Christmas around here.

I am SO grateful the days will start getting longer after today. . .

Dec 8, 2009

I think winter has arrived! The high has been around 10 F here for the last couple of days with no real snow to speak of. . . .Brrr. . . .

Yesterday afternoon there was another showing of our place, but no offers so far. This morning I finished emptying the china cabinet and Ron took the dining table apart. It is a nice oak set, but it is contemporary style (not my style AT ALL). We have a friend who wants the set, so he will be retrieving the china hutch, table, chairs and I hope the entertainment center on Saturday. We have been donating a little stuff every week to the Boys/Girl's club in an effort to clear the 16+ years of accumulation. There is still plenty to pack, organize and sort through.

We also started painting the family room today. . .I made gingerbread cookie dough yesterday, but have yet to actually cut out and bake any cookies with it yet. Maybe we will get to the Christmas decoration part next week sometime. . . I hope. . . .or maybe we should just forget the whole thing this year. . .

Dec 2, 2009

We have been busy applying "lipstick" to the house for the last couple of days. For the most part, we are using stuff we already have around here and just packing things up and clearing things out. I am in the process of painting both bathrooms and today I put some vinyl tile squares we had left over from another project on the downstairs bathroom floor (where we had previously removed old carpet from the concrete YUCKKK!!!!). As you can see, I have found a way to re-purpose my textbooks, they are helping to weigh the tiles down in lieu of one of those heavy roller thingies. As I was preparing to do the tiles, I noticed the toilet tank had a slight crack that was seeping water, so we have now replaced the toilet. Fortunately we had a new one still in a carton that I have moved many times from one storage spot to another. Now I guess we don't have to figure out what to do with it any more!

The annual Nativity display at church began yesterday and the boys are performing in the live pagent each evening this week. Ron and I will also be hosting the next two afternoons.