1-1-13

It's hard to believe, but I finished the New Years letters and photos today. Printed over 70 photos and got consent from all the kids for their news brief in the letter. I used merge mail to print all the envelopes and Dan stuck on the stamps. We had a quiet day- nice walk in the woods in Town Creek park. I really love living here this time of year.

12-31-12

This concludes six years of photo blogging my life! Dinner tonight with friends at Maestro's then dessert at Mom's. It's been a roller coaster year, but I'm happy to be grounded now, and think that the ride is on level track.Who knows what 2013 will bring-- I hope it's full of crochet, gardening, successful research and publications and teaching, family visits, and overall somewhat mundane and boring.. Boring would be good!

12-30-12

Today Root and Jes went on a mushroom hunting expedition while I contemplated making gumbo for dinner. They brought back a couple finds and identified them with their official mushroom identification book. They talked about leaving for Atlanta... so I schemed to make gumbo to entice them to stay. The stock smelled so housewarming. The rue was the first I'd made in the new house. It was perfect. I assembled the rue and stock, leaving Dan with stirring instructions.

Then we went on a trip to campus to see my office and move a few items into it. Afterwards we went to the grocery store to get more gumbo ingredients. They decided to stay. Squirt decided to make the trip to Atlanta tomorrow with them.

Root sliced and sauteed the mushrooms (Bluets?) which were purple. We all had a taste. Mmmm..... and are alive to tell the tale. The gumbo was perfect.

12-29-12

Today we started off with a sad farewell to Aza, making the long trek back to Virginia.
Later in the morning, the rest of us made a trip to the art museum. We walked there and back. Then we went to Chewakla State Park for a hike down to the falls.

 

 

The kids jumped the river and we drove around to meet them on the other side of the lake.
We went out to dinner at Mellow Mushroom and were happy to hear Aza had made it safely back to Virginia. We sent her a "thumbs up" picture.

 

12-28-12

We went for a walk to the arboretum this morning. This is the park where Dan and I first decided to get married. It's a special place for us. This is the love tree.. it's two live oaks grown together. The girls decided to climb it.

Dan and I rested underneath it and pondered the past 27 years.

While we were gone, Squirt decided to do something special for us. He planned to take all the ornaments off the Christmas tree, take the tree out to the carport, cut slices of the trunk off for a gift of coasters and trivets, and return the tree re-decorated before we returned from our trip to the arboretum.

Well, it didn't go as planned. He ran into trouble with siphoning the water from the stand, fending off Kitten Lilly, dealing with a mess made by Frisbee Whippet,  and untangling strands of lights.

We let him go ahead and proceed with his plan.After a while he got the tree back up.
We decided to make him an ornament from a scrap piece of wood.

The girls even got to help re-decorate the tree as usual.

12-27-12

The survivors.
We had an open house this afternoon and friends stopped by including our dear friend Tannen Baum who is also a thyroid cancer survivor and was a good support to Jes during the ordeal.

12-26-12

Jes cooked dinner tonight...
Shepherd's Pie mmmm
She gave Aza a spice and herb lesson. Aza was guessing the spice by smell and they were discussing the uses for them all.

 

12-25-12

 

Christmas Day 2012
With our 8 foot tree surrounded by gifts, we started with a French Toast Breakfast.


Frisbee is not feeling well. We are pampering him, hoping he rebounds.

Gift opening was fun... and then we rested up before dinner at my mom's house.
Ham, standing rib roast, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans with caramelized onions and shallots, and pecan pie for dessert.

12-24-12

Kitten Lilly rests her head on part of an afghan I'm making for Root. This evening Jes arrived and we had Christmas Eve dinner at our house with my mom. Baked chicken, lima beans, peas, mashed potatoes and gravy served on my grandparents' dinnerware from the '50s.

 Kitten Lilly decided to climb UP my back during dinner and rest on my shoulder. Aza got a photo as I was reeling from the pain of her little claws digging in my back. Sweet kitty.

12-23-12

We went for a great walk this morning in the park just down the street. Really lovely. Then Aza and I went shopping and out to lunch at Panera for grilled cheese. Mom stopped by after dinner and had a cup of tea (I love that part of moving home). Aza and I went ahead and decorated the tree since Jes is arriving so late tomorrow night.

Dan decided to put a sealant on the granite counter top tonight. It looks luscious.

12-22-12

Aza is here! She drove 11.5 hours and made it in time for dinner. She brought her kitten Lilly, here perched on the couch with Squirt, eying the scary dog who is terrified of her.

We got a kitchen runner rug today from an antique store. I like it and will post a photo later. We also got a Christmas tree but Aza wants to decorate it after Jes arrives Monday so they can do their Nutcracker dance routine. Don't ask.

 Like the rug?

Monday night I will be full up with joy.

12-21-12

Started this morning with a working frenzy again. Painted the laundry doors poorly (lots of brush marks) and unpacked nick nack boxes and organized photos and spray painted a wall light. Went shopping in the afternoon and developed a migraine.

Rushed home and crawled in bed to rest. This is what my sweet husband brought me.

Aza comes tomorrow and I'm so so so so so so so excited. So x 100 excited. To the tenth power. Squared.

12-20-12

Today I obsessed over this corner bench. At 9am I determined to sand the top until no speck of remnant paint remained, and then stain and seal it. I sanded. Then I used paint remover. Then I resorted to hand picking out specks of imbedded paint. Four hours later I gave up. Primed it twice and gave it a coat of oil paint.

Also polyurethaned the thresholds, primed the laundry doors, and painted the front door and coat closet door.

I was up late and worked hard.

12-19-12

Rodrigue is in the house!

Hoffman is over the fire place!

Nana's mirror and crystal lamps are on the buffet!

The tile is grouted!
I feel home. I had a deep rooted sense of belonging and  peace tonight like I've been missing a long time.

Spent two hours cleaning up the old place with Lysol and bleach (not at the same time) and couldn't wait to get out of there and back to home sweet home. 

12-18-12

Scarf for someone special...

Pillow for someone special…

Leg warmers for someone special…
Today my MIL left for MKE and we kept working on our nesting process.

 The Storyman finished our tile grout.
Here he is sweeping up. Last and final task...

We decided to celebrate our anniversary tonight and went to The Hound for a fabulous dinner. Oh my, it was really good. On our real anniversary we went to a department party, so this was a real treat. The bread pudding with homemade ice-cream and caramel sauce was fantastic, and I've never had a veggie burger any better in my life.

12-17-12

This means we are home. The chicken chandelier has traveled with us from Virginia to Kentucky to Alabama and where the chickens roost, we roost too. Today I worked hard on my crochet projects to get them shipped off tomorrow, and we continued to unpack. The carport is a mess. We have way too much stuff. Even after downsizing twice, we still have too many belongings. I had to work this morning - interviewing a couple prospective students and meeting with my GA. It was very quiet at school.

The Storyman made a grout sample today and we like the color.

12-16-12

Unpacking continues. I went to church this morning with my MIL and it was comforting. This evening we had dinner with my mother and friends- a spread of leftovers from weekend parties. I ate yogurt because my tongue is still ulcerated. However, chocolate mousse for dessert went down just fine. Yum.

12-15-12

Today my big task was cleaning out the attic so we could take my trunk of childhood memorabilia and other things up there. I had to wear a respirator. Insulation fluff everywhere. I found a cool old mirror and a Christmas wreath and tons of Christmas lights and some track lighting and loads of long, cheap curtain rods and old pull down roller shades. I got everything swept and hauled to the trash and then just started feeling sick. Napped a while and played solitaire on my phone and crocheted. That task just wiped me out. And my tongue is ulcerated again so I got a steroid prescription filled at Kroger and went back on a liquid diet. Juiced two bags of carrots.

12-14-12

We moved today! Two truck loads of furniture plus a couple van loads and many car loads. We have just begun to unpack what was put into boxes in June and I am so looking forward to seeing my artwork up on the walls again. Drapes will come in time... and a mantle if I get my Christmas wish!

12-13-12

My dear friend "Lips" gave us a ton of wrought iron hardware we could use if we wanted to. I finished painting all the cabinets today with oil paint (what a pain) and mounted the hardware she gave us.

 

Dan finished the cork floor, and everything is ready for our move tomorrow. The Dish satellite was installed, the Internet was installed, and most importantly, we had all the ducts cleaned today so the house is free of 60 years of clogged arteries. The worker showed me how much crap he vacuumed up from the ducts. Amazingly disgusting. I recommend this to anyone with an old house!

12-12-12

 
My sweet Jes got her radiation pill today. Iodine 131. She got about 75 millicuries which is a lower dose than normal. Her scans last week were good- no cancer spread anywhere. She called me from the car on the way to her apartment to recuperate in isolation for a few days. She sounded great and we are so glad the end of cancer treatment is VERY near. My girl is a superhero. 

12-11-12

 

Dan has been hard a work laying the cork floor. Here is it on it's way to being finished. See the green cement beforehand? I painted all day. Mother In Law (MIL) arrives this evening. We are in the "push" to finish.

12-10-12

Kitchen is coming together. Start of a new week- I had lunch with colleagues Lyric and Octave today after working all morning at the house, and then went back and worked some more. So much to do.

12-9-12

The Jade Rise and Fall Light
Made in France
The piece that started it all...
I love it.

12-8-12

We hung the chandelier today. It's made by Visual Comfort, the same company that made the chandelier we had in Lexington.  I think I'll have drapes the color of the shades.

12-6-12

Still wet floors with their second coat of polyurethane today. One more coat tomorrow then a painting extravaganza weekend.
Worked on Digital Measures today after two meetings. Semester winding down. Need to finish some IRBs too. Maybe tomorrow!

12-5-12

The hardwood is being refinished today, tomorrow, and Friday. I won't be able to work on the house so hope I get a lot of tasks done at school. Oh my goodness, the wood looks so fresh and new! We are having it stained "English Chestnut" which is a reddish brown.