Today I: took down Xmas tree and decorations and put everything away; ate an amazing lunch; procured and ate king cake while catching up with smonster; wrote a blog post; enjoyed marital relations. I am pretty bummed about going back to work tomorrow, I was enjoying my other life as a freelance beer blogger.

Today I: hit the Wii Fit, took the dog for a walk (only half a mile, tomorrow we will jog and go farther), figured out what additional food I need to get through the week and went grocery shopping, changed the litter in the catboxes, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher a few times, watered the plants in the house and greenhouse, fed the birds, and watched Malcolm X. I still need to make dinner, take out the garbage, and take a shower. Maybe another round of dishes.

Tomorrow is all about laundry. And probably, Downton Abbey.

We took down the christmas tree last week, but then we broke the washer on Friday. We did disassemble the clutch and clean it thinking that might fix it. Alas it did not. the struts don't look broken, but it's still not working. I DO NOT want a broken washer.

In other news, between yesterday and today, I sewed 2 hospital gowns, and 3 pairs of pajamas (The PJs are for Noah, Grace and K and they all match).I have put my sewing machine away for a while as I am tired of sewing.

I also had the nicest chat at the gym. We've also been loading vocabulary into Grace's AAC device. The guy who owns Republic of Pie was thrilled that we made a special button just for them.

Now listing Enesco and a Boyd's Bear figurine. These items were donated to my church for a Holiday bazaar and did not sell, so they asked me to try and ebay. Just in case any of you collect Cherished Teddies or Calico Kittens, or might be interested in a figurine of a bear as Hamlet. Prince Hamalot (with that name I though he should be a pig, but no) with the words "To diet or not to diet" around the base.

I actually used to know the sculptor of the Cherished Teddies figurines. They were created by a mother-son team, and the son is about my age, and did (does?) the sculpting. He used the money to buy an 18th century house in Litchfield, CT, garden in accurate period style, and collect antiques. He has excellent, and very expensive tastes, and I always wondered if it cost him to know that the funds for his cultured life came from cute plastic teddy bear figurines.

flea, that's hilarious to ponder.

Kid style hospital gowns: [link]

Tomorrow is back to work day. I just don't wanna.

My grandmother had 2 cases full of precious moments and I just do not get having all these figurines to set around.

I have angels that come out at Christmas, but then they go away.

Kat, do you use a special foot to put the binding on the hospital gowns? Or do you do it in2 passes?

Those hospital gowns are adorable, Kat.

Good onya for getting stuff out of the house, msbelle. I should do the same, but I'm trying to sort of hold the line on stuff coming in. We purged so much in the move, and we've been sort of on lockdown on aquiring stuff that wasn't for construction (guttering, stairs) or rehabbing the house. Still, I do have stuff I don't use, or even look at, that still requires dusting and is a psychic weight.

Consuela, have you had your chimney swept and checked? If not, that might be a good thing, if you've not had a fire before.

Our Christmas stuff comes down Tuesday. Should be three hours, tops, if that, including storage. I love having dedicated storage--the loft in the semi-heated shed is wonderful for that. And then we can pull everything out of my office closet, take it back to the walls, take down the shelves and relocate the standards and brackets to the interior wall. Rather than buy and cut wooden shelves and then have somehow dispose of the coated wire ones, H had thin pressboard cut to fit. He'll attach the board to the shelves, and mount the shelves on the brackets. This provides a shelf surface I can slide things side to side and in and out without snagging on the wires, and small objects won't fall through and get lost. Then we install the rehabbed chest of drawers to store stationery, office and crafts supplies.

And *then* I get to go through everything we pulled out of the closet and load it all back in, in an organized and findable order. And then I'll be happy, right?

Jesse, you've never ever sounded sanctimonious, for the record!