Then I started packing up my sewing cupboard.  It's been sixteen years since this cupboard was cleaned out the last time and it is positively chock full of fabric, rickrack, stuffing and buttons. Ribbons, pins, needles, bits and bobs of trim and fake fur. It is, in other words a hot mess measuring 7'X3'X4', what was anyone with good sense thinking of, allowing me a house this size, of my very own. Isn't it clear that I am not to be trusted with SPACE?

Another year gone by

I don't have any big resolutions by here is some decent sad music, by guys I like a lot

http://open.spotify.com/track/3UpfJ4m1Vry91r5p60UzvV


or try this instead...

http://youtu.be/FBCfYr5rUp0

The good news is that the kitchen is about halfway packed up and I have people coming to help me finish it up on Saturday.  The bad news is that I don't have things packed for the rental, well I have some food, a box of canned food, from the kitchen, packed, so I am sort of semi-ready to exit this place.
There was a glitch with the poodle's accommodation for the renovation, which was fixed at the 11th hour, after much hand wringing.   The poodle has become a totally and complete pain in the ass over the last few months, with incontinence firmly in place. He is not registered at a dog hotel, that rivals our rental.

I had a terrible dream last night that I was standing in an office in my underpants, not even my good underpants, just old white cotton underpants, and that I was desperately trying to phone my husband to come pick me up, but the phone that I was borrowing was one of those overly complicated smart phones, and each time I dialed, something would go wrong and I was getting really agitated, and the woman that owned the phone was no help at all.

Tick Tock!

In a week we will move out of our house, and a wrecking crew will come in and tear out the ceilings and floor and replace them with things that are much nicer.  This has created a great deal of stress in me for months, which is well documented here.  My mother is puzzled that I have not packed things up, little by little, here and there, a box in every corner, the place turned upside down (we have done some of that, which I hate). 

"I want to do it all at once, so that there is only one day of chaos."

My mother is not particularly bothered by chaos, so she doesn't really understand my point of view.  Rolf, who also is not bothered by chaos, totally understood, having lived with me for 24 years.  He knows that having things half done for a month would drive me batty. 

Two days ago we learned that the color I had selected for the floor is not available in the material we are going with (click VS sheet).  The contractor sent me a very nice photo of a very tasteful grey-blue, which made me cry for two days, because I would rather be boiled in oil than have a tasteful grey floor.  My mother rushed over with swatches.  She knew the grey thing would break me, and had tried to beat the e-mail. 

"What about doing this black and cream checkerboard?"

"I guess that would be ok, but I don't have anything black or cream and I don't really like it.  I would feel like I was living in someone else's life, or in a hotel. "

"Black and white is very tasteful and classic!"

"But I am not very tasteful or classic, I like whimsy and color."

In the end I chose a buttery yellow and a slightly darker blue.  Darker than the original, but not a bit of grey.  I think the contractor was horrified, but I don't really care.  I have to live with it, and I want to love it. 

Christmas 2013

Mark and I attended a party that had an elephant theme.  Why an elephant theme? I have no idea, but there I am with a trunk.  If you had ever wondered what I would look like with a trunk, you know now. 

Maxwell and I with Maxwell's new haircut, which was mostly against my wishes. I was terribly sad to see the Robert Plant hair go, but my mother was ecstatic, so I suppose that is worth something.

Freyja with her Christmas dress, which she wore for approximately 10 minutes, under duress.

Rolf bought me this set of china sometime in the early 90's, and it was possibly the most shocking gift anyone has ever given me.  I had coveted them for months, but never in a million years would have ever splurged on them.  He bought the silk napkins and napkin rings too.  There is only service for four, so I hardly ever use them, but I bought some funny Christmas plates to mix in, so I sometimes use them on Christmas day, instead of the Spode.

While I was busy talking to the contractor about flooring, Freyja laid the whole table herself, exactly as I would have, had I not been freaking out about flooring materials and color, in the next room.  Somethings she really gets.

Waiting to open the door to the livingroom to see if Santa remembered us.

I love this kid more than the law should allow, even if he cut his hair and is a great deal taller than I am.  Christmas morning, unshowered, unkempt and ratty- me.

Christmas eve, right after Santa came. 

Julbord! My obsession with Sweden really has no limits.

Thanksgiving 2013 talking turkey

 Thanksgiving was up in the air because of the remodel.  We had planned to skip it, or have it at my mom's tiny houselette, but then Ben, our contractor was offered a job that would give him some extra cash at the time when he needed to prove income to by a house, so we decided to push back the remodel until after New Years and have it after all, despite our house being half torn up and half packed up.  We had 18 people, and it was nice.  Karen came down from Olympia and we had a nice time cooking.  I had been terribly depressed for weeks so it was nice to have someone around that is both uplifting and unobtrusive.

Brussels sprout salad with maple vinaigrette

Making stuffing and mashed potatoes with Rolf

sides and bread

The most potatoes ever

My friend Pam.  We met through Hipmama and have been friends since our boys were babies in strollers

ham and turkey

Mark and his mom

Me and Pam

I asked Mark to make a nice photo with me, and this is what I got

My mom and Freyja

The after party- dancing to "London Calling"