happy new year!

I hope that you all have the happiest of new years. I'm very eager to get started on 2008, just as soon as I get a full night of sleep and maybe a back massage.

It's been a busy and tiring month. We had two weeks of working on the house alongside Scott's folks, who worked like champs and really moved us along, and fed the whole crew each day to boot! Scott's Aunt and Uncle even drove 6 hours down to help us for a few days. It was really nice to get started on the house with family.

We primed and painted all of the bedrooms and the hallway. We pulled up the rust colored carpet and pads and found lovely wide plank oak floors underneath. We installed a tankless water heater to replace the existing one from 1971, and we updated some of the original electrical system of the house. And we put washer and dryer hook ups in the garage and installed a gas stove in the kitchen. Oh, and we demolished the wall between the kitchen and living room and removed the kitchen cabinet doors and shelves to get started on sanding, priming, and painting them. And then we started moving our things in.



We knew before hand that we have an overwhelming amount of posessions, but jeez louise, it is truly unbelievable. It took us a full two weeks, working every day, to move out of that house and clean it. We rented a truck two times. It was really disheartening to both of us, and now our pretty new house has a garage and carport piled high with boxes and furniture that won't fit in the house!

We had a big house full of things, a shed full of things, my studio with all of my paintings and art supplies and fabric stash and paper collection, and then my vintage store and ebay inventory, which is a lot bigger than I thought! ( I should have a sale!) And we had Scott's workshop full of tools and projects. I think we might literally have a million things!

We hope to get rid of 60% of what we have currently and really only keep things we need and truly love and respect.

But that's a job for 2008! We're ringing in the new year very quietly. I have a cold, and am curled up on the couch with tea and a blanket. We ordered pizza for dinner and we're going to play Mario Galaxy and maybe some bowling on the Wii. I'm hoping to be in bed before 10pm!