three + three

Three things that are dragging me down this morning:
1.Watery coffee
2. The garage runneth over with trash.  Seriously, there is so much cardboard out there (I've missed the recycling a few times) that you could build a life-sized cardboard village.  You have to flatten and tie into lovely twined bundles for the recycling guys to toss it in the truck, and even then, they are fickle.  It's such a pet peeve of mine, but refusing to participate has gotten me nowhere.
3. There's a mouse in our house.  Yuck.

Three jolly good things:
1.  No homework! Again!
2.  The-biggest-Christmas-tree-I-have-ever-had is still in our dining room.  It will move to the tope column soon, but for now, it's still jolly good.
3. Christmas day is over, but the Christmas holiday continues.  My favorite part.
4. My kindle.  I have entered the 21st century, and you, know, I'm digging it.
5. My D is for DiMassimo book arrived!  I made a 2010 book with an ABC theme for our family this year.  It came today and I love it.  I guess I'll post pictures of it later, since I can't link to the layout.

Here's a few of my little nephew Luca and his lovely parents.  They wanted a family picture.  Fooling around with some PS actions, which can get a little crazy, but post processing can be a jolly good thing too.  

Look at that, more jolly than crabby.  I'll end there.

my eyes are blurry

I really think I need glasses. The eye doctor says not yet, but I don't believe him.  I couldn't read a lipstick cap in Sephora today.

I get so overwhelmed by Christmas, no matter how hard I try. But wow, Christmas good is really good. It made my day to watch the two older guys who direct the carpool traffic amass little gift piles on the sidewalk as the kids and drivers opened the windows to hand them little treats.

Instead of scurrying around like a good little Christmas doobie on Sunday, I joined the boys for a hike to treasure island.  It's a tiny pennisula actually, accessible by a path behind some giant McMansions and old school mansions on the sound.  We always talk about taking a picnic there in summer, but hasn't happened.  We should call it Tick Island, because those are the year-round residents.

Now, time to put off for today what I could put off until tomorrow.

 

 Doesn't that wood pile inspire you?  Or at least make you feel prepared?

 There's a grove of gorgeous, tall bamboo along the way.

 That golden grass is marsh grass. you can't walk on it without knee-high boots, low tide and a knowledge of how to escape from quick sand.

Little cabin in the woods. Seriously, it's this doll house in the way back of someone's property.  I think they use it for storage, but I just love it.   I would love to fix it up for a studio, a little guest cottage or love shack for teens (just checking to see if anyone reads this far).

Ho Ho Ho.

this little cupcake

Many years ago, I dated a political consultant who worked for the state senate of Pennsylvania. He once told me about a state senator who walked into the room, spied a lovely young woman toiling away at her desk, eyed her lecherously and boomed, "does this little cupcake work for me?"

So Senator I-forget-your-name, here's a little cupcake.

9X12 acrylic

Put the chill back in Christmas

Seriously.  Let's tread lightly this year.  Simple gifts, easy advent. No baking, unless I'm really inspired. Wrap along the way, in the store if possible. 

My mom came home with us for a few days after Thanksgiving.  I loved having her here.  Helping with absolutely everything.  We put lights on the trees outside, took the decorations down from the attic, moved some tables around that have been bothering me, watched the bigs while I took the little to the pediatrician,  just generally being the perfect partner.  She's now in Delaware, en route to Florida for the winter.  With the exception of Jack, we all miss her already.

I still don't have a Christmas card photo yet and now we're flush up against super express rush charges.  That will take the chill out of Christmas.