took down our Christmas tree today and spent the rest of the day 1) prepping the tofu bake w/ savory glaze and b) alphabetizing our books in the study .... which is not yet done though i've done maybe 80% of the work i think. Decent amount of overlap, we'll have to refine down to best editions at some point but for now just getting everything in some sort of order is enough for me.

so may people moving to DW, i guess i have to get around to doing that too soon. *sigh* i'm so resistant to change.

So this is the desk that was in the basement when we moved in. Turns out it's a 1940's Executive* desk made by "Central Desk Chicago". Neat!



Also Kurt has installed the wall to wall shelves and we've started putting up our many many books:



Next week we will have this Sectional couch in red delivered along with a chest of drawers for K.

so it's 10:30 here and we have Prosecco and black berries and we are probably not going to make it to midnight after our long day of hard work but ::shrug:: happy new year <3

*we actually have not yet determined if it's an Executive or Secretary desk as the company is no longer in existence.

1) swiffer the floors twice a week and wet-mop once a week
2) take a mineral soak bath w/ my Japanese bath-salts
3) experiment with using a daytime highlighter for skin
4) Eat more: avocados, blueberries, black berries & oranges
5) buy new filter for water purifier
6) hook up the HEPA Air purifier & put on the hypoallergenic pillow covers
7) buy vinegar (for use w/ baking soda - clean kitchen)
8) Eat vegan all week! FYI make this Smoky tofu "glazed ham" again!! seriously the best tofu i have ever had!
9) Take walks w/ the husband in the evening and explore the neighborhood
10) send New Years cards for the friends i missed at christmas
11) watch Are You Being served episodes w/ K when bored
12) dig out the green tea, finish off the old tea and buy new!

for 2017:
1) get hair done at Carrie's! at least 2" off the bottom & fun bangs
2) see the Love Witch on the 6th w/ Jordana
3) get my passport
4) buy furniture and get my wardrobe organised
5) sprout kitchen herbs (maybe get this Aerogarden with out BB&B gift cards??)

So the background is this: The house we purchased used to be owned by an elderly woman and she has this easy-access tub/shower so it is really low to the ground. Unlike my old tub which was mid-thigh high claw-foot this one comes up to your shins tops and when the curtain is pulled back it’s easy to not really see it in front of the white tile and at night when it’s dark it’s easy to forget it’s there at all. 2 nights ago I went to the bathroom and when I was done w/ the toilet I got up and (I guess) got too close to the low tub, knocked my shin into it and tumbled forward face first into the tub and knocked myself out. K heard the thump and found me slumped w/ my head and torso in the tub and w/ my nose bleeding. I don’t know if it was because I knocked myself our or maybe I had a mild concussion but I told him I was fine and we both went to bed … at which point I realized my nose was bleeding so I went back to the bathroom and cleaned up and found the blood in the tub *sigh* so that was fun. Oddly enough I have no bruising on my face, just a pink bump on my nose but my forehead and browbone which took the brunt of the hit are fine and I don’t have a headache or dizzyness so I guess I’m ok.

Y’all, 2016 is being all extra tying to wrap up the year with a big steaming turd on top of the current shit-cake. I’m really not amused. Also from now on the shower curtain stays closed so we can see where the damn tub is at night :p

http://thelovewitch.oscilloscope.net/#

this is relevant to my interests!!! Also to many of you! "the feminist film exploring fantasy through witchcraft and tarot"

http://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/the-feminist-film-exploring-fantasy-through-witchcraft-and-tarot?utm_source=idfbus&utm_campaign=global

So we had our Holiday tree-trimming party last night. It was lovely, the food turned out great (including the cherry chocolate bundt cake with white chocolate glaze) despite my oven overheating on the right side. We also had peanutbutter cookies, salted pecan shortbread cookies and classic chocolate chip cookies ... and some healthy stuff up front lol.

plus, our tree is decorated <3 lol, we are still cleaning up ...

Also our neighbor 2 doors down shoveled our sidewalk again, so we revenge-shoveled the next two unshoveled sidewalks on the block! neener-neener!

It's not too late to do the fall planting (bulbs) so long as the ground isn't frozen .... right??? "Rip Van Winkle" ruffled yellow Daffodils, Hyacinth, pink phlox, Candycane Sorrel and a few "Grateful red" Iris bulbs.

i'll be growing tomatoes and marigolds from seed as always. My order of mixed crocus bulbs was delayed and i'm kind of worried i still don't have them, it's the eleventh hour over here (maybe 11:58) for planting ... if that package does not arrive soon the ground might be frozen and they'll go to waste :( i got a last-chance wholesale super discounted order but then the company merged w/ another company and is moving and my package got somehow cocked up in their warehouse move. We'll see what happens, i may have to get my money back if it's too delayed to plant.

Just like this was the house that ate our 15th wedding anniversary, this is the house that is eating Thanksgiving ... which is to say we are so preoccupied with cleaning and packing that we have very little time to enjoy anything else or prepare for anything else. The big move is on the 26th which is the Saturday after thanksgiving. the problem with packing is that absolutely everything needs to be cleaned first - when the old house next to us was demolished it destabilized our apartment to the tune of cracks in the walls and it gets very dusty very quickly (like a layer of dust within DAYS) which we could not keep up with ... we don't want to move grubby things into the new place so i have been cleaning EVERYTHING that wasn't in a secure case (like my dolls) prior to packing but this means everything is taking 3 times as long and K is having a hard time throwing things out. K did the heavy lifting, so to speak, on the new house but i have done ALL of the cleaning and packing so far and i'm really overwhelmed. I've done a hell of a lot but we are not there yet and we basically only have Friday after thanksgiving to get everything else done.

So yesterday i dyed my hair, today i'll be making my vegan "pake" (half cake half pie), i have trouble making a healthy vegan pie crust that is yummy so i gave up and am doing a pumpkin cake covered in vegan pumpkin pie filling (made w/ pumpkin puree, spices and cashews soaked in coconut milk) baked in a pie dish. Plus K really loves chestnut stuffing so regardless of not having any TIME in which to make it i guess i will try and make that tonight as well and iron my dress. Then tomorrow morning i'll make vegan sausage, onion and sage filled mushroom caps, take the bus to my Mom's to help her w/ dinner (she is sick) while K does the sweet potatoes and whipped garlic potatoes and goes to play football w/ his brother, then he'll go back home and wash up, get the food, pick me up and we go do a second thanksgiving at his brother's.

... then we have 1 day to pack and 1 day to move. I switched over all of the utilities, scheduled the phone switch-over, rented the truck and talked to our tax guy because we got a $5,000 bill from the IRS for 2014 (good news, our tax guy figured out what they got wrong and we can get it sorted in a few days but K was SO WORRIED last night i thought he would have a panic attack) and got K's niece a birthday card and present because she was born on thanksgiving.

on the plus side: i got some amazing cajun lobster mac and cheese from a local food truck today. My mouth is pleased indeed.

it's just ... ::waves hands:: ALL OF THE THINGS ::waves hands:: all of these 20 years worth of things ... ugh.

p.s. Technically we have some time on sunday. so long as we get the big items out of the house some smaller things can just be tossed in bins and contractor bags and left in the garage until we can clean them. Not a long-term plan but the best we can do in the short term, we'll cross our fingers about people not breaking into our garage to steal shit ... it's basically going to be some random tchotchkes, Christmas decorations, CDs, gardening boots and doll props so not a huge deal if they did get stolen really.

... K, my beloved husband, just revealed to me that he doesn't like Peonies for our garden because they are "old lady" flowers.

I reminded him that's i'm an old lady and PEONIES AND ROSES FOREVER!! (and tomatoes and herbs of course). fuck outta my garden, go sand some trim or some shit.

Also, my mom it turns out had saved a ton of stuff in preparations for our new house. some of it wasn't quite to my taste* but the more functional things we got from her (including a great coffee table and a bureau with really gorgeous and intricate woodwork that my parents got from the Grandparent's house after they died) so I did not have to buy much.

I was able to show people at work the colors we are painting based on the leftover paint on my arms this morning ... whoops!

*like the silver plate utensils. she has a whole case of the stuff and if there is ONE thing i never want to do ever again it's polish fucking silver!!

Pretty long day today, sorry, not much to report ...

here is what the floors look like under the stain: