I have been remiss!

It's true. My apologies for neglecting the blog. But here's a little update: I have been a bit crazed of late, baking cookies and gingerbread to give to people, (like The Boy's teachers, our neighbors, the mailman, my accupuncturist,) and addressing holiday cards to our loved ones. AnnaRay points out that I'm acting like someone who celebrates Christmas, and I get mad, then I realize she's RIGHT, and no wonder I've been cranky. Christmas is so much more fun when you're a Jew and all you have to do is watch it on t.v.

But here is our tree:
I'd like you all to note the prominent placement of The Boy's first homemade ornamet: the star of David (upper left.) I'd also like to thank my mom, without whom we would have gotten a needle-shedding bean pole of a tree. AR was no help at all at the tree lot, but lucky for us, the nice Jewish lady knew all the right questions to ask.


I've also been a bit preoccupied with the bathroom, which keeps not being done. It looks lovely though, doesn't it:

Please note the fabulous skylight, (moonlit shower anyone?) and the generous tiled shelf space in the shower, (you can just make it out beyond the chrome door frame,) and the combination toilet paper holder/magazine rack, (I really don't have anything to add to that.) There's also a nice little shelf nook beyond the sink, and did I mention the wainscotting?

What you don't see is the door, but only because it's not there. We got a great paneled door at the Rebuilding Center with a crystal knob to match the doors in the rest of the house - it had great history too; it used to hang on a closet in some downtown Portland hotel that was turned into a homeless shelter before being torn down - and I spent the better part of the week trying to strip it of its eight layers of paint. Finally, I asked our build, Ivan (who ROCKS!) to just please take it away and bring it back nice and clean.

So there you have it.

Oh, one last thing: AR wants me to mention that it snowed* in Portland. Here's the proof:


*(The funny thing about snow in Portland, is that nobody really accepts that it's snow. They keep insisting it's an ice storm, because Portland doesn't get snow. So even though there was only an inch or two on the ground, things got canceled and closed early. This amused my mother, who is visiting from New York.)