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Thursday, December 19, 2013

2013 Christmas Newsletter

My dearest friends and strangers on the interwebs,

2013 is a year we will not soon forget.  It has been a tremendous year of excitement.  By excitement I really mean not-so-organized-chaos.

Full disclosure--I am NOT wearing my Christmas jammies.  I don't really like jammies...I'm in yoga pants covered in sawdust and my only shirt without paint that isn't reserved for wakes and weddings.  

January started off kind of boring...built a table, wainscotted my dining room...played with Christmas toys...made my final payment on my Equinox.

Then I said to the boss one night "let's not worry about a new house closer to the farm....it will happen when it happens."  We contracted for a new furnace.  The next afternoon Wayne's Dad told him we could have a house!  It went something like this:  I drive around back at the farm, knock part of the exhaust off bottoming out in frozen ruts, come up front, boss gets in "I was up in the house talking to my father"  "about what?"  "plans"  "like for a house?"(totally joking)  "well...seed/planting oh and yes...a house"  "what...really? the furnace guy comes tomorrow"  "well we need it anyway"....

That was the first of three heating appliances purchased this year.

February 25th I started ripping out old carpet and wallpaper in the new to us house.  This is also when we started eating random crap.  My entire budget went to Lowes, Home Depot...and Dunkin Donuts.  I abandoned my pantry and kitchen...I did some laundry...it's kind of all a blur, but we made it out alive.  On Memorial Day we moved into the new--150 year old---house.  

The rest of the year is kind of a dusty cloud of sawdust, drywall dust, wall tearing out, plaster dust and a lot of "where are yous" and "put the cat down" and "George we don't bang things with the hammer....well...I do...but you don't."  

I may have given up on menus and planning somewhere along the way.  I mostly tried to alternate pizza, something with cheese and bacon and pasta with sauce for most of the year.  Which is harder than you think if you throw chicken parm into the mix.  That's where pancakes help.

Though, from where I am sitting, I can see the barn where our 65 dairy cows live...I'm usually out of milk.  Now that it's winter and our 20 chickens are on hiatus I'm usually out of eggs too.  Oh...and though we raise our own beef...I'm out.  My husband got a little enthusiastic before labor day with seasonally higher beef prices and sent the one for our freezer to the auction.  Which helped buy the second heating appliance of the year---the woodstove...but um...empty freezer.  

The good news is our lycopene levels are amazing and I discovered it's cheaper to buy sauce in a case of #10 cans.  Which I'm also out of now.

Our exciting black Friday purchase was a pellet stove...for heating the back of the house/kitchen/upstairs...heating appliance #3 in 10 months.  woot.

So now I'm spending two days trying to de-dust my house...and then I realize my chop saw is still in my office and there is an excellent chance I will want to use it again today....but I invited people over to my house...on purpose.  Despite the crazy of this year I've been trying to work on hospitality and loving people.  Which is great because I average 8 weeks on a email reply, 4 months on a fb message reply and a voicemail is pretty much talking to yourself.  But when I read all these blogs and books about being welcoming I embrace it...and try to ignore the fact that this house will be dusty and mid-project for at least 2 more years. 

 Would pledge wipes be the wrong party favor?

So...2014...
Hopefully the year we rent/sell the other house...because it's fun paying a mortgage on a vacant house...no...really...a blast...and electric...and oil...and...yea.
The year the main bathroom and kitchen get updated.
The year I start to use my kitchen again to make something creative?
Hopefully the year I send out the 2013 Christmas cards...but first...I need to take the boys' Christmas picture...which...well...should probably be done before Christmas decor is taken down...which at this rate....well...who's good at photoshop?