A few winter activities

Today I went to my first ever oil painting class. It's the kind where you start with a blank canvas and finish the whole thing in a few hours. I had a blast actually and I liked my picture after it was all done. There were times though, when I thought it was going to be a disaster.Here's the finished painting and I think the water part turned out the best. I'm not too sure about the fall-colored tree in the foreground but that's what the teacher wanted us to do. And rather than pull my usual "do my own thing anyway" attitude, I went with the flow. See, I'm getting better as I get older. Our other HUGE project is nearly complete! Our fireplace turned out so great...I love it! Here it is in dark and regular light. It's so fun to sit near it and listen to the fire. The mantle is an antique piece of ironwood out of some old building back east. There is a company here in Boise that salvages the antique wood and sells it for new or remodel construction. We were lucky to find just the right shape, size, and color for our fireplace.

So that's kind of what we've been up to...lots of fun stuff!

Christmas and Kitties

Christmas was really nice. We celebrated a little early since Polina was heading home to Russia and wouldn't be here on the 25th. Above is a picture of the table for dinner...I wanted to record it since I thought it turned out so well. We did the traditional dinner with turkey and gravy, all the favoites. But for some dumb reason, the turkey would not get done. It was frustrating. But we had plenty of other food.

We opened all our presents the night of the 19th and it was really fun. But what was surprising is the unintended consequence of doing Christmas a week early...we didn't have the rush right up to Christmas eve like the rest of the city. We avoided the mall, we had time to just relax...it was really nice! And after Christmas, the let down I usually feel just wasn't there. I was fine with the whole thing just mellowing into the end of the year. I think we should do it this way every year!

Ok, now for adventures in babysitting kitties...Since Jasper and Polina are in Russia, we have taken on the awesome responsibility for these two little fluff balls of energy. That means three cats and a dog under our roof right now. The only thing that is saving us is that we have them set up in one of the bedrooms with their food, etc. and when they get to be too rambunctious, we put them in there to cool down.

This is Pashka...he's very interested in Kevin's pen and is sitting there staring at it. He wants to know everything that you are doing and tries to "help" whenever he can.

Max in the tree...a favorite play area for both of them. I ended up taking all the moss that I had in there and storing it. They liked it a little too much. They chase each other around the base of that tree for 10 minutes at a time.

Then they zonk out where ever they end up...

Mafia has finally warmed up to them and plays with them sometimes...he's about twice their size but was so intimidated at first. Now he just acts like one of them...except he can't keep going as long.

Mafia and Max in the bathroom...the kittens love the sink and will jump into it whenever you approach the bathroom. Max even jumped into my bathtub as it was filling...twice!

Their favorite place to hang out and sleep seems to be in front of the fireplace now. They get all drowsy and limp like they are drugged. Pashka especially likes it there. We are having a lot of fun with them.

Happy New Year everybody!

Kevin and I had dinner at his mom's house and then came home and sat in front of the woodburning fireplace that Kevin installed recently. It was a nice relaxing end to 2009. We are not partiers at all.

It's always a struggle for me to even think about a new year...new possibilities, etc...I'm still just trying to process that another year has past. Time flies when you are getting into the middle years. A year doesn't hold the same promise that it used to. It goes by too fast to live up to any expectations I might have had for it.

I will have been at my new job a year come Feb 17th...just around the corner. I feel like progress has definitely been made at work in my own comfort level, my skills, etc. But it went by so fast that it's hard to have any perspective. I think I will have to have been at my job for about five years before I will see the progress. It's a weird mindset so I try not to think about it too much.

I'm glad I've kind of kept up with this blog. If no one reads it, it's still a record of 2009 that I never would have written down or otherwise kept track of. I can at least look back on my posts and remember what was happening then...its not all just a blur. And it's an excuse to take pictures and document the events somewhere with them. So thanks Lindsey and Amy for inspiring me. I still check your blogs almost everyday. And even though I don't leave comments very often, I love how you guys are making such great homes for yourselves and your families.

Happy 2010...weird to type that!