This year Bill and I decided to make advent calendars for each other. A simple calendar with drawers just wasn't fancy enough, so we are making individual boxes from paper. Its getting to be a bit competitive and lots of fun. Instead of little presents, Bill suggested that we write fun memories and things we like about each other on paper and place them in the boxes. So far my favorite box that Bill has been a reindeer and you pull the note out of his butt. My second favorite was the Gingerbread man with the loin cloth. Ha ha ha. I am also loving the special notes and memories and laughing and crying as we read them to each other.

Getting rid of all of your crap!

I was reading an old post about how I was getting rid of stuff so we would have less. Ha ha. Five or so years later, an auction and lots and lots of trips to donate to the women's shelter thrift store, we have managed to reduce our boxes of stuff to a 4x12 space hidden behind a curtain in our bedroom. In my defense, I had a 3500 square foot house and two storage sheds in Texas. As I was packing and getting rid of stuff I kind of reached a point where I just couldn't get rid of anything else, so I put it in boxes and stored it. I peeked in each box, made a note of what is in it and put it behind the curtain. We are almost finished remodeling the upstairs and when we are done, i can pull out a box, one at a time and deal with its contents by scanning to a computer, selling on ebay or donating.

Now Bill wants to move to 40 foot sailboat...

Adventure Mondays

     Bill has signed up for this awesome new program at work. He works 9 hour days now and gets a day off every two weeks. So every other Monday we have a holiday!  We chose Monday to be his holiday because that way there won't be any crowds and I hate crowds. The first Monday off in January, we went to the Smithsonian Gallery in Chinatown. We didn't look at the portraits, just the art side. It took a whole day just to see half of the giant museum.  Later we went to a tapas place for dinner and had a seafood paella it was great. Since we were in Chinatown, we took the crazy 70 bus home. The 70 never disappoints if you want a real DC experience. There was this street preacher actually preaching on the bus and there was this really drunk guy heckling him and every woman on the bus. The drunk guy was sitting in front of me and reached over his seat so he could talk to me and grope my leftover dinner. (I thought it was hilarious) He moved to the back of the bus and the preacher told all of us that we would end up like him if we drank and used drugs. Later the 70 pulled over because the drunk had gotten more obscene and we got off to get on a different 70 bus. I glanced back at the first bus and the sign on the front was flashing "EMERGENCY CALL POLICE". Nothing like public transportation!
     Our second free Monday in January we went to Ikea. It was empty and wonderful.
    I have set up my studio again in this little bitty room in the house. I have a little butane torch and an anvil and a pickle pot. If my camera batter would ever charge, I would take some pictures and make listings for my Etsy shop. Bill was wonderful and helped me put up this crazy fan and painted the room and added an extra plug and hung pictures. I love my studio. Its the best room in the house!
     Bill is slowly remodeling our rental house in exchange for discounts on rent. It's a great trade because Bill has lots of experience and it saves money cuz rent is expensive here. I just hope they don't raise the rent when we are done.
    Bill has also become quite the trapper. He has trapped 13 mice since we moved here and Fresca has only gotten 1 (unless she has eaten the others).