Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Decluttering Project of the Day

We have been working on creating ectropy out of entropy. Today I worked on my filing system. Over the years I have had many different styles of filing systems, a lot of them being characterized by "To file later" and "To do: URGENT!" folders.

OK, it might not have been that bad at all times, but it wasn't perfect either. Turns out "later" arrived and I am tackling the filing system now, trying to toss as much as I can, get a lot of stuff online and on computer and slimming down to the bare basics.

 

Feels good to get it done! It's remarkably painless, as long as I put good music on to listen to while working.
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Monday, January 13, 2014

More Nantucket

 

Catching up with Nantucket pictures.

 

Sylvia's complaint "There is TOO MUCH sand in Nantucket!"
Duh, it's an island in the ocean, there might be some sand indeed.

 

We walked for hours, uphill both ways, there was much whining and gnashing of teeth, but eventually we made it to the light house.

 

I loved all the light houses we visited this vacation.

 
 
 

This sign made me go "Hmmm, ok..."

 
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Sunday, January 12, 2014

Ice...

 

Did I mention how much I hate my driveway? Especially after an ice storm???

 

We could have skated easily. Instead Erik got himself down and then somehow lost the newspaper in the middle of the sheer sheet of ice and had to use a stick to retrieve it...

 
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Saturday, January 04, 2014

Nantucket

 

Nantucket was awesome. I never realized that they used to be the whaling capital of the world.

 

Learned many interesting whaling facts in the museum.

 

Including the fact that Erik would be the perfect way to join a whaling expedition and be the resident greenhorn.

 

Which would include climbing into the dead whale's head and scraping out all the oil.

 

We now know what a Nantucket sleigh ride is, when they harpoon a whale and go for a wild ride following it...

 

Making sure they have a hatchet ready in case the whale decides to dive down.

 

After the museum we explored the island for a bit.

 

Interesting stores, cobblestones, and Sylvia seems to be a popular last name around there, to the utter delight of our Sylvia.

 

She relished in drinking Nantucket lemonade right here on the island.

 
 
 
 

One of our favorite stores :D
 
 
 
 
 
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Friday, January 03, 2014

Snow Day One and Two and ...

When we came back from Cape Cod (you know, moderate temperatures, beach, ferries, light houses, geocaches, fun) we considered going down South to Florida instead of up North. I mean, we could just say we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

 

Sylvia disagreed and was like "But I want to go home!" so we decided to go home after all. Where we were greeted by twenty centimeters of snow and frigid temps. We were not amused.

 

Even less so when yesterday hit with a HUGE snow storm. School got cancelled and it was cold and snowy and miserable. So grateful we have a fire place and tons of woods, so we snuggled up indoors and waited out the storm. We even made more cheese fondue since that seems a perfect cold weather meal.

 

Usually those storms are over the next day, but in this case we got another school phone call this morning. "Due to weather conditions, school is canceled today."

 

Geez, can winter be over yet?

 

By now the sun is out and the roads are being plowed and I am baking bread so we can visit some friends. Now if only the town plow hadn't pushed over our mailbox and then blamed us for it...

And did I mention there is another storm on its way?
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Thursday, January 02, 2014

Yearly Gingerbread House SMASHING!

I have no idea when we started this tradition, and only a slight recollection of why we started it.

 

We create and decorate a gingerbread house around Christmas.

 

On New Year's Day we all get together and SMASH the house.

 

Which is one of our fun family traditions and always quite popular with the kids :D

 

Happy New Year!

 
 
 
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Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Happy New Year!

Had an impromptu New Year's Eve party with good friends and family.

 

Cees will go back to Basic Training on Thursday, so it was wonderful to have this time with him.

 

We had cheese fondue and oliebollen and freshly baked bread.

 

And of course sparking juices and champagne.

 

May 2014 be awesome for y'all!

 

May the road rise up to meet you.

 

May the wind always be at your back.

 
 
 
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