Reusable gift wrapping

In an attempt to be slightly more economical and environmentally friendly, I tried my hand at making reusable wrapping - double layer muslin with zigzagged edge and a piece of cotton ribbon sewn at the middle.

I then made letter tags as reusable gift labels which I thought came out pretty cute :)

space dog

space dog is ready for liftoff!

my sink has a soap dispenser?!?

Apparently I never noticed it before.

I'm in the midst of redoing my kitchen. The cupboards, walls and most of the trim have fresh paint. I've assembled and installed pantry shelving in the nook. I am most of the way through resizing the kitchen cart, and have hardware to put on the drawers and cupboards. As I was cleaning up for the night I noticed something:

my sink indeed has a soap dispenser.

I've not been living here quite a year yet, but still! Of course it was empty and then didn't work, but after an adjustable wrench, vice grips, an old tooth brush, straw cleaner brush, and a rag later, it does work! Hooray!

Ready for winter and a surprise

Today was lovely - in the low forties - so Jake and I put the hose and the wheel barrow away, vacuumed out my car, found out my new seat cover doesn't fit, and had a surprise visit from my pops. :D

This evening we went to City Steam's Classic Movie Night showing of White Christmas (one of my all time favorite movies!) and even though I've seen the film countless times, there were many things I noticed on the big screen that I'd never seen at home.

Bing Crosby lights the matches for his pipe with one hand! I SO want to go buy a box of non-safety matches and figure it out :D

mmmm beeswax - decorating beeswax candles

I finally got around to making and decorating some rolled beewax taper candles. :) Oh my dining room smells so wonderful!

I love winter. :) - Fresh snow

Last night for Joe's Christmas present to his mom, I took her to see A Christmas Carol at The Hartford Stage. It was an absolutely wonderful production of the play (aside from some creepy extra "ghost" dancer parts they added) and still on a high from that I woke up this morning to beautiful snow!

Jake has already been out twice on his line (it's about 9am) to romp around in the snow while I enjoy homemade hazelnut butter on homemade flourless banana bread and a nice cup of gingery-fruity tea. :)

herbyeggs

I love that I can open up my front door, brush away some leaves and cut fresh herbs to cook in my morning eggs. :D

I'm a VERY happy bunny. :D

Things for which I am especially grateful part 2: wonderful men

I am so grateful for all the wonderful men I have in my life.

At beer night last night there were six of us and I was the only one of the female persuasion. In the midst of my post-gathering rumination I was struck by how lucky I am to have so many amazing guys to call friends.

I know this may seem like a silly thing to say, and it may well be. The truth of the matter remains, however, that I am honored to call these honorable, courageous, intelligent, insightful, integritous men my friends.