Day trip!

Where are we headed on such a gray and rainy day?

Alas, the rain has obscured a clue. Though the rain itself is a clue.

How about this icon?

You know now, right? But what are we doing here?

We've come to see....

If they hadn't extended it, we wouldn't have seen it, but they did so we did.

Completed!

What is this a picture of?

It's a picture of how dark Matt's room is in the middle of the day now that I have finished both Roman Shades!

Here's is a picture of the matching set with the light on.

And here is what they look like pulled up.

It took a year an a half--worked on during vacation times--to finish them, but now I'm happy with how they have turned out. Five blinds on windows down, seven to go. Hopefully the next seven will be completed faster than the first five.

Matt & Jeff go snowboarding

Matt practices his skills before his first lesson.

He's ready for the cold with guess how many layers.

Jeff is ready for the trip up the mountain.

Happy New Year!

If this New Year's Day food is any indication, this will be a healthy and wealthy new year.

New setup.

I've angled the living room furniture. Looking at the previous set up, it looked like all we ever did in there was watch TV. A design book I was reading pointed out that people should be able to sit and engage in conversation without turning their heads. Our previous setup did not have that feature. So here's the new setup. I'm still deciding whether or not to get rid of the pink chair.

View from the kitchen:

View from the front door.

View from the corner of the living room.

Cats

A few end of the year portraits.

Antares watching from the safety of the chair.

He's always alert.

Sentinel, looking handsome on the coffee table.

And not pleased to have his picture taken.

Results

The first image is the "before picture" and the second image is the "after" picture and quite honestly, they don't look very different. But in real life, things are much more organized.
For one thing, I finally hemmed the dresses that have been hanging there since summer, which means they aren't blocking access to the shelves. I've also moved the canning jars to be more accessible gotten rid of all the non-essential stuff.