Oh, look, it's January 5

Bullet points!

>> We spent New Year's Eve day / night and part of New Year's Day in MB's homeland visiting his extended family. I love these people, you guys. Love them. We had early (amaaaaaaazing) country supper at his grandparents' house on Saturday, then spent the night at MB's aunt and uncle's house, which is my favorite place to stay down there. They're fantastically laid back and hospitable and they just adore Nico. On Sunday Nico got to pet horses and twelve-day-old Rottweiler puppies out in the barn. Then MB's uncle took us to the local volunteer fire department. Nico got to sit in two of the trucks and honk the horn. Best New Year's Day ever? Quite possibly.

>> On Tuesday we had a few friends over for a low-key hang out / play games thing, which was also very nice. I'm so glad we got to see our out-of-town friend Norah 3 times this visit…I miss hanging out with her.

>> Last night I shuffled some stuff around on our bookcases to make room for a few of Nico's new toys, including his little train set my parents bought him for Christmas. He'd been excited about it before but hadn't played with it once since I stowed it neatly in its storage tub under his train table in the playroom. Suspecting an out of sight / out of mind situation, I hoped he'd play with it more if he actually saw it every day. (Plus his train table is currently occupied by this marvel of toy engineering, which he received from BoMB and Nie as an early birthday gift.) Wouldn't you know, it worked like a charm. About 30 minutes after I moved the train set out, he pulled it down from the shelf and he and MB played with it.

>> I found out a few weeks ago that Daria is available through Netflix, so I put the DVDs at the front of our queue and the first one arrived today. I'm eagerly anticipating watching it and also hoping it doesn't turn out to be one of those once-beloved shows that is totally stupid when viewed as an adult (*coughSmurfscough*)

>> I made a quick list of decluttering / organizing goals today, so here they are. Hold me accountable, random blog entry!

1. clear out guest room
2. finish clearing box stack in master bedroom
3. clean out dining room buffet storage
4. evaluate game collection and pare down if needed
5. solve living room lighting problem
6. reorganize / optimize linen cabinet
7. reorganize / optimize / pare down craft supply closet
8. move all important papers to basement filing cabinet
9. buy a new shredder and take care of stacks of to-shred papers
10. hang caterpillar quilt in Nico's room


Reading:  Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Playing:  Decemberists, Mumford & Sons