My sister just wrote about their week here, and I didn’t realize what a great hostess I was, but I guess I did a really good job. Actually, she and Mr. P are very good house guests. They washed a lot of dishes and swept the floor a few times, two jobs I really don’t like. Her pictures are much better than mine, and there’s lots of good commentary, so I highly recommend having a look at her photo album.

It’s been a long week, so I decided to start off the weekend with a bubble bath. My selection of facial masks and pretty Oililiy soap was courtesy of Yvonne. What I should have also gotten a picture of was the cats, who stare endlessly at the bubbles whenever I fill the tub. I’m not sure if they are terrified or fascinated. A combination of both, I suspect.

Later, I took down the Christmas tree, which was as exciting for the cats as the day I put it up. Lucy made herself comfortable in the middle of the floral mesh I used as a garland. Later I found her in the tree box.

Lucy is a funny girl. Sijbrich thinks that I should train her to do tricks, and I think that is entirely possible. When we first brought the cats home, Petey settled in pretty quickly, and was a little cuddle-bug from the beginning, but Lucy took a little longer. Both cats were about nine months old when we got them, and had spent the previous six months living together in a cage at the shelter where they were being treated for ringworm. I think Lucy must have spent her first three months as a feral cat, because she would do things like steal bones out of the trash, running and hiding with her stash. Apparently she was worried that the feeder dish we keep perpetually filled with cat food Just Might Run Out one day, you never know with those humans, but she would be prepared for that day. She also likes to chew on plastic, any kind will do, plastic bags, plastic wrap, plastic tape. I’ve even caught her swallowing it, so now I try to keep it out of reach as much as possible. She also didn’t like being held. At all. She didn’t mind being petted, and was happy to rub against our legs, and even throw herself on the ground for a tummy rub, but the moment we would pick her up, her ears would flatten and she would squirm to get away. She seems to have realized that we are capable of holding her without dropping her now, so she’ll tolerate being held if we do it exactly the right way: right side up only (no cradling her like a baby), not too tight, and with lots of petting.

More and more she’s settling in and has decided that we humans aren’t so bad after all. She wants to play all the time, with us. Her favorite game is fetch, and she usually lets us know she’s ready to play by jumping on our headboard and dropping her toy on one of our faces and then chirping. She can do this, because her favorite time to play is around 6 a.m. So we throw the toy, she throws herself off the bed and runs after it and then brings it right back. She can do this for hours it seems, and it never gets old. If we’re not available, then Petey will do, and since he can’t throw a toy for her to fetch, they bounce from room to room and fly through the mini-blinds to hide on the window sills. If I ever get new curtains made for my living room, I’ll have to post before pictures of the sad state of the blinds. Then, when she’s tired from the ricocheting off the walls, she’ll curl up in my lap and sleep for as long as I can manage to sit still.

It took us a while to bring home new cats after losing Gigi, and a month later losing Dune, and these two will never replace them, but it’s comforting to know that they have their own specialness, and bring a new kind of joy into our little house.

It snowed this weekend, so it was a perfect oppurtunity to turn on the Hallmark channel, watch sappy Christmas movies (my guilty pleasure this time of year), and decorate! Please ignore the unpainted walls, and just be glad the duck wallpaper is gone. Now that the bathroom is pretty much done, I’ll be moving on to the living room, but I’m a little busy at the moment.

I never thought it would happen, but I actually got a fake tree this year. First of all, it’s hard to find narrow trees to fit in our little house. Second of all, I like having the tree up for a good long time, and by the time I get the tree down, it’s an extreme fire hazard. And third of all, I’m the one that has to water the tree and clean up the needles, and I just didn’t want to have to deal with all that this year. So, I found this skinny tree a couple weeks ago, and now that it’s up, I actually really just love it. I love the way it looks, and I love that it doesn’t make a mess, and I love that I can leave it up until New Year’s, and I won’t have to worry about it drying out. I think I’ll go collect some branches from the pine trees in our yard, though, so we can still have that nice pine smell in the house.

It’s a cloudy day, so this is the best I could do for now. Lucy loves the Christmas tree. I’ve even caught her sitting in the middle of it, reaching for the ornaments from inside the tree. It will be a miracle if it doesn’t get knocked over. She also likes to just sit underneath it, especially when it’s all lit up. Both cats loved the lights as I was arranging them on the tree, and I had a hard time convincing them that electrical wiring is, in fact, not a good thing to chew on. That particular window sill is Petey’s favorite place to hang out and enjoy the sun and the view of the chickens under the lilac bushes. Now it’s even better, since there’s a pretty tree to look at too.

This year I decorated the tree with lots of vintage ball ornaments, birds nests that I caked with glitter, and gold angel wings. The garland is actually a gold and green mesh floral wrap, I just sort of shove in the branches. If I get ambitious, I want to make a felt bird for the top, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen before this Christmas. I found a little gold butterfly in with all my decorations, I think I should get more and put them all over the tree too. Wouldn’t that be pretty?

I added a few pretty decorations to my kitchen too.

The stocking is from last year’s Annual Christmas Swap with Yvonne. We’ve both just sent our packages for this year’s swap, and I can’t wait. I’m such a lucky duck that we have this tradition! The gumdrop wreath I made a few years ago, and it’s survived quite well. Also, when hungry husbands say, "oh, is that a candy wreath?" all I have to do is remind him that those gumdrops have been in a box in the shed since 2003, and he’s suddenly less inclined to pluck off a gumdrop and pop it in his mouth.

There’ll be more decorations soon, but for the next couple days I’ll be hanging out with one of my brothers, who is in town for a show. I have the next couple days off and we’re going fishing and Christmas shopping! Speaking of family, a couple more members have joined blogland, so check out the links to my other sister-in-law, where you can see pretty pictures of my brother and cute nephew in the snow, and my very hilarious cousin, who thinks she is a hick.

I’m starting to decorate for Christmas. Just a little felt tree, with some of my vintage pearl buttons to get things kicked off on this cloudy morning. I haven’t done a lot of decorating the last couple years, which just makes me sad. It seems that there is never enough time, but if I do a little here, and a little there, we should have a festive little house in a couple weeks.

I think I’ll hang up the wreath on the front of the house tonight…

I still have lots of great links to add, so check back regularly!   

3 green dots
allsorts
anknel and burblets
angry chicken
cara lou
disdressed
dottie angel
erica mulherin
feeling stitchy
freshmd
janet clare
lindamade
little doll face
molly chicken
moonstitches
needle book
nonnie (linen & roses)
on your bike sunshine
peapods
posy
tollipop
willowhouse
wise craft
yellow owl
yvestown

ravelry
fluffbuff
getting stitched on the farm
helloyarn
kittens knit
notes from norah
rohanknitter

day at a glance
decor8
design happens
design*sponge
making it lovely
SFGirlbyBay
The Cottage Nest

orangette

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman|
Rohanknitter (Weathertop Farm)

Visor från vinden
posidriv
blomsterverkstad
white country
pretty gingham

It’s kind of crazy here, with all the fires, so I just wanted to post this link to a map that shows pretty much what’s going on. As you can see, Pine Valley is still in the clear. It shows that the highway is closed, but it’s not any more, so I drove into work today. We’re safe, the chickens are safe, the geese are cranky. Edwin tried to attack me this morning, the little punk, but I’m going to give him a break this time, because the wind is making me a little crazy too. Also, Bear was sitting next to me when the near-attack happened, and he barked at Edwin, and put him in his place.

The winds are starting to die down, but a couple of our trees were damaged, and the port-a-potty was blown over about 6 feet, but luckily didn’t tip over. I know you all were worried about that :o) Spanky’s came this morning and picked it up, and man was I happy to see the last of that thing.

Please say a little prayer for those that have been evacuated, and the more than 1,200 families that have lost their homes so far. I’m so grateful that we haven’t had to evacuate this time, but my heart goes out to those that have had to leave their homes, I know how they are feeling right now, and I wouldn’t wish that kind of horror and stress on anyone.

I got a lampshade, so that’s one project down. I took my lamp with me to Lamps Plus, and tried a bunch of different styles, and I think I was right about the drum shape, and Keri was right about the burlap-y fabric. I still think I’d like a yellow shade, but I think I’d have to do that myself. Maybe one day I’ll get brave and recover this shade, but I’m enjoying this one in the meantime. It creates a really lovely glow in the room too.

I tried a white shade and it looked really horrible, it made the lamp look rather dirty.  I mean, I know it’s old and a little dinged up, but i love that about it. In fact, when the salesman came over to help me, he changed out the old harp for a new shiny brass one. Then he thought he was being so generous and offered to let me keep the new one for free. I didn’t bother trying to explain that I like the old, tarnished one much, much better, and please get that nasty shiny one off my pretty lamp. I just smiled and nodded, and changed it back as soon as I got home. I know it doesn’t even show with the lampshade on, I just don’t see why I’d need a new harp when the old one works just fine and the patina matches the lamp. There was also a lady at the store offering me advice on the shades that I was looking at, and she was all for me getting a bell-shaped shade because it was more feminine. She claimed to be an interior designer and I didn’t know how to politely tell her that despite the fact that my lamp is, in fact, quite flowery, I didn’t want it to be too frilly. I’m such a wimp that I bought my shade and walked around the perimeter of the store to get to the exit so she wouldn’t see that I ignored her advice. It’s so good to know that I can come here, to my blog and there will be you lovely readers who understand what I’m doing. Thank you!

I stuck to my Saturday plan pretty well, and finished reading Harry Potter late that night. It was a very satisfying read, and although the book has its flaws, overall I liked it. There were a couple deaths that were particularly heartbreaking, and I was feeling emotionally drained the rest of the weekend. If anyone wants to talk about it, add your thoughts to the comments, maybe we can have a book discussion there. I really need to talk about it! So if you haven’t read it yet and want to remain un-spoiled, stay away from the comments!

And now I have another request. If you have a moment, could you go here and submit my brother‘s name for unsigned Sunday? I would love to hear his music on the radio, and if he has more fans in San Diego, that means he’ll play down here more often, and I’ll get to see him more. That would make me happy! I’ll have a little thank you giveaway later this week :o)

Lucy approves of my lampshade choice too.