Happy New Year!

I'm still not done with Christmas!  

Dec 23-27 we visited with my inlaws in Gainesville, FL-then I took last week off to organize my home and my life.  Rob and I did our own mini-Christmas morning on Dec 28, and it was so nice to just have that time to open our gifts from each other without a million other people around! I spent that last several days getting rid of a bunch of things and generally restoring peace and order to the house.  

It was lovely.

We spent NYE with our friend Alex and his girlfriend Lera and his brother Sergei.  They're Russian, so we practiced the Russian New Year's tradition of writing a wish on a small piece of paper, then you burn it and place the ashes in your champagne.  This is what you drink at midnight.  It was cool to do something new, and we love them anyway, so it was a lot of fun. (Also, there was a hilarious conversation between the Russians about the meaning of the word "redneck".)

I don't make resolutions (you set yourself up for failure), so nothing to tell the internets about there.

This weekend we visit with my family so we can have Christmas with them, so, believe it or not, I'm not done yet!  In fact, I still have a couple of gifts to wrap.  I.n.s.a.n.e. But I am so excited to see my sister, nephew, parents, godparents, and multiple adopted family members.  Plus, it's nice to prolong the excitement.  

Anyway, I don't have very many pictures of Christmas to bore you with, because even though we thought we had copied my mother in law's pics from her camera, well, we just don't have them.  

So I can entertain you with home improvement photos (I'm lucky to have a handy husband) and pics of my animals doing various adorable (to me) things.

Rob gave me new fog lights for the Mustang, which meant he had some work to do.

This picture was taken as he lost a screw and had to retrieve it.  

There is a reason this is a picture and not a video.

 

But hey, now we will look cool.  Well.  As cool as we can ever look.

Check out my alumni tag, finally attached.  

(Yay bulldogs for beating those silly Michigan folks in the Gator Bowl!)

Abby gave us these cute mugs and matching saucers for Christmas!

This is what we used for our mini-Christmas.  

Actually, I'm still using them.  Because snowmen mean cold, not holiday, right?

The animals are ready for their presents now, please.

Slick is, per the norm, giving his best "F**k you" face to the camera.

 Slick loves his new catnip toy.

Homie also loves his new catnip toy. Slick tried to take it so he would have two.

Homie kicked his ass.  If you know Homie, you know how uncharacteristic this is.

 Bells likes hers too! But also wonders if I'm about to take it away from her.

Buy all the gifts you want, lady.  Boxes are still better.

Bells snuggles with her new toys.  Homie wishes she would die.

Her favorite activity is to drag her toys to the sunniest spot in the house and sit with them.

Slick did not participate in toy cuddling or in sunny-spot sitting.

On to the curtains!  We got olive-green kitchen curtains for Christmas from Rob's parents.

Here are our bare windows.  (We have lived here for 1 1/2 years.)

Bare windows by the kitchen table.

Rob is living every man's dream on New Year's Day. 

Homie is nervous because he is sure he has been chosen to "hold the flashlight".

(The flashlight holder is the one that gets cussed at, for those of you unfamiliar.)

But we have had success!  Looks like grownups live here!

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and New Year!

Happy 2011!!