Why Yes, I AM Wearing My Coat and Scarf!

I think I'm going to ask dear old Santy Claus for wireless internet. Brrr.... Here I am in my Big Back Room wearing my coat and scarf and drinking a cup of coffee trying to keep the frostbite away while I check the blogs. Well, okay, it's not THAT cold yet (although all those things I'm wearing and doing are true) but IT WILL BE!! We've hung a nice blue and white quilt top at the end of the hallway and it does a marvelous job of keeping the warm air and the cold air where they are supposed to be. I don't care about not having heat in the back room--we're thinking it's going to save us a heap of money to not run the furnace back here--but I'm afraid when it really does get so cold that it won't be good for the computer. Or for the dog, whose cage is back here. Or for me, who gets cold easily.

We woke up to something pretty sad this morning. Anja's birthday fish had died. We saw it coming... we were watching them last night and saying that one in particular really wasn't looking good. This morning one of them was floating at the top of the bowl and the other was kind of swimming retardedly along on the bottom. Martin flushed them both without Anja seeing, and I think she's forgotten about them already, which is good. Still though, it makes me REALLY sad. Those were her first pets! And she really did love to see them swim around.

Speaking of Anja, we have such good times together. One time last winter when Anja was just a couple months old, my brother stopped by during one of his outings to the library. He came into the kitchen where Anja was sleeping in her swing and I was washing dishes and he said, "do you guys just kind of hang out all day?" Well, yeah, we kind of do! At the time I remember thinking I'd better live it up because when she gets bigger life will be a lot more work. And I guess in a way it is, but with just one, and with one who is so happy, life isn't really much more than hanging out together all day. It's pretty great. And I've decided that I don't really care that my house is a little on the dirty side because it isn't filthy, it's just cottagey, and cottages are supposed to be cozy places that don't mind a little dust.

Last night we went to Barnes & Noble because Anja looked so cute in her coat and hat that we wanted to take her out and show her off. We ran into my friends Scott and Greg there, and I hadn't seen them in FOREVER, so it was nice to catch up. One of them now raises llamas. Odd! I got to look through the new Mothering magazine and it gave me another idea of what to ask Good Old Santy Claus for.....

I've got pieces cut for a quilt for the new baby, but I have yet to sew a seam together, so I think I'll go start on that.