before & after

If you know me at all you will know that while I sometimes exist in the midst of chaos and disorganization I really really dislike being in that state. I love to organize and I love when everything is organized. Parts of Nina's room have been bothering me for a while, so I spent some time and money at IKEA yesterday.

Here's what was bothering me so much (the other two people I live with consider this to be tidied).


And here's what it looks like now:

I found a super cute cotton rug that goes with the other stuff in the room so I got that too.

And while that cardboard box in between the chair and drawers isn't super nice looking, it is holding artwork that was all over the room and taking up all three drawers. I will ask Nina to go through all the artwork in the box (I didn't throw any away) and pick some to keep.

And yes, the balloons in the "before" pictures are from Nina's birthday party almost two months ago. I got rid of them, it was just time.

meanwhile, back at the hall of justice

Also known as South Florida...

Here is a window into what Nina and Larry were up to while they were gone.
Nina and her cousin Wil.

Uncle Joe, Milt, Nanny Eve, Granki, Nina, and Wil.

Larry, Gina, Wil, and Nina.

hair fully let down

So, with Larry and Nina far, far away, I decided to have my second annual party. I spent the day prepping, and I thought I'd share with you what the table looked like in the afternoon. I had to string up another garland to hang cards from, we were blessed with a bounty of them this year.

Bottles are so pretty...

What happens at the party stays at the party, but here's a lovely pic for you (taken by the lovely and talented Karen).

I asked everyone to bring old yearbooks and boy did we have a great time reading what people wrote and seeing what we all looked like. Of course there was the obligatory karaoke; if you haven't had the Sara karaoke experience, all I'm going to say is that you are missing out. Seriously. We also did a secret gift swap--the gift giver had to write a limerick about themselves rather than just tell who the gift was from, which was super fun. Here's mine (I drew Natalie, who was very hard to get a present for, but also very fun):
There once was a girl from Peru
Who thought she had so much to do
She drove herself crazy
And called herself lazy
But really she was just a Jew.

who knew?

The other day, Nina said "The day after Chanukah is Eid." To which I replied "HUH?" "Eid," she said, pointing to the calendar she brought home from school. It took me a minute to figure out that she was pointing to the crescent symbol arbitrarily on the calendar on the last week of school with some other representative symbols (a reindeer, a menorah, the crescent and star, and Buddha). Now, to be completely fair in the telling of this story, Eid ul Fitr was in October this year, but they had obviously been talking about religions and and Nina had recognized the crescent next to the menorah on the calendar. I am glad to hear that they are talking about religions (emphasis on the plural), as I get especially christianed out this time of the year.

white christmas...

It was a nice clear, dry day here. Not very cold, either. But as this picture illustrates, I can often see snow from where I live. In fact, people who live here often drive their kids to play in the snow.