"Decorated house, decorated tree, I wish I were a present"

The title of this post is dedicated to my brother, who made up this short song when he was just a wee mensch as we went driving around looking at the city lights one Christmas as kids, he had a habit of being excessively thrilled about life in general...Happy Birthday, Guido! :) We love you!

Newsflash: we're finally settled in! Unpacking was horrendously time-consuming and poor Kyle loathed it...he thinks that I unnecessarily like to have things unpacked and organized quickly when I move to a new place. Am I so weird? (I'm pretty used to moving and organizing by now with 6 moves under my belt in the past 2 years. I think I've got it down to a science and I'm contemplating writing a book about it. Okay, maybe not, but I think I deserve to spend some quality time with the things that I've missed while we've been gone adventuring...

Like, for example, my favorite orange vintage reading chair that makes me gleeful when I think of reading the latest Martha Stewart Living magazine in it or some tragic non-fiction for the book club...either way, I'm happy to have it back in the family.

Things like my vases and a cake plate, which I have a crush on. Our juicer and Vitamix...who would've thought a teapot could bring back such joy and civilization into one's heart?

Our obese table that seats 12 with a leaf has been highly missed and of course our cal king bed that actually has springs and is long enough for our legs so we aren't forced to sleep in the fetal position.

I must say Kyle's favorite thing about the move was probably getting new clothes for school. The Mall of America certainly helped. And in between unpacking bursts, we did manage to get a few things (his and hers vests....*sigh* how quaint) for the colder weather that is slowly sneaking up on us already! And we took a few pictures of his beloved MBA Grainger Hall (his second home).

He will be so upset when he finds out that I put this "touristy" pic of him up here...he might as well be making a peace sign, giving a thumbs-up or some other nonsensical gesture saying: "I'm new!" Nevertheless, it needed documentation.

Until next time, "If they don't find you handsome, they'll at least find you handy." *

*Tribute to the Lewis children and their 60's upbringing of watching the Lawerence Welk show in succession with the Red & Green Show.