Christmabirthdapaloosa

It has been a busy month.  Since my last post, I’ve spent the majority of my free time shopping, planning parties or going to parties (most of which have been for my daughter who just turned 5).  I’m now 4 states south of home visiting with my parents for a week (and having additional birthday celebrations as well as early Christmas gift exchanging).  Meanwhile I have my BlackBerry on me which seems to indicate new messages constantly at all hours of the day and night.  So so far my vacation has yet to feel very relaxing and this holiday season feels like more work than fun. Read more “Christmabirthdapaloosa”

Sir, There’s a Santa Lodged in Your Chimney

In the spirit of coming to terms with home ownership, we recently had a chimney sweep come out to, well, clean out our chimney.  We had been aware that it needed to be done as we had had a guy out last spring to address an issue with our furnace (soot was exhausting out the air intake valve in the basement) and when he pulled the exhaust tube away from the chimney we discovered a buckets-worth of crap (soot, brick and mortar dust and pieces) in the elbow.  So we new there was possible damage and definite need for cleaning and assessment. Read more “Sir, There’s a Santa Lodged in Your Chimney”