HFM

In addition to getting the paperwork completed this week, we also were able to squeeze into Mr. Bunkport's schedule and get some final gutter work done in between rain storms. Here is Mr. Bunkport, on the new neighbor's (the one who gave us the orchids) roof, fixing some downed vinyl siding and putting up a new gutter: A thing of beauty! And here he is, putting up a gutter outside of AJ's office: Another thing of beauty! And another task for my to-do list: removing a piece of the washing machine vent to make room for the gutter left a little white strip above the window that I need to touch up with the blue at some point. Of course, it's unusual (and ill advised) to run a gutter and downspout toward the house instead of away from it, but I asked him to do it so that I could put together a small rain catchment system. I put it together on Sunday, using copper fittings (to match the copper water line below the window, and the copper downspout on the back of the house) and...

Today, 104 weeks from when we started the big renovation project (almost exactly two years -- the first construction post on this blog was on March 16, 2014), we finally can call the project totally and completely done: the last of the nightmare of city paperwork is now officially complete. We are DONE!

I don't know how it's happened, but it's already February. Between work and school, the year is already getting away from me. Pickles has let me know just what she thinks about that: Here are a few updates from the past six weeks. 1. More tidying and decluttering! 2. A new neighbor moved in and brought us this beautiful orchid: 3. Momma Arave sent us an exciting & accurate interpretation of our lives here on Mars, made out of horseshoe crab egg pod things that wash up on the beach in Virginia. It features AJ on the taiko drum, and me at the DuserHaus counter, with beer glasses: And complete with a mouse behind the cabinet: Thank you, Momma Arave! 4. We have decided to redo the kitchen this summer! And we're planning to do most of the work ourselves. As everyone knows by now, the floor under the current kitchen cabinets has gaps that cold air & inquisitive mice sneak through. After we tear out the cabinets, we will have Mr. Bunkport seal and level those parts of ...

It's been a very busy month here on Mars! A friend from work, Masha, returned from a trip to Russia, and brought back a new little (about a foot tall) resident for Mars. This is Kuzya:   In Russian homes, Kuzya keeps an eye on things, helping to prevent catastrophes and assorted bad things from happening. Masha thought that Mars could use a little help in this department. Indeed. Thank you, Masha! We also did some more tidying & decluttering this month. I tackled the kitchen Junk Drawer, which really should have been called the Drawer of A Thousand Pens: How did that happen? I would blame Kuzya (who is apparently also responsible for low-level mischief around the house), but I know this happened before he came to stay. We got rid of a medium-sized box of old kitchen utensils and mugs and things, as well. Progress! Our friend Jon has been taking a pottery class, and offered us some of his beautiful work. I have been wanting something to display some marbles and pieces of broken ...

We are on a massive tidying and decluttering rampage. The house isn't overstuffed with junk, but we both have had it in mind for a while to go through our stuff and get rid of things that we aren't using anymore. Recently, we learned about Marie Kondo, a Japanese cleaning consultant, and her method . Essentially, the idea is to only keep things around you that you really like, and instead of going through the house room by room, work through specific categories of items across the whole house because most of us have stuff in each category scattered in various rooms (ex. books, jackets, mice). Pulling everything in a category out into one central room for sorting helps you see just how much you have (she says most people who hire her are surprised to see that they have twice as much as they think they do) and helps you get through the process faster. Her book is short & practical, and is actually a little bit deep -- her method is ultimately about changing your relationship ...

Hello, everyone! As the newest member of the Mars household, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm Joan The Mouse: I'm living in the upstairs bedroom, and I have to say that I'm very pleased with the accommodations. The room is spacious and warm, and the furry thing with the teeth who also lives here leaves behind plenty of crumbs for me to eat. The two fur-less ones that live here have been cleaning up the crumbs far too thoroughly and far too often, in my opinion, but I'm sure they can't possibly get all of them every single day, so I'm sure I will be fine. I plan to stay forever. It's certainly a fun place to live. I miss my mouse friends -- the tall fur-less one has figured out how we were getting in (again) and blocked up the holes (again) -- but this week, there was some sort of occasion, and two other fur-less ones came over and spent the day cooking and laughing. The ones who live here put together a festive centerpiece of flower...

Not much excitement to show lately -- it's been rainy and chilly, so we're spending our weekends doing some tidying up & decluttering inside the house -- but I thought some of you might be interested in this: My dad wanted me to have one of his guitars. It arrived safely last week, and last night I put a wall mount up in my office (I don't like the word "office" for this room, but I haven't come up with a better one. "Den" isn't right, either. Any ideas?). Looks pretty good there, next to a framed series of Lowell postcards that belonged to Jack. Now I just have to re-learn how to play it!