Evolution*

Yes, this is my first blog entry on my new MacBook Pro. Hooray! The above pic includes all the laptops (minus one) that I have had from work over the past 6 years. So far this one has been super cool!**

And it's a good thing I have this new toy to keep me occupied, because we've been home from school the past two days with snowy, icy weather.

This is what we woke up to this morning:

We had a few inches of snow that was covered in a fresh sheet of ice -- the trees looked amazing -- and then we got about another inch of snow on top of the ice.
I thought it looked very pretty, and then Charlie went out to inspect some downed limbs and found this:

Not so pretty.
Looks like we will be cutting down the pine tree this spring (maybe more than one, there's one on the side of the house that is growing dangerously close to our power lines).

Good thing I have my Mac to keep me warm! The other thing I am enjoying during our mini break from school is our new built–in bookcase in the living room. When we first looked at the house six years ago, there was a floor to ceiling nook in the living room with one lone shelf:


We pulled down the old shelf (well, it fell down, really) and I painted the one wall umm....fuchsia?....raspberry?....well, see for yourself. This was done way before Jaxon was born.

This is right after he started walking.
And now, thanks to my handy husband, the nook looks like this:


Woo hoo! A built-in bookcase! I've moved most of our books out of my sewing room (once the office) and into the living room, with the art books and old Hollywood on either side of the fireplace (shelves also built by Charlie) and the rest (minus health and sewing) you see here.

I've been culling my book collection over the past year, keeping only books that I re-read regularly (or semi-regularly). I still would like to remove more -- I want the shelves to look less cluttered. So, dear readers, if any of you are interested in any books by Rita Mae Brown, Carolyn Hart, or
Lillian Jackson Braun (those have already been moved to the garage), please let me know!

The completion of the bookcase means the beginning of the sewing room reno! I don't expect it to be done before summer, but Charlie and I took the bookshelves down to his office, and I started boxing up things for a future garage sale. This will be a big job, with new electrical, lighting, window, and I will be pulling up the carpet to reveal pristine hardwoods (think positively). I'll keep you posted!

*This alternate title for this post was "My Husband Rocks" but the Mac won out. Sorry, Charlie.

**No, I don't usually have 4 laptops laying around the house. One has a broken screen, another is a loaner until this new one came in, and the other doesn't run the software I use for work anymore.