Of course, they’re usually chocolate, but this one is a “Birch de Noel.” I thought everything turned out great except for the meringue mushrooms…because the tip on my pastry bag wasn’t big enough. But the whole thing was gone by 9:00 and it tasted amazing. I think I used about a dozen eggs making the whole thing (most of them were just the whites).

Here are a couple of pictures of the tablescape. It turned out well…though the lighting wasn’t so great and neither is my iPhone camera, so they’re kind of grainy and dark.

Left to right – the yule log, sugar cookies (that I made, of course), and sausage balls (which Matt made).

Starting at the top of this picture, there’s a veggie platter, then gougeres (with goat cheese and rosemary), and then endive spears with goat cheese and cranberry relish.

There were about 4 cookies leftover (I had another plate of them in the living room). That was all. I feel quite pleased with myself for pulling it all off so well.

Now, two days later, we haven’t cleaned anything up. Yesterday was spent in recovery (I may have had a little too much rum in my apple cider), and now I am faced with a house full of cups, plates and forks, gift wrap from the dirty santa game, and lots of empty bottles. Stupid party cleanup. I think I’ll just straighten up today, and save the actual dish-washing for tomorrow. I really wish we had a dishwasher….

Anyway. So I’m throwing a Christmas party on Saturday, and am planning on going all out with the hors d’oeurves. Plus I’m going to make a “Birch de Noel” – Martha’s white chocolate take on the buche de noel. The picture was so cool-looking that I decided I’d rather make it than babka. I might still make babka. We’ll see.

But I’m being ridiculously detailed in my planning for this party. I made myself a timeline and a schedule (is that the same thing?) and a shopping list and all that. Even spent all of yesterday finishing this table runner –

Though not as pretty as the picture (if anyone cares, this is also one of Martha’s inspirations), it actually turned out a lot better than I anticipated.

Anyway, this afternoon – on the Party Schedule – I’m supposed to deep clean the house. At this point in the afternoon, I’m kind of seeing “deep clean” as meaning that I’ll clean the bathroom, do a couple of loads of laundry, wash the dishes, and probably sweep. That’s more like “normal clean,” but hey, I generally keep things fairly clean anyway… (I’m much better at housekeeping now).

So I’m watching/listening to A Christmas Carol since Matt hates Christmas movies. We spent way too much time the other day talking about whether George Bailey is a “common, everyday yokel” or not. (Really, the debate was about whether that movie is a parable or not…and whether the moral — no man who has friends is a failure or whatever it is — was actually true.) I think my argument should be obvious, though he did make a pretty good point at times. Good, if jaded. So you know.

I’m doing a fabulous job of not cleaning the house. Guess at least I should put a load of laundry in…

SO! I bought a Christmas tree today. Matt’s in class all afternoon, but he is a self-proclaimed humbug and didn’t want to help with any of the setup or anything. We’re having a Christmas party and he’s insisting on building a Festivus pole. (Which is fine with me of course.)

So I went to Lowe’s and found a big Douglas Fir and bought it and everything all by myself (still kind of a big deal). The quiet, nice older man who trimmed it and wrapped it for me helped me get it in my little Kia trunk. I took a picture for effect. It’s a small car.

Ha!  Getting it out was the hard part, as you can probably imagine.  But I did get it in and set up, and it looks great!

The Charlie Brown tree that we used last year is in the dining room.  :)

Bitey seems happier about it, though. He’s acting the way he used to act – privileged, spoiled, cocky, needy, and always whiny. Good thing he’s so cute!

But anyway, so I’m awake. Our friends, Chris and Nita, gave us a beautiful pine entertainment center, and we moved it yesterday. They just wanted to get rid of it to do something new with their living room – it takes up a LOT of space and kind of dominated the area. But I think it looks great here. It’s three separate parts – the center, where the TV is supposed to go. Then it has two bookcases on each side, both set back about a foot from the front of the center piece. Anyway, so we put the two bookcases into the dining room and have the center in the living room. And I LOVE it. It looks so great with the rest of the furniture, etc.

So this is the middle.  You can’t tell how deep it is in this picture, but it’s at least three feet I’d say.

And, here in the dining room, are the two other pieces.  I had to take down some of the pictures to make room, which is why there are a few on the table.

Our gaming and liquor cabinets.  Game days will be even more fun now!

I see that I haven’t blogged since Bloomsday. Which was a while ago. Not a whole lot has changed – for me, anyway. Matt has a snazzy new job at VUMC as a medical relamper. He gets awesome benefits, they’re sending him to electrician school, they’ll reimburse me 47% of my tuition anywhere, not to mention the vacation and sick days that he gets. Oh, and he got a raise. Pretty sweet deal. He’s enjoying it a lot more, too, I think.

In other news, we have a new kitten – I put pictures on Facebook though, so it’s really not new. We did decide to name him Vladimir and call him Vlad for short. He has very tiny razor-sharp claws and is a black tabby. Super cute but also potentially dangerous (and therefore the allusions to Vlad the Impaler and Putin). (Though – just to be clear – I’m not saying that Vlad the Impaler was super cute at all.)

I have, though, already done two loads of laundry, AND washed/cleaned out my car. I’m going to take it soon to get the oil changed and the tire fixed. It’s been slowly losing air and seems to be getting worse, so I hope they’ll be able to patch it but I might just end up buying a new one. Also need to take to get the emissions test done so that I can renew the tags by the end of the month. Yep.

Sorry I’ve been so lazy about blogging lately. Gotta shape up! I have no excuse.

So we’ve been playing in an adult kickball league for the past few months, and are starting up the summer games tonight. I really suck at kickball, or at being very athletic anyway, but it can really be a lot of fun as long as the other team isn’t too competitive. So far most of them aren’t. I mean, it’s kickball! If you want to be all competitive and showcase your athleticism, go play volleyball or softball or something of that nature. Many of the people on our team seem to have the same skill level as I do, though some of them are pretty good (Matt being one of those). Tonight, our friends Mar and Amy are joining the team for the first time, which should be fun.

Wow, Gob Bluth. “Wow, the guy in the $4000 suit is holding the elevator for the guy who doesn’t make that in three months?! Come on!!”

Almost 9am. Better keep the momentum going. I’ve been unusually productive this morning for my days off…. Later today, before kickball but after getting Matt from work, I’m meeting his mom to go see about altering the straps on the dress I bought for Anna Laura’s wedding. The dress fits if I don’t wear a bra, basically. If I wear a strapless bra (which I have to with that dress), it won’t zip. Stupid boobs. Always getting in the way. L, when/if you read this, just be prepared for me to be showing some cleavage. I don’t think I’ll be able to get around it. Mom, I’ll definitely do what I can to minimize it. But seriously. It’s a pain.

I made some pear ginger hand pies yesterday, and he hasn’t eaten even one. Hmph. I’m taking four to his parents, but I should probably make it six or eight since I’ll have to eat the rest of them. Does anyone volunteer to eat my baked goods? You’ll have to come get them, but there will be plenty.

And there will more blogging in the coming days. I’m taking a week off work and will have plenty of time!! AND we’re going to Savannah on Saturday for a much-delayed honeymoon.

I know, it’s super cute.  Anyway.  After Target, I actually did something worthwhile by going to Lowes and getting keys made for our house (Matt had the back door key, and I had the front door key up until today), and I also got some potting soil and a new planter for herbs.  I have some basil and thyme that I’ve been needing to repot.

So after Lowes, I went to get my hair cut.  Nothing drastic, since Matt likes my hair longer and I like the way it looks too – even if it’s a pain to blow-dry.  Then I made my way to Whole Foods for some hair dye and paper towels.  After that, I came home, dyed my hair, and partially cleaned the house.  It’s not too messy, so the rest should be easy.

We found a table and an easy chair for our reading room, BTW.  It looks much fuller now (whereas, before, it had only housed bookshelves and one chair).  We haven’t utilized that room much yet, but it sure will be nice to have.  Matt says he’s going to start studying chess in earnest – which is why he wanted the table in the first place (so that he can have a couple of boards laid out and still have room for some chess books).  I, myself, have been commissioned to draw a portrait for one of Kenna Tomberlin’s friends, due in May, which I really need to get going on.  Let’s see… I have at least two full months to get it done, but it would be nice to break the procrastination theme that I have going.  Funny how I procrastinate with most things…but when it comes to unpacking boxes, I can’t wait.  We were pretty much moved in completely after a week.  It’s a good thing.

We went to Beaman Park yesterday after work and hiked a bit.  It was only 2+ miles, but it was enough since I’m so out of shape.  I’m trying to get back into good physical health; we’ve been doing a much better job of working out on a consistent basis – which is a lot easier since we have more room here to exercise.  So far no weight loss, but I feel better!  That’s always a good thing.  Plus, the woods were amazing yesterday!  It was sunny, cool, and very breezy.  Ahh.

Matt told me to decide what to have for dinner, and instead of doing that I’m blogging and drinking some merlot.

—Speaking of, we bought this merlot-in-a-box the other day.  I was hugely skeptical, but it was only $20 so I figured I could cook with it if it sucked.  But surprisingly, it doesn’t!  I mean, I’m not a wine connoisseur by any means, but I can at least taste a horrible wine, and this isn’t.  I think the brand is Black box?

Anyway, I should start figuring out what to have for dinner…or at least start cleaning the kitchen.

Oh, and here’s my new hair.  Not much of a change.

But anyway, we’re mostly just down to unpacking all the books (ALL THE BOOKS) and hanging stuff on the walls now! The house is a 3 bedroom, but we’re using one of them as a dining room and one as a reading room. You will not find any pictures of the reading room here yet, because it’s the most unfinished room as of yet, being home to all of the books that are still in boxes in the garage. We’re also wanting to get a card table (at least, something that size) for that room so that Matt can study chess better, and an easy chair. Plus the litter boxes are in there right now too.

But here are some pictures of the rest of the house (minus garage and bedroom).

This is the kitchen table and the door to the garage.  Along with Bitey and Calliope, who were pretty traumatized by the move but seem to have settled in pretty easily.

Here’s another angle of the kitchen.  You might notice that there are pots and pans on the stove… I’m hoping to get some hooks so that I can hang t hem up under the cabinet above the stove.  Will update the blog as soon as I do so (or at least, I’ll try to).

Here is our wood paneled dining room, which is beautiful.  We’re also going to look for a side bar/buffet that we can put in here.  And we plan to put up maps on the walls (and the globe on the buffet).

Here’s the living room.  I was standing next to the TV, and the front door is right next to the lamp on the left.

So there’s your update.  I’d do more but need to get ready for work soon…. We’re going through another period where we only have two managers, and I have to close for the next three days (which is sad because it’s the complete opposite of Matt’s schedule).  Sigh….  Oh well, it never lasts forever…!