My brother's house is now empty. In one long marathon of packing, we finished it all up. I'm happy to report that nothing was broken except for a glass lid on a Corning Ware dish that was the victim of my nephews' swordfighting with a curtain rod and a yardstick. (Did I mention my nephews are 33 and 31??) I have six boxes of Rodger's belongings at my house left to go through, but I'm finding it's easier to do a little at a time. In the meantime, my littlest cat Gracie has claimed one of the boxes as her bed. I'm also happy to report that the box the boys thought was full of porn (which I'm sure is why it was packed into my vehicle) had only one porn mag in it, right on top. The rest of the crate contained architecture magazines. Who knew Rodge was into Mid-Century Modern?
I decorated both parlors for Christmas this year. The front parlor has a 7-ft Christmas tree loaded with ornaments and surrounded by a quilted and beaded Christmas tree skirt, a little table with four caroler figurines on it, and lighted garland strung along the mantel with two glass hurricane vases full of minature gold ball ornaments and lights. The back parlor has a 6-ft tree with a broken stand held together with Hello Kitty duck tape and nothing on it but lights. Guess which parlor the kitties have access to?
Other than that, not much going on here at the house. After Christmas the wallpapering of the front parlor will begin again in earnest.