Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

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 ceramics that came up out of the excavation under the house, as well as my grandmother's wedding ring, a couple rings of Jack's, and Jack's father's ring. This bowl works perfectly:

Thank you, Jon!

The week or so before Christmas, we finally got around to some decorating. First, we put up our stockings, and some cutouts of reindeer that we made in previous years:

I made a stocking for Pickles, as well as one for Joan the mouse, and one for her friend Hunca Munca (as it turns out, Hunca Munca is actually the most appropriate name for a house mouse, per AJ & Beatrix Potter).

I subsequently caught both Joan and Hunca Munca, and returned them to the wild.

Anyway, as usual, Pickles helped us decorate with her characteristic holiday cheer and enthusiasm:
 

Here's what we did for a tree this year:

One string of purple Christmas lights, with assorted festive paper things as ornaments, and more cutouts at the bottom. Here it is at night:

On Christmas, Brian, Susie, and Paul came over for food and movies (Denzel Washington marathon this year) and good times. I totally forgot to take pictures of everything except Brian's famous homemade cherry and chocolate rugelach, and his cranberry nut bread:

That was breakfast. We also had mushroom spinach strata for lunch, and cioppino (San Francisco seafood stew) for dinner. Salted honey pie with homemade crust for dessert. It as a wonderful, relaxing day.

And now it's New Year's Eve, and AJ, Pickles, and I are in Sonoma with Amanda, watching Miami Vice and looking out over this view, glass of champagne in hand:

This certainly bodes well for 2016.

In the meantime, Happy New Year to everyone from the four of us!

Tidying like crazy

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 to your things.

After reading the book last month, we unleashed a whirlwind on the house. As she instructs, we went through easier categories first (it gives you a chance to hone your decision-making skills) over the past several weeks, & by this weekend, we were ready to tackle one of our largest & most difficult categories: nonfiction books. After bringing them all into the dining room, the pile was daunting:

There are something like 400 books here. We cranked through it in only a couple hours, though, getting rid of five paper grocery bags full of books.

We're only about halfway through all the categories, and have already filled up the 32-gallon recycling bin three times and assembled this 5'x5' monster donation pile:

Just as predicted, we can't believe how big this pile is & how much paper clutter there was in the house. The closets aren't bursting open and the cabinets aren't jammed full, but yet look at all this. Where did it all come from?

As usual, Pickles has helped our efforts by making sure to stay squarely in the sunshine all afternoon:

On Sunday, while parked in this spot, she got the rare opportunity to actually chase Joan across the floor, instead of just having to settle for barking at scritching noises behind a bookshelf. Luckily for all of us, she's slower than Joan.

All this tidying and the airy feeling it brings to the house also inspires decoration.

We have been compiling a photo wall in the living room, and AJ recently had a dozen photos printed to add to the collection. Last week, we finally got them up along the top of the wall:

She also decided it was time to trim her ancient ivy plant. Here is the end of the vine:

And here is the beginning -- that's AJ standing on the couch at the front of the house, holding it up:

I did some things with photos, as well. I picked out photos of my grandparents, Jack, and Dad, and pinned them up on two pieces of redwood board left from the fence replacement a couple years ago, and put them up. Here's the first one, in the newly dubbed "Rumination Room" (thank you Daddy-o Johnstone & Amanda for the help with naming this room!):

And here is the second one, in the dining room:

Next weekend, we're going to borrow a car and take all of the stuff in the monster pile out of the house. And then on to more tidying!

Happy Thanksgiving from Joan

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 flowers, a small pumpkin, and, just for fun, a turkey made out of a toilet paper roll and scraps of paper and ribbon:

The cooking smelled wonderful. I was greatly disappointed that they cleaned up so well. I missed out on pistachios that were perfectly toasted for the salad:

I also missed out on this incredible fish that the small fur-less one made:

Didn't get a single bite of these delicious roasted brussels sprouts & home-pickled garlic:

And these beautiful cheesey chivey Yorkshire puddings! Again, not even a morsel left for me. Sigh. Here they are, straight from the oven:

And then seconds later, in their deflated, dense, most delicious state:

Other things I missed out on: homemade saag paneer (spinach and Indian cheese) and mini-papadum (a type of Indian cracker), sweet pickled limes, and mashed potatoes. Here's the whole tantalizing dinner, laid out beyond my reach:

For dessert, the small fur-less one made a special German layered poppyseed flour cake called a mohnkuchen. The strawberry-cardamom-vanilla jam that went between the layers was homemade by the special fur-less guests. And of course, there was fresh whipped cream:

I wish I could have gotten as close to that cake as that fake turkey did. 

Even though I didn't get to have any, I'm sure it was absolutely delicious, judging by the excited babbling of the four fur-less ones and the great interest of the furry one. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

The next morning, the small fur-less one was at it again, making cheese-filled croquettes with the leftover mashed potatoes for breakfast, along with these perfect biscuits:

Again, much to my disappointment, the cleanup after the meal was thorough, so I can't tell you first hand whether any of it was good. The babbling sounded positive, though, so I guess it was.

Well, I have to sign off for now -- I need to get over to the closet to nibble on some sweaters. I hope everyone had a happy and healthy occasion, as well, and I hope you all left more crumbs out for your mice than these jerks did.

Guitar

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!

Halloween & Todos Santos

Back on Mars this week, just in time for two important events: Pickles' annual Halloween portrait, and the celebration of Todos Santos.

At Amanda's suggestion, Pickles decided to be a justice this year. While taking the portrait, however, she discovered that she wasn't really into the wig:

She received many treats as compensation for her dissatisfaction, however, & finally agreed to sit still for fifteen seconds,

Presenting the Honorable Zo E. Pickles, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Critter Justice, California District:

Happy Halloween!

The next day, we set up our altar for Todos Santos (Day of the Dead), where we remember and honor loved ones who have passed away:

Bob Desrosiers, 1944-2015

No work on the house again this week. Instead, we both flew back to New Hampshire to say goodbye to my father, Bob.

1962

He was a funny, humble, affable guy. He was a fixture in the neighborhood, spending summers sitting on his deck, looking out on the lake, and waving to neighbors driving by. About 70 people turned out to pay their respects at the memorial on Friday night.

Here is his obituary, for those who never had the opportunity to meet him:

Robert R. Desrosiers

June 3, 1944 ~ October 13, 2015

Robert Rene Desrosiers, 71, passed away at his home in Derry, NH, on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, surrounded by loving family.

Bob was born on June 3, 1944 in Lowell, MA, to Albert Desrosiers and Florence (Lemire) Desrosiers. He loved playing the guitar, spending time on his boat, and cooking for his family. He was also a proud veteran of the Navy.

He leaves his devoted wife, Toni Desrosiers of Derry, NH; his daughter Christine Desrosiers and her partner Adrienne Johnstone of San Francisco, CA; his daughter, Angela (Northcutt) O'Brien, her husband Michael and sons Jacob, Patrick, and Sean of Swansea, MA; his son Anthony Northcutt of Fayetteville, AL, and his son Jacob Hernandez of Casper, WY; his son, Terry Northcutt and his fiance Marty Ray of Jacksonville, NC, and his son Todd Etress of Charleston, SC; his older brother, George Desrosiers of Lowell, MA; and his loving dog, Meili.

A gift from a secret admirer

Last week we got a surprise in the mail -- this beautifully painted portrait of Pickles!

The card with the cute owl didn't say who sent it, but we suspect it's one of Pickles' admirers in the great Commonwealth of Virginia.

We love it very much, and put it up immediately in a place of honor in the kitchen:

It's basically the first thing you see when you walk in. Just as it should be!

Thank you so much, Secret Admirer! Please come visit again soon!

Speed Bag

No mural this week after all. We got the front & back yards tidied, AJ fixed her bike, & I got the present AJ gave me for my birthday set up:

Of course I had to try it out for a while, using these great mitts she also gave me:

Both the mitts and the speed bag are vintage, to go with the overall aesthetic of the garage/workshop/DuserHaus. Of course, at this point, vintage can refer to things that are much younger than we are, but they do look great down there with all the 60+ year old stuff from the "rooms" under the kitchen.

After all that, I was pooped. So, no mural. Next week, I'm going out of town for work, so maybe no mural then, either. But it's next on my list!

Bedroom done!

It took a few evenings & one whole day, but the bedroom is now done!

The pink trim has been eradicated:

I did two of the walls in the same blue-gray as my work room, and two the same ivory color of the new rooms:

When the construction guys jacked up the back of the house to repair it, they caused a shift in the bedroom wall that loosened & tore some old wallpaper that people have been painting over for decades: 

When we saw that, we immediately peeled some of the paper back, to make sure the wall wasn't cracked. It wasn't, but we exposed a couple large bare patches of old plaster that we've just been living with all this time. As a quick cosmetic fix, I tried to cut away as much paper as I could to get to the places where it was still stuck to the wall, while not making the holes too much larger, and then painted over the holes. It worked pretty well:

It doesn't catch the eye when you're in the room, so all's well that ends well. We can do a real fix later, when we have the ceilings redone.

Pickles, meanwhile, couldn't understand why I would want to do all this activity in the evenings instead of doing normal couch time with her:

In the end, she went ahead & compensated herself well. I cleared out some dead plants from the garden bed on Saturday afternoon, & she spent Sunday morning in the sun, on the soft, warm soil:

The garden has a ways to go before I can replant after the Mouse-pocalypse -- I have to build a contraption -- but the bedroom is now totally done & checked off the list. I didn't get to work on the mural because I have a school assignment to finish, but I'm still satisfied with the progress this week. Next week: a return to the mural, along with some overdue yard cleanup!