but i'm not a grinch

we bought our house without seeing it in person, which is something you should NEVER ever ever do -- but the fact we the property had vast amounts of sand in the soil (vs. the more normal for around here clay) was enough to push me past the "this is a stupid idea" frame of mind into a "it will be JUST FINE" one.

there are things about this place i don't like. the upstairs bathroom is attached to the kitchen; something i SWORE i would never have. the bathtub/shower combo is like a horrible tardis that needs to be replaced -- not because it doesn't work, but because it is so ugly. SO UGLY.

i miss the 20 ft. ceilings we had in our CA house, the wide open floor plan, and the view of the valley from our H U G E windows in the living room. this house is roughly the same size sq ft wise, but half of the sq feet are up and half are down, making it feel less spacious.

what more than makes up for that is the studio we have attached to the garage which is huge and really versatile.

all of this to say that i want to take the christmas tree down today....even though our tradition has been to take it down on the 31st.

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today we made a tray of tasty treats for the chickens (click for image -- still trying to figure out how to upload a photo without it being directly hosted).



apples, cottage cheese, and smooshed blueberries. not pictured is the pot of oatmeal and bananas i made for them. poor girls out there in the cold and mister husband not wanting to let them live in the house with us.

;)

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i'm not sure what the rest of the day has in store, but i DO know i need to get some planning done for 2026. i LOVE the freshness of a new year. ;)