Home Sweet Home.

Well, this is where we'll be living for the next 6 weeks.

Seriously! We're off to Australia for beach slumming, kangaroo-watching, learning, living, and exploring.

Is that one wabi-sabi van, or what? And in such a dreamy orange color...you know how I love orange.

I'll be posting some, but not much. I will, however, inundate you with photos upon return. (I know you're all looking forward to that.)

MERRY EVERYTHING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love,

The Holts

PS Robbers, don't even think about it. I have a house sitter and a dog walker on board. I know you wouldn't, but I'm just letting you know...

The Metal Tree.

I've been trying for days to take a decent picture of our new Christmas tree. I guess it's not gonna happen, and I'm tired of trying. I suppose that's one downside of this wacky tree that we all love...no gorgeous, lush, traditional tree photo, but what the hey? There's nothing traditional about the tree, so maybe it's meant to be seen live?

For years I've been putting my dad's old, wonky, extremely artificial, missing-half-its-parts tree up and loving that it was my dad's and hating that it was now mine. Does that make sense? It warmed my heart and pained my eyes. Last year I decided I'd had enough. I just couldn't take another year of explaining why we had such an, uh, hmmm, ugly strange tree. I went looking for something different. I do remember that I was looking for something in particular. I had to have it. Now I cannot even remember what it was I was looking for! But, while I was searching for that tree, I found this tree on my neighborhood message board. I had to go look at it two times before I succumbed to its charms. I got it after Christmas last year, so this is our first year of having it up and it's been a big hit. It ain't for the faint of heart or the traditionalist, for sho. If you love a big, showy, real tree, you might need to go lay down and put a rag on your head. I understand, I really do. I grew up with very large, traditional Christmas trees so that's what I thought a "real" tree was. However, my mama was just here visiting (thank you, mama!) and she told me that the first year she and my dad were married, she painted their tree bright pink and sprayed all the ornaments black!! Dude, can you just see that tree in 1957?? 1957! My mama was so cool. So maybe there was a "wild Christmas tree" gene laying dormant in me that got activated when I saw this one. Anyway, here she is:

Isn't it strange and lovely? (Be nice...say yes.) Supposedly, it's an heirloom ornament tree. I had no heirloom ornaments other than the old balls that went on my dad's tree. I grew up in a house that flooded. All. The. Time. We lost all our family ornaments that way. They were in storage downstairs and got washed down the Pine Island Bayou one year. (That's the story my mama tells anyway. For all I know she got tired of moving that crap and just chucked it. lol. ) Anyway, this tree is not a balls kinda tree. I did have a few lovely ones that I'd bought in the last few years in an attempt to cover the ratty daddy tree...they look so beautiful showcased on the metal tree. There's a wooden man-in-the-moon, a flying fairy, a gorgeous mermaid that a friend gave me, a ship-in-a-bottle one that I lovelovelove. I may turn into an ornament kinda girl! I never thought I'd be the type, but oooo it's fun. I do see why some people really get into the ornament collecting thing. Now I'm jonesing for THREE collections: teapots, aprons, and ornaments. That's slightly disturbing to me. I have a feeling it will be quite disturbing to DaddyJack. I have always joked to him that, even though I am really into home decorating, I would never have "little old lady" collections. I have a feeling that all 3 of these things can fall into that category quite easily. Oh well, he promised me he'd never have hair in his ears.

Party on!

We're going Quaker...

parakeet, that is.

Two of them showed up about a month or so ago and we were all thrilled. They kept coming around every now and then.

Two days ago, 2 more showed up and stayed.

Now there were 4 here on a regular basis.

TODAY, I hear squawking outside and I went to the feeder...TEN of them!!! A veritable colony has moved in!!! I. LOVE. THEM. I could watch them for hours on end. Anybody know where the best deal on sunflower seeds is? That's all I use in my feeders...everyone loves them, even the tiny sparrows. I gotta find a seed connection though because I wanna keep these guys around and I may go broke doing it.
(Addendum: I found a good deal on seeds at Buck Moore Feed Store on Lamar.)

Update on Gertrude, the piano.

We love her, and she loves us.

Apron Love.

Who knew? I mean, really. Me? Me of all people. The one who was never going to marry; the one who was never going to have a baby; the one who was never going to settle down in one place. Oh, how I love my husband, my child, my home, my aprons. Yea, my aprons. I never knew they were functional! I really didn't. I guess I didn't really know what they were for. A uniform for the housewife? Protection for the grill master? A professional look for the pro? I feel like a dumb-dumb, but I guess I just never really thought about it. Then I became a mama and a housewife and I was having fun with the whole persona and I bought an apron at a church's yard sale and that was the beginning of the end. Oh, actually, I bought 2 of them. I know, I know! I bought them for a play I was doing, then they came home with me and the love affair began. The pockets! Oh, how I love the pockets. And to be able to just wipe gunk on my apron...such decadence. I used to walk around the house with a rag tucked in my clothes for such things, but now I just wipe on my apron and wash it at the end of the day. (Pardon me, that's "warsh" to those of you from the south.) Now I have a little, um, oh, collection of them. Is that too strong a word? An assortment of them, perhaps? Medley? Hoard? Heap? I have some and I want more. My dear friend, Jessie, just gave me 2 utterly delicious ones: a very 60s version with teensy, mod flowers on it (see photo)and a Christmas one that is kind of organzaish (also in photo) ...OMG, sooooo divine! Apparently, they can be had for a few bucks at the Citywide Garage Sale. Some German dudes selling them by the millions. Who knew that? German dudes and aprons. Ain't the world great, y'all?

So, I'm gonna have to draw the line at sensible pumps and nice dresses for cleaning my home, and there will definitely be no "children fed and in bed with a cocktail waiting" when "the man of the house" comes home. Well, I don't mind making a cocktail, for sure, but you know what I'm sayin'. You bring the tuna casserole and I'll let you borrow one of my aprons while you're here. German dude optional.

PS Damn, I forgot to clean my floor before I took this picture. My housewife look is just a look...obviously.

Surf's Up, Dude.

I got so inspired by The Cathedral of Junk that I had to run right out and secure a sailboard of my own. How does one do that? Why, Craigslist, my dear. The freeeee section, of course. Did you know there's a free section on Craigslist? Oh, yes there is, and I am a big, big fan as you might guess. I had this crazy idea of attaching it to our fence and letting people tag it. It's been SUCH a hit! You've got to click on the pictures to enlarge them. It's such fun reading what people have written. This is definitely one of my, um, more "interesting" ideas. Jackdaddy, arriving home from work, said, and I quote: "There's a sail board in the back of my truck." That was it. Not, "Why is there a sailboard in the back of my truck." Not, "What the hell is a sailboard doing in the back of my truck?" Just a simple acknowledgment that there was one. He's gettin' there, by golly.

This was about Day 3. I was thrilled that people were even doing it.

It's really full now and getting fuller. When we got home from on our tripfromhellonthetrain to Tucson it was really, really full. It's sooooo fun, y'all.

Oops, down to one Sharpie. Apparently, someone did not heed the "stealing pens is bad karma" warning. The ubiquitous pot leaf has arrived too.

One of the coolest things about it is that people have written such lovely things about our home. I did not expect that at all, but you know how much I love people to compliment my house. What a kind, kind thing for people to do.

Look, even some folks from New Zealand! How fun is THAT?

You gotta get one, really. Come on by and sign ours anyway. I'm thinking about turning it upside down to get the top filled up too. Crazy, huh?

Words of Wisdom

Never, ever, ever, ever, no matter what, take a 28-hour train ride with a 5-year-old child without double, triple, quadruple checking that you brought the toy bag with you.

By the same token, never, ever, ever, no matter what, take a 30-hour return train ride with a 5-year-old child without double, triple, quadruple checking that you remembered to grab the electrical cord to the portable dvd player.

That's all I got for now.