For the past several years Rob and I have made sushi. Tonight we somehow made enough for a small army so we’re dropping some off at the Celsi’s.

We’ll eat sushi and watch a movie tonight after we get back.

P.S. Rob is sporting his new Icelandic wool sweater.

Yesterday was a momentous day, and I didn’t even realize it. It was Rob’s last official day at the winery. Of course he’s still going in to work on Monday, but he’s back to being free-lance. Hurrah!

Hey, you guys know my cousin Susan. It’s still her birthday on the West Coast. Not too late to send her a birthday e-mail.

The plywood and vinyl are out of the house! Now I just have to peel all the tar paper off the floor.

I took yesterday off from the pantry because my hands were tired from the pounding. Now, it may not look like much, but I can peel up almost the whole floor at this point. The vinyl is put down on a sheet of plywood; I drive 2×2s under the plywood (which is only held down with nails) and pry it up. I have a small section in the back corner left and need to finish before Rob comes home. Yikes.

Then it’s just a matter of scraping the tarpaper off the floor. Joy.

I work with Willamette Radio Workshop, a radio group in Portland, though it’s been a year or more since I performed with them. I maintain their website, and have spent most of today making changes to the site. Most of them don’t show up, just behind the scenes things, but I did make some error messages go away.

Wish Jodi a happy birthday, everyone!

Well, four months in Reykjavik has left me out of shape. I rode a bicycle for the first time since I left for Iceland and boy…those hills are, um, distinctive. I had a voice lesson with Sue today, and its been about three months since I sang anything harder than Happy Birthday. My voice was as rusty as my cycling muscles. I’m sure it will all come back, but it’s dismaying meanwhile.

Right, back to the Pantry floor.

Today I am going to start pulling up the last of the vinyl floor. There’s still some in the bathroom, but it’s in good shape so we’ll leave it alone. The pantry floor, on the other hand, is ready to leave the house. I’ll keep you posted on progress.

Mom and Dad gave us a gift certificate to Rejuvenation Hardware for our anniversary. Friday, as part of our Christmas festivities Rob and I went to Rejuvenation to pick out a new light for our front hall. We won’t get the actual light until January seventh, but you can admire the computerized rendering of its future glory.

I’m very proud to report that I have finally finished scraping the paint and tarpaper off of our kitchen floor. I’m off to call around to get quotes on refinishing it. And to nurse the small burn on my right hand from a close encounter with the heat gun. Important lesson boys and girl: remember to put gloves on before you burn yourself. (Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, it’s not bad. It’s like a localized bad sunburn.)

Rob has gone off to Bethel Heights today and will be home tomorrow night. I was thinking about going with him, but the thought of packing a suitcase, even for an overnight trip, was not appealing. Which leaves me with two days alone in the house. I’m already wondering if I made the right choice.

Last night we went to see Shaun of the Dead which was a very funny zombie movie. That’s right…a comedy about zombies. It’s good harmless fun.

Rob and I went to Powell’s City of Books to sell the books I sorted out the other day. We got $86 for half of them. The other half we carted home. Actually, we carted them to the end of the block outside Powell’s and set them down so Rob could fetch the car. While I was standing there a woman and her boyfriend walked past. I overheard her say, “I should just stand next to the book buyers and offer to buy things they reject.” So I said, “Do you want any of these?” She turned so fast her heel left a divot in the sidewalk. She bought a bag of them for $5. Whee! Fewer things to carry and store.

I got up this morning and made ginger-lavender and apricot scones for breakfast this morning. I really enjoy the extra time in the morning to bake before starting out on the day. We are making as few plans as possible today, and relishing the lack of schedule.

Rob and I went around to various friends’ homes to drop off cookies that he had made and some Bethel Heights wine. After we finished making our social calls we saw A Series of Unfortunate Events which I had high hopes for, because I love the books. Sadly, the movie is aptly titled. The production design is perfect; the boy playing Klaus is really great, with a subtle, somber performance, but the movie tries to combine three of the books together which makes it a series of large misfortunes. Part of the charm in the original is the way in which the Baudelaire Orphans work together to overcome small misfortunes as well.