Live blogging the new year

I'm...watching House Hunters.

Pseudo-Utilitarian

A blog I read recently pointed me to the best dissection of the state of the United States' competitive position in the world I have yet seen, though it is light on viable solutions. However, this section caught me:

As the lower classes in America experience these alarming regressions, wealthier and better-educated Americans have managed to re-create a great deal of the lifestyle of the old WASP ascendancy — if with different justifications for it. Political correctness serves the same basic function for this cohort that "good manners" did for an earlier elite; environmentalism increasingly stands in for the ethic of controlling impulses so as to live within limits; and an expensive, competitive school culture — from pre-K play groups up through graduate school — socializes the new elite for constructive competition among peers. These Americans have even re-created the old WASP aesthetic preference for the antique, authentic, and pseudo-utilitarian at the expense of vulgar displays of wealth. In many cases, they live in literally the same homes as the previous upper class.

Pseudo-utilitarian. A perfect description of how so many well-off people (myself included) think as we conflate our wants and needs. I love it.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving trip went along wonderfully, as is clear from the cheery pictures below. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we did.

We had birthdays galore with yards and yards of cake:

Everyone in patient expectation of more cake:


And this year the birthdays were particularly extensive as they covered the whole age spectrum:

Not waiting patiently for cake:

Installing Carpet = Moving

We have certainly been busy since the last time I posted. We flew to Delaware for Thanksgiving (more about that later . . . right Jesse?) and have been moving ever since. Moving? No, not moving out of our dear house, moving all of our stuff around in our house. Just when things seemed organized, we decided it was time to get new carpeting. In all of our rooms.

In case you have never had carpet installed before, let me explain: that means that all of our possessions had to fit in our kitchen, bathrooms, and garage. Stress, sweat, tears, and hilarity ensued.

Even though our house is still topsy turvy, the new carpet is worth it. It is super-soft (and partially made out of recycled plastic bottles). In fact, it is so plush that we had to have all of our doors shaved down because they would no longer open and close! Ah, the joys of home improvement.

Layouts of Europe

I have been quite the productive scrapper lately. I deviated slightly from my typical chronological scrapping to work on our trip to Europe. I was so excited to use a bunch of my new stash and try different techniques. I have to say that Basic Grey's Wisteria collection is my favorite so far.

Koi Fish

We just received Christmas money from my dad (thanks Daddy), which we put toward our second art purchase. We wanted a large original painting to put in our formal dining room/office and I think this one does the trick!

These koi fish are the only pets we have, so Jesse has begun naming them: Herbert, Roger, Agnes . . .