Pictures of the New Place

I have posted pictures of Christmas and the new place (a work in progress I tell you) on flickr, and a few are here as well.

So far we really like Dairy Farm. We met the upstairs neighbors and they are great. They have 2 boys that are about Declan and Kieras age. The house is slowly shaping up, but we are still minus an oven and a TV console... for example.

Had a fun day at the Thieves Market down on Weld Road yesterday and I will post some pictures of it later today!

In the meantime, here are pictures of the place and Santa's visit~






More on Flickr

A Year in Review-Travel

I thought I would write down some thoughts about the year. Give myself a bit of perspective, when I look back, on the crazy wild ride that has been the year.

First, the travel

I went to LA in January 2007 to attend CHA Winter 2007. I then joined my family in Baja Mexico for a week in February.

The last week of February I traveled to KL Malaysia for trainings, and then in mid March I went to Hong Kong.

In April I stayed home, which was nice, because in May I went to Bangkok Thailand and Shanghai.

June found me back in Malaysia, July I was in Shanghai.

August we went to Hong Kong Disney as a family and I flew to Korea for work.

September, I flew to Portland for a day, then on to Dallas for the first two weeks of October.

November I was in Shanghai and Cambodia, cancelled a trip to KL and December finds me in Taiwan for the first time this year.

So, that is 9 countries (excluding Singapore). And to think I barlely kept my "gold status" this year.

Sore Arms, Too Much and Moves

Nothing like a move to remind you of your goals to simplify. We honestly believed we had done a good job at keeping our stuff to a minimim. But, we were wrong. Boxes and Boxes. Stuff and more "STUFF". It seemed to be sort of like tribbles, the more they got together, the more stuff seemed to reproduce. I guess the big question is what can we and should we get rid of. Truth be told, we have a family of 5. 3 adults and two kids. There are 5 beds (plus a guest bed) a home office and a home business. Kids toys and clothes. Jeff and my clothes. Books, dishes, cooking stuff and cookbooks. Other than pictures and scrapbooking stuff we don't have much else, but it ended up being three truck loads (20 foot trucks but still 3).

What I wonder is really how much is enough, how much do we need, what if anything could we get rid of? How much stuff do I need? Can I pair down even more? We did a fairly decent run to Salvation Army before the move started. As we unpack, I am going to go through it all again. I am sure there is a thought here about the need for comfort and pleasures. The need to know that I have pretty china and crystal to use for holidays and dinner parties. The comforts of home if you will.

Are those old vinyl couches, that I just got slipcovers for (thanks Dad and Lin)good enough to keep? We don't have a TV, so can we find one used? We just bought our new bed and new guest bed from a "show" home so while they are "never used" they are hardly new. Where do you draw the line between frugality, simplicity, recyling and the desire for good pretty things?

No answers, just questions, and typed with a sore arm from moving...