Why did Caroline dump Christmas decorations on the porch?

Actually, I’d like to blame this on Caroline, but it’s all on me. And this has been there for a year. None of the dollhouses were decorated for Christmas 2021. Perhaps it’s time to take these upstairs and put them away?

Also, it’s time to dust the dollhouse interior and exterior. And Don’s mini studio, as well, as that’s right in front of a window and it gets dusty rather quickly. (I use a small paintbrush to dust.)

The “blues” are driving me nuts. I think I might have found 5 pieces that fit yesterday. To say this is slow going is putting it mildly. Don suggested that I start a new puzzle and just let this one go, but no! It’s a challenge and I’m not going to move on until I fit each and every piece in place.

Then I’ll have a piece of sugar-free chocolate to reward myself.

It’s sunny today and cold, but it will be milder during the afternoon than it’s been recently. We’ll have a couple of days respite until we get snow and ice on Friday. Oh, joy.

I’m almost finished with The Missing Hours, which I read for a big chunk of time yesterday. It’s okay, not great, but whether I like it or not, Julia Dahl is a very good writer. It’s simply that the plot doesn’t interest me a great deal. Her first books revolved around crimes in the closed Hassidic community and I found them incredibly fascinating. I kind of wish she’d go back to that.

I’ve just started reading It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again  by Julia Cameron, who wrote The Artist’s Way – a book that both Don and I read and studied when we lived in San Diego. Subtitle: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond. It was a gift from Todd, a producer on Spoiler Alert  and Jim’s husband. Todd and I had so many conversations about creativity and Covid isolation and finding our way through it all. Todd was trained as an artist and he’s rediscovering that part of himself. He walked onto the set the last day and said he had a present for me and it was this book.

One of the highlights of working on the movie was getting to know Todd. Because so much of the time on the set is spent waiting, we talked a lot. He’s a wonderful person and I adore him.

Okay, my friends.

Happy February.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.