i post; therefore, i am*

given the long delays between posts on everyone else's blog lately**, i don't really feel obliged to begin with the typical apology. but i will give a explanation of my descent into blogospheric obscurity by way of a brief update in the lives of the grems.

we have been cleaning our house.

it's more exciting than it seems, really. we ditched an ungodly amount of junk which, in our post-matrimonial rush to get settled in, we apparently had just hidden wherever we found space. we organized and appropriately stored what we had left. we've also purchased a few accessories to give each room some shred of character or consistency, and we tossed a bunch of unwanted knickknacks we'd accumulated over God-knows-how-long.

less clutter = easier to clean = less stress.

likewise,

less clutter = more relaxing atmosphere = less stress.

to make a long story short, we're really excited about our new, clean home, and everyone should come see it while it still looks this way!!!

other than this life-changing process, darren and i have both been teaching reading classes, and darren has been writing up a storm on his dissertation prospectus. and i'll be taking karate lessons starting next thursday, so you only have six days left to make me mad before i will know how to really mess you up. watch out.

i've also been running a lot of errands, many having to do with our home makeover, which leads me to my final comments before knitting myself to sleep. i'd like to thank the following people for making today as successful and pleasant as a full day of running errands can be:

1-Darren--for taking the initiative on most of the house-cleaning/purging/reorganizing process. and for helping with dinner.

2-Michael's--for having a "1/2 off all custom framing sale***" that has finally allowed me to frame a huge sepia-tone print of grand central station in 1939.

3-the nice teenage cashier in Target who, unsolicited, passed on his mom's tip to use both sides of the swifter sheet before throwing it out.

4-the kind manager at the Shell station who gave me a free upgrade (from "express" to "the works") on my car wash since it wasn't working the day i paid for it.

5-the pleasant, possibly indian, owner of the new package store around the corner. for opening a new package store around the corner.



*holla if you caught my meticulously correct punctuation. minus the capitalization.

**rather than link all of them in the text, i will simply direct you to the side bar.

***sale ends this weekend.