A Flurry of Events

cuties on christmas eve

our snowman is cooler than your's.

that is what you call love.

i took the xmas tree down today and have begun the long, arduous task of decluttering our home. today, my husband wants to sell the house and move to washington dc. key emphasis on "today." you see my husband changes his mind on a daily basis about where our future home should be. one day it's mclean. the next, it's reston or centreville. we even dabbled with living in spain, italy, latvia and iran! i wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow he'd like to move to korea (his food of choice).

there is something so freeing about throwing stuff away. with each item of junk, i feel lighter. for example, i have no problem throwing away my daughters' art work, unless they're absolute masterpieces. on several occasions, she has noticed her art in the recycling bin and proceeded to remove it and scold me. one of the many benefits of having a 2 year old is that you can deflect blame onto them. "oh D, *shaking head* A must have accidentally disposed of it."

i don't think anyone else in my family is this way. certainly not my parents. last year, i attempted operation declutter the azani home and it was an utter disaster. i probably spent one week of my life cleaning out their home - from closets to bookcases, from dresser drawers to those bathroom cabinets that store god knows what from god knows when. of course, i had to ensure that my parents were nowhere in sight. my dad was in iran at the time and my mom would go to work 8 hours a day. the house was gleaming. it looked like a staged home, ready to be placed on the market. the fruits of my labor probably went stale after a week. my dad returned from iran and i was bombarded with questions: where is this? where is that? did you throw this away? i can't believe you planned to donate this?! when i arrived at my parents' house the following weekend, they were back to their old ways. after much huffing and puffing, i came to the realization that pack rats can't be expected to change over night, unless they absolutely want to and view their stuff as a barrier to peace and tranquility.

we had a lovely xmas. alex got me a kindle. the home screen reads, "alex's kindle," but i pretend not to notice. the new yorker, where have you been all my life? D now has the easy oven i coveted as a child and i think i'm more eager to bake stuff with it than she is. her aunt bought her a cupcake maker. as you can see there is a theme here and i have absolutely nothing to do with it. ahem. let me quickly change the subject. D will also add tae kwon to her resume. her dad is most excited about his dainty daughter becoming a slayer of all things with penises.

D's birthday is next week and we've opted to have a small family party as opposed to last year's 3 birthday parties! i have promised to bake cupcakes for her kindergarten class, brownie troupe, and latvian school. oh my! we plan to buy her a real bike from a real bike shop. :)

i signed up for a zumba class. i've heard great things and look forward to shaking what my mama gave me. i'm going to make a genuine effort to eat sweets in moderation and to exercise more in 2010.

A has been talking up a storm. the stuff she says is pretty incredible. oh, and speaking of storms - alex went on his solo vacation and after a mere 3 days alone, was trying to end his trip early to come home, when the snow storm hit and cancelled his flight 3 times! i think lessons were learned and certain people who shall remain nameless were more appreciated. :)