Still here, still alive...

Not lots of time to blog lately, given all the up-in-the-air goings on at Chez Conwell.  But I wanted to pop in, post a couple of pictures, and then get back to my not-so-regularly scheduled program.

We had a blast at the family's house in Arizona.  It was just as good as I knew it would be--relaxing, rejuvenating, and sooooo good to catch up with Gabe and Mary Jo.  I have the very best in laws in the world.  I got to help Gabe prune the Palo Verde and Palo Blanco (blanca?), as has become our annual tradition, I think.  Phil and his parents and brother played poker while the sis-in-law and I yabbered (and I sewed unders for Izzies).  We were having such a good time, we stayed an extra day!

When they're not playing golf, they can watch it out the patio doors!

Mary Jo is kicking butt.

Sis-in-law gets, um, quite a few more phone calls than I do.  Maybe I should wonder about that.  Nah.

We arrived home in time for Phil to get to a couple more days' of realty school, and at some point later that week we headed up to see Edyth and Jo Anne for a doll party.  I got to meet Hannah, Edyth's original Izannah Walker doll, and to see her beautiful collection again.

It's a doll party! 

Then home again, home again, but not for long.  We hope.  By that I mean we love home, but it's time to move back into town, so we're changing homes.  So we have to fix it up HGTV style, packing up LOTS OF STUFF, because as creative people, we have tons of clutter.  We'll move stuff to storage to show the rooms at their roomiest.  Then we fix, patch, paint, and stage.  The doll room will get packed up--a fact which has caused me an unexpected degree of anxiety--leaving out the sewing machine and some (only some) fabric, because I have a doll show in February.  And naked tables are just sad.

Four years in the same house is a record for us.  Red walls...great color, but not exactly neutral.

This is Eve, who will be my first Izannah Walker type doll for 2013.
She already has a home...but not so far away I can't visit.

Hope everybody is having a lovely holiday season, spending more time with loved ones and less money on "stuff"...hope you are able to slow down, breathe and reflect.

And if you don't hear from me in a few weeks, send a search party to our mini storage, just in case I accidentally got packed in a moving box.  Thank you.