Story A Day

Late tonight we secured the last NM connectors and stripped the final wires for our rough-in electrical inspection. Now, we cross our fingers and hope that we don’t have to change too much to meet code requirements! We feel confident in most of the work we did, but figure there are a few things that may be questionable. I guess we’ll find out! I plan to call the inspector tomorrow morning and hope for an inspection later in the day. I’ll keep you posted, hopefully with good news! And thanks to Kathy and James for joining us this evening for some pizza and Wii playing – a much needed break from all the wiring work!

Tim and I spent the evening with a couple friends at the Good Earth restaurant. As my friend Kate described it, “The whole foods Perkins” It’s a great place with lots of organic, free range and vegetarian options. Kate got a veggie burger and described it as the “most beautiful burger”, it was pretty well presented. Chris took a photo with her cell phone but I don’t have it to show here yet Yummy food and great conversation. Our conversation involved a whole slew of topics, including, but not limited to: organic farming, the arch in saint louis, how to be a good manager, grad school potential, wild lettuce, and misconstrued perceptions of size as children. Interesting, I know A good, fun night.

Christmas lights created great ambiance at the Centennial Lakes skating rink where we joined in some fun with friends this evening. Mini crevasses in the ice added to the excitement. I think I fell about 5 times, all after getting my skate stuck in deep cracks in the ice, most about 2 inches deep, and hidden by the snow on top As we skated we conversed, catching up with Tim’s good friends from college, Sean and Erik, and their wives, Krista and Ashley. Good times. We continued with pizza and more conversation back at Sean and Krista’s place, covering a variety of topics ranging from cat behavior, to politics, to jobs, and much more! It was great catching up with them, and I highly recommend Centennial Lakes skating rink if you are looking for some good, old-fashioned skating fun

We met some friends for dinner this evening at Calhoun Square and decided to park in the ramp since we were worried my car might get stuck on the snowy side streets (as it has a tendency to do – see previous entries!).  I pulled into the ramp behind another car and pressed the button for my ticket.  Nothing.  Tim looked up and noticed that the “Full” light came on after the car in front of us entered.  Grrrr.  Unlucky.  We were stumped as to where to go, knowing that most of the side streets would be especially snowy and likely full since there is a snow emergency in effect and cars can only park on one side.  Hmmmm.  We waited at the exit trying to turn left onto a major road, as streams of cars passed by, and AHA!  The car across the street was pulling away from a meter!  Lucky us!  I managed to make the left turn and pull right in behind him as he left.  And I didn’t even have to worry about getting stuck since it was a busy street and thus already plowed.   In the end we paid only $2.00 for parking instead of a likely $7.00.  Lucky, lucky

First the done: Tim and I are finally done with the most difficult part of our wiring endeavors in the basement. We successfully fished the wire to the switch at the top of the stairs and added a box for an additional light fixture above the stairs. Yay! Now we cross our fingers that we completed it in a code compliant manner It seems to meet all the criteria listed in the handy dandy DIY (do-it-yourself) book we bought

Now the darn: We conducted a short-term radon test in our basement knowing that we will now be spending more time “below-grade”. MN is a high risk state for radon issues. We got the results and it was “3.6 pCi/l” – translation…on the higher end of acceptable, borderline in need of addressing. Hmmmmm. I think I would rather it be a straightforward “ok” or “not ok”. No such luck. The recommendation is that we now conduct a 3-12 month long-term test, so we are ordering one from Ramsey County, thankfully it’s only $13 If you’re thinking “what the heck is radon and what’s the big deal” check out this website to learn more. The adventures continue!

We spent the Christmas holiday splitting our time between central MN and the metro. Christmas Eve with Tim’s family and Christmas day here at my mom’s house. Since I’ve posted a number of photos of my side of the family over the last week I will focus this entry on some photos we took with Tim’s side of the family. My niece, Isabelle, wins the cuteness award for the weekend! Here is a photo of her near the end of our Christmas Eve festivities… She is too cute! About one minute before this photo was taken she was sitting upright wide-eyed and resisting sleep. I think sleep won And here is a photo of her wide-awake along with the rest of the clan!

Front row: Kate, Liz, Mary Ellen (with Andy and Karen’s baby Isabelle), Me.
Back row: Rick (Kate’s husband), Karen (Andy’s wife), Andy, Tim.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Perhaps a little too white for the folks who had to travel today! You can’t tell from this photo how much all the snow was blowing around! Wow, the wind today was fierce! Luckily, we didn’t have to go anywhere. In fact, the furthest we drove today was a block, when we moved our cars to the next street due to a snow emergency (for you non-snowy-place residents, that means that we have to move our cars to designated locations so they can plow the streets). Yup, we spent the day indoors in our quasi-cozy, slightly-drafty house – soon to be less drafty with new insulation, we hope! On that note, we discovered a bit of additional storm damage (from the tree that fell on our house) not noticeable in the summer and on less windy winter days. We think the front window was damaged because today, after noticing a MAJOR draft in a section of the window, we noticed that we could see light outside in a place that should be sealed. Hmmmmm…no wonder the bedroom feels especially cold this winter!! A bit of kleenex and some tape will do the trick until we chat with the insurance company When we weren’t closely examining the drafty places in our house we were wrapping gifts, enjoying leisurely meals and watching the Vikings lose – bummer. Tomorrow…Christmas celebrations with family continue!

It’s been a busy and fun-filled day! As I sit here at 1 am blogging I realize that I have been out of the house at gatherings for 13 hours today! Good stuff though. We spent the afternoon at my sister’s house celebrating Christmas with Christy & Jeff, Kathy & James, my Dad & Tracy. It was a great time together and we amused ourselves quite sufficiently with the magic eight balls and magnetic sketch pads that my dad included as stocking stuffers. He joked that the cheapest gifts were the ones providing the most fun! Of course we appreciated all the other gifts too…but hey, who can really avoid asking the eight ball every question that arises the day it is first in hand Grown-ups are really just over-sized kids anyway! After that gathering Christy, Jeff, Tim and I headed to our friend John’s house. Christy has known John since high school (and middle school maybe?) and John, Tim and I hung out together at the same college. It was great catching up with people we hadn’t seen in a long time. A good day, and now…goodnight

I was checking in on my Facebook account tonight and got absorbed in reading about a cause that a friend invited me to join. There is a crew of CSB/SJU alums biking from Bejing, through Asia, and into Europe in the coming year. I worked with one of the adventurers, Pete, during college. I won’t try to sum up their philosophy because I wouldn’t do it justice, here is the website: Fueled by Rice. All I have to say for now is…WOW. Amazing. I think I will enjoy checking in on their blog so it’s added to the blogroll too!

Tonight my sister Kathy graduated from St. Kate’s! She graduated with a degree in elementary education plus a science focus at the middle school level. There was a beautiful mass followed by a graduation ceremony. Not everyone was able to join for the festivities due to limited tickets, but here are a few photos of those of us able to celebrate at St. Kate’s tonight. Congrats Kathy!!!