Story A Day

The contractor began our bathroom remodel today.  It was a noisy afternoon!  Who knew that a sledge hammer is the chosen technique for removal of an old, cast iron tub Here are some progress photos:

Tonight, I was inspired by some browning bananas to do a bit of spontaneous baking – hmm, there was a bit of alliteration in that sentence Banana nut muffins…yummmmmm.  I think I will be adding these to my breakfast for the next few days!  I should bake more often.

…we near the finish line with the basement projects.  Today, Tim installed the door on the bedroom downstairs.  Now our guests will have a little more privacy when they stay here We only had to cut a couple inches off of this door, unlike the one across the hall for the basement bathroom.  This door is not under one of the steel I-beams, so the ceiling is a bit taller.  One added feature – the uneven floor creates a natural door stop to keep the door from hitting the wall Next on the list…trim!  But for now, we’ll be putting those projects on hold, since we have a contractor starting our upstairs bathroom remodel on Monday.  That will be enough home improvement excitement for this month.  Here’s the finished product (still awaiting a door knob)…

Tim and I ventured to Wisconsin today to celebrate Thanksgiving with a crew of folks, including my mom, her fiance Lee, Lee’s his kids + significant others, and my sister Kathy, and her fiance James.  I wasn’t very good with the camera today, forgetting to continue snapping shots after I got a few cute one’s of my mom holding Connor (the son of Shaun and Sara).  We ate yummy food, learned a new game, and made some Christmas ornaments.  Here’s one of the cute pictures I got of my mom and Connor (and a stuffed moose):

Tim and I always venture to his hometown of Long Prairie for Thanksgiving, well, technically we go to Swanville, which is a few miles away.  Tim’s aunt and uncle own a bar in Swanville and they close it down for Thanksgiving so that there’s room for the whole fam to get together.  Yummy food, good people, lots to be thankful for.  Here are a few photos from the afternoon…

I spent the evening visiting my friends Dana and Matt, who welcomed James into the world on Monday, November 23rd.  James came in at 22 inches, and a healthy 8 lbs 9 oz.  James is a pretty quiet guy so far, only showing off his lungs a time or two while I was there visiting Here’s a photo of the happy family…

What??!!  I know that’s what you’re thinking I did.  I bought a sheep.  I decided that this year my main gift to my family for Christmas would be a sheep, purchased through Heifer International, and donated to a needy family somewhere in the world.  This takes away the surprise a bit for my family (some of them already knew), but I wanted to blog about it anyway, in the event that it may spark some ideas for others about creative and charitable Christmas gifts.  I got the Heifer International catalog in the mail a few weeks ago, and the stories really moved me.  I was amazed at how the gift of one animal can impact not just one family, but an entire community.  They purposely place multiple animals in one community so that families can mate them and fill a long-term need.  Families who receive the gift of an animal are also expected to “pass on the gift” by providing offspring to others in the community.  I always struggle myself to come up with a Christmas list, and it seems my family members do as well, since we are all so blessed already and want for little.  So, today I bought a sheep.  More details, and little something extra await my family on Christmas morning

A great movie!  Tim and I rented it tonight and it was quite humorous.  We did find it funny that this movie claimed to be “The Year’s Best Comedy” according to a reviewer at hollywood.com.  As we browsed the movies at Blockbuster, we also discovered that Monsters and Aliens was rated by the same reviewer as “The Year’s Funniest Comedy.”  Hmmmm….seems suspicious

I spent the evening at dinner with a great friend that I haven’t seen in about 7 years!  So fun.  When I was in college, I did a self-created internship at a place called Wilder Forest, and had the privilege of working with woman a named Anna B.  We became great friends and, while I haven’t seen her in some time, it was fantastic to reconnect today!  She has twin daughters, who are only about 2 years younger than me, and I got to know them well too during that time (their family lived on site at Wilder Forest).  It’s incredible after the passage of so much time that kindred spirits can reconnect as if barely any time has passed at all.  A great evening

I figured out today that I’ve been in the office for about 9 days of the last 5 weeks.  That’s in part because I’ve been on two trips for work, and also because some pleasure trips fell in the same time frame.  Plus, I don’t work there on Mondays.  I’ve been able to stay fairly on top of tasks from afar via wireless, but I am definitely feeling the crunch!  I just have to get through this week!  Agh!