A very nice Christmas

I had a very nice Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I worked Christmas Eve morning to finish assembling the bulletins for the church services that evening. There were three Christmas Eve services and one Christmas Day service. I finished up and went home for a bit to relax before going back to church for the 5pm service. It was very nice, and I enjoyed the candlelight. They turned off all the lights in the church, and we all held candles for Silent Night, which was just so cool. The acolytes lit the candles on the end of the row, and each person lit their candle off the person sitting next to them, so candlelight was passed all around the church.

After church, we went over to Chris's place. He made us dinner, which was so nice of him. And Chris is an excellent cook, so that's a big plus too. He made a ham, mashed potatoes, and corn. Yummy.

Then we played Rock Band on the Xbox 360. It's kind of like Guitar Hero, except that there is a drum kit and microphone in addition to the fake guitar. I did vocals while Craig and Chris switched between guitar and drums. I have no sense of rhythm, and have learned that the hard way with some of these new video games where you play guitar or drums, so I just hogged the microphone. It was a lot of fun, and I scored 100% on vocals for Black Sabbath's Paranoid. I did not miss one note or beat. Rock on!

Phooey! Fog.

I don't have a picture to post. You wouldn't really want to see my world today. The fog is so heavy and has been for the last three days that when I venture outside, I feel like I'm in a 10-20 square foot box surrounded by nothingness. The first day of fog, I thought the trees looked ethereal against the snow, but now I am just sick of fog. I needed to get some pet supplies, so I ventured out to Mounds Pet Food Warehouse on Verona Road. Good thing I knew sort of how to get there and where it was because about all I could see was the tail lights of the car in front of me.

Of course with three days of fog comes bad air, very bad air. And mixing very bad air (particulate matter day to be specific) with bad asthma is a bad combination. I wanted to get into work today and get some stuff done, but I ended up getting in so late because I just could not get myself going. Grooming Falcoon, the cat, this morning took everything out of me. But he's all spiffed up and has no more mats. I use an electric trimmer like some men use to groom their hair. Craig held him while I groomed. I don't think Falcoon appreciated it too much until we were done, and he was like hey, no more mats and tangles! Yay! He petted my feet while I brushed my teeth. For those who do not have asthma, inhalers taste awful and you can get yeast infections in your mouth if you don't rinse. Yuck. So if I can, I brush my teeth after taking my inhaler.

I put on my bright orange sweater and macaw earrings today to brighten my immediate viewpoint some. Seems to be working a bit. I'm actually looking forward to tonight's snowstorm to clear out some of this nasty fog and air. And for those who know me, I don't typically look forward to snowstorms because I don't like driving in snow. I wonder how I'm going to get to church services this weekend. I want to go, but I don't want to have a car accident either. I guess I'll play it by ear.

Sid and Falcoon hanging out

Falcoon and Sid are hanging out in the bathroom. Running faucets are so fascinating to kitties!

I'm quite impressed with how well Falcoon has managed to fit into our house. He and Sid have become best buds.

Falcoon!

This is Falcoon. He's the latest feline addition to our household. He's a purebred Maine Coon cat, and his name I'm guessing is derived from him looking like a falcon in coloring and his breed. We went down to Chicago to pick him up on Saturday at a cat show.

He does not know how to show his best in cat shows, but he's a big lover and cuddlebug. He wants hugs and kisses all the time (when he's not hunting, that is). So he's a year old, a mere kitten and small by Maine Coon standards, and he's retired from the cat show life.

Maine Coons are "working cats." They were bred for hunting, and this cat has a strong hunting instinct. So, it's a good thing we live in an older house on the outskirts of a suburb, so there are plenty of things for him to hunt, ala bugs and mice. I know, I know, eww. But hey what are cats for, right? Well other than petting and loving.

Currently, he's getting used to us and our house. There are a lot of strange sounds and scents for him to contend with. Oh yes and two other cats. For right now, he's separated from them. He's got the downstairs guest suite all to himself. We're letting him get used to things slowly and at his own pace.

My dad rocks!

Here's my new tile floor in my basement room, courtesy of my dad. Sid, the cat, admires the tile too. I will have to put on a baseboard, but I've not yet gotten to it.

(Though it looks wet in the picture, the floor is dry. It's just dusty.)

Like many folks in Southern Wisconsin, we got way too much rain in August, enough to flood my finished basement. The basement carpet was completely underwater, and I figured it would not dry before molding, so I decided to remove the carpet. I moved all the furniture upstairs. And then, with my husband's help, a utility knife, and a crowbar, we pulled up the carpet. It had been glued to the floor. Yuck. Fortunately, water being the universal solvent that it is, helped loosen the glue.

The next steps were cleaning and drying. Pretty much every time it rained, we went downstairs with our wet vac and sucked up the water. And I kept mopping as well. The goal was to keep the water away from the utility room, where the furnace lives, and the laundry room.

I was exhausted and frustrated, so my mom and dad offered to come help me out. They also came up to help my sister whose roof leaked in the same storms that flooded my basement. What's significant about their arrival is that they live down in Florida, not exactly close. I'd decided that ceramic tiles would be a good permanent solution in the basement. If the basement floods again, I can easily mop/wet vac the tiles. Then I went over to Menards, where I got great deal on the tiles. Of course, I would highly reccommend to anybody looking to buy tiles that they have somebody help them. Tiles are heavy. Boxes and boxes of tiles are heavy. You need a lot of tiles for a basement.

So anyway, Mom and Dad came to visit with their tile saw, and helped me tremendously by laying tile in the basement. Yay, Mom and Dad rock!

Dad and I also figured out something kind of cool. Using two laser levels makes laying tile a cinch.

Helicopter Ride

We went to the Dane County Fair this afternoon, and they had helicopter rides. Since neither Craig nor I have ever been in one, we thought it would be really fun. It was a lot different than flying in an airplane because there isn't much forward momentum; it's all vertical. The other big difference is that you can see so much more from inside a helicopter. Oh, and I got to ride in the front seat, so in a way, it felt like I was floating over Madison. Way cool! The pilot did a loop around the area. We saw the Capital, the Monona Terrace, the city pool, the Beltline, and the Alliant Energy Center.

Heron in the pond

There's a heron that hangs out in the pond across the street from my house. He's quite the handsome bird.

Brotherly love, two kittens cuddling

After I returned home, my sister sent me a picture of the two kittens cuddling. Aww! Aren't they cute? The foot in the photo is Amy, the mother cat. You can really see how tiny they are.

Side note: the yellow on the blanket is betadine. It's kind of like iodine, and my sister is using it on the kitten belly buttons to keep their clipped umbilical cords clean and free of infection. In newborn kittens, the umbilical cord is a good place for infections to enter their bodies.

Kittens!

My sister's Burmese cat, Amy, had a litter of kittens this past week, so they are only a couple of days old. I came down to visit and got to play with the kitties. She had a small litter of two boys. They are so cute, but they don't even have their eyes open yet!

Lynn note: After posting, I realized I'd posted a very unflattering photo of me. I'd focused my eyes so much on the kitten in my hands that I didn't notice how silly I looked. When I got home from my sister's house, I cropped the photo so you can just see the kitten's face.

4th of July bear card

Here's a fun card I made for the 4th of July. I used Stampin' Up!'s You're Neat and Print Pattern stamp sets. I also used the ticket punch. I used red and blue markers to alternate color the diamonds before stamping Print Pattern. I think it's a cool effect.

Whee it's a Wii!

Craig got up really early last Sunday to get in line for a Nindendo Wii. Fortunately for him, Target had 63 of them so he finally got his Wii! We've been playing Rayman Raving Rabbids (not Rabbits), which is fun but doesn't really show the true multiplayer capability of the Wii.

Friday night, Timin, Chris, and Matt came over for a Wii party. Timin brought SSX Blur, which is awesome! I will be buying a copy of that as soon as I get my next paycheck. All I can say is wow! Sure, they reuse a couple of levels from SSX 4, but they added dinosaurs which more than makes up for it. In terms of multiplayer functionality though, it's fine for two players racing, but that's it.

So, we broke out Raving Rabbids (I really like shooting plungers at rabbits and flinging cows!) and Wii sports. My arms are still sore. Since you are physically moving your body to play the Wii, if you play enough, you do get a bit of a workout. However, if you have five adults in a room, it is a good idea to be sure you have enough room around you. Timin accidentally smacked Chris while playing Wii tennis.

Chicks!

Craig took this picture of the robin chicks this morning. 3 of the 4 eggs in the nest hatched. We noticed the fourth egg on the ground earlier this week. These three seem to be doing pretty well, and their mother is bringing them worms and other food on a regular basis. Of course, she doesn't appreciate us on the deck while she's feeding the babies, so we try to accommodate her as best as we can. I am happy to see that they are finally starting to look cute.

Chandelier

When I was growing up, a beautiful crystal chandelier hung in my family's dining room. I loved it. I loved the way the light played in it and the rainbows it cast on the floor. I even drew pictures of it. When my mom and dad sold the house before moving to Florida, they took down the chandelier and replaced it with a regular light fixture. Although it was pretty, it didn't really fit the look of the house. They packed it in a box in my dad's storage shed.

In this house, I now have the right place for the chandelier, so that was one of the things I brought home from my trip to the storage shed last month. With Craig's mom and brother's help, we hung the chandelier.

I am so happy! It looks great!

Chicks!

The eggs hatched, and we've got little chicks in the nest above the door. I honestly thought they'd be cuter. They look like lizards with feathers right now. I think it's pretty awesome though that a bird chose our porch to make her nest.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is always presents a challenge of how to show my mom that I appreciate her. She lives over 1800 miles away, so it's not like I can just invite her over, or can I? This year, I decided to fly my mom up to Madison to visit for Mother's Day. Right now, where she and Dad live in Florida is surrounded by forest fires, and the smoke is quite thick. I figured she could use a break from smoke inhalation for a couple of days!

So my sister and I bought her a plane ticket. She flew into O'Hare, and I drove down to pick her up on Thursday evening. She spent the weekend, and we had a great time! On Friday, we went to Olbrich Botanical Gardens, where we sneezed our way past many beautiful flowering trees. We saw lilacs, crab apples, and eastern redbuds. Of course, we also saw a ton of tulips!

After we had seen most of the gardens, we went shopping. I took her to Odana Antiques, which just opened on Odana Road. While we were there, I found the prettiest set of dishes. I've been looking for casual dishes for the longest time! These are Noritake China, UP-SA Daisy. It's a white dish with blue daisies. Very 1960's!

On Saturday, we went to the Dane County Farmer's Market, and my sister and I bought plants for our gardens. I picked up yellow and pink snapdragons for my small, annual garden around my front light post.

That evening, we saw "Enchanted April" at the Bartell Theatre. I loved it! The play was presented "in the round," and we had first row seats. The venue was so intimate that I was actually brushed with flowers by one of the actors!

Bird's Nest

A robin has built a nest on my back porch light. I had Craig reach up and take a picture of the eggs. They are so pretty!

Fish Tank

This past summer, I bought a 55 gallon fish tank and stand on eBay. I picked it in Green Bay on my way home from a weekend at my friend's cottage near Crivitz, WI. It's pretty wide, so it barely fit in my car. I put it in the backseat and carefully closed the door. I've still got a little dent on the inside of one of my car doors from the fish tank. Bringing large objects home is always challenging when you drive a Honda Civic!

A goldfish named Mir and a plecostomus catfish named Plecky live in my tank. I've had them both for about four years. Mir started her (when goldfish get big enough, you can sex them) life as a 12-cent feeder goldfish that I bought on a whim. Eventually, though, both fish grew too big for my 10 gallon tank, so I bought a bigger one. It's in the office so I can watch the fish when I'm working or playing on the computer.

By the way, it's a good idea to place large aquariums perpendicular to the floor joists.

Picture of New Couch

Here's a picture of our new couch. Of course, the cats have made themselves right at home on it! The gray cat is Sid, and the black cat is Doc. I collectively refer to them as "the boys." I had originally intended to have the couch more in the middle of the room facing the fireplace, but Doc thought the back of the couch was a fun place to scratch. I moved it up against the windows that face the deck. I am glad that I didn't start building bookshelves before getting the couch because I have changed my plan to accommodate the new couch placement. I'm going to build two tall shelves, one on either side of the windows. They will be as tall as the windows, and I am going to build a bridge over the top to connect them. I'll keep some of my antique books up there and some lighter decorative objects.

By the way, the purple thing on the back of the couch is a stuffed triceratops. Here's a fun fact: the the state fossil of South Dakota is the triceratops.

New Couch

We finally picked a new couch for our library. It's purple leather. I'll take a picture of it tonight when I get home. This afternoon, Craig will be waiting at home for the couch to be delivered.

Last night, I swept up all the catnip to make room for the couch. Doc and Sid found a baggie of catnip and spread it all over the floor so they could roll in it. Goofy cats!

A Very Nice Saturday

We still haven't managed to decide on a new couch yet. Although, I think the biggest reason for that is that I just have not felt like furniture shopping. It can just be so tedious - sit down, stand up, sit down, attempt to ward off salesperson... It's a regular aerobics routine!

I spent the morning scrapbooking with a great group of gals that I just don't get to see enough. My friend, Kimberly, is a Creative Memories consultant, and she hosts a Memoranza scrapbooking event twice a year. All proceeds benefit the Alzheimer's Association. Anyway, it's a great deal of fun! It's a huge group of ladies sitting around scrapbooking, snacking, and sharing our lives. I think I spent more time talking to Kimberly than I actually did scrapbooking, but I did finish my little green scrapbook about the condo we sold this past June. Normally, I "scrap" travel, so it was a challenge to scrap a house! But I'm done, and that feels so good!

I left early because, not only was I finished with my scrapbook, but I wanted to be outside. It was in the seventies today! I sat out on the deck with a book and just enjoyed the fresh air and nice weather.

My friends, Katy and Ethan, stopped by this evening to bring me my new Aldo Leopold Bench for my front porch. Katy's woodshop students at Marshall Montessori International Baccalaureate High School built it for me. I love it! My front porch is the perfect lightning watching spot, so I hope it storms soon so I can watch from the comfort of my new bench.

We wandered around the yard looking for tulips that survived the recent snowstorm. While there aren't a tremendous amount of tulip buds, I think I will get a few nice flowers, which is certainly better than none!

Dinosaur in the Library

I finally found a dinosaur for my library. Although I'd scoured eBay, I could never find a good dinosaur statue. I happened upon one while looking at couches at Steinhafel's. We still haven't picked a couch for the library, but we do have a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I put it in front of a six-foot tall bookshelf for scale.

Of course the dinosaur isn't the only plan I've got for my library. I plan to add a couch and an additional chair (there's a purple one there now). I'm going to build a wall full of floor to ceiling bookshelves to house my ever-growing collection of books. At last count, we had over 600 books. The particleboard bookcases just aren't doing the job anymore. Most of the shelves are warped under the weight of the books. I'll probably sell them or give them away on Craig's List after I finish building my shelving system.

One of my cactii is blooming. It has such pretty fushia flowers!

More Books

I've been reading a lot lately, which should come as no surprise. And I just read two really good books:

• The Textbook Man by Paul Vincent
• Body Language, Tales of the Medical Training Experience edited by Neeta Jain, Dagan Coppock, and Stephanie Brown Clark

I posted both reviews to BookReview.com.

Second Knitting Project

This is my second project. It's another scarf, but this one is for my husband. I am making it wider than my first; I cast on 30 this time. I'm still using the #10 plastic needles, but I'm using two different colors of yarn this time. One is a green with speckles, and the other is black with speckles. The green bits are going to be the tips of the scarf, while the black will be the middle.

Learning to knit

One thing I'm learning to do this year is knit. I'm not sure that it's what you'd call a New Year's Resolution, but it is a step towards being more relaxed. Also, it's something I can do that does not require me to be sitting in front of the computer. I'm taking knitting lessons at a really knifty yarn house in Monona, WI called Off the Beaten Path Yarnhouse. I love sitting in their kitchen and knitting, surrounded by yarn and sample projects. It's a very relaxing atmosphere!

Here is my first real project. It's a scarf made with a self-striping yarn. I'm really proud of it. And it's nice and toasty-warm. I made it on size 10 plastic needles.

Strange title, good book

I just read a good book called, "Why You're Dumb, Sick & Broke... And How to Get Smart, Healthy & Rich!" by Randy Gage. I posted a review of it to BookReview.com.