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.