Story A Day

Yup, despite all the sleep, vitamins, water, healthy food, zinc, and more, I think my cold germs decided to simply take a break from my sinuses and instead take a vacation to my vocal chords. Grrrrrrr. About midday at work I started to get that “losing my voice” feeling, and though losing my voice does not usually cause me pain, this time it was accompanied by a very sore lower throat/vocal chords every time I talked for more than about five seconds. So, I’m on a talking strike. My colleagues quite enjoyed teasing me through the latter half of the day as I attempted to work without talking. The funniest moment was when my boss made a witty comment, to which I had a witty reply, but could not say aloud. As I giggled, he and my coworker Ashley also laughed, noting that it was killing me to not share my oh-so-witty response, OR that perhaps I didn’t really have a witty reply, and was laughing about pretending that I did, but they would never know All the while, I laughed away (silently), which, by the way, is difficult to do. Too funny. Losing my voice is always a good reminder of how much I talk I’ve always known that I’m a talker, but days like this always remind me just how integral it is to my personality to be able to interact with people verbally. I’m hoping that an evening of rest and warm lemon/honey tea will be the cure. We’ll see tomorrow!

We got a call from Tim’s brother yesterday about some not-so-fun excitement in Long Prairie. As it turns out, Tim’s mom’s pump house burned down yesterday, along with Andy’s (his brother) fish house, and a trailer. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and Mary Ellen’s house is fine, luckily the pump house is a safe distance away. We haven’t heard much since yesterday, though we suspect the insurance company fun is beginning and we know that they have restored power. I’m not sure if they have water back yet. The photos below show the burned fish house and trailer, there is nothing left of the pump house. Tim’s brother Andy has a good sense of humor though, today he sent out an email titled “Camper and Fish House 4 Sale (cheap!).”

(sorry for the teeny photos, my blog is acting funny with photos and I haven’t figured out why yet )

I spent a good chunk of the day sleeping, but thankfully I’m on the mend. I suppose it’s not very realistic to get through the winter without at least one battle with a sore throat and achy body. Another good night’s sleep and I hope to kick this one I can’t say I’m too sad that I didn’t get outside today since it was SO cold! Thankfully, Tim took on the snow shoveling today! Being sick also gave me an excuse to watch the line-up of new episodes of the Sunday night line-up…Extreme Makeover Home Edition (love that show, always makes me cry!), Desperate Housewives (eh, it’s an okay show), and Brothers & Sisters (this one’s pretty good too). Now…time to get some more rest!

The busyness and excitement of the preceding days caught up to me.  Today, I feel like a snail unable to move at my normal pace.  And, feeling quite sick.  Blah.  I guess it’s good that it fell on the weekend, and after all of the important events of the last couple weeks concluded!

Aside from the typical excitement of the turning year, the last couple days have provided ample opportunities to celebrate life transitions for a few friends!  On the night of New Year’s Eve, Tim and I attended Dana’s wedding.  They had a very creative wedding, with the official announcement of marriage and “first kiss” occurring right near midnight.  Below is one photo from the night, to check out the rest visit my photos from Dana’s wedding.

On New Year’s Day, I spent the afternoon and evening with a great group of women as we celebrated two moms-to-be amongst the group!  Heather and Christine are BOTH expecting little ones in the next few months!  It was a beautiful event that I hope the moms-to-be left feeling supported by this community of women as they approach the birth and raising of their babies!    Here’s one photo of the event, to see the rest check out my photos of the baby shower and blessing way.

Photos!  I’ve been absent from my blog, and will be doing a short entry tonight, due to two late nights celebrating festive events - Dana’s wedding yesterday and a baby shower for Heather and Christine today that went well into the evening!  Expect a more lengthy entry tomorrow, and lots of photos! 

We hung out tonight with a friend of Tim’s from college, Erik, and Erik’s wife Ashley who are in town for the holiday.  Our chosen venue was the tubing hill at Buck Hill in Burnsville.  We got the two hour pass and relished the many slides down the icy hill, and relished even more the ride via tow rope back to the top.  We did decide, however, that because it was so cold it might have been a good thing to have to walk up the hill once in a while to stay warm We also learned to avoid lane 3 unless we were in the mood for a Tilt-a-Whirl type adventure.  For some reason that lane caused almost everyone who went down it to spin in circles at a very rapid pace for the bottom half of the hill.  I learned that the hard way, and despite putting my feet down continued to spin while also worrying that I was going to fly off the tube!  No more lane 3 after that!  There was a nice warming fire by the hill, so we made a few stops there to thaw a bit, and we took one break in the warm building to de-numb our toes.  We had a great time, and so did Erik and Ashley, who had never tubed before!

I joined my mom and sisters for an evening at the theater last night We all went to see “A Christmas Carol” at the Guthrie.  It’s my first time seeing this legendary, and long-running holiday show, and my first visit to the new Guthrie in downtown Minneapolis.  Both were spectacular.  The show was very well done.  I am amazed by performers who can do the same thing night after night, for two months, and yet their excitement and talent in performing their roles is still so good.  The Guthrie building was also quite a treat to see.  I’d heard about the huge “endless bridge” - a giant cantilever that protrudes from the building.  It’s a little weird standing out at the end of it!  We also found the “gold box” (my name for it, not sure what they call it), a yellow-windowed room that juts out from the rest of the building.  The views of the city were amazing.  An all-around enjoyable evening!

Tim successfully installed the sink/vanity in our downstairs bathroom today…no leaks!  There were challenges (as always), in this case related to the sink/countertop.  When the manufacturer molded the porcelain it was not level underneath the faucet attachment, and thus there was not enough space to attach the water supply lines.  A but of sanding did the job, plus some plumbers tape on the pipe threads - and vua-la (not sure how to spell that), a functional sink! Yipee.  Next up…shower.  We’re saving the toilet for last, and I may be making a stern call to the plumbing contractor who installed our piping when it comes to that one.  They attached the flange before we put down our flooring (and never asked us what our flooring plans were), and being rookies, we didn’t think anything of it until now.  Grrrrr.  Now it sits below the flooring and installing the toilet will be a challenge.  We’ll see if we decide to tackle that on on our own, or bring in the pros to finish the job.

Since the holiday hustle and bustle is slowing down, Tim and I decided to resume our slow but steady progress on the basement bathroom.  We had all of the materials to complete the bathroom, except a toilet.  I heard about dual-flush toilets a couple years ago at a state fair display in the “Eco Experience” building.  A place called Natural Built Home sells them, and it’s conveniently located in Minneapolis Tim and I ventured there to check it out.  These toilets are said to save a lot of water every year, since toilets are one of the major sources of household water consumption.  We wanted to check them out.  Though they are a bit more expensive on the front end, like most “green” alternatives, they pay for themselves eventually in water savings.  We purchased a Sterling Karsten model, made by Kohler.  If we like it, we will be purchasing another one in the future when we remodel our main-level bathroom!