Recent highlights...

So many fun things have occurred within the last week and there's really no way to do them justice in a blog post (you probably wouldn't want to read it all either). So, I will attempt to condense them into a few sentences each and give you a quick overview on the recent happy happenings in my life. :-) (FYI, these are not in chronological order)

~ SNOW!!!!!!!!!! Ice, dangerous roads, school closures, power outages, not enough snow gear, but lots of pretty white fluff!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~ We got our Christmas tree! It triggered many bittersweet memories of similar outings of past years and it was rather rainy which led to having to cover the cameras that were brought along. But, a lovely tree was picked out rather quickly. It was adventurously packed into the back end of the van (we opted to give this method a go before trying to tie it onto the very high roof of afore mentioned vehicle).... fortunately, it was a pretty flexible tree, didn't break, and was only slightly bent when we unloaded it at home. It now stands straight and tall in our living room looking very festive.

~ I learned how to "install" chains! We decided to be adventurous and actually drive in these icy conditions, but I didn't want to drive far without the extra safety of chains. In a very small effort to be a semi-sufficient woman, I opted to go to Les Schwab and have them install them for me. The logic here: a) it would be faster to have an "expert" do it. b) I could look on and learn how it was done. And c) it would relieve my father of one more time-taking, help-your-helpless-daughter task (He takes such good care of me! I often wake up to my car completely scraped off and ready to go on winter days. I really didn't want to ask him to do one more thing.) After pulling up in Les Schwab, waiting in line for ten minutes, only to discover that it would cost $11 and there'd be a 2 1/2 hour wait !!!!! , I decided to try and to it myself. Well, my 15 year old sister had watched a video on how to install them in drivers ed and was willing to help, so it was a joint effort. We found a large, empty spot in the Winco parking lot, fumbled through the tangled mess and not-so-clear directions, and (after miserably getting onto our knees in the snow, covering our mittens in rust, and trying to read the directions through the hair that would never blow away from my face) we got them on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have now been very securely in place for three days and lent to much safe transportation to and from various events. Sarah and I are two very proud woman. :-)

~ We had a snow day! The entire chain dilemma can be blamed on a few friends that had the gumption to invite us over for snow fun and lunch. ;-) I won't go into all the details, but we decided to brave Highland in order to get to their house (they were really desperate for social interactions, so we risked the treacherous journey for their sake). We got there with no issues (thanks to the chains) and enjoyed several hours of playing in the snow, eating a really yummy, warm lunch, Taboo, and many, many laughs. It was incredibly fun and in an absolutely gorgeous setting (log house in the woods. Oh yeah).

~ We had a power outage! Woohoo! It was just long enough to get us worried and just short enough to be fun (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours). It flicked off in the evening, putting our cheerily lit street into utter darkness. Daniel went around the house trying each light switch saying "Oh no! Won't work!" He was terribly worried. We filled the house with candles, were very relieved that we have a wood stove, took a silly, slippery walk to scope out the extent of the outage, got ready for bed, and it came back on.


Well, that was a lot longer than I intended it to be. So much for condensing. Oh well.
Merry Christmas!