Home Office

My laptop tanked and was out of commission for a couple hours. What an opportunity to clean off my desk! This is a rare glimpse of the home office without stacks of documents all over. This is where I've spent every day for almost the entire past year. All day. Every day. This is what everyone else at work is doing, too, plus it seems that everyone else has kids running amok in the background. I just have to deal with a cat that wants to be pet.

The cafeteria food here is as good or better than at the office.

 

Morning Routine

The morning routine:

S & TP meet at the top of the steps (S sleeps in his own room) for stretches.

The cat shoots out of the bedroom past us and races down the stairs.

S follows in hot pursuit.

The cat runs to her scratching post and shreds it (she is now too fat to do it standing up, so she lies on her side while tearing it up).

S & TP go for a walk down to the park at the creek (there's a trash can there for poop bags).

Return home, make coffee, eat breakfast.

Play/wrestle on the floor.

 

Snow Tanning

We had a perfect weekend day with nothing but blue skies and sunshine. We took to the lake and quickly overheated, despite it being 20°. S loves the snow! There were as many or more people out on and around the lake as on a summer day.

Sunset lit up downtown in a beautiful glow.

 

Duck Creek

Lake Harriet drains out into Minnehaha Creek through a 1/4-mile creek that so far, has remained ice-free. Being the only open water, it's completely filled with ducks! S has learned that it's not polite to chase them, so he's able to walk past them without too much excitement.

 

New Velcro

The night before the boys went back to Nebraska, we realized that we still needed to repair the velcro on the tonneau cover on their truck. We tried a heat gun, solvents, brute force, and a combination of all to remove the old velcro. Nothing worked until we realized that the velcro was attached to a plastic insert in the aluminum extrusions. We pulled the plastic out and glued down new velcro directly onto the aluminum. Perfect!! It held for the entire trip back.

We were a little on edge about when to send the boys back. CP's apartment is only a few blocks from the NE capitol building and there was talk of armed protests at all the state capitols on inauguration day, the day they wanted to return. Who would have thought that we would ever be adjusting our plans because of a threat of armed insurrectionists (supported by the sitting president) that want to overthrow the US?

We sent them out on Tuesday and they made it home safe & sound and nothing happened in Lincoln the next day.

 

Paul Bunyan Puzzle

Before the boys went back to school, we broke out our first puzzle of the season. At first, neither had any interest in it, but by the end, all four of us were feverishly trying to squeeze pieces in.

The puzzle had a twist: it did not match the picture on the box. It was similar, but definitely not the same. The box showed Paul in summer. The puzzle was winter with steaming breath and icicles. Although it was only 500 pieces, it was one of the most challenging puzzles we've done.

Since it's a such a cute Minnesota image, we glued it together and got it framed. It's now hanging in the guest room.

 

Dark Day for Democracy

I try to keep the blog as apolitical as possible, but the events of January have been truly monumental in the history of our democracy and I'd like to have a placeholder for them here with the headlines from the NYT.

So, this was a sad, strange day, indeed. As the insurrection unfolded at the capitol, all the normalcy of work plodded along. Scheduled meetings started on time and the machine of industry plodded along.

However, at home, it was a different story. The boys & JP were glued to the TV. I've always wondered how great civilizations could fall, or something like the Nazis and Holocaust could happen. Now we know: just preach lies, lies, lies no matter what the facts are. Block science and reason. Lie some more until the fake reality is now a shared reality among a majority. Nothing to it.

It was really amazing to read what some of my friends were posting on FB. Normal rational people consumed with the alternate reality of Q Anon, all sitting at home waiting for the hammer to drop. They honestly believed that congress would be arrested, tried, and executed for treason. For real.

When this bingo card came out, it was funny, until everything started to unfold.

 

Grey Wall

If JP can do it, so can I. All it takes is a brush and some elbow grease, right? This basement wall is the background for all of my online meetings for work. It was just a drab beige that sucked the color and life out of the guitars. It's now a neutral shade of grey that really brings out the blue in the strat in the morning light coming thru the glass block window. This is a much better background for meetings.

 

Neighborhood Ice Decorations

JP discovered this house while walking S during the day. We returned at night to see it in its glory with all the lights. It's all ice. The jagged flatirons in the back are pulled from their landscaping pond, the round features all have flower and plants in them and the lights move. 

Check out this video clip to see the lights in action:

 

Neighborhood Dining

Every Friday night we order takeout from the restaurants on the corner. CP's favorite is the porchetta (pulled pork) from the Porchetteria at Terzo. It's truly mouth-watering. GP's favorite is the Cuban sandwich from Tinto Kitchen. JP & I always try something new from Broder's Pasta Bar. This week we tried the Ravioli di Zucca (squash ravioli with sage & candied walnuts) and also an order of our favorite: Fettuccine con Gamberi (pasta, shrimp, chickpeas, kale, red onion, spices, and garlic). 

At least once a week, S & I hit the Sparrow Cafe for a latte and one of their amazing bacon, egg, & cheese burritos on our morning walk. They have dog biscuits and it has becomes S's favorite place.

All together, we have seven amazing restaurants on our corner. We still have not tried Lake Harriet Pizza, but it's on our list.

 

Family Pack

The boys are eating us out of house and home and drinking all the pop & beer. Good thing that Pabst came out with the 99 can Family Pack! Too bad it's only available in Wisconsin.

 

Paint it White

Now that the holidays are behind us, time for JP to start painting everything white again. Our bedroom has golden oak floors, dark oak trim, and red cedar built-ins. The dark oak trim is being changed to white to cut down on the number of wood colors.

In this photo you can almost see the spot in JP's lower back that later that day started screaming in pain. 

 

Frozen Lake

The lake is finally solidly frozen over. We have a new 330 acre spot for walking the dog. There are several skating rinks that have been cleared, but we cannot find any skates in Minneapolis! The only ones left are the $300+ hockey skates. Same goes for cross-country skis. I guess we're just going to have to resort to ice fishing.

Where the stream enters and exits the lake, there's no ice but plenty of ducks. 

 

Blank Canvas

The X-Mas tree is down and the new fake tree that was in the big PB box is up. Time to finish the living room. The wall behind the sofa is a huge blank canvas that has been begging for attention.

JP mapped out the size and positions of where she wants art. 

We found and ordered a really cool 1912 map of our neighborhood done by a local artist. It will be months before it gets framed, so we did some virtual cut/paste to get a rough idea how it will look. Can't wait to hang it!

 

Big Box

For some women, small robin-egg blue boxes from Tiffany's make them happy. As much as JP would enjoy one of those, she also enjoys big boxes from Pottery Barn.

 

Heavy Metal Conspiracy

This made me laugh out loud - Someone in Italy was sharing this schematic online and claiming that it shows the inner workings of the COVID-19 5G chip that is being put into vaccines. 

It has nothing to do with any of that; it is a schematic for an electric guitar effects pedal that makes your guitar have a heavy metal sound. The day before I saw this conspiracy story, I had actually been reading an article about how a similar circuit works: Boss DS-1 Analysis

 

Farewell 2020! Happy New Year!!

Farewell 2020!!!! It couldn't come soon enough.

We spent our New Year's Eve playing Yahtzee, watching movies, and eating all sorts of junk food. JP scored some pickled herring from the fishmonger at Kowalski's. 

We are looking forward to 2021!

Happy New Year!!

 

Sledding

There's a big hill at the park by the creek that is perfect for sledding. We picked up some snow tubes from Ace and trudged down to the hill. It was packed with kids - everyone else had the same idea. I took S down with me, and I'm not sure he knows what to think. It was a crazy fast ride, and my boot came off by the time we made it to the hay bales at the bottom.

We dodged the storm that gave Iowa a foot of snow. We only got 5" of it, but it was a beautiful fluffy snow that came down all day. It was super sparkly at night.

 

Ice, Ice, Baby

We picked up an ice-ball kit from the hardware store down the street. IT'S AWESOME!! It makes hollow ice balls that we can light with candles. They are really beautiful.

JP scored some tickets to the MN Landscape Arboretum's holiday light festival. Due to the pandemic, it was turned into a drive-thru event. What a spectacular place! I cannot wait to explore it on foot someday.

 

X-Mas 2020

Despite it being 2020, Santa made his rounds without mishap and delivered goodies for the family.

 

Cold Snap

The day of the big snow, it was 45° when I got up. By 6 PM it was down to 18°, and by morning it was down to -2° F. The lake was at 32° and steaming like it was warm.

One of the mindsets up here is that there is no bad weather; there are only bad choices in clothing. If you dress for it, it's enjoyable and pleasant. Especially when the sun comes out!

 

Ice in Your Beard

We finally got some snow a couple of days before Christmas!! It was a beautiful all-day snowfall that took us from dry ground to 8" of white stuff.

The boys shoveled a bit and walked the dog. The wind was blowing pretty good down at the lake and they ended up with icicles in their beards. Nothing that a big bowl of J's wild rice soup cannot fix.

 

White Squirrel

JP & S spied a white squirrel on their walk a couple blocks away.