Remodeling Season Has Begun

We decided to tackle the laundry room drop ceiling as our first remodeling project of the season for a few reasons:
1.  We're tired of looking at the ugly joists.
2.  The room needed cleaning.
3.  We're tired of the one 60 watt light bulb lighting the space.
4.  The materials we've had on hand for over a year and a half were taking up precious space as our rooms get finished and our storage spaces decreases.

It took two weekends to get it done, but here it goes:

Looking toward the downstairs bedroom.  Level has been established and the wall angle brackets installed.

Other side of the room - wall angle brackets installed

The 2 main supports and all cross Ts cut and in place.  Some ceiling tiles in place.

There were only 8 ceiling tile that were uncut.  The other 16 had to be cut to size.

Holes were cut for the lights and the heat duct.

6 inch hole cut for the heat vent.  The vent itself had to be moved slightly to align to the middle of the quadrant of the tile.

Almost complete.  This cabinet had to come down and be rehung because 1) It wasn't quite level to begin with and would have looked goofy against a level ceiling and 2)  It was too high (the wall angle brackets sat right on top of it and the ceiling tiles are sculpted, so they sit below the level of the brackets). 

Finished!

The wall cabinet has been rehung (level now) and the electrical outlets switched from tan to white.  The washer and dryer had to be pulled out to accomplish that, which is fine - behind and underneath those need cleaning anyway.

Finished!  Heat register and all lights are complete.  The lighting is SO much better.  You can actually see what you're doing at the sink!

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was spent at work since it was a Monday.  After work, we headed to the Mall of America, where Josh Wilson, one of our favorite Christian artists, was giving a free concert in the rotunda.  We saw him at the KTIS Joyful Noise concert 2 years ago.  Below are a couple pics.  They aren't all that clear, mainly because of the lighting conditions and our distance from the stage.  He played for about 50 minutes.  And he DOES know how to pick a guitar.  Wow!

After the concert was over, we headed for our favorite pizza place (Davanni's) for a late dinner.  They were offering heart shaped pizzas through the end of the day.  It was the thin crust instead of our favorite Chicago Deep Dish, but hey, it was Davanni's!!!  Our order:  Canadian bacon, pineapple and green peppers.  As I was getting our drinks, the kid that took our order popped around from behind the pop machine and said "hey, do you want me to have the guys write "Be My Valentine" on the pizza using the green peppers?"  I said "go for it!"  Apparently, this wasn't being offered to everyone- I heard him go back to the kitchen and tell the "pizza maker" the plan, to which the pizza maker said "I can't do that - there isn't enough room!!!"  I wasn't sure what the pizza was going to look like.  Karen was off getting plates and silverware and was oblivious to the goings on.

When the pizza was done, the pizza maker came out and called the order.  Karen went up to get it.  Smiling from ear to ear, he seemed rejected when Karen didn't "read the pizza" when she picked it up.  He sulked back to the kitchen.  Karen was annoyed that the green peppers weren't more evenly spaced, but didn't realize there was a message.  I had to point it out and I did get the pizza maker's attention through the window back to the kitchen and gave him the thumbs up.  I think he did pretty good!  This was after it was cut.

No, I don't normally have my camera with me at the pizza joint, although we took pictures of some of our food in Jamaica. We had the camera with us from the concert and for some reason, I brought it into Davanni's with me.

Merry Christmas!

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And everyone went to his own town to register.  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.  - Luke 2:1-7 (NIV)

Such a short, quick story of the birth of such an important baby.  For as much fanfare and preparation as we give the anniversary of this story today, this version seems almost disappointing.  In the process of taking a census, it was time for Mary to give birth.  So she did.  Wow!  Riveting stuff!!  Clearly there is much more to this, regardless of how the actual birth is depicted in the bible.  There later was a little more fanfare by way of the angels coming to the shepherds and the Wise Men making their way to see this spectacle, but the birth itself as it's stated here seems a little underwhelming.  Perhaps that is because the birth, while a key chapter in the story of Jesus, is a far cry from the climactic ending. 

We need to look at the birth of Jesus with Easter in mind.  Jesus was born destined to die on the cross for our sins.  In doing both (being born and dying), he was and still is Immanuel "God with us".  Jesus came to all so we could be saved and have the opportunity to live for eternity with God.  We just have to accept him with a humble heart.  This Christmas, look toward Easter for the true reason for Jesus' birth and ponder the opportunity God presents to us.  As you open all your other gifts this Christmas, have you accepted and opened the one God has given you?  Perhaps you've just taken the box off...  Perhaps you've torn open a corner to take a peak...  Go ahead and grab it FIRST and rip into it!!  It's just your size and was meant just for you!      

Such a tiny offering,
compared to Calvary...
-Mercy Me

No white Christmas where you are? Come here, we got you "covered"

1" - 3".  That is what the weather dude said we were supposed to get last night.  My butt... 

This isn't 1" - 3".  It's nearly 6"!!

And remember that pink stick that was in the yard?  It's still there, but you can't see it anymore!  It's buried somewhere in here:

Whosever stick it is will have to dig it out.  NOT MY PROBLEM!  Unless it's fire hydrant on my property, I'm not digging it out... 

Like I said, if you don't have a white Christmas where you are at, rest assured we've got enough for everyone! 

UPDATE:  With last night's snowfall, this has been the snowiest December on record for Minneapolis/St. Paul.  The old record was 33.2" in 1969.  So far, we have 33.4".  And the month is not done yet.  Weather models are hinting at a New Year's Eve storm, but that is too far off to definitively predict yet.

Good thing Santa wasn't crawling around up there...

Take one Teflon coated fiberglass roof and put 17 inches of snow on top of it and what do you get?  You get a MetroDish instead of a MetroDome.  And a Vikings game that gets moved to Detroit!

Check out the video:
Metrodome Roof Collapses

Other pictures:
Pictures of the MetroDish

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Blow

This is what I got to do at 7:30 this morning.  What were YOU doing?  You will notice that the height of the drift is taller than the top of the front of the snowblower.  Even with a snow blower, it was tough moving this amount of snow because it had been so packed by the wind.  Still, I'm glad I didn't have to hand shovel it!

The drifts in the pictures looked so much taller when I was blowing through them.  They look wimpy here.  They were not...

Local Snow Totals

Shakopee:  21.5"

Red Wing:  20"

Lakeville:  17.4"

St. Louis Park:  15.2" 

Minneapolis (Airport): 17.1"

St. Louis Park is the closest to where we are, so we'll go with 15" at our place.  Tough to tell with 35mph winds whipping it around.  Now for the cold...

More snow!

It started snowing yesterday around noon and finished up sometime overnight.  Unlike the last snowfall that was wet and slushy, this snow has very little water in it.  Looks like 5 1/4" based on this ruler.  Now the cold will set in.  Low temps by Tuesday morning are expected to be below zero...

Kelli - do you still just have puddles of snow?  I'm sorry if you do...  The sledding hill is no doubt very busy today.

The Mysterious Pink Stick Update

Well, it appears we are NOT the lone pink stick in our neighborhood.  This morning we left the to go out for breakfast and went a different way out of the neighborhood than the way we go to work.  There are a few more sticks in various yards down the street- mainly on corner lots...  Still not sure what they are for, but we are not the only ones...  The mystery deepens!

The Mysterious Pink Stick

We came home from work yesterday to find this pink stick staked in the ground outside the front of our house - about 5 foot in from the curb:

None of our neighbors seem to be lucky enough to have a similar stick in their yard!  So, I called the city today to see if they could help solve the mystery.  I didn't find much in the way of specifics, but I was told that the color pink (as it relates to mysterious sticks appearing in your yard) typically indicates a "temporary site survey".  City Clerk/Sister Diane, can you perhaps confirm???  Like I said, I don't see any other mysterious pink sticks around.  Perhaps someone is going to build us a new house?  Hopefully, they let us know before they demolish the current one...

Pictures of us!

Last month we met Jennifer Swanson for a photo shoot.  She was looking for some victims, er...  test subjects to begin building her photography business.  For those of you who don't know, Jennifer is my sister-in-law's sister.  She took a BUNCH of photos and the link below is to the ones that turned out the best.  You will need Adobe Flash Player version 10 in order to view them.  Check them out!  And check out Jennifer's blog for prices for your own photo shoot.  We think she did a GREAT job!

View the entire album

Check out Jennifer's Blog