friday

This amaryllis is taking off again, even after half a dozen times.    Not sure if it'll bloom or not. Sherry gave this to us years ago, big red flowers. 

We'll see.

These are the windows this morning, full of ice.  They only get frosty like this a couple days each winter.  I guess this is the coldest it has been in seven years.

The frost was gone after the sun came up and it'll be back tonight, but probably not again after that.

Julia re-did the Barbie houses as she sorted, figuring out what is worth saving and what we can toss.   It's a good job, looking GREAT.

And this girl showed up tonight for a little Guitar Hero. That was a fun surprise.

From this morning:

And from this afternoon, crazy huge protests, so many people protesting all over the city today.

Pretty impressive.

 Love, Val

cold

Tim gave us the white bulbs for Christmas, and Sherry gave us the red ones.  The red may bloom again.  They're just sooo pretty. 

A little youth basketball for tonight, was a fast moving, very rough game.   Number 12 said it wasn't that much fun to play in. He got banged around a lot.
 

Coldest night of the year is tonight and the coldest day tomorrow. School is cancelled because it isn't safe but by Sunday afternoon it is supposed to be up around ten degrees again, so that's good.

Love, Val

helpful

That little yule log the cat has his nose on--my mom and I made those on an afternoon at her house.

In 1996!

That thing has held up.  

But there are always the straggler Christmas decorations that don't get spotted on the first round of clean up, or the second.   Maybe this one is on the third pass.   

It's put away now.

Got these papers done anyway.  They were on the list for last weekend.  Ta-da!

Love, Val

 

this year

The cold snap this week is super unpopular.

It has us looking at pictures of Mexico.

We decided to skip it this year, and that's still the right choice, just feeling a little wistful when the high for Friday is like -15F.

This baby dog is the reason we decided to stay home, and she's worth it, yes she is. 

Who is a good girl?  

Who?

Is it you?  

I think it is.

Soon it will be February which is that much closer to March.

Love, Val

monday, martin luther king day!

Those these little guys were here today because they usually are on Monday, getting watched by their grandpa.  Kari didn't have to work.  Julia starts class tomorrow, and the other child asked to come over because she's nice like that and wanted to hang with the fam and play with the little guys.

It was a great Monday.

This guy was seen CHEWING on that dog toy at one point.

No!  Please don't!  Yucky!

Here he is being dragged out from under the table where he was trying to get to the cat drinking fountain.

The cats don't drink from it very often, but Dani loves it. We here her under there guzzling and slobbering all the time.

Why you gotta be drinking in the cat fountain?   What kind of dog are you?

Anyway. She doesn't answer, doesn't explain herself.

And this photo is included just because I LOVE IT.   It's a random real estate photo from a cool old house I looked up on MLS, checking it out.   Look at that floor!   Could any floor be more perfect?  Or more durable? The house was built in 1936 and there it still is.

Things have been pretty rough in Minneapolis lately.   Glad for Martin Luther King Day.  

Anyway, lots of love, Val
 

the view this weekend

That's it.

Started having a fever on Friday and feel only a little better today.

Pretty stupid way to spend the weekend.

Onward.

Love, Val
 

a little bit of tuesday

Pet photos

They love playing in the faucet.  This is the only thing--people talk about, "Oh the litter box," but that doesn't bother me.  (We've lived with turtle debris for decades.)    The only thing I dislike about the cats is how they don't respect surfaces in the kitchen.

I don't want anybody walking on the cupboards or sitting on the table, not humans either, not the dog.

But cats do not care.  

It's okay.  I already washed surfaces all the time, never did leave dirty dishes sit around before either.  We used to have mice once in a while in the cupboard where the pans are, so was in the habit of washing cake pans and cooky sheets before using them, just in case.  (You never know.)  This is just like that,  

 

They're soft as silk and smell like clouds, like fuzz, like air.   They're friendlier and sweeter than I expected and have distinct personalities.

This has been a very March week.  January is returning tomorrow apparently, cold and snow the rest of the week.

The much-dreaded surgery is over, and all is well.  Hopefully healing will be smooth and the weeks will go by quickly.

So much love, Val
 

silly

See those toes?  This is how you end up with cheese on your socks.

Love Grandma, aka MOM

so quiet

It's January and the days are very short, and very quiet.

It was a pretty tragic week in Minneapolis.  The community was assaulted, and an innocent person was killed.  The news is disturbing on every level.

 A precious friend is expected to make a good recovery, but the surgery coming up this week is serious and recovery takes time.   Others are struggling.   Our beautiful niece has entered hospice this week. She, and everyone, all hoped this day would never come.     

There isn't much to talk about.

We did take that Christmas tree down, bundled it all back into its giant bag and zipped it up.  That was the last thing left of Christmas.  I kept it around longer just for the lights.

Kirsten was here for a while. Dani loves her and she has a big heart for overly exuberant puppies.

I ordered this calendar with beautiful photos of Newfoundlands, thought it would be fun.

Well. The days of the week were arranged in an alternate order--Saturday and Sunday both on the far right.   That seems fine.

Except it wasn't.  We were perpetually looking at the wrong days, having to reorient over and over.

Nevermind.

I still want the photos, but we put a normal calendar across the days.  It's better.

I had all the Christmas towels washed and folded, ready to put in the linen closet. 

Except that was a jam packed mess.

Time was up.

I dragged all of it armful by armful and tossed it on the bed and started sorting and discarding.

It's still really full, nothing to brag about, but it is a lot better.

Tomorrow is Monday.  

Always much love, Val

christmas party

As they always do, Pam and Paul and their family host a wonderful party.
 

A

s

What a beautiful afternoon spent all together.  

So much love, Val