fun times in Madison

This is a few weeks ago now, but we haven't gotten around to posting any photos yet. We spent a weekend in Madison and helped celebrate my Dad's birthday:

Knitting Update

In the past month, I've finished two knitting projects--one that I've been working on since about August (my first post-prelims project):




...and the other that was actually created to fill an immediate need--it was no longer cold enough for my heavy-duty mittens, but also not warm enough for my thin stretchy gloves, so I needed something in between:

(not the best picture lighting-wise)

Meet me, M&M version

Hello. I'd like to introduce myself (M&M version) and this incredibly handsome snowman my M&M self made. I found this creation to be an incredibly fabulous procrastination technique. If you would like to try it yourself, go to www.becomeanMM.com and knock yourself out!

Oh, the car

We have some GREAT news about our car! Namely, none of these are it:

So, why did I feel compelled to let you all know that our car is not a complete wreck? Well, because for a while this weekend it felt like it was heading in that direction.

First, our window was smashed out while it was parked on the street overnight. That was annoying.

Then, on our drive home from Madison, exciting things kept happening--like the radio cutting out, followed by the RPM gauge dropping to zero...then the speedometer dropping to zero...then the headlights fading, followed finally by the acceleration failing to accelerate. By the time we got to that last stage, we would pull off onto the shoulder and slow down to around 30 mph, at which point suddenly all of the electrical systems would come on again and all would be well (for half an hour, anyway).

We got home on Sunday just fine, though the ride was a bit more stressful than we would have hoped for, given the repeated electrical failure. It wasn't until the next day (yesterday) that the car failed to start entirely.

Today, we have new window, new alternator, and new battery, so we are back on the road!

(And Jess is on the road in a rental Prius--as Andy said, my cool rating just jumped a couple notches.)

Snow Days :)

Sorry folks, for the long delay in posting. Turns out that storm really did come (eventually), and dropped about 13 inches of snow on us here in Saint Paul...and then we got another 18 inches over the past 48 hours!

We and our friends hate snow...so this was a terrible hardship for us, as you can see below.

Andria & Matt pose by their mini-snowman creation
Andrea and Spencer suspiciously look like they're preparing for a snowball fight...
"Wheee!" says Andria (and "burrr!" as snow flies up the back of her coat)
We learned that tire swings weren't really designed for two adults...
Andrea the snow-angel


Snowball? What snowball? I'm not holding a snowball.


"Neither am I," thinks Spencer, as he suspiciously hides behind the slide, waiting to attack


I think Andy knows where Spencer is hiding.