February renovations

We still have miles to go on the new house, but come hell or high water we are moving into it next month. Here are some highlights from this past month. (Biggest lowlight was me painting 230 feet of baseboards the WRONG SHADE OF WHITE!!!)

Clever girl

Annabelle won a raffle at school, and the prize was getting to use the 3-D printer to make something. What did she make? A tuba mouthpiece with a mustache!

Freezing and waiting for the train

Snowy view from the office

This was the scene from the office breakroom today:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Angela is back in town!

Happy birthday to me!

I had a nice, quiet birthday (work-at-home day), capped off with cake. We discovered that Harvey is fascinated by fire:

January renovations

It has been a busy month in the new house. Here are a few highlights.

The hardwood floors are in upstairs:



We have been busy choosing paint colors:











And the heated tile floor in the basement is gorgeous:

Sorority chick

Another Grumpy Cat hat!

Slurp!

Crafty Sarah!

Check out these cool things Sarah made for Christmas! The perfect wreath for a knitter:



And this gorgeous scarf she made for Annabelle (but that I borrowed before it heads back up to Rochester):

A year in books

One of my favorite things about the ending of a year is that I get to go through my list of books read (or in some cases listened to) and create a collage of covers. Here are this year's books:



I've been making these collages since 2007. Here's a look back at all of them:















It's pretty rare for me to finish a book I don't like (although there are a few notable exceptions), so if something is in one of my cover collections, odds are it was pretty good.

Christmas yarn

I've been very excited about a few projects I made for Christmas. First of all, here are Mike, Sarah, and Annabelle in their Grumpy Cat hats. Get your frown on!



I also made Annabelle some mittens in Rochester colors, because it's freaking COLD up there:

Filomena

Last year when Mike and Sarah were up for Christmas, we went out to Peking Gourmet Inn for a delicious Chinese meal. Peking Gourmet Inn is known for being THE place for good Chinese food, and the walls are covered with photos of celebrities and dignitaries who have dined there. I wanted a similar experience this year, so we went to Filomena in Georgetown on the advice of one of my co-workers. We were not disappointed!

Filomena is also known for its famous clientele, and the cover of the menu is embossed with the names of some well-known diners:



The restaurant was extravagantly decorated for Christmas:



And the food was top notch! I had a pasta with lobster sauce that was Bill Clinton's favorite when he was living nearby. Then for dessert, we split several items, including this amazing cheesecake:

Merry Throw--Back Thursday!

Christmas dogs

Annabelle got home for her winter break this morning, and the first thing we did when we got home was take our Christmas card photo. This isn't it, but it's too adorable not to share:

Lifting heavy objects

Mike competed in the USA Powerlifting American Open Championships today in the city and did quite well! Buddy has all the details and lots of video on his blog. Here's a rather blurry pic of him with his silver medal at the end though:



Way to go, Mike!

Sassy is here!

So is Mike, but his nose isn't quite this cute:

What a noble beast

Deck the bourbon

Fred has got quite a collection of bourbon going:



This bottle is even dressed for Christmas:

Beautiful music

Tonight the UR Wind Ensemble had their fall concert, and thanks to the miracle of the Internet, we were able to see it, and so were Annabelle's grandparents. And now so can you!

Watch live streaming video from universityofrochester at livestream.com

Well, the mold is gone