How Did You Spend Your Thanksgiving Holiday?

It finally happened.

I still can't quite believe it.

I tried to avoid it.

I came up with every stall tactic I could think of:

"You already bought an old one that you are supposed to be fixing up and it's been sitting on our driveway for three years."

"But I want to go back to grad school, and higher education trumps horsepower."

"Let's go to Europe this year and we can revisit this topic next year, okay?"

When those ran out, I started with the excuses:

"We don't need it."

"We can't afford it."

"You will kill yourself."

The stall tactics and excuses lasted for five years. And then Friday, something happened.

I ran out. Completely drew a blank. Had nothing else left to say.

And that is how this happened:

Yes, my friends, that is now sitting in our garage. It is Hubby's Christmas gift. For the next 50 years. And that is how we spent the day after Thanksgiving. Economy, you are welcome.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone.

A New Chapter

So...as most of you know, I have a new job. For those of you who didn't know, I have a new job. About two months ago I started work as a high school youth minister at a church here in the Twin Cities. My apologies to those who enjoyed the stories about my previous place of employment--I will not be able to blog as freely about the new place, so you'll have to wait until we see each other in person or have a chance to talk privately to hear the good stuff.

The journey here was kind of surreal. There were three interviews in the hiring process--the first with the woman who is now my boss, the second with a search committee, and the third with the pastor of the church. My grandfather died two days before the second interview, so I showed up to the search committee interview in a daze. I don't remember really what was said, just that my one goal during the whole thing was not to cry. The third interview was the day after we got back from the burial. So what was already a fairly intense interview process became...even more complicated. God was definitely guiding the whole process. There's a little more to the story than that, but again...not ready to make that public.

The past two months have been a whirlwind of new faces, procedures, events--everything that comes with a new job. Hubby has been really supportive. Sometimes I just come home after being a crazy person all day and he's either got dinner waiting or gives me a back rub or something. I am grateful for the ministry and will try to do a better job of keeping you all updated!

A New Look

Okay, so I saw Laura's new blog and had to get one too. Plus, a gray line appeared in the middle of the posts in the old layout and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it so this was the next best thing.

Work has been hectic and will continue to be so for about the next week. I'll post more later...

Why My Next House Won't Have A Basement

Growing up in LA, I had never seen a house with a basement until I moved to Minnesota. I was immediately intrigued with our basement. After all, it had so many different uses that heretofore had been unbeknownst to me. For example, what does one do with the wedding gift whose purpose or function one can't ever quite figure out, but one also doesn't want to return said gift because that would produce one very upset aunt? Why, one puts it (out of sight) in the basement! Are you having company but are short on time to clean the house? Throw everything in the basement and shut the door! Did a relative unexpectedly stop by in the morning and you don't want to answer the door in your jammies? Basement! ("Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't hear the doorbell ring, I was downstairs in the basement.") Husband's Lego collection? Definitely basement.

You know what else goes in the basement? The main drain, or the place where all the other drains in the house lead to.

You know what happens when that drain backs up?

Water. Everywhere. Suspicious debris. Everywhere. In the shower downstairs. In the sink downstairs. In the toilet downstairs. And. All. Over. The. Basement. Floor.

This has been happening about once a year since we moved here. There used to be a tree in our front yard that has since been removed, but apparently the roots that are left behind are quite resilient, and they can KEEP GROWING even after the tree is long gone.

And boy, have they ever. They keep growing right into the pipe of our main drain and clogging it.

So about once a year the nice people at Mr. Rooter have to come out and snake out the roots that have grown into our main drain. Of course, we don't know ahead of time when this will be. I usually find out when I go downstairs to throw in another load of laundry and find two inches of water all over the floor from the last load, like I did this morning.

So now we sit and wait for the plumber to arrive. Meanwhile, we can't use any water in the house unless we want to add to the mess downstairs. (And honey, I don't care how bad it gets, NO, I am not going across the street to Target everytime I have to pee. You can't make me. I refuse. I would rather go to Target once and buy a package of Depends.) And yes, my husband did seriously suggest that we adopt this plan of action until the plumber arrives.

Anyway, this is why our next house will not have a basement.

So how is everyone else's Saturday morning going?