finally friday

I really don't know if I have 5 new or even mildly interesting things to tell you (not that that has stopped me before), but what can I say, I really want to make up for that missing post on Wednesday. And I figured I need to throw another picture or two up here, it's been pretty sparse/ obnoxiously verbose the past few days even though I probably more than made up for that with the 29 pictures on Monday.

1. A preliminary new house to-do list is in the works, but know in the meantime that we have already crossed 2.5 projects off of it: we've replaced the loose shingles, torn the carpet, pad, nail boards, and staples out of the attic, and extended one of the gutters.

2. We received some phenomenal news from the city earlier this week. We discovered that we do not (as of now) have to have a follow up TISH inspection because we bought a HUD house. I am slightly skeptical the city isn't going to pull something on us later, but for now this means we can plug away at the to-do list at our own leisure and not worry about getting projects done and permits pulled on the city's timeline.

3. We found this hidden in one of the closets: dates and signatures from the last two owners. The most recent signature if you can't read it says underneath, "Lost to Bank of America Feb 2012," and "I put so much love in these walls."

 

4. Minnesotans like to brag that we can drive in 7 feet of snow completely unphased, and I think we are definitely better at snow driving than a lot of states just because we have to be (although in general I think Minnesotans are terrible, terrible drivers, but that's another issue). But yesterday we got a dusting of snow and my commute home took over an hour (my drive home is less than 10 miles). They closed down the Lake Street Bridge, which meant that anyone who needs to cross the river from St. Paul to Minneapolis down south, had to go down to the Ford Parkway Bridge. It took me 30 minutes alone to weave my way down there and get across the river (2.8 miles). Then this morning the DOT closed down a lane on 94 during the morning rush hour to change the light bulbs along the freeway bringing normally flowing traffic to a halt. I think I'm just not going to drive anywhere this weekend, which considering the weather, sounds like a good plan.

5. The high tomorrow is 18 degrees, anywhere between -5 and 5 with windchill. Normally at this time of year this wouldn't be worth mentioning, but I will be stuck outside vending at the Gopher game for a few hours, aka trying to sell frozen hot chocolate to frozen fans with my frozen fingertips. But don't worry everybody, the Vikings' season goes much further into the winter months and we are building them an outdoor stadium so I should get to do this fairly often in the next few years. Why do people like outdoor stadiums?!
 
6. Wow, this list got depressing, negative, and sarcastic real fast. Let's end on a positive note here.....um..... Thanksgiving is next week! Let's just get excited for that now. This means a 2 day work-week for me next week followed by a trip down South to see the parents. And that means I get to spend some time this weekend making packing lists and packing a suitcase which I genuinely enjoy. There, things are definitely looking up!