An update on this weekend and this week...

Jeff and I had planned to travel to St. Louis on Friday to spend some time celebrating birthdays with my sister, her boyfriend, my mom, and my step-dad.  (Mine was the 3rd, Erin's is the 8th, and Jeff's is the 14th.)  After a long decision-making process, we decided not to go because of the weather.  We were in the midst of a winter storm, as was most of Illinois.  Jeff and I ended up hanging out around home for most of the day Friday, then we went to dinner at Casa del Rio (our favorite Mexican restaurant here) and to see the movie "27 Dresses."  So we had our celebration for my birthday before the weekend because...

Sunday was Youth Sunday, so the members of the youth group led all three worship services.  They were greeters, ushers, readers, and preachers among other things.  It was fun to work with them, and they did an excellent job!  Our band, Tsunami, led music at all three worship services, as well.  That meant Michael, Michelle, and Christopher had to be at the church an hour before their normal Sunday morning time, and stay for an extra hour.  Also, they had to shlep some of their equipment back and forth between the sanctuary and fellowship hall.  They sounded great, and were good sports about the extra time and effort.  Thanks guys!

Also, Sunday evening was the youth group Super Bowl party.  A couple from the church were wonderful hosts for the party.  They opened up their basement for us to watch the game and eat our food.  I was cheering for the Patriots, but mostly because I wanted to be cheering against certain people who were also at the party.  I did think it would be neat for them to go undefeated for the season, but I have to admit it's pretty cool for the Manning family for Eli to have won.  Jeff made a lemon cake complete with candles to share with the youth at the party for my birthday.

Today I went to have a thyroid ultrasound.  I had some routine blood work done last week that showed some abnormality in my thyroid and also anemia.  The thing about the ultrasound is that I have issues with people touching my throat.  Maybe it's a singer thing, but I really dislike anyone even having their hands remotely close to the front of my throat.  I don't even let Jeff.  And this ultrasound was icky gel and a device operated by someone I don't know, all on my throat.  Really it was worse in the build-up than in the actual scan.  I also gave a blood sample to figure out the anemia.  I don't get the results for either until sometime next week, so if you're the praying type, that would be appreciated.

Snow Day

Today was a snow day for Highland (our town), Munster (where we work), and pretty much everywhere else. Word from folks who have spent lots of years in Da Region is that Highland and Munster never close, so this was a monumental day. Yesterday we got a lot of snow, possibly the most snow I've ever seen in one day. This was our street this morning when we walked the dog.....



Not plowed yet because all the other more major roads were worse. And this is the pile of snow moved from between rows of garages.....



Between our house and garage is a small patio, about 12' square or so (I'm bad at guessing distances). Anyway, when we walked the dog this morning we had to go out the front door because there was so much snow piled against our back door that we couldn't open it. The next picture is from the garage looking into the patio, (not really a drift here) and then our grill, which lives on the patio....

For some people, that might not be a lot of snow, but it is for this city-girl from Kansas.

The great thing about it being a snow day was that today is also Jeff's birthday! So we got to be at home for his birthday together! We did some work, ate lunch, then I dropped him off at Border's while I went to the grocery store for a top-secret surprise. I made him a flourless chocolate cake since we're watching sugar and carbs. He was on to me a little bit, but he started doubting toward the end! It's pretty hard to surprise your loved one with a chocolate cake when he's in the house as you're baking it. But he stayed out of eye range and was surprised after all! We had a lovely dinner of rosemary salmon and green beans, with the cake for dessert. I'm so excited about being able to use the internet for low-carb or carb-free recipes! It was such a great day, and the end is great, too, cuz the Jayhawks are playing the Buffalos right now!

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm sure all the snow ruined some people's plans for Valentine's Day whether they were stuck at an airport or whatever, but I have to say that I loved it!!