Real winter

After enjoying several very mild winters in a row--this time last year we were at the playground in sweatshirts--we are being squeezed under the thumb an an extended period of real cold. The snow lingers on the ground long enough to become dirty looking around the edges. Quite astonishing after being essentially winter-free for a few years.

We had a lovely Christmas with family and then celebrated Mo's 3rd birthday in style. Amy and Mike came from Pittsburgh for the birthday weekend, which was a real treat. We played this game called Head's Up with them one evening and laughed until we nearly peed our pants. The main source of hilarity was Robb's ability to free associate answers that sometimes had little to do with the subject at hand.

Now we have a visit from Jenny to look forward to in two weeks, before she ships off to her next assignment in South Korea. What an adventure!

Robb is experiencing a winter of the soul, if you consider our refrigerator and pantry to be the vessels in which Robb's soul lives...and I do. Robb needs to lower his sodium and protein, and I need to eliminate saturated fat. I'm not exactly turning cartwheels over making these changes because it means more work in the kitchen from me. We are getting rid of most processed foods and cooking as much as possible from scratch, that way we control the contents of what we eat. But Robb is especially despondent over dietary changes. He will move toward better health kicking and screaming. I remind him that we are also modeling good habits for Mo. I don't think that makes it any easier for him.

We are still in computer limbo. The new tower (refurbished) had a power supply issue. It was still under warranty, so Robb swapped it out for another new (refurbished) tower. And it has a power supply issue too. Very frustrating. So it also needs to go back, this time we're thinking of swapping it out for a different brand/kind/whatever. This must be a problem specific to the one we purchased. Our old computer was a refurb, and it lasted about 4 years, so I still have faith in refurbs. Hopefully we will get this resolved by the end of the month and be on our merry computing way.

I also went with a friend to see the Van Gogh show at The Phillips Collection before it closes.  It was fascinating, especially the Rouin family portraits.

Happy New Year!