Ben's Birthday Has Finally Arrived For You!!!

Our not-so-young but nevertheless illustrious "Man In the Know" Benjamin James Barnhart has turned 33 years of age. He celebrated his birthday by ordering Chinese take-out and watching a good movie with close friends (and next-door neighbors) Matt and Leah. 

In honor of this momentous occasion, we would like to reminisce and recount some fond memories of Ben's fruitful life. Post any and all memories to the comment board. Thank you, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

NOTE: Candles in the picture have been known to switch with other candles when nobody is viewing the blog. This explains any discrepancies that may be noticed when viewing the above photograph.

MISSING!

Twas the night after Christmas,
No mice, no not nary,

And a good night to play
Telephone Pictionary!

We phrased, and drew, and laughed
quite a bit,

Til Sherlock claimed some, leaving the
rest of us to just sit.

Twas a lovely evening on London St.,
With food, and drink, and game,

But then, alas, the hour grew late,
And the rest went home, just the same.

Straight to bed, the Mommy went,
For tired and weary was she,

"I'll tidy the rest of this in the morn,
before off to work I be."

Picking up, here and there,
Putting things away,

The drawings lay there in a pile,
And I thought I heard them say,

"One of us is missing!" So I counted
to see if true,

And sure enough, one was gone,
And it's got me wondering who?

Who confiscated a page of drawings,
And what might your plan be?

Methinks we ought to watch the Blog,
To see what we might again see!

Tile complete

After a long day, the tiling is finished. The finish coat on the ceiling got sanded also. I'm almost done skim coating the walls to get rid of the texture from the sponge painting.

So I was making a coffee cake...

...and as I was cracking an egg, I had a flashback. I remembered when I was pretty young (it seems like we were still living in Terre Haute but I can't remember for certain) and I was sitting at the kitchen table. Mom was cooking something that used eggs, and somehow we started talking about what eggs were. She explained that eggs were actually the way chickens had babies. She said that if a hen hatched an egg by sitting on it and keeping it warm, a little chick would develop from the egg. I think she kept talking about how the yolk was actually the part that fed the chick while it grew, but I didn't really hear that part. All I could think about was how many little yellow chicks I had unknowingly murdered, and how this terribly cruel practice was so widely accepted! These poor little chicks never got a chance to grow up and have wonderful chicken lives. I imagined all the hens, sitting in their nests with their heavy hearts, thinking of all their children they would never get to meet. Needless to say, I may have been overly sensitve to the situation. When mom realized I was upset, she quickly pointed out that she didn't believe the eggs we were eating were actually fertilized, so they wouldn't have turned into a chick whether we ate them or not. I have no idea if this was true (I should look that up) but it certainly went a long way in calming my guilt-ridden heart for all the eggs I'd eaten in my life.

I'm not sure what I thought was so fantastic about being a chicken, or if I realized that most chickens are eaten at some point anyway. Apparently I realize it now though, because I was able to crack all four eggs and whisk them without a bit of guilt.

Bathroom Status Update

Day 2: Tub successfully fitted into the bathroom and Hardiboard up! No major setbacks yet. Also no showers. Andy might be sleeping in the bathtub tonight.

The beginnings of a new bathroom

The tub and tile were removed tonight. Janell did a great job carrying that cast iron tub out on her back.

Snow, Shovels and Girls (and Peter, too)

Here are a few photos of our "early" snow on Friday, along with the girls enjoying the first "real" snow of the season. Please keep in mind that on Thursday, we could still see the greenish grass in our lawn, and as of today, we've about 2 feet (of snow, that is) on the ground. So these are just preliminary photos of the fun yet to come this winter!


And, here's the most recent photo of Peter, too. He just doesn't get to go out and play in the snow, yet.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Show us your snow! It's a winter wonderland in the UP and plenty more of the white stuff to come.

Honk if you love snow.