Storm Watch 2005

Even though we continue to remind ourselves that Minnesota usually gets most of its annual snowfall in March, it doesn't make seeing that cold white stuff when we're ready for spring any easier! Just a dusting so far this morning, but believe me, the local weathermen are CRAZY with anticipation of the big storm on the horizon. Thank god those crocuses are hardy little beauties! We planted a few dozen bulbs at the farm and I'm anxious to see the daffodils and tulips begin to push through the snow.

The one good thing about the nasty weather is that it certainly makes our long days on indoor projects at the farm more bearable! Our goal is to have the big projects inside completed by May so we can look forward to long days working in the garden, building the deck, installing the cedar hot tub, planting our trees, setting up the pasture, and taking breaks soaking up the warm sun.

Charis, Jay, Aunt Becky and I are off Saturday early morning for bathroom tiling - it is so gratifying to watch that once barely liveable bathroom transform into new, clean, ours. The new toilet, sink, and beautiful tub are all patiently waiting in the living room and kitchen - to hopefully be installed in the next week or two after tiling, installing another window, and drywalling. This weekend, we're also having a local husband-wife expert floor team come to the farm to give us an estimate on refinishing the wood floors upstairs and down. Keep your fingers crossed that the news won't break the bank. I know that sanding and refinishing those old floors (some of which haven't seen the light of day for decades until this year) will completely transform the house. It's therapy (for us and the old wood floors), to uncover them, scrub them, and pull the thousands of nails and staples from their boards. I feel like the house is beginning to breathe again.

Back on the Minneapolis homefront, life is a tower of big events that seem to just barely be balancing at times. Work for me has never been busier and I am anxious for a break that will finally come after the first week of April...the end of a huge work event I've been planning, and the beginning of a 4 day vacation with Kelly in Florida. The small blizzard going on out my window as I write this makes me wish I could push the calendar forward three weeks. So, generally I come home each weeknight, eat dinner, and see if I can't make it past 9 p.m. These days it's either exhaustion or restlessness that overcome me--I am ready for a break! In the midst of the stress and full schedule, I look for moments to be still and think...and apologize to the baby inside me for not taking more time to myself, for getting my priorities mixed up. When I put this child first, everything else seems so trivial...it puts the job, the projects, the house, the farm, all in perspective. It makes me feel less worried about how things will work out at the museum and so excited for how things will work out in life over the next 6 months, year, decade. I'm 16 weeks along and am generally feeling great. I am still astonished daily at how naturally my body changes and adapts the the constant development. My belly is bulging more and more each day - beginning to look a little more pregnant and a little less like I've just eaten an enormous meal. But I feel good - energized each time I think about what it will be like to meet this little one face to face.

April will be busy but great - full of wonderful things each weekend...from the culmination of all my hard work at the museum for a big event the first weekend, to a birthday celebration for me and Jay with feast, family and friends at the end of the month. We will go from snowy blizzard to green buds in a matter of days and weeks around here. Spring brings renewed life, energy, light, and change. I welcome all of these elements to my never-stagnant life and embrace another leap of faith knowing it is taken in hand with Chris, Charis, Jay, and all of you.