Merry Christmas

Well, Christmas is almost here! We are getting ready to head back to Minnesota for ten days of visiting family and friends. While we have had our tree and our decorations up for nearly a month, here are some pictures to share:

Also it is that time of year to make lefse, a Tostenson family tradition. First I assembled all of the necessary equipment (all of which was a wedding present from fellow Norwegians):

Also required is the famous family recipe, as recently published in the Norseland Lutheran Church Cookbook:

Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the labor intensive instant potato preparation.

After some initial dough rolling issues due to lack of flouring the board, I was on my way.

The all important lefse 'stick' in action:

The completed product:

I planned to make 30 sheets of lefse and ended up with about 23 that passed quality control. My Hilton coworkers got to taste test it today, which was interesting because no one had ever heard of it before.

Merry Christmas! We hope to see many of you soon!

- Laurie

Our Cat is Spoiled

After conducting some unofficial market research, I've come to the realization that people are most interested in reading about our cat on this blog.

Recently we've noticed Jimmy likes to find water from alternative sources than his water dish, like the faucet, the shower, and occasionally our drinking glasses if his head can fit. We found out it is especially important for cats to drink a lot of water as they age. We want to make sure our child beloved Jimmy is around as long as possible. What better excuse than to buy some overpriced, over-hyped, giant plastic gadget promising to solve all of life's problems???

We bring you the Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain:

After intense research of the online reviews (I can't believe 402 people actually bought this, let alone had something to say about it) the Drinkwell Platinum emerged victorious. I'll spare you the marketing video, but the features include patented 5-inch free falling water stream, a six segment charcoal filter, adjustable speed controls, and a 21-cup water reservoir.

We ordered it online and were just a little overwhelmed with the assembly:

We read the manual and had it figured out in no time. Our first thought: it sure is ugly.

Cat drinks water.....It works!

We've had the fountain for over a week now, and have noticed that Jimmy is drinking more water and does not jump in the shower anymore. Success! We hope our geriatric cat lives many more happy and healthy years.

- Laurie

Survivor: Antarctica

All flights were cancelled this entire weekend, so I was sad not be going to Omaha to visit Teri. But I was glad to be with Bobby during our long weekend, as it would have been tough to handle alone!

As mentioned, we woke up on Saturday morning with no power and about 25 inches of snow outside, with 5-8 more on the way that day. There was no way we could hope to leave by car, Metro, or even walking, so we stayed inside all day. The lack of power was really only annoying because we couldn't make any warm food or drinks, and at one point our fridge was no longer cold so we didn't feel comfortable eating anything out of there either. We survived on crackers, chips, and Keebler Fudge Stripes Cookies. Our only entertainment was reading, sleeping, and watching our neighbors outside, a favorite pastime.

This lady is just one example of many who use umbrellas in the snow - weird!

This person shoveled for 20 minutes, got tired, and gave up. Maybe he just wanted to check if that was indeed his truck under that giant mound of snow?

This guy is an immaculate shoveler - he will come out to shovel 0.25 inches so he can back up his car 'safely'. We thought it was funny he painstakingly shoveled a path all the way around his car before realizing he didn't clear it off first!

As sunset approached and our house got steadily colder, we searched high and low for for supplies to last the night - blankets, flashlights, candles, books & games.  We were grateful to Santa this year for bringing us each Snuggies with free booklights! It was dark.

We also passed the time with a marathon game of Monopoly. I stayed warm by drinking wine.

We woke up Sunday morning and were disappointed the power had not returned, and alarmed at the new temperature reading (note, this is INSIDE our house):

How low could it possibly go? We didn't want to find out.

After borrowing a shovel from the neighbors, we burrowed free and drove around in the car with the heat on full blast so we could dethaw. We enjoyed a lovely brunch at Eggspectations in Silver Spring, a restaurant which serves all day gourmet breakfast. Then I got a coffee from Starbucks. We felt so good!

We returned home to our partially frozen cat and decided enough is enough! After having a taste of the good life, we simply could not stay at our house one more night. We had no idea when to expect power again, and the Super Bowl was going to be on in a few short hours! We used what little battery remained on my phone to search online for a hotel and called to book our room!

Jimmy found the new accommodations at the Hampton Inn Silver Spring much more comfortable.

It turns out the whole city had the same idea! The hotel parking lot was chaotic and many other families had their pets in tow. We all called ourselves "Pepco Refugees" - as our power company had yet to return power to 40,000 customers in the area. We heard from others that Pepco customers may not see restored service until Friday.

Our offices were closed today due to the weather so we were grateful we had time to check on the house. We were completely shocked to find out our power was back on! We cranked up the heater and brought all of our things back home.

Jimmy must have still been cold, as he was sunbathing all day long.

We feel for the thousands of people who are still without power and have to survive the cold. Also, our area is preparing for yet again another winter storm tomorrow, bringing 8-10 inches to the area. I don't see how it is possible to add that to the 30"+ inches we got. Where can it possibly go?

That will make this the snowiest winter on record in the DC area, and makes us seriously rethink our objective to move here and escape winter!

- Laurie

Room Redesign: The Dugout

One of the reasons we chose this townhouse was for the lower floor, it seemed perfect for setting up Bobby's basement baseball room (aka: man room) or as we gave the moniker: The Dugout.  For three months this has been the most boring room of the house, with all of the memorabilia patiently waiting on the floor for furniture to arrive. Finally, we decided to pull the trigger and complete the room.

Here is the before:

And the big reveal:

Bobby really took the lead in picking out things for the room, and it really came together!  As you can see, he chose the Twins baseball colors of blue and red. Also, key to any good room design are coordinating pets.

The room now oozes of manliness and I don't think he's spent much time in the rest of the house. Yes, he is pretty excited for his man-sanctuary and a summer of watching the Twins and other sports on TV.

Back to the room features - We loved this couch because it pulls out to create a bed, perfect for more visitors, and one side of it opens up for storage of pillows & blankets. Ikea sure comes up with amazing things.

Featured in the dugout are our new personalized Twins mugs, received as a Christmas gift from the Lovciks Down Under. I had to eat almost an entire bowl of popcorn to set up this shot. Also, I inadvertently included Favre in the background. Go Vikes!

Another Dugout feature is Bobby's prized baseball display. Many of you know that Bobby likes to travel to visit the various ballparks around the US. He gets a logo ball from each, and is now up to 26/30 and is trying to keep up with the new ballparks as they get built.

Of course he organizes these by division! All that remain are San Diego, Texas, Miami, and the NY Mets. Hopefully we can knock out the rest this summer.

In summary, we're happy that the room looks coordinated without being a Bobblehead & Homer Hanky sensory overload. How do you think he did?

- Laurie

Special Delivery

Today we were so excited to receive two items in the mail. The first was a birthday card for Jimmy from Grandpa and Grandma in Mankato.




The second item was a package containing.....what else? A Twins grill cover! Bobby picked this out himself and ordered it using his credit card rewards points as a surprise and it... umm... certainly was a pleasant surprise!

Even with such subtle Twins details, Bobby is pretty excited to show off his MN pride to all of our neighbors. I can't wait until spring when the grill cover comes OFF and we are using the grill every day!

Jimmy's Birthday!

Today our beloved Jimmy turns 12 years old, it is hard to believe he is a senior. We don't know what we would do without him!




He is still getting used to the sounds of our new place. He is starting to learn not to be afraid of the sound of the garage opening and closing. He currently enjoys running up and down the stairs at a fierce pace.