And the Peasants REJOICED--HALLELUJAH!!

Can you tell what that nice man in the top picture is doing? Can you? Can you? I can't wait for you to figure it out--I'm too excited. That is my father-in-law, who is clearly awesome, putting in a new outlet by my phone.

You might not fully grasp the significance of that so allow me to conduct a small visualization exercise with you. Close your eyes. Ha ha. Picture trying to cook in a kitchen where the phone and fridge are plugged into the wall above the counter by means of an extension cord that your children love to a) trip over and b) pull out of the wall--leaving you with a nervous twitch because you're never positive that your fridge is still cold. Imagine that said outlet, to which your fridge is connected, is the most used in the kitchen (remember, my kitchen is only two feet wide and three feet long), so each and every time you want to fry and egg or make bread or stir-fry in your electric wok (my favorite pan in the whole pan universe) you have to unplug your fridge. Are you picturing that?! Then picture draping an extension cord around your neck each time you want to sweep your floor. Surprisingly enough, I actually do sweep. Daily. WITH AN EXTENSION CORD AROUND MY NECK.

Add to this grand picture the fact that my darling dearest put too many things on one breaker (don't I sound like I know what I'm talking about?) and so every time I did more than one thing at a time that required electricity, the breaker would flip and half of my house would shut off. This included the washer and dryer. Keep in mind I wash at least two sets of sheets daily. So, ambitious me gets up, gets the children up, puts in a batch of laundry, goes upstairs and plugs in the electric griddle to fry an egg, and voila--the breaker flips. Or, I am in the middle of stir-frying and turn on the microwave. Oops--the breaker flips. AGGRAVATING!!! Cowen got really good at running down the stairs to turn off the washer and dryer so Mom could finish cooking.

But now, oh blessed glory day, my life has changed from the terrible tribulations just outlined to one of kitchen nirvana. Timothy and his dad fixed the fridge outlet and grounded it or something like that so it will always work for me and is on a separate breaker than everything else. And they put in a new outlet right by the phone so there are no phone wires hanging down for children to grab. And they put in a new breaker so no trippage would occur. And guess what, I still can scarcely believe it, after they were done we turned on the washer, the dryer, the microwave, and the mixer and they all worked at the same time without anything going amiss.

Clearly, my reasons for rejoicing are many.

The greatest cause for rejoicing is my hot husband who not only isn't afraid of our attic (Miriam asked him to bring her a bat so she could see one), he also knows how to put an electrical box in the attic in case of future electrical problem needs. Or something. I'm just impressed like crazy that he knows how to do it and looks so good doing it.

This has nothing to do with electricity. This has everything to do with my happiness that I decided to buy my children child-sized shovels for Christmas. I haven't shoveled since. Cowen, you rock.

Amelia brought over her camera today so I have Christmas pictures on my computer!! I'll be posting some of them soon. In the meantime, I'm posting this adorable picture of Emeline that Amelia took. Thanks, Aunt Amelia!

And thanks Grandpa Kenny!!!

And thanks Timothy!!!