Congratulations to my cousin Angie and her husband Dave on the arrival of Quinn Michael!! I'm hoping that the excitement will distract Auntie Jolene from the fact that I've no pictures to post today...

Speaking of family excitement, Oliver has something to say--

"I'm gonna be a big brudder!"

Yeah, 'mommy has a baby growing in her's belly.' All three of us are filled with enthusiasm at the thought of this new babe!...though I'm not sure telling Oliver so early on was a good idea. He keeps wondering when's it gonna be here? Not till May, Bud. The snow will come, stay for what seems like forever, then melt, then it might snow again... then we'll have a baby. Andrew and I ask him whether it'll be a brother or a sister. Sister. What should we name her? "BLACKY!!" So far he's named a kitty Meow Meow and another Basketball. Ironically enough, Blacky is the name of a family friend's cat, so we're loosely keeping with a theme. 'Theme: Cat' is not very enduring. His vote is likely to be lost in the final count...

Other than that, we're just, you know, 'plugging away' at the house. (What does that even mean?) Working hard. Trying to get outside painting and trimming and building wrapped up. Not exactly the most construction-friendly fall we're experiencing here what with mud up to our eyeballs. Thankfully we've had some amazing helpers lately. Who would assist someone in the unkindest chore of all - outdoor painting - if they weren't forced? My mother-in-law, Bonnie, father-in-law, Bruce, and cousin Megan, that's who.

Andrew has been working on and is nearly done with both bathroom vanities. We're actually having a little competition, as I designed one vanity, and Andrew the other. If you've ever seen Design Star on HGTV, that's sort of the idea. By the way, I am the next Design Star. We're going to have a vote on whose cabinets are cooler. Andrew is building them both, but I have gotten in on the mindless work of sending ALL the wood through the plainer and sander, then sanding by hand with the orbital. Andrew's piece, for Oliver's bathroom upstairs, is made of old wood I tore out of our barn. When we started machining the boards the whole shop smelled like cow pies. Miraculous... I don't think a cow has lived in that barn for 20 years. That's rich. My pieces (a vanity and stool topper) were inspired by an antique bar my cousin Kelly found under mountains of oil in her garage - emerald green with a wood top. Rich...in a different way than the cow trough episode.

I hope to have pictures ready and running soon.

A long time comin

Approximately two weeks ago the Toftnesses spent the first official night in the new house. As I've mentioned, we'd spent the night there before, but since that was more along the lines of boundary waters camping rather than civilized living, that night was very unofficial. Our lifestyle is still quite primative, as we live in the basement out of cardboard boxes and suitcases - doing dishes in the laundry tub - but it's such a sweet feeling to know we won't be moving again. Thank the Lord, we're home.

Alive and ..welllll....

Still living. Yes. It's hard to enjoy life when it's racing by so fast and working a person so hard, but we're managing.
Just today I prayed out loud, "Lord please come back. NOW." That extreme reaction was triggered by my insensibility: I brought Oliver into a second hand store that was quite literally stacked from floor to ceiling with mystery for his little sparkling eyes. Imagine being a miniature person - there he is, all three feet of him, thinking surely the Lord did come back and now here's heaven. Pretending is his favorite passtime, so I can only guess what was going on in his wild head. I made him fold his hands so he wouldn't touch anything - I had to think quickly of an alternative to putting his grubby paws in his pockets as he had none. He told me, "But Mom, we're not praying." We left after some attempted browsing without breaking or buying anything...surprisingly..we're a wicked combination. Whatever was I thinking?..
Progression on the house is happening, it just seems like a turtle slowly plodding. We're hoping to move in soon, waiting to have a working bathroom. It may seem petty, but earlier this spring, in our excitement that we may actually live in this house someday, we rushed in. Fools do that. We had the brilliant idea of staying the night at the house. There's insulation, what more could you need? Hm, let's think. A TOILET. Since that sleepless, frigid night that involved a flat air mattress and a trip to the old fashioned outhouse at 3 in the morning, I put my foot down. No more slumberless parties until there's no flashlight or purell required in the wee hours.
We've also been busy on a much lighter remodel at my parents' house in Deerwood. It's turned out fantastically. When I readapt to the blogging way of life, I'll post a link - the house is for sale, so tell all your friends.
Lots more happening, but I should catch some Zzs while they're still floating by. I'll post pictures soon.

Mused and amused

One blog a month = wicked boring, but reality.
This morning at 6:30 I smashed up my car. Still waiting on word of whether or not it's totalled. A little about this car: it's been a thorn in my side since I drove it off the lot. It's a grand car- attractive, fast, loaded... just unnecessary for a car of mine to have all these attributes. When buying the car, as we were talking with the salesman (stereotypical used car dealer, btw), God was speaking to my spirit telling me this wasn't a wise choice. It was too late for me by that point though. My heart was lost to it. I had been dreaming of this charcoal 2000 Passat wagon since the first time I clamped eyes on it a few weeks earlier. My heart wasn't open to truth and wisdom, it was open to greed. I love cars. My brother Ise had me playing car-naming games since I was a tot, but the best thing I had owned until last June was a '96 Jeep Cherokee (a '90 Geo Prism preceding that. Jealous?). Wasn't it time for me to live the dream? Here's the thing about the dream -- the summer of 2008 was a high rolling summer for us with buying a house and a car... but looking back it was the most miserable time in my life. I had mono, which was more burdensome than anything I have ever experienced, twisting my body and my emotions into a mess. A major piece to the misery puzzle was trading in a perfectly functional, reliable, faithful old Jeepster for a newer, more attractive model...fully equipped with a 6 disk changer, leather/heated seats, and a monthly payment. Oh the foolishness of me.
Andrew and I are currently involved in a Bible study that's teaching us what the Bible says about money. "Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything. Riches and honor come from you alone, and you are the Ruler of all mankind; your hand controls power and might and it is at your discretion that men are made great and given strength." 1 Chronicles 27:11, 12
So as we learn God's principles in handling money, we're seeing how doorknobbish some of our choices have been.
In brainstorming about how to humbly get ourselves out of this vehicle pickle with as little humiliation as possible, we thought the best way would be to total it and use in insurance money to buy something smaller and cheaper - a Geo, perhaps? So, this morning as we were driving into town, we made up this whole scenario of how our car could get totalled without any injury. It involved a grocery store parking lot, an old guy who didn't know the difference between 'D' and 'R', said old guy backing into our parked, passenger-less car, and an explosion. *The old man in this story was not harmed in any way. Ironically enough, just minutes after relating this story to my sister Anna via cell phone, I'm suddenly in and out of a major washout on a gravel road, not sure what just happened, wondering where the airbag shot my phone off to. Mission: accomplished...accidentally.

SOOO 2.

Oliver has successfully reached another milestone. Aside from turning two last month, he's now entered the world of "Why?" As he asks me, I ask anyone who will listen - WHY? Why does he throw fits at church? Why does he obey me nicely (if not surprisingly) all day, until we get to the checkout in the grocery store, where he refuses to look at the cashier smiling down nicely at him, and instead grunts, screams, and tries to flip out of the cart? Why does he still wake me up in the middle of the night? asking me to find his nuk? Why can't I find the guts to take away his nuk? Why do I love him so much? The answer to all of these questions is: because.
"Because God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
So even though Olives makes me feel like I'm losing my mind, I love him.

Progress!

Here's forward motion- two days of installing windows, and Andrew and Chris have it just about licked!

tree

treats

toftnesses

kaspers

Merry Christmas!...uh...my record keeping skills via blog are disappointingly belated. I miss having my computer at home. (I'm even easily forgetting how slow and tired that machine was, only having fond memories of my time punching away at its keys.) But here I am, online at last, though momentarily.

Short, sweet update: our Christmas was great, New Years, too. Next week Oliver will be two. Our house is coming along swimmingly - not speedily, but swimmingly. We're loving the snow and ice, but there would be little chagrin if summer came tomorrow!

Vocab word for the day -- 'skulduggery'. It means mean trickery. I found it while searching my dictionary for a word that I've learned doesn't exist. What a score!