sun! functioning toilets! let us give thanks!

Remember how I was just whining about gray days = gray moods?
 
SUN! SUN! SUN! SUN! SUN! Oh wait, dial it down, Sarah, you’re getting manic.
Guess what we have today? A functioning toilet! Aren’t you glad you’re reading this blog? It’s your favorite blog, right?



Let’s admire the vanity’s faucet. Note: the backsplash is not yet in place.  This faucet isn’t hooked up to the plumbing yet. This is because in order to minimize carving holes into the back and bottom of the vanity to get the pipes to fit inside, Michael realized it would be best to shorten the pipes. And the length of already-purchased-and-on-hand flexible pipe that will ultimately connect those pipes, to the shiny faucet – isn’t enough.

Here’s Our Hero.

Sir Michael also made progress on hooking up the water in the shower, beginning with the all-important hole cut into the side of the shower insert for the fixture.

A deeply exciting photograph, don’t you agree? The composition is just magnificent. Please to note the me-shaped shadows.
For our local flora and fauna report, we have A Bug, investigating my calendar.

Oh, does Maggie count as local flora and fauna? Here she is, sitting out on the porch in about 35 degree weather, fluffed up against the cold. I know she’d much rather be passed out in front of the woodstove…

…but anything is better than enduring Michael, she thinks. I have introduced her to him, and she’s been informed of his overall decency (including his commendable distaste for dogs), but she doesn’t trust people who create quite that much noise. Miss Lady is nearly down to her goal weight.
My goal weight,on the other hand, seems to be receding into the middle distance as I continue – valiantly, I might add – to explore my pie talents. That’s right: I’ve made another batch of pie crust, for tomorrow’s apple pie.
Speaking of tomorrow’s apple pie, here’s a quick Thanksgiving gratitude list:
1. My beautiful husband. Hi, babe! Yes, I’m almost done with this post, and we can get down to item #2 on this completely random list, which is…
2. “Glee”, to be watched on Hulu, since I was in choir practice last night when the show actually aired. What we’re being thankful here is a) the utter hilarity of anything Jane Lynch says, along with b) the miracle of Hulu itself, plus, c) the fact that here in rural Vermont we actually have broadband.
3. Also, we have a TV, and other nice toys.
4. Which we love, don’t get me wrong, but you know what I really, really am thankful for? I’m really thankful for my family. They love me. They’re wonderful. Also, they’re really cool people, who are continuously learning and evolving, which is always a beautiful thing to watch. But I won’t mention any names, because they’re shy and whatnot. You know who you are.
5. Also, I’m thankful that for the most part, all my loved ones are in good health. Yay!
6. I’m grateful for my new running shoes! They’ve got fuschia in them!
7. I’m grateful for folks who get what Reiki is, and who are willing to swap their own skills in return. For instance, I just had my first bartered voice lesson yesterday. It was mind blowing. 
8. I’m also grateful for my friends, who seem to be generally accepting of the fact that I so seldom actually leave the house to go play with them.
9. And now we get to listen to Christmas music!