A City Life For Me

A couple of weeks ago I shared that Ben was working on a project for me ( read it here ).  Today, Ben brought home my desk!  He had taken it to the shop to refinish as my Christmas gift.  Let me tell you – it is beautiful!  It is now a dark walnut-ish color.  He fixed the nicks and scratches (while leaving a few for character), and stripped the roll-top.  Here is the before picture: Here are the after pictures: isn’t it beautiful? I have always had these old books and mason jars on the desk.  Now I think they look so much nicer.  I guess it’s because the desk is soooo much nicer! I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Today I am thankful for…snow!  Yes, on the fifth day since it began snowing we still have quite a bit of snow.  I have always preferred the snow and winter to hot and humidity.  Someone at church told me that another lady and I were the only ones happy about the forecasted blizzard.  I was definitely happy.  But…I think I will also be happy to see some concrete again. Our street was finally plowed – last night.  The police towed the van which was stuck {mentioned in an earlier post} so that the plow could get through.  Our car was directly across from the van, so I’m glad they didn’t try to force through! Mayor Bloomberg is taking a lot of heat for the slow response in clearing the snow.  Today Ben heard that the reason was a union protest.  They purposely delayed the snow removal in order to get back at Bloomberg for cutting 400 sanitation jobs over the last two years.  "They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and...

   

The beautiful thing about a snow day and a sick baby is that there is lots of time for blogging!  Elaine has been napping for about four hours now, so I thought I would take the opportunity to share some highlights of our Christmas with you.  We were looking forward to being alone this Christmas.  I know it sounds selfish, but it nice to just have our little family together, in our own home, and start to establish some of our own traditions. We started with devotions in bed and then a yummy breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls, bacon, and eggs.  The cinnamon rolls were my first attempt, but the recipe is a keeper – you have to try it!  During our Wednesday night service, Pastor Bickel shared some stories from a book called In Search of Christmas .  I really enjoyed the “Biblical fiction” stories…looking at Christmas from the eyes of an aged Shepherd, and Joseph the carpenter.  I was so blessed to be given the book as a gift from one of my Sunday...

The sun has set and our wonderful first snow day is coming to an end.  Ben arrived at work with two other employees.  The people with the key couldn’t get through, so he came home.  That was the beginning of a lovely day!  (right: a view down our block of 73rd St.) A 15 minute train ride took Ben over an hour on the return trip.  They were only running the “R” line, and they had “D” trains on the track!  Yesterday an “A” train was stranded on the track for over seven hours, full of people! After lunch we ventured out to the Post Office.  You probably think we’re crazy, right?  Well, I had diaper orders to mail, and the office was open.  Ben rigged a Rubbermaid box to be a “sled” for Elaine.  Pretty creative!  She kept leaning to the left and dragging her head in the snow! this is Elaine on a snow drift.  That’s a car behind her. our car snowed in – this is the good side.  Unfortunately, the side with the ...

Our Christmas may not have included a blanket of fluffy snow to make things seem “magical”, but the snow did arrive!  We were slated for a blizzard…snow from 6a.m. on the 26th to 6a.m. on the 27th.  Accumulation could reach 18 inches, the forecast said.  We were excited – our first snow storm in New York City, and it is going to be a blizzard! We awoke on Sunday and there was no snow.  At church I played the piano for the Russian congregation.  As I returned to the English service, the snow began to fall.  It was coming fast and furious, and the cars were already dusted white.  By the end of the morning service the streets were covered.  We began the afternoon service early and ended early.  Many people had already left. We came home and took a lovely nap – the perfect thing to do on a snow day!  By then there were 3-4 inches on the ground.  We bundled up and headed for the store.  I was hoping to get some more milk.  ...

Tonight we went into Manhattan to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree.  my pictures don’t do it justice – it was very beautiful!   There were sooooo many people!  I tried to get a picture of the crowd, but it didn’t come out.  Down below the tree is the ice skating rink.  I wish I could tell you how long the line was…not something we will be doing for a while, or maybe ever! After the tree we enjoyed a brisk walk up Broadway and another train ride to go have dessert at Café Lalo (the café from You’ve Got Mail ).  I enjoyed an Irish crème latte – my first ever that wasn’t served in a paper cup!  Ben and Elaine had a chocolate milkshake, and we shared a slice of chocolate covered Oreo cheesecake!