Dad took the day off on Wednesday and spent it working on the plumbing. He's a pretty handy guy and was able to get it fixed by the evening. We were even able to get water into all the bathrooms that night. A lot of sediment came up when the water was finally running, though, so that breaks the flushing kits in the toilets. It also broke the cartridge in our kitchen faucet (which is only a few months old!). The toilets are easy to fix, because Dad just buys the stuff at Lowe's. The cartridge for the faucet has to come in the mail, so we have a teensy-tiny bit of cold water coming into the kitchen, but lots of hot!
After three nights of sleeping down in the living room, Elizabeth and I were finally able to move back into our bedroom. Sleeping on a sofa-bed mattress in the middle of the floor is not my idea of fun! Besides, getting up every hour and a half to stoke the fire means that it isn't really sleeping --- it's more like lying down.
Monika and I did not get along. She didn't like me, and I was scared of her. Most meetings between us ended in blood --- always mine. That aside, she was cute and not like any other cat we've had. She knew her name so well that it didn't even matter what tone you spoke it in or how loud you said it. She was pretty smart. Her funny quirk was that she didn't know her back feet were her own. She would chase them when she was lying down, and she would grab her back foot and bite it until she yelped. Silly babe.
This leaves our cat family down at seven. Sadly, we're all feeling sorrier about M-Girl than the felines. They are settling into their old habits at a fast rate and seem to be happy that no one is beating them up or hissing at them all the time. Of course, Oliver is just as much of a cute little pest as always! Although, you would never guess it by the sweet little picture, would you?!
We were all pretty tired and low yesterday, so we made a day of it and went up to see The Hobbit with Dad in the afternoon. This makes it the fifth time that Elizabeth and I have seen it, as we went with Mom on Friday evening. It only gets better with each viewing, too. We were pretty happy, because the last of our "Hobbit souvenirs" that we had gotten for Christmas arrived this week. Genuine "Thorin" keychains with a miniature key to the Lonely Mountain and a small map on them. Can't beat that! We wore them to the theater --- just for the "authentic" feel. They came in really cute little boxes, too (see photo).
It is pretty warm today, and we had rain on Saturday, so all of the snow is gone. Just lots of mud. Elizabeth and I are still working on some of our miniature dolls, but we're hoping to be completely caught up with orders after this week. More later.