Last weekend we celebrated our first official weekend where absolutely NO workers came into our home!  We relaxed, we drank good coffee, we pretended like it was a typical American  weekend for us (i.e. for us a typical weekend means lazy), and it DID WONDERS!  Seriously, I felt really refreshed; almost human again.

And (drum roll, please) I am hesitant to say this too soon, but it’s been over a week and I am beginning to think the leak in our bathroom…

is…

FINALLY…

…fixed?!  Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, Hallelujah!

In other news, Xining is freezing!  For the past few weeks I’ve been wearing long underwear under my clothing (it’s a good place for it; I’d recommend it) and each week I just end up putting on more layers and bigger coats.  I’ve moved from fleece to down; from hats to gloves, from turtlenecks to scarves.  By the time January rolls around I’m going to look like Ralphie’s little brother from A Christmas Story (you know the one, TNT plays the movie 48 straight hours around the yule-tide, here’s another hint "you’ll shoot your eyes out, kid.")  I will fall down outside and I won’t be able to pick myself up because I am so layered.

I just checked Yahoo weather for Xining and the high today was 37 degrees (ouch!)  The low was 11 degrees!  Right now it is currently a balmy 21 degrees.  There’s not a lot of moisture where we live, but while we were walking around today I saw a few sheets of ice on the sidewalk and streets.  I know I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold; but what can I say?  I grew up in southwest Florida…

The positive side to cold weather (and Thanksgiving being tomorrow) is that now I can officially start listening to Christmas music without feeling freakish.

Thanks for all your vertical communication on our behalf…it’s made a huge difference for us.  We appreciate it.  More from the icesickle-laden yeti cave soon…