Home Again

Well hello there loyal blog readers. After three weeks of holiday induced blog neglect, we are back in our fair city and eager to report our post-Christmas events.

Home Sweet Bitterly Cold Home
Just before leaving for Christmas break, our decrepit little heater's motor decided to quit. Thus, one half of our house was left without heat during our absence. We hoped it would be fixed when we returned but tragically, Heather and Amanda arrived on Dec. 31 to a half frozen house. When Tiffany got back on the 1st, heat had still not been restored and the three of us effectively transitioned our lives to one half of the house. Since both Heather and Tiffany's rooms were on the cold half, we enjoyed a couple of impromptu slumber parties on the other half of the house. By Thursday though, Reyes (our heater guy) came bearing a new motor and made our house whole once again.

Mokabees
Amanda's friend from home, Greg, stayed with us for a few days after bringing Amanda back to St. Louis from Virginia. We tried to give him an enjoyable St. Louis experience (not easy since the guest room was also on the heater-less half of the house). So on Tuesday night the three of us and Greg went to Mokabees, a cute little coffee shop a few blocks from our house. We sat, drank hot chocolate and played hearts for a couple hours, basking in the sweet, coffee shop aura. It reminded us of why we like living here. Cute, hole in the wall places that only the locals know about.

The Debates
On Saturday night, we invited Clay and Dan over for the Republican and Democratic debates on TV. We couldn't describe all four hours as riveting but it did give us a feel for the candidates and incite some interesting discussion/critical commentary.

Something New
Today Tiffany began a new placement at a HeadStart program not far from the VS house. Edgewood was a very good and beneficial experience but she wasn't able to stay there. And so today, she was immersed into an entirely new environment. It's exciting for another VSer to be working close to the neighborhood and getting to know the community through her work. It's a different culture, one where whites are a minority and gang crime is commonplace, but it's a beautiful one. One that Tiffany would say has a whole lot of really cute kids.