Tuesday, January 27 - Thursday, January 28: Ice Dam

The workers fixed the heat when the arrived on Tuesday. I guess I should say "fixed," because the only thing they had to do was TURN THE THERMOSTAT UP. They'd turned it down when they worked on Friday so dust wouldn't fly around everywhere. We had no idea the thermostat was still there. "Ha ha, I guess that was an easy fix, we had no idea," I blathered when I saw the guys on my way to the basement. They gave me withering looks (at least they did in my imagination).

Tuesday the girls had a two-hour delay and their piano lessons were virtual. Wednesday they were back at school at regular time. It's still not easy getting around, and there are mountains of snow in front of our house, but the roads are somewhat / kind of cleared. Fun New Winter Twist: it's so cold outside that we now have drips of water coming down our chandelier in the stairwell. This, in addition to the drips of water near the window in our bathroom. There must be some kind of ice dam. ("Ice dam" is a phrase I heard once and now blame for all household issues in the winter). Good thing we're in the middle of a giant renovation or Andrew might have called the realtor to put the house on the market this week. Ha ha ha! I'm not joking.

We met with our designer on Thursday to select most of the remaining finishes--hardware, pendant lights, counters, faucet. It's so exciting. This is going to be a beautiful kitchen. 

Thursday evening Lucia went to see the Upper School play. Greta and I sat by the fire in the Long Room and read a few of our winter books. Hard to get cozier than that. I've been a parent for 16 years and reading our seasonal rotations of picture books remains one of my favorite parenting privileges. The books mostly go unread now, but I still put them out each holiday and season, and sometimes--when the stars align--I even get to read a few.

The waiting continues for the insurance approval for ribociclib, but I had my second round of fulvestrant injections on Wednesday. A different nurse did them this time and they really really hurt, much more than last time. "I hate giving these," the nurse said, apologizing again and again. "It's such a big needle and--" I had to cut him off. "No details, please," I said. "Just get it done."