Missy came back home this weekend. She just texted Beth and asked if she could come home, just because she needed a break. So of course she could! She drove up Friday after classes (but she skipped the latest one) and spent the weekend. We didn't do much, but the weather started getting kind of blowy on Sunday afternoon so she thought maybe she would stay another day. She checked into what classes she could blow off and left Monday afternoon instead. Restful weekend, mot much else to report. 

I finally did something about the leaking faucet in the bathroom upstairs this week. Leaking from around the base of the handles, not dripping into the basin. We've had a washcloth wrapped around it for at least a few years now to keep the water from leaking all over the vanity, and I finally got to the point where I thought I really should do something about it. I bought a faucet at Menard's a couple years ago, but quite a while back after I unboxed it I thought it seemed really chintzy so I never installed it; last weekend I went to Lowe's and found a much better one. Installing wasn't that hard, except for the awkwardness of getting underneath everything. And there was enough patina all over the hold-down bolts that I couldn't get the nuts off, so in the end I cut them off with a Dremel. After that it came out very easily :) and the new one went in place pretty easily, except for getting the fixtures tightened up around the basin from below. Hurt my shoulder getting up and around in there. Hard to see, too. But we have a new faucet in the bathroom. The flow is quite a bit less than the old one, but maybe that's a good thing. 

On the same topic, now that I fixed the upstairs bathroom faucet, Natalie told me that the downstairs toilet has been leaking. She thought it was leaking around the floor, which is gross, but I got a plumber in here to take care of it and it turned out to be from the tank. The gasket between the tank and bowl was basically shot: it crumbled in the plumber's hand when he took it out and it was so old that it was an odd size and he had to run out to find a new one that fit ours. But he got it all taken care of and I found a coupon for Summers in the Lake City Saver, so all good! 

Beth and I picked up her framed cross-stitching of the floral cross in FW Saturday. It is beautiful! 

The Super Bowl was today. Beth and I were kind of half-hoping to find a friend having a watch party of some sort or something like that, but no dice, so we just watched it at home. I made some homemade salsa from a recipe I found on the internet that is supposed to be the best, and it was good, but I think we should have let it sit overnight in the fridge before we ate it. We just ate it as soon as it was done. Beth kept talking about making all kinds of snacks for the game but in the end I think she caught on after I told her we didn't need anything fancy and it was just going to be us at home. It was kind of like Thanksgiving when she makes 8 dishes with enough for a huge extended family that isn't here and I have to keep telling her "It's just us, you know." I think she needs to hostess something pretty soon. Anyway, the game was forgettable. So were the commercials.

Finally, a Komets win! We saw the K's play what may be the best game we've ever seen them play. Saturday was the Christmas party for the chem lab at work (and I'm invited too because I'm around there a lot) but as always they get a group for a hockey game instead of a party. Beth and I went, and there were probably ~20 people from work. The Komets played the Wheeling Nailers and played a very tight game with really on point goaltending for most of the game. They won 5-3, including an empty-netter at the end, but it was a very well-played game. There was a 5-minute major with a match penalty late in the first which everyone in the building thought was bogus, so when the K's killed the entire penalty the crowd erupted almost as much as for a goal. And things were a little chippy after that. After they killed the major, I don't know that I've ever seen a crowd want a goal so badly...and then get one! They scored a few minutes after the penalty kill. Overall a very fun game to watch.