February is.......

- by far the coldest month. But somehow January went by so fast this year with the remnants of our North Carolina visit, extra long Christmas break, and my conference trip to Colorado. And I am getting just a little bit better at handling the cold as the years go by. And as long as the temperature does not dip unbearably low (below -20C in the night and -10C in the day) I can live with it.

- college application time. Ulrik is a senior in high school and this summer he will be moving on to the next stage of life - college. As I write he has already been accepted to Alma. A small liberal arts school up north that is private and thus rather expensive. They sent him an acceptance letter filled with confetti. Thank you Alma........ But since he has a high GPA (overall high school score) they already offered a scholarship of 20.000$ reduction per year. And they might throw more money at him, so I guess we’ll wait and see what happens. Today he is getting ready to visit MSU (yes that MSU with the creepy athletics doctor.......😕) for the annual portfolio day. Since he is applying to art and design school he needs to display his work, and in 20 minutes he will leave with his dad and some ceramics in the trunk.

- super bowl! The stores are overflowing with beer and dip and more beer and more dip. And then some dip. Because that’s what you eat during the show. I have to admit that that I love the dip and the halftime show and the commercials. My professor hosts a party every year (with plenty of dip and a very large TV), so of course we are going. Justin Timberlake will be performing this year and I am curious to see if he is going to brand himself as a new person with his new super weird single.

- synchronized swimming prime time with meets here and there and everywhere. Teresa currently swims in two teams (the high school team and the YMCA team) and she is steadily moving up trough the ranks with more advanced routines, super serious level testing, and new sparkly bathing suits. I have somehow gotten myself into decorating suits for one of the routines. It is only 4 girls for that particular suit so I think I can manage.

- time for me to set up new techniques in the lab. With all the chaos that comes with it and endless visits to other lab to learn how to do things right and order in the right equipment. Including a gazillion weird equipment photos on my phone

Well. I guess it is time for me to get out of bed. “Someone” needs his morning walk and even though he does not complain loudly I can tell that he is more than ready. Here’s a picture from last weekend where we had sunshine and mild temperatures and you could be outside without gloves. Just one day - but what a day