Something Windy This Way Comes

I grew up knowing the definition of the term "blustery," but I have to say I'd never experienced it until we moved to New York.

When I was a little girl - and once I'd proven to my mother that I was responsible for items that required special care - I received Mom's collection of Walt Disney records. 33rpm records of the classic Disney movies - Snow White, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Robin Hood (Kristin is still the only other person I know who can quote that movie like I do). These were pretty much the entire movies with sound only - but with lovely picture books behind the album cover. I treasured these records. I'd put on shows in my bedroom - the only audience being my posters of Shaun Cassidy and John Schneider - acting out all the parts and singing every song.

One of these treasured albums was Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. I had my stuffed animals act out the parts (even if they weren't of the A. A. Milne variety). I was deep in the Hundred Acre Wood. I learned the wonderful thing about Tiggers. I danced with the Heffalumps and Woozles. My imagination had no boundaries, and it set the stage for my love of music, reading, and the theater.

And on days like today - when the wind blows branches and trash cans and even street signs askew, I can't help but sing this song to myself and smile...

My Heart is with my Friend.

Dearest Cutie-pie Evan:


We all miss you and your wonderful spirit.

Much love to your amazing family.

Can't Sleep, Can't Wake

I woke this morning in a cold sweat from a very intense dream about living on some hill where Scottish men (yes, in kilts - so yummy) herded goats, sheep, penguins, and sea turtles down through my yard. I also had a ghost in the attic who played the harp. A coworker was asked to try and break into my house, and he did, but he accidentally let the cats out. I was running around the yard, dodging fluffy penguins and happy sea turtles, trying to find my cats, who were chasing a small terrier.

Yes, I'm deeply disturbed. And even worse now, I have an earworm:



And now I'll leave you with three handsome men and some home brew:

Another Mouse has Come and Gone...

...and possibly another went to the Big Cheese in the Sky.

Cooling temperatures mean mousing season at the Weismann Home for Wayward Animals. With an old, drafty home comes lots of places for mouse entry, especially when one's pantry is directly over the edge of the dirt basement. This is why all pasta, rice, flour, sugar, beans, soup mix, chocolate, raisins, cocoa mix, nuts, etc are housed in sturdy Rubbermaid containers. I lost an entire box of WeightWatchers Dark Raspberry snack bars to those fuckers.

This is also why Dobby likes to hang out in the pantry. For a cat with no front claws, he is one hell of a mouser. He catches, tortures, then shows off his trophy. Fortunately, the cats don't go for eating them. I can deal with disposing of an intact mouse.

The other morning, Dobby was making some shifty moves around our TV cabinet in the bedroom. Lo and behold, he'd cornered a mouse. He most likely brought it up from the kitchen to show off, then dropped it and "lost" it for a bit. Watching the three cats watch a mouse run around the bedroom was entertaining but without purpose. Once Dobby finally caught it again, he presented it to Joe. On the bed. And the little guy was still alive.

Fortunately, we're not shy here. Joe picked the poor feller up, and we took it outside. It seemed to be in shock, but not injured, so I tucked him into a little cozy spot in the yard and let nature decide the fate.

This morning, while Joe was working on his masterful heat-duct-cover-up about which he'll post soon, The Dobbster left a nice dead mousy present at the foot of our kitchen stairs. If it was the same mouse as earlier this week, then the mouse was an idiot and deserved his fate.

Enough talk about vermin. How about a pretty picture of yarn? Here's the first 10 rows of Muir, in Blue Heron cotton:


I'm thinking this cold, dreary weekend will be bursts of productivity interrupted by hours of pleasant knitting.

Status

After a somewhat frozen mid-October, we're just barely chilly here in November. The trees are mostly bare, and the groundhog is snuggling into his hole under the porch. This first week of November has been wonderful. After two months of preparing for and having parties, family visiting, and wonderful local festivals, it's nice to have a breather. Last weekend was devoted to catching up some of my Ravelry project photos, and this weekend I'll be cleaning out my car.

Yes, my beloved Hyundai (pictured below, under snow drifts), is ready to go to a new home. She was our post-9/11-help-the-economy purchase, and she's been a trooper. After 102,000 miles she's still going strong, but Joe wants a new car for his constant travel, which means I get his old one (Toyota Matrix - nice upgrade for me). Since winter is coming soon - and I'll be mostly driving the truck anyway - we figured this would be a good time to sell it so we can finish paying off the Toyota before spring and a new car payment starts.


Alas, sweet beater car, you served me well.

On other topics, I've been good with working out - every morning except this morning, which I'll make up for with a nice long walk tomorrow. I also finished knitting my shawl (Rav link here), so I'll be blocking it this weekend.

After I'm done saying goodbye to my car.

Breaking The Silence

Actually, there's nothing that's prevented me from posting anything, other than lack of motivation. We had a wonderful few months: General Montgomery Day, Mom visiting during NYS Sheep & Wool Festival...a good many pictures taken, most of yarn and beer. Work was chaotic at best during August/September, but now things are finally calming down - two months later - and I think I should get back to blogging again, hopefully a little less yarn-centric than before.

Not only have I not been blogging, but I haven't been checking out others' blogs either. Between Facebook and Ravelry I feel like I'm spending enough time online. But I also miss "putting things out there" once in a while.

A lot of folks choose November as a time to get things done: did you know that it's National Novel Writing Month? Also, there's a revolving National Blog Posting Month. I'm not sure that I could commit to anything each day (particularly since I'm starting on Nov 4th), but here's a list of things that are important to me - thing that I'm committing to do by the end of November:

Health:
- Finally make appts with various docs and dentist. I'm not far off schedule, but this is a good time as any, especially since my health insurance will be changing in January. GP (in the process of getting a new one), eye doc, dentist, and doc for the girly bits. Maybe TMI...
- Work out every day. I'm doing pretty good on that one. Working on a C25K, slowly but surely.

House:
- Get the laundry room ready for repairs. Basically means move everything out of it (or, with the appliances, at least move away from walls), so Joe can repair the exterior siding (there's a leak or two), then replace the drywall, then we can paint and put up the border I bought about 6 years ago. Many thanks to Mom for pulling the godawful wallpaper down while she visited us for a couple of weeks.
- Finally order the damn shade for the master bath.

Knitting:
- Finish the yak shawl (not difficult - binding off now)
- Finish Windy Valley scarf (about 75% done)
- Finish garter rib socks (about 85% done)
- Get 1/3 way through Muir (just got the needles for it)
- Bonus points if I finish my Froot Loop socks and don't cast on for anything else
- Do. Not. Buy. More. Yarn.

Flashin' the Stash

While cleaning up the guest room yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to "air out" the stash. Since Joe had given me a few extra containers, I knew I needed to reorganize to make the best use of the new space. I had most of my sock yarn in one drawer-thingy, a good bit of handspun/special yarn in another, and then a bunch of other containers with random combinations of recent purchases.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to really look at what I had. And so now, I give you...my sock stash (enough for 40 pairs):


And here's my entire stash...

While some of you might think, "Jeez girl - you need to get some professional help - you're bordering on becoming a hoarder," I guarantee you that at least 75% of my knitting friends will look at this and think, "That's not a stash - that's just dipping a toe into your hobby - come over to my house some time and see what a stash can become."

Regardless, I'm on a strict yarn diet with limited Rhinebeck purchases this year. Too bad I have this job thing. I'd really love to just knit for a while. A long while.

A Few Boundaries

Up until recently, I've thought of my blog as a curious self-indulgence that was mostly filled with home projects and yarn. I've also used it to vent.

I now have to be extremely careful how searchable my vents can be. It's sad. I'm a person with thoughts and ideas. And now I'm a person who feels that some things are very unsafe.

I might continue to blog on strictly harmless things, but for the time being I'm lying low.

Thanks for reading - your comments are fun, cathartic, and make me feel loved.

Wide Awake at 4AM

It's hot. The cats are restless. I wake up to get some water, then suddenly I have random thoughts shooting through my haze of sleepiness...

Don't forget cat food. Need to make a dessert for Tiombe. Find Joe's court notice and put it on the desk so he can find it. That shawl pattern I just bought - double check the yardage needed vs what I have. Check Mom's flight - I think it might be the same day as Jenn's trip to Stitches East. Holy shit, how have I added 39 skeins to the stash this year - and how am I ever going to knit it all? Work is about to get crazy busy. Don't forget cat food.

I figure I'll just jot down a few things so I can let my brain go back to sleep. But of course I can find no writing instruments in the bedroom. Go downstairs, feed the cats, figure I might as well get some of these things done, and here I am.

I think I finally may be able to get back to sleep, now that I have less than an hour before I have to wake up...

Random Thoughts and Memories

Wow - didn't realize this would be my 400th post. I'm not good with the blogging these days (nor are many of my blogging friends, I realize) - mostly due to Facebook, Ravelry, Twitter...time sucks that have bumped blogging out of the way.

So rather than the "hey - look what we did" kinds of posts I've done in the past - which usually involve pictures and long stories - I'm going to change this over to more of an online thought journal. It probably won't be interesting to most, but every blogger has a bit of "I need to tell the world this right now" in them, and so it is with me.

The death of John Hughes yesterday left me feeling a bit empty. I don't recall exactly when I first saw some of his movies - even though they were made when I was in middle and high school, I'm not sure I watched them when they came out. I was into more of the horror genre at that time, and for the most part I don't remember any movies I watched unless there was something important going on at the time. I recall watching Hellraiser (with Pam?) while Katie watched The Princess Bride - unwise choice on my part, even though I'm still a Pinhead fan. I remember watching some really god-awful movies on awkward dates. I remember the first time I saw Brad Pitt on the screen - at the Dollar Theater on Buford Highway, watching Thelma and Louise.

John Hughes's films, however, just became part of my life. I don't know when or how it began, but they were just "always there." They are the go-to films in our home - or when we're on the road. They really are about who we were as teens / young adults. To quote The Breakfast Club, we knew that "each one of us is a brain...and an athlete...and a basket case...a princess...and a criminal."

Rest in peace, sweet man.

And now, I give you one of the funniest scenes from the genius that was John Hughes (apologies for the poor recording):

For Pammy...

...and all our "suffering..."



I will never forget the neverending version: DAHdahdahdah DAHdahdahdah DAHdahdahdah DAHdahdahdah...I still hear that in my nightmares... :) Love you, sweetie!!!

Hot Damn!

Check this out...

I would say I never win anything, but the lovely Cambria would totally call me out on that.

Nothing else exciting going on. Work, knitting, drinking, sleeping...oooh look at the pretty yarn I got in a recent swap!

That's about it, folks. When you're one stereotype away from being The Crazy Cat Lady, there's not much else going on...

Bad Blogger, Tired Blogger

Just got back from a wonderful vacation, but I can't post pictures until I have clean clothes and opened mail. Here's a little something lovely I found online during lunch today...

It Broke My Heart

If you haven't seen The Visitor, you really should.

Really.

The Three-Day Weekend of Nothing

Hear that? That's the sound of nothing. Absolutely nothing planned for the weekend, except a casual cookout at a friend's house. I'm not hosting anything, I'm not traveling anywhere...all that's on my To-Do List is knitting, knitting, laundry, maybe pay bills, and more knitting.

Joe's up in Vermont fly-fishing with an old buddy, so he's in heaven. As much as I love to travel (and as much as I loooove VT), I needed a downtime weekend. Not that it's been busy around here - it's just nice not to have an agenda. Besides, there's a group of us on Ravelry making squares for blankets - several Rav members have loved ones undergoing chemotherapy right now - and I've got to motor through a bunch of those.

In the meantime, I got yarny goodness! Joe gave me a gift certificate from Hanks for Christmas, and since I'm a bonehead I misplaced it for about 5 months. While searching for our video camera cable, I found the certificate! Whoooot!

I got Mmmmmmmalabrigo lace weight in blue

Mmmmmmmmmmalabrigo lace in green:

And some lovely Prism Saki in "Brass"

That's about all the excitement that's happened this week. Finally saw Slumdog Millionaire, and I thought it was a good movie. Not the best ever, but good.

Now I'd better get out of this office chair and get on the treadmill. Then I've got some knitting to do!

So, How's the Knitting Going...?

Remember THE LIST? Well, here's a 4-month update:

- 6 pair of socks (at least). Completed 3. For Me, Joe, and Mom. Started #4
- This shawl, in some groovy Egyptian mercerized cotton I have. Not started
- A scarf pattern that came with my Buckwheat Bridge purchase at Rhinebeck 2007 Not started
- Another hedgie for one of Joe's coworkers (who just had a baby) Done
- Possibly this scarf using this yarn Not started
- A hat and scarf for Joe to replace the really crappy ones I knit him when I was first learning Started the scarf
- Another Clapotis, this time for me, out of some awesome yarn I got at Rhinebeck 2008 (the purple stuff at the top of this photo) Not started
- This fish hat. Because how can you not make a fish hat? Not started

This original list morphed into a larger, more organized "to-do" list that has amused the ladies of my knitting group (yes, I am a list junkie and a nerd). Included on the new list:

- Amelia hat from a kit SoHo gave me in 2007 Done
- Russ's cigar gloves Done
- Rip out Tubey (failed sweater due to poor pattern/yarn combo) Done
- Mom's knucks and hat-or-scarf Started knucks, hope to finish soon
- Angel Lace Shawl with Bijou Basin Ranch yarn Not started
- Gryffindor socks with Sunshine Yarn Not started (sock #5)
- Noro striped scarf Started but no pics yet - looky here for examples
- Hedera socks for Mom Started, but not happy with gauge. In time-out for now (sock #6)

So that's about it for now. Today is all about laundry and minor cleaning of the house. And seeing how long I can stay in my PJs. It's 2pm, and I'm still going strong.

Edited to add - sorry about all the color changes. Was doing the color change to indicate notes, realized purple was a crap color on this background, changed to peach. Most of it did, anyway. Then realized black was a bad choice when I went back to "normal", and now I'm just tired of fooling around with it. So deal with it, please.

It's Spring!!!

Warning: May Destroy Pleasant Childhood Memories

This is for you, Amy! :)

Lovin' This...

see more Lol Celebs

Did You Know...

...that if I knit a pair of socks every other month (which is my 2009 goal), it will take me 5 years and 8 months to get through my current stash of sock yarn?

...that I have enough yarn in my stash for 13 different wraps/scarves?

...that I am a rediculously slow knitter that actually bought 11 skeins of some unknown (yet expensive) yarn at a horrible store in NYC because I was inspired to knit a blanket?

Clearly, I have issues. But I did finish my socks for Joe this weekend.

Kristin Knows Me Very Well...

So I got a note from Kristin on Facebook: "I have something for you and Joe that will make you laugh out loud and giggle to yourselves! Hee-hee!" And when I got home today (Lousy Day One of Five Craptastic Days filling in on a set of duties that I loathe), I noticed a box by the kitchen door.

It was a package from a favorite supplier of the heroin-for-me that is pottery (they are also friends of the Newbys). Inside that carefully-insulated box was a lovely, hefty coffee mug. On the front it says, "How 'Bout A Cup"

And the other side says - you guessed it:

Kristin, this is so very perfect. I've decided I get to keep it at work because Joe already has this hanging above his desk. You are the best, sweetie - and you have made me smile tonight, without a doubt!

Mwwaah! Much love to you!

There Are Perks...

...granted, I'd love to have Joe home more often, but here's one little treat to ourselves that was FREE thanks to his many Marriott points...

And in one day, we found a piece of furniture, and Joe set this bad boy up in our bedroom. Then Joe had to go to Buffalo. So I can watch what *I* want to watch. :)

I Stare At It All Day...

I recently had a conversation with a friend about spending time online at home. She mentioned that she stares at a computer all day and doesn't want to deal with it in her down-time. I began to think about this - as I certainly do stare at a PC all day - and I realized that my online time at home has become increasingly important to me.

I'm not a gamer. I'm not in an online romantic relationship with anyone. I do not sit at my PC (and new Mac!) like a veal, exposed only to limited light and communication. But I truly value my online friendships and conversations.

My best friends live 1,000 and 3,000 miles away from me. I've known a couple of them since I was five. We shared kindergarten. We shared CSHS marching band. We shared road trips that will be forever etched in my mind and heart (Sapelo! San Francisco!). We are closer now than we've ever been - because of email and blogs. How else would I marvel at the beauty that is the newborn Louis or pause for prayer and love at the most recent thoughts from Evan's Garden? I will gladly stare at a computer a little longer for that.

And then there are new friends. My freshman crush and ultimate heartbreak provided me with a friend for life. I just didn't realize how short his life would be. Rob Brese passed away in 2004, and while searching for some understanding, I found Snarkland. She and her friends knew and loved Rob as well. I stalked her blog for a while, and then we were friends. Just like that. We've met several times (and I've met many lovely people as a result), and that friendship continues to grow. I can't imagine not hanging around a bit online for that.

I get emails from my wonderful nieces. I get Facebook notifications from friends I'd always loved - just lost touch with. I get blog hits from strangers wanting to renovate their homes.

Yes, I do spend too much time online. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Bad Blogger

Okay - steering clear of the local-politics-venting and getting back to blogging about meaningless fun and knitting... This week was a lovely time to take some vacation days - got to chill out, travel with the husband, and drink a bit with friends a time or two...

This is how our trip upstate started - with 300ish yards of alpaca that needed untangling. Mission: accomplished!

We then went to Ommegang Brewery and sampled some most excellent beers. We can get most of them through our favorite beer store, but it was nice to try some special brews as well.

We stayed at the lovely Inn at Cooperstown - centrally located with wonderful staff. I highly recommend it.

After spending the first day drinking lots and lots of beer, we hit the Baseball Hall of Fame on our anniversary. I really enjoyed it, and Joe spent most of the day awestruck. The rest of the Cooperstown pictures are here, but I warn you they're a bit baseball-heavy.

On the way back, we took the long way home on Route 28. In Oneonta, we found a great little yarn shop that shared space with a spice/food store. Both of us came away with goodies on that little side trip...

And I got through a few repeats of the Lupin scarf for Joe - in (the formerly tangled) alpaca from Montgomery Mills.

And the day after we returned, I got a package from my RnR "In Like A Lamb" swap partner! Beautiful handspun yarn, goodies, and noms! Whoot! cthulhulovesme is filled with awesome.

That's about it for the week, other than hanging out with the Connors and drinking too much wine...but that's pretty standard for us. And now I sit here embracing the last few hours of the last night of vacation - and hopefully the cats will be kind and not wake me at oh-dark-thirty in the morning. I so wish to savor my final sleeping-in morning.

I promise to be a better blogger and at least post more quantity, if not quality.

And - HEY - welcome to the world, Louis!

Working On Stuff...

Without too many boring details...

A scarf kit given to me by the lovely Kelly:

Cigar gloves that look crappy on my small hand but fit Russ (hooray!), so now I can comfortably finish the other one...

A little something for my mom that has been sitting around for a while...

Socks for Joe - again, they've been in the "don't wanna think about it now" pile for a while...

Finished my first pair of socks for 2009 - with a few days to spare (finished 2/22 while watching the Oscars).

Now, back to work. This knitta's got some work to do!

A Farewell to Jack

I think we need to spend some time apart.

I really appreciate the warmth and the fun that you and your Kentucky cousin have given me time and time again. But lately...?

Lately, I've come very close to depending on you. And I don't want that. Over the years - as I've known more and more of you - I've given away a little part of myself. And I'm starting to not recognize the face in the mirror. I'm beginning to feel like a shell of something I would never become.

And even though I haven't seen your Mexican friend Jose' by himself in a while (he's usually mixed in with others), I have to stop seeing him too. And your absolutly crazy friends.

Don't get me wrong - I do enjoy your company. And we'll meet again one day. But it certainly won't be as frequently. We have different goals, you and I - I'm trying to take care of myself, and you make me not want to.

But I feel like I'm losing me. And I really liked being me.

Finished

Some years ago, possibly before we left GA for NY, and when our good friends Brent and Joanne lived in Charleston, they got us hooked on a series of books. They mentioned the first book as a must-read - they read a chapter aloud to each other before bed, it was so entertaining. We hadn't heard of these books before - and it was about a year before the Big Buzz surrounding them really exploded. Joe and I purchased the first two and flew through them, in love with the characters from page one.

The third book was a bit bulkier, and Joe dove into it first. I lost a little momentum. With a new environment, new jobs, new hobbies - any excuse I could find, really - I didn't read for pleasure that much anymore. I continued to read the books, but very slowly.

The fourth and fifth installments were pure chores. Not because of the story, but because of so many other things I found to do instead. They were rather large books, so it's not as though I could lug them just anywhere - my knitting was much more portable and enjoyable to me. But I kept on - making sure I at least finished them before their movie versions hit the local screens.

One of my goals for this new year has been to finish the series, and I devoured the final two volumes during lunch and weekends of the last several months. I'm not a quick reader (for an English major and literature lover, I have remarkably average-ish reading comprehension...I can dissect a poem, but don't ask me details about a chapter I just read), and for me to set my knitting aside and just read was somewhat of an accomplishment.

As of 10:55pm last night, I finally finished the Harry Potter books.

And in doing so, I finally realized that I can carve out time for reading again. I look forward to my next adventure. Any recommendations?

Getting There...

So I've been furiously knitting (okay, half-assed knitting) on the projects I need to finish. Here's what I've finished so far in 2009:

An Amelia hat from Fleece Artist (a wonderful gift kit from Soph):

Another hedgie for a friend/coworker of Joe's in Nevada (he's a new daddy):

Now I just have 3 more WIPs (works-in-progress) to go before I can start something new! Getting close to being done with Russ's Cigar Gloves and Kelly's gift of Qiviet for a scarf...

Just a brief note - I might not be all that blog-talkative in future months...as you've probably noticed lately (all 2 of you), I've been pretty bad at the blogging. Well, my job is changing, and I'm still in a bit of a whirlwind from it all. So let me just say I might be silent for a while when it comes to blog comments and blog posts.

It's all good, but it's all very busy. Peace out, yo...

Introducing the Gingerslut

Remember when we adopted sweet Willow last July? She's been a wonderful addition to our family. She and Dobby play a good bit (although they can still get hissy with each other), and she fits in very well.

I recall her Rescue Mom mentioning that Willow showed some aggression that is common with females in heat - that it's possible they didn't get all her "parts" during her spay (which, I've found, is quite common), and that some hormones might still be raging inside her.

We had some issues to begin with, but nothing that you wouldn't expect from a new quasi-adult cat being introduced to others. Nothing at all to indicate any weird hormones going on.

And then there was Sunday.

She talks. And she sings. She rolls around. And shouts. And rubs anything she can find. And she sticks her nether-regions up in the faces of the boys. Otis is all "get out of my grill, bitch," and Dobby is all "don't look at me - I don't know what to do," and it's a very, VERY noisy household. I'd get a picture or video of the chaos, but she shuts up when I pull out the camera.

I'm tracking how long the insanity goes on. The fact that we didn't see any signs for six months worries me - like maybe something's wrong. But she's undoubtedly looking for action - and not in pain.

I just wish I could get a decent night's sleep. So do Otis and Dobby, I'm sure.

I'm Out

Thanks to my wonderful buddy Matthew (and his mad skillz with a jack and a bunch of boards), I was able to drive my truck to the grocery store (and hardware store, and liquor store) today. I didn't even mind the annoying people out today, since it was the first time *I* was out since Wednesday.

I almost started to cry when Matt drove my truck off the landscape timber. I did start to jump up and down like a cheerleader.

Everyone needs a Matt. Someone who helps you, just because he knows how - and because he can't stand not helping. He is a lot of awesome.

Thanks, buddy.

How to Take a Decent Day...

...and turn it into one in which you mutter every F-, B-, MF-, C-, and S-word you can muster...

It was an icy ride home last night. Not nearly as much snow as expected, but much more freezing rain. I drove home slowly, carefully, and safely. And then I got to my driveway. While backing the truck into the driveway, I slid right over the landscape timbers surrounding the parking area (seen directly under the "G" in DODGE), leaving my rear axle on the timber, the rear driver-side wheel in limbo.

Under normal circumstances, I could work my way out of this situation. But given the fact that there was a nice, fat layer of ICE on the entire parking area, it was no go. Hopefully Wonderful Coworker/Neighbor Matthew can help me out of this predicament tomorrow.

Same sad story with the other, non-4x4 cars. I dug around each car's driver-side wheel, but all they did was spin and go nowhere. Unfortunately, since this area was dug out previously, there's nothing but ice in front of the cars.

Can you see the sheen in the picture above? My yard is nice and icy, with a good 3-6 inches of snow underneath. While walking to the shed (above, far left) to get some Ice Melt, I was wading in crusty snow up to my knees.

We didn't even get mail delivery today. No doubt due to poor Jill (mailperson who walks the route) looking at our driveway and going "Nuh-UH...No way no how."

Yeah. Joe, you owe me big. Please come home soon.

It's All Good

...so when last we left, I had frozen pipes when I got home Thursday, only to be thawed out after a brief interlude with a hair dryer. Friday morning, however, it was No Dice. The pipes laughed at me and my frozen ass sitting on the floor near the utility closet.

The plan for Friday was to pick up Joe at the train station, drop him off at home, then zoom in to work. Once I realized I would not be getting a shower before picking Joe up, I understood that the "zoom" part of my plan might not happen. So I called my boss, letting her know I'd be later than I'd planned.

I didn't get a call from Joe at 6:30am (which was when he was making his train connection), so I called his cell, and it went straight to voice mail. Not good. I checked online - yup. His plane was over an hour late. Called the boss again, let her know I'd be A LOT later than I'd planned. Then as the morning wore on, I just called in a day off (fortunately it wasn't a busy day), picked up Joe around 10am, went to the hardware store for a heat gun, came back home and finished reading a book while Joe tackled the pipes. Evidently we weren't the only ones in this predicament - the hardware store had sold out of many frozen-pipe-assistance supplies.

After we took showers, we took a nap. Then around 3pm we walked down to our new favorite spot, Garrison's Tavern, where we had a delightful meal and a few glasses of wine. We then braved the cold on the walk back and chilled out for the rest of the day. For a day that started really crappy, it ended up rather nice.

So Joe is home for the week, and the pipes are not frozen. It takes so little to make me happy.

...Then it was the Pipes...

Today was cold. Brutally cold. Right now it's 6. Tonight it's 0.

I came home this evening in the normal fashion - walk in, bring in mail, feed cats, change clothes, go potty.

Flush.

No filling-tank-noise.

Sinks: nada. Guest bath: nothing. Kitchen sink: trickle.

Yup. Frozen pipes again.

Call Joe, whine, pull out hair dryer (which, honestly, I haven't used for my hair since we bought it). Sit on floor while warming up pipes. Watch water meter. Wait. Wait. Wait...

...and there it was. Tiny little frozen pipe-ed-ness. Keeping the water closet (you think I'm just being delicate or European? We have a closet, and all that's in it is a water pipe and meter) door open, keeping the pellet stove on high - that should solve the problem. Should.

Thank sweet zombie jeebus Joe is coming home tomorrow, so he can see what's what and I can play helpless girl again.

EDITED FRIDAY 6AM: Nope. Didn't work. Frozen again, and 30 minutes with the hair dryer didn't help. Arg.

Detox

For 2009, I'm kicking it into high gear. The last few weeks of 2008 were spent being (somewhat) mindful of my eating and exercise habits, and other than the holidays I was doing pretty good. To renew my commitment in 2009, I went through a bit of a detox. For four days last week, I had nothing but brown rice, lentils, vegetables, fruit, and oatmeal. I had decaf tea or warm water with lemon juice. No caffeine, no sugar, no salt, no booze. There was also a "media" detox on the plan - limited TV, internet, email, etc. It's one of the reasons I've been so quiet lately. Another is that I'm just too lazy to blog.

I'm feeling fantastic and easing back into "normal" eating - limited salt/caffeine, more variety of grains and proteins, but still drastically altered from bad habits past. As a positive side-effect, I've gotten a helluva lot of things done around the house. And snow shoveling. Ah, the snow shoveling. Joe owes me big.

I'll try to have some more interesting posts in the days to come, but I appreciate your support as I change to this new way of thinking about/dealing with food, drink, and exercise. And hopefully the next time you see me you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Two Thousand And Nine

Wow, I'm getting old.  And I feel every bit of it today, as I'm recovering from yet another wonderful NYEve with the Connors.  This time we only stayed up until 2:30am.  And I'm not hungover - just tired.  The most productive thing I did today was turn on the computer.

Speaking of which, this was our present to each other this year.  It's so very lovely.  There's a bit of a learning curve on certain applications, and it'll take a while to figure out what we HAVE to move over and what we can get rid of, but it's all good.  It'll probably be a good way to keep my brain active - learning new things and such.

Joe also got me a little digital video camera for xmas - just something small to bring to parties (for embarrassing evidence), family trips, or just hanging out with our crazy cats.  It's a lot of fun, and only one person has threatened me with violence.  So far.

As the sun sets on our first day of 2009, I find myself grateful for friends and family near and far - for the jobs we have and not having to worry about day-to-day living - that even though I have a chilly house, it is a sturdy one filled with love.  I have plenty of yarn to knit, books to read, food to eat...life is good.  Cheers!