February??!!?? When did it get to be February!!??

~~

My azalea is blooming again. This little plant was a gift sent to Jack while he was in the hospital more than 10 years ago.  It was from a distant business associate and the relationship wasn’t all that cordial so it made the gift all the more surprising.  Anyway, the azalea was lovely and when it stopped blooming I kept it just to see what would happen. Every year it blooms without fail although both blossoms and leaves are fewer.  I suppose I should repot it and maybe remember to fertilize it during the year. It always helps me get through the winter doldrums and I don’t repay it with very good care.

~~

I’m not really sick of winter but I tell ya I’m sick of wearing heavy clothes. Tired of woolen coats, gloves, hats, scarves, boots, wool socks, sweat shirts and long pants. I feel clumsy and encumbered all the time, keeping track of where I left my gloves and what hat to wear to balance style vs. warmth.

I’m tired of having to dress up to go outside, to put on shoes just to feed the birds on the deck. I feel like the Michelin man when I get all my clothes on, barely able to move and my arms swing two feet away from my body.

I long to fret over whether my bare toes need a pedi or if they’re fit for sandals as is. I want to go shopping for this year’s flip flops. /sigh

~~

So I was laying in bed yesterday morning contemplating leaving my blanket-cocoon (it was a two-cat night) for the frigid floor (OK, I know at least one person who will laugh because it was probably 65 degrees, hardly frigid by her standards — but I digress) and I realized I haven’t had a Diet Pepsi for a week. A week. I have been a daily soda-for-lunch person for as long as I can remember and have several times tried and failed to break the habit.

Not sure what happened except that I’ve started drinking caffeinated tea or coffee a few mornings a week and now have little desire for soda. Or maybe the cold weather has turned me off  ice-cold drinks.

Just for kicks I opened a DP for lunch and it was…OK. Nothing I couldn’t live without. We’ll see if it lasts when spring comes.

~~

Work is leveling out. I’m more comfortable in my role and while the tech issues aren’t resolved they’re inching to a resolution. No wonder they don’t hire and fire very often, it’s complicated and exhausting to bring on new employees.  I almost had my first business trip but then my boss’ boss decided he needed to attend the meeting so I’ll stay home and mind the store. OK by me really since they’re traveling to the frozen northeast and I’m guessing the trip will be a nightmare.

~~

Some kind of hawk landed on our deck yesterday to check out the avian buffet we were attracting. Since said buffet scattered on his arrival, he didn’t stay long. Neat to see one so close but I’d prefer not to be in the business of fattening up his luncheon.

~~

I’ve been knitting and spinning a little but not as much as usual this time of  year. There are nights after dinner that I sit down to read the paper and wake up in time for bed. It’s a tired brain more than a tired body and I’m simply reacting to stress. Since it does me no good I’ve started hitting the elliptical for half an hour after dinner. It never sounds appealing but I always feel better afterward so I just Do It. Now to add some strength training in there to counterbalance the effects of sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day. And knock off the desserts.

~~

Speaking of spring, — we were, weren’t we? — Evie and I got together last weekend to talk Garden. What we’d like to plant, how we’re going to organize the beds, what we have room for. Despite opening the conversation with “we’re going to keep it simple this year” by the end of the two hours I of course had Big Plans.

We’re hoping the organizing group is a little more proactive this year but since the website hasn’t been updated since last September I’m not betting the farm on it.

I keep meaning to do an update on the straw-bale gardening we did last year and perhaps I can get to that this week. It was fun to leaf through the seed catalogs and realize that in about 6 weeks we should be able to plant early crops. Maybe.

~~

Today is the official end of holiday over indulging for us. It’s Super Bowl Sunday, marked in this household by our annual pilgrimage to KFC-land, home to sodium, fat and cholesterol. Please don’t tell me how bad this stuff is, I know. For this one day, I don’t care. Tomorrow we’ll break out the fish and salads again and the damn-the-calories-full-fat-ahead attitude will be stuffed back in the closet until next winter.

Original recipe, white meat, potatoes with gravy and a side of cole slaw. Water, no soda this year.

If they ever stop playing the Super Bowl (hah) KFC will be dead to me.

That you always have one less tissue in your pocket than you need when you take a walk in the winter? That you spend the last half-mile sniffling and hoping you don’t meet anybody you know? If the wind is cold enough you start to consider alternatives like your coat sleeve or handknit mittens.

Kids sledding never have that problem, they just let it go. I came across a group of them today who were having a blast, from the pre-teen boys practicing their snowboarding chops to the two little girls who squealed all the way down the hill in the biggest adventure of their lives. They had nearly worn the snow down to the grass. It’s a good thing they got out this morning because it’s starting to rain. I expect the moderate temps (high 30s) and the rain will put an end to much of the white stuff.

It was a holiday for me today, the second short week in a row since last week’s blizzard gave me a work-from-home day. Except the tech stuff to allow me to work from home hasn’t arrived so there wasn’t much I could do but check phone messages. The rest of the week was a tech nightmare as well and it wasn’t until Friday that it was sorted out.  I expect tomorrow to be better — knock on wood.

It must be all the recent talk about organization because I had a spurt of productivity this weekend. The website is backed up and upgraded to the latest version; our checking account is mostly balanced (I can’t find a two-month discrepancy, it’s in our favor but still…), the last of the twinkly Christmas lights are put away, the birdbath was cleaned and refilled, food was shopped for and cooked and I even had time for a nap both days. Speaking of shopping I almost bought red cowboy boots and then came to my senses and bought conservative black boots with a one-inch heel suitable for work.

Oh, and I went here and bought myself a cupcake. Mine is deep maroon but I can’t find it right now.

I still think I need those red boots though. Don’t you?

For the last several months I’ve been struggling to keep the blog going. Not because I don’t have anything to say but because I have this idea that I should always start a post with a picture. If you find my words boring at least you’ll have something to look at while you think “get to the point already”.

While I like playing in Photoshop Elements I have a beginner’s level of understanding so processing photos probably doubles or triples the time it takes me to post. Especially when winter’s short days means I’m either using the flash for indoor shots or setting up a complicated arrangement for a light box which takes more time.

I find the winter challenging from a photography standpoint. How many times can you take a picture of a sleeping cat or snow in your backyard and make it look like anything other than the other 11-billionty pictures you’ve posted.

If I could get the cats to do tricks or  if I could transform them into sheep or llamas or even chickens, that would be a little different since not everyone can go to their local animal shelter and bring one home, but anyway, I can’t and they’ll never be anything but sleeping cats so I can either write and not give you photos or not write at all.

So I don’t post because I think you deserve photos to make up for the sloppy writing.

As an example, I had a good list for last week’s Ten on Tuesday, it’s all written and ready to go. I didn’t post it because I wanted to take pics of a few items. I ran out of time on Tuesday and then it was Wednesday and that was another disaster and Thursday and Friday were pretty much the same, and after that I reached the stage of “what’s the point?”

So no post, all the while I’m nagging myself that I’m neglecting the blog. I’ve reached the point in my head that I’ve considered whether I should take the blog down since I resent feeling like this is  another obligation I have to meet or that I”m not doing a good job.

However, my interest has always been more in the writing than the photography, probably because I’m better at the first than the second, not great, just better.

Therefore as an alternative to taking down the blog, I’ve decided to absolve myself of all guilt about not giving you something pretty to look at, and just sit down and write. Feel free to move along, there’s nothing to see here, if you’re so inclined.

Since quiet time is over, I’m going to post Tuesday’s damn list so it doesn’t get wasted, like the other dozen posts sitting in draft waiting for pictures that were never taken. Imagine there’s a picture of a tea mug, a pen, a book and eyeliner illustrating it.

So there.

Ten on Tuesday

Ten things I couldn’t live without. Technically some of these aren’t “things” but when I thought about what makes my life richer these were the ten things that bubbled to the top first (people and pets excluded).

1. My glasses. I’m blind as a bat.
2. Moisturizer. It’s winter, the air is cold and dry. ‘Nuff said.
3. Computer/internet. I suppose I really could live without it, but who wants to?
4. Four-wheeled transportation. Bus service and bike lanes in this town are non-existent and work is 15 miles away. Yup, a car keeps me in clover.
5. My favorite knitting scissors. They once got mixed up with others and while I got back a pair that looked identical they didn’t cut the same. I knew it with the first snip. I threw a hissy fit until they were returned. I’m not proud of my behavior, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
6. Tea in the morning in my favorite mug.
7. The sound of birds in the spring. To more fully appreciate your sense of hearing live with a person who’s going deaf.
8. Good knives. Paring, cook’s, slicing, serrated. Out of the block of knives those are the four that get used every day. I have been known to wrap them in towels and take them on vacation with me since I’ve never seen a rental cottage that has a decent knife. Jack sharpens them by hand and the only time I’ve cut myself is when I don’t pay attention.
9. Books. All kinds. I don’t own an e-reader and imagine I’d probably like it but in the end, I’d miss the heft and smell of a book, the tactile sense of turning pages, being able to pick it up, open it at any spot and start reading. If we replaced all our books with electronic editions, I’d have to remodel the house because there are bookshelves in every room excluding the bathrooms — if there were space I expect we’d slap up some shelves in there too. A dinosaur in the making over here.
10. A good pen. My current favorite writes well, is easily replaceable, fits my hand. I had a fancy custom gold pen that was a thank you gift for a seminar discussion I once led. I carried that pen in my purse for 15 years until I lost the cap at the grocery store. I searched for half an hour but never found it and ended up throwing the pen away.

There’s a bunch more I came up with. My stash of course. Eyeliner. Chocolate. Walking shoes.

And it’s here.

After all the hustle and bustle, the shopping and wrapping and shipping, it’s Christmas Eve and my schedule is free. For the weekend we have the time to relax and enjoy ourselves.

There are a few presents to open and fondue to prepare for dinner but otherwise we’re not making plans beyond reading, watching a movie or two and treating ourselves to dinner out on Christmas Day — the start of  a new tradition.

I had only two wishes for Christmas this year: a little white stuff on the ground and a permanent job.

Both wishes came true this week.

I count myself one of the fortunate ones.

No matter how — or if — you celebrate these festive days of winter, I hope all your wishes come true. Stay well.

Since it’s almost December (!), the burning bushes are nearly denuded but they were glorious this year.

So that week went by in a blur. We had fun with the kids and grandkids  although we didn’t have great plans beyond the puppet show last Sunday. The rest of the time was taken up by walks, craft projects (potholder looms were the hit this year) and movies.

Christine and the girls left on Tuesday so they missed the great adventure which was let’s-replace-the-kitchen-faucet-Wednesday-night-before-Thanksgiving. The project director managed to take the faucet apart before falling ill and taking to his sick bed. Leaving no water in the kitchen until noon on Thanksgiving day since even though he woke up feeling fine (demanding pancakes even) DIY projects never go the way they’re supposed to. It wasn’t much of a Thanksgiving for Carrie, missing out on the Thanksgiving parade, football and the traditional walk through the woods before dinner. Learned my lesson, again.

Carrie and I had our first experience venturing out into the post-Thanksgiving retail hysteria of Black Friday and I wish I had a better story to tell, but sadly, there was no drama. Our little venture got us to the store 10 minutes before they opened along with maybe 25 others. We stood around just long enough to get cold and bored, the store opened a few minutes early, we snared a new laptop and printer for her at a great price, paid for it, stopped for coffee and still made it home before Jack was awake. We weren’t crazy enough to try any of the big electronic stores but think, just maybe, next year we might be willing to hit up a second store just for the hell of it.

A quick trip the the museum, lunch in town, a stop at the book store and Carrie headed back to the west coast.

Are they gone yet?

Jack and I went home, coaxed the cats out from under the bed and took a nap. And did laundry.

Repeat on Saturday along with watching a little football (poor KU got soundly trounced by Missouri) and here we are.

I’m this close to finishing a baby hat and maybe, just maybe there will be pictures of actual knitting next time.

Last night I had a whole evening  free which doesn’t seem to happen much lately. We went out for a quick dinner as soon as I got home so the whole cook-and-clean-up thing didn’t consume half the evening.

I could have spun for an hour, started a new lace project, paid bills and still had time to write a blog post or two.

Instead I forced myself to stay awake until it got dark. Then I fed the cats, kissed the hubby good night (being careful not to stand in front of the TV, football season is here) and toddled off to bed. It must have been the right thing to do because I slept through until the alarm went off this morning.

Work let out early this afternoon because of the holiday weekend so we’ll have dinner early again and tonight I’ll try to stay up past 9 pm. We’re getting our first taste of fall’s cooler temperatures and I have a list of to-do chores for the weekend a mile long. But Monday will be mine, all mine to enjoy.

Enjoy your weekend!

You say it’s your birthday
It’s my birthday too, yeah
They say it’s my birthday
We’re gonna have a good time
I’m glad it’s my birthday
Happy birthday to me!!!

~

No water in the house this morning. There’s a water main break (well, duh) but that’s all we can find out. The city hasn’t given the dispatch office any other information. I woke up to Jack shouting at the police dispatcher over the phone. Now he’s driving around looking for the crew that’s supposed to be working on the break.

Apparently he really wants a drink of water.

I hope I don’t have to go bail him out.

Oh yay, happy birthday to me….

Um, wow, I guess the combination of mud and young guys hit a chord with a bunch of us so I went searching for the photos I took last year on the premise of giving your audience what they want.

And of course, all I could find was this:

Apparently, I was too busy gawking to actually take photos of the young ‘uns wrestling with chains and machines and mud. Oh, there are one or two photos, but they’re dressed in t-shirts and jeans, so where’s the fun in that?

So, I’ll just say what Mom used to say:

Use your imagination.

It’s probably better than the real thing anyway.

And then we had Proposition C which would invalidate the federal requirement that most people purchase health insurance or face a tax penalty. Prop C passed with a 71% approval rating statewide. The issue is expected to be settled in the courts so I’m not getting too overheated about it except to note that nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats voted statewide. I wonder how the results would have differed if the vote had been held in November.

Anyway, let’s not start down that road, I don’t have the patience for it tonight.

Tuesday didn’t get off to an auspicious start. I got up at 3:30 am to allow a little extra time to slide by the big McD’s for coffee and an egg thingie — only to find out that McD’s didn’t open until 5 am — which is when I had to be at the polling place. Scrap breakfast.

So I head over to the church thinking I might be lucky and catch the janitor there early to unlock the door. There’s nobody around when I get there but I can see lights on so I tried the door. Unlocked and the room is ready to go. Makes up for missing breakfast.

I start unloading the car to get a head start on the day. I was on my next to last trip with just one bag and the voting signs to unload when I grabbed the door handle and pulled.

It didn’t budge. Turned it again. Shook it, pushed it, pounded it.

Locked.

And my purse and cell phone are inside the building.

Walked around the church but there’s nobody to be seen and no lights on. Just when I’m seriously cursing my luck another judge arrives with a cell phone. A couple phone calls (“Yes, the door really is locked. Yes, really. If you don’t believe me, come try it for yourself.”) and 20 minutes later, the church lady arrives with a key (“I don’t know how you managed to lock this door, it takes a key.”)

I kept my snort to myself when the door locked on her without the key.

Meanwhile, even though it’s 5:30 and the polls don’t open until 6 am, there are 3 voters waiting to vote.

And we haven’t broken the seal on the first ballot box yet.

We hustled. We got the place open in half an hour but things were a little cockeyed. Nobody cared and the door stayed unlocked until mid-afternoon when it locked itself again. Some masking tape took care of it and removing it made locking up at the end of the day easy.

I never did get breakfast. A PB&J sandwich, a little fruit and a handful of granola kept me going until closing at 7 pm.

Home at 8 pm, a quick dinner, a shower and bed were all I could manage. It was tough going to work today.

~

Now that the veggie garden is planted and it’s mostly maintenance chores, I’ve spent the last week pulling weeds and spreading mulch in the flower garden around the house. I ran out of mulch before I ran out of garden. When I went to buy more I stumbled and a bunch more flowers came home along with the mulch. I added phlox, black-eyed Susans, angelonias, lisianthus and zinnias and another fern to the garden. The zinnias have expired on me which makes me angry, but I still have color to spare this year.

Late this spring, just before my Knockout rose was getting ready to bloom, I pruned it back to within an inch of its life. It was overpowering the garden and I was mentally giving it one last chance to shape up or face the compost bin. If it died that would make my decision easier. And of course it didn’t die. It shook off the scalping and went about its business. It’s about half the size it was last year, so it’s more manageable and the blooms don’t seem to have suffered any. The governor has given it a reprieve for now. 

Sometimes it pays to be fearless. Or stupid.

~

Amazingly I missed the local strawberry season this year. I kept waiting and waiting for an e-mail from the pick-your-own place and finally sent one of my own the first of the month. “Too late” they said and “we don’t send out notices because the season’s so short” they said. “What?” I said. I feel gyped. Grump.

But somehow we’ve gotten decent strawberries at the grocery store this year. Not stupendous, but they do actually taste like strawberries. I don’t know what the California growers did differently, but I hope they do it more often.

And then I had to see this: Environmental Working Group’s list of the 15 most highly contaminated fruits and vegetables. Strawberries are #3. sigh

And look what’s at #5: Blueberries, which are ready for picking right now. double sigh

Another reason to grow my own.

~

I was rereading yesterday’s blog post and saw that I wrote

“And I’m looking forward to recommendations from the lists of other bloggers more organized than me“ and did a double-take. Should it be “than me” or “than I”? I went to Grammar Girl and checked a couple other sites and decided “than me” is OK since this blog is definitely informal in speech and tone. I could have said “than I am” but that’s a little fussy.  Just as long as I didn’t say “than me am”.

~

Carpet cleaning today and I lucked out. The humidity and temperatures moderated this week so the air conditioning was off and the house was wide open. Once the cleaner left, we closed up the house and turned on the a/c to lower the humidity. Right now I’m sitting on an exercise ball to type because the carpet’s still wet around my desk, so no office chair and I had the couch cleaned too so no knitting corner to slouch in.

I’m loving the look of a spot-free carpet again. Taking bets on which cat throws up on it first.

~

Woot! I pick up a spinning wheel from the local guild tomorrow to use during Tour de Fleece. Since my spinning addiction isn’t nearly as strong as my knitting, I don’t feel a yearning to own a wheel most of the time but it’s nice to have one for TdF. I expect I’ll buy one later this year because I do wonder if I had the proper equipment if I would spend more time spinning.  For now, I’m happy to make do and looking forward to TdF shenanigans.

~

I have a book to add to yesterday’s reading list: Sue Hubbell’s A Book of Bees. I’ve written about her before (see “obscure literary reference”) and happened across her book as I was looking for something else in the bookcase yesterday.  It’s as enjoyable as the first two times I read it.

~

I think it’s time to call it a day, a month, a quarter and a half-year. See you on the morrow!