Mmmmm... toasty

Nov 2 - I am thankful for...

Warmth.

My crazy hubby is going camping this weekend. Yep. You read that right. Camping. In November. In Wisconsin. (It was originally meant to be a 2-day backpacking excursion, but some unfortunate circumstances have shortened it to an overnight camping trip.)

The high temperature for the weekend where he's going is at most 40, and the lows are in the 20s. Brrrrrrrr! I've gone winter camping, and it's an interesting experience that I'm glad I participated in, but having done it once, I can say with certainty that I prefer camping in warmer weather.

So today, as I think about Hubby sleeping in the cold tomorrow night, I am thankful for warmth. I love the heat our furnace provides. I love snuggling up in blankets. I love the way a fire feels. I love grabbing laundry straight from the dryer. It's all just lovely. 

Note that I am not saying I am thankful for heat. In the summer, it sometimes gets so hot that it's hard to sleep. I don't really care for that (though it's still a bajillion times better than freezing my tits off). But warmth... that I love, and that I am thankful for. 

Baby, It's COLD Outside!!

We're finally back up to double digits here (10° counts!), but with a wind chill that's still below zero, I'm finding it hard to take comfort in that.  Add to that the snow that's been falling for the past few hours and I'm more than happy to stay in my nice, warm house, thank you very much.

At least it's warmer than yesterday, which was, as Hubby confirmed, booger-freezin' cold.  The only reason I left the house was to venture to Chipotle for dinner with some friends.  If not for the idea of tasty foodstuffs, I would've hidden under the covers and refused to show my face again until spring.  (Oh, if only that were an option...)

Instead, I must be content with the knowledge that we are 44 days away from a week of warmer weather in beautiful Florida.  Until then, I'll use music as a distraction/escape from the weather.

1) The Beach Boys - "Kokomo"  Who doesn't want to go to Bermuda or Bahama (come on, pretty mama!)?  It's easy to get lost in this song and imagine yourself on a beach, relaxing and listening to the waves rolling in, and that's definitely where I wanna go.  (Of course, The Muppets do a super fun version of this song, too!  Though, I find myself giggling more than relaxing during their version.)

2) David Lee Roth - "California Girls"  OK, so, it's sort of a terrible song (and yeah, I could've gone with the Beach Boys version, but this video is just too hilariously horrible), but it does make me think about warm Cali beaches and bikini-clad women.  Whatever you gotta do to keep warm, right?

3) Bowling For Soup - "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)"  I can appreciate the sentiment.  Like Ohio, there's nothing wrong with Wisconsin... Except the snow and the rain.  And the cold.  And crazy political shit.  But I digress... 

Sorry, kids, but I only have time for 3 songs today.  Go ahead and tell me what songs help keep you warm when it's cold out so I can add them for extra warmth!  I just may need it...

The Holidays are Over; Bring on Reality!

I guess I went AWOL for a bit there, hey?  Sorry about that.  Things have been busy.

Christmas was good to us, I will admit.  Christmas Eve Day I got to exchange presents with K at Ella's Deli (yes, we exchange Christmas gifts at a Jewish deli).  That crafty lady made me lip balm!  Seriously; she MADE it.  How cool is that, right?  Anywhoozles, that afternoon I decorated sugar cookies while Hubby napped.  Maxine, in her Christmas sweater, napped along with him for most of the afternoon, and I spent some good time with my parents.

Christmas Eve dinner was, of course, fantastic.  Mom made the best Yorkshire pudding ever, and when I found they were out of hot cocoa mix, Dad made me some from "scratch" by heating up some pieces of Dove chocolate and mixing with milk.  I have to say that my family is pretty great, and that helps make my holidays so wonderful.  Would've enjoyed some snow, but, it was still lovely.

My parents got me a 3,000-piece puzzle (which is HUGE, btw) and a Jambox (which will come in really handy for school).  They got Hubby a Gentleman Jack giftbox (so, basically, good booze and two glasses).  They got Miss Maxine a bunch of toys and treats.  Oh, and best of all, they got us a new water heater!  (Apparently I was thisclose to getting an iPad, but they decided to get us something practical instead.  Ah, the joys of being a homeowner!)

Hubby surprised me by getting us a bunch of stuff we can enjoy together, including a remote control for our PS3 (so we can watch blu rays without fumbling over the controller), season 2 of "Big Bang Theory" and season 1 of "Raising Hope," and new controllers for the Wii.  He also got me a gorilla pod (that I picked out myself) and a monopod (that was a complete surprise)!  Yes, it was a successful Christmas indeed.  :)

Christmas Day was spent with my mom's side of the family, and then watching the Packers beat the Bears before heading back home.  The day after was Christmas with Hubby's family, which, while a bit chaotic at times, was nice.  I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with my nephew and taking pictures of him (he's so freakin' cute!!), but after being exhausted from all the running around that weekend (and feeling like I was starting to come down with something), I wound up sleeping in the recliner for an hour or two toward the end of our visit.  In my family, it's not Christmas until someone falls asleep in the midst of the festivities, so I guess I was just carrying over the tradition.

You'd think a 4-day work week would go quickly, but it didn't.  It dragged.  A lot.  And while I looked forward to our weekend plans, part of me would've been content just sleeping through the whole thing.  Alas, after a bit of a struggle, we made our way to Madison for S's graduation gathering.  We spent the night at my parents' and the next day had lunch plans with a friend of mine and his wife.  I hadn't seen Mr. P since his wedding, which was in November of 2009 (they moved to Georgia the previous year), so this lunch was LONG overdue.  We actually made plans to stop in on our drive down to Disney in March, so it won't be nearly as long before we see them next!  Color me pleased. 

New Year's Eve was spent with my second family.  K, S and J (my "sisters") had all gotten new toys (iPhones, Kindle, etc) and much of the evening was spent in the same room, but each of us on our respective electronic.  K's dad and his new wife stayed around for dinner, but left around 10 or so.  See, the new wife has a rescue dog named Princess (a bichon, for those interested).  Since she can get along with Eva (J's dog), we tried bringing Maxine into the mix.  Bad idea.  Bad.  Those two were at each other's throats like you wouldn't believe!  My best guess is Maxi made an inappropriate "Yo Mama" joke and Princess was having none of it.  I'm probably wrong, but it works in my head.  So anywhoozles, they ended up crating Princess upstairs in the "other" condo, since the two couldn't play nicely, and so they left early to make sure Princess didn't spend the whole evening alone.  

We had a great time anyway.  K always makes my second favorite meal of the year for New Year's Eve: shrimp and potatoes.  Between that and all the snack foods available, I was stuffed silly.  We played some Apples to Apples and drank to ring in the new year.  Then we crashed at the condo (me on the couch, Hubby on the recliner/floor, Maxi on another chair).  New Year's Day we headed home to drop off the puppers and headed back to see part of Hubby's family for the Packers game (go Matt Flynn!).  Thankfully, we had nothing to do the next day, and we spent it like a couple of lazy bums.  It was lovely.

This week has been... interesting.  But this post is long enough, so I'll save that for another time.

Snow Day? I Wish...

Again, one of the non-perks of working from home is that you don't get snow days.  In fact, it's hard to even take a sick day (it's not like you're going to get anyone at the office sick, you know?) unless you really feel like crap.  

Thus far, my non-snow day has sucked.  

• Woke up and looked outside to see the world covered in snow.  No big surprise.  However, my fear of how I was going to let the dog out escalated when I could open either of our screen doors more than an inch.
• Woke the hubby up so he could advise me on the best method for doing so.  He tried to help me put some boots on, but that didn't work.  They were supposed to go over my shoes, but kept getting stuck.
• Hubby managed to open the door about a foot.  I held on to the pupper's leash and let her wander a few steps.  When she realized she wasn't going any further, she got the hint and took a piss.  However, she was then COVERED in snow (since the drifts are twice as tall as her... at MINIMUM), which was not so fun to deal with.
• That's when hubby managed to fall down the basement stairs.  This is the 3rd time it's happened since we moved into this house.  Those stairs are scary steep, we have NO railings, and the floor was starting to get wet from the snow that was falling in from having the door open.  Not cool.
• Hubby checked his email.  Of course, HE has a snow day.  Ugh.  We were supposed to both be working and miserable!  Instead, I am now working while he sleeps.  -le sigh-

To help, I did make some popcorn (and used REAL butter on it for the first time in ages... soooo good).  But really, that only helps so much.  Reading on Facebook about everyone's snow days and not being at work just makes me wish we had a sympathy snow day or something.  But, alas, that's what I get for "being able to work in my pajamas all the time!"  (The next person to say that will likely come to regret that decision.)

Here's to a long day that just keeps dragging on...

Impending Snow of DOOM!

I missed Moronic Monday yesterday.  I know.  Sorry, yo.  I sort of had something, but it was WAY too serious for my usual MM posts, so I nixed it and just didn't get back to it in time.

Anywhoozles, in comes the blizzard that may bury us all.  Well, maybe not.  But if they're anywhere close to right, we'll be getting what I refer to as a metric shit-ton of snow over the next few days.  Such is life in Wisco, but that doesn't mean I have to be pleased about it.

While I don't personally have to go out in the snow (one of the perks of working from home), hubby does, and I worry about him being out there with all the morons who forget how to drive each time it snows.  Things like this tend to happen...  Not good.

Here's hoping everyone stays safe and warm for the next few days!