Sleeping Sound

Don't tell Christopher, but I really enjoy watching the pup sleep.

I like when she's just stretched out, usually with her head on a pillow or the arm of a chair or propped on my leg. And she just quietly breathes in and out, with the occasional snuffle or snort. And she's peaceful and calm and you know she feels safe and secure.

Okay... In bed at night, sometimes she doesn't choose the best place to settle in. Sometimes it's right up against your legs and kind of keeps you pinned. Sometimes she's right up by our shoulders and won't move. And, frequently, she takes on the role of chaperone as she tries to stay warm by staying between Christopher and me.

But, even though there are times when I really wish she'd go sleep on the floor, or at the foot of the bed, or anywhere else so that Christopher and I can pretend to have some alone time, I have to admit that I do kind of enjoy having her around and sleeping sound(ly).

But don't tell Christopher, because right now he actually moves her out of the way most nights so we can snuggle up. And I don't want that to stop, either.

Non-Travel Vacation

No big surprise, the day after a major snow storm, the travel options are a little vague.

Today, on my way to work, I was picking up speed just as my car started to make a wobbly, vibrating sound. It stopped when I slowed down, so I simply dropped into rush hour traffic and kept going.

Once I was at work, I called the car repair shop that has helped me out in the past and described the situation. I explained that it seemed like it was probably a balancing problem, simply made worse by the snow. And the guy on the phone agreed that that's what it sounded like.

So I made an appointment to take the car in - with the guess that it would take about 45 minutes, so I could do it over an extended lunch.

Then I got there. And an hour later the guy came out to say that they had gotten my tires balanced, but the reason it had taken so long was that they found I have 2 bent tire rims. Of course, since Subaru only made the rims on my car for about 2 model years, they would have to be ordered in - with arrival in about 3 to 5 weeks. (I won't tell you how much they will cost - and the "generic" version is almost the same price, so going that route doesn't really help.)

Oh. And they also found that my engine was basically completely out of oil. Which was a bit of a surprise, to say the least. So along with rotating and balancing my tires, they also proceeded to do a full oil change (or at least an "oil fill") as well as putting some dye into the system which - after about 75 miles of driving - should leak out and give them an idea of what part of my car is leaking.

To do all of this, I ended up taking a half vacation day, because we obviously went way beyond the lunch hour.

Do I know how to vacation, or what?

When Good Snows Go Bad

It was such a nice week of melting. We were really starting to feel like spring might not wait until May to arrive. And then... well... the weather forecasters were actually dead-on right for once.

You see, early in the week they started predicting 8 to 14 inches of snow for us between today and tomorrow. Then, yesterday, they started to narrow down that window, saying that it would start this morning, peak in the mid-afternoon, and carry over into tomorrow.

When Christopher got up to let the dog out at about 6 this morning, there was no snow falling. What snow we had on the ground was nicely shrunken after the past week and life was fine. I thought, maybe, the forecast was wrong.

When I got up a little after nine and took the dog for her walk, the weather was breezy, but not bad. As I walked her, I was starting to think about gardening and hoping that things might actually start turning green, soon. All I saw was two snowflakes on my way back into the house.

By 11:30, we probably had a couple of inches of snow on the ground.

Our evening plans got cancelled - not for fear of snow or driving, but for fear of being unable to find parking. Our cooking class plans (for the class we bought Christopher for his birthday) got cancelled.

We had errands to run, though, so we went out around noon-thirty -- when the snow was about 3 inches deep. The roads were messy, but not awful. But whenever we parked for any length of time the car would get covered in snow, much of which was melting and freezing on the slightly-warmer car.

By the time we got home from our errands (which, honestly, were a breeze because no one was out shopping -- even Target was almost empty, which is unheard of on a Sunday afternoon), the snow was probably about 6 or 8 inches deep on the sidewalks and driveway -- which had been perfectly clear at 9 a.m. (Yes, I know that clearing the walks mid-storm is silly, but our snowblower can only handle about 7 inches of snow, so if we don't clear mid-storm we're kind of stuck. Literally.)

So now all of our nicely-melting snow is covered in another near-foot of snow. And the temps are dropping again, so we're pretty much assured that it's not going anywhere for a while.

Good thing I bought some fresh-cut tulips last week.

Friday Food - The Lunch Conundrum

When you're getting up in the morning and getting ready for work, if you're trying to not spend money, you have to consider what to take for lunch.

I'm a big fan of the peanut butter and (strawberry) jam sandwich on white bread, but - at least for me - that is a warm weather lunch.

I enjoy cold meat sandwiches year-round, but... well... you have to remember to buy the meat for that to work.

I work in an office with a microwave, so cups of soup do well - but only on cold days.

I discovered, a while ago, that there are a bunch of frozen meals that aren't all that expensive and - if you work it right - are only about a buck each. So I stocked up on some of those a while ago, buying what sounded good at the time.

Which brings us back to packing lunch.

Yesterday, when the temp was warm-ish (in the 30s - which is warm this time of year), I was running a little late and had to figure out lunch.

Too cold for peanut butter sandwiches. No sandwich meat in the house. Not really feeling the soup idea. So I opened the freezer and grabbed the frozen meal that sounded best.

Unfortunately, 4 hours later, the Turkey Dinner that I was microwaving just didn't cut it. The peas were fine. The mashed potatoes were okay once they were dunked in the gravy. But the stuffing was just mush, and I actually broke the tine of a plastic fork trying to cut the turkey. Overall, a thoroughly underwhelming one-dollar meal.

Breakfast is so much easier. The office has a toaster with a PopTarts setting, and I always have those on hand in my desk.

Getting (A) Cold

In case you haven't seen it on the weather, lately, Minneapolis has had an amazingly warm stretch of weather in the past week. We rocketed out of the deep freeze that we've been in and had a couple of afternoons in the 40s and even bopped up against 50.

The snow has been melting. I've been able to walk the pup in the mornings without being afraid my face would fall off. And I've even gotten to wear one of the jackets I used to wear in the winter in Baltimore (which, out here, is more of a fall/spring jacket).

Unfortunately, the weather is changing as I type this. Instead of having an overnight low of 35 degrees tonight (like we did last night), tonight we're supposed to be back into the low 20s. You can hear the wind whipping around the house tonight as the cold front moves in. After a week of pre-spring, this feels like the re-onset of serious winter.

And, you know, that's not all that surprising. After all, spring doesn't really start in this part of the country until March or April. Our average highs are really only supposed to be in the low 30s in February, so we've all known that we were walking around in borrowed weather.

But, somehow, this change in weather has started taking its toll on people all around. Everyone seems to be coming down with colds. Multiple people in my office (and, remember, there are only about 20 people in the entire company) have started coming down with colds and sinus issues.

Today, while the fog was so thick that I couldn't even see the downtown skyline FROM downtown, I started to feel that weird gunk at the back of my throat. One of my co-workers has been out sick "coughing like a dying person's cough" (her words) for the past two days. Another went from using her normal voice to about an octave lower in the course of the day, today.

Ah... The lovely reminders that we're not done with winter. Or that it's not done with us.

10,000!!!

Ten Thousand. Ten. Thousand. TEN Thousand. Ten THOUSAND.

As of yesterday, this little blog of mine has had it's 10,000th "hit." Can you believe it? I'm not sure I can.

Now, I know that this does not mean that 10,000 different individuals have looked at the blog. It simply means that, over the course of the life of the blog various people have landed on this blog - or clicked through a link on it - ten thousand times.

That's not a whole lot of clicks in the blogosphere. I mean, there are blogs that get that much traffic in a week, and websites that get that much in less than a day. But for my little blog, which only - according to the left-hand panel - has 10 people who "follow" it on a daily basis... Wow. That's a lot.

And, even better, the 10,000th person was someone I know. She sent me a message after it happened to say that the counter at the bottom of the page had registered 10,000 when she was on it, reading "Valentinostalgia."

I may have to bake her some pink-frosted cookies, just for that.

I think our next milepost will be 11,111. If you happen to see that you click through as visitor 11,111, let me know. You might just get some cookies, too.

Valentinostalgia

As with many holidays, there is so much more about Valentine's Day that is based in our memories of Valentine's Day Past than in reality.

When we were kids we all made Valentines out of construction paper and paper doilies. We made them for our moms and that made us all happy. And my mom always made us sugar cookies with pink frosting hearts on them in return.

We got a little older, and we started buying Valentines (with sayings like "Bee Mine" on them) for all the kids in our class. Putting them in envelopes with one stick of gum or one candy heart, and then dropping them into every construction-paper-covered "mailbox" in school. And we had school parties where no one danced, but we all ate the pink frosted cookies.

Then high school came around and the pressure mounted. The cheerleaders did things like raising money by selling carnations in various colors signifying different intentions. This always ended up with some people getting mystery flowers ("oh... someone has a crush on you!"), and a whole lot of us not getting any. Luckily, when I would get home, there would be those pink frosted cookies.

As I've gotten older, I've had jobs where we actually got cookies sent in for the various holidays. Sugar cookies with frosting smeared on them in the appropriate holiday color. I'm never one to turn down cookies smeared with buttercream frosting, so I've never complained. But those frosted hearts with the sprinkles were never quite the same.

In the midst of last week, when all that suckage was going on at work, I came home on Tuesday night and decided to take matters into my own hands. (Mom doesn't bake much these days since Dad is supposed to be on a relatively sugar-free diet.) So I mixed together all of the ingredients and made some sugar cookies.

Once they were cool, I whipped up a little easy pink frosting, and - yes - put pink frosting hearts on all of the cookies. And then most of them went into the mail to my sisters and my parents so that we could all share in the nostalgia.

Tomorrow at work there won't be any candy hearts. There won't be any punch or dancing. There won't be any mailboxes decorated in doilies and construction paper. (Honestly, considering my co-workers, I'm not complaining.)

But, when I get home, I'll get to snuggle in with Christopher and the pup, pour myself a glass of milk, and take a bite or two of nostalgia.

I don't know about you, but that sounds like part of a great Valentine's Day.