Now Playing -
in my head - "Johnny Are You Queer?" Don't ask me why.
Now Eating -
imbibing a DP.
Now Feeling -
toasty warm.
Now Tweeting
- Melanie
I made snow angels with the young girl from across the hall tonight.
This after dashing through the snow to and fro the laundry room. Yup, I did laundry in a blizzard. This after shoveling out the cars as best we could. Minor correction: I shoveled, Huz cleaned them off and de-iced. My lower back is thanking him right now. There wasn�t much that could be done, really. The parking lot had been plowed once � depending on accumulation, if we shoveled out to the extreme, we could just be plowed right back in again. I'm hoping minor detail work will be all that's needed to get me moving tomorrow. First day of caroling � whee! That's me, coming soon to a Borders near you. Or not.
You had to see us, rooting through our drawers (if I were in Australia, I suppose that phrase might be pretty vulgar) to find appropriate winter gear. Long underwear, hunting socks, earbands, fleece, layers, layers, layers. Felt like the little boy in A Christmas Story. But we weren't cold, just a bit windblown. Most exercise I've had in a while.
Whoops. . . just got word that we're cancelled for caroling. Our alto is snowbound. However, our bass is still throwing his annual Christmas party tomorrow night (rescheduled from this evening). Too bad it's on a school night. Not much overindulging can be done.
Hrm. . . what else, what else? Evaluations are over, and finals are about to begin. We got out an hour early yesterday, and it took nearly two to drive the ten miles home. Unfortunately, the inclement weather necessitated the cancellation of dinner with my favorite dentist. Instead, I cooked dinner. Chicken with balsamic vinegar and garlic � a recipe I got from the New York Times magazine many years ago, and one of my standbys. I made vodka sauce the night before, so it almost feels like I'm on a cooking spree. Since we moved to this apartment (and it's going on two years now) the percentage of home-cooked meals has really fallen off. The size of our kitchen and lack of a dishwasher have a great deal to do with that. I'll cook, and the dishes will pile up and the next night Huz will suggest take out or fast food so as not to dirty some more. Bad for our wallets and our health. Think I hear a resolution coming on.
A professor of ours died this week. Carole S. She was one of the women I asked Marn to run for in her Jog For The Jugs. I mentioned her in Marn's comments, and you can see her name on the back of the shirt she wore in the run. It's on the top right, just beneath Phyllis Levin, the other woman I asked Marn to run for. As I wrote, she was an extraordinary, caring, centered, thoughtful woman who shouldn't have had to go through this. But at least she's no longer in pain. And will be very fondly remembered by students, faculty, staff, friends and family. I only wish I'd had time to know her better.
My sister-in-law is flying up from Florida later this week, and she and Huz will start clearing out my mother-in-law's house. To date, we�ve had asbestos removed, and painting done, inside and out. Cleaning it out should be an adventure. There's not nearly as much crap as there is in my parents' house, but my SIL's old bedroom has become a storehouse for all our "stuff" these past few years. When the house is sold, we'll need to rent space in a storage center. For Huz's musical equipment alone! Nah, there's plenty of other crap we'll need to store as well. And of course, my parents are seeing this as the perfect opportunity. . . "You know, you have a lot of stuff still at our place too. . .want to help us clean out our junk too?" Nothing would please me more, if they'd ever let me throw anything away!!!! I may not share the gene pool, but I definitely managed to inherit the Pack Rat gene.
Raises will come with the next paycheck. I'm expecting the same thing as last year, perhaps with a touch less bitterness. Yeah, so health insurance has gone up something like 90% since I got here, and a cost of living raise does absolutely squat to offset that, but I'm putting 5% of my salary into a retirement account (and the school matches it), so that's less taxable income, and more for me in the long run. And we didn't get a rent increase this year. And the caroling will add some keshene gelt (that's "pocket money," and your Yiddish Phrase of the Weekend). Hey, I've still got my health, so what do I care?
Thank you, thank you very much. I�ll be here all week. Don�t forget to tip your servers.
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a very fine cat indeed - Friday, Jan. 17, 2014
happy new year! - Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013
this is where i am - Saturday, Jun. 30, 2012
this is how it is - Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
a very late last year's wrap-up - Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
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