Happy Birthday, J!

He's sweet, generous, handsome, funny, loving, dog loving, cat tolerating, amazing, great company and he got up this morning and had birthday cake for breakfast. He loves his family and his country and he loves me. He is a Navy veteran. He loves hounds, particularly his basset hound Rosebud, and wants her to live forever, and he's already planning his next dog - a bloodhound to be named Bumpus. He loves Star Wars, and the Simpsons, and he loves silly movies that he and his brother can quote to each other. He inherited most of his build from his Dad, but his nose from his Mom. He has beautiful blue eyes. He's going to be seriously embarrassed when he reads this.

He has filled a large void in my life. I spent 37 years alone, and the last ten or so thinking I would never be lucky enough to find someone to love me the way I yearned to be loved. And then he came along, when I wasn't looking at all. I fought loving him, but in the end I had to give in - how could I push away someone who thinks I'm beautiful and special? With him I have all that I ever dreamed love could bring - a partner, a willing audience, an ear when I need one, a shoulder to cry on if I need it, someone to take care of me when I'm sick and someone to share silly times with. We love to be around each other, and I am very happy to have him in my life.

J, I love you, with all of my heart, and I love that we're in each other's lives now. I can't wait to hear you upstairs playing the bass in your music room. I can't wait to sit on the futon with you in your new room and watch movies on your DVD player. I can't wait to go on trips with you, and to go to family events with you, and to have our friends and family over when we're in the mood to be social. But most of all, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you.

Happy birthday!

Lunch and birthdays and tractor fires, oh my!

J had today and yesterday off, so he came into town and met me for lunch both days. It's so nice to be able to hang out with him in the middle of the day! I enjoy that a lot. Yesterday we went to lunch at the local restaurant that is owned by the place where I work, and had their yummy chicken sandwiches and fries (and Saranac root beer bottles at $2.50 each - ouch!), and today we went to the local pizzeria and had slices and cheese sticks. While we were at lunch, I gave him one of his gifts (his birthday is tomorrow) - a book by Alice Cooper. J's a big fan of his.

After lunch, we came back and got ice cream cones from work, and then he met some people who I work with, including Jamie! Jamie and Sarah both have been telling me that I was making J up, but now I have proof! Jamie's seen him and spoken to him, so now he knows he's real. Of course, Sarah's Mom saw him when we happened to be at the movies at the same time, but apparently that didn't count. But now he's been officially introduced, and just in time, because I think we're all going to go to the movies on Monday to see the new Pirates movie.

Anyway, after he met my bosses and coworkers, J went back home, and I went back to work. I have to say, it was kind of nice introducing him to everyone. I liked showing him off. :)

Apparently there was some excitement near my house this morning. J was there working on the room upstairs that is going to become his music room, and he started smelling something burning. He looked around the house and didn't see anything, and then when he let the dogs out, he saw that the tractor that has been plowing the field across the street was on fire! It was fully engulfed in flames, so he watched it get put out. Cool! Well, not cool for the farmer - I hope they had insurance on it. But still. I missed the whole thing, what with being at work, but J took some pictures. If they come out well, I'll post them here, too.

Okay, I haven't updated in what, a week? Wow. You'd think I'd have more to say, but apparently you'd be wrong. ;-) We had a quiet weekend. J had to work both days, which officially sucks, as does his boss for making him do that. So I played the Sims a lot, and watched TV and lots of non-productive stuff like that.

Oh, and on Saturday I had lunch with a friend who I used to work with at SU. We hadn't seen each other since the weekend before my first date with J, so it had been a while. It was really nice to see her and catch up again. After lunch, I went shopping to get some new jeans, and ended up getting one new pair of work pants, three new work shirts, and no jeans. Sigh. I dont' know what is up with the retailers. Why do they think women only want to buy capri length jeans in the spring? Stupid people. There was a whole wall of regular Levi's for men, and a similar wall for boys, but nothing for women. Stores suck. So I haven't gotten any new jeans yet, but at least I got some work stuff.

So, tomorrow is J's birthday, like I said, but he has to work (I mentioned his boss sucks, right?), so we're celebrating tonight. We're going to have barbecue and mashed potatoes (that's what he wanted for his birthday, and the barbecue is Dinosaur, for anyone familiar with this area) for dinner, and cake for dessert, and he's getting two more gifts! I can't wait to see him open them. I've been hanging on to them for three weeks, and it's been torture. I love giving gifts.

Anyway. Suddenly I'm out of things to say, so I'll wrap this entry up by saying bye! I hope you all are having great weeks, and may your tractors not catch on fire. :)

I love sleep, and junk food is the devil

It's amazing what a difference it can make to my world view when I get a good night's sleep. I hadn't gotten a full night's sleep all week, and was feeling very grumpy - yesterday in particular was just not good. I ran late in the morning, I got stuck behind some jerk who only wanted to do 35-45 in a 55 mph zone (grr) and got to work six minutes late. I was in a semi-bad mood all day, and was so happy to see the day end. Nothing really horrible happened, but the day sucked all the same.

Then I got a good night's sleep. I woke up feeling refreshed this morning, and suddenly the skies are blue again (well, metaphorically, anyway - it's raining here, so in reality they're kind of gray at the moment - much more fitting to my mood yesterday instead of today). I got up on time, I got to work seven minutes early, I'm getting stuff done at work and am just having a good day. I love sleep.

I did get some game play done in the Sims last night, though. I got everything done for my next chapter, so now all I have to do is put the pictures together and write it up. Of course, I say "all I have to do," but that process will take somewhere in the neighborhood of four hours, so it's not really all that easy. It's rewarding, though. I am loving this legacy a lot, and I'm having a lot of fun playing and writing it. My second generation will be handing the reins over to her daughter in this upcoming chapter, which makes me very sad. I love her as much as it's possible to love a simulated person. She's cool. I hope any of you who are reading are enjoying it. And look for the next chapter to be up by the weekend.

I've made the decision to start eating better again. I've been very bad for the last few months, and have gotten right back into the habit of eating junk all the time, and eating because I'm bored, which is the absolute worst reason I can think of for eating. So I'm trying to start turning myself around again. I want to feel good again, and I don't right now. Here's hoping I can keep it up forever this time, instead of just for a few months. Sigh. Junk food is the devil.

And now I must go read an e-mail from my J, who I love and miss very much, because he stayed at his house last night instead of coming home to ours, so I haven't seen him since yesterday morning. Bye for now!

Busy Weekend

What a busy weekend! J had to work Saturday, so I was on my own until he got home at somewhere around 5:00. I would love to say that I spent the whole day sitting on my butt playing the Sims, but spring is here, and with it seems to have come the ambition to get things done. I did play the Sims a little bit, and I got a lot accomplished toward my next story chapter. But I also did the following: did all the laundry, vacuumed the whole downstairs, stripped the bed, washed the dishes, bagged up all of the recycling that had been cluttering up the kitchen, cleaned the bathroom, made two batches of dog biscuits with which to tempt the dogs, rinsed out and bagged all the soda bottles that were laying around, and I tried to start mowing the lawn, but the garage door wouldn't open, so I decided that I was off the hook for that for the day. :) It was a good, busy day.

When J got home we went after groceries and went to Jreck's Subs for dinner. It was nice. I love spending time with J.

I bought new summer sheets for my bed when we were at Walmart on Saturday, and I love them. I use flannel sheets in the winter and regular sheets in the summer, and I didn't have any regular ones left. I washed them when we got home and put them on the bed as soon as they were dry, and it felt like sleeping in an all new bed. I loved it. New sheets are always great.

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and J was off work. Since my Mom died seven years ago, I haven't actually celebrated a Mother's Day since 1999. But J's Mom is still here, and they were having a family get together to celebrate it. It felt nice to be able to celebrate with my future Mom-in-law. I cut some lilacs that were just starting to bloom, and three tulips that were still closed up enough to cut, and I took them to her. She loved them.

Anyway. Before we went to the family thing, though, I mowed the lawn in the morning, and J cleaned out the filter between the well and my water pump, because it had gotten clogged up with little stones that come in from the well. Then we got ready to go, and he took me shopping! He spoiled me, he really did. I made a comment one morning last week that I was running out of summer shirts, and the next thing I know he's offering to take me shopping to buy me some new summer shirts for work. He's so good to me. I only found one shirt that I liked (I'm wearing it now, and I love it), but I also ended up bringing home a pair of Skechers sneakers to go walking in with him, a Trix is for kids t-shirt (love), two undershirts, a flag shirt from Old Navy and a long sleeved orange SU basketball shirt. It was really nice to be spoiled. I don't expect it to happen all the time, and in fact I didn't expect it to happen this time, but I loved it. Thanks, J.

And now somehow it's Monday morning again, and I'm wishing I were still home in bed (on my new sheets), and yet I'm at work. Sigh. I really need to start playing the lottery.

New Porch Pictures

As promised, I'm back with pictures of the porch! First up, here is a shot of the porch before.

Ugly, isn't it?
Here it is now. It needs paint on the top by the roof, and the porch itself will need some water seal, but that has to wait at least a month. Pretty, though isn't it?

Here is the side of the old porch.

And the side of the new one.

The inside of the porch, looking at it from the end. Notice how far the front is leaning in.

And the side of the new porch, complete with the neighbor's dog, Hank, who has decided he likes our house better than his own, probably because there are four dogs here for him to play with.

And here is where I'll be spending a lot of time this spring/summer/fall. In my rocking chair, on the porch, watching the world go by. Because apparently I'm old like that. :)

So what do you think? Do you love the new porch? I sure do!

The letter B

Clare posted a list in her blog of her favorite things starting with the letter T, and offered to give letters to anyone who commented. I did, and got the letter B. So, here we go - ten things I love that start with the letter B (and it's kind of disturbing how many of them are food. Hmm).

1. Boyfriend :)
2. Bernie (my dog, of course)
3. Brownies
4. Birthdays
5. Bracelets
6. Buttercups (the flower)
7. Birthday Cake
8. Bob Seger
9. Bread - home baked, white, warm from the oven, yum
10. Blogs

If you want a letter from me so that you can post ten things that you love, post a comment and I'll reply with one for you.

So in other news, good things are happening with my porch and roof! The roof is done now, and the porch is all done except for the handrail for the steps. He'll finish that today, so I'll take some pictures when I get home and post the before and after, so you can marvel at how much nicer my house looks now. I am in love with this porch (if my list was of words starting with p, that would have been first on the list). I put my wooden rocking chair out there on Saturday, and I have sat out there a little bit already, even though the contractor's tools are still all over. I don't care - the porch is just so nice that I can't help but want to be out there. It's great.

How would you like a weekend recap? If you said you'd love one, then you're in luck, because I'm about to give you one! Saturday I had a short list of things that I wanted to do, which included mowing the lawn (done), doing laundry (done), vacuuming (partly done), cleaning the bathroom (not done), doing the dishes and cleaning off the kitchen counters (not done), playing the Sims (did some) and writing chapter five of my legacy story (not done). Yeah, I didn't do everything I wanted to do. But! I did clean and slightly rearrange the living room. And I sat on the porch with the dogs for a while. :) So it was still a productive day. It felt especially good to get the lawn mowed for the first time this year - it always looks so nice when it's first cut.

After J got out of work on Saturday, we went to Pizza Hut and got pizza and breadsticks for dinner (yum), then we came back and watched TV or something - I don't know, it's been a couple of days, so I don't remember anymore. My memory is crappy.

Sunday J had off, so we hung around the house and watched TV in the morning, then we got ready to go to the movies, because we were seeing Spiderman 3! My sister was supposed to go with us, but she crapped out on us, so it was just the two of us. We got some candy and soda from the dollar store to sneak in with us, got our tickets and some popcorn, and went in to watch the movie. I really enjoyed it - it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. Although my butt was killing me by the time it was over - movie seats just aren't as comfortable as they used to be.

And that's pretty much the extent of my weekend. It was a good one, even though J did have to work on Saturday.

Remember to check back later - I'll take pictures of the porch when I get home (assuming he finishes today) and post the before and after pictures.

Good Day

I'm having a really good day today. Despite an inauspicious start (Duff peed on the floor last night, which J found when he got up, and Willow is having anal glad problems again, which means she is acting freaky about her poop, which lead to her pooping on the floor in the house this morning - now I get to express her anal glands, oh joy!), this day has turned out great!

You all know that I am quite a bit obsessed about my Sims, and you know that I've been writing a new legacy story, which is where you start with one Sim and follow their family through ten generations (or 27, depending on which type you're doing), following certain rules along the way. And if you've ever looked at the link bar to the right there, you see that I link to a site called boolprop.com, which is a Sims 2 forum centered around legacies. Well, I spend a lot of time there. Anytime that I'm online and bored, I'm on the boolprop site, finding new stories to read, reading updates to my favorite stories, and of course I post my own story there, too.

Well, one of the authors of one of my favorite legacies is going to do a bachelor challenge, which is where you take one Sim from your game and you do a bachelor thing with them - like the TV show. You place them in a house with seven other Sims, and the seven compete to win the heart of the bachelor (or bachelorette). He's using Sims from other legacies for his challenge, and he asked me if he could have my two second generation girls for his challenge!

Now, to any of you who aren't me, you're probably less than enthused. But I was so happy! I was mentally squealing and jumping around (and only not doing those things in reality because I was at work). I of course said yes, because I would love to see how Amelia and Addie fare in the challenge. I'm going to work on uploading them tonight. So exciting!

And then my boss came out of her office a little bit ago, and was just gushing about how great her staff is, myself included, and how lucky she feels to have us all working for her. She's very sweet.

Plus, our new porch is coming along great - it's going to be very pretty. I can't wait until it's finished, so that I can show you how pretty it is. And I can't wait to sit out on it with J and act like a couple of old farts, reading books or talking as we watch the world go by. (He'll be on big time spider killing duty, though, because my porch usually gets a lot of them. Yuck.)

Also, J is, at the very least, going to be renting out his house, which will save him a bunch of money, and he actually had someone talk to him yesterday about buying it. Either way, he'll be in better financial shape, and he'll be moving all of his household stuff into my (our) house, so he'll officially be living with me. Even though he's been living with me for a while now, but his stuff hasn't, and now it will be moving in, too. And I can't wait. It took me 37 years to find him, and now that I have him, I want him there every day, with all of his stuff, too. I want to get the rooms upstairs made over for him, and I want to sit up there and listen as he plays his bass (which I haven't heard yet). Life is being very good to me lately.

And I bought J's birthday presents yesterday. :) He doesn't know what they are, and he reads this, so I can't say, but I can't WAIT to give them to him. And his birthday is still three weeks away. Sigh. I love birthdays.

Okay, that's all I have to say, I guess. I just needed to come gush about my life, much like my boss was just gushing about her staff. Bye!

Pictures and Weekend Recap

Happy Monday morning! I didn't come through with pictures over the weekend. Sorry, I suck. But! I have them now, and better late than never, right? I thought so.

First up is our adorable, newly shorn McDuff (AKA Dufferdoodle, AKA Dufferoo).


Isn't he cute? I heart him. Also, please ignore the hideous 1970s brown linoleum floor. It's on the list of future home improvements, but it's way down below the important stuff, like windows and roof and porch. And probably it's below a lot of other interior stuff, too. I don't spend too much time looking at the floor, after all. Anyway, Duff is adorable, and I LOVE his new haircut.

Next is my darling Lucy cat, who was sleeping on the back of the living room recliner (cat chair), with her head tucked into her paws.

I know, you could just die from the cuteness. I love that cat.

Here's a picture that J took of his two dogs at the top of the stairs, looking down at him. There is a bit of a red eye (yellow eye) problem, but it's cute nonetheless, don't you think?

And the last cute picture I have for the day - I have a picture window in my dining room, which looks out over the pool and the backyard. I have a dining room chair placed in front of the window because the cats love to look out that window, and Saturday when I was going out to cook dinner, I saw why. There were two birds on the ground, and this little guy was in the pine tree on the left side of the window:

Of course, he had gotten out of the tree by the time I got my camera, so the picture isn't the greatest, but it's a little chipmunk! That window is like National Geographic for cats. Also, please note the horrible grape vines. This is only a very small section of them. Sigh. If anyone in the area wants to help cut and pull them out, we're accepting volunteers! They're kind of choking out any potential use of the pool (if we get it opened - that's not a sure thing, what with the porch/roof repairs, and my current lack of any additional income and the large amount of bills that I have right now). Stupid grape vines. :)

Anyway, so that's my picture sharing for the day. I took some before pictures of the porch, to show the truly horrible state it is currently in, but I think I'll wait and share those when the porch is done, so you can see the hopefully truly remarkable difference. The person we hired to do the roof/porch is supposed to start working today, so soon we'll have a new porch and a new roof and new soffits/fascias and the house will look a whole lot better. One more repair/update done, only about a bazillion to go. I've got to start playing the lottery.

So, I had a pretty quiet weekend. J had to work all day Saturday (like, until Midnight), so I was alone all that day, and he had pulled a muscle in his side on Friday, so he laid down most of Sunday, so it was very quiet. I posted a new chapter to my Sims legacy Friday night. There are four chapters up now - here is a link to my story upload page, in case you're interested in reading. I know two of you are reading, so thanks for that, and I hope you continue to like them.

Anyway, so I pretty much played the Sims and watched TV all weekend. And J and I went to get groceries yesterday and we went to Denny's for lunch (for me, breakfast for him), which was fun.

I hope you all had good weekends! Now I'm off to eat pizza in celebration of a staff member who is leaving for a different job. Later!

Friday Rambling

Hello!

My week has been going pretty well. I've written about the fact that we're getting the roof replaced over the living room extension and the front porch, and that we're replacing the porch itself. Well, the work is set to being Monday! I'm very excited. I can't wait to have a nice looking front porch. My current porch is really sad looking. I took some before pictures of it yesterday, so when it's done, I'll show you the difference.

I also took an adorable picture of my cat, Lucy, sleeping with her nose tucked down in her paw, but I forgot to bring my camera with me, so I'll have to share it another time. :( Sorry.

Oh! And I have to post a picture of our little McDuff dog, too. He got a haircut yesterday, and he's so adorable now that I can't even stand it. Of course, he was adorable before, too, but somehow, although it seemed impossible, he's even cuter now. I heart that little dog.

Tonight I'll be finishing up chapter four of my Sims legacy story, because J has to work until 6:00, and then he's going to his sister's house for her dog's second birthday party. The dog is having a Tonka truck themed party. Hee. J's sister is even more of an animal nut than I am, and I seriously thought that was impossible. But then, I've never thrown a birthday party for my dogs, so it seems to be true.

Also, I want to let you know that spring is finally here for sure! The crocuses came up and bloomed once the snow was gone - they were a little crushed from the heavy snow, but they still managed to put on a show. And now the daffodils are blossoming, so I cut some and brought them in last night. I love daffodils. And the lilacs are starting to get their leaves, and the huge spider is back in the outside of my bathroom window (shudder), so winter is officially over at last. Woo! I love that.

I don't love that spider, though, so J has already been put on the case to kill it. And J, if you're reading this - don't be afraid to leave spider guts on my window. I want it dead, not just evicted. Yuck. I truly hate spiders.

And that seems to be enough of an entry for today, I guess. Check back this weekend, because I just may shock you by posting some pictures!

Have a great Friday, and an even better weekend!

Weekend recap, plus warm!

In a complete turnaround from last week, today is sunny and warm - it's supposed to get into the high 70s, low 80s today. And last week we had snow. Crazy! I'm glad to be on the warm end of the spectrum today, though. My toes are making their debut appearance for the year today - I'm wearing flip-flops. And I'm very happy about it, too.

So, I had a great weekend with J. Saturday marked the six month anniversary of our first date. I called it our six month first date-iversary. Cuz I'm clever like that. Or weird like that, take your pick. We were going to go out to dinner and a movie to celebrate, but there weren't any movies out that we wanted to see, and I was really just in the mood for Chinese food, so we went out and picked that up Saturday night. Sesame chicken for me, Hunan beef for him, and all was good. I love Chinese food. I could eat it every week and not get sick of it. And in place of the movie we were going to go out and see, we stayed in and watched Casino Royale. I had never seen a Bond movie before, so I was a total newbie. I liked it. I had to suspend one particular bit of belief, though. This was supposed to be a prequel to all the others, right? So it seems like it should have taken place in the 60s, because that's when the movies started. So when the first cell phone showed up, I was a little thrown. But then I accepted that it was current day, prequel or not, and it was all fine. The movie was pretty good. I like action movies, and the story was good, but overall I didn't like it as much as J did. I guess I'm just not a spy movie type of person. I might watch some more with him, though, especially the old Sean Connery ones.

It was a busy weekend for us in more ways than just our first date-iversary, though. Saturday morning I took Bernie to get his rabies shot at a clinic that was being held close by, and he was such a good boy! There were quite a few people there with their dogs, and he was so nice to everyone - dog and person alike. He really is a big sweetheart. I love him.

Then we went and got groceries, and we checked out the local Aldi's for the first time. It is a lot cheaper on the stuff that they have, so that was nice. It's always good to save money where you can, especially when you're as broke as I am. When we got done getting groceries, J started cleaning out the garage while I stayed inside and did laundry/played the Sims/watched TV. I have it so rough. :) He's going to claim the garage as his, as all men should. So he started gathering up all the crap I had thrown out there over the years and piling it up, so that we can take it to the dump when we can borrow my brother-in-law's truck to do so. Eventually he's going to have the garage all cleaned out (and de-spiderfied) so that we can park out there and walk in and out the back door, as all good country folk should. He's also claiming the two empty rooms upstairs, which makes me very happy. I love having him live with me, and I want him to have his stuff spread around, and I want him to have the rooms upstairs so that he can go there and do his music stuff (he's a bass player) and his sports stuff and be comfortable and feel at home. We're going to be sharing our lives together, which means sharing the house too, and I'm glad that he's going to finally take some of it as his.

Anyway. On Sunday we mostly just hung out and veged in front of the TV and computer. He did start clearing out the vegetation around the pool, in hopes of getting it opened this summer. I haven't been able to afford to get it open, and I'm afraid that because of that, I've just ignored the growth back there, and it's been taken over by these horrible grape vines. They're everywhere, and they're tangled around everything, and they're nasty. I hate them. He's going to bring a pair of work gloves for me to wear, and we're going to go out there together and hack the shit out of those grape vines. I love cutting stuff up like that - it gives me great satisfaction. And hopefully with both of us working on it, we can get it cleared fairly quickly. Then the next hurdle will be getting enough money to buy the chemicals to shock the heck out of that nasty, dirty pool water. A pool that hasn't been opened for a few years is not a pretty sight, let me tell you. Yuck.

So, that was our weekend, for the most part. How was yours?

On Snow, and Writing

We're still surrounded by snow here in Central New York, but the temperature right now is 54 degrees, and it's only going to get warmer, so that stuff has a very limited life span. This is such an unusual spring for us. I keep thinking back to when I first moved to New York from Virginia, 13 years ago next week. When I got here, the daffodils were up and blooming all pretty. Right now the daffodils that had started to come up before this nor'easter are buried in heavy, wet snow. I hope they still bloom once this stuff is gone.

Since I first mentioned the Sim story that I was writing on here, I've posted two more chapters, and I'm very happy to say that they are being very well received. I'm getting a lot of great comments on them, which makes me very happy. I hope they will continue to gain an audience as I write more chapters. I'm having fun with this whole thing, both with playing the game with the idea of writing it out in mind and in doing the actual writing. It's a very satisfying process, creatively.

I used to want to be a writer. It's the only thing I can ever remember wanting to do when I was a kid. I wrote short stories all the time, and remember making my friends laugh when I read the stories to them. Even when I got out of school and started my adult life, I still used to start (and not finish) story after story. Somehow in the time since then I've lost that sort of focused creative drive. I spend my time now watching TV or playing the Sims or watching movies or hanging out with J or my friends. I'm not sure why that drive went away. The odds of me ever writing anything now and getting it published are extremely low, but then, I guess that's why I'm writing in here, and now why I'm writing the Sims stories. These two mediums provide me with a way to do some writing, and get feedback from the people who stop in to read.

It's a very satisfying thing.

April Snow brings...what?

The pictures above were taken from the windows in my living room, this morning. Yes, it is April 16th, and we're in the middle of a freaking nor'easter. Lovely. There is a lot of heavy, wet snow, plus wind, and I am SO ready for this crap to be over for the year. Sigh. I just keep thinking about how it's going to be in the 50s this weekend. It's my ray of hope.

Anyway, check out the geese! They've been hanging out around the house lately, visiting with the Canadian geese who are in the area now. This morning, though, instead of spending time with their wild cousins, they were huddled up in the snow on the side of the road. I was a little worried that they would get hit by a car, but there isn't much traffic today, and they moved on after I took the picture, so I guess they're okay. Cold, but okay.

So, for the second Monday in a row, I am home today. Last week I was sick, this week I just didn't feel like risking my life driving on nasty roads to get to work. And I have time coming, so I stayed home. I went out and shoveled the driveway in front of my car earlier, and now I'm huddled up in the living room, with the kerosene heater running, trying not to get too cold. Brr.

Okay, I hope you all are having a great day - and except for the people who live around here who read this, because I know you are getting snowed on just like I am, I hope the weather where you are is sunshiny and beautiful!

Snow and other news

There is just something completely wrong with looking out the window on April 10th and seeing snow. I don't live in Alaska, people! Give me some spring here! Gah.

So I got some really great comments on boolprop about my Sim story yesterday. They love me, they really love me! :) Or at least they didn't hate it, and that made me very happy. I did, however, slip up and post it without letting J read it first. Oops. Sorry, babe. You'll be the first reader of every chapter from here on out, 'kay? Promise.

I discovered one good thing about being at home all day when it's this cold and I'm out of fuel oil - running the space heaters and kerosene heater all day long makes it actually comfortable in the house! It was up to 63 at one point yesterday evening. I haven't felt temperatures that toasty in my house in a week, at least! It was amazing.

And in addition to enjoying the warmth in my house, what else did I do all day? Well, I took care of the animals, and I cleaned the toilet, but other than that? I didn't do anything constructive at all. I played the Sims, I wrote and posted my Sim story, I responded to comments about said story online, I read the end of one of the books that I had borrowed from Sarah and I watched all of the General Hospital episodes that I had built up on my DVR. It was a GREAT sick day. :)

And today I'm back to work, which is less great, but after a day like yesterday, I almost don't even mind. A sick day that doubles as a mental health day is a good thing indeed. And now I better get back to work. Later, gators!

(p.s. - if you want a taste of central NY weather - it was snowing when I started writing this update, and now it's not. Our weather is very fickle.)

Easter Update

Happy Easter! Err, Happy Day after Easter? Above you see the Easter basket that I got from J yesterday. Isn't he sweet? He put all the right stuff in it, including that adorable little dog. I love it! And I love that he used the Easter basket that my Mom used for me when I was a kid. Yes, people, that basket is about 35 years old. If not older - she may have used it for some of the older kids at some point for all I know.

We had a lovely Easter. We went to J's Aunt's house and had brunch, and saw his family, who are all great. The only down part was that my sinus thing had gotten worse - the congestion moved down to my chest. But we came home, and I took some generic Dayquil and we laid down and watched To Kill a Mockingbird (which was fabulous), so we still had a nice evening.

This morning when I got up, I was still feeling all congested and tight in my chest, so I stayed home. I've felt better as the day has gone on, so I'll be back to work tomorrow, and as for today? I've enjoyed it. It was the perfect sick day - I was sick enough to stay home legitimately, but not sick enough to have to be in bed feeling miserable all day, so I still got to watch TV and play the Sims. Which is, of course, my dream day. :)

Speaking of, I posted my Sim story on the Sims website for all to read. I don't know if that link will work for anyone who doesn't have an account on the site, and I don't know if any of you would be interested in reading anything like that anyway, but just in case, there you go.

So, To Kill a Mockingbird was a great movie. I just love the classics, you know? I don't know that I've ever seen Gregory Peck in anything before, but he was perfect as Atticus Finch. It's worth watching, if you haven't seen it.

And now I am feeling the need to relax and watch some more General Hospital, so I'm going to sign off. I hope you all had great Easter weekends!

Cold and sinuses and Easter! Also, boring

Brr, it's cold at my house. It was 46 degrees when I came home from work yesterday, up to 56 before I went to bed, but right back down to 40 when I got up this morning. Sigh. Where is our nice warm spring weather? Also, thank goodness for J's kerosene heater, which is the sole reason it was up to 56 before I went to bed last night. I love that thing.

So, I started to get a bit of a sore throat yesterday while I was at work, and I found out why this morning. My sinuses are going berserk, draining into my throat and making it sore, and clogging up my nose. Stupid sinuses. I don't know what made them go all wonky, but I hope they go back to normal soon. Please?

This weekend is Easter! Which means nothing much to me, since I'm not religious, but it does mean the possibility of chocolate, and any holiday that has the tradition of giving chocolate is all right by me. :) Oh, and Happy Easter to all of you who are religious, as well as to all of you who are only in it for the chocolate, like me!

We are going to go to J's Aunt's house for Easter brunch. His family is Polish, and they serve some weird things, but he promises that there will be ham and stuff I will eat, so it'll be fine, I'm sure. I would usually be going to my sister's house for Easter dinner, but she is having her meal on Saturday night this year, and I may not go. I don't know.

In other news, these updates are becoming awfully boring, aren't they? I want to update more regularly, but I don't want them to be this boring. Sigh. Next time I'll at least add a nice picture for you or something. :)

Happy Easter weekend!

Happy B-day, Wayne!

(There is another entry below, so go read if you haven't already. Oh, and there's one from yesterday, too.)

Today is my step-father's birthday. He would be 71 if he were still alive. Happy birthday Wayne! I love you and miss you every day.

Ramble, Ramble, Rambling

It's 10:00 a.m., I've been at work for two hours, and I feel like I'm just now waking up. I got to sleep plenty early enough last night, so I don't know what my problem is, but man - I could have slept at least another hour this morning. Also, I was having some weird, frustrating dream this morning, too. I'll spare you the details, because other people's dreams are never interesting, but I'll just say that it made me wake up very frustrated and grumpy. Sigh. I'm just not a morning person.

So, I feel like I've been ignoring this blog too much lately, so I'm going to attempt to update more regularly - I'm not promising everyday, but I'm shooting for at least three weekdays out of five. I figure I either need to start updating more often or I need to stop writing in here at all, and I don't want to do the latter, so I need to do the former. If that wasn't too convoluted of a sentence.

All right, so that being said, what's going on in my life to write about? Well, J got us tickets to go see George Thorogood in concert this summer, which should be really fun. I have only been to a few concerts in my life - ZZ Top when I was in high school, Billy Joel/Elton John at the Dome a few years ago and Cyndi Lauper with Jamie a year and a half ago. J is a big music afficionado, so I have a feeling that number is going to rise dramatically now that he's in my life. Which I'm happy about. We like the same music, for the most part, so whatever he picks I'll enjoy seeing.

We had someone come out to look at the porch/roof last weekend, and he's supposed to be calling us with a quote for fixing it up, but he hasn't yet, which kind of scares me. Well, the idea of how much it's going to cost scares me anyway, but it especially does when it takes him this long to get us a quote. Just how large is that number? Eek.

You know that I read legacy stories online (Sims 2 stuff, for those not in the know). Well, I've decided to start writing one of my own, so my Sims obsession is back in full force. Not that it ever really went away, but it's focused more closely on one family now. I'm playing them through to a point where I can write the first chapter and get it online. Man, I hope people read it. I'm okay with only having a handful of people read this blog - I know I'm never going to become the next famous blogger - but I really want people to read and like the legacy stories I write. I think the difference is that it's more of a creative type of writing, whereas here it's all just what's on my mind or what's happening in my life. The creative stuff makes me feel more vulnerable. I'll post the link here once I get the story up, for any of you who might be interested. I know at least a couple of you play the Sims, so maybe one or two of you will read. :)

J brought his kerosene heater to my house the other day, and yesterday it was cold enough that I turned it on when I got home, and I love it! It was 51 degrees in my house when I got home (I ran out of fuel oil a couple weeks ago), and by the time I went to bed, it was 62 or so. Love! It felt so nice to sit in my house and not be freezing. Oh kerosene heater, where have you been all my life?

This is Sarah's last week at her job here where I work. :( I'm very sad to be losing her, even though I'm happy that she's gotten a job that utilizes at least a few of her mad computer skills. We're having cake for her today, which is fun, but I'm going to be sad when she leaves. Work just won't be as fun anymore.

Anyway, I guess that's all I have for today. Check back often for those more recent updates, won't you? Thanks!

Obsessions

From Bitchypoo:

List five things you are obsessed with, then tag five people to do the same.

1. J. :)

2. The Sims 2. Seriously, it's on my mind all the freaking time.

3. Reading legacy stories online, mostly ones found through boolprop. Great fun.

4. How much it's going to cost to do the roof/porch.

5. How long it's going to take me to pay off the bills that have sprung up in the last couple of months - taxes and labwork. Also, how and when I'm going to squeeze out enough to take Bernie to the vet to get his shots, so that I can renew his (overdue) license.

I'm not tagging anyone else, but if you read this and want to do it, go for it. I'd love to see your answers. (Robyn also did a survey type thing that I'm thinking about doing on here, but it's so long! I'll think about it.)

And, because she's cute and you need to see her picture, here is my newest shot of Willow. :) Who, by the way, is on my LAST nerve lately. She will NOT stop growling at Rosebud, and I can't take much more of it. She needs her growler removed. The funny thing is, she's completely accepted McDuff now, because he is afraid of her. But Rosebud gives the attitude right back to her, so they hate each other. Sigh. Stupid dogs. It's a good thing they're so cute.

Cuteness

I finally remembered to send these pictures to myself at work, so that I could share them with you (because apparently it's too much trouble to log into blogger on my own time to post them. Hee). Behold, the cuteness that is Bernie, sharing his crate with J's dogs.

First up, Bernie and Duff, looking oh so cute and comfortable together. They really are good friends - the only thing is, Duff has to remind Bernie sometimes that he's just too freaking big to be playing rough with.

And, looking slightly less comfortable together, Bernie and Rosebud. I love this one - Bernie just doesn't look like he knows what to do with her right there. He doesn't really have room to lay down, but he's too nice to kick her out. What's a dog to do?

Also, I've been really enjoying a new band that I found, and I want to share. If you love rock 'n roll, especially when it has its roots in the good classic stuff from the 70s, then you should check out Wolfmother. I bought their CD with my Target gift card, and I've been listening to it almost daily since. I especially love the song "Joker and the Thief." It's really good rock. Even J loves it, and he doesn't like new stuff! So I feel safe recommending it.

Okay, that's all I have to say for now. Have a great day, everyone!

Low-key weekend

J and I had a very relaxing, low key weekend. It was nice - lots of not doing much at all, which is just how a weekend should be. There were naps (for him - I don't nap), and grocery shopping, and Sim playing (for me), reading, college basketball watching and DVD watching as well. It's just the perfect way to spend a weekend, if you ask me.

The DVD that we watched was Rocky Balboa. It was a good movie, I thought. I'm not a huge Rocky fan (J is way more into them than I am), but I enjoyed it, and without saying anything to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I think that it was exactly what it needed to be, given Rocky's age. It was an enjoyable couple of hours.

So, I did my taxes. I normally have them done by February, because I want my money back as soon as possible. This time, however, I had made a rather significant amount of money at freelance copyediting, none of which was taxed, and I knew I was going to owe money, so I put off doing them. And boy, do I owe! Over $1,000 between federal and state. Sigh. I loved getting that editing money in, but man I am not enjoying the thought of paying that much back in taxes. Oh well. Thank goodness they'll let me pay in installments.

And as if I wasn't paying out enough money in taxes and labwork bills that the stupid insurance company won't pay even though I think they should, I also need to get a new roof. Now, it's not as bad as it sounds, because I don't need to do the whole roof yet - I only need to do the part over the living room extension and the front porch. Still, I'm afraid of how much it's going to cost, I really am. I love owning my own home, but man it would be easier if the house was new instead of over 100 years old and slowly trying to fall apart on me.

Anyway. This entry is going in a whole depressing direction that I didn't intend, so let's turn it around, shall we? Um. Okay, I wish I had a nice picture to post or something, but they're all on my home computer (and I'm at work). So. I'll just say Happy Monday to you! And wrap this up. I hope you all had great weekends, too. And don't let Monday get you down!

Happiness Is...

A pile of milk chocolate Mega M&M's on a yellow note pad at work, just waiting for me to eat them. Mmm, lots of chocolate, a crunchy candy shell, and such pretty colors! :)

So how long has it been since I've posted in here? A week? Maybe more? Sorry about that - I seem to have gotten out of the blogging habit. So, let's play a little catch-up, shall we?

Um, not that I have much to say about what's happened, because not much has. My brother showed up at my house out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't seen him since 2001, when I kicked him out of my house (he was sponging off, er, living with me for a few months, until I reached my breaking point that January and kicked him out), so it was a big surprise. He hasn't changed much - just looks older and way more worn out by life. I guess how you live really does show on your face, because he looks way older than he really is. It's sad, really.

Anyway, we visited for half an hour or so, and then he hit the road, and I haven't heard from him since. I think he was scoping things out to see if he could stay there, but luckily J was there, and I wasn't overly welcoming (I wasn't inhospitable, really, I just wasn't really open and friendly), so I think he decided to look for someone else to sponge off of. Which is fine by me - I'm happier when he's a few states away. Sad, but true.

Other than that, not much has been going on. J and I went to see Ghost Riders, which I loved. We went to Target last week, where I used the remainder of my Christmas gift certificate to buy a new book and a new CD, plus some turkey for lunch, and wound up with .18 cents left on my gift card. Hee. It's crazy that they didn't just give me the change, but whatever. At least I got a couple of new things.

J ordered me a new pair of sneakers, because my old red ones are all worn out and getting stinky, and plus he rocks.

And I'm still completely obsessed with my Sims. I'd be playing all day every day if I didn't have a job. It's probably a good thing I'm not rich, because if I were, I'd just buy myself a super gaming computer and probably never leave the house again. Sigh. It's a crazy obsession, but I love it.

Oh! And the most exciting news, is that Willow is starting to learn to play! I adopted her from the SPCA a year and a half ago, and she never showed any interest in toys - it's like she didn't even know what they were for. But lately she's been seeing J's dogs playing with their toys, and she seems to have picked up the idea from them. I went home last night, and after I got them out and fed, she was having a lot of fun in the living room, playing with a stuffed hamburger. It was so cute. I wanted to get a picture, but I didn't know where my camera was, and if I had gone searching for it, she would have stopped playing anyway. Trust me, though - it was very cute. And I'm really glad she's learning to have fun.

And I thought I had something else to say, but now I can't remember what it was, so that's all for now. I hope you all are doing well! Thanks for continuing to read!

New Day, New 'tude

In a 180 degree turnaround from yesterday, today I am in a great mood. I'm full of energy (the soda I'm drinking might be helping with that), and I'm all smiles and happiness.

I am a riddle that will constantly keep you guessing. :)

And, in the spirit of this better mood, I bring you: Things that are making me happy today:

1. J
2. Sarah, Jamie and Debbie (their boss)
3. Diet Pepsi
4. Winning a free soda with the cap of the one I'm drinking. Woo!
5. The chocolate chip muffin I had at lunch. Yum.
6. My pants are fitting looser than they did last week, even though I haven't lost any weight (strange).
7. Drawing good teams in the office NCAA basketball pool thing (Texas and Butler for me, Maryland for J).
8. I'll be getting my office area back to myself next week, which means I can once again turn my music up a little bit higher.
9. Ice Breakers sours.
10. Getting a couple of compliments at work.
11. Sims stories online (they keep me sane between tasks at work). For those of you who aren't Sims people, these are stories that people write around the Sims that they're playing in their game. They upload the albums online for people to read. There are some incredibly bad ones out there, but there are also some really good ones, and the good ones are fun ways to pass time. Also, they have the side effect of making me want to play my game, and the best ones make me want to write, too.
12. That it got up to 60 degrees outside today. I love spring!
13. That J tarped my roof, where the shingles need to be replaced, so I don't have to worry about it raining into my living room. Yay!
14. Getting stuff done at work.
15. Writing in here. :)

Things that are annoying me today

1. Work
2. PMS
3. That Jamie is being moved out of our building at work, to the other side of campus. :( We’ll miss him.
4. Moodiness
5. My inability to get my eating back under control.
6. Being broke.
7. My stinky, worn out shoes.
8. That I’ll never win the lottery, because I don’t play it. Sigh.
9. That I have trouble coming up with entry ideas lately, and don’t have the energy to carry forward with the ideas I have. (I had an idea yesterday to write an entry about how J and I went to the movies on Saturday, and we had to wait outside the theater doors, because the previous showing was still running, and we actually talked to the people around us, making small connections where we would normally have not even paid them any attention at all. It was going to be a well written entry that you would have loved, but sadly, it never saw the light of day. Sigh.)
10. That I need to do my taxes, and I’m afraid I’ll have to pay, and I am broke (see number 6).
11. Sitting outside of my boss’ office, with a steady stream of people coming in and out and stopping to chat, when I just want to be alone to do what I need to do.
12. Life in general, right now, excluding certain people (J, Sarah, Jamie, Sally) and certain animals.
13. Yahoo radio, which keeps playing me unrated stuff on a channel that I have set to play my favorites. Sigh.
14. It’s hot in my office. I hate being hot.
15. That after I wrote number 13, Yahoo tried to redeem themselves by playing Chuck Berry. Grr. You can’t get me in a good mood that easily, sorry Yahoo.
16. Me, for writing about stuff that is annoying me. Like you really want to read that! Geez. I’ll be in a better mood next time I write, I promise.

So this is what alone was like...

So, apparently I’ve forgotten how to be alone in my own house. J has been off on a mini-training thing for work, so I’ve been on my own for a few days. I knew I would miss him, but I didn’t know how weird it would be. For a house with nine (9!!!) animals in it, it gets awfully quiet there at night when I’m the only person there! The animals all lie down and go to sleep shortly after they get their dinner, and then it’s just me. Me, sitting at my Sims computer, playing and watching TV at the same time. And then I get bored, so I read. And I get lonely, and jump for the phone when it rings. And I wonder, how in the world did I used to spend just about every single night of my life alone, and not lose my mind? I mean, seriously.

Of course, I haven’t turned my IM on, either. That would help, because I could chat with Sarah if she’s online, or I could pester Jamie. I’m kind of out of the IM habit, though, so I didn’t even think of it. Oh well.

And living alone for these few days has been bad for me in other ways – I’ve completely regressed on my eating habits. When J is there, we somehow manage to have real food for dinner every night. Even if it’s just hot dogs and frozen French fries, we cook something up. It’s worth the effort if there are two people eating it. But since I’ve been by myself I haven’t cooked a damn thing. Monday night I had pretzel nuggets and cheese (soft cheddar cheese, that the pretzels get dipped into, yum) for dinner. Tuesday night I had a potato chip sandwich and a Krispy Kreme donut. Wednesday it was the pretzels and cheese again. Yup. It’s bad. Of course, the reason I was eating those things is because we didn’t get groceries this weekend, and I was out of real food for the most part (at least without thawing something out). Not that I would have cooked real food anyway, but at least I would have gotten some cereal and milk and had that for dinner. I was going to get groceries Monday night, but the weather was really bad, and the roads were worse, so I went straight home and stayed there. Tuesday night I couldn’t get groceries, because I had to go to a meeting after work and then I had to go straight home to take care of the dogs. The food situation got pretty desperate at that point, but the personal hygiene situation was even worse. I would have run out of body wash today, and I ran out of deodorant on Wednesday. Luckily the weather got better, and I got groceries after work on Wednesday, so my coworkers didn’t need to avert their noses when I walked by. :) But, even though I got groceries last night, I still ate pretzels and cheese for dinner. Hee.

Still, though – it turns out that you only have to live the life of a couple for a short while before you completely forget how to be single without losing your mind. I’m going to be so glad to see J walk back in that door tonight. I missed you, J! I knew I would, but I didn’t know how much.

Grateful

Things for which I am grateful today:

*My J.
*My friends.
*My family.
*Sims 2 Seasons, which I love.
*Also, that I got to play it last night and get to play it tonight, too.
*That J is going to sit with me while I play it tonight, and feign interest, because he’s sweet that way.
*A sunny day before the ice storm we’re supposed to get tonight. Sigh.
*My dogs.
*My cats
*J’s dogs.
*Especially McDuff, who is just cuter than any dog should ever be allowed to be.
*Internet radio.
*That I’ll have enough paid time off (PTO) to cover my sick days from last week, so my paycheck won’t be short.
*That I accrue more PTO every day that I work.
*My mp3 player.
*That I just overheard a coworker ask another coworker if August was the 8th month. Ha! Did she really need verification on that?
*All of the wonderful blogs that I read on a daily basis (see sidebar).
*Sims stories on the Sims2 website.
*Lactaid chocolate milk (which I’m almost out of, hint hint).
*Adobe Illustrator, which makes my job kind of fun sometimes.
*My job. As much as I would rather be at home all day, I’m grateful to have a decent job working for a decent company.
*Stupid state laws: http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/new-york/
*Payment plans. I got hit with a bill from NY State for over $500, because an error was made on my taxes in 2003. Ugh! Also, my stupid insurance won’t cover the lab work from a routine physical, because the doctor put down that she was ordering it “because of family history.” Blue Cross/Blue Shield Excellus sucks. But payment plans save my life.
*The new banner that Sarah made for my site, so that it could stop looking all wintery. Thank you Sarah! (Look for it to be up soon.)
*That Gracie didn't get hurt yesterday, when she ran into the kitchen like her tail was on fire, jumped up to the top of the fridge, and ran into the water box (there is a picture of Zelda in it in the previous entry), knocking it, and herself, off the fridge onto the floor. Hee. Silly Gracie.
*That all you fine people stop by here to read my quiet little blog about my quiet little life.

Kitties

For your viewing pleasure:

Zelda, in a water box wrapped in plastic, on top of the fridge. J calls it her "oxygen tent," hee.

And now, I present to you - kitties getting around the blockade. We put this baby gate on the futon to keep the kitties off it. It works pretty well, doesn't it? On top is Lucy, mushing in the top of the mattress. And UNDER the gate, is Gracie. Such a cutie. But a bad kitty. :)

I love this shot. Gracie is something else.

Week's News

A week has gone by since our big snow storm, and things have gotten a bit better. We had a warm day yesterday, so some melting started happening, so for the first time in a while, I can see the wood on the floor of the porch! Very exciting. It's almost the end of February, so my hope is springing eternal that before we know it the snow will be melting away and spring will be here. I'm optimistic like that.

So, I guess I owe you a bit of catching up. The end of last week was pretty low key, after all of the snow. Work happened, and J worked a little bit later than usual on Friday, so he brought us home subs for dinner. Mmm, cheeseburger sub from Jreck's. Love it.

Saturday we went to the SU/UCONN game, which was very fun. J bought the tickets for us back in October, when we first started dating. I have to admit that, given my track record for relationships, I wasn't completely confident at the time that we'd still be together to use them, but what do you know - he got me past my fears and we're not only still together four months later, but we're very much in love. And hey! I just realized that today is the four month anniversary of our first date. Cool! Happy Anniversary, baby! (And everyone who isn't J can feel free to start puking now. :)

Seriously, though, four months may not seem like much to a lot of you, but it's pretty much the longest I've ever dated anyone. I'm really glad that I worked past those relationship fears so that we could get to this point, because things just keep getting better. He is incredibly sweet, loving and romantic, and I consider myself very lucky. Even better - he considers himself very lucky, too, and tells me all the time how much he loves me and how beautiful I am. (Were you done puking after the last paragraph? Well, if so, I hope you didn't put that bucket away, because I'm sure you're needing it again now. Hee.)

In non puke inducing news, I have been dealing with a head cold and sore throat since Sunday, and it's not showing any signs of going away. I was out of work sick the last two days with it, spending almost all of that time laying down. Sigh. I hate being sick. I'm back to work today, but wishing every minute that I was at home. My head aches and feels very tight with pressure, my throat is scratchy and I have very little energy. I'm sure it will go away soon, and I'll try not to complain too much in the meantime.

And just like that you're brought up to date. Fun, huh? I hope you were able to fight the urge to puke at all the mushiness. :)

Aftermath

So, the storm is over. The snow stopped falling sometime last night, but the winds picked up, and the snow was being blown all around, so that any shoveling was done in vain. I shoveled a path to the car yesterday at lunch time, and it was completely filled in with a good three feet of snow by dinner time. So I gave up and just waited for this morning. I called a plow guy last night and arranged to have him come plow out my driveway this morning, but when I got up and saw what was in my driveway, I knew he wasn't going to be able to plow it out with just a truck, and I was right. I went inside after shoveling a path to my car, and found a message saying that they needed to bring down a tractor with a snowblower attachment. I couldn't picture what they meant, until I saw it.

That's quite the machine, isn't it? I'm getting ahead of myself, though. First, you should see the pictures I took before they got there with their tractor.

That red lump to the right of that stump is my mailbox. The snowplow hit it on its way through yesterday and knocked it off. I have no idea if the mail came before that yesterday, but if it did, my mail blew away, because the box was empty. I was expecting a Netflix movie yesterday - there is a very good possibility that their DVD is buried in 3 1/2 feet of snow. Oops. Also, notice that there is a patch of ground almost completely clear to the left in the picture. Snow being blown around by the wind is so funny - some areas are down to the grass, and other areas have 4 feet of snow in them. I am never able to judge how much actual snow fell where I live, and that's why. The wind never stops - there is a reason they put windmills all around where I live.

This is my poor car, buried in snow up to its windshield. Sigh. Poor Little Red (that's my car's name).

In front of the garage. You can see all of the peaks in the snow. It's really kind of amazing what the wind does to it. It's like snow sculptures or something.

I love the scalloped edges that the wind made where the snow stopped piling up. So neat.

Here's the snowblowing tractor, working on clearing the side of my driveway that J usually parks on. He stayed at his house last night, so only my car was buried in the driveway today.

After they finally got the driveway cleared around my car, we used shovels to clear away the snow from around it, and I pulled it out so that they could finish with their plow. My driveway is nice and clear now, but I shudder to think how much that bill is going to cost. A normal plow is $20 - this one is going to be so much more. Ugh. I hate winter.

Once they were done, I was able to get ready for work and drive in, and only get here 2 hours and 20 minutes late. Not too bad. And I took some pictures on the way.

This is when I'm about to drive into a white out area. For those who don't live in snowy areas, that's when the wind blows the snow across the road and creates areas of low visibility - white outs, because all you can see is the white of the snow. They can be horribly dangerous to drive in. This one was short, luckily, and the road was in good shape, so it was okay.

This is when I was driving into the small town where I work. Such a snowy scene!

And this is the road on campus. I had to take pictures of the high banks and snowy roads.

Now maybe you can see why I'm so eager to ship all of this stuff to those of you who want it, if only I could figure out a way. I just keep telling myself that spring is coming. It's mid-February, so hopefully in a month all of this white stuff will be melting away, and the crocuses will be breaking through the ground and giving us all hope for warmer days. I can't wait.

Adults DO get snow days!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have somehow managed to never have a boyfriend on Valentine's Day before. Yes, at the ripe old age of 37, the Valentine's Day that J and I are celebrating together is my first one ever with anyone. I had intimacy issues, okay?

Anyway, J knew that this was my first one, and he decided to take it upon himself to see that I had the perfect one. I got a dozen red roses at work yesterday (I'm not at work today - the story on that in a bit), and they are absolutely beautiful. Don't you agree?

When I got home from work, it was to find more surprises waiting for me. I had a large gift bag, all decked out with a heart shaped pillow that says "Luv You" and a stem of fake roses. Aww. What was inside the bag? Well, I'm glad you asked!

A super soft bathrobe with hearts on it. Very soft, very comfortable, and I'm wearing it right now. I love it.

Mmm, Godiva! I would have been happy with a heart shaped box of Hershey's or something, but no - he went all out and got me Godiva. You better believe I pounced on that box as soon as I saw it. Yum.

There was also a Buffy watch, which isn't pictured because I couldn't get a non-blurry picture of it, but it has Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow and Oz on it, and I love it. Gee, you'd think he knew me or something - getting me a watch. ;)

He did good, right? And I haven't even told you the whole thing! He also took me to the Outback on Saturday, where I got another yummy filet mignon. Yum. I'm not a steak person, but I could eat there a lot before I got sick of it, I think. Very good.

So, my first Valentine's Day was a big hit, and all because of the man I have come to love more than I ever thought I would love anyone. J, thank you. You truly gave me a great Valentine's Day. Even if we did have to celebrate it on the night of the 13th because of the weather.

Which brings me to part two of my entry, which is dedicated to all of my readers out there who live in areas where they never see snow. You want it? If I could figure out a way, I'd ship it to you!

Anyway, the weather reports yesterday were predicting a nor'easter to come through starting last night and not ending until this evening. They were calling for up to 36" of snow, and I decided that maybe I'd be smart and take the day off. So I asked for it off yesterday, and this morning I stayed home. And I'm really glad I did.

J got up at 3:30 this morning to get ready to go, because he had to be at work at 5:00. It was too dark at that time to take a good picture, but here is one that I took through the window, which shows a bit of the road and driveway in front of J's car.

Pretty, but pretty scary if you have to go out and drive in it before the plows have had a chance to do much good. Our road hadn't been plowed at all. J called me when he got to work, so that I'd know he got there safely, and he said the whole way in, there was only one lane cleared, and even that was in horrible shape. He apparently spun out somewhere in Syracuse, and ended up facing the wrong direction, but he was able to get back on the road and got to work safely. After hearing that, I was super happy that I had arranged to take today off.

So, after he called, I was able to sleep in a bit. My pipes were frozen because of the extreme cold wind hitting the side of the house where they're located, but luckily they thawed out on their own later this morning, so I once again have water in my sinks and my toilet (an excellent thing, I'm sure you'll agree). And I spent the morning laying on my futon and watching TV, mostly with Zelda on my lap, so it's been a nice morning for me. I let the dogs out at lunchtime, and I shoveled a path to the driveway. I'm NOT going to attempt shoveling the driveway, though. Once J is on his way home, or once the storm has passed and the snow has stopped, I'm going to call and have it plowed. Life is too short to be spending a couple hours of it killing myself to clear three feet of snow out of my driveway. The plow guy will do it in two minutes and only charge me $20 or $25. That's a bargain, I'll say.

Anyway, while we were out there, I took some pictures.

My car, surrounded by drifts and piles of snow.

The back of the driveway and the front of the garage. You'll notice that the snow is almost halfway up the garage doors.

Bernie likes the snow.

Willow does not. :)

Bernie and Rosebud (and Duff's tail). Yes, Rosebud is peeing. Don't eat the yellow snow!

Bernie wants to play with McDuff. Duff isn't so sure. He's like, "do you KNOW how large you are, man?" Duff is smart.

And there you go. Valentine's Day, and a snow day, all wrapped up in one. I loved the first, and I even kind of like the latter, but only because I didn't have to leave the house. And tomorrow? I really hope that they have the roads back in good shape.

And that ends this really long entry. I hope you all have had good Valentine's Days, and if you live in an area that was hit by this storm, I hope you survived it well, and were able to enjoy it. And if you don't get snow and are jealous? Well, I don't know what to tell you, except that once again, if I could ship it to you? I totally would.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Adults Need Snow Days Too

I woke up this morning to the sound of the wind whipping, and oh man I didn't want to get out of bed. We have been in a brutal stretch of weather for a while now, and I am SO sick of it. I wanted nothing more than to call in sick and stay home in bed, but no. I had a couple of ads to get done and out today, and I had some raffle tickets to print for one of the food places on campus, so I had to get up and come in. Sigh.

So I took care of the dogs and got showered and dressed, and went out in my boots and winter coat to shovel the snow away from my car so that I could start it and get it warmed up. Brr! The wind was so strong and cold that I had to tie my hood under my chin, so that it wouldn't blow off, and I couldn't wait to get back in. Yuck. Then, unfortunately, I had to drive to work, over snow covered, slippery roads, and through stretches of white outs, where I couldn't see anything through the blowing snow. And I couldn't help but envy the school kids, who had a snow day today. And I wondered - why don't adults get snow days? Why is our work so important that we're willing to risk our lives driving to work in dangerous weather, instead of staying home and waiting it out like any sane person would?

What makes the school kids any better than us? Sigh.

Anyway. I thought I should make an appearance in here today, because my good friend Sally was worried about me. I hadn't e-mailed her in a while, and I hadn't posted in here, so she was afraid I had disappeared. I assured her that I'm fine - just not feeling very communicative lately. Life has been kind of busy, but it's the good, boring kind of busy, you know? Work, boyfriend, animals, TV, Sims - all good, fun stuff, but not really newsworthy. Thank goodness. I kind of like the busy yet calm life that I have going on right now.

Now if only spring would come early. The groundhog didn't see his shadow last week, so it should, right? Right? I hope so, because I am certainly ready for spring.

Super Bowl Sunday

It's Super Bowl Sunday, and I'm of course not watching the game (J went to watch it with his brother). Instead, I'm sitting here watching this week's General Hospitals and playing the Sims. MUCH more fun than watching football.

And because I was in a picture taking mood today, here are some that I took and wanted to share! I hope you enjoy.

Bernie, sleeping under my desk.

Willow, sleeping in her crate.

Lucy.

Kate, in her new semi-permanent spot - on the futon.


Gracie, on the back of the futon.

Zelda, in J's toolbox.

Sable in the window.

Rosebud and McDuff on the couch in the mudroom. J and I have a house full of very cute critters. :)