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. :)

Odds and Ends

It's only been five days since my last post, so why does it feel like forever? All that daily updating in December really makes me feel like I'm slacking if I don't update at least every couple of days or so. Somehow I manage to carry on without updating, though. Hee.

Today is my oldest brother's birthday. I sent him an e-card from Hallmark, featuring Hoops and Yoyo. I love those little creatures! They're so freaking cute. And when I was on Hallmark's site looking at e-cards, I saw that they have stuff with Hoops and Yoyo on it. I might have to buy myself the watch. It's very cute!

So, after a month of eating whatever I wanted, without thinking too much about the consequences, I felt like I had gained a little bit of weight back. Today I was finally brave enough to step on the scale, and yes - I gained 7 pounds. Oops! So I'm not going to buy junk food anymore, either at work or at the grocery store. I'm not throwing away what I have - I'm just going to slowly work my way back down to eating less overall, and to cutting the junk food back out. We haven't started a new weight loss challenge at work, so I'll just start it on my own. I'll let you know how I do.

I had a futon given to me this weekend. It's in need of a thicker mattress, which J, luckily, happens to have in his garage, so we're going to use his, because we're not too fond of the feel of bars pressing up into our butts. But even with the thin mattress, it feels incredible to have it in the living room. I haven't had a couch in years - the one I had got worn out and old and dirty from dogs laying on it all the time, so I put it in the mudroom for them to lay on, and I never got around to buying a new one. I always had other things to spend my money on, like, oh, heat and stuff like that. Now we have it, though, and it's so nice to be able to sit on it to watch TV, or to lay down on it to relax (or nap, as J did last night). How did I live all this time without a couch?

Wow, this is really an odds and ends entry, isn't it? Sorry about that. I guess I only had some little things to say. I hope you are all having a great Tuesday, wherever you are! And if you have some good thoughts to spare, could you send them to J? He had a bad day yesterday, and I'm hoping that today will be better for him. I'm sure he would appreciate any good vibes you can send his way. Thanks!

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday. She would be turning 69 years old today. In honor of her birthday, I scanned in a few of my favorite pictures, and lucky you, you get to see them!

Mom and I went to Hawaii the year I graduated high school, to visit my brother, who was stationed there in the Navy at the time. This picture was taken when we went to the Don Ho show. I love this picture for a few reasons. First, it shows my Mom at what was one of her happiest times in life. She LOVED Hawaii, and was very happy to be there, and to be seeing Don Ho. Second, it shows me at the young age of 18, just as happy as she was to be there. I was young, naive and had no idea of what life was going to be putting me through in the years to come. Third, I really like this picture of my brother, David. He looks so young and handsome, and trouble free. Life has battered him around a bit too, and it's taken its toll on him, but this is how I always picture him.

This picture is of me at two years old, just a month before my Dad died, in my Mom's lap, with my Dad's Mom next to her. I didn't grow up knowing my paternal grandmother, so I'm not too thrilled that she is in this picture, but I LOVE how my Mom looks - so young and beautiful. I wonder if she had any idea of how beautiful she actually was? This picture also captures a happy time before the death of my Father, so it is actually even more precious. Mom wrote on the back of this picture - this is what it says:

"Taken April 4, 1972 on the train ride to Six Gun Territory. Mother P. 56; Myself 34; Denise 2 yrs. Our Easter vacation to Florida - March 29 - April 10th."

And this one, that isn't of Mom, but of my Step-Dad, Wayne. I love this picture of him because it just shows how he really was in life. He's wearing his short-sleeved shirt with pockets and his sneakers, he's smoking his cigarettes (that would go on to kill him later) - it's just him.

So, there you go. A short trip down memory lane with me, on my Mother's 69th birthday. I love you Mom, and I miss you every day and every minute of my life. Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Happy Birthday Sarah! I hope you have a great day, and I hope the cake that Jeff makes you is yummy! Have a piece for me!

All you other readers: if you have a minute, go to Sarah's page and wish her a happy birthday. She'll love it!

Happy Birthday Jamie!

Fourteen Years

My Dad died in an accident when I was two years old. I don't have any memories of him, and only know him from stories told to me by my Mom and my older siblings and from pictures. I have often wondered what he was like, what he sounded like and what our relationship would have been like if he had lived longer. But I didn't really feel his loss all that much, because when I was four years old, my step-father moved in with us.

Wayne wasn't very welcomed by my siblings, because unlike me, they remembered our father, and resented the presence of another man in the house. They didn't want another father. I, however, accepted him and loved him as if he were my father. He was a hard working man - a bricklayer, with all of the aches and pains that a job doing such hard physical labor brings with it. He was short - about 5'5" or so, maybe? He had a full head of hair that curled if it got too long, he had kind gray eyes and he loved me like I was his own daughter.

He died of cancer on January 18, 1993. I can't believe that 14 years have gone by without him. He was my father, for all intents and purposes, and I miss him everyday.

I love you Wayne. I'm thinking about you today, just as I do everyday. I hope wherever you are, you are happy, and I hope that you and Mom are once again together, playing cards and laughing the way you used to do.

Plip, tink!

Plip, tink! Plip, tink! Plip, tink!

Hello everyone! I have today off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. My plans today are to watch a lot of General Hospital to clear it off my DVR and (almost) catch up, play the Sims, and listen to the following:

Plip, tink! Plip, tink! Plip, tink! Don't know what that is? That is the sound of the rain coming through my living room roof, finding its way through the ceiling, and falling into the two bowls that I've put under the drips. Sigh. I'm very sad. J sealed the roof for me a while ago, and I haven't had any leaks since, so I thought he had fixed my problem. I knew I was still going to need a new roof over this part of the living room, but I thought I might be able to put it off. But, nope.

Plip, tink! Plip, tink! Plip, tink!

Damn it.

Anyway, I'm trying not to focus on it, even though it's pretty much all I can hear (plip, tink! plip, tink!) and I won't stop thinking about it until it's stopped doing it. So, let me share some pictures with you!

This is Zelda, killing a plastic bag (whited out a bit from the flash) on my dining room table. She's so fierce!

The stack of books I have waiting for me to read them. I LOVE books. Also, I should note that the bottom three belong to Sarah. I'll get them back to you eventually Sarah, I promise! (In the picture is my Mom. Hi Mom! I miss you! And of course that's Otto the Orange in the background.)

We set a desk up in the corner of my living room for J. He had to go to work last night, and at some point Kate decided to hang out at his desk. I'm sure he won't mind, right J?

The bowls (and towels) on my floor, catching the drips. The plastic one on the left makes the plip! noise. The glass one on the right makes the tink! noise. Sigh.

After my last entry, you should know that my shoulder and arm are feeling much better. My arm is still a little sore, but it's just a minor muscle soreness now - very livable. And it's getting a little better everyday. It's apparently going to take about a month for me to heal completely, but it is happening slowly. Just a tip for you, though - if you start getting a feeling of pulled muscle? Take care of it immediately! Don't let it knot up on you like I did. You'll be happy to avoid this kind of pain, believe me.

And okay, I think that's all I have to say for now. I'm going to go turn on my Sims computer and try ignore that water dripping into the bowls.

Plip, tink! Plip, tink! Sigh. I hope you have a great Monday.

Tired (and Sore) Now

It's been two weeks and two days since my shoulder muscles froze up on me. I've gotten a lot better in that time, but I am still dealing with soreness every day and every night. I can't sleep at night unless I take a muscle relaxer before I go to bed, because my arm gets so sore that the only way it is comfortable is if I'm on my back. Only, I can't sleep on my back - I need to be on my sides. I can't lay on my left side at all, because it hurts my arm too much, and I can't lay on my right side unless I have the pill in me - otherwise the arm hurts too much. I've tried not to complain in here about my arm and shoulder, because it's such a minor thing really, in the overall scope of things. But. I woke up at 2:00 this morning because my arm hurt, and I only dozed on and off from then until I got up at 6:10, because I couldn't get my arm comfortable, and right now I am exhausted. I want to go back home, take a muscle relaxer and go back to bed. But I have to sit here at work and attempt to be productive for the next 7 3/4 hours instead. I hate my shoulder and arm muscles right now.

Anyway. Now that I've vented at you, let me talk about some good stuff - relationship stuff. J and I continue to do great. He has proven himself to be someone I can count on when I need help - he has done more for me during this whole muscle debacle than I ever thought any man would. Cat litter scooping, dog wrangling, food fetching - you name it, he's done it. I loved him before this whole thing, but I think I love him even more now. It's really nice to know that the guy I'm with is someone who is not only able to do stuff for himself, but who actually wants to help out when I need it.

He started moving some stuff into my place last night. He's not really moving in yet, but he is spending quite a bit of time with me, and it only made sense, if he's going to be at my house more than at his own, for him to have a place to store some clothes. So we moved an extra dresser down from my upstairs (okay, he moved it and I tried to help, but I can only do so much with one good arm and one sore one). I emptied it out and cleaned it up, and he put some clothes in it that he had brought with him from home. For the first time in my life, I'm almost living with a man that I'm dating. And you know what? I love it.

After the freak outs that I had in November, I really never would have thought our relationship would be able to move this fast. And yet, once I got past the fear and let myself just enjoy the relationship, it's been nothing but good. We are more alike than I ever thought would be possible. We like the same stuff, we think the same way on most things. I am very comfortable with him. I think I'm going to enjoy sharing my space with him.

Now if only my arm and shoulder would finally get back to normal, maybe I'd really be able to enjoy our time together. Heal, damn you! I have a life to live, here!

Life of Pi

Yesterday I had to go to a meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY. I rode with two other people from work, so I got to sit in the backseat and read the whole way there and back. I FINALLY finished Stephen King's Lisey's Story, so I had one of my new Christmas gift card books with me to read - Life of Pi by Yann Martel. And it is SO GOOD! I am in love with this book. It starts off a little slowly, with lots of talk about zoos and religion, but once I got past that stuff, I just didn't want to put it down anymore. And actually, I didn't mind the early stuff either, it just wasn't as exciting as the main story. If you haven't read this book yet, do yourself a favor and buy it or check it out of the library. Then get ready to spend a few hours just sitting still and reading, because you won't want to stop once you start - consider yourself warned.

Pictures from January 6

I think I discovered the problem with my picture uploading, so if this works, you'll see the pictures below that I wanted to show you. Enjoy!

A school of fish. Ha! Those clever lights on the lake people.

Evil, demented looking racoon. I love it.

And, because I can't just show you pictures of pretty lights without adding some critter pics to the mix as well:

Zelda in a box. Sarah says pictures of cats in things get the most comments. This is a test. :)

Bernie says hi, and thanks for reading!