Saturday, January 17, 2009

Why does 17 degrees F feel like spring?

What a boring day!  But I have managed to read two books today while curled up under an afghan I crocheted probably 15 years ago.  It's amazing how Red Heart manages to last forever.  Much like styrofoam, I think.

I'm almost finished with the second fingerless mitt for my Secret Sister but as I haven't even found the hat pattern I want to use yet, I'm not racing to finish it before church tomorrow.  I changed patterns to a simple 2X1 rib that works beautifully with the variations in the yarn.  Not to mention, it makes a snug fit without being tight.  My own personal mitts seem to have enlarged over time and are pretty loose on me.  I think I'll be making myself some new ones when I'm done with my Secret Sister's gift.

The cold spell seems to have departed the area.  It was -17 yesterday when I dropped Zach off at work and set off to take care of the regular Friday errands.  I couldn't get over the number of mothers out there with their toddlers not wearing hats or gloves though.  I mean it was bitterly cold.  It may only be a few hundred feet from the door to the car but that's enough for a child to suffer damage from the cold in sub zero temps.  And with the wind chill, we were looking at -25+ temps.  Farenheit, that is.

But I didn't glare.  Or even cast a negative eye on them.  The children certainly looked miserable though and I felt for them, but what good does it do to bring it to the moms' attentions?

But then, I've been accused by nearly everyone in my family and my husband's family of being overprotective.

Tom  has a long weekend since he's not going ice fishing so he's been puttering around the house cleaning.  Heaven knows I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.  Plus, I was a bit puny last night.  I came home from StuffMart with a nagging tickle in my throat, which Tom pointed out to me happened to people in a Germantown Walmart the day before.  Apparently someone set off some noxious gas or something and closed the place down.  I hadn't thought about it but by about midnight, the cough was gone and hasn't reappeared.  Probably just a coincidence since I saw nothing on the news about it.  Or maybe I just heal quickly.  I'm not usually prone to the flu but I do get a cold or two once a year.  

While taking chemo I had bronchitis pretty bad that I wondered might be the death of me since two rounds of antibiotics weren't doing much for the 103 degree fevers until I accidentally took an extra dose of antibiotic while in a fevered state, thinking I was taking a tramadol.  I remembered thinking that the pill seemed pretty large for a tramadol but shrugged it off since I couldn't even see the bottles clearly.  Next morning my fever broke.  The doctor didn't laugh it off at all, saying that's most likely what broke the fever.

Anyway...I digress.  It was warmer today.  Professor finally went outside to wee after two days of having to use his puppy pads in the back hallway.  He tried to go out during the bitterly cold days but it hurt his paws so much he limped back in within seconds and crawled under the covers licking his paws frantically.  Little dogs don't do well in cold temps.  It was so bad he even willingly let me put his sweater on him.

I kicked the heat up in the house a bit.  I had dropped it a bit during the sub-zero days because I knew the furnace would be kicking on non-stop if I didn't.  We survived it and as a reward, I brought it back up to 60.  I'm able to go without my mitts and don't have to zip up my flannel jacket, but my widdle head does get cold.  Ever since chemo, my hair has been so thin and my head gets cold easily.

It's been snowing off and on today but we only have an inch or so.  Fine, powdery stuff at that.  I do like the snowfall.  Just not the snow removal.

I think I'm ready to start taking care of my physical situation.  I'm going to count calories again since that's the only thing that has ever achieved any kind of success, although it has been a mixed result.  I need to work a lot on emotional eating and forgiving myself for falling off the wagon.  I hate being an all-or-nothing-person.

I'm also going to work on making my marriage work.  Not to the degree that I give my heart up again, but to the degree that somewhere I need to find some mutual respect.  And to demand it from him.  I did manage to convey to him that his negative remarks about how I manage the finances is, indeed, criticism, whether he means it to be or not.

I can smell the meatloaf cooking in the oven.  One last hurrah and meatloaf...the kind my mother used to make...is one of my favorite meals.  

I watched Be Kind, Rewind last night on Charter OnDemand.  I was surprised to find that I loved it.  It's going on my list of favorites.  I'm almost done with the first season of Midsomer Murders yet again.  I can't wait until they set nine at the library. I've got the second season of Torchwood and third season of Rosemary & Thyme to watch also.  Haven't seen either set before so it's all new stuff for me.

Zach's school starts Monday.  He got all A's again last semester.  So far he's only gotten one B so his gpa is excellent.  I hope it gets him a decent scholarship or grant for the final year.  That would be nice although he's stockpiling money from his job to pay for it.  I loved that he turned down his student loan to pay for the rest himself.  I know he would have loved to have bought a laptop with his savings but his desire not to have any debt after school was stronger than his desire for a laptop.

What a kid.

What a man.  I keep forgetting he's 20 years old.

I'm going to schedule my mammogram next week for February.  By the time I get the bill, it will be warmer and we won't have the heating bills we have now.  I also need to get the pets in for their shots.  They're a few months overdue, but I'm not sweating it since they don't roam the neighborhood.  Hannibal doesn't go outside at all during the winter.  But since our city requires a pet license and since they know we have them we have to have them by March, when their tags are due to be renewed.

And they know we have them because the assessor illegally counted pets when he was assessing the houses a few years ago in spite of the city being told by a federal judge that that violated the illegal search provision in the constitution.

Well, I'm off to make the mashed potatoes that are a basic necessity for meatloaf.  It would be a sacrilege to have any other kind of potato or starch to go along with it.

TTFN

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