Snow, ice, and climbing over the Christmas tree...

Ok. So the first thing you need to know is that when I'm snowed in, I do NOT spend all my time on Facebook playing Frontierville. Got that? Sometimes I clean! So during the last snowstorm I actually took my tree down, and shoved it out the front door.. (this does have a bearing for later in the story)... I also took down the real pine roping and tossed that out too... (it left most of its needles, which I shall be attempting to clean up until JULY!)

Now, I've been proudly entering and exiting my house through the garage, not the front door. (Why proudly? Because me, myself and I changed the doorknob to one that takes a real key...the previous owner, whom I refer to in the privacy of my own head as...hey, its in the privacy of my own head..are you nuts? Anyway, stupid mcnumbnuts had put an eminently pickable lock in the garage, which made it impossible to use the garage) Of course, the advantage to actually using the front door meant that I would keep it clear and the path shoveled...

So yesterday I try to leave the house through the garage, and the garage door (the one that lifts up so that hypothetically one could put a car in the garage? yeah, that one) is frozen shut. Immovable. And I have a giant bush blocking the front door...which also has not been shoveled since I wasn't using that door... So I go out, climb over the tree and then slide on the ice out to my car... go out, to work, then costco, reconn and the theater... I come back. And now remember, I've been to costco, so I'm not empty-handed.

I try the garage door once more, for shits and giggles, just in case. (and where on God's Green Earth did I pick up the expression shits and giggles? eeew)

No luck, frozen stiff. Won't budge.

I look down the ice road to the door with the tree standing proud sentry in front... grab my bag of Costco goodies (at least I'd had the sense to have a bag in the car!), slipskateslide down to the door. I put my purse and the bag on top of the tree, nestled into the branches, nice and safe...(this is also uphill and coated in ice too...) Reach over the tree, unlock the front door... climb over the tree, trying to avoid the spots where my feet went through in the morning...

MADE it!

Needless to say, I don't think I'm going anywhere today.

Dear Martha...

You never told me what a bloody mess pine roping makes when you try to take it down.

Yes, it looks lovely up...all green against the dark wood...

But taking it down...brittle, crackling, flying pine needles...I have a pine carpet on my stairs!

Single and sick...

Well, I think I may finally be learning how to manage being sick, when its just me. Maybe.

I'm actually eating relatively regularly this go-round, healthfully too...

But still, this is one of the times it would be nice to be in a relationship... to have someone I could call or email (or ask in person) to please pick up some books/DVDs/Orange juice.

Or to make breakfast, or wash the dishes...

Still, I made some broiled chicken the other day, and I'd made a pot of lentils and rice and kale that I've been adding veg to and eating off of....

All I really want to do is just curl up in a little ball and watch junk... relatively mindless tv (yes, MAD MEN is mindless....its really about the outfits, the sets, and the old graphics)

Or read something escapist. Something simple, comforting, wild....

And the dishes will keep until I get better. And breakfast doesn't have to be complicated.

And I always have HULU for junk tv....

Now, really, I just need a shirtless manservant to peel grapes for me... not some silly relationship.

(and yes, I know relationships are about loving/nuturing/caring. I have ended up in relationships in the past where I've been given a can of soup, and that's been considered 'taking care of me'...this is an idealized, unrealistic relationship I'm picturing above...)

Well, in some ways. Because I want a relationship where my partner is going to be aware of my needs, where they are going to say "hey, you are sick, let me get you some tea" or something...

Dear Facebook...

I still like you for the connectivity factor...BUT. You used to be a place where I could have my settings tidy, I knew what they were, who could see what, I could manage groups, I could manage friends. I now have some friends who are not in the groups they should be because there was no way to add them when I added them. And you've made managing friends ten times harder.

You've now made it impossible to search for status reports. (I play Frontierville. Do you know how much wall stuff I have from that? I used to love being able to scan for status reports and see what was up...)

Now its just a matter of if I'm on at the right time. I don't WANT to spend all my time online (even though I play Frontierville). I used to be a person who had a handle on the 'new' Facebook.

Do you not understand? I have people from work on Facebook, I have people I've never met IRL (have I mentioned that I play Frontierville?). I have different settings for everyone so that work people can't see the Frontierville crap or personal joking around, but that Frontierville folks (hopefully) can't see my address, phone number, all that crap. I don't want to end up in the position that someone can tell when I am not home... or when I am, for that matter.

It used to be easy to do the controls. And NO, I do not want to inform the world where I am at any given moment. One of these days we will hear about a rape or an abduction because someone inadvertently let slip some information....

I even have a setting for guys I've met online who are potential dates (which, granted, is empty right now). But please! We don't need to share EVERYTHING with the entire world. We used to have privacy on Facebook, and I, for one, would like it back.

Snow Day...

So, every time it snows, I wake up thinking, ok, today I will bake, or I will paint, or I will....

And I end up curled up on the couch with a cup of tea, watching said snow....

Why can't we all just get along?

So, a lunatic goes out on a shooting rampage. And my Facebook page starts filling up with vitriol about how Sarah Palin caused this... and no, just no. But at the same time, there is a point when campaign and political talk becomes too much... why do we need crosshairs on a map of the US? Why do we need to CONSTANTLY hear the negatives about other candidates? About political opponents?

I wish we could all take the time to say one nice thing about the opposition. I wish we could all unite in mourning these poor people. I wish we could actually look at what we agree on...no-one wants higher taxes or a budget deficit. We all want people to have jobs and homes. We want a healthy economy.


Can we please, please, please stop erupting in blame and maybe just scale back the rhetoric? Scale back the grandstanding. And focus on what we agree on....

A New Year and a New Me.

So, Dear Reader, its a new year. The Christmas Season is officially over (wwaaaaahhhhhh). And its a time for a fresh start. So here is what I hope to do this year.

I will lose at least 30 pounds. But I will do so intelligently. I'm working on it by having breakfast, even something small, and trying to work out at least 5 times a week as part of my morning routine.

I will get a kiln, and start creating some wonderful pieces at home. (This also means getting the basement sorted and adding a sink downstairs)

I will spend less time online, and more time doing fun things.

I will get an actual part in something. I want to ACT, not be futzing about on the fringes.

I will move forward, onward, and upward.....