Whoo Hoo!

So yesterday I felt like a paraplegic trying to jump hurdles until about 7:30. Woke up to a very cold apartment and didn't want to leave my warm bed, until I realized that staying home from work meant staying home without heat. So I sprinted around getting dress and zipped out the door. Got to work and the new time clock was down. Why? Because the computer it was hooked to was down. Fixed that. Talked to the boss who had trouble with my computer the night before. All was fine now, but I'm thinking there was a power surge.

Boss gets in and is online for about 2 hours then the wireless router decided it didn't want to be wireless anymore. I tinkered but to no avail. Her husband came in (we call Joe Second tier support) and he was at a loss. We ended up on the phone with Verizon, we need a new wireless router and I spent the rest of the afternoon snaking ethernet cable through walls so she could be hardwired in her office.

Oh and I found out that I'm gonna owe the IRS a bit more than I figured. Great.

After work I went to the store then met Connie at the gym where I realized I was done. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill then drug myself home where I was praying there would be heat...and there was! Oh it was fantastic! You know, I don't think I'll ever see being cold quite the same way again.

I immediately texted Frank to let him know it was safe to come home and after cleaning up a bit I settled into a nice warm bath. Oh so wonderful to be warm when you get out of the bathroom! No more cold potty seat!

Frank came home and we had a lovely dinner then snuggled because we wanted to, without the addition of it being necessary to stay warm! I no longer feel like I'm living in communist Russia and standing in line for toilet paper! Yay!

Brrrr!

So I find myself feeling like I'm in a Steinbeck novel. Some part of my being feels that living without heat for 6 days should be something of the by gone past...not my present. Thank God for Frank. He's been so patient and positive about this, not to mention snuggly which is very important when trying to maintain body temperature!

The latest is that hopefully the new heater will be installed today, which is good because I think my brain is starting to freeze. Yes, we could go to the offered hotel, but now it's almost like an endurance test...we can do this! Last night I went to make dinner and found my coconut milk had turned into a slushie...in the can. Kind cool actually. And I now know our rat has cold feet. Little, horribly cold feet.

For me the hardest part is that I have some projects that need to work on and just can't bring myself to get moving on because of the temperature. Let's face it, no one wants to try on half made clothes when it's 50 degrees.

But aside from the cold I really can't complain. Thank you to all who have offered to let us crash!

AAAAARRRRRGGGG!

Okay, having a frustrating weekend with some good bits too. So Thursday crazy lady downstairs calls to ask if the heat is working...I have no idea, I'm at work! Frank and I go to P-Town for some game playing and the landlady calls to say the heater isn't working, she's got the repair guy coming out to look at it but we won't have heat that night. No biggie, we have blankets and a space heater. It wasn't bad at all actually.

Friday I have off and the heating guy may need to come upstairs so I park my butt in front of the space heater and work on a sewing project. When I'd heard nothing by 5 PM I called the landlady...the guy was downstairs now, she was peeved because he knew they needed a part the night before and instead of ordering it he brought something he thought might work. Great. I go to the gym, come home and talk to the landlady again (I love her by the way, she's great) who is really stressed because we won't have heat...again. Okay, Frank is working late and when he gets home we have dinner, snuggle up and then head to bed. Again, not a bad night.

Saturday...still no heat. Landlady calls at her witt's end, she's changing repair companies and ordering a new heater but we won't have heat until Monday, would we like to stay at a hotel? Nah, it hasn't been so bad, and our stuff's here.

Then the mail comes. I get a letter from my car insurance saying the online payment I made on the 12th (because I hadn't received my invoice which would be due the 16th) hadn't gone through. That's right, made an online payment, got and e-mailed receipt on the 13th and they MAILED me a letter saying it didn't go through. Now my payment is late, and in car insurance speak that means you are moments away from being uninsured. Great. So I go online where it says I both paid and owe, great. I make another payment, this time with a credit card instead of my bank account thinking perhaps I typed something wrong. Okay problem solved.

Saturday we had tickets to see Dar Williams at the Keswick and she was amazing! She did The Babysitter's Here as an encore and was spectacular! I want the new album! So that was great. We then went to Michael's Dinner in Glenside to grab a bite...and that sucked. The waitress dropped off coffee, took our order delivered it and then was never to be seen again. We sat there for a good 30 minutes trying to get her attention because we wanted more coffee and milkshakes but had no luck so we gave up. Of course on the way out after wrestling for the bill I thought Frank left a tip on the table but as we left we discovered neither of us did so I ran back in and gave her some ones. Definitely not my usual dinner tip, and to be honest I would have been okay with nothing, but that would have been mean.

So we get home to a freezing house, jump into bed and shiver the night away. This morning has dawned brutal and I'm taking Frank out to breakfast to thaw him out. Seriously, I'm next to the space heater and my fingers and toes are getting numb! I think the rat is hybernating. Oh, and I get an e-mail from my insurance rep saying my bill is overdue. Arg! I write him back, explain the situation and thank him for the reminder (better than a cancelation notice). Then I go online where I see once again no payment has been posted to my account. Good Grief! So I call and make the payment over the phone. Now I've either paid the bill 3 times, once or possibly not at all.

Have I mentioned I'm cold? I think my pinky finger just fell off...time to pour some hot water on Frank and de-ice him from his chair...

Welcome!

A warm welcome to Molly Elizabeth Reisse, born January 16, 2009 and weighing in at 7lbs 4oz. She came in 2 lbs over her sister and with more hair at 1 day than her sister had at 1 year! It looks like Chuck and Julie are going to have both a fair haired and a raven haired beauty. Sister Charlotte has already met her little sister and is in awe of the tiny bundle, but I don't think even this little cutie can upstage her sister in the adorable arena. Before heading out with Grandma and Grandpa Charlotte asked Mom if she'd like hugs and kisses. Julie melted.

Busy Busy Busy

It was a busy but very lovely weekend. Friday I actually had to work for a change (but hey, it all go toward Burning Man so I have no complaints). After work and a nice soak in the tub I fought the urge to nap on the couch and instead played with Magellan until Frank came home. We grabbed a bite to eat, hit the grocery store and then settled in to watch Family Man's "Blue Harvest". Somehow it just doesn't get old.

Saturday was date day, yay! It was also Baby Day. I got a text at 5:22 AM that our friend Megan had gone into labor. 12 hours later she had a 9 lb bouncing baby girl named Kaia Anahata Petigara. As I headed into the library to tell Frank she was in labor he excitedly told me his sister Betsy had finally had baby Jonah! With all this babiness happening I felt it would be wise to check in on Clan Reisse. Chuck was a little confused when I asked if Julie was in labor, and asked her. She said no, why and I let him know that everyone else was doing it, perhaps she wanted to be a joiner? Nope, she's an individual, so we are still waiting on baby Molly. More on the Year of the Baby next post.

But after all that news Frank and I headed out for some food and shopping before going to a movie. We saw Grand Torino which I highly recommend. It is a truly great movie.

Sunday I headed over to Connie's to help clean out her basement. We got something like 12 bags of trash out of it...and that was just one area out of 3. This weekend will be tackling the workshop I believe. We did find a weeble-wobble and I came away with an original Connie P. tea lite holder. Very cool. My favorite moment was picking up a plaque in the office area and knocking the mouse poo off it only to walk into another part of the basement and find a dead mouse.

"That isn't a cat toy, is it?" I said.
"Not any more" Connie replied with a heavy sigh.
"Well, at least we can be sure it was a mouse that did all the pooping." And then we scooped it into a trash bag.

What wonders will next weekend hold!

Neither Rain, nor Sleet, Nor Dark of Night...

First, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. I know mine was wonderful. And of course, there are stories!

Frank and I were all set to fly out to Yelm Washington on December 24th. The plan was that he would take me to work, then pick me up after our holiday luncheon and we'd go right to the airport to catch out 5:55 flight. Best laid plans...

Wednesday morning dawned covered in ice. After deicing the steps, sidewalk and car we headed to Norristown. The roads weren't too bad, until we got to Norristown of course. Salt? What is this "salt" you speak of? They obviously hadn't heard of it. An error in judgement on my part took us by the Elmwood Park Zoo where we hit a patch of black ice at about 15 miles an hour. We did a very slow slide and bumped the curb, no biggie right? I've had greater impacts parking! We braved the ice the rest of the way, and I even needed to jam my fingers in the lines of the car to get around it the sidewalk things were so slick...and get a hand from Frank. But I was safely at work and he got safely home. They day could roll on.

Oh, did I mention I hate airports? Love flying but I get stressed about missing the plane until I'm actually ON it. So I was a little anxious before the ice.

An hour or so later Frank texts that he has bad news. I text back "What?" He sends that there is something wrong with the car's alignment...great. I call and we make a plan of action. And did I know the little shelf with the figurines fell down in the bedroom? Sigh. No...I'll deal with it later.

Luckily there is a good auto shop 2 blocks from the house and they were open. Frank took the car in and by 11 AM I knew we needed a ride to the airport. The front spindle was bent. My car would be spending the holidays in the shop. So now I'm in plan mode. I asked Connie if she could give me a ride home and possibly to the airport which she was game for though she'd never driven to the airport before and feared not being able to get home. At this point I'm starting to think maybe I wasn't meant to go to Yelm. I firmly believe that if things get too hard to pull off then the universe is trying to tell me something. That's when the powers that be sent the second Christmas elf (the first being Connie).

I'd sent an e-mail to Lydia detailing the morning adventures and as I was about to throw in the towel she called to see if she could do anything to help. Why yes, could she take us to the airport at 2:30? So it was Lydia to the rescue! I also checked with Monie to see if she could be elf #3 and pick us up on the 30th which she so sweetly said she could. So Connie took me home, I gathered a few things then Lydia, Frank and I were off to the races thanks to some really wonderful friends.

On the way to PHL something disturbing happened. We were on 476 and a lawn gnome fell off a truck and was immediately obliterated by traffic. This is where I leaned back and begged Frank to tell me we didn't book with Travelocity. If we had there was no way I was getting on that plane! No, we were safe. We booked with Priceline and as far as we knew William Shatner was still alive and well.

From this point on everything pretty much went great. We got dinner in the airport, the plane was on time, the trip was loooong but uneventful, the rental car was there and we were soon on our way from Seattle to Yelm.

At 9 PM

After they'd had 12 days of snow

Did you know the environmental lobby won't let Washington state salt the roads?

Oh, and my cell phone decided to be a really expensive clock, but I wasn't dealing with that at the moment.

After some of the most misleading signage I've ever seen we finally made it on to I-5 and clear roads. We were doing pretty well until we had to turn on to Reservation Road. It was closed due to snow...mostly. We skirted around the sign and after about 50 yards saw the opposing sign and figured all would be well. Not really. the road hadn't been plowed, it was pretty much mountainous and we were trying to keep our car in the tracks that were left from cars before us. I have to say Frank did great, even with me as a nervous passenger. You know how it is when you are used to driving and now can't do anything but sit there. Oh, and then it started snowing again. I had visions of Donner Pass flashing before my eyes.

But soon we were back on plowed roads and the lights of Yelm were in sight. We checked into the Prairie View Motel and Frank called his family to see if they were still awake. They weren't so I grabbed a shower and we snuggled into the king sized bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

Christmas morning dawned...rainy (it is Washington after all). Frank chipped the ice off the car and we headed to Josh and Betsy's. Everyone was still in their jammies, making breakfast and playing with Miss Audrey (Josh and Betsy's daughter, Frank's niece). Mountains of presents awaited the littlest of us and soon she set to work on them. We lost Megan behind them at one point...but we found her!

I have to say here that I love Frank's family. I feel so at home with them, it's almost like hanging out with my family. You know that comfortable feeling where it's okay just to hang out and talk, read, be goofy. Alan and Bridget were the Master and Mistress of bacon for the entire time we were there. I think when I get home I was suffering bacon withdrawal for the first few days. Audrey, who is 18 months old, was an angel. Not only is she sweet and adorable, but in 5 days there wasn't one temper tantrum or crying jag. The thing I found really neat was how everyone sort of took on parenting duty.

Audrey would wander into a room where no one was and someone would wander off after her. Betsy and Josh weren't left to fuss over guests and watch their daughter like hawks (especially nice since Betsy is 9 months pregnant and this is Josh's first Christmas home in like 4 years-he's in the military). If she needed changing Aunt Meg, Uncle John, Aunt Bridget or Grandmom could do it as easily as mom. Same with feeding. Uncle Sean was always available for playing, as was Grandpa, Uncle Frank, the girls and of course the dogs. I even got to accompany her watching Elmo in Grouchland (which reminds me I have to borrow that from Jack to I can see how it ends). Audrey was comfortable with everyone, even me. She knew she was safe and loved, and the center of attention at all times. It was that village people keep talking about and it was really great. And there are even pictures!

All to soon we were off to the airport again. Frank was expecting Betsy to go into labor about the time we hit Chicago, but as of this morning there is still no baby. We got in a little after midnight. Monie picked our tired butts up and we were soon snuggled in bed at home. Frank, crazy man that he is, went to work after a few hours sleep. I slept in, called the shop to find my car was ready and got together with Connie to catch up and get some lunch.

The rest of the year was devoted mostly to colds unfortunately, but 2009 came with the promise of another fantastic year.

2008 was another year with the love of my life, a wonderful family (both by birth and by friendship) and good health. 2009 has begun the same way. I am truly blessed.

Happy New Year!