Good Ideas are Not Always Good (But They do Sometimes Lead to Interesting Sandwiches)

It was a very cold day out there today. Temperature-wise, it wasn't that chilly, according to the thermometer. However, there was a very cold wind chill that made the temperature feel 20 degrees colder.

Naturally, this was the day I decided to try to be quickly festive after work. Generally, when I get off work, it's getting dark, thanks to Daylight Savings Time. On days when it's been cloudy, rainy or snowy, it's pretty dark by the time I come out of work. On days when it's been sunny, like today, there's still a smidgen of daylight left.

Tonight, I got home with that smidgen shining enough that it didn't feel later than it was. Normally, after work, I try to run errands. Last night it was the library, the night before it was the dollar store. Tonight, however, I had no errands to run.

Thus, I thought I'd take advantage of the waning daylight and finally take down my autumn leaves that are wrapped around my little lamppost in my front garden along with the scarecrows that have been outside since mid-October. I managed to do that and, not thinking too hard about it, I decided there was enough light to replace my leaves with my faux-pine garland that wrapped around the lamppost. I managed to do this although by the time I was done wrapping the garland and getting it to stay in place, my fingers were suspiciously numb.

Meanwhile, all the time I was outside, I could hear the yipping of Sookie from inside the house. Rory isn't as much of a yipper. Sookie, on the other hand, likes to be on alert for any alien movement outside. She sits on the back of the sofa and watches out of the window. I always know when someone's walking their dog by our house or Son of Dog Whisperer is playing in the street with his friends.

So tonight, as I wrapped my garland, I had a soundtrack going on. Sookie was clearly alarmed that I was outside not inside with them. Also, I'm sure she and Rory were both wondering what bizarre thing I was doing to my lamppost.

The wrapping didn't go as well as I'd have liked. My fingers, growing number by the moment refused to cooperate as I tried to secure the garland in place with the plant wire I normally use. I managed to get it wrapped around the post, slightly haphazardly. I even managed to clumsily stick a bow on the top. I couldn't get the second one on the opposite side of the lamppost because my fingers would no longer cooperate.

I suppose the moral of my story is that sometimes, what I think is a good idea may not really be one. It seemed smart to put my outdoor holiday decor up this evening but, really, I should have waited until the weekend like I'd originally planned.

Then again, sometimes good ideas that may not seem wise to others do turn out to be good. For example, a few years ago, I invented the brussels sprout sandwich. It's quite simple. You get some of those frozen brussels sprouts by Green Giant that are microwavable and in a low-fat butter sauce. You microwave them and then scoop the sprouts out, put them between slices of bread and, voila! the brussels sprout sandwich.

Personally, I find it quite a tasty invention. Others seem not to agree. I suppose it does take some affinity for brussels which I personally have. I adore the things. Other people, I know, think they taste like feet. How people know they taste like feet, I have no idea. However, it's probably along the same lines as my thinking that chysanthemum tea tastes like dead ladybugs. I've personally never eaten dead ladybugs but that's what I think they'd taste like.

Anyways, what I'm getting at is that sometimes, bad ideas turn out to be good. Tonight, my good idea turned out to be bad. Still, I do now have some semblance of Christmas decor outside even though it will need to be adjusted to make it look properly right.

Still, I'm hoping that when I go out to fix them, it's not quite so cold. I'd rather my fingers didn't go numb.

Of course, I could wear gloves. Now there's a good idea. Why didn't I think of that before.

Ah well.

Happy Friday!

A Frigid Friday Morn'

Have I mentioned that it's cold outside? I thought so. Let's just say that when I drove to work this morning, the temperature display on my car said it was minus nine degrees. That's without the wind chill. That is so cold that there is no way to stop ice forming on the inside of your windows, no matter how well insulated you are. It's so cold that if you leave your hands outside of your pockets, they ache in a matter of seconds with the cold.

It's lovely to be inside at the moment, that's all I can really say. It's nice to look outside and know it's that cold and wrap your hands around a cup of coffee, even the vile office coffee that I'm currently drinking. It's not that vile at the moment but it's the first pot. It only increases in vileness as the day goes on. Yet I continue to drink it because it's coffee and on a day like to day, coffee helps the world not freeze.

I think I had a topic for today's blog but I can't actually remember it momentarily. I'm having a little trouble publishing because I now have two blogs- one for TV and this one. I love my TV blog but I don't update it daily. I keep accidentally posting my TV blog here. I've moved both of the newest entries over to the TV blog but they may show up here for a little while, at least. My apologies for any confusion.

All I can say at the moment is that I am glad it's Friday. Tomorrow morning, I don't have to set my alarm. I can bask in the warmth of my down comforter and the extra warm blanket I threw on top so that I could turn the heat down without freezing. I can lie in bed and read. That is one of my favourite easy luxuries. There is nothing better than curling up with a good book and reading in bed. I don't do it as often as I'd like which is probably why I appreciate it so much. The only other runner up is reading in the bath with a nice glass of wine. The problem with that is, naturally, there's danger of getting the book wet, the water inevitably gets cold and unless you've got a great bath pillow, it can be hard on your neck.

I love reading. I think I've mentioned that. I will give anything a chance. Of course, if I don't like a book or author, I'll have a rant but for the most part, I tend to like any good fiction. I'll read lighter fiction- Marian Keyes is one of the best for that. She's mistakenly called "Chick Lit" a term that is starting to grate on my nerves. Yet she writes fiction that manages to wrap itself around the realities of life, treat it wryly and make you care about her characters. She's one of my favourites.

Yet I'll also read not-so-light stuff. One of my favourite all-time books is Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True. That's one of the greatest books ever. It's heartbreaking, brilliant, poignant and believable all at the same time. My mother just got his new book, The Hour I First Believed which I really want to read but, as mum said, it's heavy stuff and drains you to read it even though it's excellent. I like some of the classics which I will read for fun now that I'm no longer in English classes and forced to analyze the symbolism of a tree or a fish or something. One of my favourites is Dante's Inferno though I don't read it too often. I love to read it for the language, the poetry of such a dark subject. I'm also a Jane Austen fan because I love her witty humour disguised as social grace.

At the moment, I'm reading The Baker's Apprentice by Judith Hendricks. It's a pretty easy read and the sequel to her other novel, Bread Alone. She's a good writer. I forget I'm reading a book and I feel like I'm observing someone's life. That's the mark of a good author to me, someone who can make me forget where I am.

Aside from being lazy and sleeping, I have to clean, as I mentioned. If it warms up, I may venture out but part of me just wants to stay local, to be able to semi-hibernate in the warmth of my apartment and enjoy the glittery ice-topped snow that lies outside the window. Of course, next week, it's supposed to get up to 37 degrees. Heatwave! You L.A. folks can mock all you want. It's pretty....from the inside.

Yet, at the moment, 37 degrees is still something to look forward to. Compared to now, it will feel balmy, I'm sure. Not exactly going-to-the-pool or laying-out weather but it means you can walk without your cheeks being frozen to your face or your ears feeling like they've been slammed by a pack of frozen peas. I can't wait.

Have a great weekend!

Monday Morning Blahs

It's another Monday morning. It's cold outside and is apparently going to get colder this week, below zero, I think they said. A local weather channel is running a contest for "pick the date' of the first day the temperature hits zero. I think that's a little silly given that they're telling us that it's going to be Thursday. Of course, that's giving the weather forecasters a lot of credit; most of the time they're wrong, anyway.

You'd think in the age of Doppler 7000 or whatever we're up to now, the weather reports would be right more often than they're wrong but I haven't found that to be too accurate. Ok, so I know we have to allow for Mother Nature to interfere with the weather but I can't help but wonder why the weather reports are wrong so often. But that doesn't stop us from watching the weather though, does it?

Weather reports can be amusing. My parents, being in a different television broadcast area to me, have a different weather lady. She not only wears the strangest outfits but also acts like the End is Nigh when the weather threatens to do anything. The same channel also has this poor little newbie reporter who inevitably gets to stand by the side of the Interstate whenever it's snowing, freezing raining or...it's cold. She gets to tell us that....it's cold. Ok, so I know that new reporters have to pay their dues but really chances are that those of us watching the weather have figured out that it's cold outside. We really don't need a reporter to tell us something so obvious.

The other thing that makes me smile about the local weather people is that they're using a blue screen- you know that nifty screen that moves behind them as they tell us about the incoming weather? When I was in college, I took a Journalism for TV class and the first thing they taught us was that if you're using a blue screen, you shouldn't wear blue. You see, it blends into the screen. I often see local weather reporters with floating heads and such because they're wearing blue. It's actually rather amusing.

Anyway, we're not actually supposed to have any major weather over the next week so they're emphasizing the fact that it will be really cold. Yes, it's January. This is the Midwest. It's sort of expected. We really don't need to devote ten minutes telling us how cold it's going to get. This is the kind of reporting that sends the panickers to the store where there's a run on bread and milk.

I don't get that, either. Whenever bad weather looms, people run out and get bread and milk. Why? Milk usually has a shelf life of less than a week these days. Bread goes mouldy. If we're going to get snowed in, that's not really the only thing you can live on. How about some nice pop-tarts, some canned soup, some crackers? Why bread and milk?

Anyway, so it's cold outside and it's a Monday. This is a combination that adds up to the fact that I'd dearly have loved to have just stayed in bed and slept this morning. Again, what else is new? I'd love it if employers would, along with sick time and vacation, give you some "sleep in" hours. Wouldn't that be great? You get, maybe, two hours a month for that. By the end of the year, you can combine them to take one day off if you don't use them. If you do use them, you have the luxury of looking at the clock in the morning and opting to take them.

Yes, I know logistically, this would wreak havoc. Everything does, these days. Chances are, you'd still have to call your boss to tell them you were using your "sleep in" hours which would interrupt sleep. If you didn't call, it'd be hard for bosses to keep track of you. Still, the idea sounds nice, doesn't it?

I didn't sleep well this weekend. I had odd dreams. I won't bore you with the details because second-hand dreams are always a little boring when they're not your own. I did dream I was going to County Cork, Ireland. That was a weird dream because it was so specific. Maybe it was because I was at my parent's- who knows. I did manage to beat the bad weather and get there on Friday night. Unfortunately, the weather on my birthday was crappy and I didn't get to do much other than stay home and do a jigsaw. That's actually not a bad thing, necessarily. At least I was with my parents who made the most of such a horrible-weather day.

Yet now it's time for another week. I don't feel any older than I did on Friday. Nothing much has changed. My feet are as cold as they were on Friday. I have the same work to do. Life is the same as it was. I am older though. They say with age comes wisdom. I'm still waiting for that...

Happy Monday.