Icy Drives and Frozen Grocery Ads

I did make it to work this morning without too much snow-trouble. Granted, backing out of my drive was a little hairy. The snowplows had pushed snow from the road to my drive but after a scary moment when my wheels wouldn't move, a gentle but firm push to the accelerator got me over the hump.

The snowplow situation amuses me. I live on an emergency route- the fire station and police stations are just down the road and my street is their main drag to get around quickly. While they do keep my street cleared better than the side streets around us, I'm a little surprised that they don't get my street as clear as you'd expect. Of course, I also realized that there's a reason for this: Our 'snowplow' is a pick-up truck, embossed with the City logo with a little plow on the front. I'd say it was better than nothing but having observed the snow plow pushing a tiny amount of snow and not scraping the road at all, it does seem a little ineffective. Of course, it is effective enough that the plow pushes what little snow it does gather up and block our driveways with it. I can't help but think there might be better places to deposit it but since it keeps us residents active by shoveling, there's probably a point to it.

Anyway, once I made it out of my drive, I realized that the roads were more icy than snowy, something that worries me a little. Driving on snow isn't so bad as driving on ice-ridges which is what it was along the road that I take to get to work. I drove slowly. As I pulled out of my neighbourhood onto the main road, I saw something that caught my attention: I'd accidentally left the grocery-store ads that I'd picked up from my stoop when shoveling yesterday on the boot of my car- or trunk, to be more American about it. I'd put them there with the intention of taking them inside to read when I was done shoveling. Of course, when I was done shoveling, I had completely forgotten about the ads. Hence the fact that they were still on the boot of my car as I drove to work.

I think the saddest part of my realization was not so much that they might fly off and hit someone or distract them but, in fact, I was more concerned that they fly off and I wouldn't be able to read them. I love my weekly ads; there's always a Jungle Jim's one in there and it pays to pore over the flyer to see what's on special. It saves a lot of time by planning ahead.

Thus, as well as being very alert as a driver, I was also very alert to those ads which were in a thin plastic bag and blowing precariously in the cold wind. The hardest part of my drive was pulling into the side-street that leads to our building. Not only was it unplowed but it was icy. I fishtailed when I got to that part, carefully steering my car so that I didn't skid out of control. Still, those ads remained on my car, not blowing off.

You'd think after all that, I'd remember to take them off my car when I got to work. Nope, I was distracted by the fact that there were only two cars aside from mine around the whole building. I was distracted by trying to park in what I thought was a parking spot except I couldn't quite see the lines beneath the snow. Turns out I did part between the lines. Go me.

However, you'll be happy to know that the ads were still there when I came out of work this evening. I know you were concerned. They were frozen to my car which explains why they didn't fly off this morning. There I was thinking I'd been such a steady and cautious driver that even paper wouldn't fly off my car. Alas, no, a thin layer of ice held them steady for me.

I even remembered to take the ads off my car. Shockingly, I even remembered to take them inside my house. Alas, there were no amazing deals that I could see, they were just run-of-the mill grocery ads. Nevertheless, those ads deserved to be read. I may even read them again, just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I had to shovel a little when I got home tonight. I double checked to make sure I hadn't left anything sitting on my car this time. I have to do things like that at night because in the mornings, I'm usually slightly unawake and only able to stick to my routine which involves juggling my cup of tea and backpack while trying to get into my car without spilling. Anything other than that would be out of the ordinary. I try not to do out-of-the-ordinary in the mornings.

Then again, I suppose driving to work with a bag full of grocery ads stuck to the boot of your car with ice is a little out-of-the-ordinary.

Happy Tuesday!

Mother Nature's Message....

It's really snowing out there. It hasn't stopped all day. I've enjoyed every minute of it. I went out to shovel this evening and now have what I'm calling "Mt. Snow" on either side of my driveway. I still enjoy shovelling. It's fun. The only problem is that I'm running out of places to shovel the snow. Mt. Snow(s) are bordering on four feet tall, no exaggeration. I tried to toss the snow over the mountains but that only worked for so long.

To top it off, just as I was finishing up the mammoth task of clearing my driveway, the city snowplows drive by. Now, I salute their efforts. I know it has to really be awful to have to go out in this kind of weather. However, I do NOT salute their efforts to block my driveway. Yes, dear blog readers, despite my 1.5 hours of shovelling, just as I was finishing up, the snowplow pushed more snow to the end of my drive, thereby creating another ridge to shovel.

I shovelled their mess. My drive was clean. It's now covered with almost two more inches of snow. I'd complain but I can't. It's too lovely. I peeked out my window and the reflection of the stark white earth onto the skies above is so bright that it almost seems like twilight. And not the syrupy, terribly-written vampire kind, either.

It's very pretty out there. Granted, I'm not looking forward to the morning when I realize that I'm going to have to shovel or get stuck. I'm not looking forward to the snarky comments about how I'm so 'lucky' that I live so close. I've decided that if enough people mention this, my response will be, 'Yes, I know. But fortunately, accident lawyers are happy to sue, regardless of the proximity of home to office!"

Sounds bitter, I know. However, there are times when Mother Nature tries to tell us that it's best to bed down and enjoy the fact that she's given us a 'time out' from life. Today was a good day because I got to watch the snow fall without having to go out in it. I managed to sew my sock monkey, make a batch of pea soup with mint for lunch today plus leftovers for lunches at work. I got my novel uploaded to Amazon.com for publishing on the Kindle ($1.99, a bargain ( I hope!). I made roasted Cornish game hen with roasted veggies for dinner, watch Jack Bauer and still have time to blog twice. All in all, it was a wonderful 'bonus' day off.

Long weekends are the best. Normally, a weekend consists of Saturday which, for me- and many others- consists of a day of running errands, getting all the stuff done that's hard to do after work druing the week. Sunday is getting stuff done around the house: Laundry, cleaning, tidying...whatever. That's it for a weekend...usually. But on three-day weekends, you have an additional day...a day to actually relax. For me, relaxing means getting all the things done I can't find time to do normally. I mean, how often do I really have time to sew a sock monkey? Yet on my third day of a three-day weekend, it's no problem. I can multitask: Watch DVD's while sewing. It's a perfect way to relax.

In the end, I have a sock monkey named Frankfurter. I have a book almost published into the e-reader zone. I had a nicely shoveled driveway, even if it's already covered again. I had good food and even better leftovers. And, finally, I watched Jack Bauer do his Jack Bauer thing and take those bad guys down with a flick of his wrist.

I confess, even though my logic and better-judgment prevails, the optimist in me, the dreamer in me hopes that we get an email from our company saying that since the weather sucks and the roads are quite terrible, it's better if we all work from home tomorrow, regardless of how far we live from the office.

Yet, unfortunately, there's a realist in me that knows my company doesn't care that driving is dangerous: We should try to make it in because work waits for no man...or woman.

Still, if I can't get out of my driveway, work will just have to wait. Mother Nature is giving me a message and I must obey...it's my way of thanking for the snow. Poor work...you'll just have to wait.

Happy Tuesday!

Snow Day! (Even if we are off work already, anyway!)

It's a late blog today. It's rare, these days, that I actually get to blog on the day that the blog is intended to be read. However, since it's a holiday today- Happy Birthday Mr. Presidents- I can blog late.

It's probably a good thing it's a holiday today. It's really, really snowing out there. According to Mr. Weatherman, we, here, in Cincinnati, Ohio are located in the 'bullseye' of the winter storm. At the moment it's snowing heavily, the kind of snow that doesn't waste time with pretty, slow-falling fluffy flakes. No, it's the hard snow that looks like rain only it's snow.


All told, by the time it's done, we're supposed to have nine new inches of snow on the ground. They're already reporting that the airport has closed some of its runways. Since the storm is to continue through early tomorrow, we can only assume that not many flights are coming in and out.

Which leads me to be quite grateful that Saz could not come in for the weekend. As much fun as we would have had, I can safely say that as I had feared, she would have been stuck. I'm thinking Memorial Day is a much safer option for a future visit :)

In the meantime, I get to stay inside today. I have plans to cook, to write and to just enjoy the fact that this is a snow day, even if it is only a happy accident that I don't have to risk my life and my car to get to the office. I have no illusions that my company is likely to suddenly recognize the fact that it has human beings working for them and thus issue an email telling us that we should work at home if possible tomorrow. I mean, in an ideal world, that would be the right thing to do but my company doesn't do the right thing, it does the thing that will allow them to continue to try to make money. I suppose that is the purpose of a corporation.


Anyway, I'm not dwelling on work today. I'm enjoying the fact that I don't have to go. I've already had a pleasant two days off, this is a bonus. I ended up deciding that I was going to appreciate the fact that I was a singleton on Valentine's Day and I did exactly as I pleased. This involved eating butternut squash ravioli with sage butter sauce while watching "Across the Universe" on DVD in the comfort of my own home. I also went to the movies earlier in the day and saw, appropriately, "Valentine's Day." It was a good choice for, you know, Valentine's Day, although at any other time of year, it could be considered overly cheesy and predictable. Also, there's just some stuff in there that is so over-the-top in trying to hit the 'romantic' point home that everyone in the audience laughed instead of giving the 'AWWW!' response that I suspect the filmaker was going for.


But it was a good choice for Valentine's Day. It was a nice end to a 'normal' weekend but since I get to take today off, the weekend still continues. I think I shall celebrate the snow day by doing some projects I haven't had time to do lately. I have a sock monkey that I've been waiting to sew, courtesty of RadLinc Crafts. I also want to get my novel formatted and ready for the Nook and Kindle. Of course, at some point, I do have to work in shoveling my driveway. However, it's hard to know the right point at which to shovel because it's going to keep snowing and thus, I'll only have to dig again later.


For now though, I am going to continue to watch the snow fall and be very grateful that I do not have to go anywhere in it. As for tomorrow, well, that's another day and another blog.


Happy Monday!

The Muddle of Winter...

This has been a muddly sort of week so far. I suppose, in winter, muddle is really the order of the day. You never can tell what's going to happen outside- the weather takes pride on being as unpredictable as possible. A week ago, Mr. Weatherman informed us that we might get 'a few snow showers'. Almost 9 inches later and I just shoveled my driveway for the third time in four days. I think we can safely say Mr. Weatherman is full of it.

I'm still loving the snow. Even though the drive to work is a little hairy and I don't like it when the wheels of my Toyota Corolla start to slide as I navigate to work, it's still amazing to see how different the world looks when a thick coat of white snow masks it. I love shovelling snow. It sounds a little mental to say that but it's true. When I say that at work, people say, "oh, whatever. It's only because you've only had to do it a couple of times. Wait until next year."

I beg to differ. Shovelling snow is therapeutic to me. It's a way of taking a heap of potential problematic mess and digging in to get rid of it. With each plow of my shovel, cleanliness and order reappears. Also, after about ten minutes, I'm sweating and feeling the exertion. In my book, that makes it good exercise. In summation: Shoveling snow is both good for my muscles and for my soul.

As I write this, I'm looking out the window. It's a vast wilderness of white out there. It's a frosty, freezing sort of white. As far as Mr. Weatherman predicted, it's supposed to be cold out there and, with the wind chill, even colder.

I can feel my mother shudder as I write this. As I've mentioned, Mummy Monkeypants is not a winter creature. She's the sort of human who thrives when the sun shines. In spring, she starts to awaken; in summer, she's at her best. It's interesting, really; two winters into my new life in Ohio and I'm still loving every snowflake. I'm still performing the Snow Dance with Sausage until I'm forbidden. Which, by the way, I'll have you know, I was forbidden from performing the dance this week. Also, I was forbidden from wearing my necklace.

Yet, it doesn't matter. Each time it snows, I feel a little more of me awaken. I'm not sure why. Like Mummy Monkeypants, I enjoy the Spring. I enjoy the beginning of Summer. I enjoy the end of Summer when the Autumn leaves start turning and winter whispers on the air. It's just that hot, miserably part of the year that I don't like. I suppose, in short, I like the coolness of the seasons. I like winter because it's unarguably cold. I like spring because it begins cold and ends with the intense warmth of summer days but still has chilly, cool nights. Autumn has the same: Hot days, cool nights. It's just summer I don't really like: Hot days, hot nights...no real distinction as to when the sun sets.

As I write this, I realize there are at least several dozen people I know who would think I am insane for saying I love winter and its snowy gloriousness. Having been on Facebook, I have at least that many friends who have wished for somewhere warm and sunny in the face of the brutal snowstorm we've been facing.

As for me, I revel in the icy flakes. Granted, I don't like having to drive on the stuff. I'd rather be snuggled inside, looking out as the snowflakes cascade to earth, covering the ground over and over so that nothing of normalcy remains, awash in the stark white splendour of the snowy backdrop.

Yet even when I have to be at work, I take pride in the fact that when I look outside, see the snowflakes tumble downwards, I smile. It's winter. It might be icy, it might be mean but it knows how to get our attention by creating a muddle.

And, sometimes, when you learn to accept it, living in a muddle isn't bad. It makes things interesting.

Just keep a snow shovel on hand.

Happy Thursday!

Snow-Covered Days

Today was a rough day in the office. It started with snow. For all my adoration and love of snow, the one thing I prefer not to do is drive in it. Unfortunately, this morning, I had no choice. When I left for work, the snow was thick on the roads and the plows hadn't yet gone through. As I'm told daily, I'm very lucky in my commute. I back out of my garage, go straight for a half-mile then make a left, travel about 2 miles and turn into the complex that leads to my building.

I know I'm lucky that it's really only about a 2 mile commute. However, for the record, I'd like to state that 2 miles in bad snow is just as terrifying as a 20 mile commute. I've done both. With a 20 mile commute, there's a period of thinking, "what the heck am I doing, driving on this crap!" Then you drive and then you get the hang of the slow breaking, the following other cars and leaving a nice gap. It's not easy, in fact, it's exhausting but when you pull into the car park at work, there's a sense of relief and knowing that it's likely, when you leave, things will be better.

With a two mile commute, there's no time to find a rhythm. It's tension, all the way. This morning, the snow was so thick that it became one of those "make your own driving lane" situations. You couldn't see the lines of the road, you could only guess. You could try to follow in the tracks of the car in front of you but it didn't do much good because it was still thick snow. I had a horrible, slightly terrifying moment where I could not get any traction and I started to slide sideways. I did what I instinctively knew how to do- take your foot off the gas, turn the wheel and try to slow. It worked. I was still a little nervewracked. Then I had the misfortune to get stuck behind a Dodge Charger. Note to people out there: Dodge Chargers might be a sort-of classic car. They might make a great noise when you rev the engine. I even think the Dukes of Hazard drove one so they're either instinctively cool or instinctively cheesy, take your pick. However, Dodge Chargers? Not good on snow. The one in front of me lost its traction at a light and it never recovered. It was painful to watch it try to regain its grip on the road but slowly slide sideways. At one point, it moved backwards and literally came within a foot of my bumper.

By the time I got to the light where I turn to go to my office, I was already shaking with stress. Add to that the slight horror of realizing there's an unplowed hill that you have to maneuver to get to the office? Not fun.

I made it. Then I realized that everyone else had too. We're all parking around the back this week which meant my lovely, normal parking space was claimed by an interloper. I found a spot but I had to search for it.

So, by the time I actually got to my desk, I wasn't in the best of moods. I was shaken and stressed and all I really wanted to do was go back home and curl up in my bed. However, I couldn't do this so I tried to work. All through the morning, I received comments of "you're so lucky you live so close!"

As I've said before, it's partially luck but mostly planning. I did it ON PURPOSE. I knew this would happen so I bought my house accordingly. Also, while I respect that I have a short commute, sliding sideways on a major road is no more fun within two miles of the office than it is within twenty. I'm not belittling the intrepid drivers who made it from afar but I think a little more sensitivity would go a long way. When Captain Monkeypants is holding her highly caffeinated tea mug for dear life with white knuckles first thing in the morning, DO NOT remind her how lucky she is that she lives so close. She does NOT want to hear it. Now, if they invented teleportation, then she'd be lucky.

Aside from that the bad weather, I also discovered that since we changed health insurance companies after the first of the year, my necessary 'treatment' for a condition that I have was no longer covered even though I was told that is would be when we signed up for our coverage. This meant when I called to authorize a medication be shipped to my doctor, I did not get the $30 copay I was expecting, I got a $415 shock. It's one thing to expect that type of co-pay but when you have no idea, I think they call that blindsiding. Several phone calls later, turns out I have to pay it.

I had tried to remain upbeat to this point. I went to the bathroom to try to be inspired by the optimism there. This did not work. I realized I was just not going to be in a good mood. Then, to top it all off, I got an email at work. One of my coworkers wanted to know if it was a possibility that she might 'crash' at my house tonight so she didn't have to risk the snow.

Now, I have some coworkers I consider 'friends'. I have some that I consider to be quasi-friends. Everyone else is a coworker. This was a quasi-friend. In any other circumstance, I would have been more ok with it. In this case, it was more the principle of the thing. You see, as I mentioned yesterday, we're having a training workshop this week, in the office. We have 'Visitors' in the office. They're here. Thus, some of our personnel HAVE to be here too, those heavily involved in the training. The coworker who asked if she could crash is one of these personnel.

My problem is that I tend to have an idealist view of life: What's right is right, what's wrong is wrong. The problem is the world does not work like this. I'm learning that every day but still I live in hope. You see, the coworker who made the request of me and ALL of her 'team members' all have the same boss. He lives five hours away from our office. Each Monday, he drives to our office, each Friday, he drives home. In between, he stays in a hotel. Our company pays for his hotel. Our company pays for his mileage. Yet today, his staff made a request that since the weather was so abysmal, would it be possible that they, too, could stay in a hotel so they didn't have to risk getting trapped by the weather in the morning?

Their request, to the best of my knowledge, was denied. Thus, my coworker asked if she could stay at my place. Because I am a softie and horribly bad with guilt, I said that she could if it was an emergency. I wasn't terribly encouraging but I did not say no either. I did not WANT her to stay but the 'good' voice in my head told me that I had to do the right thing. In the end, she decided to take the risk and drive home anyway. I was thankful. I feel bad about that.

I think the biggest problem I have is that our company is hypocritical and contradictory. Today, our president was 'sick' but he 'worked from home' anyway. Few other people worked from home, even though we had a level one snow emergency. We did not get to leave early, even though the snow kept accumulating. One of our managers is permitted to rack up the bills so he can be in the office weekly without having to compromise by moving closer yet he could not permit his own staff to save the stress of hazardous travel by sparing the expense of letting them stay in a hotel.

I suppose part of me is a put out that a coworker asked me if she could stay with me just because I live close. I suppose it is convenient. It does not mean I want to become an inn for stranded coworkers. If I was a better person, I'd say, "No problem!" and permit them to stay. And, honestly, if it was a true, definite, absolute emergency, I would. It's just that once you start something, it snowballs. It sounds horrible but I know it to be true. If I let her crash this time, will it end there or will other people think, 'hey, spare bedroom! no commute!'

Probably not. It just makes me feel bad to think those thoughts.

And, as Karma happens, when I got home from work, I had to spend a long time digging my driveway out. My street is on the emergency route for the fire station and the police so they keep my street plowed. Unfortunately, when they plow, they push the snow inwards...into our driveways. When I got home, my drive was impassable. Since we were having a snow emergency, we're not permitted to park on the street so it wasn't as though I could leave my car on the street overnight. I had to shovel.

I like shoveling. It's good exercise and it's therapeutic. It's just not something you want to do before you even get home from work. Still, I did so and in record time. I'm proud to admit my next door neighbour, the Dog Whisperer, had a head start on me. I managed to shovel my driveway AND my sidewalk in less time than it took him to shovel his drive.

Now, as I'm looking out of the window, all I'm seeing is white. It's snowing hard and it's blowing. My driveway is covered again. The plows are running and piling the snow against the curb...and our driveways. I have a feeling I'll be late tomorrow because I'll have to dig myself out. I'll probably get mocked because I only live two miles from the office. It doesn't mean I get any less snow and any less inconvenience but I/m sure I'll get teased anyway. I usually do.

Yet tomorrow is a new day, shining with freshly fallen snow. If I have to dig first thing in the morning, I'll be at one with the snow, which I love. I've been forbidden to dance in it, around it, near it or even while thinking about it because, apparently, everyone I know now blames me for the snow when it falls. I know that if that happens, I'll come inside and listen to the news, my eyes flickering uncontrollably to that 'ticker tape' at the bottom of the screen, announcing school delays and cancellations, a tiny part of me wishing that, as it once had, it would again apply to me. I remember the hopeful days of watching that scrolling banner, hoping beyond hope that our school would be on there. When it was, it was like a rush of excitement, killing the actuality of trying to go back to bed but still loving that it was a day of pure, uninhibited nothingness. These days, I live in the real world. Companies don't have that scrolling banner of delays and cancellations.

Oh, but I wish they did. Especially after a day like today.

Yet I can believe that tomorrow will be better...right?

Happy Wednesday.

Self-Enforced Snow Days...

This weekend, like most, has just flown by. We had a minor snowstorm on Friday night which left us with six inches of snow. It was the perfect weekend to stay inside.

The weekend started with some strange, indecisive weather. All day Friday it rained but the temperature fluctuated. At any given moment it changed from rain to freezing rain to sleet and to snow. By the time we left work on Friday night, it was mostly snow and it was coming down hard.

For me, this was a natural excuse to make a run to Jungle Jim's. I needed groceries and if the weather got bad, I wouldn't want to go out. Voila...easy solution.

Also, since I have a guest, my good friend Saz, coming to visit next weekend, I promised to cook for her and I needed to get some ingredients in preparation.

Jungle Jim's was as useful as ever. I got everything I needed and even had time to do the usual fresh quail egg once-over. Alas, they still elude me. Still, I managed to get everything on my list as well as a few other irresistable options.

Saturday, I had intended to clean the house in preparation for my guest's visit. In the end, I actually talked myself into being only semi-productive instead of fully productive and instead decided to get the messy tasks out of the way and then spend Sunday cleaning up those messes as well as just general cleaning.

One of the messy tasks is laundry. I don't know about you but my laundry makes a mess. No matter how well I scour the pockets, somehow a tissue always makes its way into my laundry. It ends up getting wet and sticking to the clean laundry when I throw it into the dryer. Then, when the clothes are dry, the tissue sits, broken down, partially in the lint-catcher and partially, patiently, waiting until I open that dryer door to tumble out onto the floor below. Thus, I have a mess.

I also had to shovel my driveway so that when the time came, I could get out without sliding backwards into the ice mountain that the plows had left at the end of my driveway. I actually like shoveling snow. First, I get to be out in the snow. Second, it's great exercise and third, it's useful. Unfortunately, it means when I come in, even if I wipe your boots on the mat, I still manage to make a mess. My problem is that even though I try to put my trouser legs inside my boots, they always find a way to come out. They end up getting snowy and when I go inside, the snow melts, leaving and unintended trail.

I also needed to make ravioli. I promised Saz I'd make her butternut squash ravioli. Since it's a messy process that I haven't quite perfected yet, I thought it might be quicker and less embarrassing to premake the pasta and freeze it. I was feeling ambitious so, in addition to the butternut squash ravioli, I decided to make a ricotta and herb stuffed ravioli too. I made two batches of pasta dough- one regular flour, one semolina. Naturally, no matter how hard I tried to make my flour 'well' deep enough to hold the eggs as I gently beat them, I ended up having a slight eruption of my pasta volcano anyway. It means runny egg that tries desperately to escape from the flour but you can stop with some simple flour scooping. In the end, as long as you knead and tidy the dough, it all works out. I just wish I knew the trick to preventing Mount Versuvius every time I try to make pasta dough.

In the end, I spent about four hours making ravioli. You see, I have a little pasta maker that rolls the dough into a nice flat strip. I also have a nice ravioli press that you use to layer the dough, press indentations into it, add the filling, add another layer of dough and then use a rolling pin to press the dough so that the edges are defined and you can gently pull them from the press. Unfortunately, my pasta machine isn't quite as wide as my press so I can only make five ravioli at a time instead of ten. It's slow going. Fortunately, I had my iPod on. Also, it's fun. Four hours later and I was no longer mocking the ugliness of Croc shoes but understanding just a little why chefs wear them in the kitchen.

Still, even though I'm slightly obsessive compulsive about keeping my work area clean and tidy when I work, I'm messy with flour and some of it ends up on the floor.

So, when I did clean on Sunday, it was well worth it. My house is clean, shiny and comfy. I'll try to make it last until after my guest leaves but I have feeling I'll have to at least run the hoover around again.

I even managed to watch the Superbowl. I'm still sort of horrified/amazed that I actually did that. I quite like football, a fact which both amazes and astounds me. I wouldn't say it's nearly as fun as watching England do well in the World Cup but sometimes American Football can be quite exciting, especially when you know what's going on. It took me almost 15 years of leaving here to even begin to comprehend that so maybe that's got something to do with it.

Also, during the Superbowl, you're supposed to drink beer and eat bad food. Well, I did drink some beer and I attempted to make Superbowl food. I started out well- tomatillo salsa and tortilla chips. I had the salsa in the freezer from when I made it a couple of months ago. It was pretty tasty. Then I decided to cook. I thought about making a dip but somehow I ended up with a pancetta, egg and butter lettuce baguette. It was super tasty but not very Superbowl-y.

Now it's over. The Colts lost, the Saints won. As a Colts fan, it wasn't a great game for my team. They started out well but didn't do so well after half-time. Yet, if there ever was a team that I almost didn't mind beating us, it would be the Saints. After all, their running back, #25, Reggie Bush, used to play for USC and as a USC Trojan fan, that's not such a bad thing. Also, the team's from New Orleans. Not so long ago, New Orleans was Haiti...so a couple of years later, winning a Superbowl is pretty impressive.

So, it's Sunday night. Tomorrow morning looms closer than I'd like, the thought of my alarm going off into the darkness of my room, beckoning me to get up and go to work does not fill me with joy. It's hard to feel joyful on a Monday morning. It means that the weekend is absolutely, without a doubt, over and the world of the work week has the power...at least until Friday.

But then it's a three day weekend and my best friend is coming to visit. We are supposed to get more snow between now and then but I'm hoping it'll be the accent to her visit, not a barrier.

All in all, though work is the pesky problem that lies between now and fun, I can't say that this past weekend wasn't fun. Though it was still productive, enforcing a 'snow day' on myself was a pretty nice little treat. There's nothing like staying inside, looking at the beauty of the snow and making ravioli to make life seem good.

Happy Monday!

Snow, Glorious Snow....

Well, as predicted, today was slighly off-kilter because of the snow. The snow definitely came down. I'm not sure how much we've had but it hasn't stopped snowing since about 8 a.m. I'd say there were at least 5 inches out there, possibly more.

We did not get to leave the office early. Nor did most of us get to work from home. I could spend time complaining about my boss who is rather spineless and refuses to make a decision in our company president's absence even though he is the vice-president but I've had a lovely evening and I refuse to be bitter. Bitterness is catching; I've realized this and I don't want to be infectious so I'm trying to nip it in the bud right now. Work is what it is, this is my mantra. I cannot change it. I know that I'd much rather be the Assistant Cheese Shop Manager at Jungle Jim's but I have a feeling that either my salary request was too high or I lack the experience with cheese that I need. It's also hard to sound sincere when talking about cheese, particularly with a British accent. Somehow, it always sounds sarcastic, even though I don't mean to sound sarcastic. In case you were wondering, my favourite cheese is probably either a really, really sharp white cheddar or a piece of Quemby Hall Stilton. I also like stinky cheeses and soft cheeses. There really isn't a cheese I don't like. Except maybe head cheese which actually isn't a cheese but, rather, pieces of meat from the head of a pig or calf and stuffed with vinegars, salt and seasonings. Apparently this is also called brawn. Ironically, when I was a child in England and we'd go get meat from the deli counter, I'd see brawn and think it was brains. It was jellylike and pink. Now I know it actually is brains, in a way, it makes much more sense. But it's still not cheese, even if it's called head cheese. Apparently, it can also be made of intestines. Just so you know.

I apologize profusely to my sister for the above paragraph. She has recently turned full vegetarian and prefers not to know rather unsavory meaty things such as the definition of head cheese. But for the record, she was the one who asked about cheese made from intestines. So, for future reference...if you don't want to know, you probably shouldn't ask Captain Monkeypants. I do like to research.

So, I digressed....Where was I...oh, yes, Work is Work. That's pretty much all I plan on saying about my job at the moment. That's really all I have to say about my job for the day. At least I didn't wear a horrible gold shiny shirt again. I don't know what I was thinking there.

All in all though, despite the tedium of the day, the evening has been good. I can't say why, exactly; it's just been...good. I had to shovel when I got home from work. My driveway was invisible under the layer of snow. I have to confess, as odd as it sounds, I rather like shoveling the snow. It allows me to go out and let the snowflakes swirl around me. When you shovel, it's not cold because you're moving all the time. It's good, physical labour and it lets me spend time with snow which, if you do any search on my blog topics, you'll know snow is one of my favourite things on earth. People have told me the novelty of shovelling will wear off. I'm not so sure. Unlike lawnmowing which I didn't like from day one, shovelling is therapeutic and somewhat...mediatative. That sounds odd but it's true.

When I had shovelled and salted, I came in and rewarded myself with a mug of William's Sonoma Peppermint Hot Chocolate which is one of the truly great treats of winter. Then I made gumbo which turned out rather tasty if I do say so myself. I spent the rest of the evening working on my synopsis, my query letter and editing the first few chapters of my novel, The Reluctant Demon, for submission. Unlike last night, everything went well tonight. I managed to submit to five agents who seem to be a good target for my manuscript. Having been through this process several times, I'm not going to expect a miracle but if I can just get one to be intrigued enough to want to read more, that's something. If not...well...I'll keep trying. It feels good to be trying again.

All in all, it's been a nice, relaxing, lovely evening. As strange as it sounds, I think the snow outside has relaxed me somehow. It's made me feel calm and happy. I know it's an inconvenience to drive in but there's something about a coat of heavy snow on the ground to even out the world around us just a little. Everything is hidden, everything looks the same. It's beautiful and mystifying.

You can tell I'm happy because I'm waxing poetic about snow...again. I wondered if it'd wear off from last year but, apparently, it hasn't. I'm glad about that. I know for most people, it's a pain, it's cold, it's inconvenient but, to me...it feels right. Somehow the thing that made the day seem off-kilter has righted me after all. I'm back on balance. Hopefully tomorrow will follow suit.

Happy Friday...and have a good and safe weekend.