Cabin Fever

Cabin fever is hitting. It’s been cold and snowy here, though it should be warming up a bit today. Gosh I am ready for spring!
My week started with a cold wakeup one morning. Ahhhh…..no heat! I looked at the programmable thermostat and it had no read out. Brrr. I did everything I knew: checked the furnace switch and turned it off and on; flipped the circuit breaker. Nothing. In my mind I’m picturing a huge heating/cooling service bill.

Before I started to look for a heating/cooling company, I looked online and found out that programmable thermostats might have a battery backup. Obviously mine wasn’t working so I took it off the wall. Two, AA batteries. I pulled them out, replaced them, put it back in place and voila! The hum of the furnace!

Yes, I gave myself a high-five!

The week ended with an issue with my bathroom door – it was getting hard and harder to close. I finally looked at the doorframe and the hinge was coming loose. A couple turns of the battery drill and the door is now closing exactly as it should.

Another high-five for me!

I never did update about our trip to M’s hometown to meet his dad. The trip, while a long drive, went well. Meeting his dad made me miss my own. Not that the two men are at all alike but rather I miss having a dad to call or visit periodically. And I’m especially sad that I can’t introduce M and my own dad. Because I don’t want to end this on a somber note I will say that I liked M’s dad and apparently he liked me because he called me “calm.” Kind of cute.

Next weekend a local company is having a kayak show. We will go and perhaps purchase our boats. We are also discussing purchasing a third boat, together, so we can take one of the kids with us if we want. A joint purchase three months into the relationship. Makes me both nervous and excited, but I think more excited.

Wouldn't These Look Good With A Little Black Dress?

The weekend was nice, quiet, and only moderately eventful. One of the highlights was Friday after work. It was warm in St. Louis so M and I started our date night with a 4 mile run. In fact, it was so nice that both of us ran in shorts. That’s an unusual occurrence for January in St. Louis!

I’m struggling with juggling this new relationship and running. It’s hard for me to get up early to run in the winter (somehow, a warm bed beats a dark morning and cold pavement) and I want to be with M so I tend to push running to the backburner, which is not the right thing to do if I’m serious about doing this half-marathon in late April. There is time, but I need to make a commitment (ugh – hate that word) to the half if I plan to do it, beat my last time (2:03:39), and be injury free.

Of course, as I say this I’m also trying to work on a short story, coordinate questions for a trivia night, purchase stuff for an auction basket for same trivia night, keep up with the girls and their activities, and get ready to go out of town this weekend (venturing to M’s hometown). And since he’s from Kansas I keep threatening to wear ruby red slippers, but now it’s looking like I won’t have time to shop for any. He’s probably a bit relieved.

A small Tour of Tennessee

M and I left St. Louis bright and early New Year’s Eve morning for Nashville. We arrived in time to clean up and head to the Nashville downtown area for the evening. After a couple of stops for drinks and dinner, we ended at BB King’s place for the evening. The music was good, the beer was cold, and every time I stole a glance at M he was smiling. Gosh that makes a gal feel special!

Not much was open on New Year’s Day, though we did walk the grounds of the Grand Ol’ Opry, play a round of glow-in-the-dark mini golf (very fun), and stroll by the Parthenon. The pond in the photo is in the same park as the Parthenon and the shadows, of course, are ours.

January 2 we headed to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery (highly recommended) and then on over to Memphis to experience Beale Street for the evening. We drove the back roads from Lynchburg to Memphis, which made for a long day, though we talked the entire trip. At one gas stop the clerk behind the counter told us to make sure and come back. As we walked out I looked at M and laughed and said, “Sure, I’d come back, except I have no clue where we are!”

Beale Street was as much fun as Nashville. Great music, cold beer, lots of people out and about.(There was a bowl game in town that day so we were among plenty of other tourists.)

Before heading back we made one last stop – to tour the Gibson guitar factory. We also said hello to the ducks at the Peabody Hotel and M had Memphis barbecue for lunch.

Everywhere we went in Tennessee the people were great. They were friendly and helpful and never too busy to answer a question or chat for a few minutes.

The trip itself - so awesome. Gosh, M was the perfect traveling companion. Willing to explore, talk to people, and generally relax and have fun. Such a treat! I will say it again --- I am a very lucky gal.

Road Trip

Taking a short road trip to welcome in the New Year. And I suspect 2009 might be something stunning.

Be safe!

How Do You Say Thank You….

To someone awesome?

Briefly, I had a meltdown on Christmas evening, thanks to the past coming back to haunt me. (Lovely timing, right?) And M…well, he was amazing. Patient and understanding and not all too freaked out (or at least if he was he covered it well).

So this is a thank for the understanding and tolerance and calmness.

I am grateful far more than words can ever begin to express.

(As for the photo – we are considering kayaks. Well, maybe more than considering, more like “in the market for” kayaks. And yes, I know these aren’t kayaks, but they are boats and the colors are beautiful!)

Sometimes It's the Little Things

Commitment. I told my sisters a couple of months back that I hated that word. And I do, because it scares me so much. I feel as if I’ve tried the word on, turned around a couple of times to look in the mirror, and it just doesn’t fit. It’s like it scrunches at the waist or the sleeves are too short or the hem is uneven. Something about that word just makes me uncomfortable.

So I went to thesaurus.com to see if I could find a word similar to commitment (defined as “assurance; obligation”) but that might fit me better. Among the choices:

Engagement (heavens – that is worse that commitment!)

Guarantee (good if you want to return something)

Must (that one makes the stubborn me want to argue that no, really I must not)

Duty (another one worse than commitment)

Promise. This is defined as “one’s word that something will be done.”

Now that is something I believe I can try to live up to. It's a much softer word than commitment, must prettier, and the meaning does fit better.

The beautiful part is, I explained this to M last night and he was in agreement.

Random Sunday

Last night my clothes dryer ran for two hours. This fact dawned on me about an hour into the session, but then I got distracted and forgot for another hour. When I went to check on it, the clothes were dry, but not warmed. Sigh…I dreamed last night of having to purchase a new dryer.

But this morning I went to check on it and realized that it had been moved last night and that it was partially unplugged! I plugged it in, turned it on and heat!

Guess I won’t be needing clothes pins any time all too soon. At least I hope not since it is chilly these days.

Yesterday K and I put up the tree. When we went in I saw one for $45. Too much, said I. We saw several that were less, but of course, the beauty we bought was more. As we put the lights on last night I was reminded that this one little piece of Christmas – a simple tree – is what it takes to get me more and more in the mood for the holiday.

The critter battle may be winding down. M came over last night and put a board in the air gap where it appears they were getting in. And this morning I heard something running ON my roof, not in my walls. Fingers crossed and say a prayer, the doggone things may be outside instead of in for the rest of the winter. (Though I think Jake will be a bit sad. It seems he has taken to listening outside the bathroom door every morning for the rustle of critter feet.)

And finally, last night M and I went to dinner for his birthday. As always, a very pleasant evening. Well, with one minor spot (and trust me, when I say minor I mean minor). I had warned him, several times, that I’m pretty uncoordinated. If he wasn’t convinced before last night, he should be convinced now. We played foosball. Ok, I attempted to play and he is quite good. I’m not sure how much I tried his patience, but let’s just say I’m sure it was a challenge for him. Though when I think about it I think it was actually pretty funny. (And I did find out he’s been playing for 10 years and this was maybe the third time in my life that I’ve played. Maybe I get some slack for that?)