Snow, the curse of winter

It’s still snowing. I’m not sure what our total is officially but looking at our metal roof, I’d say about 12” so far.



This was taken this morning, about 11, out the front window. (It’s Bruce’s “artistic” creation that shelters our fledgling birdsnest spruces.) So add about 3-4" to the stacks of snow here. The weatherman actually weighed a shovelful of snow on the news tonight: 15 lbs. Wet and not fun. It started snowing last night and as I write, at 11 p.m., it is still snowing. And another storm hits tomorrow.

Usually I would help shovel and just sigh. But this week we’re supposed to be leaving for Florida and our trip gets delayed by a day and then another. Initially we were going to leave on Thursday. Now I’m hoping for Saturday. Look at this weather forecast ! AAAARRRGGGHHH!

I’m telling myself that this is not a disaster. There are many people in far worse situations than I. (Can I unclench my jaw now?) I just had to vent.

I’m hoping the next time I write I’ll be sitting on our dock!

Ready to go

So we leave for Florida soon. This should be a true adventure. I’ve never driven it before and I probably won’t be doing any of the driving this time either. But we will be going by car. I’m really looking forward to it. But if there was any one time I’d love to be beamed there, Scotty, this is it. Traveling with the cat  … hmmm. I plan to give her a sedative and hope that she’ll sleep most of the way. Then once we’re there it’ll be a matter of not having her freak too much and try to run away. We’ll be on a canal, and I’m sure there will be cat-eating creatures not far away. And Susie just isn’t a kitten anymore—almost 15! (I’ve decided I want to be a cat in my next life; they don’t get wrinkles.)

Life around here is pretty boring right now so I’m doubly glad for the FL diversion. I need to find something to do … that won’t hurt me! I’m swimming and it seriously exacerbated my old tennis-elbow tendonitis so I even have to be careful doing needlework. Did you know that tennis elbow is affected by cross-stitch? It is. So I put on an elbow brace to do it! And that’s where I’m headed now.

Wish us safe travels. I’m sooo hopeful that Bruce will make it only a 3-day trip.

What Endorphins Can Do

I'm back in the exercising mode. And I really really really want to stay here. It's so very easy to put this at the bottom of priorities, which I've done for years. But this week I got some pretty clear indicators: miss exercising for two days and gain .5 lbs. I realize that my scale goes by 1/2 lbs. And I realize that my water retention affects my weight so much so that I'm not sure what I really do weigh. But just going by the scale clearly means that I MUST work out in some way six days out of seven. Do you know how much of a day that takes? I can't believe anyone who isn't retired has time for this! If I leave for the gym between 9 and 9:30,I'm home at about 10:30 - 10:50. Then I have to blow-dry my hair. Wipe out my morning up till 11:00--or even 11:30. Then I might as well have lunch (I'm usually hungry anyway) and my working day starts at about 12:30. I guess that's not bad for a retired person, but I have to break myself of the years-long habit of doing nothing productive in the evening and get some stuff done then. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Meanwhile, I'm grateful that my health is good and my body keeps moving ... at least so far.

Later.

Retired Life

I’m sitting here on a night after a day in which I did pretty much what I want to: I got up at 7:50, went to the gym at about 9:00, swam about ½ mile, came home feeling pretty righteous, farted away the next 1½ hrs. Had a really saintly lunch of salad w/o carbs, read at the station for 2 hrs., gave blood, farted away another 1½ hrs., and had dinner at Friendly’s and went to a PSU Men’s Hockey game. (It was a bloodbath; we won 9-3 against Skidmore). Then a nice conversation w/Laura, who has a new man in her life and is sounding so positive and upbeat. Bruce & I are so hoping that he isn’t another user/heart-breaker. She seems to be such an easy target for that kind of man.

I’m  hoping I convinced Laura that we are NOT thinking of selling the house and moving … anywhere. I think maybe Leanne got that idea in her head and there is nothing further from the truth. We’ll spend a month in Florida and then … come HOME. I’ve said that if we ever vacate this house, it will be on Bruce’s volition. That realtor visit threw everyone. And *I* am laughing; Bruce would be too, if he knew what a tizzy it threw many into!! I’ll say it again: If we ever leave this house, it will be Bruce’s decision. I will NOT be saddled with the blame of “forcing Bruce out of his house.” He knows this. If anyone else needs to know this, they do now.

But I’m beginning to love being truly retired. I call the shots. My schedule is set by me. My only worry is that I’m limiting myself. Book myself not enough = boredom. Over-book myself = resentment (not true, I know, but it’s there nonetheless). That happy medium is there somewhere and I’ll find it.

Good night.

Help from afar

I called Dell Support today to help me take off the password I had put on my laptop when just opening it for the first time. There’s no real warning to a tech-semi-moron like me that you really don’t need one of these passwords; I need the sign in all caps that yells: DON’T CREATE PASSWORDS! THEY’RE NOT NECESSARY! YOU’LL REGRET IT! AND THEY’RE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE!

So I went to Dell Support. I’d gone there last week and even though the tech somewhere in India/Bangladesh/Pakistan who answered the call after a 10-minute wait took my phone number, “in case we get disconnected,” he never called me back after I did get disconnected. So I called again today. Today’s tech had to transfer the ownership of my new laptop from Staples, where I’d bought it, to me. That took a bit, even though last week’s tech supposedly had done that too. Anyway, we finally started on my problem. I think I began the call at about 3:15 EST. I realized that my tech—I never did understand his name but it was probably Jeff … unh huh—didn’t have a clue about how MY laptop worked. After many unbelievably long waits while he “got some assistance,” we FINALLY removed the damned password. This was the one that I was required to type in every g-damned time I touched the computer. But we did get it removed. I think it was about 5:05 EST. At least that was free.

So now I’m watching “Men of a Certain Age,” a show that’s aimed at my age group … only about men rather than women. Will men watch this? I doubt it. Ray Romano, Andre Brauer, and Scott Bakula. Great guys all of a certain age. Of course, that’s now OMG younger than I am. But the things they obsess over are familiar. If not a problem I’ve had, it’s one a friend has had. Getting playlists from people 20 yrs younger, trying to communicate online with a stranger, pretending you’re as hot as you were 20-30 years ago. All familiar.

So I got my computer fixed. And I went for a walk. And I’m planning to swim tomorrow morning. I’m feeling like I’m back on track. While I like the job at Borders, it disrupts my life more than I want it to. Next year? I don’t know.

Eat healthy. EXERCISE!!! But be nice to yourself. If you don’t do either of the above, there is no lightning bolt from heaven that’s GPS’d to your location. So be nice to yourself.

(And it’s now clear to me that my next job with this laptop is to figure out how to download a clip art illustration into this blog. Stay tuned.)

Next project

I have FINALLY finished the work on Marley & Me for the Readers Radio (I think that's what it's called). Gadzooks, what a loonngg process! You cannot imagine how boring it is to listen to yourself over and over and over and over. This is the best-edited work I've done and it came out alright.

Now I have to write the final report for the grant I did the application for; this is a completely different organization from the Readers Radio. My interest is flagging because I'm butting up against an ego that's pretty big and I'm not sure I'm interested in continuing. Meanwhile, I've just become treasurer and the organization has operating funds of nearly $20K, so I can't back out. I'll do my three years and then I'm out, I'm pretty sure.

Other projects: a polar fleece outfit for Courtney; Dots (candies) pj's for Kaitlyn--very cute fabric, a bed jacket for me (although I don't read in bed a lot recently--maybe I'll take it up again if I can be warm). Then it'll be off to Florida. Yay!

I'm all done with Borders and that's good. I'm really uncertain if I'll do it again next year. It surely isn't for the money, and this year it was a bit odd: I was assigned to the calendar kiosk almost all the time--probably because I could be relied upon to come in early enough to open (7:30 was a bit rough, but I did come in reliably)--and that is a one-person operation. Both good and bad: totally on my own, good, but no one to talk to and no way to sit down for hours, not so much. Luckily they got a cushion-y rubber mat to stand on or my feet/legs would've given out. Today was my last day, and I'm very okay with that.

Going to bed; it's 2 a.m. and that's tooooooo late. That editing kept me going until now; 1 1/2 hr. break at dinner but I've been at this since 4 p.m. Egad.

G'nite.

Just today

I worked my penultimate day at Borders today. I was assigned to the calendar kiosk again today. I just can’t think of the word I want; it wasn’t “assigned,” but rather the word that connotes being banished, because the kiosk is a one-person realm and it is so boring it’s almost beyond belief. Even when the sales are steady, there is no one to talk to in between customers (or in brief asides afterward), so I arrange the calendars and rearrange them and straighten them and ignore them, and work an NYTimes Sunday crossword or double acrostic puzzle. Truly really boring.

But I get to text Jenny, the only person I know who is able to receive/read texts while I’m at work too. And I feel like a teenager when I text, so it’s fun for me. But only one day left means that I probably won’t think to text Jenny during the day. Maybe.

I’m in a great frame of mind tonight and I think it’s because I only have one day left at Borders. I remember it feeling like this last year. It’s pretty wise of myself, I’m thinking, to set Dec. 31 as my end date. I look forward to New Year’s Eve for several reasons as a result!

Which brings me to a whine. Bruce does not like New Year’s Eve. He hates the idea of drunks out on the road and is really negative about the night as a result. I don’t probe too deeply as to why it is such an anathema. But we don’t even go to a friend’s, so why is it such a problem? I gave him a bit of a hassle about this tonight. I usually buy a split of champagne—even on New Year’s Eve he won’t drink more than a swallow or two, and we are already home, for crissakes! I’ll buy the split again this year, but … yippee. Oh, yeah, I should constrain my enthusiasm. You get the point.

So positive things, positive things. Our trip to Florida is not all that far away now. The worst of winter is beginning—the snow today was very wet and heavy but not too deep. And the idea of not being here for the end of the misery is so attractive; I’ll definitely live through the interim!

So I’ll be around. Good night.