Mishaps and other haps

The cats are curled beatifically on the floor, Michael has returned from a hockey outing with his dad and is poking Google Reader, and I am in PJs and just about ready for bed.

Tomorrow it’s back to work for a couple of days (I have a three-day work week), but it has been a great weekend and a nice end to the first (or second?) round of holiday festivities!

Michael had to work on the 26th and it turned out to be a pretty bad day to get out weatherwise. I managed to get my car stuck in the snowbank alongside the driveway as I tried to back out, so there was no errand-running for me that afternoon! The trash & recycling trucks did not come by, either (they delayed our pickup to Saturday). It was a bad day to be on the roads, I guess.

Sy and Gretchen stopped in late on Friday evening. They had been in town visiting family during the week of Christmas. They were also able to stop by my birthday party (ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe) on Saturday afternoon before returning to Utah at a very early hour on Sunday morning!

My birthday was a great day– I only wish the weather had not been a foggy, rainy mess. At least some of the snow melted. Our icy driveway pretty much cleared out. (But it was back to a snowy state on Sunday morning, as apparently we got a little more snow and temperatures dropped overnight)

Michael and I ran some errands and went shopping on Saturday. We met up with friends and family at the Chocolate Shoppe at 2:00 (thanks to everyone who was able to make it!) and later went out again in the foggy rainy slush and had dinner at Maharaja’s. My stomach was like a rock of happiness well into the wee hours of Sunday morning from that huge dinner and the leftovers are going to work with me tomorrow!

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast with Heather, Evelyn, and Michael Lerner and Joe and Becky at the Pancake Cafe in Sun Prairie. The Lerners were able to drop by on Saturday also and we were happy to see them again before they headed to Kansas to visit more family before returning to D.C.

Michael, Joe, and I took Michael’s car in to have a new stereo installed in the afternoon (Christmas present I got for Michael) and then I dropped them off at the movie theater to see a movie with Bryan. I did some shopping and cleaning. When Michael returned home, we picked his car up and had dinner at Old Chicago. I spent much of the evening browsing bookstores while he went to a hockey game with his dad. Ah, good times

Now, time to get some rest and face the short work week and the upcoming New Year’s festivities!

Oops, I was managing my comments earlier today because there were several spammers who hit my blog over the holiday week and I accidentally deleted some non-spam comments from the past few months.

My apologies! I can’t seem to find a way to get them back. I’ll be more careful managing my spam from here on out.

I think those of us who could are taking it very easy today. It’s nice to have a company holiday on the Friday after Christmas. I planned to take the whole week off when I scheduled vacation this year, but for those who didn’t the company threw in a last-minute half day company holiday on the 24th– so in total everyone got at least two and a half days off this week! Paid! Nice!

Michael had to work a half day on the 24th, but he did so from the comfort of his computer desk at home since the driving conditions were not so great for a trip to Dodgeville. He also had to go in today, so he was up hours before I could manage to eject myself from bed. My throat was hurting during the night and I was exhausted after our two days of celebration (following a couple of days of intensive shopping, errand-running, and baking). Small Horse curled up with me and we snoozed through the morning.

Now my throat feels better and I am enjoying a cup of hot black tea with lemon.

We had a great time over at the Dotzours’ on Christmas Eve. Althea organized and prepared a wonderful dinner that evening– roast with potatoes, Yorkshire pudding popovers, a corn and rice dish, roasted Brussels sprouts, glazed honey carrots– all good stuff and followed by peppermint gelato from the local Java Cat and plenty of cookies!

Andrew unwrapped some of his presents, carols were sung, and books were read. Then he headed off to bed and most of the adults settled in for a long game of poker. Maretta and I weren’t too interested in playing poker, so we played Uno for a while and then I poked my iPhone (achieving level 10 in Bejeweled) while Maretta napped.

On Christmas morning, Michael, Joe and I headed over to Kim’s house around 11. Becky came by after her family’s Christmas and Marcia and Scott (Michael’s aunt and uncle) dropped in from mid-afternoon on. We played most of a game of Cranium yesterday and the two young uncles played Guitar Hero. Andrew and Sylvie were both excited about receiving a sled from Grandpa– at 10 months, Sylvia already mirrors her brother’s enthusiasm for most activities, but she hasn’t quite mastered walking on her own yet, which may be the only thing that slows her down.

We snacked on pastries, cheese, crackers, hummus, and other items in the morning and had a great fondue dinner in the evening. Michael and I took off around 9:30 so that he could get to sleep at a decent hour since he had work today.

It was a great holiday and now we’re revving up for my birthday (tomorrow) and our New Year’s party next week!

Well, around 7:00 this morning I was in my car, stuck in snow at the end of our road.

I may drive into work later if the plow comes through in a timely fashion, but I’m certainly not doing much of anything that involves driving until the roads are plowed.

It’s OK, though.  I finished as much “critical” work as I could before I left on Thursday and other things will just have to wait until I am back in the office on the 29th.  I have been working extra hours here and there since before Thanksgiving to make sure that projects were finished in time and work was caught up.  I even managed to work in a few “last-minute rush” projects that were dropped in my lap unexpectedly.

If people wait until the week before a holiday to ask for work to be done, on a week when major snowstorms are predicted in the forecast … well, they may end up waiting– that’s all.

The snow started between 11 PM and midnight last night.  It was the end of a fun evening for us.

Our friends Craig and Elisa are in town this weekend and they dropped by our house just before Michael and I left to go over to Althea and Bryan’s for a birthday dinner for Kim.  The birthday dinner was fun and we stayed until Andrew went to bed.  We headed home a little after 8.  Sean had arrived and we had three couples, so we played Powergrid, a board game, until around midnight.

People departed in the snow and we got ready for an early morning.  At the moment, I think we have been physically defeated by the snow, but at least it hasn’t dampened our spirits.

We’re planning a fun weekend with Craig and Elisa and Matt, who is coming down from Chicago– hopefully– by bus later tonight (which may be slow going, depending on weather conditions, but the roads will probably get better over the course of the day).

Joe will be home from college on Sunday and we will have him around for a week or so before flies out to meet Terry for a trip to Death Valley (then he will be back for a bit before he starts his Spring semester in Sri Lanka).

It’s going to be a great holiday!  I’m ready for it, even if it snows the entire time!

This past weekend was quite a whirlwind.

I tried to tie up some loose ends Friday night with chores, gifts that needed to be ordered and shipped, and by writing a good number of Christmas cards.

On Saturday we left home around 8 AM, headed to Josh and Betsy’s in Janesville, changed cars, and drove from there to Chicago.  After stops to pick up Barbri books (Betsy is studying for the Illinois Bar so that she will be licensed in two states) and drop off Josh and Betsy at Peter’s, Michael and I ended up at Matt’s apartment.

After hanging out briefly at the apartment, Matt, Michael and I got into a cab and headed downtown for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory on North Michigan Avenue.  We had a bit of a wait for a table– the restaurant is right in the heart of the downtown shopping district and was very crowded with holiday shoppers.  However, an hour wait didn’t seem bad and we had some catching up to do.  Mostly Michael and Matt talked about World of Warcraft and I stared at the cheesecake counter, trying to decide what kind of cheesecake I would eventually order.  Occasionally I chimed in about WoW and took some photos with my phone camera.

Lunch was pretty fabulous.  Cheesecake Factory has quite the selection of entrees to choose from and everyone was happy with what they ordered.  The cheesecake was incredible, even after eating pot stickers and the Santa Fe chicken salad.

After lunch, we went shopping.  I needed more Christmas cards (this is not a surprise if you have been reading my blog lately).  Matt needed walking shoes with better traction.  Michael needed earmuffs.  We found all of these items in Watertower Place.

Then we walked through the rain to Ron of Japan for, you guessed it, more food.  I didn’t actually *regret* eating cheesecake just a few hours earlier, but I did wish I had more stomach space for filet mignon and beef-fried rice.  Somehow the green tea ice cream for dessert slid down with no problems.  What is up with that?

We met up with Josh, Betsy, Peter, and Kate at Ron of Japan and had a nice, social dinner.  Peter is also a gamer and lives in Chicago, so he and Matt had a lot to talk about.

I didn’t realize how tired I was until we were about halfway home.

Sunday morning I slept late, had coffee, and eventually headed into work for part of the afternoon/evening.  Matt and Liz were over when I got home, so we watched The Punisher and talked for a while.  After they took off, I ate dinner, wrote a few more Christmas cards, went to bed, and it was time for the work week again!

Also, the weather has been a little brisk and unpredictable for December.  Temperatures plummeted at the beginning of the week.  We had rain on Saturday while we were in Chicago and on Sunday evening when I was driving home from work … and by Monday morning (today), temperatures had dropped to 0 or -1.  There were wind chills of -15 to -20 today and winter chill advisories were the norm.  More snow is expected tomorrow night and the temperatures will remain hazardously low over the next few days.

The first week of winter is *next* week, but we already have experienced the arctic freeze that usually waits until January!

The great season of Mess has begun, as evidenced by the snow (about 6.5 inches) that fell Monday night and Tuesday in Madison.  I am not keen on breaking out the mop, but I did swab the foyer with paper towels and kitchen cleaner this evening.  It won’t make much of a dent in the long run, but I am momentarily comforted that the entrance to our house is not flooded with dirty melted snow and ice from outdoors.

Good Samaritan Neighbor Scott has been helping us keep our driveway relatively snow-free.  He made two passes yesterday evening– one pre-plow and then a second pass after the snow plow barrelled down our road and undid the work that had been done on the foot of the driveway.  Doh!

I am working diligently on Christmas cards, sending them out in 5 or 10 card bunches.  Let me know if you want to be added to my Christmas card list (defaultlisa@gmail.com).  This is a work in progress and I am adding more friends and family each year, working up to a list that will probably cripple my writing hand when I am eighty.  But I enjoy sending Christmas cards.  We send so many things electronically these days that it’s nice to receive the occasional card or letter in a good, old-fashioned mailbox.  Also, it’s a wonderful (and relatively inexpensive) way to show that you are thinking about people that you may or may not be able to see over the holidays.

Holiday baking just isn’t going to happen until I am on vacation.  I might be able to squeeze in cookie baking for work if we end up having a cookie exchange again this year, but that’s about it for the next week and a half.  I scheduled vacation for the entire week of Christmas this year, then I am back to work on the 29th and 30th, off again on the 31st and the 1st and I will (at least physically) be at work on the 2nd.

We’ve planned to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tomorrow night with Michael’s dad and on Saturday we are taking a trip to Chicago (driving with Betsy and Josh) to visit with Matt, shop (or admire decorations mostly, I expect), and have dinner at Ron of Japan.  I expect it will be good times.

We’re expecting 2-5 more inches of snow starting tonight and continuing through tomorrow afternoon.  I’m a little worried about driving conditions, but I really do like snow in the month of December.

I need little reminders about the time of year.  December is usually my favorite month and right now I feel bombarded at work.  I returned from Thanksgiving holiday to tons of work to complete in the next couple of weeks and keep wondering why people try to fit in so many projects during the last month of the year.

My head was splitting this morning as I tried to figure out a solution to a problem that needed an answer ASAP.  It was very easy to become absorbed in work all morning and forget that it was a day of my life, December 2nd, in my special month that I love so much.

I love moments to celebrate and relax.  I don’t want this month to disappear in a fog of relentless work.  Too bad for work projects– they will only be done at a steady pace, not a dogged one.  Life is too important to miss.