Sistah Pat

It’s 4:30 am and I’ve been up since 2:30.  Those of you who have known me for a while know that we constantly have to deal with the DIL saga.  Bi-polar? Definitely.  Self-absorbed? Totally. Manipulative? Without a doubt.

DIL is bipolar and goes off the deep end fairly often.  Way too much history to go into at 4:30 am.  Still, I think most of her problems are more about selfishness and irresponsibility.  She’s been working for 3 months now.  I’ve never known her to work for more than six months.  In fact, in the ten years she and DS have been together, I don’t think she’s worked more than two years the entire time.  He has full custody of the kids.  She lost custody of the two kids from her first marriage and never sees them anymore.  She and DS have a very rocky relationship where she goes off the deep end every three or four months and he always forgives her and lets her come back.

So…what’s the latest?  She was fine yesterday evening.  We had a nice dinner, a glass of wine, she and DS were hugging and laughing and everything seemed great.  She was supposed to get paid today and she and DS planned to go out this evening and get the boys another sled because the old one broke yesterday.  The boys were excited about going sledding again this evening and she asked DS if he would make Vietnamese pork rolls tonight for all of us because that’s one of her favorite dinners.

She got up at 5:00 am and went to work and that was the last we saw of her.  Until 2:30 this morning.  She was supposed to be home at 3:00 this afternoon.  DS started getting concerned around 4:30 and tried to call her but she had turned her cell phone off.  By 6:00, he’s worried that she’s had a wreck or the car has slid off the road somewhere so we drive the route to where she works and don’t see anything.  Since this is not the first time (by any means) that she’s done this.  He figures she’s gone out with her friends for drinks and doesn’t want to be disturbed.  Hence: the phone is turned off.  Of course, the boys are wanting to go sledding and DS is trying to distract them.  He holds off on dinner and we all wait until 9:00 before we finally give up and eat without her.  No call, no idea where she is, nothing.  I finally went to bed at 11:00.

I heard her come in at 2:30.  I heard her walk into the kitchen where DS was playing solitaire on the laptop and say, “What are you doing?  Lookin for some porn?”

This is her game.  She does what she wants and then comes in loaded for bear.  She goes on the offensive the minute she walks in because she’s not about to go to the defense.  She knows there is no defense.  DS starts in, “Don’t even try to go there, Stacy.  Where the f*ck have you been?”

From past history, I know I’d better get out there.  She’s vicious when she’s like this and I know she can turn on him with scratching, slapping, kicking.  She’ll slap him, spit on him, or push him and when he tries to hold her to get her to stop, she’ll pull the old “abused woman” routine.  I get up and walk out to the hall and she hears my door open.  Then she starts in, “Don’t you touch me.  Get your hands off me!”  I turn the corner and DS is still sitting at the table and she’s standing on the other side.  I honestly felt like rolling my eyes.  It was almost comical.  DS says, “What the Hell are you talking about?  I didn’t touch you!”

She turns to me, “You tell him to keep his hands off me.  He has no right to touch me!”

DS starts yelling, “I never laid a finger on her, Mom.  I swear!  I was just sitting here!”

I tell DS, “I know that.  Don’t let her turn the tables on you, David.  She’s looking for a way to divert the blame from herself.  Don’t even go there.”

She turns to me with this incredulous look, “I can’t believe you, Patty.  You think it’s okay for him to abuse me?  It’s not!  He has no right to put his hands on me!”

I said, “Stacy, he didn’t touch you.  I know this.  This is not about David.  It’s about you.  You’re the one in the wrong and you’re trying to avoid the issue by laying out a load of crap.  What you did is wrong.  Where have you been for the last day?  Did you know that we went out looking for you?  Did you know that he spent three or four hours worried to death before he finally decided you were just playing games again?  You disrespected him, you disrespected me, and you disrespected my husband.  Where have you been?”

She lays it on thick.  “I went out with my friends.  I guess I’m not allowed to have friends?  I guess I’m not allowed to go out?  How come it’s okay for you to go out with your friends but not okay for me?”

I said, “Stacy, in 40 years of marriage, I have never done what you did today.  I would never dream of leaving work and going out with my friends until 2:30 am without so much as a phone call.  It wouldn’t happen. Ever.”

She says, “Why should I call?  So he can cuss me out and tell me I can’t go?  I don’t need his permission to go out with my friends.  I work hard.  I’m an adult.  I don’t need to explain myself to him or to you.”

Of course, DS starts in again.  “Stacy, you’ve got two kids!  You promised to go sledding with them this afternoon.  You asked me to fix your favorite dinner.  You’re self-centered and you don’t think of anyone but yourself.”

She heads downstairs where her makeup and toilet articles are, grabs them up, and stomps back in the kitchen smirking at me.  “I can’t believe that a woman so smart would condone her son putting his hands on a woman.”

I said, “Stacy, I know he didn’t put his hands on you.  You’re the one in the wrong and you just want to divert attention from what you did and it’s not going to work this time.”

She throws a parting shot, “For a smart woman, you’re stupid.”  With that, she storms out of the house.  DS is actually concerned.  “Mom, she’s totally ripped.  She’s going to head home and there’s no heat and no electricity and the roads are a mess.”

I said, in my best motherly advice, “David, she’s playing her games again.  She’s not going to take any responsibility for what she did.  She’s going to take off for a couple of days and party and badmouth you and then she’s going to show up expecting you to apologize to her.  And you will.  She’s going to take all the money out of the bank account unless you get it first.  She’s going to take the car.  She’s going to leave you stuck with no car, two kids, and no money.  She’s going to whine about how she’s bi-polar and she loves you and the kids more than anything on earth and you’re going to take her back.”

Yeah, Stacy.  I guess you’re right.  There is some stupidity in this family.

He’s actually had to take out an order of protection in the past.  Still, the police can be pretty stupid when they see a beautiful woman with tears in her eyes crying that a man laid his hands on her.  One time, when he called the police and showed them the bruises and scratches, they actually grinned and said, “You’re a big boy.  I think you’ll be okay.”

Oh, yes.  When she’s bad, she’s bad.

Now it’s 5:30 am.  I’m not going back to bed.  Too stressed.  I hear DS in the living room.  He’s asleep on the aerobed.  He’s grinding his teeth so loudly I can hear it all the way in the kitchen.

Think I’ll go sit in the spa.  Maybe a tree will fall on me.

8:30 am - While I was sitting in the spa, the sun started rising and I had to run and get my camera.  Seeing the ice sparkle like diamonds was truly beautiful.  It really is a beautiful world.  Guess what?  I’m going to fix french toast for Scout and Jake.

9:30 - Crap!  With all the drama, I forgot that Scout lost a tooth last night.  As soon as he got up he comes in with his tooth held out in his hand and this little forlorn look and says, “The tooth fairy didn’t come.”  Having come to the realization that you can find anything on the internet, I said, “Wow!  I can’t imagine what happened.  Let’s go online and send her an email.”  I did a google search and figured it wouldn’t turn up anything but, by Gawd, there it was!  http://www.toothfairyland.com/TFLwrite.html

Lots of good info and a link to email the tooth fairy.  We looked at the FAQs and there was one in there that said, “Why didn’t you take my tooth?”  The answer said she was really busy and sometimes she just couldn’t get to everyone in a single night.  She even said bad weather could create problems and Scout pounced on that one.  “The storm!” She gave directions about what to do if she missed a pickup and there was even a link to send her an email.  Scout dictated and we sent her a letter telling her that he wasn’t at home because of the storm but she could pick up his tooth at Nana’s.  Scout’s happy.  I’m happy.

Woke up to more snow.  They say it’s supposed to warm up tomorrow.  Latest figures I heard were 607,000 without power in Kentucky.  That’s more than the 600,000 last fall when the remnants of Ike went through.  I went to the store yesterday afternoon.  First time I’ve really gone out in the neighborhood and was shocked at some of the damage.  All kinds of trees and powerlines down.  Both ends of our street are blocked off.  One for downed power lines and the other for an entire tree that fell over.  Good thing we have a side street that cuts in so we can take a roundabout way to get out.  Big fat flakes are falling again and I don’t think the trees can take much more.  So far, we have two large branches down in the front yard and two that have broken and are touching the ground but are still partially attached to the tree.  One of them is right beside our power lines and we’re afraid to move it for fear it will break the rest of the way and bring down the lines.  We just keep walking around it to get to the car.  In the back yard, we have a large branch that fell on DH’s shed and made a hole in the roof and another that fell and took out a panel of the fence.  We’re lucky. A broken fence in the front, a hole in the shed, a broken panel in the fence in back, a broken lawn chair.  Still…ever notice how the damage never quite adds up to be enough for an insurance claim but still takes a painful little bite out of the wallet?

Youngest DS is off work.  His boss called and said they’re not going to open back up until Monday.  He took Jake and Scout sledding yesterday afternoon.  Scout wanted me to go but I begged off.  Really!  I’m not prepared for this stuff anymore.  My boots all have high heels and my gloves are soft, supple leather.  Not the kind of gloves you wear for making snowballs.  I don’t even own a tobaggan anymore.  He just couldn’t understand why I didn’t have the kind of clothes I needed to go out and make snow angels and have a snowball fight.  In all honesty, neither did I.  I don’t know when I quit going out in the snow.  Must have been about eight years since I’ve been sledding and I’ve slowly discarded all the heavy duty cold weather gear.  The implications being…what?  Gotta work on that.   Gotta work on a lot of things. 

11:00 - Susan and I have been discussing “Scout Wisdom”.  Since he’s totally full of it, I think I’ll record today’s tidbits throughout the day.

On not eating popcorn on the living room couch:
“If you don’t lay on it and eat popcorn, how do you know you like it?”

12:15 - “Jake, Scout, it’s time for lunch.  What do you want?”
Scout - “French Toast”
Me - “That’s for breakfast.  It’s lunchtime.  We don’t eat french toast for lunch.  How about a hot dog, an apple, and some potato chips?”
Scout - “Why can’t you have french toast for lunch?”
Me- (hmmm…how healthy is a hot dog and potato chips?  Maybe the kid has a point)  “No french toast.  How about some chicken noodle soup, a peanut butter sandwich and an apple.  That’s a lot healthier for you.”
Scout -”Is that because we’re american?”

5:45 - DH - “Hey, Scout, I noticed you were all snuggled up with Nana last night and I was jealous.  How come you didn’t snuggle Papaw?”
Scout - “Because you have pointy hair on your face and it hurts.”
DH - “Pointy hair!  You mean this? (rubbing his chin and 5 o’clock shadow)
Scout - “Yes.  You see like this? (stroking his hand along his chin) This is soft but yours is pointy.”

Okay, let me try to write down what I did on this soup so I can do it again sometime.  As usual, I was just throwing what I had into the pot.  As far as amounts go, who knows?  I tend to cook, taste, adjust, and just keep adding stuff until I like it.  I’m just trying to remember about what I did.

Onions (3 large) diced
Beef Round Steak (1 pound)
1 cup uncooked Barley
Beef Soup Base
4 large potatoes, diced
Egg Noodles
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
soy sauce

Saute onions till tender in a large stock pot using Pam.  (Ordinarily, I would probably have sauteed some diced celery as well but I didn’t have any.)  Trim all visible fat from beef and add to pot with 6 cups water.  Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer at least three hours until meat is very tender.  Remove meat from stock and dice.  Add it back to stock. 

Lean Beef Round is not going to give up a lot of flavor so I started adding a bunch of stuff to the stock at this point.  Added a lot more water, probably about six or seven cups and added a couple generous tablespoons of Beef Soup Base and stirred in a couple of good splashes of reduced sodium soy sauce.  I tasted the broth and it seemed a little thin so I looked around to see what I had and stirred in a couple teaspoons of steak sauce.  The stock tasted pretty good at that point so I kept it simmering while I peeled and diced some potatoes.  I didn’t want the starch from the potatoes to ruin the stock so I boiled them in another pan until tender, drained and rinsed them, and set them aside.

I usually use quick cooking barley but didn’t have any.  I had the barley that takes 45 minutes to cook.  I added the barley and 2 1/4 cups of water to a medium saucepan, brought it to a boil, and then reduced the heat to simmer for 45 minutes. 

After the barley was done, I added it, along with the potatoes to the soup.  I had a few egg noodles in the pantry so I stirred them in and brought the soup to a boil for ten minutes to cook the noodles. 

The soup was really good at this point and the noodles were great in it but they started to fall apart after it was reheated a couple of times to keep it hot so I don’t know if I would add them if I was planning on reheating or keeping the soup warm in a crock pot.

8:45 am - Here’s a picture I took around 4:00 yesterday afternoon.  Can you believe it?  After all that snow and ice, the storm is over and a beautiful blue sky emerges and the sun turns the ice to diamonds.  For a few minutes, at least.  This morning, it’s gray and overcast again with a light sleet falling.  Looks like a homeless shelter around here.  Scout is in my bed with DH.  Oldest DS is in the guest room.  Youngest DS and DIL are in the living room on an aerobed.  Jake is on the couch in the family room.  Andrew and Steven are upstairs in their room.  One dog is stretched out in the hall, another dog is lying on top of Jake, and the cat is sprawled over the heating vent in the kitchen.  The paper says 500,000 are now without power.  They say we got six inches of snow (not that bad) and 3/4 of an inch of ice.  That was the killer.  An ice coating three quarters of an inch thick on everything is pretty heavy.  The kids watched Kung Fu Panda and loved it and then someone put Tropic Thunder in the DVD player and we watched about 45 seconds of it before I jumped up and turned it off.  Ackkk!  Blood and guts and intestines hangin out!  Super Gross!  My Bad!  I didn’t check the label.  I thought it was a comedy about a bunch of actors supposedly making a movie about a war and they wound up in a real one by mistake.  Didn’t realize the damn thing was rated R.

DH didn’t get home until late and I said, “I’m halfway tempted to just drive down to Florida.  I looked it up and it’s 72 degrees there.”  DH said, “I’m game if you’re game.  I’ll call in sick the rest of the week.” 

“No, you don’t want to do that.  They need you at work and we shouldn’t spend the money right now.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  It does sound good, though.”

So why is he in bed?  He called in sick today.   Gonna have a long talk with him today.  If he’s planning on calling in sick tomorrow, I think we should drive on down to Florida and just let the kids, the grandkids, and the dogs have the house.  Hmmm….let me check the weather…

Looks like it’s going to be in the 60s for the highs and the 40s for the lows.  Rainy tomorrow but lots of sunshine on Saturday.  Not sure it’s worth it.  We wouldn’t get down there until tonight, it would rain all day tomorrow.  Saturday would be nice and then we’d have to drive all day Sunday to get back.

 Here’s a picture to show how thick the ice layer is on everything.

Looking out in the back yard, I see that a very large limb broke last night and fell on the shed.  Good thing it didn’t fall on the pool.  That would have been a huge mess.

I wish it would warm up enough to melt some of the ice off the trees.  It’s still bitterly cold and everything is so brittle.  Here’s a picture of some of the branches hanging over Manny.  Not much I can do about it.  They’re way up there.  I just hope they stay up there and don’t break and fall.

As I thought, I got a lot of oohs and ahs about the soup last night.  DH says it’s a keeper.  Maybe I should try to write down what I did before I forget.  DS says I’m the “Super Soup Master” and I should open a soup kitchen.  Hello!  What is this place?  You’re lookin at one!

3:00 - Poor DS!  The little ones are driving him crazy to go sledding.  He got Scout all bundled up and he went across the street to play in the snow while DS was getting Jake ready.  About the time he got Jake ready, Scout came in, covered with snow, (he’s been making snow angels) and said he had to go to the bathroom.  Jake went out while DS got Scout “undone” and discovered he had a bunch of snow down his pants.  He had to strip him down and start over with all the layers of dry clothes.  He finally got him dressed and asked DH if he could borrow some gloves and a tobogan.  As he was finishing up, Jake came in and says his feet are freezing.  He’s going to have to get his boots off (probably full of snow) and get some more socks on him.

Me?  I’m going to the store.  Can’t talk DH into driving to Florida so I’m making him take me to the store.

It’s all coming down.  Snow, sleet, freezing rain, power lines, trees…If it’s up there, it’s coming down.  They actually announced at 8:00 pm that there wouldn’t be any school today.  Very unusual for our school system to make a call that early.  By 6:00 pm, it was beautiful.  Ice storms can be that way.  Everything coated in a glistening layer of ice that catches the light and reflects it back.  I was kind of looking forward to staying up late watching TV.  That didn’t work out well because we lost the satellite signal around 6:30.  Couldn’t pick up anything.  I made a marathon session of movies.  Pacific Terrace, which was halfway decent but not really “edge of your seat” stuff.  Mama Mia, fun…but I’ve seen it before, and Righteous Kill, which was okay but not great.  The internet went out…the tv was out….and I was out of movies so I went to bed at 1:00.  DS woke me up around 7:00 am because he thought it looked like the tree in the front yard was leaning toward the RV and he was afraid it was going to fall.

I didn’t think the tree was leaning.  It was just that the ice weighed down the branches so much that it looked lopsided because it had more branches on one side.  I refused to move the RV because I don’t know if we could get it out of the drive, for one thing, and I don’t know where we’d park it if we could.  I decided it was best to just leave it alone.  After all, that’s what we have insurance for.  I was more concerned about my car, which is also parked under the tree but DS thought it was probably far enough down the drive to be okay.  Ten minutes later, a big branch cracked and fell from the tree and landed perfectly right between the car and the RV.  The car CAN be moved without causing major concern so DS moved it out on the street.  Hope no one slides on the ice and rams into it.  The freezing rain has actually compressed or melted most of the snow we got yesterday but everything is covered in a half inch of ice.  All the roads, all the trees, the power lines, everything.  Five minutes later, another big CRACK and the neighbor’s tree loses a huge branch which is kind of tangled up in the power lines.

Obviously, I’m not going to be able to sleep.  I’m sitting here at the kitchen table and I’ve heard so many loud cracks and seen so many branches fall that I’ve stopped even getting up to see what fell.  I woke up the boys and made them come downstairs to my bedroom.  I guess it’s possible that a tree could fall on the roof and it’s safer downstairs.  Youngest DS called a few minutes ago and said their power is out so they’re all heading over here.  No heat.  I hate to think of them being out driving in this mess.  In fact, more than 100,000 are without power and the rain and ice is still falling.  I went online to look at the weather (the TV is still out although I have a wireless signal again) and they’re calling for another 3 to 5 inches and then more ice.  Hope MY power stays on.  The RV is actually out of propane and we decided not to fill the tank since we wouldn’t be using it for a while.  I wish it was full.  It’s cold out there and I don’t know what we’d do if we lost power.  It would be nice to have the reassurance that we could go out to the RV and turn on the furnace.  Still…I don’t know how comfy it would be if it was housing me, DH, 2 DS, 4 DGC, and one DIL.

The sun’s coming up.  Do I wanna look outside?

 8:20 - I took the picture at the top of the page a few minutes ago.  Pretty…but you can see that I’ve already lost a couple branches from this tree. Then I stood on the front porch and took this picture of the branch that fell between Manny and my car.  While I was standing there, I heard a big crack and another limb fell and took out the fence right next to Manny.   

9:00 - Now we’re back to snow again.  I took this picture at 8:40 so you could see how fast it’s coming down.  Same shot as the one above and look how much snow has accumulated in just 20 minutes.  Along with this new onslaught of snow, the wind has really picked up.  It’s blowing hard and these poor trees are so weighted down with ice, they don’t sway.  They just break. 

I called DS because I was getting worried and he said they weren’t coming over until later.  Said they were all up half the night and they’re all going to snuggle up and try to get a little sleep before they head over.  Didn’t know what to say about that.  Should it have been, “Are you crazy?  Your heat is out and you have two little kids so you need to get over here.” or should it have been, “Good idea.  The roads will be better later on today so just snuggle the kids and maybe the driving conditions will be better later on.”  Didn’t know which way to go so I didn’t say anything. 

10:15 - Taking a quick break.  In times of emergency, domesticity kicks in.  There are now 200,000 without power so I decided I’d better take advantage of what I’ve got.  Got a huge pot of soup going, doing laundry, cleaning like crazy.  Gonna take advantage of the electricity while I’ve got it.

1:30 - I think the storm is over.  The snow stopped, the ice stopped, and the sky is blue again.  Confirming that I am, indeed, a few french fries short of a Happy Meal, I went outside and took a few more pictures.  A loud CRACK overhead sent me scurrying back inside but it’s hard to resist.  Everything is so beautiful after an ice storm.  I’ve pretty well taken up all my space for today so maybe I’ll post a couple of them tomorrow.

DS, DIL and their boys are over here.  That’s fine but I didn’t realize they were bringing their two dogs.  Didn’t think about that.  Savena runs straight in the house and craps in the middle of the hall so I gave Stacy some carpet shampoo and put her to work.  Damn dog.

4:15 - Got a huge pot of beef and barley soup, 2 loaves of homemade beer bread, and a big ole batch of cupcakes for all the kiddos.  I was just making the soup up as I went along and it doesn’t have anything but stew beef, onions, beef broth, diced potatoes, and a lot of barley.  I was going to add some diced tomatoes and a can of veg-all but it tastes really good so I think I’ll leave it alone.  Can’t remember everything I put in it: onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, a little steak sauce, a little soy sauce.  Just like me to fix something everyone’s going to like and not remember how to make it.  Rented three more movies: Kung Fu Panda, Tropic Thunder, and something else.  Oughta keep all the grandkids occupied.

Crap!  They just announced that school will be out until Monday.  400,000 without electricity including 67 schools.  I’d give anything to just hit the road and drive down to Florida.  We could be there by morning.  Unfortunately, DH has to work.  Two weeks of school we have to make up.  We’ll be lucky to get out by the 4th of July.

I don’t like snow days. I know the kids love them (making it up doesn’t occur to them. That’s waaaayyyy up in the future.). Still, we’ve got one and I’m going to use it up. It’s 9:30 and I’m still sitting here in my house shoes and robe. Don’t plan on doing much. Maybe lying around will give me a chance to kick this cold. Poor DH is out there in the mess. I should have a big old pot of soup ready for him when he gets home. I’m so glad he took my car to get the window replaced yesterday. If we had waited until today, when it was originally scheduled, it wouldn’t have gotten done.

I started a book over Christmas which was put aside when I got home. Maybe I can find it and finish it (if I can remember what I’ve already read). Anyway, it’s a lazy “stuck at home” day so maybe I can catch up on a few blogs!

2:30 - Dinner times Two! I couldn’t decide what to make for dinner. It should be up to DH since he’s been out driving in all this snow and ice all day while I’ve been lying around in my jammies eating bon bons. I started a big batch of marinara sauce and another pan full of beef and onions. He can decide when he gets home if we’re having stuffed manicotti or beef and barley soup. Whatever we don’t have tonight will give me a head start on tomorrow’s dinner.

5:00 - DH is home.  All my little kiddies and grandkiddies are safe and sound at one place or another and I don’t think anyone’s going out tonight.  DH voted for stuffed manicotti for dinner so I’m working on it.  Haven’t made it for him for quite a while and I forgot how much stuff I have to do.  He can’t imagine any meal without meat so I had to make meatballs.  The marinara is almost finished and I boiled the manicotti, drained it and it’s cooling.  I still have to make the cheese stuffing, stuff the shells, layer everything in a big casserole dish, and bake it.  Me?  I’m just going to throw some marinara on top of some whole wheat pasta and call it dinner.

The forecast is calling for snow from midnight to around 4:00 am at which point it should change to sleet and freezing rain followed by another onslaught of snow around 6:00 am and continueing until noon tomorrow.  It certainly doesn’t sound like we’ll have school tomorrow but JCPS never makes a decision until 5:00 am.  I’m going to bet that we’ll be home so I’m going to stay up late.  DH picked up Lakeview Terrace, Mama Mia, and Righteous Kill.  Lakeview Terrace is for both of us, Mama Mia is for me, and Righteous Kill is for him.  I don’t like really violent movies and that one sounds like one.  While he’s watching that, I’ll tune in to American Idol.  Sounds like a big couch potato night.

My car is fixed. DH says my number six coil was bad. Okay….anyway, she’s purring like a kitten again. Doesn’t look so good, though, with a garbage bag duct taped to the rear window. I’m supposed to get it fixed tomorrow but I hope the snow storm doesn’t come in like they’re predicting. If it does, I’m probably not going anywhere.

3:15 - I’m sitting here at school, waiting for my car. DH is off today and decided to try to get it taken care of instead of waiting until tomorrow so he came and picked it up.  DGS wanted to stay after to get some help on his history anyway so I told DH I’d wait for my car. He came over around 11:30 and picked it up and said he’d be back in about an hour. I thought that sounded awfully fast. Anyway, if he doesn’t get here in the next 15 minutes or so, I’ll take his car and head on home.

I’ll be glad to get home. I forgot to take any kind of cold medicine or nose spray or anything this morning and I’ve been pretty ragged. As much as I hate snow days, I wouldn’t mind it tooooo much if we had to stay home tomorrow. The latest weather advisories and called for some heavy snow and ice not only for tonight and tomorrow but Wednesday, as well. Guess we’ll see. They’re not very good at forecasting around here.

Stay away, Snow.  Do not come to my town.  No snow days, please.

We already have to make up a full week from the wind damage of Ike back in September.  Now they’re calling for a major winter storm to dump a ton of snow on us starting tomorrow evening and continueing Tuesday and Wednesday.  I hope not.  Snow, snow, go away….  Patty doesn’t want to play….

I woke up early because I can’t breathe and my throat is dry and scratchy.  Everyone else is still asleep.  Except crazy cat who’s lying across the heating vent on the floor.  He loves to lie on the vents with the heat blasting away.  I used to do that as a kid.  I remember standing over the vents in the winter with my dress billowing up around me like Marilyn Monroe.

Stayed up late watching movies and What Not to Wear.  I really enjoyed Appaloosa.  Yeah, so true to life.  The way some men will put up with a seductive woman.  I like Ed Harris, anyway.  Also watched Hancock, which had its moments.  I like Will Smith but this wasn’t one of his finest moments.

I’m thinking about this damn storm.  I have lots of meat and canned goods.  Plenty of milk (which I freeze when I catch it on sale).  No fresh fruit or veggies.  I guess I should pick some up today.  Guess I’ll look through the paper and see what’s on sale.

10:30 - Dammit!  Went through the ads and decided to go to the store.  Walked outside and someone picked up a large decorative rock from my flower bed and threw it through my car window.  Called the police and made a report.  The really strange part is that it wasn’t broken when I went out to get the paper.  No way I wouldn’t have seen it.  It happened sometime between 7:00 and 9:30 am.  I got the paper at 7:00 and it was fine and the sun was up by 7:30.  The insurance company set us up an appointment to get if fixed on Tuesday and I’m hoping it doesn’t snow.  The part that’s a real pain in the butt is that the insurance will cover it but we had to clean up all the broken glass (and that stuff goes everywhere) and put plastic over the window and duct tape it in 16 degree weather. 

This used to be such a nice neighborhood…

As soon as I started in on a glass of red wine last night, I immediately got all stopped up.  Thought it was the wine.  Sometimes that happens.  A kind of mild allergic reaction to the fermentation.  Unfortunately, I’m still all stopped up today so I’m taking it easy.  Trying to plan a relaxing and slightly decadent evening.  Good food, movies, and popcorn.  I reserved Appaloosa and Hancock and I’m trying to figure out a nice dinner that’s fairly healthy and still yummy.  House cleaning is out for today.  This place is only going to get a light straightening and then I’m going to lie around and do nothing…

Started a page on facebook.com last night. Some of the other TRTs were talking about it yesterday and said I’d probably like it since I don’t do My Space and I hardly ever go to my Tagged page because of all the idiots out there. Sure enough, this morning I have messages from some people I know and it’s kind of nice. My brother from Alaska is on there, his girlfriend, and his son. My sister, my other brother and his wife from New Orleans, a few teachers I know and a couple of friends. It’s kind of nice that they just “appeared” without me looking for them or knowing they even had accounts. Joy, I see that you’re on there! Maybe I’ll keep up with this one since it seems to be a bit more controlled than the other sites. I still prefer the chick site. Haven’t been propositioned by anybody here.

4:00 - So glad to be home and call an end to a crappy work day. I started out in a good mood but my car was acting up on the way to work. Cutting out really bad and running like crap. My “check engine” light came on and stayed on and it made me a nervous wreck. I kept telling myself, “Okay, you’ve got triple A, got $50.00 in cash and credit cards. Got a cell phone and two boys who are going to be eighteen years old in a couple of weeks in the car with you. What’s the worst that could happen?” Still, you know how it is. I was a nervous wreck the entire time and the boys learned some choice new profanity as I cursed and swore at the car, the slow traffic, the traffic lights, and all the fools who dared to pull out in front of me or otherwise impede my progression.

Made it to school and called DH and he said (essentially), “Okay, you’ve got triple A, got some cash and credit cards, a cell phone and the boys are with you. You made it to work okay and you’ll make it home okay. What’s the worst that could happen? I’ll look at it this afternoon when you get home.” Well, DUH! What I really wanted him to say was, “Whoa, Baby! Don’t drive home with the car running funny. I’ll take off work early, drive out to the school, pick up your car and leave you mine so you won’t have to worry about a thing. That’s what I’m here for, Sugar! I’ve got it all covered. You just don’t worry your pretty little head about any of that nasty car stuff! I’m the man and that’s MY department!” Why do we women get so uptight about car trouble? I guess it goes back to the old days when there was no such thing as cell phones and we didn’t have two nickels to rub together, much less credit cards, cash, and Triple A. Had it happen a few times when I was young and wound up stranded out in God’s country with two little babies. Nothing to do back then but hit the road on foot, carrying the kiddos, and hoping not to get shot, stabbed, or raped when you had to go to some stranger’s house to ask for help.

Anyway…I get to school and I begin to get a little equilibrium and then I have my class and DeAsia decides to get an attitude today. Refused to close the lid on her laptop when we were finished, refused to give me her laptop, and informed me that she would do what she wanted. I started looking up her phone number to call Mom and Pitiful, Arrogant, Upchuck Lowlife decided to prove that he could do what I couldn’t so he tried to forceably take the laptop from her at which point she got into a tussle with him over the thing and called him a few choice names (even worse than the ones I called the idiot drivers this morning). DeAsia’s really hot now but I got her to sit down and I asked Phyllisann if she would keep an eye on my class while I walked across the hall to get a referral slip. I rarely write referrals. Maybe a half dozen total in the five years I’ve been at this school. I went across the hall for no more than two minutes and, when I returned, Phyllisann had escorted DeAsia to the assistant principal’s office because she started up with Phyllisann. I left Phyllisann with my class and walked down to the AP’s office. He’s sitting at his desk and DeAsia is sitting across from him. It’s a fairly small office and I stood in the doorway.

I said, “Do you want me to write a referral or just fill you in on what DeAsia did?”

He said, “I’ll deal with it.” and gives me this really nasty look.

I said, “I tried to call her mother but there wasn’t any answer.”

He gives me this exaggerated stare and his voice just drips with sarcasm as he says, “I TOLD you. I’ll deal with it.” With that, he got up and more or less closed the door in my face. I had a choice of standing there as he shut the door on me or stepping back out of the way.

I was actually pretty taken aback. I couldn’t believe he would act that way in front of a student. I’ve known him for five years and we cut up and joke around but I’ve always treated him professionally and courteously and I couldn’t believe what had just happened. On many, many occasions, I’ve bailed his butt out when a last minute problem came up and I went above and beyond my job to help. I turned around and walked out.

A couple of hours later, I had a few free minutes and I walked down to the office. The AP was sitting in his office and I walked in and closed the door and said, “So…what’s the deal with DeAsia?”

He looked at me and his face was really red and tight and he said, “I had a talk with her and sent her back to class.”

I said, “Were you able to reach her mother or should I call her?”

He said, “Are you not listening? I said, I had a talk with her and sent her back to class!”

I said, “I don’t know what’s going on here, David. I’m not trying to cause trouble and I’m not questioning what you did. All I know is that I had a problem with her and I still haven’t been able to tell you what happened. I’m simply trying to find out if you want me to write up a referral or call her mother or what? Do you even know what she did? She was insubordinate to me, Paul, and Phyllisann. She cursed Paul and Phyllisann out in front of all the other students and actually got into a tug of war with Paul with a laptop. That’s not like her at all. I don’t know if she’s got something going on at home or what.”

He absolutely glared at me and said, “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I took care of it. I talked to her and I sent her to class. Her problem is that she’s thirteen and she’s having a bad day. I’m done. Finished. This conversation is over. If you don’t like the way I deal with students, don’t send them to me!”

I was so mad I turned around, yanked open the door, walked out and closed it (none too gently) behind me. I was absolutely fuming! I told Barbara what he did and she wasn’t surprised. She said he does that to ALL the teachers. She was really surprised that it had never happened to me before. Probably because I never sent a student to his office before (although, technically, I didn’t send DeAsia either. Phyllisann did.). I talked to a couple of other teachers this afternoon and they said the same thing. That he always does that and that I needed to tell the principal about it. They said there’s a pretty thick file full of reports of episodes just like the one with me. One teacher told me her entire team refuses to send any of their kids to his office because he’ll just “talk” with the kids and then jump all over the teacher. Hmmm…that’s a real problem because when a kid acts up, we’re supposed to send them to his office. That’s the school policy.

I may tell the principal. Then again, I probably won’t. If they already have a file, they know about the problem.  Besides, I don’t like running to someone else. I prefer to deal with things on my own. That’s probably why I don’t send kids to the office very often. I may approach him on Monday and say, “David, I know we joke around and cut up occasionally but I have always respected you and treated you with professionalism. I expect the same in return. I was very upset at the way I was treated Friday in front of one of my students and later, when I went to you to discuss the situation with DeAsia.”

What do you think, chicks?

Finally, I got to hop in my car, still doing a slow boil, and drive the damn thing all the way home with it cutting out and skipping and acting like it was going to roll over and play dead the entire time.

I think a stint in the spa and a glass (or two) of wine is in order.

No school today.  I have an all day meeting/training.  I enjoy them but I always have this cloud hanging over me because I know that even a single day out of the building is going to make it difficult to catch up tomorrow.

I got to sleep in a few minutes because the training is only a 5 minute drive from my house and it doesn’t start until 8:00.  Amazing what a difference a few minutes can make.  Oh, yeah, I don’t have to spend any time on my hair, either.

I wanted to spend some time catching up with some blogs last night and see what you lovely chickies are up to.  Alas…it was not to be.  Youngest DS came over with the two little grandkids and then DIL from oldest DS shows up along with Holly.  Things got fairly chaotic and a blog session was not in the cards.  Seems like things are getting chaotic almost every evening around here.  I guess, with the weather so miserable, the only place to go these days is to Nana’s.  All five grandkids, both DSs and one DIL were here.  NOT conductive to reading and blogging.

Don’t have a clue what I’m going to wear today.  Maybe I can get my fat butt into some of the new jeans I’ve gotten within the last six months but I’m going to be sitting all day except for when I go to Jason’s Deli for lunch and load up at the salad bar.  Not sure I want to wear tight jeans.  Then again, maybe it’ll keep me from overdoing the salad bar…..Nah……

4:15 - Life Lesson #287821 - Do not wear tight jeans that gap with a short top when you’re going to be sitting all day. 

Life Lesson Solution #287821 - Try to sit with your back to the wall and hang your coat over the back of the chair.

Had a pretty good day.  Tight jeans kept me from overdoing Jason’s.  Sometimes I feel so out of place at these meetings.  I used to be hot stuff when it came to technology but you really have to keep up with it.  It changes almost before I can get a handle on the old stuff.  Most of the TRTs are a lot younger than I am and a few of them are still in school taking technology courses.  Today we looked at editing and posting podcasts (a task that I have a pretty good handle on) and then we moved on to aggregators, microblogs, and twitter.  I did find one website that I thought was pretty cool:

http://freerice.com/

It’s an educational site that has questions in several different subject areas.  For every question you get right, they donate ten grains of rice to the UN Food Program to help ease hunger in impoverished nations.  Nice way to get kids motivated while contributing to a worthy cause.  For all you teachers out there, a couple other good sites are

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/

This is a repository of famous speeches and then there’s a really cool video about technology on youtube.com called Did You Know?

It’s so hard! Climbing out of the bed, all snuggly and comfy and coming out here to some kind of wicked hot/cold atmosphere. How can it be chilly and yet so stuffy? The furnace is cranking out that hot, dry air and it feels awful. This miserable feeling may be due (at least partially) to the fact that I took a Tylenol PM last night.

Yesterday was okay. Not perfect because I didn’t exercise and my eating was erratic. Yogurt for breakfast, green salad for lunch. Then I had to stay after for work, bring the boys home, and run back out for a haircut. Didn’t get home until six, fixed dinner, and then it was almost 7:00 and I just became a couch potato until 10:00. I felt tired and icky so I didn’t eat any dinner except some pork tenderloin and a slice of lemon cake and that made me sick. Don’t think much of that stayed down. Gotta do better today.

6:00 am - Had to get Andrew up early because he left me a note that he needed help with some of his homework. Helped him out and then headed for a shower and shampoo. I was surprised to discover that I don’t have any hair. I forgot that I got it all cut off yesterday. I got tired of waiting for DIL’s perm disaster to grow out so I told them to cut off all the damaged hair. What’s left is barely two inches. My bangs are probably longer than anything else. Surprisingly, I came home and DH said, “Your hair looks cute.” A couple of hours later, DS said the same thing so I don’t guess it’s too bad. I don’t know that I’d say it’s “cute” but I did kind of scrunch it and spike it and it’s definitely different. I need to get some color today. My natural color (peppered with little strands of gray) is about all that’s left.  Maybe if I wear BIG hoopy earrings no one will notice.

  Okay, I’ll try to get it in here but Sharon can’t take a picture to save her life.  Would you believe this is the 4th try and it’s STILL dark, fuzzy, and you can’t see my hair.  (sigh)  I’ll keep trying.

5:30 - Sharon finally came up with this one.  It’s not any better than the other but at least it’s closer.  Still…you can’t see my hair (or lack of)!  Anyway, I guess this is the best I’m gonna get.  Doesn’t seem to be any photographers around here.

I feel guilty…read all the comments and get well wishes but I’m not sick.  Just lazy.  I DID NOT want to crawl out of bed this morning.  The floors were cold but the furnace was blowing hot, dry air.  I hate that feeling. Being hot and stuffy but chilly at the same time.  You know the feeling…kind of the reverse of when you get chilled with a sunburn.

I’m going to try to catch up with some blogs for a few minutes before I have to fix dinner.  Thanks, Joy, for the compliment!

I love long weekends!  Not only do you get extra time off on the weekend, but the work week is shorter as well!  Only 4 days until another weekend!

I haven’t been very good at keeping up with everyone lately.  Mostly, that’s because of the cleaning binge I’m on.  When the weather gets so cold and nasty that I’m forced to stay inside, I start to notice everything that’s wrong with the house.  It starts that domino effect where the more I clean, the worse it makes the other stuff look.  Anyway…I might as well scrub.  It’s that time of year. 

Off to the shower!

7:50 - I’m at work and decided that I’m going for a perfect day today.  Wish me luck!

I feel like one of those cute little scrubbing bubbles.  Running around scrubbing everything in sight.  Spent all day yesterday working on my kitchen again.  Cleaned the stove till it positively shines and then moved on to the dishwasher, microwave, and kitchen island.  I emptied the deep fryer, took it all apart and spent more than an hour on it.  Ughh!  I’d love to toss it but DH and the boys consider a deep fryer to be right in there with running water and a stove.  One of those indispensible kitchen items.  I took down the curtains, washed and ironed them and cleaned the window.  Removed all my cookbooks from the shelf over the stove and scrubbed the shelf.  Of course, DH thinks I’m crazy to take an old toothbrush to the sides of the dishwasher door and I think he’s crazy that he never sees that kind of dirt and grime.   Since we all chose a room to be responsible for a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t seen him working on his and I’m going to make sure he starts today.  He actually got off pretty easy since he waited to choose.  The only thing left was a combination of the laundry room, the freezer room, (both tiny rooms with nothing to really clean) the stairs and the hall.  Of course, I just cleaned the hall right before we picked rooms so it’s been scrubbed from top to bottom.  He thinks there’s nothing to be done in his rooms so I’ll have to teach him today.  The hall happens to contain two linen closets - your job, DH.  The laundry room has a washer, dryer, and a lot of shelving - your job, DH and yes, washers and dryers have to be cleaned.  The freezer room is a tiny little space consumed by a huge chest freezer with a bunch of cabinets and shelving that’s crammed full of all kinds of junk (paint, tools, tons of kitchen appliances like a wok, an espresso machine, several crock pots, a food processor, an ice cream maker, a roaster, a huge fondue set, a bread making machine, etc. etc.).  Finally, we come to the stairs, nothing but carpeted stairs (that need to be vacuumed and shampooed), high ceilings and walls that need to be scrubbed and pictures.  All yours, DH.   I spoke to him about all this yesterday and he promised to get moving on it today.  We’ll see… I’m having to really lean on everyone to keep them on their toes.  They’re trying to get by with straightening as opposed to cleaning.  In the past, I would have probably let it slide but I’m determined to get some help around this place so I’m prepared to be a witch if I have to.  Andrew did a nice job on the downstairs bathroom yesterday but he forgot to clean the floor and he didn’t polish all the chrome on the sink, tub, and shower so I made him go back.  He thought I was nit picking and I was but that’s the whole point.  I want it perfect.  Andrew’s such a good natured sweetie that he took note of what I said and did it but the others are another matter.

Sistah Pam had her gall bladder removed early in December.  She said she feels better than she has in a long time and is back on track with diet and exercise.  I was going to cancel my gym membership since I don’t use it but she suggested we meet to do the treadmill this morning so I’m going to go.  I’d like to keep my membership if I can use it but it just doesn’t make any sense for me to get dressed and drive to the gym when I have my own treadmill right here if no one’s going to work out with me.  It’s nice, however, to meet Pam and have a chance to chat with her.  I really need to take advantage of the gym if I’m going to use it and figure out how to use some of the other goodies they have.

3:00 - DH loves me.  Jesus loves me and DH loves me.  They’re both very forgiving.

I went to the gym and did the treadmill for an hour with Sistah Pam.  Meijier’s has pork loin on sale for $1.79 a pound so I went by and picked up two whole porkloins.  Came home and trimmed all the fat and sliced one into roasts and the other into slices for stir fries or grilling.  I decided to make one of the roasts for dinner.  I rummaged around in the fridge and started throwing things together to make a glaze.  Diced a couple of jalapenos, crushed a couple cloves of garlic, added the last half of a jar of “just fruit” apricot preserves, a little vinegar, and a tablespoon of olive oil.  Poured it all in the jar from the preserves and set it on the counter so the flavors could mingle while I got out the pan, the foil, and waited for the oven to preheat.  I was chatting with DH during all this and noticed that the jar full of glaze had settled so I grabbed it up and started giving it a vigorous shaking.  The lid flew off and the entire jar sloshed into DH’s face.  OMG!  I was shocked.  It couldn’t have hit him better if I’d been aiming.  I just stood there gaping.  I guess I didn’t tighten the lid when I put it on the jar and then got distracted with other things.  Poor DH is just sitting there at the kitchen table with glaze dripping off his face and hair.  Then I see a big smile cracking behind all the goo and he just starts cracking up.  Then I started laughing and he grabbed me and pulled me over for a big, gooey kiss.  Yumm!  I think this glaze is going to be good!

The Egg Roll Machine and Cafe Mimosa burned down yesterday.  Ti Lee came to this country back during the Vietnam era.  He opened a little restaurant called The Egg Roll Machine and sold really yummy chinese food.  After several years, he bought another restaurant closer to downtown and combined The Egg Roll Machine and Cafe Mimosa. Although housed in the same building, The Egg Roll Machine remained a casual little restaurant featuring fast and friendly asian cuisine and Cafe Mimosa became a more upscale establishment featuring Vietnamese food.  Later, Ti Lee bought Lentini’s, a well-established Italian restaurant when Mr. Lentini retired.  DS, had been the head chef at Lentini’s for several years and Ti Lee wanted to turn the restaurant into an International dining experience featuring Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, and American cuisine.  He didn’t count on the expectations of established Lentini’s customers who took it as an affront.  The concept of an international dining experience never quite caught on and Ti Lee sold the restaurant after just a couple of years.  Still, during the time he owned it, he and DS became quite close.  He always held DS and the rest of us, as his family, in high regard.  When my father died, Ti Lee sent enough food to my house to feed an army.  He sold Lentini’s with a stipulation in the contract that DS remain the head chef for the new owners.  A good man.  A good friend to have.  DS never quite got along with the idiots who bought out Lentini’s and ran it into the ground until they declared bankruptcy but he and Ti Lee remain close to this day. 

Ti Lee lives just a mile from us in the same development and he built a very large koi pond off the front of his home.  It’s lovely to drive by his house and see the landscaping and waterfall around the pond.  When my koi all died from chlorine poisoning a couple of years ago, he offered me more.  I never quite got over all my fish dying and I’ve chosen to just leave the pond as a pond since then but Ti Lee sends me an offer, every 6 months or so, to go out to some property he owns in Indiana with a huge pond and restock my koi.  He says it would give him great pleasure if I would accept his offer.  I drove past his house on the way home from work yesterday and was shocked to see that the brick retaining wall on his koi pond must have cracked from the cold and his entire front yard and the street in front of his house were a solid sheet of ice where the water had run out.  I hoped he was home when it happened and was able to save his fish.  Sad.

I got home and DH told me he’d heard on the news that Cafe Mimosa had burned to the ground in the pre-dawn hours and that the entire road was blocked in the area around the restaurant.  I was shocked, to say the least, and watched it on the news.  The restaurant is a total loss.  There is nothing left and it hurt to look at the pictures on the news.  A contrast of blackened and charred devastation standing out against the stark white ice covering the trees and adjacent buildings.  It hurts to even look at it.  I called DS and told him and he said he was going to try to go by Ti Lee’s house last night but I don’t know if he did.  Yesterday was a very bad day for Ti Lee.

Had a few technical issues yesterday. Out router wasn’t working right and I couldn’t connect. I got it working yesterday evening but then youngest DS came over with one of the grandkiddies and I had other things to do. Mostly listening to the wisdom of Scout’s ramblings. I swear, I don’t have a clue how his little brain works but it does…non-stop…

“Nana, listen, I’m gonna tell you. There’s wood and fire and water and that means war. So the wood is the strongest and it can HIT the water and that’s like the war. I don’t mean the old war. It’s like the new war.”

“Well, Scout, what about fire? Can’t fire burn wood?”

“No! That can’t happen because the wood is the strongest! The water puts out the fire and the man was going to do something and the sign said, “White’s Only” so the man was murdered and now everyone can and they burned the sign.”

“Ahhhh…What was the man’s name, Scout? Was it Dr. Martin Luther King?”

“Yeah, but you know what, Nana? His birthday is when we’re off school.”

“You’re right, Scout. We celebrate his birthday so people won’t forget the sacrifices he made. Do you know whose birthday we celebrate at Christmas?”

“Yeah, that’s God.”

“No, Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus is God’s son.”

“You’re kidding! You mean he and Santa Clause are brothers? I didn’t know that!”

“No, he and Santa aren’t brothers. Santa Clause gives presents as a gift because he’s celebrating the birth of Jesus.”

“Was he in the war?”

Sigh…now you see why I didn’t blog.

It’s -1 degree and I’ve blogged too long. Gotta get moving!  I’m definitely dressing different today!  Yesterday, they had the heat cranked up in the building and I thought I’d die.  I was burning up all day long.  Drank water and iced tea non-stop because the constant dry air had me totally parched.  Thought I was right in dressing in long sleeves and jeans and a vest but it was a BIG mistake.  When it gets this cold, they’re going to have the heat blasting so I guess I have to dress light.  Go figure…

It’s so quiet this morning. Don’t know why but it seems a lot more quiet than usual. Cold, too! The outdoor thermometer is showing 10 degrees and we’re supposed to have a cold front move in today. Huh??? You mean it’s not here yet???? Wish I could go back in the bedroom, pull a down comforter up to my chin and stay there all day. Does this place have room service? At least we have Monday off and can look forward to a long weekend.

Aiming for a perfect day today. That’ll make four in a row. Shouldn’t be too difficult. I won’t get home until close to 5:00 and we all know there’s nothing edible at school. Oh wait! I just remembered…today is Potluck Thursday. The theme is supposed to be fit and healthy. Maybe I can get a new recipe or two. Hmmm…what can I take? I meant to take Pepper Steak Salad but it’s too late for that now. Kroger has assorted Angel Food Cakes on sale. I oughta know: I had two pieces last night. Maybe I’ll just head out a little early and pick up a couple with some low-fat yogurt to pour over the top. Seems like a cop out because I usually make something from scratch but I guess it’ll do.

Weight is at 172.5 this morning and I’m not sore from working out yesterday. Yay, me!!  I suppose if I were demonstrating even a teensy bit of pride, I wouldn’t go to work in a pair of saggy jeans, black long sleeved tee, and totally shapeless red and black brocade vest:  But I’m going to.  Today, it’s all about the warm.

That workout from yesterday is still trying to kill me!  My back hurts!  Can’t wait to get under a hot shower and let it beat the heck out of my back.  I’d go out to the spa but it’s sleeting.  I have no use for this weather.

4:00 - Damn!  I look good!  It’s still cold and icky so I decided to wear jeans and boots and a bulky sweater to work.  Started getting dressed and it dawned on me that students from another school were going to be coming to one of my classes today and there would be a TV crew filming it for the local news.  Had to regroup real fast.  Wore a sweet little grey tweed jacket with soft black leather trim, a purple, grey and black silk blouse, grey dress pants and grey heels and a grey onyx necklace.  Used a flat iron on my hair and made up smokey eyes.  I looked good!  Passed the mirror several times today and told myself, “Girl, you look hot!”

Came home and pretty much convinced myself that I deserved to take a break.  Almost forgot that I’m fat….Then I checked my comments and ShallweShrink says she’s proud of me for getting right back into the swing of things.  Things like eating right, weighing myself, and working out.  sigh…..Oh, yeah, I’m fat.  I remember…guess I ought to go workout…

5:45 - Oh, My!  Soooo much better!  I worked out for 45 minutes, mostly step aerobics, and burned 400 calories.  I actually had fun.  After about 15 minutes of feeling like life just isn’t fair, I started rockin and put a little movement in the movements and enjoyed myself.  Got to dance with Enrique, Rob Thomas, and all three Blue Men at the same time.  Thanks, little chicklets, for being here and encouraging me!  I didn’t start out to have a perfect day but it looks like it’s happening anyway.

I planned on grilling round steak with Chimichurri Sauce, roasted new potatoes with Mrs. Dash, broccoli, and roasted red peppers with mozzarella.  DH opted for Manwich sandwiches instead.  There’s something wrong with that man.  I may just grill me some steak and find something to do with it.  I’m sure not fixing Chimichurri Sauce just for myself.  I was so busy today, I didn’t have time for anything but a salad so I have lots of calories to play with.