We have heat!

Got my Christmas Present today. The furnace is fixed and we are a bit poorer. Luckily I was cutting back this year and didn't over spend.... until today. Control panel shorted and this shorted out the blower. Nice repairman came and by 4:30pm we had heat.

Shit happens. The cats are much happier now that they can lay on the vents again. Charlie kept poking me with his claw, indignant that there was no heat!

Brrrr....Cold... Furnace is on a Vacation

My furnace is not working. It snowed last night, we might get more snow today and the fucking furnace decides it doesn't want to blow. Hey, I'm the only one around here that gets to make that kind of decision. I decide who blows around here and the furnace is the number one blower.

The house was 54 degrees this morning when we got up. Rob and I stared blankly at the furnace trying to decipher the blinking red light of doom that is suppose to tell us what the problem is. We are clueless and Rob left for the nice warm office. The kids left for the nice warm school. The repair people will be here after noon. I'm not too freezing though. We own a couple of space heaters (although not the super big ones, these are small so you have to sit with it blowing up your robe to feel the heat, if you know what I mean) and I turned the oven on (it's electric! no one will die) I have lots of hot water so I will take a hot shower, dive into the bed where my clothes are, I will warm them up and put them on. Then it's off to the nice warm store to finish my Christmas shopping.

The house is now 63 degrees but it's starting to snow again. We may or may not get more measurable snow. We tend to miss the snow that hits the Puget Sound region. In the north and in the south they get hit hard but us...not so much. We must live in the banana belt.

I do think it warmed up enough to pry the dead rat one of the cats left in the driveway and dispose of it. The cats are so nice to leave us such gifts!

Walking Round in Women's Underwear...

I just want to sing. It's so beautiful outside, a winter wonderland. Well, we got snow. Not the Winter Storm 2008 that was originally predicted but we got about an inch plus on the grass. The streets, well, at least the driveway, where I went to get the paper, is laced with ice and very crunchy.

The cats are freaked out by it. Fig was so upset that his public restroom (the back garden) was covered with this icy cold stuff that he decided to take a dump on my bathroom rug. He comes in from the cold, decides he wants to be with us in our room, then starts whining. He goes into the bathroom for a bit then starts scratching on the rug. Rob goes into the bathroom and chases him out. He goes back in and keeps scratching, so I go in. I'm about bowled over by the smell, which Rob missed entirely (and thankfully he didn't step in it, although that might have clued him in to the fact that the cat shit in the bathroom!!) I ended up cleaning it up and spraying down the room as it stank! I have to say I can't blame Rob for missing the poop, as he has problems smelling which is good and bad.

The thing I hate about snow here is that it doesn't stay cold enough so it will start to melt, then during the night it freezes and the morning is so damn icy and since we live on a hill, it's dangerous to get anywhere. I know that I'm not a good winter road driver, so I try not to but the rest of people out there scare me to death. I've a friend from a more snowy region of the US who goes on and on about how people here don't know how to drive in the snow. She's right. Of course she did have to get pulled out of the ditch in front of her house, but that's different, right? I just figure we don't get the practice of driving in the snow when it happens maybe 2 to 3 days out of the year.

Winter Storm Watch 2008.....

Danger Jim from the local TV station warned us of the impending winter storm coming our way. We need to gear up for the worst cold for 50 million years...or something like that. He stands at the beach, waves crashing around him, the wind whipping his perfect hair. Oh, the wind, gusts to 100, no, 60, no, 45 mph are expected. It will be a winter wonderland when we get up.

At 6pm, we took Nik to a friend's house and on the way we saw a transformer or insulator explode on a electric pole, there was about 3 bright flashes. We were impressed, having never seen this before. Of course this meant her friends were in the dark. Luckily they were all going to church. (yes, my daughter was going to church and we were going to a party, sinners all the way)

Well, we were at this party and got home at 11:45pm last night and there was a dusting of snow on the ground. We snuggled up, warm in our bed. At 5:30am the cats got me up. As I let them out, I braced for the impact of being snowed in....eh, there was a sloppy wet dusting of snow, er, slush on the lawn and it was raining. The cats spent about a minute out, then plopped down in front of their bowls for breakfast. I fed them and went back to bed. I chatted with Rob about "Winter Storm Not 2008" and told him a fed the cats so if he got up before me not to fall for their terrorist demands.

I crashed until 9am. Came down to the aroma of coffee and scones (love the man who cooks!). He informs me that he also fed the cats. Then smacks himself in the head. "But they acted like they were starving! I forgot what you said!" Now our well fed cats are sleeping off their feeding orgy by laying on the heat registers.

I'm happy, there is no snow, we have power, I got coffee and scones and Rob is planning on cooking dinner too!

Jury Duty Part 2

Today was the second day of my civic duty for my county. I boarded the bus and today it was warm. I dozed off and it was really nice. I checked in and found one of the dismissed jurors I was with yesterday (not Mr. political cause) and he and I chatted a bit about life etc. Suddenly he hits himself on the head and says, "I get it, I've been looking at your button and couldn't figure out what you making a statement about." I've been wearing this button for 20 years and I love it.

Anyway, at 10:15am, they dismissed us and we got to go home. I head out to catch a bus to the airport. It is so crowded I stand the whole way. Once there I wait 20 minutes for the bus to my town. Yipee, now I get to ride thru all my favorite areas of the south county. Finally we near the park and ride and my stop. Guess what? This bus doesn't stop there! I ring the bell and get off and hike to my car. It wasn't that far, but it was very cold and I forgot my mittens! It took me 2 hours to get home, but I did my duty and I was almost disappointed that I didn't get to be on a jury.

I didn't get to throw the book at anyone...

I went to the big city today to do my civic duty...Jury duty! This is the 3rd time in about a year I have been called to serve before that it was 31 years since my last summons.

I took the bus in, something I haven't done regularly for over 6 years. It took an hour to get there. There is a county courthouse about 10 minutes from my home, but I don't get a choice to go there. It makes about as much sense as having my mother-in-law who lives in the big city get sent to suburbia where I live to serve her jury duty. She had to take 3 buses to get there. It hasn't gotten any better going to the city and still took an hour for me to get there. I check in and then wait. After a while we get to listen to instructions, watch an instructional video and then wait some more. The clerk finally calls names for the first jury panel. 40 names, I was number 13. Off to the 7th floor to meet the bailiff. She has us line up in numerical order and then leads us to the courtroom. She stops and says, "number 13, please come to the front of the line" Hey that's me, what the heck did I do now, I haven't even set foot in the courtroom yet. Well, number 13 gets to lead the first 12 into the jury box and number 13 gets to sit right next to them. The others just took seats in the spectator section. Then the judge gives us more instructions, he introduces the cast - defendant, his attorney, the prosecutor, the clerk, the court reporter. Then he reads the charges and asks us if we know any of the witnesses listed. Finally the judges starts asking us questions to see what kind of people we are. Most of us seem fairly normal, just doing our duty. There was one nutcase who on hearing that this was a drug related case decides to expound on his beliefs that the USA is wasting taxpayers money on the war on drugs, yada yada yada. Every time the panel was asked something, this guy had something to say. Finally it's lunch, and we all race out of there for an hour and a half.

After lunch, the prosecutor and the defense attorney ask their questions. Then they start eliminating jurors. I was the first one the defense excused. I think it might have had something to do with the fact my husband is a cop. I don't know if Mr. political activist got dismissed or not. Anyway it was 3pm and I was so ready to go home. And since it went til 3pm I only had to take one bus home. If I had had to leave earlier I'd have had to take at least 2 buses and it would have been 2 hours to get home instead of an hour. All this fun for $10 a day.

Letters to Santa

Someone suggested to me that my teenage Girl Scouts should contact the post office and offer their services to respond to the Letters to Santa that they receive. Think how thoughtful it would be for little boys and girls to get an actual answer to their letter. Then I started thinking about it, especially when Nicole said it would probably be a good idea for me to review the answers before they are mailed back.

I'm sure it will be something like this:

"Dear Santa, I want a cute cuddly teddy bear and book of poems. Love, Anna"
"Dear Anna, Teddy's are so out, I'm going to bring you Bondage Barbie and a subscription to Cosmo Girl. Peace out, Santa!"

"Dear Santa, Please bring me a Star Wars light saber and some action figures. Your good friend, Bobby"
"Dear Bobby, Star Wars is so lame and action figures are just dolls for boys, you are gay. Here is a gift card to Abercrombie, try to look cool at least. Yo, Santa"

"Dear Santa, I want a wii, an xbox, a Nintendo DS and an iPod. And games for all and iTunes cards. I have been very good, Molly"
"Dear Molly, You couch potato! Get outside and do something. Santa will bring your lazy butt a bike and you will like it! Love to you always, Santa"

"Dear Santa, I hope you and Mrs Claus are doing well this year. And that the elves and reindeer are happy and healthy. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like a bb gun for Christmas. I'm so glad we could meet at the mall. Love, Ralphie"
"Dear Ralphie, What a brown noser you are! That phoney at the mall didn't even have a real beard! As for a bb gun. You'll shoot you eye out, kid! From the REAL Santa!"

Of course that is just my fear of what might happen. They would never do anything like that....

Small Town Fun

I had a good day at the craft fair yesterday. I was positioned between my father-in-law who was selling hand carved wooden letter openers and my neighbor Joell who made hand stamped cards.

I was selling earrings, mini Christmas Stockings and small wallets. Here are some of the Shrinky Dink earrings I made to sell at the craft fair.

Here is a picture of a couple of my cozy wallets as I call them. They are big enough for your ID, a bank card or 2, some change and folded paper money. They are great for stuffing into your pocket when you don't want to carry a purse.

I made about $130 and I had fun chatting with so many people. I live in a fairly small community and so it's not hard to find someone you know.

After the fair, I met my Daisy Girl Scouts in town and we walked in the Santa Parade. They were dressed as Christmas Presents and were very cute, shyly waving at the crowds. The best part was IT DIDN'T RAIN!! I love my town.

Slangisms, Part 2

Because I have so much to do today getting ready for the craft fair tomorrow, I am slacking off again and taking the easy way out by bringing you Slangisms, Part 2.

Lego Hair: a particularly shitty male haircut in which the sides cover the ears and the hair appears to be "snap on".

Destinesia: When you get to where you were intending to go, you forget why you were going there in the first place. Not to be confused with being stoned, destinesia often occurs during working hours, and is the cause of much frustration.

Flatuglance: The look that someone gives another person when they pass gas in public.

Farticles: The particles of air contaminated after someone or something lets out gas.

Textpectation: The anticipation one feels when waiting for a response to a text message.

Mouse potato: Someone who spends all their time on the computer surfing the net or playing games.

Slangisms, Part 1

I was browsing the Urban Dictionary today and came across some entries that I enjoyed:

Homobrophobia: The fear that your brother will be or is gay.

Sargasm: Deriving far too much satisfaction from glibly berating another with sarcasm.

Deja moo: The feeling that you have heard this bullshit before.

Mass merchanditis: The hazy feeling one gets after spending too much time shopping at large chain stores including but not limited to Walmart, Home Depot, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Characterized by a headache, dry eyes, blurred vision, blank stare, sore feet.

Stoptional: When the braking of a car is left to one's choice due to an unnecessary stop sign.

The Spousal We: The opposite of the royal we, meaning "you". Used by your significant other to get you to do something.