Me, the Ice Queen

So, J asked me Thursday night if we were going to turn on the furnace. "No!" I responded, "Why would we want to do that??" Yep, it's October, and I'm being cheap...or out to win my yearly bet with the gas company. It is well ingrained into me by a couple of wicked cheap parents that you don't turn the heat on in the fall until there is an icicle hanging from the end of your nose, or it's November 1. I told J it was a ploy on my part to snuggle closer to him at night. Suddenly, turning on the furnace didn't seem as important to him. I do have the gas fire on in the living room right now, along with the fan. It makes the room most comfy, and a totally fun place to hang out. I'm a little concerned about going upstairs though. The upstairs does not benefit from the heat of the fireplace. I love my house, but it's not well insulated. Slippers and sweaters and a blanket over your knees for evening TV watching is the order of the day in this house. What a difference a week makes! Last week, I sat in Michigan Stadium hoping my honey wouldn't touch me or ask for a swig out of one of the 3 water bottles I finished before the end of the game. This week, I forgot my wool socks and wished that I had a pair of gloves. Yesterday was perfect football weather: kinda sunny, a little breezy, and on the cool side. Thinking of last year and the Ball State game (November 4...after which J asked me to marry him), I realize that the colder weather is coming, and I may need a pair of battery operated hunting socks. J and I have tickets for one more game with Michigan this year: Ohio State. Now, I realize that there will be 110,000 plus in the stadium with me, and so I will be shoehorned into my seat cushion and sharing a blanket with J, but I am still very afraid that I will freeze. I have been planning my attire for months, but I am still not sure that I will be warm enough. Any suggestions?

I Had Such Good Intentions

Intentions are funny, aren't they? I don't know many who go about talking about their bad intentions, either. I went to bed last night with good ones. I was going to be productive today. Unfortunately, the best laid plans and all that. Good intentions didn't get me very far when I had no interest in completing the work. I've been finding that often this fall I'll stand in the middle of a room, think of the 10 things that need to be done, and be paralysed to complete any of them. I stand there, just looking, going, "I should really do something" and yet nothing seems to happen. It's a scary feeling. I feel really out of control. I'm not sure when or if it's going to go away. So, Happy Thanksgiving to those north of the 49. It's a day to eat turkey and lie about in a coma. Unless you live here. J doesn't like turkey. So we're having a roast. Yum. I've actually started cooking again - which is highly exciting news because we were back in the unenviable cycle of going out to eat. The last straw was about a week ago when I picked J up from work and his first question to me was, "Where are we going for dinner?" and I'd actually prepared dinner at home. So, I'm cooking again. Yay. And it's a nice meal too - I just took a cake out of the oven, and the roast is ready to go in. I'll do asparagus and the salad in a bit. The biscuits are ready to bake when the roast comes out, and the wine is chilling. It will be a nice meal. And what goes with a nice meal (if you live in the 1950s or are my mother)? You eat in the dining room. See, here's where the intentions come in. I intended to clean off the dining room table of all the remaining wedding gifts and get them put away so that we could eat on the good dishes in the dining room. Here is a picture of the dining room before the wedding, with just the shower gifts: That's *before* the wedding. Things actually got worse. But we can walk around the table now, and we do. I can, however, see a lot of things in this picture that are still on top of the table. And now I'm blogging. I'd say we're eating in the kitchen because I've been procrastinating again. Ah well. It will still be nice. I think I'll fold laundry and find that text book I was looking for. That's productive. And I'm going to do the dishes soon. There's no way I want to do them after dinner.

More Cowbell

From where we were yesterday in Michigan Stadium, Bruce Dickinson was sitting somewhere behind me, asking for this: I didn't need more cowbell.

Pillow, Meet My Face; Face, Meet My Pillow

I am so tired. How did I get so busy? So I was at training last week. A whole lot of geometrical fun, if you ask me. Good times they were. Beyond just the hotel room, and the expense account, and the fact that I didn't have any responsibility after the workshop ended each night. But that really seems to be the beginning of the demise of sleep in my life. I was away Monday to Wednesday, back at school Thursday and Friday, and then as soon as things were done on Friday, J and I left for the 6 hour drive to Cleveland. There are times that I wish my husband could also drive a car. This was one of those times. It's just a long way. Cleveland was great. We went to see Genesis Saturday night at the Q. J really enjoyed it. I knew a few songs. Yep, my husband's old. But I love him. And he'd so wanted to go, and the rest of the trip was fun. So Sunday, we got up and I drove the 6 hours back home. Monday, a regular workday. I ended up driving myself to meetings about an hour away because my counterpart couldn't get a supply teacher and hence couldn't go. The meeting went long, and I ended up getting back into town just in time for my weekly practice supervision before picking up J when he finished. Tuesday, my class started. I leave work early to drive the hour and a half into Toronto for a four hour class on math pedagogy. It goes until March. I got home at 11. So tonight I'm here, and tomorrow I need to bake; because Friday we leave for a weekend in Detroit and Ann Arbor with a football game on Saturday and the closest thing we're having to a Thanksgiving Dinner with my BFF and her husband Saturday night. Then Monday's the holiday, Tuesday's my class, Wednesday I'm planning for the Workshops from the training I was at, and Friday we leave for Detroit for another fotball game. I know you all want my life. It's very glamorous.