More Snow...

It was a bit of a messy morning with plenty of snow all around--but so incredibly pretty. I felt blessed and fortunate to be out in the cold awakening morning with the other commuters trying to get to work. It took me an hour and a half to get to the magazine offices and I was one of only four of us who made it to work. We felt rather stoic, patting ourselves on the back for our pioneer spirits!

By the ride home, the roads were all but clear but still plenty of snow lying all about. Nice and cold when I was waiting for a bus after stopping off for groceries (those two gallons of milk I get every other day). The wonderous thing about the snow is how different it makes the nights look and seem--brighter, a different, blueish light, calm.

All is well. Kids watching Star Wars movie on cable television, cats snuggled onto quilts and pillows, the dishes are done and dinner leftovers tucked away--January is nearly over and 2008 well on its way...

SNOW...

Well,we are finally having some of this snow that has been threatening for the better part of the month. I woke up this morning to a nice coating of the white stuff and the medium-sized flakes still coming down steadily. The cats are all consumed with sitting in the window sills and trying to make out what is going on. I also notice that the birds really show up as they try to scoot around in the snow.

Last night, I was out in the constant rain with my friend, the very sickly post-vacation, pre-adventure, Cheryl and we had the Italian food and went to see "The Savages"at the funky Bijou--I remarked a couple times that it would sure be a fine thing if we stepped out of a doorway and it was starting to snow (Instead I stepped out of the car ankle-deep into a puddle and got to sit through the movie with sopping socks). I suppose it had to happen eventually with the winter we're having.

A couple nights ago, Lucy and I toddled ourselves downtown for a play "Memory House" at the Lord Leebrick Theatre--the play must have been plopped down in our lives at the most perfect of times as it is about a single/divorced middle-age mom and her teenage daughter who is procrastinating for various reasons getting in her college application essays. I think I sobbed and laughed simultaneously through the entire thing. Hot mochas and pizza afterward and we didn't get home until after 11 on a school night!

Finally, Lilly and I went out for the day on Friday--still shopping for that elusive new dining room table (although I think I've finally found one I really like and that will fit and suit us) AND went to Tattoo by Design where I figured out the tattoo I am going to get on my birthday. I sure hadn't thought it would take me ten years to get back into the tattoo parlor so I am absolutely psyched about the new piece. I will go in to look at the artist's version sometime this week and schedule the application either on my 41st or somewhere thereabouts.

Toby...

Just when things were starting to get a little more sane and less chaotic around here, Lilly brought home this little rescue--wild-eyed, energetic, slow-to-learn--Toby (Tobias McLoven) has everything in a constant state of upheaval and disarray. Isn't it interesting how the youngest and tiniest among us--the MOST immature--have a tendency to do that?

Toby in the dishwasher, Toby in the toilet, Toby leaping into every cupboard or closet that gets open, Toby leaping onto the older cats who seldom get to just relax and loll away the day any longer. In fact, none of us gets to relax and loll away the day any longer as we are forever picking up toppled plants, scooping all of the "treasures" out from under rugs where Toby likes to stuff them, trying to find the pen or paper or cookie we just finished setting down, I'm sure you get the picture.

The interesting thing is that Toby is so at home and completely trusting--he came as a baby only a few weeks old and with two maiden "aunts" as mentor cats and four big people--there is always a lap, always someone to lick behind his ears or save him from danger and disaster. I am convinced that as far as he is concerned--we are all just accessories in his grand adventure.

As for my own environment, I am wondering if I am ever destined to have sane and calm or if this constant state of "What Now?" that has been my existence for the past two decades is how I am going to live out my remaining ones?

Politics, Advice & Cabin Fever

It is sunday morning, and just getting light on another cold, grey day. It has been one of those weeks that seemed a bit on the relentless side--always something to do and never feeling like anything had truly been accomplished. Lucy has been crabby and quite reluctant to work on all the college apps and paperwork; I have been juggling the multiple jobs with varying degrees of competence; Toby has been keeping the household in constant state of disarray and wildness--just constant, low levels of unpleasantness. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

Meanwhile, it has also been a week of advice-seekers, which I never handle very well. Or, at least I do not think I handle it very well--e-mail interviews, requests for help and advice from readers and strangers--I have not yet developed a system for addressing these things without getting agitated.

Things pile up--tasks, requests, piles, unfinished snippets of this and that...

Getting started (again)...

Renacent Relish...

Here I go...the Blog. Sure, I'm a little behind the times, but I think that is age appropriate. Plus, I do so much blogging and writing as a job (http://www.families.com/) that I wasn't sure I was up for my own personal stories too. Who is to say it is even all that interesting?

But, it is a new year--change, evolution, we have to live in the time we're given...