Go Away Snow Days.. So Over You

Ok.. um.. I'm done with it. The snow. Dude. I'm not kidding. Mom just called and cancelled Christmas. CANCELLED. CHRISTMAS. Hi. I'm a little pissed now. I mean, we're in Seattle. WTF is going on with this foot of snow?! And tomorrow they're predicting another 1-3 inches?! Crap.

I mean.. this stuff is fun:

Ana and I went on a snow day excursion thru Fremont yesterday and it was the perfect temperature.. well, with leggings on underneath my jeans, two pars of hiking socks, hiking boots, a tank, a long-sleeve shirt and wool turtleneck on along with my coat, scarf and gloves. Yeah.. perfect!

We shopped, had very fancy hot chocolate and found very fancy snowmen!

Yes! And that was all great and lovely.. and we had heaps of fun. Yay fun!

But you know.. that was Sunday. Today? Today is Monday. Today I had to go to work. And I made it there! Yay! But you want to know how many times I got stuck in the snow just attempting this get-to-work feat?! A frickin lot. Ok.. just two. But there were two more times when I tried to make it to Boyfriend's after work. That's 4 (FOUR!). AND.. for your information, I now know I need between two and three really strong guys to push me out when this happens. Now.. in this weather, there are plenty of two or three really strong guys.. but not many who don't get exasperated quickly when they find that my ass is stuck again RIGHT AFTER they JUST helped me get unstuck. Yes. Annoying. You don't even know.. I was this close to throwing a complete tantrum in my car because I was so utterly frustrated and near tears after successfully getting just blocks from Boyfriend's house and finding my car really doesn't like snowy intersections. No. Not at all. And strangers? Really not that nice. HI! IT'S CHRISTMAS PEOPLE! Would you mind HELPING a tiny little girl with big brown eyes get out of the way instead of HONKING at her? Yeah.. that'd be GREAT! Thanks SO much! You're AWESOME! And by awesome, I mean the meanest person ever.. so there.

Yeah. So Boyfriend came to my rescue. Literally. I was on the phone to the police pretty close to freaking out and she's trying to calm me down and telling me she knows exactly what I'm going thru and then the strangers push me out twice and I just pull over in the snow and give the fuck up. Yup. That's what I did. Turned off the car, said goodbye to the nice police lady and waited in my Stupid Snow Frustration. Jake arrived a few minutes later and I'm convinced nothing will change when he drives and he will only spin out like I was doing, but he smartly backs up and gets onto the road that is better (why the hell did I not think of that?!) and all of a sudden, we're at his place and that's that. Like magic.

I hate it when he's right. My hero! Yay!

But now we are at his place and we're making baked doughnuts for Hanukkah and corn muffins with honey and blueberries.. um.. for no reason.. just because. And mulled wine! And we're going to play Monopoly with his roommate and who knows what else!

I hope you are having fun wherever you are. Don't feel too sorry for me but you could pray for this silly snow to melt and the next Winter Storm Of 2008 that's due tomorrow night to kindly pass us by quietly and non-dangerously and stuff.. I would appreciate it. Because then maybe I could get to see my family and show off the Boyfriend and Christmas wouldn't be cancelled.. I mean.. c'mon.. you have to admit canceling Christmas is the lamest. Poor poor me! Send Bailey's to cheer me up! Or Kahlua! Or money! I'll save you a muffin.. yeah?

Snow Day!

A week before Christmas and I think it dumped about five inches of snow on us today. The temperature never got above 30 and for most of the day it's been between 25 and 29 degrees anyway. We're just not used to this. It's crazy!

My very first winter here - I think about 13 years ago now - it really snowed. Up to the car door handle. People were housebound for like nine days. We all got a teensy bit of cabin fever tho I'm sure the people who normally love snow had a great time. Some North Westerners like myself aren't all that fond of being cold. I know. It's like me not liking fish. I know.. I'm weird. Whatever.

The Boyfriend and I have been having a good day. I got up to go to work out of habit.. and when I got out of the shower, Boyfriend mumbled that I should look out the window, which even tho I'd heard it would snow in the middle of the night, hadn't checked. There was at least a couple inches that had fallen and it was snowing lightly but steadily. After trying to figure out if I should go into work and doing a little over the phone, it was determined with only two people out of our company actually made it in and that the office was going to close later in the afternoon. No sense of risking an accident especially since I just found out my two front tires are barely legal to be driving. Sort of forgot to rotate the tires in the last two years.. oops! So.. um.. NO WORK! YAY!

The first order of business today: Breakfast! Jake doesn't live far from the main thoroughfare of Capitol Hill so we walked the four blocks and gawked at all the people sledding and the businesses that didn't seem to be open and damn it was cold as the snow was really coming down.

After breakfast, we both got hair cuts and then did some window and grocery shopping since it seemed we weren't going anywhere far after we got home. Then we watched a bunch of Secret Millionaire episodes (have you SEEN this show??! AMAZING! You need a tissue EVERY TIME!), 'napped', then really napped.. ahem, he made chocolate bread - yum! - and these spicy sauteed brussel sprouts for lunch.. we've been random about our eating and doing things. I can't explain it. Hibernating I suppose and trying to keep the ADD boy from going batshit. He always has to be doing something.

Tonight is very exciting. We are continuing the baking trend now that his roommate, Nick, is home - after a slightly treacherous drive back from the eastside where he slowly slid into a telephone pole and then decided to park the car and walk the rest of the way home. Boyfriend is making dinner first, Iron Man is on the movie list for the boys since neither has seen it, and I'm going to make cranberry orange muffins (fat free!) while they do that. Nick is at this very moment putting on holiday music - ahh old Dean Martin.. I could just swoon right here.

I'm going to go help Boyfriend with dinner so I hope you are all settled in for the night and staying out of the snow and ice. Cuddle in with your loved ones, play some Scrabble, and drink some hot chocolate.. Mwah!

Some New Holiday Traditions

Wouldn't you know it? December is here! Holy crap did the year go by fast.. like.. seriously. And the people are already going holiday bonkers because let's be honest - it sort of drives yours truly a bit nutty when I see Christmas trees PRIOR to Thanksgiving. I'm just saying people.. overachieve much? Settle down already. Wait a day. Can't you? Apparently, they can't.

I'm not a Scrooge. I love the holidays. I just wish the songs playing everywhere weren't the the worst ones of the bunch. You know.. the really annoying ones by the people who can't sing or shouldn't sing.. or like five of them singing badly together. Because it's Christmas they think they should. Someone should really clear that up for them.

I also wish I hadn't seen like 134 diamond commercials letting me know that my boyfriend must not truly love me if he doesn't get me one or I don't love my mom if I don't get her one.. Obviously, a diamond, or eight, says everything words couldn't possibly say.. even tho.. um.. there are words I say.. and have said.. and could say.. but to the diamond people, I've missed the point. I think the diamond people should try saying 'I love you' without a box in hand that has something shiny in it. I bet it's hard for them. Poor saps. No, literally.. poor saps.

Maybe I'm just jealous because financially, life is a bit on the budgety side. And don't get me wrong, shiny and blingy things are lovely when you don't feel it's force-fed to you that you have to have one or get one for someone, etc. Personally, it just doesn't take a lot to make me happy. I love candles and scarves, books, magazine subscriptions cuz I never do that myself.. I don't need trips or electronics or gadgety things.. I like thoughtful things. I love stuff like high tea shared with one of my best girlfriends, which we still have to do together for our birthdays, Kari! A movie out with Boyfriend rather than another Daily Show (or as we've been doing lately, dinner with like four different ideas that don't really go together but are still very tasty all on one plate and catching up on season 5 of The West Wing.). Easy things like that.. except that finding the time is never that easy. Maybe that's what I want this year: Time. More of it. Santa? You hear me?

Actually, before that - I want to get rid of this cold. Can Santa bring me wellness and health early? I mean, please.. I've been more sick this year than ever before. What is the deal? I had the flu not once, but twice this year.. and the second time was the most miserable 10 days ever. I think since then I've had about 17 colds.. including one set of nasty sniffles over my birthday weekend. Hi. All sorts of lame that was. I think I'm just about out of sick days at work and that NEVER happens. I never use sick days in the first place but now I'm almost out?! And this one - man.. this 'almost-bronchitis' can go any day. The coughing is consistent enough to rattle my brain and sound like I'm close to dying, but not enough to keep me hacking away so much that I can't breathe - so hey, there's that bright spot. Yay! I won't crack any ribs it seems but I'm guessing the copious amounts of Airborne and Vitamin C I'm downing are attempting to strengthen this weeny immune system enough so I can at least continue to get paid at the cubefarm and still answer questions like, 'Wow.. you ok over there? Gonna live?' after a lovely sounding coughing spell.

So yes.. first health and then time. Got it? Um.. gift-wrapped please.

Really, I'm not all complaining. Thanksgiving was actually really lovely. Jake rolled his eyes a bit as I guess I might too when you're so used to spending time with your family - I mean, if it was my family, I understand that eye roll.. but they're not my family, they're his.. and I rather like them.

We had Thursday Thanksgiving with his aunt and uncle and 40 other people I'd say at their co-housing place. I'd never heard of co-housing, but it was très interesting. It's like a housing complex but with people who like and know each other and plus a huge sort of communal house for big dinners, weddings, festivities, whatever. Why don't more people do things like that?

The food was spectacular, there was heaps of wine, lots of chat with the family and everyone who's heard of Boyfriend's theatre and saw Arabian Nights.. I had a good time, tho Boyfriend seemed a wee bit distant.

The next day he got up early to go shopping for supplies so he could make biscuits from scratch to bring with us to dinner. I had leftover spinach dip from the office potluck that went over well too. The rest of his family and some of his parent's neighbors there, we dug in for our feast, played one round of Scrabble I confidently kicked serious ass on, devoured homemade cobbler and pie for dessert than I sneakily came from way behind to win the most exciting round of Apple To Apples ever! THEN.. and you won't even believe this.. THEN his DAD suggested we watch Love, Actually! Who's dad does that?! It was pretty great.

The review in the car was standard about the evening Boyfriend and I had just had with his family. And I don't even remember how it happened.. or who said what.. but it became very clear he was annoyed with me. Not angry, just.. irritated. And he didn't want to make a big deal about it, but I pushed because I'd felt it the night before too and as it came up, it's been happening more often that I'd noticed. He'd say I'm too loud or give me a look if he thought I misspoke or interrupted someone at the theatre. He couldn't be specific in his instances and I just said I was sorry if I made him uncomfortable, but I couldn't be sorry for being myself.

It came to light that even tho he seems comfortable and extroverted in every situation, maybe he's not or maybe he's a teensy bit quieter and calm about the whole thing whereas I'm a self-proclaimed hyper chihuahua about most things and have been accused of being from New York in other instances where I'm as honest and direct as I wish other passive-aggressive Seattlites would be more often. So there.

But I was honest about that direct person I've become. I know it can be brassy to some, but I was painfully shy when I was younger and it's taken me a lot of work to get past that. I was made to feel small all the time. I don't like feeling small in my grown up relationships - and he didn't realize he was doing that, but I was just relieved he didn't think it was something that would keep eating at him or cause him to end things. It seems it's the baggage from his past relationship where he often apologized for things she said or did and he wasn't treated well. And it was such a relief to get to that point of realization. I felt good that I'd stood up for myself, but wasn't defensive, asked questions that helped us find answers which enlightened us both, and after a few hugs and kisses to make up and maybe wiping a few errant tears away from my face, we understood the other a little better. Maybe we loved each other more.. I don't know. I love him quite a bit already.. I mean, his biscuits were pretty good.

And the next night we had a date. Dinner was about four different ideas all on one plate, we sat in front of The West Wing for hours while I coughed all the way thru, discussed politics, had great sex, and I fell asleep next to the most important thing.. the only thing I want for the holidays. 

Now.. what the hell am I going to get him for Hanukkah?