Dark days...

This time of year is always so strange to me. One the one hand, I know that Christmas, my favorite holiday, is just around the corner. On the other hand, it's dark and cold and days are long and seem harder than necessary. Maybe that's the point of the winter season. To help us remember how to relish the good times and earn our place in the sun. All I know is I can understand why bears hibernate.

I love the snow. We actually had a few soft flakes already and it was pretty, if not entirely welcomed by everyone. Maybe Halloween wasn't the best time for the first snow but that's how it can be in Wisconsin so who's complaining. Actually, everyone is complaining because that's what we do in Wisconsin. We are fiercely proud of our state but we will complain loudly about our weather. I guess experiencing all the seasons in one day is something to brag about. Not all areas of the country can say that!

So that dark days are here. The wind howls at night. Mornings start in grey haze with gusts that blow the last of the leaves down the street. A chill runs through me every morning before I get that first cup of Joe. And I hunker down to start making the insides brighter, lightening the dark with candles and sparkles and tinsel and wishes and that is why I love the anticipation that comes before Christmas. It's all a time to prepare for the long haul of winter and the closeness that being locked inside for months will bring.

We're going to need more cocoa and tea!

The week that was...

Monday...
At work, started feeling this little tickle deep in my chest and throat. A cold. I could feel it coming on and getting worse by the minute. By the time I got home I was feeling like crap.

Tuesday...
Woke up. Immediately called work to tell them I would not be in. My chest was tight, congested and my nose was stuffed up. I felt exhausted. Needed sleep. Ate like crap and didn't care. Didn't work out either. Just plain sick.

Wednesday...
Woke up. Immediately called work to tell them I would not be in. Again, too sick. Coughing, hacking, congested and crappy. Totally exhausted. Slept most of the day. Ate like crap. Didn't work out. Felt bad that I was letting all my hard work at losing weight go to hell in a hand basket.

Thursday...
Woke up. Went to work. Sat sniffling through one meeting. Coughing, hacking. Oh, goody! Weigh in day at our Weight Watchers at Work meeting. Scale said I gained 8 pounds!! Nearly had a heart attack. Thank god that scale was wrong. It said everyone gained a ton of weight. The meeting leader brought the wrong scale. Whew! Came home early from work. Still sick. Managed to rally later in the evening for a short work out. Couldn't breathe. Needed sleep.

Friday...
Woke up. Went to work. Coughed my way through a morning meeting. Came home. Coughed for the rest of the day. Ate well. Healthier. Felt good about that. Still exhausted. Still need sleep. Supposed to go to my sister's for dinner. Called her and cancelled. Maybe Saturday will be better...

Week one....and counting...

So it's been a week and I am Mrs. Lindqvist. I wish there was a smile cam so you could see this perpetual smile on my face now. Hahah!

The week, actually, sped by fairly quickly. I had to return to work right away and there was a lot of stress there. We met with licensing and all the procedures I've been writing for the past month were gone over and, yes, met the mark. We are a licensed Community Support Program for one year now. I felt particularly proud that I had a large part in that.

On Friday, I rushed out to go to work and found I had a flat tire. Turned out my two front tires were shot so I had to get some new ones. I was looking for used tires but apparently everyone in the world who drives a Dodge Neon uses the size I do so no one had any used tires for me. I got a good deal at Kenosha Tires and it only took an hour to get them installed and aligned. I highly recommend Kenosha Tires so if you're in the area and need tires, do check them out.

On to another work week... yish. I'm not looking forward to it but ah well. It's gotten very cold here and I'm having a hard time adjusting to it this year for some reason. I just feel cold all the time and that is not like me at all. Hopefully, it will regulate at some point and my internal temp will catch up! Until then, it's thick sweaters and flannel pj's for me! LOL

Okay, okay...UNCLE!!!

I love winter. I love snow. I have always loved it. But...

I am over it now. It's been freezing here and right now as I write this I am freezing too. Enough already. I'm ready for spring. Please. Pretty please?

I've noticed that it's at this point in Wisconsin when all vanity leaves and people don't give a rats ass what they look like when they go out. At some point the desire to be fashionable dies as the need to be warm takes over. People are showing up to work with their heads wrapped in anything they can get their hands on. I, myself, have taken to wearing a plaid neck scarf wrapped around my head and tied under my chin which gives me the appearance of a Polish granny. Yesterday, someone showed up at the office for work, coming back after two days off sick with bronchitis, and she was wearing a pair of faded maroon sweatpants and a Notre Dame sweatshirt that was 3 sizes too big. She had taken off her boots and replaced them with a large pair of fuzzy slippers. Normally this attire would be frowned upon in the office but, honestly, I don't think anyone really noticed. If they did, they just didn't care. More than likely they were envying her warm sweatshirt and pants and secretly wished they had thought to dress that way!

Anyway, you get the picture. It's cold here. Bone cold. And I am tired of it! Now where did I leave my fuzzy slippers....

My Charlie Brown tree and bitter cold...

My cats have ravaged my Christmas tree. Alex wants to wait to put on the ornaments until he gets here on the 19th so right now I have a drooping, branches hanging everywhere, fully lighted, pathetic wonder standing the corner. Arnie tends to stick to the lower limbs. He paws and them and bats them around and chews on them until they drag sadly on the floor. Brigitte has found she loves to climb. She gets about half way and hangs from the ever drooping branches and then let her body weight slide her down until all of the branches on one side of the tree are irreparably dangling down. The tree's a mess. But, oh well, there's always next year.

We've had snow every other day for a week here. It snows, it freezes and then the next day we're left with bitter cold. Temps in the 20s with a wind chill in the negatives. Wind chill is, I think, a weather term most of the rest of the country is not familiar with. Basically it means "you will freeze your ass off". It's just a nicer way to say it. Starting 12/1 we have alternate side parking rules in affect here. You have to park on odd numbered sides of the street on odds dates and even on even. It's annoying. Especially on a bitter cold weekend when I would rather stay in my warm, toasty jammies and putz around the house and NOT go out. Occasionally, I run the risk of getting a parking ticket by choosing to ignore it. Today may be one of those days. I'm cold just sitting here typing and the thought of getting all bundled up, going out, starting the car, and scraping the ice off just to move it to the other side of the street seems silly.

I have until midnight tonight to decide whether to go out and do that or not. For now, I'm staying in!!

Yup...It's winter!

Darkness as wet,cold snow blankets the neighborhood.







There's a fleeting glint of sun at sunrise.

The day begins with an angry winter sky.
And it's all of 17 degrees here right now.

Not sure what to write about...

I haven't really been sure what to write about here since last week. I don't want to go on and on about what's happening with my family because, well, I think it would be pretty boring to read for one thing and I'm not sure I can even express that just yet. I know it will come in time but for now there's just too much we don't know and the emotions are pretty raw.

I sat outside yesterday handing out the Halloween candy. For some reason they always have Trick or Treating on the Sunday before Halloween and it's during the day time which seems to suck the life right out of Halloween. I mean I get it...there are too many weirdo's out there these days but Halloween used to be so much fun partly because you WERE allowed to go out dressed in a costume and run around the neighborhood at night. Still, we had hoards of kiddoes at the house which was pretty amazing considering it was colder than a witch's you know what and there were 25 mile an hour wind gusts. I gave up an hour before the festivities ended. I was just too cold. Today I woke up with a sore throat and ears. Probably just the wind but, eh, it's tea for me all day today.

One thing that always makes me laugh at Halloween is those people who say "Did you see that? Those people brought a baby in a stroller who can't even eat candy yet! That's not right!!" OR they say "Those kids were at least 13!! That's not right!!!" I mean seriously people - you're handing out a Snickers bar the size of a quarter. Does it really matter how old or young the kids are? It's once a year, people. Sheesh!

The frigid white north...

The sun was deceptive today. From inside, it looked warm and inviting, almost luring me outdoors. I had to go out to run a few errands and, trust me on this, the sun is a big, fat, stinking liar! Today was the coldest day of the year here. 1 degrees with a windchill of -15. Gassing up my car never felt so painful! Tomorrow is supposed to be slightly better. Maybe only 5 degrees but the windchill is not expected to dip below zero.

Tomorrow is also the next big game day! The Pack takes on NY at Lambeau. For this I cannot wait. The last game, with its snowy wonder, was a sight to behold. Tomorrow the winner will be determined purely by who can survive the temperature. Green Bay at this time of year is hell - a beautiful frozen hell - and I have a feeling the Giants will not know what hit them. I, of course, will be watching the game, snug as a bug, from the comfort of my sister's couch with the rest of the Packer Prayer Circle. I even got a new Pack shirt to wear for the occasion and a snugly turtle neck to go underneath it!

Even though the ride to her house will be horrible ( the car won't even be warm by the time we get there) I'm looking forward to it. Call me over confident, but I'm pretty sure that Prayer Circle will be getting together on Superbowl Sunday!

Cripes oh mighty...

Last night was a wing doozy! I'm still fighting this cold which has now been reduced to an annoying throat tickle that sends me into fits of coughing. Last night there was little sleep to be had. I coughed so much that I finally gave up sleep altogether and sat out in the living room on the couch for an hour. That was at 5:30am. I tried sleep again once I felt the cough subside and managed to doze off at around 7am. The next thing I knew it was 4:00pm and I'd slept the entire day away! Normally I wouldn't mind that except that Alex leaves for Sweden on Saturday so these last few days are very precious indeed.

We did manage to get out and get some McD's for dinner and then off to see "Sweeney Todd" which we missed the night before. We missed it the night before because dinner at the Roadhouse took too long but it was well worth it. So, all was not lost. We did have a great time after all.

Only one more full day and he's off again. I hate even thinking about it. It makes my heart hurt very, very much. I'm jealous that he's going back to Stockholm without me. I long to live there so badly. I'm sure there has to be a way but not being independently wealthy I haven't thought of it yet. Thank god for phones and computers and Skype... they keep us hanging in there but they are a very cheap substitute for the real thing.

Hello and welcome to Day 2...

Things have started to get back to normal around here. Well, in a manner of speaking that is. Last night was hell. For some reason, Arnie the Wondercat, decided that he would pounce on us while sleeping over and over and over and over again. No matter how many times I tumbled him off the bed to the floor he would just pounce again. Finally, I reached the limit, grabbed the annoying little furbeast and removed him from the bedroom altogether. Then, just when I thought I would finally get some sleep, I fell into one of those terrific coughing fits that won't let up for any reason. After about an hour of that, Alex decided to go sleep on the couch. I finally fell asleep sometime around 7am and then had to get up to go get my check at work and run errands before the bank closed.

Even though I still feel crappy from this cold, it was good to get out and go about the normal daily routines. It almost felt alien at first. I actually had to remember how to put gas in my car since I hadn't done it since before the holidays. Seems weird, I know, but when I don't do the normal things for a while, it seems like I have to relearn how to do them at all. Maybe it's just me...

Tonight, we're off to dinner and a movie. Gonna get some grub on at the Texas Roadhouse and then go see Johnny Depp tear up the screen as Sweeney Todd. Should be fun!