Happy New Year, billytea!!

Late to last night's gross-out conversation, but when I lived in a duplex post-college I opened the dryer once and had dozens of baby roaches come spilling out of the sealing ring on the inside of the door. Turns out you really can feel your sanity lurch underneath you like a ship's deck in choppy seas.

What had happened was the apparently filthy neighbor in the other half of the duplex moved out and our landlord set off a bug bomb in the empty apartment without warning us.

What had happened was the apparently filthy neighbor in the other half of the duplex moved out and our landlord set off a bug bomb in the empty apartment without warning us.

I knew a guy who lived in a roach-infested apartment in Chicago in the '70s. There was one guy in the building who was allergic to the bug spray they used, so they'd treat the entire building at once except for this guy's apartment.

I think I'll leave the rest to your imagination....

Wow, it's supposed to be 55 today. A day ago we had about 6" to 8" of snow on the ground, but with the rain and the warm temps it's mostly gone now.

It has all transformed into a vast muddy lake that used to be my dog park. Certain parties are very grumpy about this.

It took them six hours yesterday at the VW dealership to figure out they couldn't fix the seat heater in my car. They determined that the seat pad on one side wasn't working at all and the other one intermittently, so both are being replaced. They're having to order new parts from Germany.

On the plus side, I may get new leather seats out of the deal. They weren't sure if what the factory would send would be just the heating elements or if they would be integrated into the full leather seat cover - apparently it's sometimes one way, sometimes the other.

And it's not costing me anything, unless you count the money I spent while trying to kill six hours wandering around Evanston. (Mani-pedi, brow and eyelash tint, several books and magazines at B&N, and a glass of wine and big thing of popcorn at a movie.)

Happy New Year, billytea.

I slept in like woah. Oz the cat was either under the covers with me or pressed into my side all night. Sylvester alternated between the cat bed at my feet and right at my shoulder. It got a little warm at times.

The weather widget tells me it is 56 and might rain today, but even without looking outside I can hear the wind and that is enough to let me know I will not be doing yard work. I guess I will wash all the dishes, unpack the bags, and maybe make a grocery run.

Well, it is a lovely winterscape out there this morning. Birds chirping, sun shining. So we shall see if the SO makes it home today or not. Our band leader offered to drive him if he can't make it. But that would mean he would also have to come get him on Saturday morning and take him to his car. Which I guess I'm okay with; I don't really plan on leaving the house myself.

Next up, make coffee from the kettle on the woodstove, unearth the birdbath for the fifth time, restock the feeder. Then laundry. Then dishes. Then office work. Then knitting. I promise myself knitting in front of the fire regardless of the contents of the rest of the day. I am about eight rows of simple garter stitch from finishing the body of my first ever sweater. Then sleeves, once I can find the pattern book.

North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns

An amazingly detailed map....

Oop, kettle is boiling!

And now I see that there are tire tracks where my neighbor came in late last night and left this morning. So it must be navigable for his 4WD at least.

Liese, knitting by the fire sounds like a lovely day.

you remind me, I actually need to search for some yarn to finish this baby hat. If I can't find it, off to Joanns. And just in the nick of time too, I am imposing a yarn and fabric ban for 2011.

I think we're going to the pool this afternoon. Meanwhile I'm just sitting on my ass and eating as much Jamaican food as I can and surfing the internet and uploading to flickr and contemplating scanning old pictures. But I don't want to get up.

We've had two birds in the house since I've been here. My mother thinks they're omens and she wants to play the lottery or something. The first one was a hummingbird, one of which is our national bird. So much cooler than a mouse. The second one was a dove which dive bombed our glass porch doors. Poor thing. It listed a bit, but it made it off the porch under its own steam.