January 31, 2005 - Posted by danielle- Comments Off
I hadn’t planned on writing this post today, but as I was walking from the train station to work, I realized how Good I feel. It may sound strange, but for the past couple of months, I have felt tired, and I do mean tired on every weekday (I usually feel pretty rested on Saturdays).
So why do I feel good?
Perhaps it is because for the first time in a couple of months, the sun has been up and shining when I’ve gone out to my car in the morning. You know what this means, right? This means it is going to continue getting lighter in the morning! And that fact, in and of itself, is probably a large, ginormous, reason that I feel good.
Perhaps it is because I expected to sleep terribly and be depressed. I had kind of decided this weekend that I wasn’t going to write about this next part, but here I am, writing anyway.
How to put this.
hmmm…
Well, basically, HB and I did some real soul-searching with regards to our careers and marriage and agreed that he will take a promotion that is requiring him to be gone from home for a week or two at a time, and then to be home, and work from home, for a week or two. He will continue doing this back-and-forth schedule for about half a year, until we can both work in the same city again. And yesterday afternoon, I took him to the airport so that he can start this new job. So, I was expecting to be even more depressed today than usual. Usual, meaning that I probably have a hint of seasonal affective disorder in that I get really tired and depressed in January, February, and March.
I expected to sleep terribly and be incredibly lonely, and while I am lonely, I am also very busy, so it distracts me from my loneliness. As for the sleeping, I went out and bought an electric blanket, now that I won’t have my lil’ heater next to me in bed anymore to keep me warm. And I slept remarkably well.
So, here I am, on a Monday morning, no less, feeling pretty chipper.
And I didn’t freeze my patootie walkin’ in today either, which has probably contributed to my good mood.
You know, I think that another (big) part of my upbeat mood is that I am excited for HB. He has needed more challenge at work for a while now, and he is definitely going to get it with his new job. So, part of my good mood, is I think, knowing that he gets to have this new opportunity.
Kinda nice, isn’t it?
January 31, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 2 Comments
I hadn’t planned on writing this post today, but as I was walking from the train station to work, I realized how Good I feel. It may sound strange, but for the past couple of months, I have felt tired, and I do mean tired on every weekday (I usually feel pretty rested on Saturdays).
So why do I feel good?
Perhaps it is because for the first time in a couple of months, the sun has been up and shining when I’ve gone out to my car in the morning. You know what this means, right? This means it is going to continue getting lighter in the morning! And that fact, in and of itself, is probably a large, ginormous, reason that I feel good.
Perhaps it is because I expected to sleep terribly and be depressed. I had kind of decided this weekend that I wasn’t going to write about this next part, but here I am, writing anyway.
How to put this.
hmmm…
Well, basically, HB and I did some real soul-searching with regards to our careers and marriage and agreed that he will take a promotion that is requiring him to be gone from home for a week or two at a time, and then to be home, and work from home, for a week or two. He will continue doing this back-and-forth schedule for about half a year, until we can both work in the same city again. And yesterday afternoon, I took him to the airport so that he can start this new job. So, I was expecting to be even more depressed today than usual. Usual, meaning that I probably have a hint of seasonal affective disorder in that I get really tired and depressed in January, February, and March.
I expected to sleep terribly and be incredibly lonely, and while I am lonely, I am also very busy, so it distracts me from my loneliness. As for the sleeping, I went out and bought an electric blanket, now that I won’t have my lil’ heater next to me in bed anymore to keep me warm. And I slept remarkably well.
So, here I am, on a Monday morning, no less, feeling pretty chipper.
And I didn’t freeze my patootie walkin’ in today either, which has probably contributed to my good mood.
You know, I think that another (big) part of my upbeat mood is that I am excited for HB. He has needed more challenge at work for a while now, and he is definitely going to get it with his new job. So, part of my good mood, is I think, knowing that he gets to have this new opportunity.
Kinda nice, isn’t it?
January 26, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 2 Comments
I’ve been home sick today. Those of you who know me, probably know what I’m talking about, think storm-front, pressure changes, leading to a big capital M. But, I feel better now, thanks.
Anyway, until now, I hadn’t opened up our blinds… well, I finally did. And lookee what I saw:
As if we didn’t have enough snow already?
Here, have some more.
ergh.
Even the path that we’d cleared is getting covered. Can you see it?
Here, I’ll help you.
Oh, and be sure to jump over the snow plow glop at the end.
I guess HB will have his shovelling cut out for him when he gets home, ’cause while it is okay for me to sit here and type, I sure can’t get up and shovel.
sigh
HB has had a rough day. I’ll be sure to pour him some scotch when he gets home; I can certainly do that much.
Oh, did I mention that it is still snowing?
January 25, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 2 Comments
January 24, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 4 Comments
I have taken a fair number of pictures to document the snowfall of our first (and dare I say only?) Blizzard of 2005.
Blizzard.
You know, on Thursday, the weather forecasters were calling this storm a Nor’easter…. funny how it became a blizzard…
yeah, funny. As in, not-so-funny-ha-ha.
No really, we had it much easier than people on the Cape, or people with homes on the oceanfront.
For those of you who barely bat an eyelash at 2 feet of snow, the following pics will probably look like nothing. But for those of you with the good sense to live somewhere warm (you know who you are), well, you can look at these and be glad you are toasty, or at least out of the snow.
I decided to do a series of pictures taken from approximately the same spot at various times throughout the weekend.
Saturday morning – It is sunny and calm. Oh good, we still have time to get to the grocery and get HB’s car moved to the back of the driveway.
Saturday afternoon – It is cloudy, but there is still no snow. yet.
Wonder when the storm will hit…
Saturday afternoon – Ask a silly question…
Saturday afternoon – The sun is going down. I probably won’t take anymore pics tonight. I wonder how bad it will look tomorrow?
Sunday morning – Oh, about that bad. (what was that earlier about asking a silly question? hmmm?)
Sunday – It sure is drifting a lot.
Sunday – Ugh. You know, it really looks like a lot to shovel when you eye it from the front door. I almost feel compelled to go out and shovel. Almost, being the key word. Because, you know, the last time we did that, it drifted over by the next day. Nope. Staying in. Shovelling tomorrow.
Monday morning – Hmmm… it looks pretty when the sun hits it. It almost makes up for the fact that we have to go shovel. Well, at least it will be good exercise, right?
Monday morning – Hi-ho Hi-ho, it’s off to scoop we go…
This isn’t so bad. It is rather light and fluffy.
19 inches here… 23 inches there… shovel, throw. shovel, throw.
patterns in the snow.
so pretty in the sun.
Yay! I reached the street! quick. take a picture!
Man, we still have to do all of that.
exercise. hurmpf. light and fluffy. ha.
tired, very tired.
can barely lift. and. throw.
You know, there is a reason we park so close to the end of our driveway. We know from experience that the plows don’t get to the edge of the road. So we park near the end and hope to have less to shovel.
sweating. tired. But the birds are chirping, that is kind of nice.
almost done.
Many moments later….
Done! coffee time.
No wonder I was tired. I could barely throw the snow up and over this pile.
Now, we just have to contend with being tired and achy. hmmmm…. better have some tea.
Everything is better with tea.
Note: I’ll post the more artistic-photos another time. 
January 22, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 1 Comment
My sister in Texas has been making pottery for a few years as a hobby.
Recently, she sent us three new pieces.
I was overwhelmed by how much her talent has developed and the beauty of her creations.
The fine detail of the carving and the glaze colors are so gorgeous in person; I’m afraid that the pictures really don’t do the pieces justice. But here I am, posting them anyway, because I am so proud of her.
The New Pieces
The pitcher has two carved stripes where unglazed clay is exposed on the edges with an almost-metallic blue stripe of glaze between.
I call this next piece the beehive. What impressed me most about this piece is the progressive space between the carved stripes. Also, I checked with her and she did tell me that she only gets one chance to carve the piece (i.e. no mistakes allowed).
The final piece has the glaze colors of her eyes, which are inherited from my Dad, and are similar to HB’s. So, it reminds me of all of them.
The Older Pieces
Knowing how fond HB and I are of tea, she made us a teapot.
What a seestor. grin
Yes, you can see my reflection in the teapot. How fitting is that?
One of my favorite parts of the teapot is the way the lid feels when I hold it. It has to do with the smooth, almost wet feel of the glazed side, the way the knob fits between my fingers so perfectly, and the weight of the clay. Here is a pic of me holding it a different, less satisfactory way, just to show off the size and shape.
At one point, she was trying out different glazes and made test plates.
I love all of the following pieces too. They have become permanent fixtures in our decorating scheme. Note that she has told me that the clay and glazes are safe for using the bowls for food. But at this point, I just can’t bring myself to use them as everyday dinnerware. They are too special. She has told me that if we broke them, she’d make us other pieces… but still. Not yet. Maybe someday.
Three cheers for Texas Sister
Hip-hip, hooray!
Hip-hip, hooray!
Hip-hip, HOORAY!
Final note: All pictures are taken with a Sony Cyber-shot with natural lighting from our living room window. Yes, unfortunately, I haven’t yet figured out how to minimize the reflections in the glazes, but at times, the reflections are interesting too.
January 22, 2005 - Posted by danielle- Comments Off
I woke up with this phrase stuck in my head
And I
don’t wanna be a flame,
I wanna be a raging fire
It is a line from the song by Ginny Owens, I Wanna Be Moved (2nd track on the Without Condition album).
I am currently infatuated with Ginny Owens, after a friend loaned me a couple of her albums last Sunday.
I am definitely putting these on my birthday wish list. She reminds me most of Dar Williams, but if that name doesn’t ring a bell, I guess she has a style that reminds me of Sarah McLachlin and maybe a less angry version of Alanis Morissette. I’ve seen her compared to Tori Amos, but I don’t know Tori Amos’s work well enough to comment on that.
I also keep listening to track 7 – I Am Nothing – which has the following line:
If I do not love, I am nothing
And track 8 – Springs of Life
Rain down Your love upon me
Pour out Your mercy on me
Please won’t You take me to Your springs of life
January 19, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 7 Comments
It is now officially story time, ladies and gents! (complete with semi-cheesy photos to recreate the events)
…….
A couple of years ago, one winter night, my hubby (HB) was out of town.
When I became tired, instead of going back to our cold, lonely bed, I turned off the living room light, took off my glasses and laid down to sleep on the couch.
After a while, I started having dreams with strange squeaking noises, but being tired, I just ignored them, rolled over and went into a state of uneasy sleep.
Soon, the strange squeaking noises were accompanied by loud thumps. These were the types of thumps I usually associated with the pouncing of our 20 pound cat when she plays with her toys.
I squinted my eyes open and, sure enough, saw our cat pouncing on the floor and thought to myself, “Oh good, she made herself a squeaky toy.” Because, you see, she HAS NO squeaky toys, so she obviously made herself one.
“er? what?” you might be wondering.
Well, yes, that is what I thought too, about 20 seconds later; the fact that she couldn’t possibly have constructed a squeaky toy for herself permeated my sleep-befuddled brain, and I awoke with a start.
I open my eyes and stare through the semi-darkness afforded by the lights from our entertainment center. Sure enough she is pouncing with her legs all stiff and her back arched, and when she pounces, there is squeaking.
I grab my glasses.
She freezes, when she realizes I’m awake, and jumps back, probably thinking that she is in trouble. And I see the shadow of a small brown object run across the floor away from her and to the left.
“AAAAAAAAAAAGH! A mouse!”
I’m embarrassed to say that my immediate reaction was to jump up on our couch, just like some stupid, stereotypical woman afraid of a mouse.
“Okay. okay. okay,” I pant. “Where did it go? Where did it go Girlie-girl?” I ask her.
And Girlie-girl just looks at me like I’m speaking a foreign language.
I flip the light on. (Fortunately, I can reach it without getting down from the couch.)
“Okay. Okay. We can do this. Where did it go? Come on, show me where it went.”
And she just continues to stare at me.
After a few more moments of her staring at me like I’m nuts, and me trying to lean down off of the couch to see if I can tell where the mouse went, I decide that I’m going to have to get down off of the couch and look.
CRAP.
With my adrenaline at an all time high and my heart pounding, I get down on my hands and knees to look at the wall, toward which I last saw the mouse running. I realize that our hot water baseboard heater affords a perfect, dark hidey area for mice. yuck! I almost don’t want to look, but steel myself to look….
… and don’t see it.
Crap.
But she is still staring pretty intently at the heater. So, I ask her “Is the mouse in there? Come on, where’s the mouse? Get the mouse.”
Then I think “oh crap, what if it is inside the metal somehow. I wonder if I can even open it up to see.”
And I go to the end where there is this loose piece of metal and as I’m trying to flip it up the whole dang thing falls off and there is the mouse, perched on this hot water pipe staring up at me.
“CRAAAAAAAAAAAAP!”
And I jump back up on the couch, and furiously point and tell our cat to GET IT! GET IT!
And again, she stares at me like I’m nuts.
And the mouse stares at me.
CRAP!
“WHY ISN’T HB HERE!?”
What the heck am I going to do? I can’t just leave it there!… She clearly isn’t going to get it… We don’t have any traps in the house and I’m NOT leaving long enough to go out and get one and take the chance that it will get away.
Maybe I can catch it…. It is just kind of sitting there, after all.
Mice bite. I might not be afraid of all small furry animals, but mice, well they have a history of biting. So, If I’m going to catch it I need a long spoon or something and a bucket or something to scoop it into.
So, I run into the kitchen, and grab a big cup and a spoon. I run back, and our girlie-girl is still guarding the mouse (like a good girl.)
Then I steel my nerves, and think “okay, I’ve got to do it fast, before it realizes what I’m doing. Just like when you want to squish a bug, you do it fast…. OKay, I can do this.”
And I reach with the spoon
and flip it into the cup in one shot!
“HA! Take that!”
“I caught the mouse!”
“oh. I caught the mouse.”
“Now what the heck do I do with it?”
“You got any ideas?”
“crap. I can’t just kill it. I can’t even stand to squish bugs that crunch, there is no way I can kill a mouse. I know! I need an open field. Mice hate open fields. I’ll just put it in the center of the cul-de-sac and maybe some nice hawk or owl will see it and have a little late-night snack. That’s the ticket.”
So, I put it in the center of the cul-de-sac and it ran off toward the weeds and trees.
And I never saw that mouse again.
Or at least, I don’t think I saw that particular mouse again… but who knows? Maybe that was the same mouse that came back and bothered us later… or maybe a hawk or owl got to have a lil’ snack. That’s what I like to think happened.
The End
Final note: in order to do pictures that ‘recreate’ events, I used the Girlie-girl’s toy mouse and took the pics during the day, instead of in the dim lighting of night. And this really did happen as described. I think the mouse was easier to catch, because Girlie-girl had weakened it with her pouncing… that and it wasn’t expecting to be caught by a cup and a spoon.
January 17, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 3 Comments
So, I’m sitting here on my couch on a holiday, attempting to be ‘good’ and do some work that I brought home for the weekend.
And everytime I go to get a drink of water or a sip of tea, I see this stack of books.
They taunt me.
“Danielle? Danielle? Just stop working for a little while and come read me. Come on, you can do it. Oooooooonly for a few minutes and then you can put me back down.”
“yeah, right.” I say. “I know your tricks. Just a few minutes and then I’m sucked in. And then I’ll feel guilty at lunchtime when I still haven’t gotten my work done. Be quiet.”
“Oh, but you know you reeeeeeeeeeally want to read me right now” says the Jennifer Crusie book. “You’ve already read some of those other ones, in these stacks, but you
just
can’t
wait
to reeeeeeeeeeeeead me. I know it!”
“yessssssssssss,” I hiss at it. “But I am near the end of Crazy for You and that one comes first. So, jes shadup already.”
“But don’t I look cute with my blue cover and shoes with cherries on them?”
“Oh, but you don’t know what is on the shelf below you, do you? Faking It has a much cooler lime-green cover and it was Hi-LAR-ious, so you have tough standards to live up to.”
“Oh, well, in that case, I’ll just leave you be.”
“Thankyouverymuch”
January 14, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 3 Comments
I woke up this morning with Long Time Gone running around my head. So when I got in my car, I put in the Dixie Chicks – Home for my soundtrack to my drive into Boston today. Yup, you heard me right. Alllllllllll the way in today. Not just my little happy drive to the train station.
Anyway, not to get side-tracked by an almost-tangent.
It is such a good album. Long Time Gone is now competing in my head with Travelin’ Soldier, A Home, and I Believe in Love.
Cue the Casey Kasem voice:
“And now, a dedication going out to HB. Danielle wants to tell you congratulations on your job promotion, HB. Here’s I Believe in Love by the Dixie Chicks.”
Love that’s real.
Love that’s strong.
Love that lifts
on and on.
Yes, I Believe in Love.
We have an exciting year ahead of us.