-20 when I left the house this morning. That's cold enough, but it's supposed to be even colder tonight. I have an appointment to have my chimney cleaned tomorrow morning, which I desperately need to have done. I hope the guy doesn't cancel--I had to cancel once, to meet with the library's attorney.

Luckily the rental car started. Guess Chevys are as good as Hondas that way. Let's see how it does when it's colder. I called the Auto Barn this morning and they gave me the best present ever: my car is basically finished, just needs an alignment (which I asked for, since she smacked me in the front), which will be done either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Either way, the car will be ready for me tomorrow afternoon. I cannot believe my good luck. Something is finally happening the way I want it to! I was all set to upgrade the rental to a more bearable car for my RI trip but no, I won't have to. Hooray for me! Now I just have to manage my time and tasks to get ready to go.

Schedule goes like this: just realized I didn't get a gift for co-worker who always (for the past 20 years) makes me a present. Must dash out in zero degree weather at lunch time to get something appropriate for her. Wonder if she minds that I get her an ornament every single year because I can't think of anything else to get her. Last year she gave me a patriotic wooden Santa holding a banner that said "Let Freedom Ring." And she's known me for 20 years.
Negotiating session tonight from 3-5. May/may not have time to mail presents to aunt & uncle & cousins. Had to re-wrap 2 shirts because dogs unwrapped them entirely while I was out yesterday. I mean, really: came home to find 2 flannel shirts sitting on the living room floor, surrounded by scraps of wrapping paper. How childish can my dogs be? I suspect Chances Are because she really likes to unwrap presents. I left the present my staff gave me on the table and the corners were nibbled on while I was in the shower. Tess, on the other hand, took the bottle of rum off the table and out of it's decorative cloth sac while I was in the shower. She did not open the bottle, merely examined it and found it to be unacceptable for her consumption.

So tonight I have to go shopping after the negotiating session. Groceries, wine, Christmas presents, dog food and birdseed. Drop off 50 lbs. of birdseed at Ken's. Have a good stiff drink while I'm there. Visit with friend from Baltimore who's staying with him for a few days (making him even more nervous--his son & family are visiting after Christmas and he's hysterical about having his house be clean and in order for them).

I told Ken I couldn't have dinner with him Weds. because I was going to RI, so we'd do it Tuesday. He said "For a change, let's have it at your house, so I can get out of the house." Swell, said I, I'll have to clear all the wrapping stuff off my dinner table and tidy up the living room. Now it turns out that Ann, Woman from Balto, and Bill will be coming as well. So I REALLY have to tidy up. And where will I put my wrapping stuff, since I'll have to wrap presents right after they leave, so I can take all stuff wrapped to RI,as we are having Christmas with Kristen, Jenica, the girls as soon as I get there? Well, truly, if these are my worst problems I have it pretty easy. It's all a question of logistics. And I do like to have my house in order when I go away, it's so much nicer to come home to that way. But having 3 people for dinner the night before I go away for a week in the winter is not my idea of fun. I could use the evening to finish my Christmas shopping and get organized.

And in between there's work. My clerk is in the throes of the breakup (maybe) of her marriage. Her husband has decided he doesn't lover her anymore (he thinks) and he doesn't want to be married (probably). Only over the weekend he decided that yes, he has some problems and could probably use professional help to deal with them. So now she feels just the slightest glimmer of hope. He sounds exactly the way Jamie did and I can't tell if it's helpful to her to keep saying that every time she quotes her husband and the quotes could be coming from Jamie just as easily. Honestly, it's eerie. They bought a huge camper last year--she thought they were in agreement about it but now he says he didn't want it, really. That's exactly what happened with Jamie about buying the Honda. He said that was what finally convinced him to leave: he felt he was forced into buying the car when he really didn't want to. I knew he was shallow, but really--ending a marriage over a car? Anyway, these people have a 5 year old son so their situation is a lot more complicated, and her husband is more of a jerk (if that's possible) than Jamie.

This morning Jackson decided he'd poop in the house while I was at work rather than go out in the cold to do it on the ground, thank you very much. No, I said, you can do it the same way the other 2 do. At least I didn't have to worry about letting all 3 out at once, there was no way they'd run off together in this weather. The girls sit down, putting their tender paws in the air proclaiming that the ground is too cold for their pawpads to touch. Tess will stand on 3 feet, shaking her 4th one the way a cat does when it gets its foot wet. Sorry, can't help you, you're too heavy to carry. Meanwhile, I got my hands wet carrying snow-covered firewood, and when I touched the metal door handle my hand started to stick to it. Well, I'm not THAT stupid, I let go before my skin could really stick to it. I'm stoopid enough not to wear gloves or mittens, not stoopid enough to get my hand stuck to my doorknob. It takes 30 minutes to get frostbite, although Ken says you'd be dead by then if you didn't have warm clothes on.

The lake froze over last week but we don't know how thick the ice is. Not very, is our guess. We got 3" of powdery snow yesterday afternoon. When it's this cold the snow is incredibly fluffy. The temperature dropped 30 degrees between noon and 6 p.m. My refrigerator is nearly completely broken. The top part of the freezer doesn't freeze, so I put the contents of the top shelf in a cooler on the deck. Guess I don't really need to worry about stuff staying frozen. I needed ice for tonight so I just filled an ice tray and put it outside. Didn't take long, did it, to get ice. Nice, clear cubes.