The world is looking pretty good

In spite of the cold, the snow, and the pressure of impending Christmas. We had a storm on Friday, threats of ice and actual sleet and heavy snow in some places. In spite of that I drove the 30 miles to work on unplowed roads, following very poor drivers. Schools were closed so towns and the county didn't plow even the main roads very much, let alone the side roads I travel. But I made it! Only half an hour late. Guess what? Not a single car in the driveway. No one at the public library, no one at our library. Yes, we were closed, but no one called me until long after I'd left. So I came inside anyway, checked my email, paid my online bills, stayed for an hour and left to run the errands I was planning to run during lunch and after work. Actually I wasn't bummed, since it was like found time in town.

First the post office, where I mailed the Italy packages (2) and bought stamps. Second Christmas shopping, finishing up stuff for cousins in Vermont. Third the grocery store, getting stuff to cook for Ken's Sunday dinner and return $6 worth of soda cans from under my desk at work. Fourth the liquor store, wine for Sunday, liquers for my staff and Mark and Wild Turkey for me. Fifth the dump, which was a huge challenge because it's on a back road that had not been plowed at all and by now there was about 7" of snow. I made it, though, and was embarrassed to be there at all, getting a look from the dump lady like "What are you, nuts? Bringing one bag of garbage on a day like this?" Then I stopped at Ken's for a visit and a drink ("Well you're going to have a touch of the Creature, aren't you?"). Home by 1 and of course a nap. Wasted the afternoon, once I woke up, but kept my house warm. Got my car completely stuck in the bank of snow the plow piled up at the end of my driveway. This was not my regular plowman, who never leaves a pile of snow at the end of my driveway: he always sweeps it so there's no pile there. I went to bed Fri. night with the car stuck there, the hell with it.

Saturday I had hoped to get to the post office in AuSable to pick up a package that's waiting for me but it took a long time to get the car unstuck and I didn't start early enough. Shoveling and rocking and more shoveling, but finally I did it. Got to town 15 min. after the post office closed. Oh well, went to the hardware store and got a new tow rope for my car (just in case...) and a new door knob for my bedroom. The good kind of champagne from the liquor store, and cheesecake makings from the grocery store, which I forgot to get on Friday and our Christmas party at work was coming up. Whew! My car had so much snow packed against the axles that it vibrated really intensely when I went above 45. Swell. Home to install the new doorknob, so now I can latch the door against Chances' invasions during the day.

Sunday I cooked for Ken--he wanted Cornish game hens, with mashed potatoes and gravy, of course. We planned an exit strategy for my fish tank--he's going to take care of the little darlings while I'm in Rhode Island, and rather than putting them in a goldfish bowl, he wants the whole aquarium at this house. Has a spot all picked out on the counter where they'll go. I'll empty half the water out of the aquarium to transport it and fill it up again once I get there. He's very excited about having them there, which is very sweet. "But what if one of them dies?" I don't think we need to worry about that, we certainly know they can be replaced--I'll give you the net to scoop out the dead body with.

Monday I got confused and thought our work Christmas party was Tuesday so I had not made the cheesecake I was supposed to bring. What a dolt. I had planned to leave at noon, using my Use it Or Lose It time, which I will now lose because there isn't really a time I can take it. I had to stay because we had our huge luncheon and Secret Santa. I hate Secret Santa. I had left my S.S. gift at home, but luckily I had the presents for my cousins with me so I could just rip the label off of one of them and give it to the van driver instead of my cousin. Worked out well, I thought.

Because I didn't take the afternoon off I did not have a chance to cook for my book group, so I had to buy something to serve them. Hated that. I had made meringues on Sunday, at least. Coolest of all was that we got to eat the giant apple I got for my birthday. That was vastly entertaining and very tasty. They came over at 6:30, I was barely ready because I'd worked late so didn't get home until just before 6. Lin came early, knowing I could use help. She's certainly a good friend and I wish I could find her a job. We had a good book group. Martha needs to have her baby soon but she will and it will be wonderful. We all enjoyed being together and actually did talk about the book, but briefly. It was a Janet Evanovich, which we read to give ourselves a break during December. This month's book is an Adirondack book, Sweetwater. I think I'll put together a list of a bunch of Adirondack fiction, that will be good for work as well as book group. I know there are a bunch of titles out there and it will be a fun project to do. We really enjoyed the last Adk. book we read (except for the lesbian sex--I thought that wasn't really necessary. Let's see what kind of sex this book has).

And now it's Tuesday and tomorrow is my last day at work. Having trouble getting motivated. I'm off to Rhode Island for 6 days. I found someone to plow my driveway, but his truck is huge and he doesn't like the "cramped" space by the house. It's big enough for most people's trucks, he's just plowing with a truck that's not really meant to be a plow. It's also not really fit for going up my tiny little hill and he got stuck when he first started. I'm really happy to have a plowman, but he said he didn't know what he'd do if we got a big dump. Well hell, that's when I'll really need him. We'll worry about that when it happens. I've decided my motto is "I'll deal with that later." I'm going to design a crest that says that in Latin and put it on my wall.

I talked to my ex-husband yesterday. He'd left a message (called at 11:00 a.m. on Friday--now tell me, did he really think he'd be able to speak to me?) asking if, by any chance I had his passport. Well guess what, I did, and I was even able to find it. I figured out that he probably has a chance to go to the Olympics, and I was right. As mayor of Lake Placid, he might get to go. I called him yesterday (wasn't going to call him on the weekend when he was home with the Little Woman) and we had a nice conversation. I asked him if he would please pick up his passport at Ken's house and visit with Ken for a while and he said he would. Lin says he'll never do it, but I figure that, since there's something in it for him he just might. Lin says he's just way too important for that. Jaime had this fantasy that Anna would be his interpreter--I love the way he's always assumed that everyone in the world wants to do whatever he wants to do. He was very disappointed to hear that she's in Milwaukee. Anyway, we had an ok conversation but when I hung up I realized that we ran out of things to say and stayed on the phone just a little too long. I think he wants to have a relationship (as friends) but I'm not sure we have anything in common except our past and our family. I don't care one way or another but if we don't have anything to say to each other it'll be a pretty boring relationship, won't it.

And now I have to finish my year-end self-assessment. I didn't complete my goals, humble though they were. I have to report to our new director, who can't evaluate me anyway because she only started in October. She was my Secret Santa and knit me a beautiful blue and green scarf out of wonderful Italian wool. It matches my blue jacket, which she planned because she said she knew what color my jacket was. What's that? A thoughtful director who notices things about other people? I don't know how to deal with that.