The Weekend Between Christmas and New Years

We're home now ... it took us about 9 hours of driving, some of it through some very thick fog on Friday, but driving through fog was a lot better than what the 17 (yes we counted) abandoned (and sometimes on their roofs) cars and 2 overturned semis ran into along the road on I-80 and I-35. Given the weather (blowing snow) that we dodged after leaving Peoria early on Monday, and what we dodged on the trip home (freezing rain/ice and snow), we timed our return home just right.

Adding to the discomfort was me coming down with an impending case of norovirus; Lauren had come down with it on Christmas Eve day, and sure enough, I started coming down with it on Friday, enough so that we toyed with stopping off along the route in the Amanas or in Des Moines if I couldn't make it home.

Fortunately, we didn't stop, and we pulled into Maryville roughly around 7:00 Friday evening. It was just in time, too, because I've spent the weekend recovering from the flu, and I'll probably ask to work from home tomorrow because of it. Lauren's on winter break right now, but she's been recovering a little bit as well.

All in all, it's been a great holiday so far (stomach flu and weather notwithstanding), and we each got a bit of what we wanted for gifts: iTunes gift cards (to lay in a stock of new apps to add to the collection I have when I finally get an iPhone), a nice sweater, and a handy travel tea mug with built-in strainer for me to use on my commute; CDs, an iTunes gift card, a nice spa kit, a small brooch, and, in a deferred birthday gift, a deep massage for Lauren at Starved Rock while we were there. For both of us, we also got a nice package of smoked salmon from Linda and Jim, my sis and brother-in-law living out in Oregon. We also got ourselves a "joint" gift earlier in December with the Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus DVD set off of Amazon.

I think, though, the best part about the holiday wasn't the gifts (nice as they were). The best part was reconnecting with friends and family through Christmas cards, phone calls, and visits; we're hoping that this continues on through the year. Oh yeah; if you are reading this and you didn't get a Christmas e-card from us, check your e-mail's inbox (or your junk mail or spam filter, if the note got caught there). We did send you an e-card ... trust us.

Taking a Break From All Your Worries ...

Yeah, I know, it's shameless of me to borrow a riff from both Cheers and Battlestar Galactica, but hey, if BSG can borrow a riff from Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix in their previous season's finale, so can I.

I'm taking a small break from doing our taxes. Yes, I know, it's pushing the edge on the deadline, but we wanted to make sure we had enough money to cover our payments ... we weren't exactly sure how much the new job and the marriage would impact our taxes, but now we know: we owed just a little bit more than we did last year, and we're probably not getting a refund. However, we will get the tax relief rebate later this year, which will help a lot and will likely go toward debt reduction.

Taxes normally wouldn't be a problem, but it seems like I've rarely had a case where I could use tax prep software, due to changing situations that the software couldn't handle correctly or due to farm payment income or something that the software didn't quite process correctly. And don't get me started on e-filing. I'm in IT, and I work in the security arena, so if you think I'm going to trust my electronic personal data to the IRS, think again :-).

On one hand, I am proud knowing that I've done my taxes myself either by hand or with the assistance of tax software every year since I started filing. On the other, I wish that my former state of residence would have gotten on the ball and updated their PDF fill-in forms so that you could actually SAVE the darn things rather than have to re-do the entire form to do a correction.

And on other fronts, this morning was a series of errand runs: I found it rather amusing to be taking the mower in for annual service while it was snowing outside. It didn't stick, but it snowed from about 8ish this morning until around 2. After that, it was off to the store for some gardening/landscaping supplies, and then to the post office to get birthday gifts for my niece and nephew into the mail.

So for now, I'm working on the numbers for the Iowa return, Lauren's making coffee after taking a winter nap (she'd rather be gardening), and the laundry is being done as well.

Various and Sundry Items ....

Sigh ... it's the middle of March here in the 'ville, and winter is still sticking around for a little while longer. Lauren (aka Cheshirewoodgie) is feeling a little bit tummy-ish this evening after lunch at the local Italian restaurant (the food was as excellent as always, but there may have been a bit too much garlic in the oil which came with the excellent bread rolls, so she's sacked out early). It's okay; she needs the rest, especially after the road trip down to Savannah (MO) to pick up a couple of rotten hay bales she picked up off of Freecycle in order to do some root gardening.

We also looked at a nice house which is up for sale near Savannah, as we've been discussing what to do in the long-term for housing space. We've both realized that when Lauren bought our house, she didn't have concerns about the amount of living space: she was the only person living in it, and she had 3 cats, one of whom was an outdoor cat that spent a lot of her days outside. Now that I've moved in with my stuff, we've realized that it's cozy, and certainly comfortable for the most part (thanks to the house's amazing TARDIS-like qualities), but we're a little cramped in a few ways with two people and four indoor cats, we're short on storage space, feeling the pinch of a small kitchen, and wishing that we had more space for hobbies or additional bedroom space so we could put family up on visits. I think we both looked at the situation and realized that while a move to the house we were looking at would save me a half hour each way (or an hour a day) on the commute, the prospect of owning a 5-bedroom, 4-bath house is a bit daunting. So now we're making up a list of things we'd like to do to this house in terms of expansion (now if we only had the money!)

Meanwhile, Lauren's back to bed now, and that leaves me with a little time this evening to blog. A few highlights from the last couple of weeks going into April:

1. I finished my semi-annual review (my first) at my new job. The managers are pretty pleased with me so far, and it looks promising from here. As I noted to Cheshirewoodgie, I'm VERY relieved to get past this milestone.
2. It's banquet season at the college. Last Wednesday was the faculty HR banquet, with tenure awards. Cheshirewoodgie got a very nice ice cream and cake spoon and turner set with the Northwest logo (it's apparently a standard) for 10 years of service. Tomorrow afternoon, one of the sororities has put her up for a teaching award, and there is a reception after church for this. Then Wednesday, it's the departmental banquet. In addition, there were two annual student dinners: the annual international student banquet and the annual foreign language department/club banquet. Then today, we discovered that Lauren has won another service award, the Tower Award that has eluded her for the last few years, so we'll have yet another banquet on April 1st when she is presented with that. The challenge through all of this? Enjoying the food without letting it go to our waists.
   
3. We're heading into the last month of the Spring semester, and by mid-May, Lauren will probably be recuperating from what that entails, including finals week. And then the road-trips begin.
   

Not Much of Anything Going On ...

Looking back on the last couple of posts, you're probably thinking: "don't these people do ANYTHING?" To be honest, there have been a couple of things getting in the way of that as of late:

1. Both of us are working now: last year about this time, we had time to go do things, because despite the effort involved in getting ready for the wedding, we had time to go do things as I wasn't employed until April, and even after that, my shift work ended at 3, meaning I could rest after work, clean up, and we still had most of an evening left if we wanted to go somewhere. Now, I'm lucky if I get home between 6:30 and 7:00, so the commute means that I not only have less time to do things, but I have even less time to blog than usual.

2. The weather: I hate to admit it, but I used to love winter. Last year wasn't that bad, and despite the zinger of a late frost that almost killed off Lauren's roses and a lot of our outdoor plants and trees, we were still able to start gardening by now. After this past winter, with two ice storms, one of which about finished off our lawn, and more below zero days than I can count, my love of the season has greatly diminished. Now, I'd say that I like fall better.

Today has been a good change of pace. Due to the weather and the roads, I worked from home, which means I'm now home and comfy on the couch (with the kittehs all curled up next to me) at the decent hour of 5:00 rather than the usual, where I would just now be leaving KC with a near-2 hour commute ahead of me. EDIT: Now it's a little later, and Lauren has joined me, but she's feeling a little bit wug, so she's heading back to bed.

That now leaves me time to actually surf the interwebs and write a blog post.

It's Nice to Know Even the Forecaster Can Be Wrong ....

We weren't supposed to get snow today ... mostly freezing fog. However, the conditions have changed enough that we're getting snow this afternoon. Unlike most of the snow we've gotten so far this winter, which has been of the "small flakes or small flakes mixed with freezing precipitation" variety, we've been getting big, fluffy flakes of of the winter wonderland variety instead.

It's almost enough to make me like winter again.

Quiet Saturday

Been a quiet Saturday here this weekend:

1. Earlier this afternoon, we watched the NCAA Division II playoffs, where once again, the Bearcats struck out. Great season, but we were just outplayed. Oh well, there's always next year. And as my wife pointed out, as much as we love our Bearcats, "it's just a game".

2. With both the exterior and interior work done on the house following the drunk driver incident, we were finally able to put the living room to rights and also put up the living room Christmas tree (aka, the "kitty tree", since it has kitty-themed ornaments). We also put up our stockings (not by the fireplace, since we don't have one of those). However, "hung from the bookcase with care" is pretty close though, and we also put up the "Leon" from last year ... pictures later.

3. The "light snow" they were predicting for today came and stayed ... rather than 1 or 2 inches as forecast, instead we got about 5-6 inches. Winter wonderland, hah! Fortunately, we're snug and toasty indoors, with the base for another round of scratch chicken noodle soup cooking in the Crockpot.

Coming to a Standstill (aka, Snow Day!)

Tomorrow's going to be a first: both Lauren and I are going to be working from home tomorrow. Due to the upcoming severe weather (possible winter storm, possible ice storm), the administration closed the campus during the day - the first time Lauren can recall this happening, and she's been here for 10 years - and adjusted the finals schedule, while I will forsake the drive in to KC and work from the warmth of indoors.

Fortunately, we're well-stocked on food, we have plenty of flashlights and candles, and both our auxiliary heater and stove are gas-powered, so even if the power goes out, we'll be okay for the short-term. We might be a little bored without Internet access or access to media (though now that I think about it, we will have both iPods, the laptops while on battery which we could use to play DVDs and CDs with, and we'll also have our smartphones for Internet access ... we're covered), but we could also catch up on our reading, too. And if for some reason we really desperately need to go outside, we have matching sets of snowshoes to strap on.

However, all told, I think staying indoors will be the order of the day tomorrow. Supposedly, the interior contractor is supposed to be here tomorrow as well to start the drywall repairs from last month ... we'll be amazed if he even shows up, given the weather.

More Snow, More Snow ...

Just a quick shoutout to my friends up in Iowa. We're supposed to get about only 3-5 inches of snow here (I say only ... it's still a bit of snow), but we're hoping it melts off by the weekend.

However, in the last week, you guys are suffering through the nastiest winter weather the state has had for years (and I should know something about Iowa winters, having lived there the six years previous, including the year the state set the record for longest snow cover on the ground (late October through early May)).

Everyone please drive safe, stay warm, and be very careful, especially if you have power outages ... I'm hoping to see you at our wedding in March.