Enough Already

There were blizzard like conditions through the night and into this morning. We are around 3 inches already and I'm told we can expect another 3 throughout the day. Darn you, lake effect snow.

I've decided it's a conspiracy when you have a better chance for a white Easter than a white Christmas. Christmas around here was very gray and muddy, but Easter will most certainly be white, and very cold. It's been that way for the last four years, at least.

It makes me glad that I haven't gone shopping for any a new clothes to wear for the holiday. All of those poor people with their new gauchos and sandals are probably devastated at the drastic change in weather.

Musings of a Would-Be Recluse

Why does it seem like time is standing still when it is really flying by? I lost March; I can't remember what I did with it, but I do remember spending most of it in this same, unsatisfied state that I feel currently.

Last night I told Jon that I had an unrelenting case of the Blahs, and in return he said he thought I might be getting sick. I mumbled back at him, "Yeah, sick of a lot of things." I explained to him that I was sick of my commute, losing two hours a day that I'm not getting paid for; that I was sick of my job that just isn't challenging me anymore. I was sick of feeling weighed down by mortgage payments, car payments, grocery bills, and gas prices; I felt as if the world was out to nickel and dime me. I was sick of my hair, which hasn't been cut since I last mentioned it two months ago, and is now down to my elbows, because I don't know what to do with it. I was sick of being too tired. I sit at my desk all day thinking of playing tennis, or gardening, or walking the dogs, or playing catch with Jon when I get home, but by the time I've made that hour commute my eyes are glazed over and we're lucky if dinner gets made. Yeah, I'm sick all right, but not in the way he meant it.

I never had grandiose plans for my future, short of wanting to be a news anchor for a while, and that short-lived thought diminished when my mother sat me down to say, "You know, honey, you just don't have the look to be a news anchor." And while I see her point, because I probably had sweat and dirt stuck to my forehead from my last ballgame, I also stop every once in a while and ask myself, "What 12-year-old does have the right look to report news?" Of course, I didn't think that at the time. I just took her word for it and walked away thinking, "Okay, I'm not pretty enough to report the news, but maybe I can still marry a major league baseball player." Then high school came along, my fear of my peers worsened, and my "career" of choice was to become a hermit. I consider myself lucky that a job at the library practically fell into my lap, that I was lucky enough to meet my husband so young, and that he could make that future life as a hermit seem a little less appealing. If it weren't for those two occurrences, which happened nearly simultaneously, I may have been a very successful recluse.

I'm not sure what I can say in conclusion except that, after 5 years of turning it down, the option of moving out of Ohio is looking more and more attractive. We initially thought that we could never leave our family, but as I feel myself pulling away little by little, I'm beginning to think that we could manage it. I suppose my only requirements would be that we could afford the lifestyle we have here, which could be hard, and that there is an IKEA within driving distance.

A Dog's Point of View

I arrived at work this morning, began fishing through my tote bag for a bottle of water, and found that Macy, the newest edition to our family, had packed my lunch for me. And for me it is only the best, I see, because she provided me with her vanilla flavored tennis ball which is carefully seasoned with mud from the backyard. Luckily, the bottles of water were in a different compartment and therefore weren't covered in dirt, but my notebook, and bag in general, did not fair so well. But it's the thought that counts, right? I figure she was either concerned that I am not eating enough, or perhaps that I'm not having enough fun at work. I'm touched that she cares so much.

Akron's Own Didn't Show

It's just my luck that the first Cavaliers game I attend in four years, with $100 tickets no less, LeBron James is added to the injured list just minutes before the start time. I was upset/annoyed/frustrated at first, but my consolations were 1.) The tickets were given to me so we didn't actually pay the $200 for our seats, and 2.) The team still managed to blow the socks off the Sacramento Kings in a very entertaining game. Jon and I walked away from the arena last night feeling as though the experience was worth far more than the $8 we paid for parking. The down side is that we loved the seats so much I'm afraid we'll be spending our own hard earned money on them before long, if not just to see James in action.

New Best Friends

A month ago Jon and I paid a visit to the Animal Rescue just down the street. We were hoping to find a puppy, a friend for Jack to run around with, to cuddle with when we weren't home, but we walked out with a 6-year-old female Cocker Spaniel named Macy. They had rescued her from the Humane Society who were going to either put her to sleep or let her freeze in a cage in a barn over the winter. She was malnourished, emaciated, and far too small for a dog of her breed, but she had a great personality and an adorable face. We fell in love quickly. Jack, on the other hand, didn't like this new dog invading his territory. If Jon and I were smart we wouldn't have gone on a whim, but researched the best techniques of introducing a new dog to an old dog. I have to say that we were lucky in that Macy was much smaller than Jack (a Daschund/Cocker Spaniel mix) so he didn't feel nearly as threatened as he could have. He more had problems with sharing, such as food, toys, and attention. A month later and we have worked out most of the kinks. The two dogs have begun exploring the dark corners of the backyard together, and will even share the same bowl of food, by choice, on a rare occasion. From the moment Macy walked in the door she acted like she was at home. She quickly found her favorite places and toys. She has been a nice fit into our little family.

The Stangest Thing

A phone conversation with my mom at 7:00 this morning:

"Hello?"

"Katie! I'm sorry to call so early but the strangest thing happened last night. I didn't check our messages until late in the evening or I would have called you sooner."

"What's going on?"

"Melissa called! She left a message saying that she didn't know how to reach you, so she left her number, and asked to have you call her. She said she hasn't talked to you in forever and wondered how you were doing. How weird is that? I mean you just called me, what, two weeks ago, asking if she had called?"

"Very strange indeed. Well, I suppose we did everything together so why not worry about each other at the same time?"

"Yeah. The two of you always had some strange connection. You should call her."

"I will. Thanks for letting me know."

I wrote down the number and hung up. Then I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, because really, that's just too weird for me.

More than a mysteriously strong psychological connection between my old friend and I, I believe the very odd and coincidental call came because of my birthday. My birthday has passed and she must have remembered and thought of me. Or perhaps she stumbled across my blog and didn't like me writing about her. Either way, I suppose I will find out when I call her tonight.

Game Over

Well, the short vacation is over and I have been a little disoriented when it comes to getting back to work. Part of me was ready to embrace a form of routine again, to get my butt up off the couch and re-establish a purpose for myself. Another part of me, the sluggish part, wanted to pull the covers up over my head and sleep for another few hours. And I am proud to admit that I have defeated the sluggish part of myself as I made it into work on time for two days in a row. It was fun while it lasted as we escaped from Ohio for a little while, and I got to pretend I was special because it was my birthday, and then we had a day to ourselves to be lazy slobs who watched movies for 24 hours straight.

Yeah, I was ready to come back. My sleep schedule was pleading with me to resume, well, a schedule.

We had a good time in Pittsburgh even though we got a late start thanks to the annoyances of turning 25-years-old like getting a new driver's license, new plates for my car, and going through the hassle of an emissions check to get those new plates for my car. I want to say we left about 2 hours after we had planned, which cut into the time we would have used to head into downtown Pittsburgh so we did a lot of shopping, and not much else.

Our server at dinner was kind enough to offer us refills on our drinks after we had finished eating, which he put in To-Go cups for us to "sip during the drive home." I almost leaped from our booth and hugged him. I get excited over the smallest things sometimes. And I thought we were going to have a rough time with our server when I sensed a little animosity in the way he said, "Oh, so you're from closer to the Cleveland area, huh?" Instead, he made my day with a large Diet Coke in a plastic cup.