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Freakin frigid
January 11, 2016
Holy shit, is it ever cold out. I damn near froze to death on my way in to the office this morning. And that's with all my gear on, and the car warmed up, and the heater going. Just too freakin' frigid for this kid. Temperatures of -1 Fahrenheit make me very glad Dad is out west.
So. After having a 2-day knock-down/drag-out with the Spouse, I got him to agree to go over the budget and see if a trip to LV was feasible, without messing up the projects that absolutely have to get done. So basically, I feel like I won that battle.
And it turns out that we can swing it without much trouble, so he feels like HE won.
I just don't think I will ever understand why we can't have the conversation first, and possibly avoid having the fight at all.
Not enough going on over the weekend to really even warrant an entry, really. Friday afternoon, I got my hair cut, came home, ate a bowl of cereal, and crashed with the dog. Friday night, we went to dinner at DeRango's, did a little shopping at Meijer, and came home. Saturday, we went to Costco with Niece; she activated her membership, put her brother on it, and we did some shopping--picked out some stuff we wanted to split, filled up the cars, subsidized her a little because she went over budget (and because she just rescued a THIRD kitty from certain death, bless her heart.)
One of the things I bought at Costco was a portable power pack and jumpstarter, which is kind of awesome. It is a rechargable battery pack that has jumper cables for starting a car, plus usb ports for charging phones or tablets, a built-in LED light with flashlight, sos, and warning signal settings, and it comes with a wall charger, a car charger. Plus, everything fits neatly into a nice zip-up case about the size of a hardcover book. And I got a windshield & mirror frostguard, but I haven't used it yet. The weather wasn't right for it; with the rain-to-snow-to-ice thing, I would have ended up with it frozen to the windshield.
After we went our separate ways, Spouse and I ran a couple more errands, and headed home. I tackled all the laundry, some assorted housework, he did car maintenance, and we all snoozed a while in the afternoon, of course. I made a simple supper of hot dogs, fries, and salad for dinner, then Spouse went out to make sure the cars and the walks were clear before everything froze up solid.
After that, I made some cocoa and we watched an old movie in the evening--well, he did. I just kind of zoned out, because it wasn't my thing. It was a western, and it had Kirk Douglas in it.
The thermometer was in freefall when we got up on Sunday, and Spouse made a lovely breakfast of pancakes and sausage. I whipped up a quick peach compote topper for mine; AWE...some!
While he was making the pancakes and sausage, I sat down with my coffee and shopped for some Valentine's Day presents for Arizona. I found out last year that the AZ contingent of my family actually exchanges gifts for Valentine's, so this year I mean to be ready. I got a pretty little pair of sterling silver heart earrings for my cousin, and the ATK "Pressure Cooker Perfection" cookbook for Auntie. (We are having a pressure cooker 101 class when I get there, because she is very intimidated by hers.) And, since I had an Amazon order going, I ordered a couple notebooks and a calendar for myself.
For the youngster, I'm getting a couple of rolls of the filament for his 3D printer, in red and pink. I know that's two colors he doesn't have (the pink is brand new!), and they seem appropriate for the occasion. I don't know what to get Dad or my cousin's semi-ex...guys are hard. For dad, I might put together a Midwesterner's pack, of stuff he likes, that they don't have in AZ. JA is a conundrum, though. Maybe a nice rollerball pen?
After breakfast was over and I had the dishes done, I baked off the last of the sugar cookie dough, which pleased Spouse. (If you ever do want to please him, 4 dozen sugar cookies would be a very good way to do it.)
And it was just a lazy, stay-at home day. We both went online and did our respective library management tasks and hunkered down with our books against the cold world outside. I spent a bit of time playing around with my pens, and Spouse made a lovely pot of creamed chicken and rice soup for dinner. He went to bed early, and I curled up under my electric throw and played word games on my computer while watching QI. I remembered to preheat my bed, and put B's paw conditioner on his feet, got my stuff ready for morning, and hit the sack.
Reading: "Ruth Fielding at the War Front or, The Hunt for the Lost Soldier" (1918) by Alice B. Emerson, and "Below Stairs; A Memoir" (1968), by Margaret Powell
Listening: Bowie. What else? On Friday, I was listening for his birthday, and today...RIP, Thin White Duke.
Inked Up: They're creeping up on me again--I'm back up to five inked. I mixed up a custom teal shade from Pelikan 4001 Green, Turquoise, and Royal Blue, and filled up the Konrad, plus I have the X750 inked with Black Swan/Aus. Roses, the Claria with Ku-Jaku, the Duragraph with Brilliant Brown, and the Artista with Monteverde burgundy.
I made a hell of a mess in the kitchen sink yesterday, tuning the Konrad's flex nib. Not to mention inking up my fingers quite grandly--to the point where even bleach didn't take it all off. But I just can't get the darn pen to work as I feel it should. Hard starts, railroading, running dry--you name it, it does it. And when I got out my loupe, I think I found out why. It looks like the feed is damaged. The fins at the nib end look sort of beaten in. Since they're cheap, and since I don't know if it's my fault or not, I'm just going to order a new one. But they are out of stock at both Goulet and Anderson right now, so I'm trying Goldspot. $6.95 with shipping, so we'll see how it goes.
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