Ice, ice, baby.

We are battening down the hatches for the Great Ice Storm of '07. Weeee! The fake poinsettas outside my front door are already coated with a thick layer of ice. Yes, I have fake poinsettas on my front porch. Shaddup.

Preparations for the Big Storm:
Check fridge.
Assess large pot of HO made chicken noodle soup, may be eaten cold if necessary.
Check for spare batteries, for flashlight, but more importantly, for the bouncy seat and swing.
Purchase 2 $9 ice scrapers from Orschelen's. WTF? Can I return these in a couple of days? What was I thinking?
Purchase 3 bags of ice melt @ $9 each. Again, whatever. Everyone else in town was out of icemelt, which is why I was at Orschelen's anyway. Who goes to Orschelen's, anyway? Which brings me to my next thing... waiting in line at Orschelen's. For EVER.
Resist the urge to stock up on Horehound Candy. Who eats that?
Check fridge.
Put Yoga Mat on windshield of car, to prevent ice buildup. Must get some use out of yoga mat, after all.
Buy Car lock ice melts for all my friends. only 99 cents each! A bargain.
Neglect to buy one for myself, as I never lock my car anyway.
And I'm not going anywhere.
Tell supervisor I'm not going anywhere.
Charge my phone and the bat phone so I can be readily available to tell people I am not going anywhere, but I will gladly write down their concerns.
Check fridge.
Tell Nanny to take the day off. Change mind and said we'd play it by ear tomorrow, since she still gets paid, I may have her come in the afternoon if we have power and she can make it over here. I can get some workity work done.
Check fridge.
Encourage Jamie to take out all the trash so it won't freeze to our porch for the next week.
Take more cold medicine.
Jamie is excited and wants to lose power. This scares me. I am going to end up with 2 cats, a beagle, my baby, and my roommate all in my bed trying to stay warm.
Check fridge.
Reminisce on the Great Ice Storm of '02, which we missed, because we were in the Caribbean on a cruise ship. sigh.
THAT was the way to weather the storm.

Ooops, I forgot to post.

Weeee! It's the Christmas season, at least for us... as we choose to celebrate the kiddo parts of the holiday, as well as a general and heartfelt prayer for peace. And we also like the Festival of Light, or Hanukkah. It's pretty, and I love the story behind the eight candles, as much as I actually know of it. It attests to my overall belief that if you have faith, things just turn out okay, and miracles can happen.

And of course, we are approaching my FAVORITE holiday, the Winter Solstice. Many of you already know I love the Solstice. And really, every celebration and ritual that occurs at this time of year, regardless of religion, is derived from this astronomical event. So I've been thinking about how even in our darkest moments, if we have faith that things will be okay, that we are part of a greater plan? that light will return to our lives, often in brighter and bigger ways than we ever could have imagined.

I read a little funny comment on McSweeney's Internet Tendencies recently : "The Year after the Year of Living Dangerously" = "The Year of Lying Very Still and Peeing In A Cup". It cracked me up, because I have that kind of sick sense of humor. Oh yeah. That year sucked, didn't it? But somehow fighting through all of that, overcoming the obstacles I had in front of me, and leaving behind things that were holding me back actually WORKED. I'm in a place I could never have imagined. It's not perfect, and it's not easy street by any means, but it's exactly where I am supposed to be right now, and I am grateful that I recognize that.

I think the hardest times of my life have been when I wished so much that things were different. I refused to see the signs in front of me. I didn't listen to the messages and I failed to recognize the choices I was making. I was just waiting for something to get better, to change, to pull me out. By doing this I know now that I was missing important information all around me that was pointing me in the direction I was supposed to go. I pray that I can keep this ever-present in my mind and remain honest, open, and willing.

So today is a fabulously cold Saturday afternoon. My daughter (!) and I both have sniffly colds, the house is drafty, and the laundry is piled up. We have a tiny bit of cash to make it 'til my next paycheck. But we have diapers and wipes, breastmilk (yay!) and toilet paper, so that more than makes up for it. We have people who love us and dutifully visit our Flickr page to see the ridiculously large number of pictures we take to document every fleeting moment of this wonderful time together. I know that if I am grateful for and open to the miracles that happen every day in my life, they will keep coming. That's so cool! And the year after the year after the year of living dangerously has been pretty great. I can't wait to see what 2008 brings.