Tipping the balance

The last couple of weeks have been a little rough. The day before the big ice storm, I had a little fender bender. It was really no big deal, but since it was my first one, well, it really upset me. The van was crunched and it needed a lot of work before it was safe to drive. And, of course, the ice storm hit at the same time and the result was me being stuck in the house for 7 days with my two kids. B's truck, as always was still on the road (you cannot keep that beast down,) but it isn't exactly the family friendly type of vehicle. Imagine the state of my mind on day 7. The boys and I were ready to kill each other. Hell, I was ready to kill anything that go in the way of me buying a freaking horse to just get out of dodge. I was pretty much sitting tit deep in Shit City. I certainly was sitting at the bottom of the Good Life Balance Scale.

B spent all day Wednesday with my mom's husband working on the van and, by Wednesday night, I had wheels again. Yes, the hood of the van is green and it will be until the Spring Thaw and we can get to a white one, but I can dig a green hood. As my friend, K, says, "Man, that's HOT! It's as cool as, well, NASCAR! You ought to just zoom around town at about 80 miles an hour in your bathrobe with curlers in your hair and a Virginia Slim hanging out of your mouth. Be sure to show your bra strap and scream out of the window, 'Get the hell outta my way - I gotta go get my welfare check and a bottle of Boone's!" This, of course, said in K's trademark satirical Saharan dryness. Man, I love that woman.

The boys went to their grandparents to stay Friday night. I was really torn because I had signed up for a yoga class that night and then was set to have sushi with DDFF, but I really felt like hanging out with B. We had just gotten some long awaited, much anticipated, life changing positive news on Wednesday and I wanted to hang with him and celebrate. He encouraged me to go, however, which was good. I always trust him -he usually knows what's best for me, even when I'm not so sure. Anyway, I went to yoga and sweet sassy molassy, that was exactly what I needed. I loved loved loved that class and wish it was Friday right now so I could go back. The stretch was exactly what I love, the people are just the right kind of folks I need, the aromatherapy really added to my practice, and the atmosphere was divine. After cool down and meditation, we all "awoke" on our mats and found tiny little fortune cookie like slips of paper at the head of our mat. They had the same quote on them -

In the depth of Winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible
Summer. -- Albert Camus

Amazing, eh?

A few months ago, I did the hair and makeup for a unbelievably talented designer's models in a local fashion show. In return, she allowed me to pick out one of her great designs. I finally chose one Friday night after yoga and I picked out this fantastic "Booty Cap." Seriously, have you ever seen anything cuter? YES, you wear it over pants. I LOVE IT. It's all corduroy and just fabulous. GORGEOUS! You can see more of her stuff here.

Sushi following with DDFF and SVS was great. The wanker waiter not withstanding, the food was great, the company was lovely. FANTASTIC way to spend a Friday night.

Yesterday I met up with the folks from Ozark Handspun and got lots and lots of fibers to spin. WEEEEEEEHOOOO, Baby. Let me tell you, I was getting really burned out on spinning there for awhile, but going a month without doing it reminded me how much I love it. Did a little yarn browsing with DDFF and picked up some great stuff from the clearance basket.

Lunch with K was, as always, a great treat. 2 hours of slowly noshing on yummy foods, laughing so hard we choke, generally a feeling of being not rushed. K's almost 7 months pregnant with her first child and she and her husband, L, are so funny about the whole thing. I'm going to be their childbirth educator and their breastfeeding educator and possibly their doula (yesterday she shoots me a dirty look and says, "I thought you were NOT taking any clients!" to which I had to respond, "Yeah, well, I tried. That lasted, oh, about 4 days. I'm open for your due time - if you're interested." And her look subsequently changed. We shall see.)

After lunch, I headed down to JC to hang out with JP. My inlaws dropped the boys over there so they could play with JP's three girls. We all had a great time! It started to snow around 6 while we were making dinner. It was the plan for me to leave at 6:30 and the boys and I would come home before it really hit. Let's just say that I was a little later than that and it got hairy. A normally 30 minute drive home took an hour. Driving 45 miles an hour the whole way, not being able to see lanes or anything, I made it home just fine with no troubles at all. Many of the other drivers on the road were not quite so lucky. We woke this morning to find about 3.5 inches of snow everywhere - just as the ice was starting to melt. Sheesh. Well, today is Sunday and B is home - I'm sure there will be sledding and snowball fights this afternoon.

When I got home, I noticed that a box had been delivered for me - it was my cookbooks!! I collect cookbooks and a few time a year, I allow myself to go hog wild and order 5 or so at one time. It happens to be that time of year, so I eagerly ripped into the package and had a few minutes of cookbook Ecstasy. I was so pleasantly stunned to see that with my order of Bon Appetite I got a free year subscription to Bon Appetite magazine!! Man, let me tell you, that's like a crackhead getting rocks delivered to his front door on a monthly basis for free! Needless to say, I'll be spending a good portion of today slowly looking at my new books and dreaming of steaming hot bowls of soup and home made bread. Eventually, I'll get my tush off the couch and make some for dinner. YUM.

And, I'm not saying who, but I just want to throw this little bit of info out there - a former nay sayer is maybe starting to turn a smiling face to my man, Mr. Ritchie. I totally know where she's coming from. Rock is kind of like The Dead. Everyone thinks they know what kind of music he makes, but it's absolutely nothing like you would imagine it would be. The reputation kind of gets in the way of taking a chance with the music. While clearly not everyone is going to like it, it's impossible to form an opinion until you've really listened to it - I promise, you'll be surprised. So, you know who you are - I hope you enjoy your introduction. And if not, that's totally cool, too. Thanks for taking the chance.

I'm feeling like I have moved outta Shit City and the good life scale is moving. I think I've tipped the balance.