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Today’s theme was dead batteries. Sometime around midnight, one of the smoke detectors in our house started beeping. This was odd since Brian is very good about checking and replacing the batteries when we set the clocks (twice a year). We thought it must be because the front entryway was so cold due to temps in the single digits, and our entryway being uninsulated and also unheated. In a normal household, there are perhaps 2 or 3 detectors, so it’s pretty easy to narrow down which is beeping. We believe the previous homeowners were paranoid, because we have no fewer than 6 smoke detectors. The beeping became more frequent, so Brian finally pulled the battery in the one at the top of the entryway when I woke up this morning, because frankly the sound is meant to wake anyone fast asleep and was doing quite a good job. The beeping didn’t stop. Brian discovered that in addition to having a smoke detector at the top of the stairs, there is also a smoke detector on the first floor of the entryway. This is for what purpose? In case we have a fire when the law of physics are suspended, and smoke does not rise? sheesh.

This inauspicious start to the day became advanced annoyance when Brian’s car battery decided it was just too cold to drive. It moaned and groaned but did not turn over. Luckily Brian didn’t actually need to leave the house. I became one of the hordes of New Englanders who bought a new car battery at Sears today.

January 1 to February 15 is typically very busy for me, and this year has been no exception. Early January is spent getting the house back in order from our holiday visits. This is also the month that church annual reports are due, church taxes are due, personal taxes get filed, and the weekends are filled with playoff football action. To consume even more of my time this year, I’ve been playing two new video games. I’ve been checking out the Vanguard beta and World of Warcraft just released its first expansion.

I’ve contacted the local women’s crisis center about volunteering. In order to do direct work there is a fairly extensive training class which is not offered again until fall. Fortunately there are hotline and office administrative volunteering opportunities which seems like a good way to get started. They have need for some computer database work which I should be able to help out with.

This past weekend the Sheldons came up to visit and we continued our southern themed eating with some BBQ pork ribs and red beans and rice. Then the girls beat the boys in Trivial Pursuit.

Here are some pictures from the Max and the Beasts series of tabblos from the past two weekends of football:
Beast 1
Beast 2

• I made my 2006 sales, funding and profit goals. I know it’s only one year in the scheme of things, and I have more aggressive goals for next year, but I am (for at least a few days) basking in the successful result of a lot of hard work.
• Talbots has a big sale. I enjoyed using my Christmas gift cards to score some deals. I have a new black wool suit, two shirts, and a skirt added to my wardrobe, all at more than 50% off the original price.
• It’s finally cold. It was 6 degrees (single digits!) this morning when I left for work. No snow yet, but maybe the kids who want to play hockey are getting some outdoor ice to play on. I complained that we didn’t have enough snow, and now I am complaining that it is Soooo COLD! but it makes me feel like a real New Englander. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that snow will arrive later this week.
• Gumbo is tasty! Brian did a bang-up job on this batch that we shared with friends on Saturday, and we had a few bowls leftover to enjoy as leftovers. Yum!

A few years back when I was hiking with my friend AJ in Louisiana his mother made an amazing gumbo. Since I like to cook, I thought I’d better learn how to make this. I found a good recipe on the internet and off I went. It went incredibly well and since then I’ve made a huge pot about once a year.

This weekend the New Orleans Saints are playing in a playoff game and my friend Jeff is having a birthday party. These two events aligning mean it’s gumbo time once again. Plus, I think it’s been a while since Su has gotten to debone a whole chicken…

I was short some ingredients so I had to go to the grocery store. I’ve been shopping for the groceries long enough that I consider myself a good shopper. I make the grocery list out in the order the items appear in the store so it’s easy to follow the list. I generally know what staples we’re short on so I don’t overbuy. In general, I can find my way around a grocery store and kitchen. One of the reasons I do this is to avoid people, the bane of the grocery store.

Today started off pretty well with a moderate sized list, but nothing too bad. I got to the store before the on-the-way-home crowd got there so it wouldn’t be too crowded. It was all going well until the woman in front of me started to pay with a check. I don’t have anything against paying with a check in theory, but it seems that something always goes wrong when a check is invoked; the person doesn’t have ID, the cashier doesn’t know how to ring a check, etc. In this case the woman tore the check out of the book in a hurry so it was slightly ripped and the check verification machine couldn’t read it. Then the manager came over and tried to run the check. Then the woman wrote a new check. Then the machine didn’t read the new check. Then they figured out the whole system was down so the manager manually overrode in about 5 seconds WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN DONE THE FIRST TIME THE MANAGER CAME OVER.

At this point it’s taken me 10 minutes to shop for a cartload of groceries and 10 minutes in line, but it’s finally my turn. The ringing process goes well until the last item… green peppers. Normally I’ll buy individual green peppers but they looked especially gnarly today so I picked up the 5 in a bag, hothouse grown, cheater bag of peppers. The clerk put in the PLU of the bag and it required quantity so he naturally counted the peppers and typed 5. As soon as I saw the screen ask ‘Quantity?’ I knew what was about to happen but I couldn’t speak quickly enough to stop the clerk. Next thing I know I’ve been charged $15 for 5 peppers. I point this out to the nice gentleman who of course can’t override it without manager approval so the blinky light goes on again.

In the end I escaped with a bag of $3 peppers and 15 minutes in line I’ll never get back. I’m not sure why it always surprises me when the grocery store is an adventure, but today it did.

I took my very first yoga class today. It is hard to describe. I feel invigorated, but also very relaxed. It definitely required physical effort, but I didn’t break a sweat. I was amazed at how much concentration was required to simultaneously breathe, focus my thoughts, and maintain balance in a physical pose. I knew it was going to be a good experience from the instructor’s welcome: take things at my own pace, don’t compare myself to others in the class, and know that there is no end goal. We were encouraged to just “be.” I think I’ll enjoy having an hour to “just be” in the middle of my Thursdays.

It was 62 degrees when I woke up this morning, and the showers were clearing, so Brian encouraged me to go for a run. It’s really disconcerting to go running in January without wearing any fleece. I was still too hot in a thin long-sleeved shirt and tights. This started out as a normal run, in that my knee began hurting after about 15 minutes. I re-discovered, however, that I just take an extremely long time to warm up. I started feeling quite good once I got to High Street, and was able to pick up the pace without pain for the last 15 minutes on the way home. In hindsight, this was the reason I decided to run a marathon a several years ago. Clearly a 5K or even a 10K is not a long enough race when it takes 30-45 minutes to hit my stride.

So, I enjoyed the run, but was wishing I could have gone snow shoeing today.

I just read over Su’s description of our trip to the midwest (below) and it looks like she hit all the high points. It was a relaxing and fun time bookended between two drives that seem to get longer every year.

Now that I’m back in Newburyport it’s time to get back to normal life. This week has been good so far. Tuesday was spent running, unpacking, doing laundry, and fixing the video drivers in my computer so I can beta a computer game I’m looking forward to. Wednesday was spent getting our bills and the church bills in order after a two week break. Thursday my brain and body crashed and I took a long nap and ordered a pizza while generally doing nothing useful.

Today, after going for a run, I’ve decided to tackle cleaning the fridge. We ate most of the food before Christmas and with the shelves empty it’s a good time to clean them. I was chatting with a friend online and described it as follows:

My fridge is like an archaeological dig. At the top there are traces of spilled mustard, syrup, etc. Next level down has it’s own set of stains plus drippings from above. The lowest level has physical foodstuffs, like a layer of crusty lettuce droppings. All this veggie matter at the bottom is held together by drippings from the top two layers.

I only remembered to take a before photo when I got to cleaning the door so the full extent of what was under the veggie drawer is lost forever.

Before:

After:

This post is a potpurri of highlights from our trip. Round one:

• The story of the washer. Settling down after a long drive.
• Stopping by the farm, checking on the ducks, and seeing Miriam. She gives the best hugs.
• Dinner at Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill’s for Christmas Eve with my cousin Pam, her husband John, their kids Rachael, Jacob and Gloria, and our family. Tasty cinnamon rolls and orange rolls like we always had at Grandma Woodmansee’s house. Catching up on news from school, work, sports and vacations. Trying not to notice that the Colts lost.
• 10pm Christmas Eve service, seeing lots of old friends from church including Becky Anker and her brother Daniel, who I used to babysit. It’s hard to believe that she has graduated from college with her degree in Social Work and Daniel is a senior in high school. As Becky reminded me, I used to change Daniel’s diapers. Mom’s co-worker’s daughter Tara sang a beautiful rendition of “O Holy Night.” I got to chat with my “Friend in Faith” Sandy, who listened and encouragegd me through junior high.
• Christmas Day at my grandparents, eating beef and noodles, turkey and mashed potatoes, and “strawberry goop.” Another bow and tag added to the pretty boxes. Discovering that Sarah loves cool whip too. Seeing Sue for a quick visit.
• Christmas Night with Grandma Krueger, Aunt Diane and Uncle Mike, Leslie and Ken, Brian’s father Steve. Everyone got socks and hoodies to keep them warm. Ken now knows that Anise is a flavoring (not a body part).
• Day after Christmas with Grandma Hume, Brian’s mom Barb, Leslie and Ken. Eating “fun rum balls” and lebkuchens and fudge. Going through old dresses and toys in the basement. Playing Pit after a tasty dinner including brussels sprouts from the garden. Gift themes were pajamas and picture frames.

After we saw everyone once, we went on to Round Two, just hanging out for a while with our parents and siblings:

• Exploring Oak Openings. Brian and I made it around the Scout Trail perimeter to Swan Creek before flooding sent us back to retrace our steps. We met up with Ken, who had taken off running a few hours after we started. The three of us walked the rest of the way back to the car. Ken got in an hour’s trail run, we did a 12 mile hike.
• Circuit City makes it hard to purchase anything, even when you know what you want and are trying to pay for all three items, not just the one they scanned.
• More Pit, another stop to see Grandma K and Grandma H.
• Hanging out with Mom on Friday afternoon. Doing dishes together. Cooking salmon on Friday and steak on Saturday. Tasty cherry cobbler, made from cherries from the back yard.
• Driving around Waynedale looking at houses my Dad didn’t buy. Checking out the house my Dad did buy and is fixing up – it’s really nice and was a great deal!
• Taking a long walk around the neighborhood with Dad.
• Picking turnips in the rain before church on Sunday.
• Seeing another girl I used to babysit, Emily, who is now married and expecting her first child in February. Giving Kay a hug and catching up on how Will is doing. Sitting with Bev.
• Seeing my friend Dawn’s new house. It’s beautiful – lots of room, nice neighborhood, cute yard, great character. Catching up on a year of life’s happenings over a cup of tea.
• Spending New Year’s with my brother Rich and his wife Sarah. Playing with Mia and Jack, their friendly and entertaining Boston Terriers. Laughing out loud at the comedy club, and cheering when Rich won a door prize. Playing Blokus and Phase 10 until 2am. Toasting the new year together. Wondering what Jack would run into first in 2007 (the coffee table at 10am).

We did pretty well on the to-do lists. Barb’s toilet got fixed and we set up her new TV. Her computer and my parents’ computer got updates. We discovered that the old computer we had in high school wouldn’t boot. I put together a lamp for my Dad. We reviewed financial info with my parents and discussed long term care and annuities. Mom and I requested copies of her credit report.
There’s always more to do than time to do it, but we had fun, relaxed, and got to see lots of people we love.

Ken and Leslie flew up from Florida, so Brian’s immediate family was all in Toledo for Christmas. We had ample opportunity to talk and catch up, and also to play games. This year, we pulled out PIT, a game that involves lots of hollering and fast-paced trading of cards between the players, until someone collects all the cards of a grain (corn, wheat, oats, etc.) and smacks the bell in the middle of the table to close the round.

In one round, Ken tacitly ignored Leslie despite her repeated pleas to trade. After the bell rang, and we discovered that Leslie held the two cards Ken was lacking to complete his hand, Leslie exclaimed with much frustration, “I was going to give you RYE!” Between this phrase and Anise cookie jokes, we managed to laugh for a good part of our time in Toledo.