I've had a lot to say lately and yet not very much. Nothing that would make for a real, cohesive post. It's still winter, and I've entered that blah phase where I just want winter to be done. I'm tired of the cold and the layers of clothing and the lack of daylight. The light is coming back rapidly but not fast enough for my taste. I know I've complained about this time of year before so I didn't want to write a whole post where I just repeat what I feel every year around this time.
However, I'm not the only one who's feeling this way. Our poor pets! The cat has been wanting to go outside, but it's still cold outside so he only goes out for a few minutes to sit on the edge of the porch and sulk. When he's inside he's been a bit aggressive (he'll let me pet him for a second or two, then he complains at me and bats my hand away or stalks off), and very loud. Not a happy camper. So we've been drugging him with catnip to keep him happy. It's not the best solution, but when he's high on nip is the only time he's not anxious and testy. I think that at some point, most likely after we buy a house (whenever that is), we'll discuss getting another cat to be a friend/companion for him.
The dog, too, is ready for spring. Despite my attempts a few weeks ago to trim her down a bit, her hair is out of control. It's making her itchy and too hot, so she's been scratching herself constantly and leaving bits of herself around the house. I vacuumed recently but you'd never know it by the state of our carpets. I just feel so bad for her! The overheating problem means that she also wants to be let outside frequently. (But she doesn't want to stay out there, because that's not where her people are. So it's in and out all evening.) If I get her a haircut she'll be shivering and cold and since we're scheduled to get down to the negative teens this weekend it could be dangerous for her to suddenly get all her hair shaved off. She needs to wait just a couple more weeks, until the beginning of March, and then I'll schedule a haircut for her. In the meantime, I feel like a monster.
I was messaging with a friend yesterday and when she asked me how Shane and I are doing I answered, "Busy." I realized that that's become my default answer and, while it is accurate, I kind of hate that answer. It's meaningless, really. Everyone is busy. Also, there is an attitude among people that if you're busy then you're somehow Very Important. Anyone who's less busy than you just isn't as important as you or they'd have more demands on their time, right? I think this is tied to people who spend so much of their time complaining that stay at home moms "don't actually work". (Why is it somehow considered work to raise kids when the work is outsourced to a daycare, but not when a mom or dad chooses to raise their own kids?!?) Saying that you're so busy or claiming that you work harder than others are just ways to pretend that you're better than other people. It's a very subtle, "Fuck you, because I'm better than you are." And I hate that that's the message I've been sending out, even inadvertently. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to say when other people ask how we've been doing, but it's definitely deserving of a better answer.
Honestly, we are busy. There's truth behind the statement. But not because we're somehow better, or because we're trying to see just how much we can cram into our days and show off. It's just a busy period and things will slow down again at some point. Also, it's the good kind of busy. The kind that's made us focus on what's really important, the kind which has forced us to be more organized and to remember to get things done in a timely fashion. Somehow, in all the busy, we've managed to keep our apartment looking cleaner than it is when we've got lots of time on our hands. (Well, except the carpet.) It's even, in a way, brought me and Shane closer together because we're doing our best to remember that when the other person has done something like cleaned up the dishes, it also means that they took time out of their busy schedule and that it means you don't have to worry about that detail. That's deserving of a thank you, at the very least. We've been giving each other verbal high-fives all over the place to show our appreciation. We've been trying to be very respectful of the other's need for time to themselves, and time to work on their own things. And as cheesy as it is, we'll leave little "I love you, btw I fed the pets" kinds of notes around the house when we won't get to see each other for most of the day.
One thing we don't usually do is sit down together for dinner. Well, we will, but we'll put on a movie or a TV show (often something we've seen before so that we don't mind interrupting to talk about our day or something funny we heard, or just whatever's in our heads). I grew up in a family which sat down together for dinner pretty much every night. Occasionally someone would be missing but mostly we'd all be there, in the dining room and with the TV off. Those were great times and it definitely brought us closer together as a family. But as a couple Shane and I haven't put the emphasis on dinner together and I think we both figured we'd start doing that more after we have kids. Well, with the start of this semester, dinner together is sometimes the only time we can scrape together in an evening. (Hello, Tuesdays!) Other nights, we don't even get that. (Hello, Mondays!) So we're making more of an effort to actually sit at the table together and chat about our day, catch up, plan and organize. With as much as we have going on, it's not like we have a lack of subjects to discuss!
When we need to, we've also managed to clear our schedules to spend a decent chunk of time together. We took time out yesterday for Valentine's Day/our Pseudoversary. (Six years together!) I made dinner, and it was delicious. (Beer chicken, sweet potato biscuits, and green beans, with this pie for dessert.) We hung out and chatted and we didn't buy anything for each other but we didn't need to. (We made plans to go see the new "Die Hard" movie this weekend. It's my romantic gift to him.)
The one thing I've been trying to keep doing, if for no other reason than for my own sanity, is to workout 4-5 days each week. Last weekend was bright and beautiful and not too cold so on Sunday I took the dog for a run and, somehow, pulled some of the stabilizing muscles in my left flank. (My hip ached in several different directions, and it definitely wasn't my power muscles I pulled.) I must have slipped on the ice in such a way that I didn't really notice, but somehow tweaked my muscles. It hurt. It also occurred at almost exactly the halfway point of our run so I had to hobble/jog the rest of the way home. (It probably wasn't great for me, but I did jog part of the way because I didn't want to get too cold. That would have been worse.) It felt bad enough that I called my boss that evening and said I probably wouldn't be able to make it to work the next day. Walk up the hill when I could barely walk to the bathroom? Uh, no. I didn't sleep well that night because every time I rolled over in my sleep I felt it and woke up. Eventually my brain would wake me up first so that I could support my leg as I rolled over, but it did not make for a restful night.
I'm trying to look at it as a blessing in disguise. Instead of rushing into my week like usual, I had to take Monday off. I used the time to relax, yes, but I also used it to clean the house a little bit more (I dusted!), to go over my readings again for that night's class (I did still hobble to class, carefully), and to work on some projects (that sweater I've been knitting). It really sucks to be injured, but it was nice to have that time and to get some things done I might have pushed off again, to feel more prepared for my class. I even took two baths this week to relax and to help my sore muscles. (That brings my total baths for the last 14 months up to 2. I'm not much of a bath person.)
I am feeling better now, thank you. My hip still aches a bit but every day it's getting better. (Shane worried that I'd really torn or pinched something, but no.) I'm still having to be careful with myself and even that mindfulness is helping me. I'm more grateful for my body and its normal good state of health, flexibility, and usefulness.
I wish you all the same peace and gratitude I'm finding this week.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Life is beautiful
Do you ever have a day where the beauty of your life hits you all at once? Where all of the wonderful, fascinating details scream at you, "Look at me!" and you actually sit up and take notice? Where the problems don't seem as big as they were the day before, where the small things make you ridiculously happy? I woke up this morning feeling optimistic and joyful, euphoric even. There's no real reason for it. It's still cold, half the people I know are sick in some way (sinus infections, stomach upsets, influenza) and overall this week wasn't the greatest. I was exhausted for most of it and thinking that I was fighting off a cold myself and unable to take time off work if I had really needed to, adding to the stress. But, none of that matters today. I got a good night's sleep and woke up to my pets being loving and wonderful. I started my walk to work thinking that, overall, my life is amazing. It has little moments of dissatisfaction, like when I see pictures of places I'd like to travel to and realize that instead, I'm stuck in my office. Or lately, any picture of a beach makes me ache with longing to be there, in the warmth and sunshine and salty ocean. But you know what? I'm working toward my goals. I'm working to make my life, my shared life with Shane, to be what I/we want. That is a beautiful, wonderful thing, and I am so incredibly lucky.
On my walk to work, I got to see this:
I was even a bit early so I could stand there and appreciate it for a few minutes, guilt-free. How many other people around here got to enjoy that sunrise? How many were taking their time and got to really see it?
When I got to work, after taking care of a few details, I opened Facebook and found this article about empathy, courtesy of my friend Hannah. It's beautiful and if you haven't read it yet, you should.
Today, I am at peace with the world, and I wish the same for all of you.
On my walk to work, I got to see this:
When I got to work, after taking care of a few details, I opened Facebook and found this article about empathy, courtesy of my friend Hannah. It's beautiful and if you haven't read it yet, you should.
Today, I am at peace with the world, and I wish the same for all of you.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Chocolate cravings and lady problems
For various reasons not at all related to making babies, I stopped taking birth control in the autumn. Shane and I have agreed that this has been a very good decision. The problems I'd been noticing in myself went away almost immediately and I even lost almost ten pounds in the first two months after I stopped taking it. Just that, and the relief of knowing that the weight I've gained over the past several years wasn't actually because of me (stupid pills), has made me feel more confident about myself.
Now that I've returned to normal hormonal functioning, it's also been fun for me to notice all of the differences in myself each month. Scientifically, I knew that changes in women's hormones lead to certain notable things. For instance, when a woman is ovulating she's more likely to be attracted to a strongly masculine face or a more "manly" man, whereas at non-ovulating times women are more likely to choose sensitive, more effeminate-featured men. (Hello, Orlando Bloom!) I'm lucky because when I look at Shane I see both the boy I met and the man I married, so I get the best of both worlds. :) But even watching movies, I've noticed changes in what actors I find attractive depending on where I'm at in my cycle.
There are other things, of course. While the pill helps some women regulate their mood swings, it seemed to make mine worse. Shane says that I seem more in control and "less crazy" before my period now. On the other hand, I now get zits around my period like I'm in high school again. No fun! And I seem to get cramps no matter what. But I'm still having fun observing these changes in myself. Science!
The one thing I completely forgot about, but probably should have expected, is a serious craving for chocolate. Not sweets in general, just chocolate. Last week I was raiding the cabinets searching for any sort of chocolate to the point that Shane noticed and gave me one of his "holy crap you're a little nuts right now" looks. Disaster averted: we had both hot chocolate and some leftover Christmas candy in the house. :) I'm also using the cravings as an excuse for why I bought chocolate ice cream and $23 worth of bulk-bin chocolate chips on Saturday. It's a good reason, right?
But I don't want to be eating crap every time my period rolls around. If for no other reason, it's not exactly going to make that time any more pleasant if I'm feeling bad about my eating habits in addition to everything else that happens. So I'm trying to find better ways of controlling the need for chocolate and I think I've found the perfect solution: oatmeal. Hear me out! Oatmeal is my go-to winter breakfast because it's easy and hot and healthy and I can change it up every day. I've made PB&J oatmeal (not bad, actually), oatmeal full of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, oatmeal with fresh fruit. I've used brown sugar, honey, and maple syrup as the sweetener. (Not all at once!) I've put in nutmeg and cinnamon to change the flavor. It's totally versatile! One of my favorites for the past couple of weeks has been chai oatmeal.
Well, now I know I can add a little bit of chocolate too. The heat from freshly cooked oatmeal melts the chocolate perfectly and everything you put in the oatmeal becomes covered in the gooey sweetness. It's perfection and it clears up any chocolate cravings I might be having without falling off the healthy eating bandwagon. I didn't add any other sweetener, since the chocolate is sweet enough. And when I can, I find dark chocolate chips which helps to make it slightly less sweet and just a bit healthier than it would be with milk chocolate chips.
Black Forest Oatmeal:
About a serving and a half of oatmeal
Enough water to cook the oatmeal (I cook it in the microwave, on high for three minutes)
A cup of pitted, frozen cherries (thawed overnight in the fridge) or 1/2 cup of dried cherries
1/4 cup of walnuts or pecans
1/4 cup (or slightly less) of dark chocolate chips
Cook the oatmeal. When it's still very hot, mix in the chocolate chips, then the walnuts and cherries. Consume and be happy.
Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal:
Cooked oatmeal
About 1/4 cup of chocolate chips
About 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut shavings
1/4 cup of any type of preferred nuts (I love hazelnuts in this one)
Optional: a dash of cinnamon
Mix in the chocolate first so that it's all melty and covers the oatmeal, then mix in the other ingredients. Consume, and pat yourself on the back for choosing something healthier than a Pop Tart for breakfast.
Now that I've returned to normal hormonal functioning, it's also been fun for me to notice all of the differences in myself each month. Scientifically, I knew that changes in women's hormones lead to certain notable things. For instance, when a woman is ovulating she's more likely to be attracted to a strongly masculine face or a more "manly" man, whereas at non-ovulating times women are more likely to choose sensitive, more effeminate-featured men. (Hello, Orlando Bloom!) I'm lucky because when I look at Shane I see both the boy I met and the man I married, so I get the best of both worlds. :) But even watching movies, I've noticed changes in what actors I find attractive depending on where I'm at in my cycle.
There are other things, of course. While the pill helps some women regulate their mood swings, it seemed to make mine worse. Shane says that I seem more in control and "less crazy" before my period now. On the other hand, I now get zits around my period like I'm in high school again. No fun! And I seem to get cramps no matter what. But I'm still having fun observing these changes in myself. Science!
The one thing I completely forgot about, but probably should have expected, is a serious craving for chocolate. Not sweets in general, just chocolate. Last week I was raiding the cabinets searching for any sort of chocolate to the point that Shane noticed and gave me one of his "holy crap you're a little nuts right now" looks. Disaster averted: we had both hot chocolate and some leftover Christmas candy in the house. :) I'm also using the cravings as an excuse for why I bought chocolate ice cream and $23 worth of bulk-bin chocolate chips on Saturday. It's a good reason, right?
But I don't want to be eating crap every time my period rolls around. If for no other reason, it's not exactly going to make that time any more pleasant if I'm feeling bad about my eating habits in addition to everything else that happens. So I'm trying to find better ways of controlling the need for chocolate and I think I've found the perfect solution: oatmeal. Hear me out! Oatmeal is my go-to winter breakfast because it's easy and hot and healthy and I can change it up every day. I've made PB&J oatmeal (not bad, actually), oatmeal full of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, oatmeal with fresh fruit. I've used brown sugar, honey, and maple syrup as the sweetener. (Not all at once!) I've put in nutmeg and cinnamon to change the flavor. It's totally versatile! One of my favorites for the past couple of weeks has been chai oatmeal.
Well, now I know I can add a little bit of chocolate too. The heat from freshly cooked oatmeal melts the chocolate perfectly and everything you put in the oatmeal becomes covered in the gooey sweetness. It's perfection and it clears up any chocolate cravings I might be having without falling off the healthy eating bandwagon. I didn't add any other sweetener, since the chocolate is sweet enough. And when I can, I find dark chocolate chips which helps to make it slightly less sweet and just a bit healthier than it would be with milk chocolate chips.
Black Forest Oatmeal:
About a serving and a half of oatmeal
Enough water to cook the oatmeal (I cook it in the microwave, on high for three minutes)
A cup of pitted, frozen cherries (thawed overnight in the fridge) or 1/2 cup of dried cherries
1/4 cup of walnuts or pecans
1/4 cup (or slightly less) of dark chocolate chips
Cook the oatmeal. When it's still very hot, mix in the chocolate chips, then the walnuts and cherries. Consume and be happy.
Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal:
Cooked oatmeal
About 1/4 cup of chocolate chips
About 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut shavings
1/4 cup of any type of preferred nuts (I love hazelnuts in this one)
Optional: a dash of cinnamon
Mix in the chocolate first so that it's all melty and covers the oatmeal, then mix in the other ingredients. Consume, and pat yourself on the back for choosing something healthier than a Pop Tart for breakfast.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Dude
I did my first ever guest post at Mr. Money Mustache. Wow, what an honor! It is, of course, about my one area of "expertise"--non-car commuting in the winter.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Totally normal
Yesterday on my walk to work my right bootlace broke. And, that pretty much sums up how the rest of the day went. Nothing major and dramatic, but full of small irritations.
I checked around the house for a spare shoelace last night but didn't find anything that would work. So, no big deal. When I was getting ready for work this morning I decided that, since it's warmed up so much the last few days (about 60 degrees!) I'd be fine wearing my "winter" Dansko clogs. They've got rubber soles so they're not as bad on the ice as my other ones. I've worn them plenty of times and, mostly, they're fine.
Except when it's this cold. Apparently I over-estimated the temperature because it's still cold enough to freeze rubber. Don't worry, I wore two pairs of socks so my feet were totally warm. But thanks to the ice leftover from the freezing rain a few weeks ago, the dusting of snow on top which we got yesterday, and the frozen rubber of my shoes, I had to do an odd shuffle instead of just walking. I nearly fell so many times but by the time I thought, "This was a really bad idea," it was too late to turn back. So I soldiered on, being very careful and moving more like a cross country skier than someone walking.
And then I reached the hill. It's a popular sledding hill, so while there is a bit of a path carved by me and others who walk, there isn't exactly any level ground so even on the best of days it's tough going. And, it's been worn mostly smooth by all the sledders packing down the snow. I was stepping really carefully, placing my feet before putting weight on them so that I didn't fall over. I made it almost to the top, where there's a fence and the assurance that at least I wouldn't tumble fifty feet back down the hill. Ten feet away from the fence, I started slipping backwards. I fell, got up, fell again, and while I was trying to hold myself up I just kept slipping further and further away from where I needed to be. I debated just clawing and crawling my way back to the top but decided that was too undignified. (Because, apparently, I wasn't already undignified?) When I stood mostly upright I ended up using my purse as a weight to help throw myself up the hill and that worked. I made it to the top with only one or two more small slips.
After I rounded the fence and felt secure again all I could think was, normal people don't have these problems.
And that about sums up my life.
I checked around the house for a spare shoelace last night but didn't find anything that would work. So, no big deal. When I was getting ready for work this morning I decided that, since it's warmed up so much the last few days (about 60 degrees!) I'd be fine wearing my "winter" Dansko clogs. They've got rubber soles so they're not as bad on the ice as my other ones. I've worn them plenty of times and, mostly, they're fine.
Except when it's this cold. Apparently I over-estimated the temperature because it's still cold enough to freeze rubber. Don't worry, I wore two pairs of socks so my feet were totally warm. But thanks to the ice leftover from the freezing rain a few weeks ago, the dusting of snow on top which we got yesterday, and the frozen rubber of my shoes, I had to do an odd shuffle instead of just walking. I nearly fell so many times but by the time I thought, "This was a really bad idea," it was too late to turn back. So I soldiered on, being very careful and moving more like a cross country skier than someone walking.
And then I reached the hill. It's a popular sledding hill, so while there is a bit of a path carved by me and others who walk, there isn't exactly any level ground so even on the best of days it's tough going. And, it's been worn mostly smooth by all the sledders packing down the snow. I was stepping really carefully, placing my feet before putting weight on them so that I didn't fall over. I made it almost to the top, where there's a fence and the assurance that at least I wouldn't tumble fifty feet back down the hill. Ten feet away from the fence, I started slipping backwards. I fell, got up, fell again, and while I was trying to hold myself up I just kept slipping further and further away from where I needed to be. I debated just clawing and crawling my way back to the top but decided that was too undignified. (Because, apparently, I wasn't already undignified?) When I stood mostly upright I ended up using my purse as a weight to help throw myself up the hill and that worked. I made it to the top with only one or two more small slips.
After I rounded the fence and felt secure again all I could think was, normal people don't have these problems.
And that about sums up my life.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Cold, cold weekend
All of the talk around here for a few days has been about the cold snap we're having, and the subsequent issues it's causing. Until now this has been a freakishly warm January. When people start to complain I remind them that this is January in Fairbanks, this is normal. Friday morning I walked to work in temps around -27 and it was just dropping from there. By the time I was going home it was more like -35 and still dropping. I think I frostbit my left ear a little bit because of my earrings. Usually I keep my hat low enough and my scarf high enough that it's never been a problem, but my poor ear was red and swollen when I got home. I didn't even feel it. If your ear gets that painfully cold you'd think you'd notice somehow. This morning, I remembered and put my earrings in my pocket before leaving for work.
Places hit -50 and colder over the weekend, or very close to it. The ice fog is incredible, and even places which are usually above the temperature inversion have ice fog and seriously cold temperatures. Worse, at those temperatures cars won't start, or have a lot of trouble doing so, and even if you do get it to start there are other problems. Locks ice up and you can't get doors open. Little parts become brittle and break easily. Tires, from resting on the ground, get flat on the bottom and it takes several bumpy miles before they round out again.
So as you can imagine, it was a rather quiet weekend. I got most of the reading done for my class and even managed to get the vacuuming done on Saturday. (A girl can only take so much and our carpets were gross so I'm glad I did that. When I think of how much I had to throw away and clean off the filter at the end I still make a yucky face.) I read a book for fun and we even spent lots of time playing board games with a few friends on two different nights. Many of our friends just stayed home all weekend in deference to the cold.
We didn't. Stay home, that is. Did I mention that Shane is taking five classes this semester? Four of them are difficult, including physics and calculus. Blech. I do not envy him. He found most of the textbooks online, and the physics book is being held at the main campus library for limited checkout times. We bundled ourselves and the dog up one afternoon and trekked up to the library so that he could scan and then email the necessary pages to himself. I put on so many layers that I stayed remarkably warm. (Thick longjohns, my flannel lined Carhartts, two pairs of thick and tall socks, including my sweater socks, boots, wool shirt, fleece jacket, down coat, hat, scarf long enough to wrap around my head twice, a pair of gloves, and a pair of mittens. Whew!) Even the dog got a double layer of coats put on her. I crocheted a pretty crappy jacket for her a while ago, and then because it was crappy I went ahead and bought one for her. However, the one I bought doesn't have any protection for her belly, which the one I made does. So she wore two coats and four booties and at the library we had a few minutes to warm up in the arctic entry while Shane was inside. (We checked her over when we got home and she was still warm, even her belly.) My favorite moment of the whole adventure was seeing my dog run into the glass, thinking that she could get into the library. She's a sweetheart, but she's not the brightest. She was anxious that Shane was where she couldn't see him so for the most part we walked around outside and waited for him, going back into the arctic entry to stay warm every few minutes.
On Saturday night, Shane made another batch of beer. A friend we haven't seen in a long time came over to play games and hang out so we were all in the cozy, warm kitchen area. Starting a new batch of beer requires a lot of cooking so the stove kept the room very toasty. In fact, it was so toasty that we could fully see just how bad the back door to our place is. There was steam being created inside the house from an air leak around the back door. We've known for a long time that that door is terrible (our landlord really got swindled, since it's supposed to be a great door, made by an Alaskan company, but it's been nothing but trouble) but I don't think we'd ever before seen just how bad it really is. Tired of the visible reminder of just how much heat we're throwing out into the cold I finally decided that it was time to tack some curtains over the door. I wanted, earlier in the winter, to get a dowel and some sort of cheap holding system so that we wouldn't have to put a bunch of holes in the walls but I never got around to it. Instead, we used some small nails and tacked two curtains over the doorway. It's not much, but I can tell that it is having some effect in blocking out the cold. Unfortunately, it's also just blocking out the light. Oh well. I'll probably end up taking them down again after the cold snap ends, and perhaps next time I'm at Fred's I'll remember to get the things I want to hold up the curtains. It doesn't have to be anything big, I'll probably just get a long dowel and some sticky hooks.
The worst thing about the cold, for me, is that it's so dry right now. And, of course, we decided to turn off our humidifier. Why? Because it's moldy. I don't know how it happened, but there's mold living in the bottom of our humidifier and we're guessing it's probably not good to toss that in the air and breathe it in. We're trying to figure out if it would be worth cleaning it out (it's from the 70s and we probably couldn't find the new filters and such that it would need) or just buying a new one. Probably, we will grab the Sears gift card someone gave us a while ago and just buy a new one, which will certainly be smaller and almost certainly more efficient anyway. (This thing is BEASTLY--but we got it for free from my in-laws so I'm not really complaining.) Without a humidifier for now, we're left with drier and drier skin. I'm starting to feel like a raisin. Every time I wash my hands I have to coat them with lotion. Every shower takes twice as long not because I'm spending any more time under the water, but because my skin needs a protective layer of lotion put on afterwards. Even my eyes feel drier. We're all noticeably more thirsty, even the pets, and the poor animals are itchy with their dry skin.
Today, even my office, on a hill, isn't immune from the cold and ice fog. Usually I can look forward to breathing slightly better air up here but not today. The thermometer, usually a bit warmer because it's right next to a window, is reading -30. The official temperature as of writing, with the sun up, is -47. Brr! Stay warm, Fairbanksters!
Places hit -50 and colder over the weekend, or very close to it. The ice fog is incredible, and even places which are usually above the temperature inversion have ice fog and seriously cold temperatures. Worse, at those temperatures cars won't start, or have a lot of trouble doing so, and even if you do get it to start there are other problems. Locks ice up and you can't get doors open. Little parts become brittle and break easily. Tires, from resting on the ground, get flat on the bottom and it takes several bumpy miles before they round out again.
So as you can imagine, it was a rather quiet weekend. I got most of the reading done for my class and even managed to get the vacuuming done on Saturday. (A girl can only take so much and our carpets were gross so I'm glad I did that. When I think of how much I had to throw away and clean off the filter at the end I still make a yucky face.) I read a book for fun and we even spent lots of time playing board games with a few friends on two different nights. Many of our friends just stayed home all weekend in deference to the cold.
We didn't. Stay home, that is. Did I mention that Shane is taking five classes this semester? Four of them are difficult, including physics and calculus. Blech. I do not envy him. He found most of the textbooks online, and the physics book is being held at the main campus library for limited checkout times. We bundled ourselves and the dog up one afternoon and trekked up to the library so that he could scan and then email the necessary pages to himself. I put on so many layers that I stayed remarkably warm. (Thick longjohns, my flannel lined Carhartts, two pairs of thick and tall socks, including my sweater socks, boots, wool shirt, fleece jacket, down coat, hat, scarf long enough to wrap around my head twice, a pair of gloves, and a pair of mittens. Whew!) Even the dog got a double layer of coats put on her. I crocheted a pretty crappy jacket for her a while ago, and then because it was crappy I went ahead and bought one for her. However, the one I bought doesn't have any protection for her belly, which the one I made does. So she wore two coats and four booties and at the library we had a few minutes to warm up in the arctic entry while Shane was inside. (We checked her over when we got home and she was still warm, even her belly.) My favorite moment of the whole adventure was seeing my dog run into the glass, thinking that she could get into the library. She's a sweetheart, but she's not the brightest. She was anxious that Shane was where she couldn't see him so for the most part we walked around outside and waited for him, going back into the arctic entry to stay warm every few minutes.
On Saturday night, Shane made another batch of beer. A friend we haven't seen in a long time came over to play games and hang out so we were all in the cozy, warm kitchen area. Starting a new batch of beer requires a lot of cooking so the stove kept the room very toasty. In fact, it was so toasty that we could fully see just how bad the back door to our place is. There was steam being created inside the house from an air leak around the back door. We've known for a long time that that door is terrible (our landlord really got swindled, since it's supposed to be a great door, made by an Alaskan company, but it's been nothing but trouble) but I don't think we'd ever before seen just how bad it really is. Tired of the visible reminder of just how much heat we're throwing out into the cold I finally decided that it was time to tack some curtains over the door. I wanted, earlier in the winter, to get a dowel and some sort of cheap holding system so that we wouldn't have to put a bunch of holes in the walls but I never got around to it. Instead, we used some small nails and tacked two curtains over the doorway. It's not much, but I can tell that it is having some effect in blocking out the cold. Unfortunately, it's also just blocking out the light. Oh well. I'll probably end up taking them down again after the cold snap ends, and perhaps next time I'm at Fred's I'll remember to get the things I want to hold up the curtains. It doesn't have to be anything big, I'll probably just get a long dowel and some sticky hooks.
The worst thing about the cold, for me, is that it's so dry right now. And, of course, we decided to turn off our humidifier. Why? Because it's moldy. I don't know how it happened, but there's mold living in the bottom of our humidifier and we're guessing it's probably not good to toss that in the air and breathe it in. We're trying to figure out if it would be worth cleaning it out (it's from the 70s and we probably couldn't find the new filters and such that it would need) or just buying a new one. Probably, we will grab the Sears gift card someone gave us a while ago and just buy a new one, which will certainly be smaller and almost certainly more efficient anyway. (This thing is BEASTLY--but we got it for free from my in-laws so I'm not really complaining.) Without a humidifier for now, we're left with drier and drier skin. I'm starting to feel like a raisin. Every time I wash my hands I have to coat them with lotion. Every shower takes twice as long not because I'm spending any more time under the water, but because my skin needs a protective layer of lotion put on afterwards. Even my eyes feel drier. We're all noticeably more thirsty, even the pets, and the poor animals are itchy with their dry skin.
Today, even my office, on a hill, isn't immune from the cold and ice fog. Usually I can look forward to breathing slightly better air up here but not today. The thermometer, usually a bit warmer because it's right next to a window, is reading -30. The official temperature as of writing, with the sun up, is -47. Brr! Stay warm, Fairbanksters!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
"You just gave my feels cancer."
It's amazing how exhausted a long weekend can make me. An extra day off means another day to relax, right? Wrong! It means time to get stuff done! Shane and I are also staring down the barrel of the coming semester, which is going to be busy and packed and stressful and fun. Shane is returning to being a full time student for the semester (since he'll have to put off going back to work by a couple of weeks, he did get the blessing of his boss to do this so his summer employment is still fine) and I'm actually taking a class as well. A graduate class no less. My "welcome to grad courses" was an email from the professor saying, "I know we don't have a scheduled class on Monday because of the holiday, but we're having class anyway. See you there!" Then I got to class and found out that the one paper we're going to write this semester needs to be of publishable quality and my only thought was, oh f*ck. I might be in a little over my head. At least, it feels that way right now.
I'm also in the Fairbanks Symphony again this semester, and I'll be doing FLOT's production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in February and March. Shane was talking about how busy he'll be this semester (his classes are undergraduate courses, but difficult ones like physics) and then I mentioned how busy I'll be for the next couple of months. He looked so sad when he said, "I'm not going to have a wife this semester."
So we took lots of time over the weekend to Get Shit Done. We've been meaning to clean out our closet for months now, since it was spilling out onto the floor next to the bed. Three hours on Saturday (watching one of the LOTR movies at the same time) we got the closet cleaned out and I repaired (by hand) a few items. I got piles of laundry done (our bedding needed to all be washed as well), we cleaned the kitchen a bit (not that you'd be able to see it anymore) and generally went around tidying and straightening. The one thing which didn't get done was the vacuuming, since our old filter was just disgusting at this point and I'd thrown it out. Unfortunately, we didn't have a replacement. So when we went grocery shopping yesterday (we got about two weeks worth of food) we bought a couple of replacement filters too so that I can get that done at some point. When I have time? Ha!
The weekend wasn't all hard work. Friday night we had a couple of friends over to play games, since we'd all gotten new ones for Christmas. I love playing board games and this was particularly fun.
Saturday night a friend was having a bonfire at his cabin. That group of people can get quite rowdy and out of control so we went with the caveat that we would leave if things got too nutty, but they never did. Another friend of ours was also back from his basic training for the military and he showed up. It was lovely to see him again.
Sunday night was the most relaxing part of the entire weekend. We went to dinner at our friends' apartment and then we all went out to Chena Hot Springs. How can a group of people, all late twenties or at most thirty, have so many aches and pains? Most of us had a neck or back complaint, and the hot water soothed it. You wouldn't think it, but going to a hot spring when it's around -20 and windy is one of the best things ever. I don't understand why all the tourists love doing it in the summertime. You overheat so quickly! As it was, because of the breeze I kept having to dip my head to warm up my ears again, or my nose, but if any of us were in danger of overheating we'd just pop out for a second or two. We spent probably two hours at the springs, relaxing and chatting. It takes a lot out of you so we were quiet on the way home, listening to the audio book of "Let's Pretend This Never Happened". I fell asleep.
Monday should have been relaxing but was, unfortunately, dedicated to getting the rest of the things done which we needed to do so that the rest of this week will run smoothly. I set up a CrockPot meal for tonight (I will have a grand total of half an hour at home to eat dinner before I rush off to rehearsal, and Shane might not even be home depending on homework stuffs) and made lunches and discussed our schedules for the week. We even had a few minutes to lie down together and watch something (the British game show "QI") before we needed to go to sleep. As I was turning off lights and doing a final glance around the living room to make sure I hadn't missed anything, one thing caught my eye. In all of our cleaning and organizing, one major thing didn't get done.
We didn't put away our Christmas tree.
I'm also in the Fairbanks Symphony again this semester, and I'll be doing FLOT's production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in February and March. Shane was talking about how busy he'll be this semester (his classes are undergraduate courses, but difficult ones like physics) and then I mentioned how busy I'll be for the next couple of months. He looked so sad when he said, "I'm not going to have a wife this semester."
So we took lots of time over the weekend to Get Shit Done. We've been meaning to clean out our closet for months now, since it was spilling out onto the floor next to the bed. Three hours on Saturday (watching one of the LOTR movies at the same time) we got the closet cleaned out and I repaired (by hand) a few items. I got piles of laundry done (our bedding needed to all be washed as well), we cleaned the kitchen a bit (not that you'd be able to see it anymore) and generally went around tidying and straightening. The one thing which didn't get done was the vacuuming, since our old filter was just disgusting at this point and I'd thrown it out. Unfortunately, we didn't have a replacement. So when we went grocery shopping yesterday (we got about two weeks worth of food) we bought a couple of replacement filters too so that I can get that done at some point. When I have time? Ha!
The weekend wasn't all hard work. Friday night we had a couple of friends over to play games, since we'd all gotten new ones for Christmas. I love playing board games and this was particularly fun.
Saturday night a friend was having a bonfire at his cabin. That group of people can get quite rowdy and out of control so we went with the caveat that we would leave if things got too nutty, but they never did. Another friend of ours was also back from his basic training for the military and he showed up. It was lovely to see him again.
Sunday night was the most relaxing part of the entire weekend. We went to dinner at our friends' apartment and then we all went out to Chena Hot Springs. How can a group of people, all late twenties or at most thirty, have so many aches and pains? Most of us had a neck or back complaint, and the hot water soothed it. You wouldn't think it, but going to a hot spring when it's around -20 and windy is one of the best things ever. I don't understand why all the tourists love doing it in the summertime. You overheat so quickly! As it was, because of the breeze I kept having to dip my head to warm up my ears again, or my nose, but if any of us were in danger of overheating we'd just pop out for a second or two. We spent probably two hours at the springs, relaxing and chatting. It takes a lot out of you so we were quiet on the way home, listening to the audio book of "Let's Pretend This Never Happened". I fell asleep.
Monday should have been relaxing but was, unfortunately, dedicated to getting the rest of the things done which we needed to do so that the rest of this week will run smoothly. I set up a CrockPot meal for tonight (I will have a grand total of half an hour at home to eat dinner before I rush off to rehearsal, and Shane might not even be home depending on homework stuffs) and made lunches and discussed our schedules for the week. We even had a few minutes to lie down together and watch something (the British game show "QI") before we needed to go to sleep. As I was turning off lights and doing a final glance around the living room to make sure I hadn't missed anything, one thing caught my eye. In all of our cleaning and organizing, one major thing didn't get done.
We didn't put away our Christmas tree.
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