Thursday, December 19, 2013

Let It Snow? Sure, just not Saturday morning, please.

Today we got a half snow day. That is that we went to work and halfway through the workday they closed the office. This was good because I'm sick with a cold that I've had since Sunday. I missed work on Monday and Tuesday, dragged myself in on Wednesday (and went to the work Christmas dinner that night where I got my 10-year congratulatory certificate). I needed a nap as soon as I woke up this morning. I'm sure it had nothing to do with waking up around 1:30 a.m. and not getting back to sleep around 4:00 a.m. When you can't breathe because of a stuffy nose and hacking coughs, apparently you can't sleep very well.

So, it's been snowing all day. ALL DAY! And though it was pretty while I was walking home in it, it's not great for freezing overnight and then walking on top of that in the morning. So, let's cross our fingers that I don't slip on the pavement whilst walking to work.

I'm picking up a relative tomorrow evening so they can sleepover and be taken to the airport Saturday morning to fly out for the Christmas holiday. We're expecting more snow Friday night and into Saturday morning. Cross your fingers that my relative will be able to get home! I'd love to have her stay over, but I think her mother would really like to have her home.

Work is still workish. My desk mate is still a little off, but the managers are actually starting to notice...I think. I have successfully rebuffed all offers to spend time with her outside of work. Not to be hurtful, mind you, but because she needs to make friends outside of our office. I have friends outside of our office and it's healthy because then you can occasionally gripe about work to people who have no clue who exactly you're talking about. I also have one friend *in* our tiny office and sometimes it's hard to NOT talk about work while you're at it. Which means other people might walk by and overhear. Not good. Also, when you talk about personal stuff it's on the company's time and that ain't good, either.

My desk mate is getting better generally. She's learning things finally and that's great. But some of the other stuff isn't going to change soon: her gruff manner, her lack of desire of meeting new people, her telling her managers that it's not her job. I remember doing that a couple of times. That's when they pull out the job description and point out the phrase "...and anything else you're asked to do." I loathe that phrase. Technically, they could ask me to do anything, like hop on one foot for an hour, and because they asked I'll have to do it. Where were the lawyers when they wrote that up? What if they ask me to do unethical things like corporate espionage or murdering the competition? Not that they would, mind you, it's just that they *could* that bothers me. Is holding that phrase over my head when I'm assigned something distasteful that a manger is delegating because they don't want to do it, either, a form of indentured servitude? I mean, I can't delegate it to anyone else. And I can like it or lump it. Oh, to have a thriving economy where you have to pay people more and treat them well to keep them. Bad job markets mean that companies can afford to be cheap and cruel (like Ebenezer Scrooge before the ghostly visits) and people will still apply. Shameful, that is.

As for that boy that I'm too old for, we've established that we enjoy spending time with one another and often--well, often for me. However, he isn't technically dating me but is truly dating other girls. I know because he lives his life on instagram, twitter, and facebook. I've seen the hashtags in the facebook posts. Funny, though, that he's all kinds of open about dating all these different girls but doesn't mention me at all when we're doing things together. Maybe it's because I don't have an instagram or twitter account. Or he's ashamed of me. Or doesn't quite know what to do about me. Ha! I don't know what to do about him, either. But right now it's kind of fun. When it stops being fun is a good time to bail, right? Or perhaps I should ask someone who *has* an instagram account to check out pictures there and not just the ones that end up on facebook? I don't know how it all works and please don't explain it. It would just be more things to distract me from doing what I need to be doing. Like writing. And not mooning over the boy. And this way I can't actually cyberstalk him. I don't need to be needy. I just need to be myself and attract the right kind of guy for me.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Icicling: A Non-Fun Way Of Life

My living room is a converted bedroom as the main room you walk into is shaped oddly with an inconvenient doorway and hall, as well as a pretty but-not-allowed-to-use fireplace. I still don't know what to call it: lounge, drawing room, receiving room, foyer (but said the French way so it sounds like foy-yay)?

I felt that the bedroom with the large picture window that looks over a busy street would be...asking for trouble. So, it's now my living room. Pros: my furniture *just* fits. Cons: there are 2 1/2 walls to the outside. This is bad in the summer as it gets very toasty and worse in the winter when it's several degrees colder than my bedroom. I say this because I have to up the temperature while I'm in the living room, but bump it back down an hour or so before I go to bed or the bedroom will be too hot!

I have a feeling that if I actually took this room as my bedroom that I'd have to invest in a canopy bed. I know, you're thinking -- aw, she's a frou-frou girl who will have mosquito netting and ribbons cascading from the canopy frame. No, I'm talking about an actual canopy bed with heavy velvet curtains and a definite top to keep out the draft! Think Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooge McDuck in Mickey's Christmas Carol, or Harry Potter's school bed. As for the Christmas Carol references, the people in Christmas Future talk about the bed curtains still being warm. And I'm pretty sure Scrooge was too cheap to buy velvet. Okay, maybe I am, too, but maybe I could try wool? Cotton would be too light and would let cold seep in. I would need something heavy enough to keep the heat inside the small bed area.

There was the loveliest canopy bed available at Target.com for the longest time. It was part of a charming collection that had sweeping angles and reminded me a little of the furniture in Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford the twin or single bed (it was a girls' collection). Nor could I afford to make the canopy curtains, especially without a sewing machine. It's no longer available, though, so it's no longer an option. Sigh.

Do you think there's such a thing as a canopy couch? The large cold spot which is the picture window is freezing my back right now. I'll have to wrap my feather quilt around my shoulders so I can stop being so chilly.

Anyway, I was not expecting the weather to get so cold so fast. Now I definitely need to buy new tights as the ones from last year are about dead. ...And walking to work in freezing weather is not a favorite hobby of mine. And maybe curtains for my freezing window!!!!!!

And as I always contemplate during this time of year: why do I live where it's so cold?