Snowy Days in Dallas

Today my office was closed. Again. I have worked 2 days this week, and another day I worked from home for a few hours testing some database reports for my Director. I feel slightly unproductive, but better to be home on days like this than navigating the roads. When I drove to work yesterday morning it was a nightmare - the freeway was a parking lot and my usual 'back roads' were covered in black ice - exacerbated by the horrible drivers I had to avoid. I feel like I just had a weekend (Tues and Wed) and now I have another 3-day weekend immediately after. It's nice, but I think by Sunday I'll be ready to be back in my routine again.

Kevin decided the cat should experience it, too - check out the video; this is from last night when we realized it had started to snow. ;)

Just a few photos of the snow this morning:

Carmen's thinking about going out but she's not quite sure. Yesterday's forced romp outside may have soured her opinion of snow altogether.

Our back gate drifted in snow. I love the little caps the fence posts are wearing.

Our 'lollipop' bush.

Our pretty tree in the backyard.

Still lots of icicles on the house. 

Street view ...

A fluffy little bird with poofed feathers keeping warm ... you can just make him out on the top of the fence.

Kevin thought the neighborhood cats needed a little shelter so he set up a box for them right by the house with lots of food ... we had to refill the bowl this morning since it was all eaten up overnight. We spotted lots of little paw prints in the yard from last night that were starting to fill up with snow again. ;)

Came back in the house and make some hot, frothy coffee in my French Press...

Then we watched disc two of the new anime series Kev got for us: 'Fushigi Yugi (the mysterious play)'. I'd definitely recommend it so far. As for the rest of our snow day, I think I'll do some yoga later, maybe make something cozy for dinner and watch some more 'The Office' ... I started watching Season One again as well as 'The Office' Series One - the UK version.

"Snow" Day

Today is a snow day. More specifically an 'inclement weather' day. 

It was a little touch-and-go around 6:58am when I checked my work e-mails and didn't see any office closure notifications. Then I checked the school district website: closed! That used to be the only criterion for office closures but somehow the closure of government offices in the city in which our office is located (Dallas) is now included on that list of pre-requisites. 

Dallas' government offices never close for bad weather (which likely accounts, in part, for the perpetual grumpy demeanor of all government employees; yes, this is a stereotype, but it is also a fact). So our office remained open for business - but we were urged to use our 'best judgment' and 'choose safety' as we decided whether or not to brave the accident-riddled roads and slick pavements. I had a choice to make: Go to work through ice and sleet and snow and gusting blades of ice? OR Stay home and warm and wait it out like a smart, evolved, life-preserving being? The latter, please!

Alas, the company came through and closed the office officially. Dallas finally announced (around 8:45am) the closure of its court system for Tuesday. 

Bear in mind 'treacherous' and 'gusting' are relative terms. Wisconsinites would likely scoff and smirk condescendingly at our softness.

can you see the icicles??

For now I'm sipping my third giant mug of coffee this morning and enjoying the slow progression of a day with minimal and pleasant expectations. 

(I started my coffee pot and noticed after a couple of minutes that no coffee was being made; the coffee pot decided it was done making coffee for me after 6 years of loyal service. So I turned to my reliable and non-electric French Press.)

It's not that I'm especially tired or caffeine-starved; mostly I just want to have something warm in my hands - whenever I glance outside to see icicles dangling from my patio and little snow flakes coursing sporadically through the air, it makes for a cozy contrast. The sun decided to peek out for 3 seconds just now and make the snow flakes look more like silvery glitter darting around my backyard. Kevin would say they are fairies. <3

I've decided my to-do list for today is as follows (subject to change/whims):

1. Morning yoga. I never do yoga in the mornings - on a Tuesday, most especially - and so I plan on taking advantage of this very quiet morning to stretch and salute the day and let my brain know that I want it to engage and be happy and centered today. Stress be damned; I am striving so hard to ignore its skill at destroying my happiness and contentedness - one day I will forget what all the stress was about and simply recall having been happy or unhappy. I really don't want to look back on my life and feel I was pointlessly disappointed and needlessly let down by completely unmemorable and unimportant rifts and strifes with people who pass in and out of my life like little flecks of snow on the grass.

2. Watch the last episode of 'The Office' Season 6. Kevin finished it last night after I simply had to go to bed. I knew I'd have to get up earlier to allow for the atrocious weather and road conditions which I have thankfully been saved from after all. At least I have been up since around 7 this morning. I'm so glad I didn't go back to bed, however tempting that was, for sure.

3. A little housecleaning. Dishes, laundry, maybe a touch of ironing (at least that's warm!) and some Swiffer-ing.

4. Cooking! I think a big pot of something yummy like potato soup or chili would suit the day.

5. Hmm ... I guess that's all. *smile*

Beading Revival

This morning I woke up to find my cats spooning, Smiley cleaning Carmen's little gray head. For some reason I always think it's the sweetest thing when they clean each other. They fight sometimes and bite each other, but I think they are good little cat friends nonetheless.

 

I had decided (yesterday) that breakfast this morning would be waffles; Kevin's request was to make them with blueberries, and I decided some chopped almond would be a nice addition. And so I whipped up some blueberry almond waffles while some warm coffee brewed. We have nothing to do today so it's been lovely having no pressure and going from room to room, task to task with no thought of time limits or being somewhere or doing something other than what I want to do in my own cozy house on a Sunday afternoon.

 

After a few mugs of coffee and a plate of waffles I decided completely randomly that I wanted to pull out all my beading supplies; I haven't crafted in months and thought it would be nice to make something. I get a hankering for it from time to time ... I suppose now is one of those times. Perhaps I was inspired by the several items I have been able to find on eBay for ridiculously low prices: Full, glimmering strands of semi-precious stone and glass beads, crystal bicone beads and some lovely silver findings; can’t wait to get them in the mail and create some new pieces.

I had put my boxes of supplies under my bed a while back so I went to pull them out and take stock of my inventory. In the process I found some lovely shoes I had forgotten about. I had it in my head that I had returned them since they didn't fit, but in actuality I had exchanged them. I like little surprises like that; sort of like finding money on the ground: completely unexpected and pleasant. Now I’m wishing I had a lovely colorful pair of tights – yellow or plum – to wear them with tomorrow.

I gathered all the beading supplies and took everything to the dining room; it’s nice and bright and our table makes a sturdy surface for spreading everything out in great heaps of tiny plastic baggies and compartment-ed plastic bins and little trinket-y boxes of assorted beads and charms. 

Today I’m making a pair of earrings with a mix of colorful glass beads. I have these lovely lemon yellow glass drop beads – they look like a huge vitamin E capsule and feel sleek and smooth in the palm of my hand. I decide they will look nice with some similarly cheerful colors, and set about partnering them with orange and pale mint beads on silver chain and hooks. I’m debating now whether or not to add beads all along the length of the chain or leave them as they are. I really don’t want to muddle the energy I get from the 3 beads but I don’t want them to look naked either.

I really need to do something with these delicious little amber briolettes - don't they look like sweet little honey drops? I'm super inspired by this use of amber briolette (love me some bees!). They are quite small, but I think they might look pretty clustered together as a charm on a necklace or dangling from a shiny earring? Hmmm … too many choices sometimes keeps me hung up just admiring all my goodies and not making anything out of them.

I realized I had finished these darliing little earrings and left them in my supply box ages ago. They are out now and definitely going to be worn - too cute to be stuck in a dusty box under a bed! 

And these, too? 

MAYBE I should start my own Etsy shop or something; that would force me to stick with this hobby and not tuck it away for months on end. What do you think?? I'm open to critique! Let me know what you think about my craft endeavors. For now, I'm headed back to my dining table and the sprawl of beads that are waiting for me.

The Weekend Update

This weekend has been so lazy. I have slept entirely TOO much, but enjoyed it in the moment. This evening I have a headache though; interesting how wonderful, luxurious sleep backfires when you indulge a bit too much. The last 2 days have gone quickly, too; I guess that's another side effect of sleeping 1/2 the day. ;)

Saturday I slept in and woke up to a late breakfast and coffee. Kevin and I spent some time in the yard in the afternoon then went on a couple errands including a stop at Garden Ridge where we found a curtain rod for the new curtains I got at Target last week. We still have the white curtains up that the previous owner used but I thought something colorful would be nice. The grommet top will be easy to push them open and closed. Now I just need to get some hold backs; I'm thinking something with beads - maybe something I can make myself. =) Saturday night, I pulled out the Christmas decorations and put the tree up. I usually don't decorate til after Thanksgiving but I think I was too excited about seeing the tree in our new house for the first time. I love it! As if our living room wasn't cozy already, it's now extra cozy. Plus I acquired a few new ornaments this year and I love admiring them on the glowing branches. Of course the soft and unbreakable ornaments are on the bottom branches so my curious cats can play with the tree without breaking any of my favorites.

Kevin informed me I am no good at fluffing branches, so he decided to help me out. ;)

One of my new owl collectibles - a sparkling gold owl ornament for my tree. Isn't he handsome?? I knew he would look wonderful glowing against the lights on the tree.

Sunday I slept even later. Not surprising since we stayed up til the wee hours playing games on Saturday night. I had some Cheerios with a banana and we spent the afternoon watching 'Avengers', napping (!), and playing games together. This evening I made a big pot of sausage and vegetable soup with homemade cornbread that was the perfect dinner on a cool(ish) evening. Kevin hasn't been feeling too well and he asked for soup: the perfect feel better food! I just threw the soup together with items I had in my kitchen; here is the recipe in case anyone is interested in replicating it.

Sausage and Vegetable Soup

12 c water on high heat

Add and bring to a boil:

1/2 white onion, diced

3 ribs celery, diced

3 medium/large red potatoes, diced small

4-5 sausages - I used bratwursts, prepackaged and cut in half (I cut them into bite-sized rings before serving)

Cook this for a while until the vegetables start to soften and add:

1/2 c corn (I used frozen)

1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes with liquid

5 cloves garlic, minced

Simmer everything til the vegetables are completely soft. Remove the sausages and cut into bite-sized pieces; return to the soup and turn off the heat. Leave the pot on the warm burner and add about 1/4 head of cabbage (green or red) and cover to let the cabbage wilt. I seasoned with generous pinches of Kosher salt; then added dried parsley, oregano and paprika.

Cornbread

Whisk together:

1 c cornmeal

1 c all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

Then add:

1 egg

1 c milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

Mix until smooth and pour into greased 8x8 pan. Bake in preheated oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

New Cat on the Block

This morning I was pouring another mug of coffee (brr!) and saw out my kitchen window a cat walking on the gardening ledge on our back patio. I'd seen her a couple times before walking on our back fence, but never IN the yard, right by the house. She (I discovered later she was a she) was very comfortable and relaxed. She sat down at the corner of the ledge, by the back door, and just watched Carmen as she hissed at her from behind the glass, tail fat and bristled and ready for a fight, tiny but vicious teeth bared.

Samantha just watched curiously and didn't hiss or growl even once. I decided she looked like a Samantha - Sam for short. I took a couple pictures of her from the house and thought she might be hungry so I filled an old feeder with some water and a bit of food and slowly opened the back door, watching for Smiley or Carmen to be hot on my heels. At this point Smiley was all worked up, too; he and Carmen had been stalking each other around the living room as though they each were a foreign invader cat and they were protecting their territory.

Are you coming out or not?

I shut the door behind me and Samantha walks right up and rubs against my legs, flopping herself on the ground and rubbing her little face into the patio, her soft white belly and brown ears covered in dirt and leaves. She has a short face, not as long a snout as Smiley and Carmen; she has a shorter tail, too, more like Carmen – Smiley’s is long like a monkey’s tail. She is very friendly and seems to be comfortable with humans but doesn’t have a collar. I wonder who she belongs to and who is missing her. Hopefully she has a home; I hate for animals to be stray or orphaned and not have a consistent place to stay.

Samantha is more interested in rubbing my knee - I'm sitting crossed-legged by the door now - than in her food which I've set down beside me. I snap a couple more photos and she sniffs my basil and jalapeno sproutlings. She finally takes a few bites after thoroughly sniffing the food and the tray and my hands a few more times.

After several minutes with her and lots of petting and cooing on my part I am rather cold and go back inside. Samantha peers up at me through the widow in the door, held tilted to the left, as if to ask why I'm leaving so soon. I think how nice it must be to have a fur coat. She walks around the grass some and uses our yard as a toilet (even scraping up some leaves and grass when she's done).

She walks over to the corner of the yard and hops effortlessly onto the middle fence rail and then onto the top of the fence. She takes a few steps onto our neighbor’s fence and jumps - gone into the alley for more stray cat adventures. I just hope she remembers our yard is a friendly one and I'll always have some food for her if she comes around again.

"We shall find peace...we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."

This morning I realized our crepe myrtle in the backyard is on fire with fall colors. I am not sure when this happened but it took me by complete surprise. It is red and orange and gold and brown and yellow and green all at once. It is simply stunning and I had to admire it for a moment and drink it in.

I so appreciate - more and more over the years - the beauty of things I can observe in my natural surroundings. I am fascinated at how little seeds can sprout into tall, beautiful plants and how trees are so in tune to the Earth's energy, it doesn't take more than a fortnight of cool weather for them the respond in kind and turn their colors to the fall. It's all so rhythmic and primal. It's like yoga for plants. Yoga is one of those things that makes me feel very alive and aware of myself as a living organism. Very flowing and natural and simply amazing.

Mug of coffee in hand I stepped outside today to drink in the chilly air - I love how it feels inside my lungs - and to soak up the sunbeams that beat onto the leaves and the grass and my face. A little chilly breeze and a squirrel running along the fence. Otherwise, perfectly quiet and perfectly peaceful.

If I was a bird, I would live here ...

Crystal clear skies.

Bright sun and tissue paper leaves.

The perfect Fall morning ...

(Quote Credit: Anton Checkov, 'Uncle Vanya')

The Weekend Update

This weekend had some great goings-on, but mostly has been epically chill. Kevin and I have stayed up entirely too late ("is it really 4:45am?!") and watched a few great DVD's, finished the final season of Monk (*sniff*), and enjoyed this beautiful weather - it's been in the 70's all weekend! In California, 70 feels perfect; here, it's cold (but that is far from a complaint).

Thursday night we went to a Stars game. Friday at work, I was unexpectedly offered 4 tickets and a parking pass for that night's basketball game - Dallas Mavs vs Memphis Grizzlies (I am so current on sports, I have never even heard of that team! ;) I wasn't sure I could put them to use with the late notice, but my boss (who is awesome, by the way) gave them to me anyway. I asked around and made some calls ... ultimately it was just Kevin and me at the game, and we had a great time.

The seats were awesome for sure and the game was great, though we lost by one point. I don't watch sports on TV; I am of the opinion the best way to enjoy sports is live and with great seats that I can't afford myself but will gladly accept as gifts. ;) I was sorry we couldn't share them with friends ... next time!

 

Mavs in action. (we were 5 rows from the court!)

Mavericks Dancers at halftime.

Got our picture taken for the fan page.

Rooting for the home team!

Saturday was a quiet day; cleaned up the house some, watched some more 'Six Feet Under' which we just recently started; I think Kevin got it since Michael C. Hall is in it, and we love 'Dexter'. It's a pretty good show, though some of the characters are really irritating. I suppose I have this feeling at the start of any new series or a movie: I have to take a little time to figure out if I like it depending on how the character(s) develops to know if I can relate to them and therefore stop being irritated by them. For example, the mom on 'Six Feet Under' is hugely obnoxious to me, but I think I'm starting to see that I can understand her vulnerability and the reasons why she has closed herself off to her feelings - and I can respect that she's starting to let them out again. Some people close up shop mentally and emotionally and never bother opening again and being themselves. You have to respect people who - even though they were dead before - try to live again and get in touch with themselves. You have to see that you are a certain thing in order to take action on that thing (or feeling or whatever). If you don't know that you don't know, you can't fix it. That's a pretty sad reality for humans. Enlightenment is the ultimate achievement but if you've never achieved it, you don't know how great it really is and just brush off people who promote its greatness. What else is there if we can't at least be enlightened and go through life with deeper knowledge and levels of thought?

Today is Halloween. I have to get some candy before it's too late! We have been procrastinators this year and haven't gotten anything but a little bag of chocolate eyeballs and some candy corn for ourselves.

The cats are acting crazy right now; they are chasing after one another in the den, galloping around the room and hiding behind furniture. They take a quick break for 2 bites of food and are back at it again. Then yowling to go outside since it's so pretty out today. I don't mind them hanging out in the backyard, but I am a little on edge if I can't see where they are, if they are hiding under a shrub or have turned the corner of the yard. I have had both of my cats run away on separate occasions and do not enjoy running after them, or worrying that they are getting run over by a car or getting scooped up by another person in the neighborhood who will then keep them without posting signs or calling the vet's number on their tag. Some people think I (and others like me) are crazy but ... my animals are like my kids. I don't have human children to know what that feels like, so those of you who are offended by my comparison can go off with your internal dialogue about how sacred parenthood is and how your kids changed your life and finally gave you meaning and that you would stand in front of a Mack truck for them ... I respect that though I have to say if your life was meaningless before your child came along, then something is wrong with you. But in the absence of human children, my cats are my babies. And I love them. If they run away, I'm scared; if they never came back, devastated.

And yet, we wrap them up in rugs just to be silly ... can you see the disgust on her face? 'Stupid humans' ... If we ran away, I think she'd be thrilled!

Carmen burrito. So cute, and yet so vicious.

This morning I slept in again. It was nice; though I hate feeling like I've wasted part of my weekend just sleeping. It feels so slothful. Anyway, I got up and made some coffee (coffee = functionality!) and whipped up an omelet. Eggs, salt and fresh-cracked pepper, then some chives and a handful of grape tomatoes, whole and a small sprinkle of cheese. Best Sunday brunch-fast ever!