cookoorikoo

for the birds...

being an adult that is. i don't really want to get into it. talking about it would break my one rule for this blog so i won't. but seriously, today was amongst the worst i've ever had as a grown-up.

so, i'll leave you with the muppets and i'll go pretend i'm not an adult and that today never happened.

the weather outside is frightful

i wish i was 12 and that i could just curl up on the couch all day with a book and hot cocoa. but no, christmas is in little over a week and i still have tons to do. i have orders to pack, gifts to finish, cookies to bake, a house to clean. unfortunately, no time for reading and hot cocoa.

gold star in grown up

we woke up early this morning and raked. it was painful. it made us cranky. but once the freezing rain began we were pretty darn pleased with ourselves...

after the storm

we flooded last night. everyone on our block flooded. 4 inches of rain in 45 minutes will do that, i guess. nothing terrible was lost. it was just gross. and messy. and traumatic for monkey. and exhausting for us.

but how lovely do these hens and chicks look after all that rain?

this weekend's to do

i need to rearrange and clean my studio in order to make room for my brand new file cabinet, which has been sitting in my dining room.

i need to catch up on letter writing. yanni, caroline, emily, syndy & colleen, sheila, the list goes on.

i need to get all our paperwork ready for taxes.

i need to deal with the mt. everest-esque pile of laundry on our bedroom floor.

i need to get some sleep.

my guess is that i won't be able to check even one item off the list.

excuses, excuses

i have been a very very bad blogger. the reason is two-fold.

#1 - the weather here has been absolute shit. i have done nothing but complain since it began, last wednesday. complain about driving in snow. about drying the dog off after she's come in from the snow. about how freakin' cold it is in our house. about how my feet are NEVER dry. about the insanity of leaving through yet another chicago winter. THE WORST part of it was this: i possess the enviable power of the snow day. i can say when. but the day that i should have, i didn't. but i let everyone else stay home. one word. chump. the bottom line is this - i was annoying the crap out of myself and really didn't want to share my irksome behavior. two more words. southern migration.

#2 - when i wasn't pissing and moaning about the snow, i was obsessing over shannon's surprise party. sunday night it occurred to me that i should a) find someone to teach us how to knit; b) invite some friends to learn with us; c) serve food & booze; and finally d) do it all on friday night since the guys were going skiing - 5 days later. so, first i joined the chicago stitch n' bitch yahoo group.   then i posted, explaining the situation, and asking for a volunteer or teacher. i got 27 replies in about an hour and a half - all of them from incredibly nice people willing to volunteer their services. i ended up going with the first person who emailed me. her name was jen and she was extraordinary. more on that later. then i called phil to make sure he was going skiing. then i sent an evite. who knew evite had a knitting party design? then i ordered a cake. then i obsessed. and obsessed some more. and a little more. until i was jumping out of my skin tonight. shannon was really surprised. and thrilled, i think. jen was really patient. and talented. she had us all knitting in no time. the food was good. the cake was amazing. a good time was had by by all, i think. and i've been knitting ever since everyone left. mission accomplished. i think.

resolute

i've already acheived a new year's resolution - to not wake up hungover on new year's day.

almost

all that is left now is to scrape the paint off the tile, touchup some spots on the wall, hang the new shower curtain rod, hang towel bars... ok so it could still be a few days. oy.

men plan, god laughs III

last night was fun. shawn thankfully put the door back on the bathroom so that teena & i wouldn't have to use the funhouse bathroom. we had dinner, made cards, ate pie. all was good.

shawn slept until 12:30 today. he was exhausted from the bathroom, where he is again, toiling away.

men plan, god laughs, part deux

we managed to get up early this morning. it was nothing short of a miracle but we did.  i immediately started cleaning up the bathroom so shawn could get to work. then i showered, downstairs in the funhouse bathroom. shawn started to assembly the vanity and i left.

off to buy steaks, cakes and towel bars. my errands went reasonably smooth. target seemed eerily quiet for the day after black friday. the grocery store was a nightmare, but isn't it always.

i came home a bit ago to find shawn had installed the vanitry but the pipes were in piece on the floor. he needed to go to the beaver.

we are also working against a bit of a deadline. we have, of course made plans for this evening. teena & phil are planning on coming over so that teena & i could have an art afternoon/evening & phil & shawn could play with eve. i was suppose to leave at 2:00 to pick teena up. um, yeah, not so much.