This and That

 I love the week between Christmas and New Year's.  I love it even more when I don't have to work.  Horray for holidays!  Here are some random musings to get you through the next few minutes, or to keep you from checking Facebook compulsively.  Be forewarned, though: you may be dumber after having read it.

1.  All I can think about lately is ice cream and waffle cones.  Yesterday I bought David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, and I couldn't be more excited about learning all of the new recipes.  That man's an ice cream genius!

  

2.  Saw True Grit on Christmas and The King's Speech yesterday.  Both are wonderful, perfect films that I plan to watch dozens more times.  Why are the Coen brothers so good?  And why is Colin Firth so self-depricatingly dreamy? 

3.  Yesterday we went to the mall and were afraid to get out of the car because there were a bunch of birds with really sharp beaks who seemed just a little too comfortable with the idea of killing after-Christmas shoppers.

4.  If you haven't made Hugh and Cassie's David Chang brussels sprouts, you need to. 

5.  How cute is Opal?

6.   I know everyone else in the world is dealing with blizzards and all, so this probably isn't as exciting to you--but on the day after Christmas it was snowing in Savannah (you have to say that the way Michael Scott said "There's been a murder in Savannah" on The Office).  It wasn't accumulating or sticking even, but it was snow, and it was beautiful, and it felt Christmasy.

7.  Mitch has taken to sitting in Matt's recliner.  It's never not funny.

8.  And, finally, this has been my official uniform of Christmas Break 2010.  It's basically a "homeless Punky Brewster" look. When I have to go out of the house, sometimes I put on actual shoes.  But I've not removed that hoodie from my body in over eight days.  Fancy, huh?

Happy Tuesday to you!  Hope you're enjoying your week!

Your Turn--A Post from Mitch

Hey, guys. It's me, Mitch. Well, I mean, there hasn't been too much going on lately. I turned six, and my mom gave me a Kong. That was pretty cool. Plus, my friend Reilly has been here a lot and that's pretty great. He is so little and funny!

Oh, and a new dog moved in a couple of houses down. He's a black dog, and he has really long hair. I'm feeling him out, doing some sniffing and stuff, trying to decide if he's got friend potential.

I was pretty jealous a few weeks ago every time I'd be reading my dog blogs, because it seemed like it was snowing everywhere. I mean, could I see another picture of a dog running through some snow tunnel or playing fetch with snowballs? I'd never even seen it snow (though Aunt Chloe and I did play fetch with snowballs one Mitchmas). Now, I'm a wild swamp dog--born and raised in Savannah--but even a Southern dog needs some variety every now and again. But it snowed here, and one thing I realized--I mean, snow is a lot like rain, only frozen and cold. So it was cool for a minute, but I'm pretty glad that it went away. I'll stick with the swamps. And by swamps I mean the couch and the bed, and occasionally a trip to my grandparents' lake house.

But you know what other dogs--Fletcher, Phebe, Ein, Skylar, Aunt Doo Doo, Annie--guess what? It's your turn to be jealous. You can be jealous because it's turning to spring here now, and it's been absolutely gorgeous outside. I'm talking sunny and 70 degrees and absolutely perfect. And you know what else? We live by a big awesome park. Boo yah!

When I went outside on Sunday I was so excited, because it was SOOOOOOOOOO pretty. I howled to all of the dog neighbors to tell them to get outside and soak up some of this sunshine!

And then I found a big stick in the yard. I mean, am I the luckiest dog in the world or what?

I tried to give my scariest look when my mom tried to take it from me.

Right after this I escaped from the back yard when Mama wasn't looking and ran to the black dog. I invited him to the park, but he couldn't come because he had to dig a hole. So I went to the park with my mom and dad, and it was just great. I love the park, love the smells, love the scenery, love harassing the bird with the red stuff on his head. Plus, I get to meet lots of other dogs.

And our park even has water fountains for dogs! I mean, is that cool or what? I guess the only bad thing about the walk was that the dog water fountains were broken, so I had to use a human one.

Don't be grossed out. I washed my paws afterward.

Snowing in Savannah!

Apologies for lack of posting recently. I've been sick and busy and exhausted. Plus, there hasn't really been too much to share. At this point in the year life is pretty uneventful, and unless you want to hear about adventures in doing laundry or how to nurse a pesky hangover (Sour Patch Kids probably aren't the best way), I've got nothing. The juicier things that are going on aren't things I'm allowed to post on the blog because they involve lots of shittalking, so if you want to know about those, you'll have to call me.

But Friday night did bring some excitement when it SNOWED IN SAVANNAH! The weather forecast had called for snow, but I refused to believe it because it's let me down in the past. Since the Snowtorious B.I.G. has been dumping feet of snow on almost every single person I know, it seems that I couldn't log on to Facebook or read friends' blogs without seeing the winter wonderland albums of pictures, and I was getting really bitter about it. I hadn't seen it snow since we moved to Savannah seven years ago, and I started to feel really sorry for myself about it. And even though I know that being snowed in for a week is not pure bliss, it was hard not to be jealous when I'd been having busy and stressful weeks at school, knowing that so many others were having work and school cancelled. And I hear it's snowing there again? Jeez oh Pete!

And then it snowed, and I was ecstatic.

It only snowed here for a few hours, and the snow didn't really stick or accumulate. But they were big fat beautiful flakes. I got to catch snowflakes in my mouth, feel the crunch of the snow under my feet. We got to hear all of the little kids in Savannah screaming and playing in what was probably the first snow of many of their lives. It made me cry like three different times. (Also, I am a big crybaby.)

And now I'm satisfied. (Plus, we didn't have to shovel, which was nice.)

Apparently the snow had possessed Mitchell, who then did "butt's on fire" and chased the neighbors. Matt gets really mad when I let Mitch out without a leash, and that's partly why.

He really didn't know what to make of it.

Mitch loved the snow almost as much as I did, and decided to lie in the snow--until a man walked by, at which point Mitch freaked out and tried to attack him. Mitch is ferocious, remember?

Obviously the snow we had in Savannah pales in comparison to that up in Virginia and Maryland, but it was really exciting, and it shut me up. And maybe a month from now it'll be beach weather?

Saturday Ramblings

January has been a crazy month for Matt, Mandy, and Mitch. If all goes according to plan, though, February will be much more relaxed. With work and life being so crazy, I haven't found much time to blog. (I also haven't found time to take the load of laundry out of the dryer--the same load of laundry that's been there since Sunday night.) My brain is fried, the school year is officially half-way over, and my house is 65% wreck. But it should get better soon. Until then. .

• Last night, I had a dream that I was on a road trip with my girlfriends and we stopped at a farm and saw hot-air balloon races. Races! Oh, and I think there were guns, and Obam'.
• Speaking of Obam', how about that question and answer session yesterday? I want to kiss him on the forehead, and then have him flash that winning smile. Whether we agree on the politics or not, I think we can all agree that that man has an amazing smile.

• And speaking of smiles, the other night we watched Julie & Julia. I wish that it had only been Julia. Julie sucked. I couldn't wipe the big grin off my face during Meryl Streep's scenes, but allowed my face time to rest during Amy Adams' scenes of suck.

• Mitch is still the cutest dog on the planet. No surprises there.
• Yet again, it's snowing everywhere else and not here. F'ing Savannah.
• We've been eating slightly better. In fact, last night we went grocery shopping [for the first time in almost a month], and we have a menu of pretty healthy meals planned for the next couple of weeks. For tonight: spicy pork stew.
• Have grand plans to get back to posting recipes on here. During the last week, most of our meals have been pasta with parmesan cheese, and I expect that you already know how to make that.

Well, I'm off to enjoy a productive Saturday [hopefully]. First up: getting that load of laundry out of the dryer.

Have a great weekend, and make a snow angel for me if you can!

Weather Tease

While compulsively checking weather.com today, I saw this.

Rain? Snow Showers? Low of 25? Ice? Snow? No school?

I know that I shouldn't get my hopes up, but the deed's been done. Hopes are up, slippers are on.

And, universe, I deserve some snow because I have resisted--for three full days now--the urge to scream out during class, "Oh my god, it's SNOWING!" and then watch as all my kiddies run to the window only to find disappointment. It was not easy to resist this urge.

I'm in full superstitious mode now, too. I'm going to make sure that everything is ready for school tomorrow. (In high school and college I learned that it would only snow if I'd done all of my homework, finished papers, and studied for any upcoming tests or quizzes.) I'm going to clean the house and iron clothes and bake cookies. I'll have nothing left to do tomorrow except rejoice!

I hope. I hope.

Weather Envy

One of my favorite things about Gmail is how it keeps me informed about the weather in my neck of the woods. I especially love the days that it rains and rains, and how the raindrops scattered across my email look like I could just lick them off.

But now Gmail has gone too far, and is being a weather tease. Tonight I logged in and saw this:

Oh, is that snow piled up on the Gmail lettering? Yeah. But is it going to snow here in Savannah? No. No it's not.

We moved to Savannah six years ago, and I have not seen snow since. I know that there are people out there who hate the snow and its inconveniences, but I am not one of those people. I love the snow. I love how pretty it is. I eat it. I sled. I try to ski. Snow makes me happy. And since I've never lived north of Maryland, I've never had enough snow for me to be sick of it.

Combined with my love for snow is my love for time off work. I'm a teacher. In Savannah. And I never have the joy of turning on the TV to discover that school's been cancelled because of snow (though we do have a hurricane day off every few years). No 1-hour late days, no 2-hour late days. (PS--2-hour late days were the best things of all: extra sleep, shorter classes, no makeup days.)

Right now almost everyone I know is buried under a couple feet of snow. I'm trying not to be the "grass is greener" type, but it's killing me. Even when the rational part of me explains away how the snow would be an inconvenience and how I'm being stupidly nostalgic, the childish and jealous side of me prevails, and I get pouty and stupid.

So F you, Gmail. (Unless, of course, you know something I don't and I'm waking up tomorrow to a winter wonderland.) Don't be a snow tease.

Everyone else, either appreciate the shit out of your gorgeous snow or tell me about how horrible it is.