38

My birthday was a couple weeks ago, so I am adjusting to being 38 years old… The CFO continues to remind me that I’m quickly closing in on 40.  How is that possible?  I remember when my parents turned 40 and it seemed like they were super old.   

My birthday celebration was pretty low-key, we went out to dinner with some friends (mmm… prime rib) and I received a lot of nice gifts including some clothes, cycling accessories, money and the CFO gave me a new lawn mower.  Being the smart woman that she is, she gave me an illustrated “I.O.U.” for it and is leaving the decision of which brand/model to buy up to me.   I must be getting old when I get excited about the idea of getting a lawn mower for my birthday!

The CFO also managed to schedule a hair appointment for herself on my birthday, and she proceeded to have them chop off enough hair for her to donate.  I prefer long hair, so this was kind of sad (and mean to do on my birthday!)…

Before

 

After 

We had a brief warm up a few days before my birthday.  The above freezing temperatures combined with a couple inches of rain  to create a lot of melting snow and surface water.  The snow berm that had built up between us and the boys to the left of us created a swimming pool in their backyard that over topped the sills of their basement windows and worked its way into their basement.  I saw them outside frantically digging on their side of the fence, so I went out and helped open up a channel for the water on our side.  The resulting stream of water was 8-10" deep and it ran for a good hour before their yard was fully drained. 

 

The water draining from the boy's house across our grass area.  The dry creek bed is still buried under 3 feet of snow, so this is route option #2 for the water.

 

This is the water flowing in the ditch between our house and the field behind us.  It is usually a dry creek bed, it only looks like this once or twice per year.

 

While the warm up and rain washed away some of the snow, we still have a large piles of it everywhere.  It was topped off last weekend when we got another 4-5 inches of snow… I heard that friends in Georgia have daffodils popping up in their yards; we can’t even see ours because of the snow cover.  It looks like we might get above freezing this weekend, so that will be an improvement.  The CFO is heading to Virginia for spring break, leaving me a week to tackle some projects.  I haven't decided which ones I will tackle, but I'm hoping to be productive.

Obsessive Compulsive?

Do you tend to be Obsessive Compulsive?  Here's an easy test: Just grab a snow shovel and go clear the driveway after a snow fall.  After you determine that you are done, look for two things:

1.      Thin lines of snow that slipped past the shovel on each pass.

2.      The tracks where a vehicle has driven over the snow compacting it to the driveway surface.  This requires some extra effort to remove.

If either of those items are visible on the driveway after you decide that the job is finished, then you probably aren't the Obsessive Compulsive type (this is the CFO).  If every possible piece of ice/snow has to be removed before the job is done, then you might just be a little Obsessive Compulsive (me).  Nothing drives me more crazy than finishing those final few scoops at the street, only to turn around and see that the wind has blown a new, thin dusting of snow down on the driveway that I just cleaned off.  My rule is simple, if there is enough snow that you can leave a foot print in it, then it has to go.

We've had a lot of time to test this theory and I am definitely WAY more compulsive than the CFO.  Even if it is “stupid cold” outside (see my rant from last week), I’ll stay out longer than I should trying to get it perfect.  I'll admit, it is pretty satisfying to drive through the neighborhood seeing our neighbors' ice crusted, poorly shoveled driveways and then pull up to our, spotless, clean and dry driveway.  And I'm still doing it the old fashioned way with a shovel... give me a snow thrower and I'd be unstoppable!  

My Obsessive Compulsive behavior (plus my need to be outside) kicked in hard last Sunday when I spent about 3 hours in below freezing weather disassembling the bottoms of all of our down spouts to get the ice out of them. (Picture me with a bucket of hot water and a screwdriver, pulling off all of the elbows and soaking them in the hot water until the ice melted enough that it would slide out)  We had started to amass a collection of icicles on the house, which lead me to the discovery that our gutters are full to the rim with ice.   Once it warms up enough for that ice to thaw (probably today since it is actually above freezing outside) , I want the water to be able to actually drain out of the gutters, so I did my best to get the ice out of the down spouts.

 Icicles and a nice sunset!

I did a little research on local snow fall records and this is what I found as of February 18th: So far this winter we have received 46.5” of snow, compared to a typical average snowfall of 16.3”.  That means that we are 30.2” ABOVE average for snow fall, with another month, or more, of winter to go.   We have almost tripled our average snowfall.  We are quickly running out of places to put it!

The CFO and I had a nice quiet Valentine’s Day dinner at home; I made some risotto with sausage, squash and zucchini in it and followed that with some chocolate brownies covered with caramel, pecan pieces and chocolate chips.  I’ll freely admit that the brownies kicked a$$.  See the photo below:

My birthday is this Friday and I’ll officially be in my late 30’s.  How the heck did that happen?!  38 years old?  That means that I graduated from high school 20 years ago.  That can’t be right, can it?

February Freeze

Several people have emailed asking why I haven’t posted lately.  The main reason for the lack of posting is because we are in the dead of winter and, therefore, I have nothing to write about.  It has been STUPID cold here and it has snowed every couple days, which requires trips out into the stupid cold to clear the driveway. Inevitably, once you finish and go inside to admire the results of your snow shoveling through the window while sipping hot chocolate, you see the city snow plows come by and push the snow that was in the road onto your driveway.  Lucky you, you now get to venture back out into the stupid cold to clear your driveway again…

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Sometimes I get lucky with an easy to shovel 2" dusting like this:

 

Other times it it takes a bit more work when there is an 18"+ high wind blown drift across the front of our house. (a special thanks Google for somehow knowing that adding faux falling snow flakes to my photo would emphasize the snow):

 

And, oh great, it is going to snow again tomorrow evening.  This morning, it was -2 degrees when I got up at 4:40am to go to the gym.  NEGATIVE TWO DEGREES and that didn’t factor in the wind chill.  I’ve stopped looking at the wind chills because it is just depressing.

I just hope that we don't wake up to this sight out our front door:

The only good thing about going out into the stupid cold to shovel the driveway is that it is an opportunity to get outside.  Albeit, it is stupid cold outside, so all you want to do is finish whatever brought you out into the stupid cold so that you can go back inside where it is warm.  However, being cooped up indoors for months on end is making me more than a little stir crazy.  I love being outside and, even though I am a pale-a$$ white boy, I need some sunshine.

This is what we see when we look out the window, wishing it was 70-80 degrees warmer outside... Yes, the Christmas tree stayed up late into January:

 

Spring can’t get here fast enough… too bad that #$%@ groundhog said we are in for 6 more weeks of winter.  Ugh. Did I mention that it is really cold outside?

In other news, for better or worse, I am serving another year on the neighborhood HOA board.  This is mainly because the other 4 people that were on it last year are stepping down for various reasons (moving, workload at work, etc.) and I can, occasionally, be a compassionate person.  Yes, I felt bad for leaving the new board members high and dry, so I volunteered to do it another year.  Of course, that prior experience landed me the title of President.  This is not something that I was wanting, but whatever, I can do it for a year.  A couple of the new people are “go getters,” so I thought one of them might step up and do it.  At least someone did step up to do the treasurer position, arguably the most difficult position of them all.  Feel free to refer to me as “Mr. President” from here on out.

Finally, in case I forgot to mention it: IT IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY COLD OUTSIDE!

Wedding stuff

As I said at the end of my last post, wedding fever kicked in after Christmas.  Thursday involved picking up Tuxes and preparing the place cards for the rehearsal dinner.  Since the printer didn't seem to like the small pieces of paper that we were using, I ended up having to write out all the names by hand...  I am definitely not a calligrapher, but they turned out OK with my "architectural" style of hand writing.  I also had to "be-dazzle" all of them with color-coded "jewels" so the wait staff knew which of the 3 dinner options each person ordered when they RSVP'd.  The CFO directed traffic and supervised (her specialty), making sure that they were all done correctly.

I'm happy to report that the rehearsal dinner and wedding both went well, here is a picture of the CFO and I all dressed up before the wedding:

 

The CFO's brother is a wrestling fan, so I shouldn't have been surprised by the wrestling themed grooms cake:

 

 

And I can honestly say that I had nothing to do with this... Obviously I'm getting old when I'm not interested in the idea of decorating some one's car, that used to be the best part of going to weddings. The use of colored tape and post it notes was an interesting touch:

 

After the wedding, the CFO and I had a day to unwind before we had to drive back to cold Illinois.  The good news is that we were able to make the drive in 11 hours, plus a 45 minute stop at an outlet mall that we passed on the way to VA.  If there is one thing that the CFO can't resist (besides me, of course) it is an outlet mall.  I'll admit that it was nice to get out of the car and stretch my legs for a while. 

 

Since getting back home, we've been hammered with subzero temperatures, dug out from a heavy, drifting snowfall that shut the town down for a day AND the CFO has been sick with a nasty cough.  The beginning of 2014 has been eventful to say the least.

The holidays are over

It is hard to believe that two weeks have passed by so quickly.  It all started on Saturday the 21st, when the CFO and I rolled out of bed, got into the already packed CRV and pulled out of our driveway at 3:20 am.  Leaving early in the morning turned out to be a brilliant decision, as the light rain that was falling when we left ended up leaving a quarter inch of ice on the streets in Bloomington by the time that the sun came up that morning.  We got out of town just in time.

We managed to shave some time off the drive to Virginia and made the trip in a little over 11 hours.  No matter how you cut it, 11 hours is a long time to sit in a car.  At least we had 80+ albums saved on the USB drive that we plug into the car's stereo to keep us entertained.  It is really nice because you never know what song is coming up next when it is set on random!  We arrived at the CFO's parent's house in time to rest a bit before her mom's annual Christmas dinner, where she served 20+ friends and family fried oysters and ham.  I skipped the oysters and stuck with the ham.

The rest of the week heading up to Christmas was a blur of activity, beginning with me having lunch with a past co-worker who now lives in the area and then going to a University of Virginia basketball game with the CFO's dad.  UVA has a beautiful basketball facility and I was happy to see them win, something the team has been struggling to do this year.

The Christmas eve church service in the small stone church where we were married over 7 years ago was nice, right up to the point when the candle that I was holding during the candle lite portion of the service dripped a long run of hot wax down my hand.  Those little paper rings that slide over the candles provide a false sense of security, as the slits in the paper provide numerous options for the wax to find your hand!  Some one needs to design a better device for this task!

After church we went over to the CFO's cousin's house for more good food and to exchange gifts with the extended family.  As always, we had a good time and ate way too much food.  We also got some nice gifts, everyone was way too generous.  While sitting at dinner, the CFO's brother's fiance, who was going to spend Christmas morning with us, asked what time she should show up at the house for the morning gift exchange.  "The earlier the better" was my response, as I grew up in a house where everyone was awake and opening presents well before the sun came up.  We settled on a 7:30 start time, which is still too late in my opinion.  I am still working on getting them up earlier... baby steps.

The CFO and her brother passing out the gifts

She arrived on schedule Christmas morning and we all enjoyed a morning full of gifts and breakfast.  Everyone got a lot of nice stuff, the CFO especially.  The most touching moment of the whole morning was when the CFO opened a shoe box sized gift from her brother and his fiance and found a small ring box inside.  Inside the ring box was the setting from her grandmother's diamond ring with the CFO's birthstone sitting where the diamond used to be.  Her brother had taken the diamond from the ring and put it in a new setting when he proposed to his fiance, so now each of them have a piece of their grandmother's ring.  I'll admit that I shed a couple tears when I saw the CFO tear up when she opened the box and realized what was inside... what can I say, I do have a soft side.

Part of my gift pile, evidently I was a good boy...

For some reason, the CFO thinks that it is OK to give me vases as gifts...  While I like growing the flowers that will go in them, giving me a vase, especially a HOT PINK one, is pushing it a little...

 

The CFO also gave me this nice stainless steel, double walled, insulated, 40oz water bottle from hydroflask.  While it was stupid expensive, it should last for years, it keeps things cold (I've had the same ice in it for two days and counting while it sits on my desk at the office) and  it doesn't "sweat" when cold liquids are inside.  My old one sweated so much that I had to put it on a paper towel when it was on my desk or it would leave a puddle of water from all of the condensation.  That one has ruined a few papers and magazines when I forgot to pull it out of my bag when I got to the office in the morning.  Worse yet, when you picked it up to take a drink, the condensation would dribble down off the bottle and, inevitably, land on your pants so that it looked like you peed yourself.  Who knew that a water bottle could garner a whole paragraph?!

Once the Christmas celebration was wrapped up (or unwrapped?) our focus and activities shifted to the CFO's brother's wedding that was scheduled for the Saturday after Christmas... I haven't pulled any photos off my camera yet, so I'll save that topic for next week.

The end of the semester crunch

The CFO’s semester wrapped up last week, leaving finals as the only thing standing between her winter break.  That meant that the weekend was full of grading papers and preparing the final exams.  Despite that pile of work to do, shopping for a Christmas tree took top priority on Saturday morning.

Since we now typically travel over the holiday, having a real tree isn’t ideal.  I grew up with a real tree (often times one way too big for the room it was in) and I really, really, really didn’t want to go artificial.  I enjoy the “hunt” for a tree and love the smell of a tree inside the house.  Last year, we were really busy and we decided to try not having any tree at all, but it didn’t really feel like Christmas without one.  We literally had a pile of presents in the living room without a tree. 

So, I finally came around to the see the benefits of the artificial tree:  No watering and we don’t have to worry about it dropping all of its needles while we are out of town.  We went out shopping for an artificial tree and found a contender at our first stop.  We liked one that was on display, and it was on sale for over half off, so we went to see how many they had in boxes.  Zero, zip, nada.  I went and asked a sales associate if they had any more in the back and he said, “No, all of the trees that we have are right there.”  His manager overheard the conversation and said, “I think we got one more of those in last night, call to the back and see if it is back there.”  Sure enough it was.  We asked if they would hold it for us, but they said that they couldn’t hold it for us.

I told the CFO that we typically always circle back to the first thing that we saw when we go shopping around town for something specific, so let’s just buy it and if we find something better, we can bring it back and get a refund.  With that, we bought the tree, threw it in the back seat of the accord (the box just barely fit) and continued to shop at the other stores on her list of places to check.  After visiting the other stores, we agreed that we got the best looking, most reasonably priced option at the first store, so we took it home.  Surprise, surprise, we bought the first tree that we found.

We got it set up Saturday afternoon while watching the college championship football games.  We woke up to snowfall on Sunday morning, so I decided to run to the grocery store and do our shopping before the weather got too bad.  It was a wise call as it snowed off and on through the rest of the day.  The CFO stayed inside and did her work while I took care of a few tasks around the house and the garage… and a few hours later the weekend was over.

We woke up to cold temps on Thursday morning:

 

Turkey week

Since our original plans to go on a cruise for the thanksgiving holiday had to be changed when my mom broke her ankle, the CFO and I went with plan B: spend the holiday week in Georgia at my parents’ house.  We already had plane tickets to fly to Atlanta (we were going to drive to Tampa with my parents to get on the cruise ship) and delta wanted a whopping $200/ticket change fee to change our tickets (plus any difference in the actual fare price).  So, not wanting the tickets to go to waste, we headed south.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t much warmer in GA than IL, but it was nice to see trees, rolling hills and roads that weren’t straight for miles and miles.  While we were there, we had the opportunity to do some holiday shopping, eat at some of our favorite restaurants, and, more importantly, catch up with a few friends. On Sunday, the CFO dropped me off at a restaurant to eat lunch with friends and she went shopping.  After lunch, I went go karting with a couple friends at the new Atlanta Motorsports Park near Dawsonville.

Before we got in the karts, the guy managing the track told us that we could go flat out up the hill and into turn one… However, even after three 8 minute sessions, I could not  get myself to fly up the hill and dive into turn 1 without lifting off the throttle.  This was just one of the reasons that I ended up being a few seconds slower per lap than my friends, but I had fun none the less.  While I enjoy driving, there is a reason why I’m not a professional race car driver…

After karting, my friend dropped me off at the outlet mall to meet the CFO.  We worked on crossing some people off of our Christmas list and then went out for dinner at Macaroni Grill, a restaurant that we like but don’t have near our home.  Since our anniversary was the next day (7 years!), we said that it was our anniversary dinner. 

Of course, this did not stop me from giving the CFO a hard time the following night, when she met one of her Athens, GA friends for dinner on our actual anniversary.  “How could you go out to dinner with one of your friends on our anniversary?” I asked.  I am planning on continue to use this for many, many years to come: “Remember when you went out with a friend on our 7th anniversary?”

While in Athens, we also spent a lot of time hanging out with my sister and her family… most of that time was spent eating, playing games or wrestling with her two sons.  It is crazy how fast those boys have grown (turning 4 and 8 this month), but the fact that we hadn’t seen them since last Christmas probably amplified that.  I am usually very camera happy but I didn’t take a single photograph on this trip… I’m not sure what happened, I guess I wasn’t in the mood.  So, I don’t have any pictures to accent this post… sorry.