About twenty minutes ago, just after the rain started, a cement truck drove up in front of my neighbor’s house.  I noticed yesterday that he’d framed out a spot outside his back door to put in a larger patio.  I had to laugh when I saw the truck because there was no way that they’re going to lay cement with this storm.  Plus, nobody was even home!  I believe his wife just got home, but it’s still pouring down rain, so I really don’t know what that truck plans to do.  The storm might pass within the next hour or so, but the ground is still going to be soaked.

In other news, I’m so thankful that I work for a place that lets me take time off and pays me to do it!  I took a vacation day yesterday and the half-day I would have worked today and I stayed home.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I’ve gone out places both days, and it’s been wonderful.

Yesterday, we went to the beach at Hunting Island.  We enjoy the beach there.  There’s long stretches of sand and because it’s a pay-to-enter state park, the crowds aren’t as busy as other beaches, nor are they the same type of people.  It’s really an enjoyable place to be.  Plus, before money got tight, we bought a year-long pass and we can get in for free.  Unfortunately, we’re in the middle of summer, which means the water is perfect for jellyfish.  We saw a lot of them the last time we went out, and I freaked out because I don’t like jellyfish.  And then we learned that what we saw were cannonball jellyfish and they’re not terribly dangerous.

So when we got back there yesterday, we were prepared to see the little purple jellyfish that probably wouldn’t hurt us and I tried to be okay with swimming with those jellies, even through it’s really counter to what I’m used to thinking about those creatures..  And even though the water was really calm, it felt good to be in the water.  Until I saw a jellyfish that wasn’t a cannonball and that had the classic long tendrils of PAIN.  Okay, so it was probably only about 3 inches across, but the tendrils trailed down for about 8 inches and I really, really don’t want to get stung.  Besides, when we got back onto the beach, we found one that was stuck in the sand that that sucker was a good 12 inches across.  That thing was huge!

So much for enjoying the water.  We did stay at the beach, walking along the water line and looking at the things left by the tide.  We hit just a little after low tide, so the sand went for ages before running into the water.  We looked at shells and the poor cannonball fish washed up on shore and enjoyed the wind blowing.  The sun was crazy hot, so we didn’t stay terribly long.  It was the type of day where even though we were wearing 85 SPF sunscreen, because we’re so pale, we’d probably still get burned.  We stopped at a nearby surf shop so I could admire some of the clothes, treated ourselves to Zaxby’s for lunch, and went home.

Today, we went to the library to return books and get Justin a library card.  And we stopped at a comic book shop nearby.  It was a lot less geeky than we expected, even though that sounds not possible.  There were comics and figurines and t-shirts.  But it felt more like a boutique than a place for geeks.  We’ve been trying to find out where that community hides – it’s really hard to find the geeks around town because we tend to stay in our homes.  But when you’re new to the area and trying to find friends with similar interests?  It’s really complicated.  And frustrating.  And we’ve been trying to figure out how to work around that.

Anyway.  It’s been a wonderful couple days.  I’m feeling much more relaxed than I have been.  I’ve gotten a good amount of sleep and done things that I enjoy.  And I’ve not done anything that requires me to proof-read a document for hours on end.  I’ll have to get back to that on Monday, but until then, I’ve still got two more days of relaxing.  I have really needed this break from work.  It feels so good!

I’m really excited for both of these encounters.  My exposure to the Barnett family has been pretty limited so far.  It’s been notable, to be sure—Grandpa Doug cut in on our first dance at our wedding, something that makes me laugh every time I think about it.  I guess after you’ve lived long enough, there are some social situations that simply don’t seem to apply anymore.  But most of my time spent with Justin’s family has been with people from his mother’s side of the family.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what it’s like on the other side of the tree.  My understanding is that we’re going to be spending the weekend at the family farm, sleeping in a trailer that’s been brought on site for a handful of us, while several other people sleep in the barn on cots.  It’s going to be interesting!

The other part of the trip is going to be spent with my paternal grandmother, and my maternal grandmother if she’ll see us.  I haven’t seen my paternal grandma since, I think, 2004, when she came up for my sister’s graduation.  I haven’t seen my other grandma since . . . I’m not even sure.  It’s probably been more than 10 years.

I started writing about memories that I have of each of my grandmas and, well, when I hit the third page of writing, I thought that maybe I shouldn’t put all of that up in one post.  So, if I can manage it, I’m going to write about some memories that I have of my grandparents over the next couple days.  Which makes this a post about a post that’s not up yet, and those are always frustrating.  “You’re telling me you’re going to tell me something but you’re not actually telling me anything?!”

So . . . um . . .well, the weather’s been pleasant.  It’s hot during the day, but the mornings are nice.  Last night, I got home from work and Justin and I went grocery shopping to replace things like bread and milk that were emptied out while his family was in town.  He went home to put the food away and I went to Zumba and had a blast shaking my booty.  And then I came home, showered, and went downstairs to make banana bread out of the bananas going bad on the counter.  I have no idea if it turned out because I put walnuts in there and they don’t cooperate with me.  And then I made sautéed apples with some of the many apples in bowls in the kitchen.  I used 8 of them (they’re really little) but I think we still have 8 left.  The ones I cooked turned out really yummy, though.  They’re like the apples you can get from Cracker Barrel.  Not great on calories, but ooooooh, so good.  And Justin made pancakes that nearly exploded with fluffiness.  Our only explanation is that he opened a new container of baking powder and the old one must have been really old.

And now I’m hungry.  Great.

Hey, does your calendar say “Juneteenth” on the 19th, too?  Apparently it’s actually a pretty significant holiday (in 36 states) but I’d never heard of it.  Have you?

I actually have A LOT more to talk about filing, but I’m going to take it elsewhere.  I’ve got the website for my organizing business, so I’m going to post all these over on that site.  And I’ll link to it from here so you can know that I’ve written something, but I won’t post it here so you don’t have be completely excited totally bored overwhelmed by it over here.

I’m writing about it because I’m helping a client through this process right now and it’s helpful for me to write it down so I can work through the whole thing.  Paperwork can be really complicated, so it’s nice to be able to really focus on an aspect of it at a time, work through my thoughts, and get them down really clearly.  But I recognize that it’s not always terribly interesting to read.

I recognize it, but I don’t always understand it.   I mean, how can that not be interesting?

Anyway.  Welcome to the beginning of May, if you somehow missed that change-over.  Did April go by really quickly for anyone else?  And May looks like it’s going to be a very busy month for me.  We had plans to go to the Ren Faire in Atlanta last weekend, but stuck around the house so Justin could be sick at home instead of on the road.  He’s starting to do better, now that we’re on day 7 of him being sick.  Day 8?  MANY days. 

In other news:

• Tuesday is my sister-in-law’s birthday, so we’re trying to figure out how to celebrate that with her when she’s busy celebrating it with all of her college friends.  Plus, she needs to do laundry, so she’s got to come visit.  Mwha-ha-ha-ha!
• My parents are going to be within 6 driving-hours from our house all next week, so on Wednesday we’re going to go meet them half-way between for dinner. 
• Sometime in the next couple weeks my mother-in-law, step-father-in-law, and grandma-in-law are all coming to visit and pack up my sister-in-law for the summer break.  Apparently they may or may not be bringing their adorable puppy.    I don’t know when they’re arriving or for how long they’re staying.
• One of these weekends we’re hoping to go to Myrtle Beach to meet up with a couple friends.   I have no idea which weekend this is happening.
• Some local friends of ours are moving and they’re going to need help moving, I believe, on the 22nd, if we’re in town.
• And if there’s a free weekend somewhere in there, we’re still hoping to make it up to the Ren Faire.

Why does it all have to happen in May?!

Plus, of course, there’s the usual craziness with work.  We’re completing one or two projects each week this month.  Compare that to next month, when we’re planning to complete three in the entire month.  Who creates this schedule?!  Drunken baboons?

 But whatever.  Life is good!  It’s pouring down rain today and even that is good because it’s better than the 85% humidity and burning hot sunshine that we had yesterday.  And I remembered my umbrella.  And I got to talk with both of my parents last night and that was fantastic!  And there was a new Castle when we weren’t expecting one.

So life is busy, but life is good, and I’m feeling happy!  I think I’ll go for a walk. 

So I went home and asked Justin to rub my leg.  And he did and it was wonderful.  It hurt, but it felt better.  And then he covered me in blankets and let me sleep until about 9:30, when he offered me food left over from our anniversary dinner (baby back ribs, mashed potatoes, and cheese biscuits).  I ate delicious food, poked at my computer a few minutes (gotta log my food so I can get my massage), and curled back up for sleep again.

When Justin came to bed, I asked him to massage my leg again, and he’s a wonderful man because he rubbed my leg again.  And then I was out for the night.

When my alarm rang this morning at 6:00, I wouldn’t have minded sleeping for a few more hours, but I have multiple projects on the table right now, so I had to get moving.  And when I got out of bed and stood on my leg, it didn’t hurt at all.  AT ALL!  It’s completely better.  I have some bruising, but that’s probably related to all the scratches on my legs from the yard work over the weekend.

I’m hearing again and again that what I should do the next time I get a cramp is to stand on the leg or pull my toes up toward my knees.  Both options sound terrible, but apparently they’re wonderful once the pain stops, and that the pain will stop more quickly and result in less residual pain.  So I guess if it happens again, I’ll either have Justin push on my toes or I’ll have to figure out how to get myself out of bed so I can stand up.  But I’m telling you right now I hope it never happens again.  Ever.

To that end, I’m trying to figure out why it happened at all.  There are so many options, but the primary reasons apparently are dehydration or a lack of potassium, magnesium, or calcium.  I thought I had calcium supplements in my multivitamin but turns out that I don’t.  So I have to either increase my dairy intake or start with a supplement.  And I might just do the supplement anyway because this girl doesn’t want osteoporosis.  And I have to figure out what all has potassium in it other than bananas.  And keep on drinking my 64 oz plus of water.

Anyway, since my leg is feeling so much better and since I got a lot of sleep last night and I’m much more rested, I’m having a much better day than yesterday.  I’m actually getting work accomplished and catching up on projects, and with any luck, I won’t have to work on Friday afternoon again.  It depends on how this document goes this afternoon, though.  I was supposed to finish it today, not start it . . . .

But we’re keeping positive!  And I’m going to go step outside for a little while and see what the weather is like.  It’s supposed to be lovely.  The only thing that could make today better would be if I could take the afternoon off and go finish my yard work.

I’m having a terrible day.  It started out okay – I got up and showered and ready to go to work.  I got into my car, pulled out of the driveway, and the front of my car scraped along the driveway in a way entirely unlike it’s supposed to.  So I got out, went back inside for a flashlight, and came back out to my car to look at my tires.  And, as luck would have it, my front passenger tire is completely flat.  Not just sort of flat.  It’s COMPLETELY flat.

So I got back into my car, backed up, and drove back into my driveway.  And ran the side of my car into the mailbox, leaving a long white stripe of paint along its path.  I pulled back out, adjusted, parked again, and went back inside.  Justin heard me come back into the house, so he was waiting for me upstairs when I came in and said, “I’m having a really awful morning.”

He came out to look at the damage and sent me off to work in his car.  He’s working from home today.  I had to stop for gas and I vowed, on my way to the gas station, that if the car ran out of gas before I got to the pump, I was going to STAY HOME.

I made it to the gas station, and I made it all the way to work, and I got to my desk 20 minutes later than I was supposed to get there.  Fortunately, because I was at work for and hour and a half longer yesterday than normal because I was supporting a delivery, no one was at all upset about it.

At lunch, I was supposed to go to an event so I could write about it for a newsletter.  It’s at another building here, and I had to drive around to get to it, but when I got there, my badge won’t let me into the building.  And no one was answering their phones so they could help me get in.  So I missed my event.  And I had to go buy lunch because I was supposed to get lunch at the event and didn’t bring one with me.

Now, on the up-side of things, Justin was able to stay home and I was able to take his car.  He said that a lot of the paint came off and I’ll probably be able to get more of it off with some more work.  (I think that’s what he said.  I was so distracted by the thought that it might come off that I lost the rest of it.)  When I got to work late, I found a parking spot right in front of the gate so I had less of a walk.  It is a really beautiful day out today, so it was nice weather to be standing outside of a gate trying to figure out how to get to my meeting.  I had a yummy and not too calorie-heavy grilled chicken wrap from Sonic for lunch (with apple slices for snack later).

I finished a project as far as I can for the moment and have another one standing by to complete entirely.  I have music practice tonight and we’re learning a new version of a hymn that I’ve been listening to several times today and it’s helping me stay positive (“It is well”).  And because I’ve worked two and a half hours of overtime already this week, I’m taking an hour and a half of vacation tomorrow morning and staying home from work.  Because I had seven hours of overtime last week and I don’t really care for the extra money this week.  Because working an 11 hour day on a Friday should be rewarded by sleeping in on the following Friday.  And because I’m just having a heck of a week.

Did I tell you I dropped my mug?  I don’t think I did.  It was on Tuesday; I was washing the mug I use for making my oatmeal every morning and for soup and other microwaving needs at the office.  It was a white mug I got when we went to Life in Salt Lake City (was it in 1998 or 2000?) and said “Alliance Youth” on the side of it in lovely blue writing.  It was a great mug, perfect for microwaving my oatmeal, very slick looking, and I liked it.  But it slipped from my hand while I was washing it at work and it broke into a bunch of pieces on the floor.  And I stood there looking at the pieces and cried.  Over a stupid mug.  A mug I liked, granted, but it was just a mug.  It didn’t particularly matter that I’d gotten it at Life or that I’d had it for about 10 years; I liked it because it was pretty and the perfect size.  And I was sad that I’d broken it.

Monday I was at work at 6:30 to work on a project that no one asked for until today.  Tuesday I broke my mug.  Wednesday I was at work until 6:30, finishing up a project for a guy who was out of the office all day because his kids were off school for St. Patrick’s Day.  Today, well, has been today.  I think I need a day off.

So that’s the plan.

I step over a river to go through the gate and into work, trying to keep my shoes dry.  I hold my umbrella over my head, angled to the slant of the rain.  It’s brightly colored polka-dots coordinate wonderfully with the monochromatic polka dots on my skirt.  An elbow on my umbrella is broken and it hangs down limply like a broken wing.  Water drips off the edges of my umbrella and I hope the book in my purse isn’t getting wet.

Wind picks up my hair and blows it into my face and I have to stop and brush it out of my eyes before I keep walking.  I’m running a little late because I had to stop for a train, but if I walk half-blind, I’ll step into a puddle.  My shoes are wet already, soaking through to my socks.  When I get up to my desk, I’ll have to set them in front of the space heater under my desk for a while.

It’s a dark morning, this close to Daylight Savings, and I’m sure this rain is going to last all day.  It’s good for the grass.  I can see the colors changing when I drive through the marsh—a hint of pale green creeping into the golden and gray grass growing there.  A fire went through there earlier this week, burning a portion of the dry grass.  I suspect it was started by a careless commuter’s cigarette, but I’m hesitant to say that it’s a bad thing.  The marsh burns every year and I think it’s part of the natural cycle of that environment.

But there won’t be any burning this morning.  Only mud puddles from this rain.

There was a flower blooming in the flowerbed outside my house this morning.  It wasn’t there yesterday, but suddenly this morning:  Flower!  I hope this rain helps bring on more blossoms.  I really need to get out and cut down last year’s pampas grass and the branches off the crepe myrtle trees, but it’s not going to happen today.

I reach the door of my building, collapse my umbrella and shake off the rain.  My toes are cold from the damp and I’m looking forward to that space heater.  It’s going to be a long day.  I’m running on too little sleep and I have a lot of complicated work to finish and several meetings to attend.  My mother in law will be at the house when I get home.

But for right now, I’m going to go clock into work and go make myself some warm tea and oatmeal.  Put my shoes and toes in front of the space heater.  Hang my wounded umbrella on the wall.

And get started on my day.

Today, we’re following up with typical March weather – it’s dark and rainy.  It is, on the upside, the kind of rain that smells like it’s going to make the grass grow.  It’s a refreshing change from rain that smells like winter, gets into my shoes and makes me cold all day long.

We’ve had an interesting couple of days around here.  Friday, I was at work from 7:30 until 6:00.  On a day where I would normally work only 4 hours, a 10-hour day is absurd.  I was really irritated by the whole thing.  I mean, sure, overtime pay.  But my Friday!  I had plans for that afternoon!  All of which are now just sitting on my list of things to do and hoping that I have time to do them this coming Friday.  It isn’t looking good for that list.

For dinner on Saturday, Justin and I made “Jade and Ivory Pasta,” which is a recipe that came with my wok and we’ve made a couple of times before.  It’s fettuccini, broccoli, and chicken stir-fried in a sauce with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sherry (that we substituted with red wine vinegar), and a couple other things.  When we got to the end of the meal, Justin’s tongue went numb.  His throat swelled up a little and he felt about as miserable as a person with an allergic reaction could feel without needing to go to the emergency room.  And we sat there, waiting to see if we would have to go to the ER, because the last time this happened to him, he spent more than a week in the hospital.  He can’t take Benedryl because it reacts badly with his system, so all he could do was brush his teeth, rinse with Listerine, and wait.

We still have no idea what set him off, so I’m eating all the left-overs while he feels miserable.  His throat and tongue are still raw and sensitive, with the unfortunate side-effect of being completely unable to taste anything.  It makes me feel sorry for people who have ageusia and never taste anything, and their spouses, for whom it’s probably almost as frustrating.

But we’re very thankful that it wasn’t worse than it was.  Meals that don’t land one of us in the ER = success!

Anyway, that’s pretty much the excitement that’s been happening around here lately.  I’ll try to write about something more interesting soon-ish.

Someone finally came and towed away Justin’s old Infiniti, giving us $150 for it.  It would have been nice to get more money for it, but just having that parking space back is enough.

Beautifully sunny 50-something degree weather all weekend long with the windows open and fresh air blowing through the house.

Yoga class on Saturday morning.

Mail with boxes and cards and presents from my mom and brother.

Ordering my present and a few other fun things online and the excitement of anticipating all those wonderful boxes in the mail.

Going out to dinner for my birthday, even if it wasn’t exactly what Justin had planned, at a restaurant that I’ve wanted to explore for a long time, where we’re definitely going visit again.

Having such a great time singing at church that I almost sang my voice out and had to go home and sleep for an hour and a half to recover.

Watching a clever little squirrel perch on the top of the shepherd’s crook holding the bird feeder, climb halfway down, stretch across the space, push the top off the feeder, stick his whole upper body into the thing, and then go back up to the top to munch on what he had grabbed.

Watching that squirrel almost fall off his perch when a large bird shadow blocked out the sun, followed by a flailing leap into a nearby tree.

Justin fixing the laundry room light so we actually have full light in there for the first time in a year instead of this terrible flickering nonsense.

Watching a friend stand on the top of a ladder holding a broom with a dustpan duct-taped to the end trying to scrape sticky Halloween eyeball toys off their living room cathedral ceiling.

Chatting and laughing with my sister on the phone while her daughter hummed.

Curling up in bed and laughing with Justin until it hurt about funny things we saw on the internet.

And several other things, but I think I’ll leave it at that.

There's snow on my patio!

And there's snow on my yard!

And there's snow on my plants!

This just isn’t right!

It’s really funny, though.  People were closing down things earlier this afternoon, even though it was just raining and wasn’t even that chilly.  It’s *still* not that chilly – but apparently it’s chilly enough!  People were walking around outside when I went to take pictures.  (Sorry about the picture quality, by the way.  My camera is on its last legs and my phone doesn’t take great shots.)

Kids are clambering to get outside and run around.  Dogs are barking at this weird fluff falling from the sky.  Apparently the grocery stores were crazy earlier this afternoon.  I heard sirens going a little while ago.  Southerners just aren’t prepared for driving in this stuff!  And there’s a lot of it coming down!  Big, fluffy flakes that are sticky and clinging to everything.  And melting once they hit something that hasn’t chilled down much, like pavement, but still accumulating enough to make a difference.

I wonder how long it’s been since it snowed this far south!

They sat there for a while and then started shining lights at the houses – not just the flashing lights they had already going, but painfully bright spot lights that they pointed at the houses along the circle.  My only guess is that they were trying to find out where the emergency was supposed to be happening.  I could hear the chatter of walkie-talkies through my window, but not what they were saying.

And then they left.  I have no idea what the deal was or what they were expecting to find.  When I looked around briefly this morning, I couldn’t see anything out of place.  It was very odd.

My best guess is that the fire engine infantry is still waging their war against the bus brigadiers.  They thought there was a sighting and came with all their fire power to run the encroacher out.  They did a thorough search but didn’t find anything.  Little do they know!  The bus went across the street and hid in the ranks of school busses.

In other odd news, they’re predicting snow for this afternoon.  Snow!  Come on!

Winter Storm Warning (NOAA)

URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
317 AM EST FRI FEB 12 2010

…A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM WILL IMPACT PARTS OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT…

BEAUFORT-COASTAL COLLETON-CHARLESTON-COASTAL JASPER-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…BEAUFORT…HILTON HEAD…EDISTO BEACH…CHARLESTON…JASPER

317 AM EST FRI FEB 12 2010

…WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 AM EST SATURDAY…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 AM EST SATURDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

LOW PRESSURE WILL INTENSIFY OVER THE NORTHEAST GULF OF MEXICO THIS MORNING…THEN MOVE ACROSS THE FLORIDA PENINSULA THIS AFTERNOON TO A POSITION OFF THE CAROLINA COAST TONIGHT.

RAIN WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA TODAY…MAINLY AFTER NOON. AS COLDER AIR FROM THE NORTH OVERSPREADS THE REGION…THE RAIN WILL BEGIN TO MIX WITH AND EVENTUALLY CHANGE OVER TO ALL SNOW LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR EARLY THIS EVENING. SNOW…MODERATE TO HEAVY AT TIMES…WILL THEN PERSIST THROUGH MUCH OF FRIDAY NIGHT…TAPERING OFF PRIOR TO DAYBREAK SATURDAY. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED. LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE U.S. HIGHWAY 17 CORRIDOR NORTH OF BEAUFORT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW… SLEET…OR ICE ARE EXPECTED OR ALREADY OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR EVEN IMPOSSIBLE.