I’m officially on winter break at the moment – I took vacation on Wednesday (when we went to Chicago to see a live production of Frozen, that despite my trepidation, and having to get up at 6:30 on a vacation day, turned out to be quite fun) and Thursday, and today is a paid holiday for us UW-Madison employees.
So, I stayed in bed a little late which meant listening to the public radio news, not exactly designed to start the last day of the old year with optimism for the new. Wildfires in Colorado, Coronavirus case counts soaring, Madison Public Schools delaying their start; 3 more days of vacation for the kids, yay! but … starting remotely, standoff between Russia and Ukraine. And feeling extra tired and achy and worried about Covid exposure, and not easy to get tested until Monday, which I will do, when UW re-opens all its test sites.
But I got up and took my thyroid pill and vitamin D, and unloaded the dishwasher and got dressed and went out and scraped off the bit of snow on the front walk – and of course Mark went out an hour later and redid everything – and brought in the newspapers and made plans for New Years and after meals, and added stuff to my grocery list in my phone.
And made coffee, and turned on the computer and checked all my cc balances and made sure the holidays are paid for, and did my year end donations.
So, I feel a little better now. And the radio’s about to play Ode to Joy. And I need to leave for my haircut in about 15 minutes. Guess I’ll go listen and finish this later.
Starting again around 5:00 PM.
We got snow the 26th, and it didn’t melt as much as I thought it would after changing to rain later in the night, instead it got heavy. Then, it snowed kind of a lot on Tuesday but stopped in time for us to get it shoveled after dinner, so we didn’t have to shovel on Wednesday morning before we headed to the train. And even though the road conditions map said slippery stretches on most of our route to the Harvard train, the driving was actually fine, and we got there in time for a coffee before we got on. Covid be dammed it was still the week between Christmas & New Year’s and there were a fair number of people also waiting to get the 9:35 into Chicago to take advantage of all those after Christmas sales, and other holiday traditions.
Snow on our deck on Boxing Day night
Snow in our driveway on Boxing Day night
Our washer’s been busted since the 19th – it stopped spinning on the final rinse of my last load of tablecloths from the party, that I was able to wring out and dry. The repair man came on the the 22nd, and thought it was the timer, a $300 repair. He had to order the timer, and said he’d let me know when it came in. I called yesterday, and he’d gotten the timer and came back to install today. I was sitting in the kitchen when he got it started up and it didn’t sound too good – he came up and said it needs a new motor too. Which sounds more expensive, but is actually only another about $100, and I guess they have one in the warehouse here in Madison. I’m going to get it fixed – even though the cost of repair on my 30+ year old washer is inching up to $500, it’s cheaper than a new machine, plus who knows how long it would take me to get a new machine. Hopefully this will buy us another year or two or five, and we can get a new washer when the supply chain issues have smoothed out.
Mark and Maja went to the laundromat; I think I can hang on another few days. I went for a walk, and it was nice to get out but there’s something coming down that’s definitely not snow, and I was pretty wet by the time I got back.
We’re doing a small NYE with apps – here’s the menu:
Here’s the eggs.
Here’s the rest:
Hot ham & cheese with peppadew garnish
Pepperoni & cheese on a stick, actually Asiago – the provonello went into the sandwiches
And of course, leftover cookies. A hunk of fruitcake for me, the last chocolate toffee bar for Mark. We shared the rest. Didn’t think we’d finish the whole plate but we did!
And we’ll look for something to watch, a movie or maybe a concert to stream.
Sounds like the rest of the family is also celebrating quietly. John & Megan in Chicago are having a few vaxed and recently tested friends over, “playing games and watching football!” and Al & Emma are getting carryout dinner from Lombardino’s and staying in except for going out to pick up the food. Emma said too snowy and Covid-y to go out.
Dang, let’s kick 2021 to the curb. And RIP Betty White. May her memory be for a blessing.