More Icicles...

Yup people, this is about as exciting as it gets for Ross and I these days - pictures of and with our homegrown icicles.

Out the Window

I suspect the man-sized icicles say something about the quality of our insulation, lol!

A Certain Slant of Light

There's a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings, are.

None may teach it anything,
'T is the seal, despair,
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, 't is like the distance
On the look of death.

-Emily Dickinson

What's Up

How is everyone's 2009 going? So far mine has been eerily similar to the final weeks of 2008.

One change is that, with the holidays over, Ross has ratcheted up the job search. He's been spending a lot of time on the computer doing referrals, networking, sending out querries... This morning he came down from his office and asked cheerfully "how would you like to live in L.A.?" He might as well have asked me how I would like a stick in the eye. Apparently there is a technical artist's position open there. I know that in the this economy we will have to take what we can get - but Los Angeles? Anyway, I'm praying harder than ever that something will pop up here in Illinois or, our second choice, North Carolina.

Another change, one of my New Year's resolutions, is that I'm getting more intentional about cooking. Our budget and my waistline require more healthy, home cooked meals. I bought a book on clearance filled with low-cost recipes and am excited by all the yummy possibilities. However, the best thing to come out of the book hasn't been any particular recipe, but the conviction that planning ahead and not wasting ingredients or left overs are essential to eating on a budget. I know a lot of you are probably saying "duh" but this is a new concept for me!

Another one of my resolutions is to go to church more regularly. Our attendance was really spotty in 2008. I know from experience the joys and benefits of meeting weekly with a community of fellow strugglers to worship God and learn from his word and I can't afford to pass up on the blessings of being a committed part of a church in 2009. So far we're 1 and 0 for the season ;)

What I Did on My Christmas Break

I took a vacation to Unreality for the holidays. My days have been filled with fantasy novels, soap operas, movies and even a video game here and there - a schmorgasbord of escapism. There were a couple of days that I only got dressed long enough to run to the bookstore and then promptly scuttled home with my purchases and jumped back into my pjs.

The time in la-la land has been lovely but I'm beginning to miss some things about the real world (like my family, and fresh air!) Tomorrow I resolve to get dressed before noon and by Monday I plan to have my head out of the clouds (at least as much as it ever is.)

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Years!

***Update***
Ross has reminded me that Monday is Lord of the Rings, Extended Edition Marathon Day so I'll have to push back my return to reality until at least Tuesday.

More Flooding!

Early yesterday morning I was awakened by a cacophony of drip, drip, dripping. The temperatures were rising fast, all the accumulated snow was melting, and it was raining on top of that. By the end of the day the temperature had risen into the 50s and more than an inch of rain had fallen. There are only a few stubborn patches of white left and, in place of the snow that once blanketed the neighborhood, we now have pervasive flooding including, once again, our basement! Fortunately, the basement only got about an inch of water in the very worst spots. I'm very grateful for the sub-pump, which has been whirring into action like clockwork for the last couple of days. The weather service reports that this was a record breaking year for Chicagoland with 50.58 inches of precipitation total.

Watching the Snow Fall

Ice

After a relatively balmy weekend we woke up to a sunny but frigid morning. It took two pitchers full of steaming hot water and a lot of that upper body strength drummers have just for Ross to get into his ice encrusted car. We shouldn't complain though, seeing the nightmare ice storm they had out East!


A man came to the door this weekend and said that he could see we needed new windows, would we like a free estimate. Lol, I guess they do kinda scream "replace me!"

Keeping Warm

Visitors

Doing dishes in the kitchen this afternoon I spotted a streak of red out of the corner of my eye. There were at least two cardinals and a couple of other birds (finches?) flitting back and forth in the trees. I threw some birdseed out into the yard and when that didn't scare them off I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures. According to the tracks, we've also been visited by rabbits, squirrels, and the neighbor's pugs.

Monochromatic Monday Morning

Yup, winter has arrived! We hung Christmas lights in the junipers Sunday and by Monday morning they were hidden in a thick blanket of snow, just a random light bulb sticking out here and there. It was such a wet, heavy snow that some of the branches were bent all the way to the ground. I shoveled in the afternoon and when I went to sprinkle salt on the sidewalk I realized that we had mistakenly bought water softener salt. Ooops. Note to self: not just any big yellow bag of salt will do!

View from the back porch.

View from the living room.

First snow!!!

We had a dusting of snow out here in Lombard last night. So pretty! I'm not a winter person, but if it has to get cold out then bring on the snow!