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Waiting for our train at King Street Station. What amazing architecture!

I'm especially fond of this tile border:

Due to weather, our train was delayed leaving for over an hour, but we amused ourselves by photographing stuff - Hubby brought his nice camera. Life is good.

Finally, it was time to board the train. After finding our seats, we sat there for quite a while, but it was so much more comfy than standing in line.

We broke into the chocolate cake I never got around to eating last night:

Holy heck

And, I made more yo-yos. I've decided this is just a thing I'll be doing on trips. It scratches my "make something" itch, and is light and portable.

The chartreuse yo-yo is from our Sacramento trip, one year ago

As the trip progressed, things got a little snowy....

...and when we arrived in the Couve, there were several inches of lovely packed snow to drag the suitcase wheels through. We drove home through town and enjoyed the lovely sight and sound of everything covered in a gorgeous white blanket. 

Dinner was ready and we ate, cleaned up the messy living room, and relaxed with TV.

Perfection

Good Morning, Seattle!

The view from our room, 760

Breakfast at Starbucks - how Seattle of us 

It's STINKING COLD outside! We practically ran back to the hotel and got cozy with TV. Hubby loved his people-watching chair.

I got geeky with some fabric scraps I grabbed from the sewing nook at home. I did some ironing and organizing, then made a new yo-yo. Someday I'll have a whole set! 

Then, it was off to see The Book of Mormon at Paramount Theater! 

I'm wearing the Amy scarf

It was SO GREAT. 

Then, after dinner at Bombo's...

...we grabbed some dessert from the Cheesecake Factory and took it back to the hotel, enjoying a chilly uphill stroll.

Once back in our room, I crashed, HARD. What a magical day!

Heading North

Having fun freaking out the GPS lady. "Where's the road? What the hell are you guys doing?? Oh, uh, turn right."

We sent a video from the moving train to our picture frame at home, and C took a shot of it and texted it back to us. B called to tell us how much they loved it. Technology is cool (always and foreverrrrrr).

We reached King Street Station around 9:30 PM, ordered a ride from Uber, and made it to the Crowne Plaza Hotel around 10. Sweet dreams! Today was fun - tomorrow will be amazing!

These Cute New Booties

...are making my feet amazingly happy today. They were a Christmas gift from Mom and Bob, and I LOVE them! It's like having little mattresses strapped to my soles!

The Farter has not graced us with any of his smelly blessings yet today (11:34 AM) but has acted enough like a stinker that I was inspired to look up his next few shifts. He'll be here tomorrow and a week from tomorrow. Then....? 

(I know stuff. But I can't tell it.)

After work: I had linner, and chilled out.

Then: Pep band time. I'm digging our new uniforms.

Pep band is fun but I feel old around these college students. They seem like babies. I'm glad that I'm getting paid to perform, but the marching band I hope to join (tryouts happen on March 13) is much more comfortable to be with. 

Fart On, Fart Off... THE FARTER

This morning, the timing was perfect as the irritating coworker cut the NASTIEST, cheesiest smelling fart right here in the cashier department, directly within smell distance (sniffshot?) of Dan and Heidi.

I RACED to turn on the fan. 

Heidi whispered to me, "I feel for you." 

Dan said quietly, as he turned on his fan, "Yeah, smells like someone ripped one off just now."

I'LL SAY. 

It was just last night that I was feeling guilty about sharing my thoughts about this coworker perhaps more often than is necessary, and I resolved to be more empathetic to whatever's going on with him. But then he goes and cracks one off right in front of the bosses. If I weren't so grossed out, I'd be giddy!

Later: Boundaries, people. We have scads of brand new boundaries flying around this joint. The Farter has asked me to "come out and help" without giving me a specific reason one too many times, and is now in Timeout. Now when he comes to my desk, expecting me to pop up as if spring-loaded, he gets a "What do you need help with?" which, judging by the sighs, he obviously finds annoying. Apparently I'm the chair maid, or something? I'm just supposed to sit there until I'm summoned? I'm never busy working or anything. 

It's already bearing fruit; he's had to use his words and I've been able to help him solve his own problems a few times. It's not as fun as making me ask how high when he says "jump", I get that, but it's what he gets from now on.

Now, what was I saying about not complaining?

Evening: This handsome gent and his dorky wife go out for dinner

Followed by:

This meeting!! Finally!!! Yay!!!! 

I'm hopefully joining a MARCHING BAND this spring. Stay tuned!

So this is Rush Week

And what have you done??

Got through the long work shift mostly unscathed. Minus one lady, every customer was sweet, patient, and well-behaved; my coworkers did an amazing job of handling the issues. I was able to spend time with B and R, who attended her first class on our campus today. They came into our office and raided my snack cupboard.

Now, just chilling, waiting for pep band rehearsal and contemplating the upcoming "terrible" wintry weather (we'll see) and our trip this weekend. Where to? Oh, you'll find out before too long. We're planning a trip for March that I'm also excited about. Yay for winter trip-planning!

Later:

Later still: Totally pooped, I picked up an equally pooped Hubby after soccer practice. We grabbed some Wendy's and a few groceries, and collapsed into bed.

"I see some blue sky! Let us chase it!"

A popular January pasttime

THIS MEANS YOU

So tired and ready for a restful weekend. May it be forthcoming.

Decided to spend my break walking and it inspired me to make sure I always have my garbage grabber handy from now on. Litter bugs me. Outside air feels pretty good, though. It's nice to have a few moments without precipitation.

IRRITATING COWORKER UPDATE 

Today he made me so angry that I grabbed my makeup bag, went to the restroom, redid my hair and loaded up on makeup (power stance), then disappeared from my desk for the rest of my shift. We didn't have many customers, so I found little busy work tasks to do in other parts of the bookstore and kept him in my sights so he couldn't surprise me at my desk. He seems to have it in his head that when I'm at my desk, sitting quietly, absorbed in my work, I'm available to be bothered. I am now at the point where merely the sound of his voice triggers my rage, and I felt we were both safer this way.

I believe I chose...wisely.

I'm absolutely not looking forward to working with him next week, which is Rush Week; I'm trying to think of ways to make the situation funny so that I won't be perpetually angry. One source of relief - though I feel partly to blame for this - is that his shifts will drop completely off after this month. Apparently I'm not the only one whom he irritates.

At home

M made incredibly tasty burritos for lunch and I ate one and climbed into bed. Then she made chocolate chip cookies, and I grabbed two of those. Little C climbed up next to me to play the "ball game" on my phone while I reread Jane Eyre. 

"Young ladies, my eye is upon you!"

Thank you Vans for making awesome shoes

I woke up mad this morning, just completely unglued and enraged, for absolutely no reason at all. It was driving me nuts trying to figure it out. Then I arrived at work, annoying stuff started happening, and I realized that waking up angry was probably just a pre-emptive strike. As of 10:53 AM, it's all handled, but I'm wondering if I had some kind of emotional premonition this morning. Does that happen?

Today's Mad Lib:

IRRITATING COWORKER ALERT

He was irritating again today, first with his silent but deadly farting, then by interrupting a conversation I was having with a customer in order to give her some totally false information and bad advice. He later asked me for completely unnecessary help to assist a woman navigate the textbook website. He's been working there for almost a year and a half and should know all of this by now. It's nothing but interruptions all day. By the end of my shift, I was fit to be tied.

Later, I went home, got cozy, and life got much better quickly. I picked up Hubby and ate something and was in bed by 5:45 p.m. I love winter. The kids wanted me to watch Jeopardy! with them, so I did, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I played Sims. Life is good.

8:00 AM

Through the window it looks so dark outside. The exterior lights are still on, on the culinary building. 

It was a long, slow, but fun day at work. I need to write this down for next week, when hell breaks loose. Some sweet lady (we think it was Amy) blessed us bookstore folks with a bag of some pretty scarves in the break room. I grabbed this one:

Once at home, I tried to rest, but everyone needed me for something and I richly enjoyed it (not at the time, but I am now). I ate lunch, napped, picked up Hubby with R, and played with the little girls until they went to bed. Hubby had soccer practice tonight, so I watched a genealogy TV show and then the ending of Little Women, and crocheted. Then it was off to the kitchen to finish the sausage balls (we had dough left over) and cook some hard boiled eggs.

Hubby and I are really into this "bring lunch from home" idea right now. He LOVES having the fridge in his office. He also set up an arrangement to have a percentage of his paychecks sent to my formerly sneaky savings accounts. I love January for its tendency to spark new thoughts and prod us into action. What other month can you say that about?

Here are two of the little buggers taking a break from video games to grab ice cream - ask me how much I love that - and their big black cat who sleeps with all four feet in the air, reminding us of a dead bug:

And life is just so cozy and good.

The Coldness and the Darkness

I continue to be glad that I added the seasons to my Google calendar, because man this weather could get depressing if I forgot that it will end sometime. 

The Mad Libs daily page calendar has already been befouled:

Our first day back to work has been smooth and easy, like a nice bossa nova sax solo. Next week, the first week of the quarter, will be horrific (she said brightly) and I will definitely need to wear better shoes. 

But today, it's all good. 

New Year's Day 2024

All is quiet on New Year's Day 

I'm not much of a resolution maker (aside from having the same Christmas wish every year: to wake up on Christmas morning skinny, in a clean house) but I do like setting goals for the new year. I love waking up on January 1st with the whole new year rolled out like a fresh new carpet to cartwheel on. What adventures are in store in 2024? Hey, that rhymes.

This year I want to hunker down and do the stuff I always promise myself I'll do, like march in the Rose Parade with One More Time Around Marching Band, and enter a craft in the county fair. 

I also want to:

- Build friendships

- Better our financial situation, with a possible home purchase in mind. Hubby and I had a very productive chat about this a week or so ago and I feel good about our little bit of progress. 

- Declutter the house (also with moving in mind)

- Engage in a local fitness event, like a 5k or a bike ride

- Cook through a chapter of a cookbook: make every recipe in that chapter

- Be ready for Christmas with everything done and bought and sent on time. We did so much better this last year, but we could still improve. I always have to remind myself that Christmas comes every year. I can be doing something Christmasy every day, even. It's not a surprise or an emergency. Isn't it funny what our brains can get us believing?

- Attend a genealogy event as often as possible

- Propagate more plants 

One other new thing I'll be doing is setting a monthly appointment with myself to check in on my goals. Hooray for Google calendar!

All right, time to put down the phone and pick up my life (she said dramatically).