Sunday, January 23, 2005

Johnny Carson

I just heard that Johnny Carson died this morning. He was 79. I can remember staying up late occasionally to watch him on the Tonight Show, and I remember watching the very last show he hosted, back in 1992. I was in 9th grade.
It's a testament to how well loved he was that I found out from a special news report on ABC, the competitor to the channel he was connected with, NBC.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Home alone

I really don't like being home alone. I can deal with it, but it is hard for me. I've always been a people person, and don't like being alone at all.
Jon had to go to his brother's house for the weekend. I understand why, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. He's getting something fixed on his car (the one I fixed the door handle on) and he's talking to his dad about the runaround the insurance company is giving us for the car that will be totalled.
To top it off, it snowed last night and today. Snowed a lot. I had to blaze a trail out of the driveway to go to work this morning, and blaze a new one tonight when I got home. The wind is really blowing a lot so it's drifting really high. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to get out of the driveway again tomorrow evening when I have to go to work again! Today I got out at 8pm and tomorrow I don't even go in until 6pm. I'll be there until nearly 11:30, so hopefully the driveway won't be a big mess for me. Luckily work is very understanding about snowstorms (some people no-call/no-showed, but they won't get in trouble for it) so if I have to call in tomorrow it won't be a big deal - except for the money I'll be missing out on.
I hope when Jon gets back we are able to pick up our snowblower from layaway... we could really use it right about now!

Monday, January 17, 2005

I did it!!

I changed the door handle on the driver's side of the car!
After taking a hair dryer to the door, it mysteriously came open. Turns out it wasn't truly frozen after all, but something inside, in the mechanism, is bent. This is on the passenger side, but the driver's side door has been broken for almost 2 years and we've just been dealing with it because the passenger side always worked. The passenger side is the one that we thought was frozen shut, but as it turns out wasn't frozen but bent. This is bad, since if we can't get in at all we can't use the car.
After the door opened (and it only opened the one time, the first time I managed it), I opened up the driver's side door and we went about the process of jump-starting the battery. Jon was fiddling with the door, trying to figure out what the problem is and why it wasn't working. It seemed to be working just fine, so why it would no longer open from the outside was a mystery. Even looking inside the mechanism didn't help much, since moving the handle made the mechanism move.
Once the battery was charged and the car was running, we went to a parts shop to see how much a new door handle would be. It was more than we wanted to spend ($40) but worth it if it means that the door will work. Then we came home, and I took the old handle off and put the new one on! It was such very cold work, by the time I was done I couldn't feel my fingers or my legs. Jon helped some, but that is one of those types of jobs that a second person is more in the way than helpful most of the time, so I mostly did it alone. But I wanted to, I had said I could do it (my exact words were, "how hard can it be?") and I wanted to do it.
And I did it!! The driver's side door opens like a dream now, it's never been this easy to open, even before it was broken.
Also, opening up the driver's side door allowed us to see that one of the rods in the door is supposed to be straight, and is bent on the passenger side. Now that we know what the problem is, we are going to go easy on the door and not even try to open it from the outside. Especially now that the driver's door works so well. I'm so excited that I fixed it, even if it did make me so darn cold.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

This is just cruel...

There's a new ice cream store in our town. It's called Cold Stone Creamery and it is really yummy. They make all of their ice cream in-store daily. And you can mix in different items ranging from fruit to candy to nuts. There are even no sugar/no fat options. It's really good. I love it, and I've only had it twice. You get a lot for your money, it's worth what you pay for it. If I had the money, I could easily eat it every day.

Here's the cruel part:

It's right next to Curves.

Football & Window film

It's been a football day. We had to go to the store today, and even though we got up late (around noon - so nice) Jon wanted to hurry up and go so that we could get back and not miss too much of the game (Minnesota vs. Philadelphia). I have no preference, since the team I like (Green Bay) is already out of the playoffs. Jon really doesn't like either team, but he dislikes Philadelphia more so he wanted Minnesota to win. Sadly, they lost. Right now we are watching a different football game (Indianapolis vs. New England) and this time he does have a preference - he really wants Indianapolis to win. We shall see.

We have also been doing some cleaning - I cleared off the dining room table. I want to keep it cleared off, so we can eat there. I don't like our current habit of eating in the living room. Sadly, my table is already covered again!! But, it is covered with something that will soon be removed - window film. We are just now finally getting around to covering our windows with film to keep the drafts out. We covered the dining room window between football games, and we will be doing the bedroom windows at halftime. Once we're done with the windows, the stuff will be put away and my table will once again be clear.

I need to get busy scanning photos. I wanted to make this scrapbook for my mum for Mother's Day last year, but ran out of money. Then I decided it would be a Christmas present but again, no money. So it is now her birthday present but it's not done! Her birthday was last Wednesday (12th)! AAArgh! It would help a lot if I could get to our scanner a bit better. The scanner is connected to the desktop, which is in the office, and to say that the office is cluttered is being very nice. There's not even a path; you have to climb over things just to reach the desk. I've asked Jon if I couldn't move the scanner out here to do my project, but he really doesn't want me to do that. I'm still trying to wear him down on it though. We almost never use the desktop because we can't get to it very well, so why shouldn't I bring out the printer/scanner so we can get some use out of it?

Saturday, January 15, 2005

More Automotive Frustrations

I really do detest cold weather. I was born and brought up in warm climates, where the coldest it gets (on average) is around 40 degrees (Farenheit). When I was six my Christmas dress was a pinafore-style dress, with straps across the back and a bib front. We were in the Phillippines that year. I've lived in Michigan for 11 1/2 years now, and I still am not used to the cold. I don't think I ever will get used to it.

Our "good" car, the Grand Prix that I used to drive before Jon's car got crunched, is having door issues. It already had door issues, because the door handle is broken on the driver's side and that door will only open from the inside. But for the past three days, because it's been so very cold, the passenger side door has frozen shut. We are paranoid about breaking the door handle (understandably - these are weak handles) and therefore simply pulling on it is out. We tried the hot water thing, which works to an extent, but leaves you still with a frozen door because it is water after all. I even sprayed windshield de-icer into it, which helped last night but not this morning.
All this fighting with the door has left me very sore. My arms ache from trying to find new ways to pull on a door. My back aches from the pulling. My head aches from listening to Jon complain about the stupid car. All this aching leaves me tired, more tired than before (and I was already quite exhausted for some unknown reason).
I sure hope it warms up soon... this is getting ridiculous. According to weather.com, our 10-day forecast shows that the highest it will be for the next 10 days is 29 degrees, and we will have to wait over a week for it to get that "warm". Ugh.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Darn Thermometer

Well, my thermometer failed me this morning. I always temp and then put it away, coming back later when I really wake up to check my temperature so I can input it onto my chart. Today when I went back to check my temp - this is what the screen looked like: --.- Like I can enter that as a valid temp. Sheesh.

I need to pick up the house AGAIN.... it's so frustrating. The front room was shiny clean on Sunday, (Sunday!) and now it's cluttered again. I feel like I'm never going to get it all together.

I think it's also time to take down my Christmas cards. I love them all, they're gorgeous. But it is about time for that set of doors to become just doors again and not a showcase. They'll be a showcase once again come the end of Febuary, and then again in April, and November. Any time we get cards that's where they go.

I'm trying not to feel disheartened by our lack of success in ttc. We've done better with intercourse timing this month (week?) but I think we both need something of a break. I'm really trying to hold out on TAB until April or May, but the reality of it is that it will probably be emotionally better for both of us to stop trying so hard for awhile. The stress is really getting to us both. I had a meltdown over the holidays because I was supposed to be O-ing and we couldn't get any privacy to have sex! I still can't believe it. And as it turned out, it was a moot point since I still haven't O'd. It appears that Clomid will not work for me on CD 3-7. It was good on 4-8 and 5-9, but 3-7 has done nothing for me.