Our washing machine is trying to escape. Every time it hits the spin cycle, it vibrates so ferociously that it moves forward at least a foot. “Back!” I say, when I come in to check how far it’s gotten, “Back, I say!” and I manhandle it back into its space under the counter. Then it hits the next spin cycle and lurches forward again. We can hear it all through the house. I’m on load 3 of packing preparation. Packing hasn’t actually commenced, though suitcases have been brought down by (protesting) children from the attic.
I refuse to go up there, because 1) it’s FREEZING in the winter and BOILING in the summer and 2) the ladder creaks and groans so much that I’m frankly afraid it won’t hold my weight. So I send up the monkeys. That’s what kids are for, right? That and fetching me cookies. Hey! Kid! Get me a cookie!
Yeah, that never works. Doesn’t stop me from trying, though.
All last week it was FREEZING cold. Really, really, really cold. One morning, one of the coldest, it was -18.5C when we backed out of the driveway. Thank goodness for the car warmer thingy that Anders bought me and hooks up to my car every night or I would still be sitting here trying to start it. -18.5C! Do you know what that is in real temp? It’s -1.3F! Did you know that if you type “What is -18.5 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit” into your Google search box, Google will helpfully give you a Temperature Converter that tells you? It’s as good as when you type in “What time is it in Grant’s Pass, Oregon” because that nine-hour time difference never fails to screw up your plans to call your best friend, and Google TELLS you.
Google is awesome. How did we ever manage without it? It spell-checks for us, gives us directions, find things we can’t remember and knows everything about us. Omnisciently awesome.
Anyway, it was cold. And it snowed. And then we got a lot of fog and fog and cold together give us the most gorgeous hoarfrost ever. Inch-long frosty diamond striping on every single branch and blade and surface. And if you get really lucky, the sun comes out and lights it all up like the most glittery diamond sparklyness ever. Since I leave when it’s dark and get home when it’s dark, there wasn’t much chance for me to get any photos of it, but Karin took a million pictures on her phone on the walk home from the school bus and captured some of the beauty:
I can’t believe in 2 days I’ll be sitting in front of the fire at my mom’s, playing cribbage with my sister, remembering all the ornaments of my childhood on the tree, eating Sarah’s cookies and RELAXING. Except for the part where I still have Christmas shopping to do and the part where we’re having a giant party 2 days before Christmas. Except for that I am TOTALLY RELAXING.