I’ve been so busy. February is short but at least being busy all the time makes it feel shorter, but it’s also annoyingly awful weather-wise, so even though it’s early in the month, I am already tired of it, and longing for spring. One of my college roommates, after she moved to Chicago, used to throw a F*ck February party every year, complete with palm trees and sand and a beach-themed clothing requirement. If I wasn’t already so busy, I might have planned one of those. I could certainly use it.
Party of the busy has been cleaning and sorting things in Anders’ mom’s apartment. We’ve spent several hours each weekend there and are nowhere near finished. On Saturday we cleaned it up and put things away and tidied so that the realtor can come and take photos on Tuesday and get it officially on the market. That will at least give us a deadline. Anders and I discussed some of the furniture (no one is taking much of it, so unless we can sell it, it will go to charity) and decided to take the 2-seat leather sofa and matching armchair for our family room…the sofabed there, while functional, is so badly stained, ripped and sun-faded that it’s an embarrassment. And since it only gets used as an actual sofabed once in a blue moon, we figured it was time. Black leather isn’t really my style, but hey, we don’t use that room much and the furniture is free, so…
We had the AWC Valentine’s Potluck dinner tonight. There were 20 people signed up but Karin didn’t make it (she was going to come after work but got stuck cleaning late), and one couple never showed. The rest of the participants were all very nice and the food was delicious. One woman made a huge pot of baked potato soup which was fantastic. I baked heart-shaped iced sugar cookies yesterday and this morning I made pigs in a blanket and cream cheese pinwheels, and Anders made a delicious broccoli, feta & sun-dried tomato quiche. Yum!
I’m officially going to Seattle in June and I’m very excited, though my excitement was a bit tempered by the cost. Even if work is paying for it, it seems outrageously expensive. The hotel rates, especially. Yikes. Unfortunately, my friend Russell who might have been going to come that same weekend for a race, decided the timing didn’t really work very well, but I’m hoping to see Chuck and my best friend Becky might also be able to come up for a couple of days. And in time-honored tradition (mine, anyway), I’ve given my mom all the details in the hopes she can come too! I’ll be at a conference each day all week but the evenings are free! And I’ll have the Sunday before the conference starts to see something of Seattle. Something to look forward to in the midst of the February weariness.
Speaking of looking forward to, I am leaving for Lisbon in a week! Crazy! We have not figured out a lot of plans in advance, and I’m just hoping it’s relatively warm and more importantly, NOT RAINING, when we get there, please God!