Just add sunshine...and beer

I have been riding a low of late. Maybe the end of 2007, with the diabetes and the whole leg thing, was a bit much. I get rather crabby on the days that Matty goes for a ski, and I wander around the house trying to keep one eye on the boy and the other on the "to do" list in my head that always reads Greek to me.

I go back to work tomorrow. Parts of the last three months had been bliss and other good things, but perhaps, most of all, I need discipline in my life again. I need to focus four full hours on the work in front of my face. (I still will only work part time for the wonderful ANRF. I will seek an apprenticeship to help Peter roast his coffee beans as soon as I can haul my butt up the Black Sheep's rickety wooden staircase).

In short, lately I have been scattered in the extreme, and I think that this has contributed to the crabbiness. There are many, many loose ends - laundry, a disorganized house, a leg that sort of works, appointments to be made, taxes, a rental that needs showing, a child that needs chasing, blah blah blah, and all this has been driving me crazy.

BUT, the best thing that happened in many months, happened today:

We went for a play in the snow.

Wyatt put on his downhill gear and skied down a wee slope with all the glee and joy a nearly 3 year old could muster. He was a star. We were a happy family. Mood improved.

I snowshoed for nearly half an hour. It was the most physical thing I've done since the surgery back in November. Mood more improved.

Matt and I had a beer in the snow. Mood most improved.

All hail the weekend

I think I'm in love with the Scottish pop band Camera Obscura. Been hearing them on Radio Active. The band remind me of the Sundays had a baby with Altered Images had a baby with the Lucksmiths.

Going for a ski tomorrow. Must make use of those ever so dear Mammoth Value Passes. Jean-Mi and Lucie will be flying up for the day (knowing snooty "ooooooOOOOO" goes here. Nah, they are hitching a ride with a friend with a plane). There will probably be a million others there, too.

Staring tomato seeds for the year on Sunday. March the latest I've sown seeds in the 8 years I've been at it. Preliminary list includes:
Kosovo
Snow White Cherry
Kellogg's Breakfast
Crnkovic Yugoslavian
Moneymaker
Earl of Edgecombe
Opalka
Green Grape

sundry holiday chaos

Actually, it's not that bad.

I may or may not have shingles on my tailbone.
I may or may not have the equivalent of bad hips in a German Shepard, requiring surgery in my not too distant middle age.

I did not party hard with the rest of the household the last two nights. I did drink enough last night to get on myspace and to leave Christmas cheer everywhere.
Most of the Christmas shopping is done. Close enough.

The new espresso machine works alright. This means that Matty and I won't be powering through the gallon of French press every morning. Our guts thank us.
The meat pies do taste like dogfood mince.

The truck needed an expensive clutch job.
We don't have a renter for the house we're buying from Matt's mum.
I still want my kinky four way pluot (75 percent plum, 25 percent apricot) tree for Christmas.
I bought a year's supply of special Bishop mahogany smoked streaky bacon (known in local parlance as "crack bacon") because it was 25 percent off. I have had tomato growers in other states tell me that their BLT sandwiches don't taste the same since they can't get the bacon shipped anymore.
To get proper crema on the espresso, we'll need a better coffee grinder.
Let the cash hemorrhaging begin.

Lovely Tom and lovely Mark will be coming over to spend some time here in the Valley to ski, drink, and be merry with us.

Dad will watch the boy and Matty and I will get (gasp) another date and get to see Cat Power, Gnarls Barkley and the Flaming Lips after all.
And we'll still eat all the Chinese food we can stand, so tripe and chicken feet for days!