I’m Beautiful Like Me.

I have no intention of leaving the house anytime in the remotely near future. I hate this weather and am content to stay indoors until it passes. Husband, on the other hand, along with the children, braved the ICK and got some photos.

Meanwhile, work was closed today. I tried to call in at least four times, but there was never an answer. This evening the boss called to see if I could make it in tomorrow. Not likely, as my entire apartment complex is a sheet of ice at least two inches thick. Sorry, dude.

I hafta admit, though, that it is quite pretty. It’s scary how much damage a little frozen water can cause. Trees are down all over the city and hundreds of thousands of people across the nation are without power. I feel quite blessed that our power is still on, especially considering that it flickered quite a bit in the late hours last night. I can’t imagine how we would cope without it - our heat is electric and there isn’t any foreseeable way off this block.

My insane daughter is actually lying down in the snow. WTF?!

My apologies for a long absence. The truth is that I’ve been otherwise occupied and trying to limit my online time. I will try to catch you up without dragging on.

I was offered a job with a starting date of January 5th. So after the latest incident at my job, I quit on New Year’s Eve. The family spent the day running about town on errands, just being together. After, we headed out to P’s place for another ringing in with their family. Last year was a great success and I’m rather fond of building traditions. I told P that she was forever stuck with us celebrating transformation - the end of one year and the beginning of another.

We had a great time. We paid for it dearly the next day, but it was worth it. We spent most of the night outside in the gazebo with candles, space heaters and a small firepit, drinking and being belligerent. Big Rob had to have a photo of P’s “eyebrows” made by shadow cast from candle and eyeglasses. P’s sister H joined us, as well. When P’s husband B arrived sometime after midnight still very sober, I managed to catch this picture of him in the unfortunate position of being in front of our empty bottles. It’s my favorite picture.

P and I; L and Joy; me and Buddha (still sober)

P’s “eyebrows”; Husband and I; L, Joy and C

P, P’s sister H and Big Rob; classic Big Rob; P’s husband B’s unfortunate position

Suffice it to say that New Year’s Day was spent in a haze of frequent bathroom trips and fitful sleep.

On the 5th of January, I started my new job, also waiting tables. It’s a great job: the hours are awesome as the restaurant only operates 11-3 M-F and closes on all major holidays. The pay rate is slightly higher than average ($2.85 vs. the usual $2.13 per hour), the guests are mostly regulars and I’ve made pretty decent tips every day that I’ve worked.

There are some down sides, though and they mostly center around the restaurant owners (a married couple). They are unfriendly, rigid and absolute control freaks. The man tends to follow me around in front of the patrons and nitpick every.little.thing I do that isn’t to par with his standards, as though I have never waited tables and he thinks I’m an idiot or has little faith in me or both. I’ve tried to convince myself that the trade-off is worth it. Nonetheless, I have started searching for new work. I’m happy to report that I had a job interview yesterday that went pretty well. Hopefully, I’ll hear something very soon.

In the meantime, I’ve been knitting and reading a lot. I made 3/4 of a purse for my niece for Christmas (I got to the hand-sewing part and just stopped), started and frogged a sock, and finished a leg warmer. I’ve enjoyed reading so much that it’s been over a week since I’ve even thought about knitting! I’ve finished both Odd Hours by Dean Koontz and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I’m eager to start another book. Last year (or was it the year before? Wow, time is flying!), I purchased the last book in the Harry Potter series and never read it. Same story with Dean Koontz’s The Darkest Evening of the Year. Of course now, I’m eager to continue to New Moon, as well.

Buddha is as obnoxious as he is cute and Joy had her first pep-rally and basketball game last week. I took video, but it wasn’t very good. I’ll try my best to get better video to share when we go tonight. The Step Team was so good, they received louder cheers than the basketball players and the cheerleaders! Naturally, Joy is very excited to be a part of all this and I’m thrilled, too.