Brrrr

Okay, so last week I'm in Louisiana, waiting for the grand-kiddo to pop out, and the day he's born, it's 87 degrees. Hot, muggy, sweaty -- and I'm driving the kiddo's car (because his has a base sticker and ours doesn't, so it kept me from having to check in at the visitor center every day for a pass) and the air conditioning stops working. In 87-frickin'-degree weather.

I bitch -- of course! -- and try to wheedle my way into possession of the keys to the kiddo's brand-new '08 Toyota Tundra, but don't get far with that. I'm not even trying to get the keys to DIL's car that cost more than our first ten cars combined. I just go along and sweat. And bitch.

Then we come back home. I get up yesterday, and it's 50 degrees, windy and raining. My dogs won't even stick their noses off the porch. This morning, it's like 49 degrees. C-c-cold. I'm in jeans, shoes, socks, long-sleeve shirt, sweat jacket, and still sh-h-h-ivering. So I think, "I'll turn on the heat." Aha! Bright idea. Shouldn't have taken so long to occur to me, but it's been a long time since we needed heat.

Wouldn't you know, the heat in my office is being cantankerous. It comes on, runs a few minutes, then blows the breaker. I wait a few minutes for the breaker to cool down or whatever, flip it back on, and then we repeat the process. Once I get this building up to 72, it's not going any lower until next spring when it's time to crank up the AC.

In case you can't tell it from my whine, I like winter. I love winter clothes and shoes and foods and smells. I just hate being cold. Can't abide it. And since I spent most of the summer being frozen to popsicle-consistency by other people's AC, you can imagine how cold I am in winter. But I'm pulling out the sweaters, the long-sleeved shirts, the thermal undershirts, the cowboy-boot-houseshoes, the thick wool socks, and tonight I'm making a huge pot of pasta fagiole, and I'll snuggle up under a comforter while I eat and will be happy as our newborn grand-kiddo when he's cuddling with his mama.

If I can just keep this damn heat running long enough to avoid freezing before nightfall. Rachel10:14 AM