....we are expecting snow again.

HA!

I'll believe it when I see it!

I'm wondering how many of you have heard about the Tiny House movement? You haven't?  GO HERE and learn all about it. I stumbled onto it through the documentary TINY - where filmmakers Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller document their experience building a tiny house.  It was pretty cool and I was immediately attracted by the intimacy of such a small, self contained space..... until my little reverie was interrupted by the the extremely loud burst of music from the other room reminding me that I ALREADY LIVE IN A TINY HOUSE....sort of.

What I live in is a tiny apartment.  It was tiny when we moved here 15 years ago and got a bit tinier when the two cats came to live with us, but it got slightly bigger when there was only one human living here in the bulk of the in between years.  But now it is back to two of us again, cozy was how I described it - until the boxes came..... all of it work stuff, most of them never opened, all of it important but at the same time, demanding their fair share of floor space. They won't be here forever, at least that is what I keep telling myself and at the same time, I marvel at how big the place is going to feel once they are gone, but it is only halfhearted.

Saturday last I was up at the farm and I set in the family room and luxuriated in wide open expanse of space and delighted at the ability to simply walk across the room without a maze-like effect, and I didn't want to go home. Until the text came....an obscure note eluding to a problem with the boxes and the inability to breathe. Turns out he decided to wrangle the boxes into a more efficient order.  He did a great job.  I was amazed at how just a foot here and there of open floor space makes everything seem a little bigger! 

I love snow.  I have loved snow my whole life.  I loved it when I lived in the suburbs when a few inches closed school for the day.  I loved snow when I lived in the city when it made everything look clean, silent and beautiful (at least for an hour or two).  I love snow storms.  I love blizzards.  There is nothing about snow I don't like.

Except when a particularly interesting storm appears on the horizon, causing the weather people to go crazy over it - hyping everyone into overdrive and then POOF nothing. No. Thing.  Drives me nuts.

The problem as I see it?  Too many machines. Too much computer modeling. Too many satellites.   I remember in the 'old days' they would follow the radar and the jet stream and could easily put together a pretty clear view of what was coming our way - leaving the accumulation a complete surprise.  I'm fine with that - I don't need to know the potential - I need to know when it is coming and what is it doing when it gets here. The rest is easily handled with smart bad weather driving, a good outdoor broom, a wide shovel and plenty of hot tea.

I am really frustrated over this whole weather thing.  I haven't had this much buildup since my last blind date.....and just like my last blind date, it was all build up and absolutely no follow through - in essence a complete waste of my time.

It really isn't too much to ask is it? One big one - a real humdinger! I would be 

I have a very bad habit.  Yes - I am guilty of tossing pens onto my laptop when it is open...which doesn't seem like a big deal except they manage to roll so nicely into the gap between the lid and the base.  And you know what that means - if one isn't paying attention and tries to shut the lid? Well let's just say that after almost a year of near misses - my luck ran out.

I cracked just a corner of my laptop screen but it was enough to render it useless. Of course I panicked - just thinking of all the work I needed to accomplish the next day made me feel sick.  Oh did I mention that performed this little trick at 7pm in the evening? What the hell can one do about a broken computer at 7 o'clock at night??

Lucky for me - I have a phone with internet access and my partner has lots of experience putting together and taking apart computers.  That said - I talked him into this first laptop job he's ever done!

So after watching a video on YouTube about how to replace the screen, he removed the screen, checked for the part number and awesomely enough - his favorite computer store (MicroCenter) had just what we needed.  We ran over, picked it up and as soon as we arrived home - he got to work.  

It was one of those repairs that was easy and not easy but ultimately, the repair was made and my precious laptop is basically good as new! Thanks Honey!

Now he randomly asks me 'WHERE IS YOUR PEN?'  

Lesson learned.