Susan has a "what's on your......" thing going on over at her blog.  Last week, she asked what was on your fridge.  I didn't get a chance to post a photo because I was at work when I read it and then forgot later when I got home. 

This week I'm home (the blizzard is coming! the blizzard is coming!) so I can play, too.  This week is "What's on your Desktop?"  Now, you can think of desktop two ways.  There is the obvious "top of your desk" which looks like this.  You can see the toys there under the monitor.  I have a fondness for windup toys and keep a collection there for amusement.  I also have a wonderful ornament that a former coworker gave me hanging on my lamp.  If you enlarge the photo you can see it.  It's a woman flying through the air with an armload of things.  It says 'tell me all about it' on her side.  She said it reminded her of me and now it reminds me of her.  You can also see Olivia's pod sitting there holding my highlighters.

The monitor has the screen saver running in this photo which is what you think on grows to remind me to be mindful of my thoughts/actions during the day.  The wallpaper on this desktop is this.  One of my favorite photos of Peter Kevin.  It was taken the day he flew in the WWII aircraft.  He had just finished his flight and was exhilarated.  It makes me happy to remember his happiness that day.  And it's a good photo of him.  He looks rather handsome.

I don't have a desk at home.  I do most of my work sitting on my bed with a laptop.  The wallpaper on that machine is this photo.  It was the astromony photo of the day (apod.  If you google apod, you can get a daily astronomy photo)  This one is the Mullica River which runs through the Pinelands.  The lights are a restaurant that burned down a few years ago.  I love how the moon and venus are reflected in the river.  I like how you can see the markers in the river for the boaters to follow. 

So, there's what's on my desktops.  I'm sitting on the bed right now since we are at home. It's freezing rain right now and I can hear it hitting the windows.  It'll make it much harder to shovel later.  I have a feeling I won't be in work tomorrow either.  It's nice to have the day off but it would be nicer if I could get out and do something.  We were just snowed in most of last weekend so it could lose its charm real fast.

We got the snow shovel back from Kate.  We tried several places on the way home yesterday and no one had one.  We'll just have to share it for the time being.  Good thing she only lives a block or so away.

Straight from the people at NOAA (national oceanographic and atmospheric admin):

THIS NOR/EASTER IS FORECAST TO BE
INTENSIFYING STRONGLY JUST EAST OF OUR AREA...AND IS EXPECTED TO
BRING HEAVY SNOW TO A GOOD PART OF OUR AREA THROUGH WEDNESDAY AND
PERHAPS INTO WEDNESDAY EVENING.

We're expecting another snow storm.  Tonight.  And all day tomorrow.  I laughed when I read this because what else are you going to do?  I've arranged to take Wed and possibly Thurs off as vacation days (although I think this is somewhat unfair since I won't physically be able to get into work if we get the 18 inches of snow they're predicting).  If I request the time off ahead of time, it's not a dreaded occurence.

No one showed up for their appointments yesterday and I don't expect an overwhelming turnout today either.  Philadelphia does not do a good job plowing streets and the smaller streets (and there are a lot of them, the city hasn't changed much since colonial times in some places) are not plowed at all.  People have to dig themselves out and some cannot physically do the work.  And people will hear "snow" and stay home.  I'll probably spend the day just like yesterday, rescheduling people and faxing scripts to pharmacies. 

In the grand scheme of things, this is not a terrible thing.  It's weather.  We have no control over it and it's a reminder of how sometimes you just have to go with the flow and give up control.  As I am a person who likes to be in control (of myself) this is a concept that I need to be reminded of sometimes.  I'll use this time to make another hat.  The first one is too small and I don't like the way it fits.  I have some handspun yarn that might work out well for it.  And I can keep plowing forward on Pk's sweater.  It takes forever to knit a sweater in the round but I like that it will only have shoulder seams.  I have about 10 inches done.  Halfway up the body.

I want to take a minute to tell you how proud I am of my Katiebaby.  She was house/dog sitting for my brother's house/rottweilers over the weekend (during the blizzard) and had a harrowing experience.  She tells it so much better than I so go read it here.  She tells it so well I felt like I was there.  She kept her head and used good judgement.  As kids are growing up, you hope you are teaching them the important things (like not eating yellow snow and looking both ways) and you hope they are paying attention.  I guess Kate was paying attention.  She's pretty darn terrific.

Well, I guess I should check the phone messages and see who is cancelling for today.  Have a good one.  Stay warm and dry.  Pk gave our snow shovel to Kate and now we can't find another one-all the stores are sold out.  I guess we'll have to take it back......

Sunday morning sunshine left shadows of the neighbor's dead cedar trees. They look much better in shadow than they do in real life.                   It stopped snowing about 4 pm yesterday and this morning, the sun was so bright it was blinding.  We got up early and Pk went out to shovel.  You can see the job he faced. The plows pile up the snow along the roadside and since we have to get the car out to go to work, someone has to dig through the 4 ft high pile.   Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult since the temps stayed well below freezing and the snow hasn't had time to melt and pack down.  It's still light and fluffy.  It didn't  take too long for him to shovel.  I sat inside and watched and then prepared breakfast (french toast, eggs and bacon) for him when he was done.  I offered to help but he said he'd take care of it.  (I'll admit, I was grateful).

I managed to finish my hat!  This has been the single most problematic pattern I have ever tried.  If you look at it, there's nothing to it!  I think I kept forgetting the yo after the ssk.  On one side it's yo k2tog and it's  ssk yo on the other side.  I continually wanted to put the yo in front of the ssk.  This made my "mountains" look funny.  The pattern is Sisters Hat (rav link).  I like the pattern.  Any difficulties I had were my own NOT the pattern.  I used the yarn Jim gave me for my birthday.  It's Patons bamboo/wool/angora mix.  It has a heavy halo and will have more as I wear it.  If you look at the brim, you can see how it fluffs up.  That part got a lot of friction as I ripped the charted portion out again and again (and again!).  It fits a little close for me.  I think I may try it again but add another pattern repeat to make it larger or use bulkier yarn. 

Oh, a whimsical photo from yesterday.  I told you I was doing laundry yesterday.  Here's what 7 loads of laundry will do to the snow.  That's the dryer's exhaust vent.  We found it amusing.  You can see how the snow mounded up against the front of the house.  And it melted right down to the grass. 

Tomorrow we're back to work.  I liked being snowed in yesterday.  The county declared a state of emergency to keep people off the roads so they could plow so we had to stay inside.  An enforced day off is not a bad thing.  This is the view out the back bedroom window.  There is a small porch on the back of the house and the snow piled up on the roof.  It's so strange to see that much snow right outside the window of a second story room.  We are spending the rest of the day doing what we like.  Pk is playing computer games and I am going to knit the swatch for my shawl kal.  The first clue comes out on Friday and I'd like some practice with this impossibly thin yarn.  I'd also like to wash the swatch so I can see how much the cashmere blooms.  I've heard it will bloom some but I'd like to see it myself.

And tomorrow we go back to the gym........

Good morning!  Welcome to our world. This is what we awoke to this morning.  That's my car.  The plows had just come down the street.  If you make the photo larger, you can see the wall of snow that is building up at the end of our driveway.  Since we're expecting another foot of snow today, that wall will continue to grow as the plows keep making their way through the snow.

This is what it looks like out the back of the house.  I'm sorry all the photos are through the windows. It's snowing hard and blowing all around.  I only had slippers on so going outside wasn't an option.  You can see the picnic table up there on top of the hill.  It's cold.  (duh).  We are ensconced in the house and will stay here all day.  There's no reason to go out.  It looks inviting to walk in the snow but the wind makes it hard to see (or walk for that matter).  When it snowed like this in December, people around here were excited.  Maybe it was because it was near Christmas.  This time however, people have a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the white stuff.  I feel fortunate that we don't have to work or worry about driving somewhere and have the option of staying inside.  I hope the USPS does the smart thing and cancels mail delivery but their motto is "neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night shall stay this courier from his appointed rounds" so we may get mail.

Pk and I finished our first week of being "gym rats" as he says.  Some thoughts about it:

-there are not a lot of people working out in spandex (thankfully)

-there are a lot of people our age and older (again thankful for the non spandex thing)

-Pk said he has to get a tattoo because everyone else seems to have one

-He also says we need to develop a gym swagger because, again, everyone else seems to have one

-working out with someone else makes it more fun

-the machines really do look like torture devices and someone with an evil brain invented them

-I am stiff but not overly sore at the end of the day and the day after is not as hard as I imagined it would be

-I feel good and virtuous after a workout

I am proud of myself for going yesterday even though my ass was dragging.  It was a tough day at work.  It helps that we are going together.  It's harder to blow it off if there's someone else there.  I felt better after the workout. The emotions of the day got washed away in the sweat.  We went to the diner and had dinner and then came home to wait for the storm.

And now I have to do the laundry.  Chicken a la king for dinner.  I love love love it.  Pk tolerates it but agreed it's a good choice for today.  Nice, thick chicken stew served over biscuits.  When I was a kid, it was served over toast crowns.  You pin the corners of the bread together and pin them with a toothpick.  Pop them into the oven and they brown and crisp up.  You put the stew inside and the "a la King" part becomes more obvious.    One last snow photo........(other side of the back yard)

I hope where you are, you are warm (but not too warm). 

Friday Night:  Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Widespread blowing snow after 1am. Low around 25.(-3 C) Blustery, with a east wind 6 to 9 mph increasing to between 19 and 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.
Saturday: Snow and widespread blowing snow. High near 28. Windy, with a north wind between 21 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

Saturday Night: A chance of snow showers, mainly before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 16. North wind between 7 and 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%

So, here we go again.  Pk and I have work tomorrow and will have time to go to the gym and maybe even out to the diner for dinner before the snow really starts.  And then the fun starts.......

We had no plans for the weekend and it's not a grocery shopping weekend so we're ready.  We have plenty of milk, eggs and bread (required when snow is in the forecast) and can hole up in the house for the day.  I'll make a pot of soup and maybe some bread for dinner.    I can work on my swatch for the Evenstar kal and Pk has three discs from Netflix to watch so we should be able to keep ourselves busy.

We've been watching the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (BBC version) and enjoying it quite a bit.  Cheesy special effects and bad dialogue, what's not to love?

Tonight we had a dish we made up after having something similar in a Moroccan restaurant.  I put some olive oil, lemon peel and garlic in the stick blender bowl and chopped it all together.  I put that on some chicken and added some assorted olives.  I baked it all for about an hour.  Then I made some bulgur wheat with tomatoes.  It's tasty and fairly low in fat.  While we're not dieting per se, we are trying to eat healthier.  It won't do us much good to go to the gym if we're eating lots and lots of fats.  Unfortunately, it's the fats that taste so good.

We bought some snow melt on the way home.  One bag for us and one for Kate.  Their apartment complex doesn't seem to pay a lot of attention to their front steps.  I guess we're as ready as we can be.

I'll be really disappointed if it's all hype........:

You know, I'm not going to say anything about the socks.  You knew that all along, didn't you?  I'm not by nature a troublemaker or a tattletale and that's what I would feel like if I mentioned it. I thought of Sock Wars as a game, too.  I was surprised to find that everyone didn't think like I did and some people took it VERY seriously.  I'm pretty sure I won't do it again.  So, 'nuff said. 

Our last two clients of the day yesterday warned us about the blizzard that was coming and how we better make sure to get our milk and eggs and bread on the way home.  I had heard that it was maybe going to snow but nothing about a blizzard. (the joys of not having a television means we miss all the weather hype).  I checked before bed.  No snow.  Not  a flake.  And this morning?  A light dusting of slushy white stuff.  Just enough to make it cold and damp but not enough to impede travel.  We are expecting a storm on Friday/Saturday so maybe that's where the blizzard is hiding.

My body is only slightly sore today.  More achy.  The real test will be when I get to the gym this afternoon....Pk and I are working out our own routine so we can spend our time actually working out and not standing around talking about working out.  Seems like it would be more effective that way.

Did I tell you that Pk and I are grandparents?  Kate and Patrick have adopted a dog named Kobold (no I don't know what it means, if anything. I can't explain them).    I stole this photo from Kate's blog since I don't have a picture of Kobold.  He's about a year old and is a mixture of shepherd and collie.  He's a cutie and full of energy.  Needless to say, my cats were not at all thrilled with this development.  They hissed and made themselves big (the way cats fluff up is so cool to watch) and defended their turf against the intruder. 

Not much else happening here.  I have been trying for three days to make a hat.  I'm trying the Three Sisters hat (I just searched ravelry for the pattern and the search turned up no results and I looked through 30 pages and didn't see it but I KNOW I got it there) pattern.  It's not a difficult pattern.  There's a subtle lace pattern around the edges that is reminiscent of mountains.  I've had to restart this pattern 4 times (might be 5, I lost count).  First, I'm using yarn just a little thinner than the pattern so I adjusted the needle size.  I thought I might have to make it a little bigger so I added a pattern repeat.  Too big.  I've managed to twist the knitting twice.  You'd think I've never knit anything in the round before!  Right now I'm halfway through the 12 rows of stockinette that make up the beginning.  I got sleepy last night and put it away.  So far, it's not twisted and the needle size looks good with the yarn and I think the size will be good.  I hate wearing hats but the reality is that it's cold here in the mornings and I need a hat.  Hopefully, I can finish this hat before the weather turns warm.  (I have a store bought hat shaped like a soft bucket.  Pk thinks it looks "cute").

Happy Wednesday.

The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further."

~Pema Chodron

I have always been fascinated by the idea of karma.  It makes sense to me that my life is all about learning to open myself further, for me to learn the lessons I need to know to make myself a better person. (some lessons are harder than others).  Why does it seem so much easier for some people to do the right thing and live peaceful, helpful lives and others seem to struggle through every life event?  Is it truly because the peaceful person has lived through this before and learned the lessons and can now handle it?  And the struggling person is a relatively new soul who is still learning?  Things to ponder.

We had a great time on Sunday morning.  Photos of this even exist but they remain on the camera as of this moment.  Pk was having another run in with verizon last night and I didn't even turn on my computer......
But, as I said, a good time was had by all.  We had tasty baked goods and coffee and fruit.  There was bowling and knitting and lots of chatter and fun.  It was such a good idea.  We'll have to do it again.

Last night Pk and I went for our "fitness evaluations" at the gym.  I registered us in the Healthy Lifestyles program that the insurance company runs.  They'll pay us for going to the gym.  That's cool.  We spent about an hour and a half with a trainer who taught us how to use some of the various torture devices  machines that are scattered about the floor.  He worked us out throroughly but easily.  Not too rough for our old muscles.

 Then came the sales pitch.  Now, we already paid the initiation fee (we got 2 for 1 as part of the grand opening deal) and the first/last months dues.  That totalled just over 300 dollars.  And now every month we will pay 68 dollars for us both to use the facilities.  That's less than 20 dollars a week (we spend that much on dinner out so it's really no big deal and healthier for us).  Our trainer wants us to sign up for the Pro Fitness plan which will include another initiation fee (149 dollars each) plus 320 dollars each month for us to have a trainer once a week for a half an hour each.  Now, to be honest, I'd love to have someone telling me what to do and how to do it so I don't have to think too much about this whole thing.  I'd just go and do what they tell me.  BUT I am not paying 320 dollars each month for this priviledge!

We'll meet with the guy tomorrow and let him know that we are ok on our own.  We're intelligent adults and we can figure this out.  We'll do some research and come up with a plan. Three hundred and twenty dollars........grumble.

I enjoyed the workout and took some ibuprofen last night to ward off potential pain.  No real pain, just soreness but I expected soreness.  Today I feel pretty good, just achy in places that I haven't ached in a long time.  I keep thinking how good I'm going to feel and that makes all the aches worthwhile.  I can see myself now, riding my bike, creating a breeze for the streamers to fly out from the handlebars........I'm looking forward to that.

For some reason, I have a runny nose.  It started late yesterday afternoon and just felt like a mild allergic reaction to something (you know, like someone wearing way too much cologne and it gets into your nose and makes you sneeze?).  But, it has lingered and is flowing strong this morning.  Where did this come from?  I was actually feeling good-no sinus headaches, no cold symptoms.  And now, I am using tissues like there's no tomorrow and my nose is already pink and sore.  No fair, I say!  Pk says it's my cold that I gave to him and he mutated and gave right back.  If that's true, he is in so much trouble.

I have a slight dilemma.  I discovered my sock wars socks are not knitted according to the pattern.  The heels are plain heel flaps and the pattern called for k1s1 heels.  (I know this because I forgot and had to rip out one).  Technically, they are a misfire.  It's been a week and I didn't notice until Sunday when we were getting ready for bowling.  I don't want to tell the Supreme Commander and cause a fuss since I've worn the socks and they're obviously not defective in any way- they just don't follow the pattern exactly.

Part of my problem is that I don't want to cause discomfort or problems for anyone else.  The socks are wearable (and quite beautiful).  But, if everyone else had to follow the pattern exactly (a premise that caused me grief more than once, who knew I just went off willy nilly as much as I do?), then my assassin should have to as well.  As of now, I am not going to say anything so I guess it's not really a dilemma.  I guess I'm just looking for validation for my position.

And now, I'm off to blow my nose some more.  Good thing I bring tissues from home. The ones they supply here would rasp the skin right off!
Have a good day all.