The dog days of winter

I better write something before too much time passes. The longer I go without blogging, the longer I go without blogging.

I'm so ready for spring and summer. It doesn't have anything to do with how much snow we've had. It doesn't have anything to do with the cold weather. It has everything to do with warm weather and daylight and flowers and green grass and leaves on the trees, and swimming outside. I long to be outside every moment that I can. I want to write about sitting on my porch watching the hummingbirds. Taking pictures of my garden. The same things I write about every spring and summer. I'm such a couch-potato in the winter. Especially this winter due to Netflix. I watched and loved Scandal. I'm on season 2 of House of Cards. I'm on season 2 of Breaking Bad. Now that the Olympics are over, all my regular shows are back on TV. So I spend most nights watching TV. It is entertaining. I don't want to spend my nights watching TV. I've also been eating more than normal. Snack food. I'm officially out of everything bad. I don't plan to buy more. I'm still going to the gym on a regular basis, thank goodness. Unfortunately, my right shoulder is starting to bother me. It stopped my swimming a few years back. I don't want to stop swimming but I don't want to change my stroke either. I'm going to look into all the classes the gym offers. I'll find one to go to tomorrow. I'm still walking, but not as much as I'd like to. Another reason I want warm weather and daylight. I want to walk before and after work. I was able to get out on my bike this past weekend when it got up to 60°. That felt wonderful! I biked the 12 mile BWI trail around the airport. I also walked 4 miles around the neighborhood. That was a happy day. It looks like it might get near 50° on Sunday. I'll bike again if it does. 

Looking over that last paragraph...maybe I should have left it to the first sentence?

I wrote in my last post that I watched Peter's dog Caylib for a week while he was away. He's away again and I'm watching Caylib for 10 days. I really like him. 

It's really good for Sparky to have a companion. It's not much more work to care for an extra dog. If you knew me before Sparky, you knew I didn't like dogs at all. Not one bit. Then Sparky came to live with us when my daughter moved back in and I felt obligated to take care of him. And now I have two dogs that I really care about. Except for Sparky's barking, which drives me crazy. It's a good thing he's so cute!

I've been writing this in Starbucks. I came here after work. I'm drinking a decaf. It's time to head home to the dogs and the TV. And no snacks.

Later!

Snow day

It's a snow day. I opted to get snowed in at Peter's in Annapolis. We got over 12" of snow at my house. We got about 4" in downtown Annapolis with sleet and rain on top. In other words, messy. But still beautiful. It sure was nice not to have to shovel. Thanks Emily! They do a great job of cleaning up the snow here. The city workers were busy shoveling. We went to lunch at McGarvey's. The place was so busy! Walking back to the house we passed guys and girls in fatigues shoveling the side streets and resident's steps. Turns out there were about 150 midshipmen out helping in downtown. Very nice. I think they're calling for a second round of a couple of inches of snow. I'm fine with that. I was scheduled to work today and have tomorrow as my day off. Now I have two days off. Happy me. Of course that means I don't get payed. I'm prepared for that.

Some Annapolis pictures:

Kunta Kinte Memorial plus a big-nosed snowman :-)

Ice, Ice baby

No Ice cream today

City Dock

It's a quiet day that's flying by. All days off do. I've always maintained that we need at least 36 hours in a day. Who's with me? 

Friends are coming over and we'll walk to dinner. Oh, how I love this town.

Blame it on the fuel

Starbucks helps me write. Not the place, necessarily. Not the caffeine, entirely. Being out in a coffeehouse with my iPad. I think that's the thing. It leads to random thoughts. Like how long it took me to buy a iPad and how did I ever compute so easily without it. Like how long it took to justify getting a iPhone, and how having a handheld computer changed everything. I look around me and most people are on thier laptops. I don't think we'll be seeing many laptops 5 years from now. I think hinges on computers will soon be a thing of the past. I was going to say till they wore out, but they're not meant to last all that long. I got a new laptop a few years ago. A 14" Toshiba. I wanted a smaller one. The 'R' never worked right. I hated the touchpad. My curser constantly jumped around. I have no clue why I didn't return it when I still could. These days I use my iPad for everything but: 

1.Changing my Facebook cover photo and profile picture and 2. Adding new billers to my online bank. One of these days I'll use it to change my Blogger template. I've had this one forever plus one day.

I had a short day today. A good one, which is usual. One of my clients was donating 8" of her hair to a charity. She read online that the best way to section the hair was with zip-ties. I sectioned her hair then measured each section. It was fun. Of course, I'm also easily entertained.

I also cut one of my co-worker's hair about 6" shorter. She does my hair and I do hers and our curly auburn hair always looks much the same. Now mine is longer. 

I'm going to be dog-sitting this cute pup for a week starting tomorrow.

His name is Caylib and he's Peter's dog. Sparky is going to be so excited when he finds out. They're pals and it will be great for both of them to have the companionship. Hopefully Caylib's good behavior will rub off on Sparky. Hopefully Sparky won't be heartbroken when the week is over.

Rambling time is over. I'm headed to the gym to swim. I'm hoping the caffeine will fuel my mile and maybe even add a few extra laps to it.

Streaming thoughts

I just got off work and I'm sitting in Starbucks and thought I'd write. I thought I'd write about a pet peeve, but then realized my last post was a complaint about Sparky and his barking. So I'll save the pet peeve for another day so I don't come across as a complainer. I wouldn't want to ruin my reputation, you know. Which just inspired a new direction for this post. Reputation. I think that the beliefs or opinions that are held by many people about other people are often wrong. I've known a few people who others thought were stuck-up. I believe they were shy. I've known a few people who others thought were arrogant. I believe they were insecure. I often think people aren't who we think they are. I've told this next story many times about my marriage. When asked what I thought caused it to fail, I've said, my ex thought I was wonderful. I tried very hard to convince him that I wasn't wonderful and that if he believed that, that he'd be disappointed. I told him that I was a nice person and a good person, but that I wasn't wonderful. I think our relationship ended when he realized I wasn't the ideal person he thought I was. He never would discuss what went wrong. This tale is what I've surmised. He turned out to be a great ex-husband and very good father. A lot of people think I'm wonderful. I'm not. I'm just a nice person and I try to be a good person.

I figured out a way to stop Sparky from barking out the front window. I realize it's only a band-aid to the problem, but it's giving me peace for now. Who needs a coffee table or a leaf for their dining room table anyway?

I have no clue why the front windows are the barking windows. I don't know what I'll do if he picks a new spot.

Time to get moving. I have a busy afternoon planned, then a weekend in Annapolis including a great dinner tonight at Peter's. 

Signed,

Not-so-wonderful, Cheryl (do I really want to ruin my reputation?)