Friday, January 03, 2014

Thus the long vacation ends

Actually, I don't go back until Monday (and maybe not then, if the higher ups have mercy on non-essential staffers and let us stay home, out of the minus forty-some wind chills and negative digit high for the day), but that means this is my last actual vacation day.

This two weeks has been plagued by snow and cold. I've been housebound (by choice) for several stretches of three or more days. Not that you would know it from the state of the house. Changing the toilet flusher lever the first day I was off may be the sum total of my accomplishments this two weeks.

No regrets.

Although I will admit that last night I dreamt about housekeeping. My current rather modest condo easily doubled in size for the dream. I was cleaning and scrubbing in preparation for some event, when I realized that there was an entire additional section of the house - easily double the size of the one I was cleaning - that also needed to be tidied. At this point in the dream I started feeling rather overwhelmed, despairing of ever finishing the task.

Kind of like I feel about housework in general.

Based on my Facebook statuses (and the state of my kitchen) I've done rather a lot of cooking over the last couple of weeks. More than normal, anyway, since cooking one meal usually yields a couple of meals' worth of leftovers. The chuck roast I threw in the crockpot the other day was among the best I've ever made. I've a sneaking suspicion, though, that the reason for the melt-in-your-mouth goodness was the fact that I didn't trim the roast as aggressively as usual, so a lot of the rendered fat worked its way through the roast, softening the connective tissue.

The end of that roast is destined for shepherd's pie tonight or tomorrow. After that, it's time to figure out lunches. I've not made soup at all these two weeks; it may be time to lay in a stock.

Besides, with the oven or range going, the condo is just a bit warmer. I am not looking forward to seeing the energy bill at the end of this month. Between my habit of forgetting to turn off lights (especially on overcast days), the extra cooking (electric appliances - bah) and the need to have the heat at a temperature that at least keeps me from turning into a block of ice, I'm expecting a rather large hit. Thank heaven for budget billing.

Still debating on whether to go to the quilt shop tomorrow. True, it will be considerably warmer (28), but the wind is supposed to be nasty. I don't need to go; I do have to sign up for one of their clubs, but I can do that over the phone. It would be nice to have at least one day out over this two week span. Everything else as been short little trips to Panera or Starbucks.

Time to fire up the stove. Home made American fries and a mushroom omelet sound great.

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