In the last four and a half hours, I have managed to dust the living room, straighten the office and my bedroom, clean the kitchen, vacuum 90% of the house (I still have the living room to do), reattach and regrout the tiles of the counter above the dishwasher, and wash my car. I haven't eaten lunch yet because I've been so motivated to clean that I didn't want to stop. I'm only on the computer now to take a minor break, and I'll finish the vacuuming and clean the bathroom as soon as I'm done with this entry.
I am having company tonight, but it's not a whole lot. I thought it was going to be J and her kids with her husband, but apparently the kids aren't behaving enough to be allowed to come. That's a shame -- the last time we all played games together J's son expressed an interest in Clue, so the last time I was at Target I went ahead and picked it up. Also, J's husband is anti-social, so I guess he's not coming. J's friend S will be there, so that's cool. And Kurt managed to get out of having duty tonight, and he should be home around 6pm. Yay! I have 24 beers (some Icehouse and some Hefeweizen), and I'll be making my famous honey-roasted almonds. I think a great time will be had by all. That's the aim, anyhow.
The holidays spent with the in-laws went really well. I had a great time in Tucson, and I won't deny I was lovin' the heat and the sun and the over-all gorgeousness of the weather. I went out to hang laundry one day, and it was dry by the time I got to the other end of the line! And now I'm back in Washington, and it's cold and snowy and overcast and blah. Oh, well. I got a break from it all.
I managed to contract a virus of sorts while I was down in Tucson as well. I got this dry patch on my back first, and then I started breaking out in what looked to be chicken pox all over my torso. I finally went to the doctor when we got home from Tucson, and she told me it was a virus, but the medical community doesn't know what it's caused by or why I broke out with it. But like the chicken pox, this should be the only break-out of it I'll have. That's a good thing because it itches like there's no tomorrow.
So now I'm on a steroid to halt the virus in its tracks, and a hydrocortisone to stop the itching. The hydrocortisone makes me drowsy and sort of out of it, which is why I'm so surprised I'm so perky right now. Yesterday I was all drugged up, and while I was visiting HC she said, "I want the real Karyl back!!" :o)
And I started home too late last night after spending the day with HC. I stopped by the package store on base to get the Hefeweizen and headed north. Once I got onto the country roads up by our house, I slowed down, but I didn't realize that the entire road was one big sheet of ice. I hit a patch just the right way and went sliding off the road into a ditch. Only it wasn't a ditch -- it was more like a ravine. Fortunately I slid tail end first into the ravine, and I managed to slide very gently so I was not injured in the least. Kurt came out to be with me, we called a tow truck, and after 45 minutes my car was out.
Only the tow truck driver made me very nervous at first, telling me that my car is so cheaply built that he might mess it all up just getting it out of the ravine since I was so far in. Plus he thought I had more than $700 worth of damage done to it since the ravine that I went into was covered in bramble bushes. Fortunately there is NO damage to my car, and the tow truck pulled the car out without damaging it as well. So all around, I'm VERY happy. I'm not hurt, first and foremost, and my car isn't hurt either. Both are VERY good things. :o)
Have a very happy and SAFE New Year's Eve!!