What is the world coming to?!?

I ordered navy insulated curtains from Plow and Hearth. When I opened the package today, it contained a red xmas-themed table runner. WTH? When online procurement fails, I fear the end of the world. Fingers crossed on my order from The Company Store. Nonetheless, I ordered a book from Amazon.

• Prepped Nora's bedroom for her impending 10-day stay. I'm a little anxious about being solely responsible for her for so long, but apparently I am the only grandparent, not to mention relative, who is capable of doing this even though two of the other grandparents are ten years younger.
• Knitting: usual quota on the baby blanket, plus worked on the face mask.
• Since the weather is more tolerable in the afternoon, that is when I have been walking the dogs. But it throws off my entire day.
• Reading: Sunday Journal Gazette, January 1 New Yorker. I think I am giving up on Future Home of the Living God. Started Jar City. I don't know Icelandic, but the translation seems off to me.
• Paid one bill for the association (I'm the treasurer), but it took two checks as I totally ruined one. It's 2018.
• I had left the candy canes on the Norfolk pine houseplant, figuring my granddaughter and I could eat them bit by bit. But Beau, the Feline Destroyer of all Things Nice, decided to finally mess with them. Now they are in a cupboard.
• The Meyer lemon plant is simply bursting with blossoms! What a wonderful smell, especially in winter.
• More Call the Midwife.

Cabin fever

• Decided that I needed to get out of the house and run some errands. Not wanting to lock the dogs in their crates after no morning walks, I took them to doggy daycare. 
• But first, my SO called. He had texted me earlier about a dead car battery but his daughter stopped by and gave him a jump. Unfortunately, every time he turned off the car, it would not restart, like in the parking lot of the post office downtown. So after dropping the dogs off, I jumped him (TWICE) while following him around in search of a battery. Then he graciously took me out to lunch. He helps me so often that I am grateful to be able to return the favor. 
• Then my errands: the food co-op, Target, Fresh Thyme, home to drop off the food; library, Kroger, JoAnn, then pick up the dogs. 
• I have boarded the dogs at the doggy daycare place before. While they had fun and exercise, they seemed rather relieved not to be left overnight. And properly exhausted.

• Watched two more episodes of Call the Midwife. Started reading Hardcore Twenty-Four, the latest Janet Evanovich. The Stephanie Plum books are a quick read no matter the number of pages because there is so little printing on each page.

Plain old Saturday

Even though I am retired, Saturday still feels like Saturday.

• Morning routine: Temps and wind chill tolerable. The neighbor with the snow blower who usually helps me clear the driveway is distracted from his neighborly duties by his new girl friend, so I had to shovel snow after breakfast.
• Saturday routine: laundry, vacuuming.
• Weaving: blogged about the last swatch, now that it is blocked and all.
• Entertainment: Ordered tickets for Red, which is being staged by the First Presbyterian Theater. We've seen it before, in another local venue. Should be interesting to contrast and compare. Also, two more episodes of Happy Valley are under my belt.
• Pets: Beau climbed to the top of a free-standing cabinet. I could hear him knocking things about but could not figure out where he was. Look up, ya idiot!
• House: While contemplating my old, old "colonial blue" insulating bedroom curtains, which I bought when Indiana took leave of its senses and joined the DST madness and I needed something to block the daylight at 10pm (I'm not still upset, really I'm not), I remembered I had purchased a pair of the same style curtains but in "navy". They were for another bedroom but were never hung. I'm just glad they never made it to the Goodwill bag. I ordered another pair for my other bedroom window, from Plow and Hearth.

More winter advisory weather

This is getting a bit boring for me. You?

• Dog-walking/step-counting: Took the dogs on individual walks, medium length. More snow fell yesterday, enough to hide the ice beneath. Almost fell once. Despite walking nearly every aisle at Costco, my step count is coming up short.
• Dog training: Clio seems totally confused today about all commands. Watson gets it.
• Fiber: The usual 8 rows on the baby blanket. By my estimate, I have 20 more pattern repeats to do, plus the border. That will take 10-14 days. This project is beginning to feel interminable. I finished up swatch #4, so I am free from that self-imposed task.
• Eating: The pot roast is gone. The pears are gone. There were no 5-oz packages of greens at the Co-op today, so I bought baby spinach, which means I also bought mushrooms and feta cheese so I can make omelets.
• Entertainment: Finished In the Watershed and returned it to the library. More Happy Valley - I'm addicted. Could not figure out why one of the second season characters looks so familiar - he was Mr. Molesley on Downton Abbey.
• Health: Not feeling 100% today. Because of the inoculations? The result is a total lack of patience. If I ever get a serious illness, I will be a whiny bitch on wheels, not the sweet old lady who puts up a brave front. 
• Weather: After all my complaining about mild winters, I am now really tired of having to bundle up me and the dogs in order to go for a walk. The neighbor who usually blows my driveway is distracted by a new girl friend, so I've had to shovel. Not that I mind shoveling a little snow - it's part of my exercise routine - it's the long underwear that chafes (figuratively speaking).
• Shopping: I have been contemplating my spendthrift ways. Need a moratorium from Amazon.

Cold bound

Last night, despite the frigid temperatures (which gave me an excuse to work from home), I was forced to leave my cozy house: haircut, jump start for my SO, library drop-off, milk pick-up, grocery run. As I backed the car out of the garage, I tried to remember the last time I drove or even left the property. I think it was last Thursday, when I worked at work. Five days of house (ar)rest.

I wasn't totally isolated during that time. The granddaughter came to stay with me for a few hours on Saturday, so I saw both my daughter and son-in-law then. The weather and an impending cold/virus thing spoiled the usual get-together with my SO on Sunday, but we were in close contact. Monday the electrician stopped by for a pre-remodeling consult (everything is fine). And when one has the Internet, one is never really alone. (Hi, NSA!) I *could* have gone somewhere one of those days, but there was no need, so why bother?

Unlike some, I don't mind long stretches with only myself for company. The pets offer their own special companionship. With the marvels of technology, I'm not cut off from human intercourse. I see and hear my neighbors as they come and go. And with my myriad hobbies, there is always plenty to do. Since I wasn't feeling too perky to begin with, a couple of days on the couch, knitting and reading and napping, with the occasional foray to the bird feeders and mail box, seemed nearly ideal. Of course, it helps that I wasn't very sick and we never lost power and no pipes froze.

Now that I have stocked up on toilet paper, dairy products, fresh fruit, and chocolate, I am ready for the next wave of winter weather.

How are you surviving the polar vortex?