Ish Pish part duex

It's now two weeks and two days I've had the crud. My ears are still plugged and I am still walking like a drunken sailor (not that that's a bad thing...the drunken part that is!) The congestion in my head *seems* to be lessening. But still the ears are plugged. The right one tried to unplug yesterday to no avail. I'm slowly getting my gumption back. Not to the point of crafting or doing anything too taxing. I've done a load or two of laundry. Emptied the dishwasher a time or two. Cooked for John once or twice. I'm still pretty much eating soup. Still haven't vacuumed. The sound is too amplified in my pea brain with my ears being plugged. I said to someone the other day, perhaps if there were something there to absorb the sound it would be better! So it is what it is. Someday, this too shall pass. I hope!

Ish Pish

This crud that John shared with me has thrown me for a loop. I've been reading mail and blogs first thing in the mornings, then crawling on the couch and/or bed and that's where I've spent the better part of the last week. I have zero energy. I've done nothing creative OR domestic. And I don't care that I haven't. My ears have now decided to become blocked and my equalibirium is all out of whack and I walk (slowly) with a tilt. I am hoping that one day soon, things will return to their normal abnormal state. And while I'm at it, yes, my mouth is still sore. More precisely, the second to the back molar on the left side is still sore. The rest has healed nicely. There are days I want to yank that one tooth out of my head sans anesthesia.

Yuck

Despite my best efforts, John has managed to share the crud with me. I started yesterday afternoon with the hacking, sneezing, blowing. I don't think either of us slept well. If it wasn't him hacking, sneezing, blowing it was me. He's managed to run thru a box of Kleenex every day since he started with this, so I have to go out and buy more Kleenex today. Also more drugs. Because with both of us taking them, we're going thru them twice as fast. Duh! It's been years since I've been sick. I can't remember the last time.

CardPatterns challenge

Great sketch at CardPatterns this week.

I used CTMH Twitterpated paper pack and Aspiration stamp set. I stamped the flower on discontinued CTMH Twill. The tag is part of my stash o' goodies from Debbie and Evan for my birthday. I pulled 4 of the new CTMH Tiny Tabs apart and just used the centers for the "dots." Ribbon is from the CTMH Sorbet collection and Waxy Flax is Heavenly Blue.

Finally!

We made it to 68 degrees yesterday. John came home Monday with a scratchy throat. Sneezing, coughing, blowing. Sneezing, coughing, blowing. He laid about doing nothing on his two days off. Trying to fend it off. He wasn't too successful. So yesterday I went thru the house like a madwoman cleaning and disinfecting any and everything he had come in contact with. I even went so far as to put bleach in the Rainbow and vacuumed. I stripped the bed, washed everything. Washed his bath towels. We had a brand new house! Then he came home with his germie self and contaminated it again! ;) It's a bit on the chilly side this morning, but I've got the house open. For the first time since before Christmas. Run those germs out I say!

CPS challenge

Another great sketch this week at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ I can see all sorts of uses for this one!

I pulled out CTMH Topstitch paper pack and Charmed stamp set. The "petals" are stamped on Grungeboard in CTMH Vineyard Berry and are pop dotted on the ends. I made my own brad again using my I-Top Brad Maker. I'm really loving that tool!! I can't seem to do anything without making my own brads any more!

The cold...

may never end! They said that Tuesday would be the last morning of freezing temps and frosty ground. They were wrong! Then they said that Wednesday would be the last morning of freezing temps and frosty ground. They were wrong again! Now they say that today will be the last morning of freezing temps and frosty ground. I sure hope so. We have broken so many records with this infernal cold. We've not seen a high of 60 degrees since the new year started. That's now 15 days in a row of below 60. The last time that happened....records were not being kept. The Gulf of Mexico temps off the coast are below 50 degrees for the first time ever. Or since records have been kept. We've set a new record for days of temps below 32 degrees. The old record was 6 days back in 1977, which was the last time we had measurable snowfall. The new record? Eleven days. They say that we should hit 68 for a high today. That would almost prompt me to put on a bikini and cavort in the back yard. Or not! I might scare somebody!!

And on a more serious note. Please remember the folks in Haiti. Such a poor country to begin with and now this horrible earthquake and aftershocks. There is a large Haitian immigrant population here in Florida, so it's been in our news a lot the past two days.

How Cold Is It?!

Seventeen, yes, 17 degrees at my back door this morning. Tampa Airport, Where nobody still lives. Set a record low temp this morning of 26 degrees. It's 33 in Miami and 36 at Marathon Key. This is the coldest morning thus far in our almost 2 week long foray into Arctic bitterness. They say tomorrow we should start warming up and be back to our more normal lows in the 50's highs in the 70's by the end of the week. That will be most welcome! John's been wearing three layers of clothes every day, so I've been doing my favorite (NOT) job of laundry every other day. He says it's job security for me! So lucky am I!!

Even the dripper bird bath is frozen solid this morning! I have a stalagtite growing where the drop falls! And check out the icicles on the bird bath! They go almost to the ground! Poor birdies. At least their feeders are full.

Today would have been my dad's 78th birthday. He was only 61 when he passed away.

Wintry Mix

How's that for a blog title in the Sunshine State of Florida?!

That is part of the advisories this morning from the weather department. If you are driving, you need to be aware of ice on bridges just to the north of me. Let me repeat that. ICE on BRIDGES. That is almost unhead of! We had sleet here at the house at 6 AM this morning. There is snow as far south as Orlando. The last time we had measurable snowfall this far south was January 19, 1977. They say that places from where I am and north may not see 40 degrees for a high today. We have hit our high temperature for the day. It is only going to get colder. It's 34 degrees at my back door. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be bitterly cold for Florida with a cold north wind that is coming straight from the Yukon.

I think somebody north of me needs to shut the door!

The Big Chill

continues! Yesterday it was 24 at my back door. The "official" low at the airport (where nobody lives) was 27 degrees. That was a new record low for the date. We also did not reach our "Normal" low temperature for a high yesterday. Our normal low is 54 and our normal high is 74 for this time of year. Yesterday, the high was only 49 degrees. A lower high than what our normal low should be! That's just crazy.

This morning it is 20 degrees. I had to scrape frost off the thermometer to read it. They said last night that Sat night into Sun morning, we could see freezing rain, sleet and possibly SNOW!

Yesterday was also Ephiphany. Traditionally thought of as the day Jesus was baptized by Orthodox Christians. There is always a huge festival in the Greek village of Tarpon Springs, just south of us. Boys age 16-18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a cross tossed in the waters by a high ranking Greek priest. Yesterday, the water temperature was 49 degrees. So glad I wasn't one going for the cross!

They say we are supposed to see warmer temps by the middle of next week. That will be nice!

They're so sweet...

When they're sleeping!

Savannah and Orleans piled-ass up in our bed yesterday. Probably trying to stay warm! Orleans is sleeping with his "stuffies" that he "kills" nightly and brings to me in bed, since I'm Alpha! Every morning I gather them up and put them back in the basket and he will generally take them back in the bedroom and leave them in the bed. It's a silly game we play! I rub him with them and tell him thank you for bringing me my "snack" and he maows you're welcome at me in his "hunter/killer" voice! Savannah is perfectly content to lay on the end of the bed in a tight little ball. If I'm in the scrap room, she's generally under the computer desk at my feet.

And an "extra!" CTMH Convention is in Washington DC this year and since John and I have talked about going to DC since we got married, we are gonna go and make it a vacation as well. The theme of this years Convention is "Picture This" and they have asked all Consultants to send a head shot when we register later today. So I had John take a head shot of me last night. Just as he went to take the pic, my eye started twitching and I rubbed it. He took the picture anyway! Now you know why I don't let him have the camera very often. At least with digital, I can delete them. Back in the Dark Ages, I can't tell you how many ass shots of me I paid for and threw away. I've told him for years, just because he likes my ass, doesn't mean everyone else does!

Still cold here. They said last night that we've got another front coming thru on Fri and temps in Tampa could reach 20 degrees this weekend. That means low to mid teens for us, since we are north and more rural than the airport in Tampa, where the "official" temps are taken. Why? I dunno! Nobody lives at the airport, so why is the official temp taken there?!

CPS challenge

Two posts in one day! Had to do something to warm up, so what better way to do that than with the http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ challenge for this week?!

Valentine's Day is over a month away, but I decided I'd get started on some of my cards for it with this sketch. I used an all time fav CTMH pp, Silhouette. I pulled out CTMH Love Language stamp set to go along with it. The heart is stamped in CTMH Holiday Red. Black grosgrain ribbon is from the CTMH Black Ribbon Round collection. The belt buckle sister Jan sent me as part of my birthday gift. She bought it for a costume for Jake for school and ended up not using it and she said she thought her "crafty sister" could find a use for it. Yep, sure did!

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

And I don't want to hear one thing from my Yankee friends! This is COLD by Florida standards.

Yesterday we never got to 45 degrees. That is not a good sign for the night ahead. My late Grandfather always said that if we didn't get to 50, we were in for a long, cold night. As you can see, it's a balmy 28 at my back door this morning. There was frost on both the newspaper tube and the mailbox when I went to get the paper. John and I rigged up some blankets to cover my Earth Boxes that have tomatoes, mustard greens and spinach growing in them so they wouldn't freeze. I even put the chick warmer light inside the blankets to help give them some additional warmth. They say that we won't get to 50 today either, so tonight will probably be a repeat of last night. And it looks like Thur may well be the only day this week we'll see 60 degrees. Highly unusual for us. We generally see cold for a day or two and then it warms back up. This looks like it will last all week. Last time I remember it being this cold for this long was wayyyyyyyy back in 1961. That was the year that the orange and grapefruit trees were exploding because of the sap freezing and expanding. THAT was a devastating freeze for my Grandfather and other citrus farmers in the area. I remember hearing the sound as another tree would explode. Sounded just like a rifle shot. Then the smell of the trees burning in the Spring as they were cleared so new trees could be planted. Lots of citrus farmers never replanted after that freeze. But Grandpa did. It was the only thing he knew. And because he was one of few who did replant, his citrus business grew by leaps and bounds. It ended up being a wise business venture for him.

Edit:

I went out once it got light and took a couple more pictures. Disregard the bird bath that has nasties in it because it's been too cold for me to clean it! This bird bath has a dripper on it. Otherwise, it would be frozen solid like the other 5 I have! Icicles should not be hanging from a bird bath in Florida!

See ya later

2009! Good riddance I say. Here's to a better 2010.

And for those keeping track, or who care.

I went to my regular dentist for my cleaning yesterday. My hygenist was cracking me up (which is hard to do when she's got her hands in your mouth!) She was amazed at how good the one side of my mouth looked after my surgery. She was even calling others into her room to have a look-see. She said she thinks I will end up having to have a root canal in that one tooth that is still giving me fits. She doesn't seem to think the bone will grow enough to completely cover the nerves. And since I already have two root canals in my top front teeth from a teenage fight with the road and the road won, that would be no big deal to me. I remember how much pain I was in for a number of years until those root canals were done because of exposed nerves and how quickly the pain went away once the root canals were performed. I can only hope for as good of results if that is the final outcome with this molar. But we'll see what the Perio has to say when I go see him in April.