Vacation

Something nice about being on vacation:  All alarms off!

It is kind of hard to describe exactly how nice it was to turn off each and every one. I flew alone to Milwaukee on Monday (Dec. 19), then my husband came up on Wednesday and we drove up north on Thursday.  So Tues and Wed mornings I was solo, with no alarm, no one snoring in bed with me or getting up 4 times overnight to pee, or waking up due to his "natural alarm" at 7 a.m.  And I slept until almost 10:00 both days!  Even though I'd gone to bed before midnight both nights before (even if just barely).  I sometimes think I could easily sleep my life away if I had the option. 

Up north was lovely and snowy.

But it was also very cold.  I was going to go for a run outside Saturday morning (and just wear my mom's yak trax since they don't plow there), but the temp was under 5 degrees, and the wind chill was -26, so I opted for the treadmill. 

Fairly proud of myself for running 11 on the treadmill on vacation.  I have the scars on my inner thighs to show for it -- I either wore bad shorts or I gained weight in all the wrong places.  Oh well, 11 miles is 11 miles! 

Hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays and getting to relax a bit! 

VD

Valentine's Day seems to be a really big holiday for people who are dating, but less so for the rest of the world.  For us, it's usually an exchange of cards, flowers and sometimes chocolate for me, and some type of event for us -- special dinner, a show, whatever.  Most of all, lots of extra "I love you"s, shmoopy texts, kisses, and hugs. 


This year, we decided to get tickets to Shen Yun.  We went the weekend before last and it was an experience.  The dancing was amazing, and we each had favorite pieces (my husband liked the Tibetan drummers, I liked the yellow blossom dance), but we were both very surprised that about 2-3 of the 12-15 dance vignettes seemed to be very anti-Chinese government.  We were totally clueless walking in!  The website has details about how the performance company believes China's government is trying to make the company fail (and the Chinese government's opposition to Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa)).  But we didn't know any of that going into it, we just expected a 2-3 hour dance performance.  Anyway, politics aside (not that I'm sweeping any issue under the rug, I just know it's quite complicated), the dancing was lovely and it was nice VD celebration for us to be all dressed up and out together, whispering in our box about propaganda, whether we were being recruited, memories of when we were in China...


So when it got to be Sunday night this past weekend, my husband asked what we were going to do for the actual day of VD.  Since that meant we had no reservations, I suggested he come to a spin class with me.  And he agreed!  He usually hates working out at night, and while he loves biking, he's not big on spin, but in the interest of making me happy and ensuring we got to do something together on the actual night, he packed up his biking clothes. 


So I went to my second spin class of the year (also second spin class of the last 5+ years), on Valentine's Day, with my sweetest. 


Why spin?  Well, it's being taught by the great Megan Lyons!  At a fun studio, Grit.  If anyone can convince me to spin, it's Megan.  She's a great instructor and I might stick with it on at least a somewhat consistent basis (at least a couple classes per month hopefully) (of course it's very easy to say that since my work travel doesn't start for another month...).  Anyway, my first class was solely an effort to survive.  Megan's sister had given me some tips and I mostly kept the tension off and just tried to move my legs.  But for the VD class, I actually tried harder.  I'm not going to deny that there were multiple times my RPMs were below what she had set as the floor for the class, and I'm sure I always had the tension lower than it should have been, but baby steps!  I managed to get 13 miles in during the course of the class! 

Festive Options

The feeling of life rushing by me seems to come in cycles.  I'm definitely in one of those now!  Between still carrying about 25% more cases at work than usual while my new co-worker gets up to speed, to trying to get in some loooong runs before a marathon in a few weeks, to trying to be good about cooking more, I feel like I'm spread kind of thin, which has meant no blogging (but yeah, still reading, always seems to be some time in the morning or during lunch...).


Anyway, after seeing Gracie's post showing her ball gown for Mardi Gras, I realized that I need to make a decision on mine.  We're heading out on Thursday this year, so my goal is to pack tonight if possible. 


I have two choices for this weekend.  Unfortunately, both have their drawbacks.


The first choice is this blue one. 

The downsides to the blue:

It is a re-wear (I wore it in 2008).

It needs to be steamed (and we leave on Thursday). 

I hate not wearing a real bra.

Then there is my brand new option.  Unfortunately, it also has its downsides. 

Downsides to the black one:

It is black.  Lovely for evening gowns, so BLAH for Mardi Gras.

It is one-shouldered, which my best friend's husband hates (but I've done it once before, and yeah, he's not my husband, and I can deal with him teasing me).

It's new -- I can return it for a few more weeks if I decide to go with the blue one.  It wasn't super-expensive (about $200, so moderate, but some dresses can be crazy pricey), but obviously saving money instead of spending it is always good.

I have a feeling I'm going to pack both of them and decide that night. 

Either way, very excited about the trip! 

Why

My main Christmas question was ... why?


Specifically, why in the world would a company make and market a game called "Pie in the Face"?


And a related question -- why would my aunt buy said game for my nieces and nephew?


And a related question -- when we are playing a lovely game of Apples to Apples (which my niece had received), why would my brother bust out Pie in the Face and insist we play?


Thankfully, I only played two rounds and I "won" both rounds (i.e., no "pie" (whipped cream) in my face), but I laughed regrettably hard at seeing my husband "lose" both rounds (I honestly didn't think he'd even agree to play, but the kids wanted him to and he obliged without complaint), seeing my brother lose, and seeing my nieces and nephew laugh like crazy.

But still, horrible, horrible game.  Avoid at all costs if possible! 

Cookie Monster

Part of the reason life is so crazy right now (besides doing the work of two attorneys right now) is because we are flying home for Christmas this week Friday.


We had a lovely local Thanksgiving, then the following weekend we were both out of town (me in San Antonio for the marathon, husband in Pittsburgh visiting the 'rentals), and then there was this past weekend -- essentially the only "holiday prep" weekend available.  Next weekend we'll be in Milwaukee and there will be time to wrap the things I shipped up there and do shopping for a couple more items, and then we'll drive up north on Monday for the rest of the week. 


But only one weekend in town to do all of my "big four" holiday tasks -- baking, cards, shopping and wrapping. 


Most the shopping was done online already, so it's pretty easy to check that item off the list -- although of course the few things that remain to be bought really need to be done ASAP. 


I did manage to wrap the only gifts that really needed to be wrapped (my husband's, the others will be given after we come back to Texas and therefore can be wrapped later, or will be going on the plane and don't necessarily need to be wrapped now). 


As for cards, I managed to address envelopes to everyone who sent us a card last year and a few others.  I'd still like to do cards to everyone else we usually send them to -- but that entails buying more cards.  I still need to write out all the cards (I've always been one to write some kind of note, I honestly don't like getting the "envelope stuffed" ones that much), and put on return labels and stamps, plus I need to make labels for the backs of our photos that we enclose in most cards.  Yow.  But really, I could mail cards from Milwaukee and it wouldn't be the end of the world.


Baking is done.  The one thing that absolutely couldn't wait, didn't.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to divide up the cookies and put them on plates/platters for distribution, but that will have to happen tonight (since I want to give the 4 work plates of cookies while they're fresh, plus there's 1 running friend on the calendar tomorrow, and another holiday party tomorrow night to which we bring a plate). 


8 kinds of cookies.  This morning at boot camp, Megan asked me how many of those I ate -- I concluded 10, but I might have been slightly underestimating.  But they all met my stamp of approval. 


The sad part of baking was that this year, it was largely a solo endeavor.  My husband helped with the three that really needed it -- the kind that needed decorating, the kind that needed "urgent" work (quickly shoving marshmallows on top while they're partially baked), and the kind that are best done by fingers with very low heat sensitivity (arranging the wreaths, made from corn flakes, marshmallows and butter).  But for the other 5, I was 100% on my own.  Usually my next door neighbor comes over and we bake as a team, but she's in Italy all month!  Next year...


Below:  salted caramel cookies, oatmeal/white choc/cranberry, and brandy/white choc/cranberry:

Below, same but with the mint swirls and the decorated shortbreads (already in a bag):

Below are the no-bake wreaths:

And with the addition below of the hot chocolate cookies:

And a poorly lit picture of this year's experiment, peppermint meringues: 

Thankful

This year I've been keeping a "grateful list" -- an old school journal started many years ago, but with remaining pages.  I couldn't bring myself to post something like this on FB, so many similar posts make me roll my eyes.  And it hasn't been convenient to post the list here (I write as I get in bed each night).  So the journal has worked well. 


It's been fun to look at the journal itself.  It keeps falling open to pages I wrote in 2007 on our trip to Europe when we got engaged.


But, in an effort to get back into the habit of blogging and bring things back up to speed, here's a rough run down of my current "grateful list" as I sit at my desk eating lunch.


I'm grateful that we got to go on an amazing vacation for most of October, enjoying time in the Andalucía region of Spain, all over Morocco, Southern Italy, and then a final day in Milano.  The trip was one of our best ever and we honestly had trouble on the flight home trying to decide what the "low point" was (I concluded it was getting ripped off by a cab driver in Tangier (charged us the equivalent of $7 when it never should have been over $2), husband concluded it was spending as many nights in Tangier as we did, considering it was actually our least favorite part of Morocco and the nights would have been better spent elsewhere). 


I'm grateful that I still have 2 vacation days to use over Christmas!  That means my "work remotely from Italy" plan worked!  It was 100% worth it to carry my work laptop all over creation with us.  The goal was to do 50% on a Wed., and then 75% days on Thurs and Fri.  Of course the very nature of vacation in my job means there's tons of stuff that builds up when I'm gone, and I was able to easily blow through tons of it.  I actually worked the equivalent of 3 full days I think, instead of the 2 full days I'd planned. 


I'm grateful that I have a lot of job security.  While I was on vacation, my co-worker (who just started in January!!!!) gave her notice.  And her notice was basically "I'm quitting in 2 weeks, but I have some unused vacation and floating holidays, so I'm out of here next week actually."  That was horrible.  Fortunately, we were able to recruit back someone who quit a few years ago, and she'll be starting next week.  It will take some time for her to get up to speed, but far less time than it would take with anyone else we could have hired.  So right now, my main excuse for not having posted since we got back to the US, I'm basically working double time.  I'm handling all my cases, plus all of my co-worker's.  It's impossible.  I'm not really "handling" them -- I'm doing more triage than anything.  All my major reporting deadlines are passing me by and I'm powerless to even make a dent into my "real" workload -- but for the most part, I haven't horribly dropped the ball yet as far as I know.  It's scary, because years ago, when I was hired, it was a situation like this -- I was coming in to take over for someone who had left the office a few weeks earlier.  And my old co-worker (the one who quit's predecessor, who is still with the company but in a different role) was basically managing a double workload.  And she inadvertently had a lawsuit go into default on her watch.  She was notified it was served, intended to retain counsel, but failed to actually do so.  Total disaster in our industry.  We were able to work around it in the end, but I feel like it's just a matter of time until I basically do the same thing.  It's impossible and unrealistic to manage this kind of caseload, so if/when I drop the ball, I have a feeling my boss will be forgiving.  I just hope it doesn't have dire consequences.


I'm grateful that I'm running.  I wore my ankle brace religiously on vacation.  As the weeks went by, I noticed a decrease in the amount of pain and swelling (though it's still a bit swollen).  By the end of the trip, I could walk for hours with no pain at all, unless I was on any kind of side sloped surface (think walking on a sidewalk, crossing a driveway that slopes down to the street).  I went for a follow up doc's appointment, and got the all-clear to start running (wearing a brace) as long as I was pain free.  Well, running in the brace lasted all of 5 minutes.  That thing was going to blister me like no one's business.  So I'm wearing the brace for boot camp, but I'm running brace-free -- trying to stay off all sloped surfaces (frequently running in the middle of the street; luckily, not many cars at 5:15 on the streets we run), trying to avoid stepping on any kind of rock or pebble or acorn or anything else that might cause my ankle to rotate out or in.  There's some definite medial (inside) ankle pain when I get over about 6 miles.  But the places the doctor said to watch for pain (and immediately stop if there was any) were all on the outside of my ankle and a bit into my calf (where the stress reaction or fracture is).  No pain there at all, so I'm proceeding.  I ran 13.1 miles this past Sunday.  Pace was terribly slow, and I definitely would have had trouble going further, but it's miles.  The plan is still to do a marathon next weekend (WTF????!!!).  Fortunately, it's never a marathon I intended to race.  It's a girls' weekend trip, and I may do the full with my bestie if she does it and our paces line up.  I don't care if there's walking involved, I'd just like to finish.  I read Amy's post about basically doing the same thing -- running a marathon severely underprepared, but just because she can finish, and because she likes to run.  And so many people can't and/or don't.  And that's basically my attitude.  I think the race will be fun, even if it takes 6 hours.  And I don't think it will hurt me to do it (if there's "bad" ankle pain, I'll absolutely stop). 


I'm grateful that we don't have to travel for Thanksgiving this week.  I get to keep up my longest streak race (huge local Turkey Trot (over 30k people I think), 8 mile distance for maybe my 12th consecutive year?).  We are going over to my former boss's house for dinner as we've done the last couple years.  And this year, I'm going to endeavor to make the main course for me and my friend (ex-boss's wife, my former co-worker in Big Law) -- the vegducken.  Butternut squash stuffed with an eggplant stuffed with a zucchini stuffed with scallions.  Looks labor intensive but we shall see...


I'm grateful my husband is feeling better.  He came back to some work chaos as well, and (my theory...) got stressed about it, wasn't sleeping well, etc., ended up with a weakened immune system and caught an upper respiratory infection.  He was down for the count for about a week (even took a sick day, which is rare for him).  He got better, finished off the steroid pack, and then within a week or so, he felt like he was getting the same thing.  He was considering going back to the doctor, but as of this morning, he thought he was actually around the corner, making a comeback, feeling better. 


I'm grateful some family drama has resolved.  It unfortunately began last week Monday morning, and continued throughout my nearly 100 hour work week.  Lovely.  The short version:  my sister-in-law was very upset because I had asked her kids what they wanted for Christmas the first weekend of October when I was up there for the marathon that wasn't.  And then I bought them what they wanted.  And it turns out that I can't return things on Amazon after more than a month.  And it turns out what they asked me for (and what I bought) is also what they wanted from Santa.  So she was freaking the f out about it.  Which was awesome given my work hours and stress level.  She was texting me all the time about it.  Unnecessary lost sleep for me stressing about it.  But we found a solution -- she is buying the gifts from me for the kids from Santa, and she is going to shop for new gifts from me and wrap them.  Win-win.  I told her my whole point was to be done with them (and a lot of the rest of my family) before vacation, buying as much as possible small items that I could wrap here and fly home with, rather than large things I'd ship there and then have to hurriedly wrap in the days before Christmas.  But I honestly don't think our relationship wasn't harmed by all this -- I'm not a quick forgetter or an easy forgiver unfortunately.  I'm left feeling kind of bitter and unappreciated -- there was no "it's so great you did all this to make my kids happy" and there was a nasty voicemail from her telling me I "just don't understand because [I] don't have kids".  But I shall try to let go and move on...  Either way, I'm grateful it's over, resolved, done. 


I'm grateful I finally got back to writing.  Just sitting here for half an hour, checking out of the office mentally, it's nice.  Not sure I'll ever get caught up on blog posts I missed while I was gone, but at least I'm back to reading, which is always what I've liked to do. 

Easter treats

More than a week late now, but I had pictures on my phone that I took with the sole intent of posting here!

Easter morning, we went to my church.  I am Episcopalian, my husband is Catholic.  Since the outset of our relationship, the deal has been Christmas and Easter at my church, any other services at his.  And since my husband used to work Sundays, it really just meant Christmas at my (parents') church.  But since he changed jobs while we were in India, now he's off Sundays, so I got to bring him with me. 

After church, we came home to cook a bit -- our job was bringing salad and an appetizer, and then I also made Hot Cross Buns, an Easter morning tradition I grew up with, and a carrots-and-dirt type dessert.  Then we packed all that up and went to spend Easter with my godson and his family. 

By way of background, hubby and I rarely cook together, but we've undertaken Easter treats for the last couple years.  Unfortunately I don't have 2013 pictures, but at least I wrote about it (here), and 2014 had pictures, here. 

Anyway, here we go.  Pictures of some of the goodies we enjoyed on Easter.

Best of all was this nut-free carrot cake that my godson's dad made.  He's an amazing baker and I joked with my husband that this cake was the stuff of fantasies, and that he too would begin dreaming of this guy bringing him cake.  Haha, it really is good though! 

This is the carrots-and-dirt dessert we made.  Pudding on the bottom, then oreos, then frosting with edible grass. 

These are the Hot Cross Buns we made.  Not as good as I remember, but still good:

This is what the carrots and dirt were supposed to look like:

This was a dessert idea we considered and rejected (Easter 2016?):

And this just made me laugh: 

 

So happy (belated) Easter! 

April Fool's

A couple days late but had to share some April Fool's fun.

When my boss came in, my new coworker and I totally got him.  There has been a bit of a freak out lately because someone we just started working with had two very significant (and potentially bad) things happen recently and we learned about both of them in the second half of March.  So he's on his guard when it comes to that company already.  Well, Wednesday morning, as soon as he walked in the office, we flagged him into my office (where I pretended to hang up a phone call about the crisis) and we told him about two "new" serious cases with the same company.  Made up facts and all.  He was totally shocked and said something like "Oh my God, are you kidding?"  And we were like "Yes. April Fool's."  At one point I was worried I'd crack a smile so I had to pretend to look at my calendar to get a date.  He'd totally forgotten it was April 1.  I couldn't believe it.  I got him last year too with something similar! 

But the main reason I had to write this post was the car I saw when merging onto the highway after work.  I wish I'd been able to take a picture, but I was driving.  It was a big black SUV.  Something like a Tahoe?  Anyway, three pieces of paper attached to the back of the SUV.  The first one said something like "Say 'Hi Walter!'"  The next one said "Honk, yell and wave!"  The last one said "April Fool's Day 2015".   I'm sure by the time Walter was driving home from work, he'd seen the signs walking up to his car, but it was a cute idea.  I wonder how many people honked, yelled, or waved at Walter.

Funny stuff! 

Run, run, run at Mardi Gras

I mentioned before that at Mardi Gras (in Mobile) this year, the Friday night parade theme was Run, Run, Run!  I should have taken more pictures.

Anyway, since I write enough about running, I figured I'd share some photos from the Crewe of Columbus parade this year. 

One of the early floats, before we knew what the theme was:

A blurry picture of the theme sign, Run, Run, Run! 

Crewe of Columbus float

Somehow we're already on float 11 by now it appears, but that float was Run of Luck.

Run of Luck float:

Even blurrier, but I think it's Run for the the Roses:

The Beer Run sign/float:

Home run float sign:

Running of the bulls was another float theme:

Runaway train was one of the last ones:

And a pciture of the train float coming:

Side of the train:

 

I missed the sign, but this was the Azalea 10k Trail Run float, which was my favorite.  I guess it's a local race so it would be in my mind, the most obvious float for this theme:

And the Crewe of Columbus parade won my award for 2015 Weirdest Catch of the Year.  I caught this t-shirt, which I thought was hilarious:

 

Here's a detail of the back.  Yes, apparently someone on the float on Feb. 13, 2015, was using t-shirts from a Sept. 27, 2014 high school cross country meet as throws...

So bizarre.  Weirdest catch of the following night was a 4-pack of toilet paper, but the t-shirt wins out for being weirdest overall.

Mardi Gras

What an awesome weekend we had!

I absolutely need to do another post, but COC's parade theme this year was "Run, Run, Run!"  Best Mardi Gras parade theme ever for someone who likes to run!  I took pics of a bunch of it that I will have to post. 

The funniest part of the weekend was that my bestie was crazy, crazy intoxicated at the ball.  It was so funny.  It turns out she hadn't eaten all day (lots of running around).  At one point, I told her I was going to get some cheese and crackers and asked her if she wanted any.  She responded with something about New Jersey? 

I know she was disappointed to miss the ball, but she and her husband left very early. 

Thankfully we had time to hang out Friday and then during the day Saturday, and briefly Sunday before we had to head home. 

We had such a great time.  Great weather, lots of good food, and for the first time in years, I managed to maintain a mild buzz for much of the weekend, never actually becoming intoxicated.  This year there were basically three other law school couples (besides my bestie and hubby), plus her ex-boyfriend and his fiancee, and her sister and her boyfriend, so we had a group of 14 which made for a lot of fun.  There were also 4 kids, plus my bestie's parents and all their friends.  Lots of people to chat with and laugh with. 

We stayed at the ball until about 2.  My husband's shoes were really bothering him and he wanted to leave about midnight, but I convinced him to check out the two side band rooms, and the first one we went to he loved.  The group was Gretsch Lyles and the Modern Eldorados.  They played a lot of oldies, stuff like Buddy Holly, Elvis, some stuff from the 70s and 80s maybe?  I can't remember all of it, but my husband loved it and as long as he was happy and not asking to leave, and there was music and dancing, no complaints from me! 

The drive home was rough.  We had gotten less than 5 hours of sleep and I was supposed to drive the whole way (hubby did the whole drive on Friday, while I worked in the car).  I managed to drive for about 4 and a half hours and I was getting nervous because I was so tired.  Hubby had napped for some of the morning, so he took over for a couple hours while I slept.  Oh, that was so lucky for me.  By the time we crossed the state line into Texas, I felt great and was able to take over again. 

The best part about driving was that I got to pack as much stuff as I wanted.  That meant bringing some food for the party room (mac and cheese bites, a dip, our alcohol choices), but I also brought my blender and my smoothie stuff for Saturday breakfast.

The one thing I forgot was a water bottle.  Since I was not overserved on Fri night, I got up and went for a run Saturday morning.  I told my husband I wanted to do 5 or more miles, ideally about 10, but without water, I wasn't sure.  As soon as I got outside, I realized it was a lot warmer than my phone had said, but I set out.  I considered stopping at two fast food places to see about getting a cup of water, but then I passed a gym.  Best World Gym maybe?  Don't remember the name, but I thought any fitness lover might be sympathetic.  I went in and there were 3 people working out.  The woman came up to me and asked if she could help.  She said there was a water fountain or I could have a bottle.  An icy cold bottle of water was a dream and it carried me about 3 more miles before the neighborhood was just too creepy and I decided to turn back.  I ended up with over 10 miles, which is probably my longest Mardi Gras run aside from the year I was training for Boston.  It was slow, but lovely.  And then I got back to the room and got to have my smoothie! 

A long run and my fave breakfast made Mardi Gras even better.  All the comforts of home, plus my best friend, parades, beads, and all kinds of fun food and drinks...

It's Official...

Christmas is over.  As of today.  Not on the Epiphany as usual for us (when eating holiday cookies and bread ends).  Not on the weekend following Epiphany as usual (when the tree comes down and decorations are put away).  But today.

Why today?  Well, I finally mailed our last Christmas card! 

It's almost like that's the best insight into my life lately -- overwhelming and busy and behind schedule.

Work is out of control but relief is in sight.  We hired a new attorney on Monday, who is going to take over about 75% of my co-worker's case load (who is moving to another division), and then this new attorney will take about 12% of my current case load.  When exactly she'll be in a position to take that 12% is to be determined.  She's still doing on-boarding/training/HR stuff/learning how we do what we do.  But hopefully within the next 6 weeks is my best guess. 

The home front is also out of control.  We are just not used to my husband having two days off per week and those two days being the same two as me.  We're too used to having fun on the weekends together, so cleaning, errands, all the other stuff is falling apart.  His honey do list (changing a light bulb really high in the bathroom, new scale batteries, getting the codes to unlock our phones, and getting garage shelving units is the current list) is not getting done, and my solo weekend task list (things like getting addresses for those last Christmas cards) is also not getting done. 

Running is NOT going well.  I'm not hurt or anything, but I just feel like I'm out of shape.  I told my running buddy that I feel like I've been teetering on the edge of a cliff for the last 2-3 months.  He told me to just keep showing up and he'll make sure I don't fall over.  So I am showing up for the runs, but being out of shape means falling behind my friends and struggling.  But showing up is most important, I know that, and thus far, I'm doing it.  Even in the (relative) cold. 

But in reality, even with the chaos and busy-ness that seems to be my overwhelming feeling about my life right now, it's still all good.  Happy and healthy (had a sinus infection right after New Year's, but even that's gone now).  The list of tentative resolutions that are in the running for official 2015 resolutions are actually going well.  Just ticking along! 

You know you're in Wisconsin when (part 2)...

Your momma makes dessert for you every single night.  I wish I had been taking more pictures.  The first night home, it was a chocolate torte.  This night was panna cotta.  Another night was bread pudding.  Another night was Christmas cookies (well, that was Christmas Eve). 

She's so good to me. Since none of my brothers are up north for Christmas, all our dinners have been awesome vegetarian things. One night was an eggplant arborio casserole, one night was a spinach chickpea curry (vegan!), one night was mushroom gratin over polenta, one night was Moroccan carrot soup (vegan!), one night was a spaghetti casserole, one night was curried tofu with peas (vegan!). 

The sad thing about the panna cotta dessert though was that we ate it all. That I guess is the downside to individual portions of dessert.   She made 4, we ate 4, no leftovers for lunch dessert the next day. Thankfully, there was still chocolate torte...

Hope you had a lovely Christmas (if you celebrate).  Happy, warm, full belly, healthy, heart full of love, surrounded by your favorites. 

This is why we wear pants

Even if you don't think there's a good reason to wear pants, it's very important. 

Even if you are just driving to the gym to run on a treadmill and then driving back home. 

Stuff like this can happen at any time, even when your momma just drove home on this exact same route less than an hour earlier and it was completely clear. 

We got out of the car and tried to move it.  No luck.  We got a few of the larger limbs off the road, but the main trunk was still completely across the road.  We tried to call my mom, but no cell service. 

So we pondered what we should do. Me in no pants, no gloves, no scarf, borrowing hubby's hat. Hubby in pants, gloves, another hat he had in his pocket, the works. 

Fortunately, within half an hour or so (we were actually weighing our options -- get out and walk home (less than a mile probably, but no pants for me), drive back to town and try to load a map on our phones with an alternate route, drive back to town and call the police), a car came from the other direction. He stopped and all three of us tried to move the trunk.

Honestly, I really do think the three of us were stronger than the average 3 people passing that point in the road on a given day, but no. It didn't move at all.

So the guy said he'd go home and get a chainsaw and come back. He was on his way to work. I'm guessing there was an alternate route he could have taken, but being a kind soul, he was true to his word and he was back in about 15 or so minutes.

 

So he chopped the trunk into about 8 sections that were huge and heavy, but small enough for my husband to lift, drag, push, or roll to the side of the road.

While I sat in the running car and learned a valuable lesson about why we wear pants.   

Untouchable, Beer Mile IV

Last night was my final race of the year -- another beer mile (the event here is twice a year, once after Boston, and then once after our local marathon). 

I think I can officially say that I am untouchable in terms of women who participate in this event in Dallas.  If it weren't so painful and so fun, I would consider trying to find another local version of it to give myself some more competition.  But with the group that does this event, I really am untouchable. 

I was kind of hoping for a PR, but who am I kidding?  I'm just not in PR shape right now running-wise.  But to compound the situation, we had a rainy day on Wednesday, so the track was pretty sloppy last night.  The upside to a sloppy track was that it was a smaller field competing. 

It was my slowest win yet, another 12 seconds slower than the spring race.  And I was nervous.  As I was finishing up my third beer, the second place woman had just entered the drinking zone. 

Cutting it close...

There is always one guy in this group who finishes way, way, way behind the rest of us.  Last night, after I finished and caught my breath (and high-5'd the male winner), I saw he was heading out for a lap.  I assumed it would be his last, but I wasn't really thinking about it much.  I decided to run with him as a cool-down.  100 meters in he told me it was his third lap and he was struggling.  He actually stopped about halfway through the lap because he wanted to burp, and I was like, well, at least walk and make progress.  I was trying to point him to drier and more solid parts of the track, but it didn't help much.  He finished portions of his final beer (I think he knew they wouldn't DQ him), and then pretty much all of us set out with him on his final lap.  Good times!

Then we all went back to the organizer's house for a small party.  I only stayed until about 10 since I had to get up before 4:00 this morning -- my flight home left DFW at 6:15 AM.  Yikes!  And since I was flying Spirit (which I'd never flown before) and checking a bag, I wanted to be there early. 

Good choice on my part!  The line to drop off a bag was HUGE.  And then security took forever because Spirit apparently doesn't participate in TSA pre-check, so I had to wait in the regular line and take my shoes off -- gross! 

I planned to work the whole flight so I could wrap up early tonight and have extra time with my family, but I was just too tired and I slept the whole way.  Feeling a bit better but looking forward to a solid night's sleep tonight.  Hubby is on the same flight tomorrow, so that will be good.

It feels crazy cold here to me so I think it's going to be a lot of time indoors.  Tomorrow will be a big day of wrapping.  Ugh!  And shopping for the last gift for one person and a majority of a gift for one other person.  I also have to write out and mail all our Italian cards and 4 others.  Unfortunately, I did my shipping yesterday during the day and mistakenly put two cards into the mail with absolutely no address -- just a first and last name.  I meant to look it up but totally spaced.  Wonder how long it will take for them to make their way back to me...

Baking done

I know it's been quiet around here lately but as is the case for pretty much all of us, there's just so much to do this time of year! 

I'm not complaining because as always, no one is making me do anything, but wow, it's a lot.  Having a late Thanksgiving this year, and then going out of town for a marathon the following weekend (did I mention that?, yeah, marathon about 8 days ago, not a PR attempt, just 4.25 painful hours of an otherwise fun girls' weekend), then one weekend in town, and now just a few more days before I fly home -- it all adds up to mean that all the usual holiday stuff is not unfolding seamlessly.  Oh, and I have to add on work chaos since we're understaffed right now and the work is really being piled on.

So here's the general holiday status:

Decorating -- 100% done!

Cards -- 60% done.  Have mailed/delivered about half of them, and made a list and set aside photos for the other 50%.  Just have to write, address and mail all of those. 

Baking -- 100% done!  Baked with my neighbor all day Saturday this past weekend and we made 8 different kinds of cookies.  I made cookie plates for 3 holiday parties (1 for me, 1 for hubby, 1 joint), for several co-workers, for another neighbor, and for a bunch of friends. 

Shopping -- 65% done.  TGFAP (Thank Goodness for Amazon Prime).  Guess I know what I'm doing Wednesday night after the social run...  Unfortunately, I still need ideas for a couple people, but I've at least made progress on most of my family.  I need to sit down and make a big list of what I've got for each person, what else is needed and where/when/how I plan on getting what else is needed. 

Wrapping -- 0% done.  Maybe tonight?  It's perhaps my least favorite of these holiday to-dos.  Maybe this year I'll cheat and do gift bags?  But honestly, I love the way pretty wrapped presents look.  Almost all the gifts for my family are being sent to Wisconsin, so I don't have to lug them with me when I go, but that means that I'm going to be stuck spending lots of time wrapping over this coming weekend when I get there. 

Shipping -- 0% done.  I only mail gifts to two of my best friends, my stepson, and one of my brothers.  And I'm done with the shopping for all of them.  But back to that 0% on the wrapping...

So despite that massive list hanging over my head, I managed to have a thoroughly fun weekend featuring a 5k, marathon spectating, and the aforementioned baking.  Plus I went to my Chinese class, Sara's post-marathon and birthday dinner, and all kinds of other good stuff.

I spent the entire 5k warm-up holding this little guy.  I'm not usually big on babies, especially not for more than the initial 5 or so minutes of seeing them, but he was so quiet and alert and non-drooling and non-smelly and smiley and non-hair-pulling that I couldn't resist holding him for the better part of an hour.  He loved watching everything around us. 

And here are the cookie photos, the results of an entire day of baking! 

I also took about 100 pictures at our local marathon on Sunday.  My husband and I walked to a place along the route and watched the parade -- from runner 1 (a half marathoner who we almost thought had cheated by starting early because he was so far out front), to the lead marathon pack, to Sara Hall (who was being paced by Ryan Hall and who was going for an American half-marathon record), to my first friend (not far behind the elites, he was running on the co-ed relay team that won the race, so they were all flying), to my training buddies, to other friends, to pretty much the very end (the people who appeared to be 100% walking).  Then I drove to go see them all again.  I parked near mile 21 and missed the 3:05 pace group, but I was there several minutes before the 3:15 pace group, so I didn't miss many people I knew.  I ran a bit with several friends.  Unfortunately, I was right at the beginning of the suckiest uphill in the entire course, so people seemed kind of disheartened, especially since it was a humid day in the low 60s, so far from ideal weather.  It was fun to see the people who were still trucking along and it was fun to encourage those who seemed to be struggling.

One of my biggest race pet peeves I noticed during my marathon last week -- so many people who came out to cheer who were just standing there, watching and quietly waiting for their family member or friend to come by.  So I vowed not to be like that -- I would cheer and make noise constantly, not just when I saw a friend.  One of my friends said he heard me a mile away!  I hope he was joking, but I will admit that people definitely heard me because many times, I missed a friend's face in the crowd, only to hear that runner call out to me and wave, having seen me and recognized my voice.  It was so much fun!  But part of me understands why so many stand quietly -- it was a lot of work!  Trying to come up with things to yell, and then yelling the same thing again and again and again and again and again and again... 

My faves for my first watch point (mile 7):  Looking strong!  Nice job!  Keep it up!  Doing great!  Way to go!  Less than 20 more miles!  You're doing it! 

My faves for my second watch point (mile 20-21):  Keep it steady!  Keep going!  Keep your head in the game!  Last hill!  Looking strong!  Nice job!  Hold on!  You've got this!  Run, run, run! 

Anyway, a friend I ran with several years ago met up with me and we headed backwards on the course to look for his wife.  Eventually, I wound my way back to one of the beer stops right at mile marker 20, and I waited to find Sara, who was running her first marathon ever. 

Thankfully, I was watching and cheering instead of looking at the clock or the pace groups.  She came through way ahead of schedule.  By then, it was raining steadily, and I jumped in to run with her for a couple miles.  I assumed that would be the best place to meet her since it seems like that's where I (and pretty much 95% of other marathoners) struggle the most.  But she was ticking along, kicking butt!  She was in a great place mentally and running strong.  Within a few minutes, the sky seemed to really open up on us, and it poured.  After dodging some puddles, we eventually had to ford a small river across Abrams -- there was no avoiding it and our shoes got completely soaked.  But at that point, she was already nearly at mile 22 and 5 miles in soaking shoes isn't the end of the world, so she just powered through.  I'll leave it to her to tell her own race story on her blog, but it was one of the highlights of my weekend to get to join her for a bit. 

Tree

Well, I can't say much for UPS in keeping the shipping status current, but no sooner did I fret that our new tree hadn't moved from Buffalo where it was stuck in the storm, than the status was changed to delivered!  So we have a tree after all.  That's a big relief to me since I won't be home with my folks until Dec. 19, and since I probably won't see snow in Dallas before then, having our tree up and decorated is really the main way for me to get into the holiday spirit. 

Thanksgiving was lovely.  Our local Turkey Trot is 8 miles and it's my longest streak race -- this was year number 11 in a row.  Not a PR, but not bad.  I ran about 20 seconds per mile faster than the plan, but the weather was nice and I was running with a friend, so it was great.  And the race itself was a grateful experience -- running in general, Dallas having awesome running weather for a fair amount of the year, a great running community (it's one of the largest trots in the country, something like 35,000 people, counting the 5k), and perhaps most of all, my running friends.  For the first year since my husband and I have been together, we didn't meet up with my buddies before the race.  We just went to the start, but within minutes of getting into the corral, we were with friends.  First, I ran into a guy I ran with about 4 years ago, then one of my original best boot camp buddies (who had actually just gotten off night shift, was going to run the race, then going home to sleep from 11 until 5, then working that night), then more and more friends I love that I've met through running.  The race was more of the same.  Running with one of my buddies, but running into friends along the way, former coworkers, neighbors, everything, so much fun to share some miles (or fractions thereof, as the case may be) with them.  It was a new course this year that didn't highlight the prettiest parts of the city, but the streets were full, there were plenty of costumes, it made me get all teary right in the middle of the race -- I was overwhelmed with a feeling of gratefulness and joy.  I'm a lucky girl and I know it. 

I've said it before, and in some ways it scares me -- I feel like life is so good it's just a matter of time before some shoe drops.  I suppose that's true actually, there is going to be a bump in the road.  It's hard to guess what it will be.  But I have to just enjoy this ride while it lasts.  Healthy, so in love, about to go visit my family next month, surrounded by friends who mean so much to me, a job I love, an amazing year wrapping up, all the material comforts I want, getting to see the world.  It just doesn't seem like it could get any better. 

After the trot, we came home to cook.  Our Thanksgiving contributions were mashed potatoes, olives and pickles, canned cranberry sauce, acorn squash halves filled with peas, rolls, and a dessert -- cranberry squares.  We had our big meal at my friend and her husband's house (he is my ex-boss).  One of his sons was there as well (just turned 16).  They made turkey (she's a vegetarian too, but neither of our husbands are), gravy, stuffing (in the bird and separate veggie stuffing for us), green bean casserole, glazed carrots, homemade cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. 

The food was all amazing.  The downside to having been back from vacation for nearly a month is that our stomachs have returned to normal size and I wasn't able to eat nearly as much as I wanted.  I basically had a single plate full -- but it was very full.  And then two desserts.  We'd also had big bowls of greek yogurt with granola and blueberries after the race (plus a granola bar before and an orange in the car on the way home).  But then we had the big meal at about 3 and didn't eat again.  I was still full when we went to bed! 

In retrospect, it was funny because they really wanted to see our pictures from India and Nepal and Dubai so after we ate, we plugged the laptop into their tv and they looked at the pictures.  And they were both falling asleep.  It was like torture I bet -- here, look at 1,500 photos of India with an uncomfortably full belly and try to stay awake.  For us, it was kind of fun because it was the first time we'd really looked at the photos other than to pick out our Christmas card enclosure photos.  But they asked for it!  So we spent post-dinner looking at photos, sitting around talking, and then cleaning up the kitchen and packing up leftovers. 

Then Friday was spent primarily putting up the tree, and trimming it while listening to Christmas music.  Unfortunately for my husband, when we listen to our Christmas mix CDs, then it gets to be time to put on New Kids on the Block Christmas CD.  Oh, he hates it as much as I love it! 

I know CDs are so retro, but Christmas seems to be the only time I listen to them instead of digital music.

Anyway, as to the tree, I'm so glad we got it done.  We also ate two huge plates of leftovers, one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving.  I think we each have enough for about 2-3 more plates, then it will all be gone. 

Our new tree was 6 inches taller than our old one, and I think we could have gone up another 6 inches, but it seems to fit pretty well.  Sorry for the iphone pic, but here it is: 

 

The plan for the rest of the weekend is to go for my "last" "long" run in a little while, write out our cards (at least half of which I've already addressed!) today, come up with a baking list for cookies, see a movie (hubby wants to see Foxcatcher) and get organized -- put away decoration remnants and pick up in general.   Then tomorrow will be a shorter run, breakfast with some friends, some online shopping, Chinese class, and packing -- flying out for work on Monday! So much better than having to travel on Sunday and having it cut into my weekend.

 

Tree-less?

I had grand plans of putting up our new artificial Christmas tree this past weekend.  We usually put it up the day after Thanksgiving, but I had decided last weekend was best. 

I had a million good reasons to do it in my mind, but the primary one is that I thought it should go up early since we have so little time to enjoy it this year.  I have to travel for work next week, and the first weekend of December I'm out of town for a race in San Antonio that I always do with my girlfriends, the following weekend we'll be home (baking cookies, cheering for our local marathon), and by the next weekend (and the following), we'd be home with my family for Christmas. 

So really, it made sense to put it up early.  And this year, we have a new tree.  Last year, a bunch of the strands of lights stopped working on our old tree.  I'd had it for more than a decade probably and I didn't want to deal with taking off the pre-strung lights and hanging our own, so instead, right after Christmas, we donated it. 

And then I spent TONS of time researching trees on Amazon, narrowing it first by height, then by width, then by light count, then by tip count, then by warranty, then by weight, then by price.  And I clicked "buy". 

But then that whole Buffalo snow storm thing happened.  Unfortunately, it turns out that's where our tree was born (or at least shipped from China). 

Here's the current status:

	11/20/2014	11:45 P.M.	We were unable to dispatch the trailer on time. This may cause a delay. / Delivery will be rescheduled.
Buffalo, NY, United States	11/18/2014	12:28 A.M.	Departure Scan
Buffalo, NY, United States	11/17/2014	6:06 P.M.	Origin Scan
United States	11/17/2014	10:27 A.M.	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

And now I'm worried we won't have a tree at all this year! 

Since there seems to be no chance we'll have it over the long Thanksgiving weekend, and since I'm not sure we could manage putting it up on a weeknight, and since our one weekend in Dallas in December is chock-full of plans, I'm worried we won't have a tree at all.  That makes me sad! 

It was fairly expensive, and I'm pretty dead-set on the criteria by which I picked it, so I don't like the idea of ordering or buying a new one.  And since we're gone for more than a week to visit my family, a live tree is not an option.  Major bummer. 

And now I wonder, does the warranty run from when I ordered it (and paid for it), or from when I actually get it? 

Lent

As an Episcopalian, I'm used to giving things up for Lent.  Growing up in Milwaukee, which has a large Catholic population, Friday night fish-fry was routine (I'll allergic to seafood, so I always had something else).  And now as a vegetarian, I love how many people are meat-free at least on Fridays during Lent.

As a child, I usually gave up sweets.  I realized pretty early on that it meant I'd score an awesome and insanely sweet Easter basket.  But there also weren't a lot of other "vices" that were options.

As an adult, of course, I have many options.  Things I remember giving up:
caffeine
gossip
elevators
meat
desserts
snooze bar (that was a major fail, it was before I started running (as a runner who meets friends to run, snooze is never an option now), and unfortunately, I'd hit snooze without being fully conscious of doing it)
alcohol
social media
TV (that was pre-cable, pre-The Bachelor, and pre-House of Cards)
shopping (other than for food)

And I've also done the addition of things:
compliments
reading the Bible
community service
written correspondence
phone calls to far-away friends and family

Things I considered for this year but rejected:
alcohol (wouldn't be much of a sacrifice)
cheese (seemed too hard to figure out work lunches without it)
TV (umm, 3 episodes left of House of Cards, have to finish the Bachelor, then season 2 of the Americans)
my car (doing a running commute on all possible days, worried it would be too many miles too fast)

My husband is best described as Catholic with issues.  Unfortunately, he has been impacted (not as a victim thank goodness) multiple times by the pedophilia scandals:  one of the priests from his childhood, the priest from his son's childhood first communion and confirmation, and the priest from his parents' parish until about 5 yrs ago.  So yeah, he's got mixed feelings about the church and giving money to it. 

Anyway, he drinks far more regularly than I do -- he probably has a glass of wine with dinner 5 days per week? 

I floated an idea of a joint Lenten sacrifice to him, one that would be tough for both of us:  coffee (espresso only for me, espresso and coffee for him). 

His reaction?

"Even Muslims get to drink coffee!" 

Haha.  So no joint sacrifice for us.  He's doing alcohol, I'm doing sweets (which he never eats).  I'm also doing community service (2 hours Sat and 2 hours Sunday this weekend already planned!).  And I'm going to attempt to donate 6-7 items from our house each week.  The idea for that was someone who is doing a bag a day -- either of things to pitch or donate.  I'm too much of a hoarder, so that will never work, but one thing per day?  I should be able to manage that. 

Mardi Gras photos and recap

Figured I'd add a few photos since I took tons.  And since today's Ash Wednesday, it's not terribly late! 

Friday morning we flew to Pensacola and rented a car and drove to Mobile.  I intended to (and did) work on the plane, and intended to (but did not) work in the car on the way to Mobile.  For some reason, my laptop battery was dead.  It made no sense, since I routinely work the entire flight to Philadelphia and the battery is fine, and this was a much shorter flight.  Well, as soon as I got to the hotel, I plugged in, but the laptop wouldn't boot up.  I spent FOREVER on the phone with IT.  Pulling the battery out, attempting to run it plugged in with the battery out of the laptop, tearing my hair out.  The IT guy was going to look something up, so I was sitting in the room twiddling my thumbs (my bestie was at lunch with her kids, and hubby had gone to buy snacks and booze).  And then I realized that I was using a Dell power cord.  And I had been in the morning before we flew out, while I was working from home.  Yeah, my work laptop is an HP. 

So that meant, I'd started draining the battery around 6:45 a.m. on Friday when I was working from home before we left for the airport.  At least it explained why it had died after such a short flight.  So then I had to track down options to buy a replacement cord.  Fortunately, I admitted my folly to my husband via text and he said he was on his way to the hotel and had just seen a Radio Shack.  So he went in and bought a universal adapter.  Plugged it in, nada.  Checked the instructions, and my laptop model wasn't among the HP ones listed.  Ugh.  But happily, I decided to try all the adapter plugs and another one was the same size so it also fit into the power cord hole on the laptop, and it worked!  Huzzah!  But by then, I had a ton of work to do in not much time.  Of course I was also starving and the fun was beginning.  Bestie and her family were all hanging out, hubby wanted to go out, and I had to keep working.  100% my fault.  Ugh. 

And please note, this is the second universal adapter I've had to buy in the last 4 months -- I took NO power cord home with me over Christmas, so I had to buy one then too.  Very frustrating.  I think I should label the Dell cord to clarify it does not match my work laptop. 

Anyway, I rushed and rushed and eventually wrapped up a full day of work, and the fun began: 

These are from the Friday night parade.  Highlights were that our whole group was together (us, my bestie and her husband and kids, her parents, her sister and her boyfriend, and another couple that we went to law school with).  The floats and bands were fun of course. 

After the Friday night parade, we went back to my bestie's parents' hotel room where her twins had fun counting their beads and we all got to hang out and eat and talk and drink. 

Eventually, her kids had to go to bed, so we all went back to our hotel.  Which turned into me, my bestie, and another woman we went to law school, and all our spouses, hanging out in the hallway outside her room while her kids slept (or kept coming into the hall to ask for things like extra pillows, glasses of water, etc.).  After an hour or so of that, pretty much all the spouses bailed and went to bed.  The three of us had a bottle of wine, and then somehow transitioned to drinking salted caramel vodka on the rocks. 

Saturday morning I was very hung over.  I have pretty much no recollection of what we talked about, but I know we laughed a lot.  I finally dragged myself out of bed for the Saturday afternoon parades.  There are 2-3 parades in a row, always lots of fun:

After the Saturday afternoon parades, hubby and I went back to our room because I desperately needed to lay down.  After a nap, we got ready and headed back to bestie's parents' hotel.  This is what the scene looked like there.  Lots of people from her dad's order/society stay at the same hotel, so the whole Krewe comes to pick up people, complete with a band, cheerleaders, horses, and a carriage with the Queen of Mardi Gras and Father Time.  People stand in front of their rooms and listen to the music.  Always fun:

The back of the queen and Father Time, I wasn't fast enough with my camera. 

Then finally it was Saturday night, the highlight of the entire weekend.  We watch her dad's society's parade, which is the biggest and best in Mobile.  Her husband now rides on one of the floats as well, and the guy who is married to our law school friend (my husband wasn't so keen on joining, he has a lot of complicated views about the South, race, traditions, etc.).  Anyway, since we know multiple people riding in the parade, we have big signs to hold up when they're coming and they throw all kinds of stuff at us.  It's absolutely one of my favorite moments of the year -- listening to the bands, waiting in anticipation with my bestie and my husband, drink in hand (though I nursed mine all night).  Pure happiness. 

Father Time on his float: 

The theme float, cut off (There's a First Time for Everything). 

After the parade, we get all dressed up and go to the ball.  White tie for the guys, floor length gowns for the women (though sometimes people will do ankle length, and no one seems to care).  The people in the society all come out on the floor and bow to the Queen and Father Time, then process down the dance floor in the auditorium. 

My bestie and our friend from law school, with their husbands in their parade costumes: 

The Queen and Father Time: 

The main stage before the dancing begins: 

After all the men in the society and their wives have done the procession, then everyone else goes down to the main floor.  Each float has a room with a bar and a food spread.  We ate a bit, then spent the rest of the night checking out the food in the other rooms and spending time on the dance floor.  Pretty much until we were too exhausted to move.

The queen's cake: 

I hesitate to post anything about Sunday -- let's just say it was not a good day.  We woke up, had breakfast, hung out with my bestie and her family, packed up and then the day went to heck.  Flight cancelled.  Rebooked.  Considered driving home, but ugh, 9-10 hours in the car didn't seem like a good idea since the next flight was in 5 hours and would get us home first.  For the record, hubby wanted to drive.  He had to be at work early on Monday.  I wanted to fly.  He assented.  We went to watch a movie (Non-Stop, which was quite enjoyable, but slightly less so when you have a boarding pass to get on a plane within the next few hours; I'd recommend seeing it on a day you are NOT flying).  After the movie, we confirmed my fear and husband's prediction -- the evening flight was also cancelled.  So we got in the car, me sucking lemons because I should have listened to him in the first place, we could have already been several hours into the drive.

He drove until about 11 at night, I got behind the wheel with about 175 miles to go to Dallas.  And then we hit the bad weather.  Ice on the roads, very thick in places.  Traffic was moving very slowly, but I'd say I averaged 20 mph for a while. 

And then we came to a stop on the interstate.  A dead stop.  An hour later, we hadn't moved at all.  Hubby woke up and we discussed our options.  I'd watched one car attempt to drive over the grass to the access road and they were still sitting in the ditch (despite the fact 3 passengers in the car had tried pushing it twice).  And I'd watched one car u-turn and drive head-on up the nearby on-ramp going the wrong way.  Eventually, we decided that would be our move.  We were very lucky to be fairly close to it.  I was very afraid we'd be killed -- given the conditions, any car coming at us would likely have been driving very slowly, but I was worried they wouldn't be able to stop and we'd be hit head-on.  I drove slowly and we eventually made it off of the on-ramp and onto a road.  We managed to drive north for a while until we found another east-west road and we took that all the way into Dallas.  Unfortunately, the road conditions weren't good.  I was averaging about 20-30 mph for most of the time.  But it was better than being parked we figured.  Evntually, as we got closer to Dallas, the roads got a lot better and it was smooth sailing, chugging along around 50 mph until we got to a bridge, then I'd slow a lot just to be careful, but 99% ice-free. 

Finally, around 6:15 a.m., we made it to the airport in Dallas to drop off the rental car and pick up our car.  So I'd driven less than 200 miles in over 7 hours.  Our 9-10 hour anticipated drive had taken 15 hours.  And we both had to work on Monday.  100% miserable.  Almost enough to make me swear off winter travel. 

I tried to see it as the price for a fun weekend, but ugh.  As long as I'm still feeling utterly exhausted, it's hard right now...