What a Wonderful Sunday

I was nervous - I admit that - but my fears didn't come to pass. My team, my own Denver Broncos, succeeded, and they will be one of the two teams in the Super Bowl in two weeks. It was a heck of a game and New England gave them a real fight. As a result, it was a really fun game to watch and came down to the wire. I'll happily wear my Broncos gear for another two weeks.

Two weeks of hype now start. The Super Bowl is a media
frenzy leading up to the game. If the players focus on their
play instead of the press, it might be a great game. I'm
just happy my beloved Broncos are in it this year. 

We will be playing against the Carolina Panthers and their game against Arizona was a rout! Carolina was the team to beat all season and had the best record. If yesterday's game was standard for them, it's no wonder they are as highly rated as they are. It's going to be a hard fight, but hopefully a good game. The #1 offense - the Panthers, will meet the #1 defense - the Broncos. I only hope for a good game. If the Broncos manage to win this one, I'll be over the moon, but I don't want a blow-out.

The wax melting pot looked very similar to this hot glue melting
pot, and for $2.50 it was well worth the try. It works really well. 

DH needed a method of attaching his stones to holders so he could shape them. He's been playing with his Cab King shaper, and had been frustrated by the glue not holding things well. So he wanted to try some dopping wax we had purchased a few years ago. I brought the wax home from the shop on Saturday and he needed to get a few things, so we went on a hunt on Sunday before the games started.

I found a funny little thing. It's a glue pot - apparently made to melt hot glue sticks into a small puddle so that many flowers or whatever can be dipped into the molten glue and attached at once. I thought it might work as a dopping pot, and it was on clearance for $2.50. I showed it to DH and we took a chance. It worked a charm! It melted the wax beautifully and he was able to continue working on his machinery. He was very happy.

We went to Old Chicago for pizza. A deep dish medium Thai Pie
in the back, a small thin crust Chicago 7 in the foreground.
It was SO good and well worth the calories. We paired the
pizza with a couple of craft beers. Heaven and a really fun treat. 

We treated ourselves to pizza for an early dinner (or late lunch) and had some fancy cupcakes late in the evening. I had blueberry cheesecake cupcake and added a lot of fresh blueberries to my plate. So good! All in all, the weekend was great, even though I didn't get a chance to meet Johnny Weir who was in town at the US Figure Skating Championships. They were held just down the road at the Xcel Center in downtown St Paul. I caught the women's finals on Saturday night, but couldn't watch the men's finals on Sunday because I was watching football. Oh well, can't have it all.

The pool is calling. Happy Monday to all of you and Happy Birthday to my favorite astronomer in Croatia!

Random Monday Thoughts

The Olympic closing ceremonies were held last night. I'm happy to have my life back, but I'm going to miss my daily dose of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. They always managed to make me laugh and I loved their spot-on but irreverent commentary. I hope they'll be part of other skating events over the next four years. They're a great team. I saw some of the skating gala on Saturday night, at which they were doing the commentary. Unfortunately most of the gala was broadcast in late night and I had to go to sleep.

The three mascots for the Sochi Olympic Games gathered to put out
the Olympic flame. The next winter Olympics will be held in South Korea in 2018. 

Sunday was taken up with fighting ice dams on my father-by-marriage's house. It was friggin' cold out and DH was up there on a ladder with the paint stripper gun (basically like a heat gun on steroids), a hammer and a hatchet. Three-four hours later, success. But I turned into an icicle. After I arrived back home and was trying to read and watch the Olympics, but kept falling asleep in my chair. I gave up and went to bed for an afternoon nap. I was totally beat down by the cold.

Taking a nap can be a wonderful thing. No more chances for those in
my schedule for at least two weeks. 

I'm on cat duty for the week while Chickie is rediscovering warm weather in Arizona. I have the morning shift Monday-Saturday, Anne has most of the evenings. Chickie lives a block away from the shop, so it's easy for me to stop by and feed Sasha. I feed her, water her, and clean out her litter box. Easy, peasy. But it is one more thing in my crazy and crowded mornings. However, Chickie is a good friend and it's not really anything of great difficulty to do, so I'm happy to help out.

Of course, I'm only feeding one cat, not thirty. But I couldn't
resist this picture. 

The week will be cold, but they're saying no snow (for a nice change of pace). Right now we're on track to be the 11th coldest winter on record. All I know is that I'm really tired of temps in the single digits when we should be above freezing. Of course, this coming summer I reserve the opportunity to complain about extreme heat. Fair is fair - LOL.

I reserve the right to complain about the heat this coming summer.

So while I drive to my chiropractor and then on to kitty care later this morning, I'll be happily listening to classical music, avoiding the icy patches on the road, and thinking about warmer times and warm friends. I hope all of my friends reading this have a truly marvelous Monday.

Aching Bodies and Aching Minds

It's Saturday, the Olympics are winding down, and for a change we're not getting snow. Poor DH worked on snowblowing, shoveling, and pulling snow from the roofs of two of the three houses yesterday. It took him more than 13 hours to get everything taken care of and he was in tears by the end of the day, his hands were so frozen. Even hours after he was home, the core of his body was still chilled. This isn't healthy for him and I'm super concerned about his health if we continue to have any more snowstorms of this level over the next two months of winter.

Our snow was almost this deep, but our blower doesn't clear quite
down to the concrete and we still need to shovel to make the driveway
really clean and clear. 

I have no idea or reason why I'm so sore today, but my muscles are complaining also. I shoveled yesterday, so I suppose that might have some bearing, but I didn't work nearly as hard as DH did, so I'm not so sure I have any excuse at all.

My lower back is really sore today. Thank goodness I have
my bi-weekly chiropractic appointment on Monday. 

I'm having a lot of difficulty focusing on getting tasks finished and Chickie leaves for vacation Sunday so I'll be working extra days and hours while she's gone. Work has been really, really slow which never makes me happy, and although it gives me time to catch up with busy work, that will get boring soon. Although I enjoy our customers for the most part, I do get crankier when I don't have Chickie around to talk with. But it's only a week and I get my revenge when I go to Bead & Button in June. She'll have a marvelous time and her vacation is certainly well deserved, so I shouldn't be selfish.

One of the places Chickie will go through is Sedona, Arizona. It's a
beautiful location, even if it is a bit too 'new age'. 

So as I move into the weekend, I'm hoping to have a house showing this afternoon (I'm hoping we actually get a buyer instead of just a looker one of these days soon) and we'll have to work on getting more snow down from roofs on Sunday when we can put my ladder into my car and carry it to the various places where we need it.

Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski have been two of the successes of these
Olympic games. Their daily skating coverage was fabulous, and we
all watched every day to see what coordinated outfits they would wear
for the day's broadcast. This coordinated outfit was for last night's
interview. What will they wear tonight for the Gala? 

Have a great weekend, everyone. Oh - and for those already experiencing Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinskii withdrawal, they will be the commentators for the skating gala tonight in Prime Time. I'll be watching, will you?

Riches Galore - A Princess and the Kings of the Ice

A friend sent me the following link about a "princess" who had been cremated and her cremains buried in a stone tomb in Dartmoor. The jewelry that was found with her remains was marvelous and the quality of the basket that held the jewels was beautifully woven. I just thought I'd share this as a nice way to start your Friday.

The bracelet was studded with tin and woven from cowhair. It looks
as lovely now as it would have 4000 years ago when it would have
sparkled as the tin caught the sun. And it is such a lovely open weave. 

Yesterday's events from the Sochi Olympics were the start of a new era in men's figure skating along with the end of an historic career. Evgeni Plushenko withdrew from competition citing medical reasons just before he was scheduled to skate his short program. The multiple award winner and king of the ice looked old and in pain as he left the ice. In a later interview he stated he had wanted to try, despite pain after staking in the team competition earlier in the week, but that his back just wouldn't allow him to continue. Apparently after one triple jump, he could no longer feel his legs properly to chance any additional jumps. Of course, at this level, skaters are really speeding around the ice and jumps require both speed and power to achieve triple and quadruple rotations correctly. But I'll miss seeing him skate. He was always a total joy to watch and a master of the ice. I'm glad I had the chance to see him skate the short and freestyle programs for the team competition. They ended up being his last competitive performances.

Evgeni Plushenko usually owns whatever ice he's on, but the ice has finally
claimed its own and his competitive career is now over. It's the end of an era. 

The king is gone and the throne is now open. Vying for that throne is one of the most exciting skaters it has been my pleasure to watch for many years - Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan. I've watched him skate his short program twice now. The first time was breathtaking, and the second time was perfection. What a skater! I will happily lose sleep to watch him on the ice, he's phenomenal.

Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan skated a flawless short program and was awarded
the highest point count ever awarded in competition since the new scoring
system came into use more than six years ago. With a 101.45 score, the
gold medal is his to lose.

So at this point, the men's competition is heating up for the finals today and I can hardly wait. Although the women are considered to be the stars of the ice, I've always been a fan of the men and their marvelous jumps and artistry. Come to think of it, I also love the men more than the women in ballet, even though it is the Prima Ballerina who supposedly is the star of the show. Guess I just can't resist a beautiful guy.

Terry Gannon, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir are giving the best skating
commentary I've heard in many years and starting every day out wondering
what Johnny and Tara will wear today has been a lot of fun too. Here, Johnny
sports pink Chanel and both are visions in pink with beaded necklaces. 

So, while I'm talking about beautiful guys, I have to say that I am TOTALLY chuffed by the new commentary pair of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. Together with Terry Gannon, the three have been performing the BEST commentary on skating I've heard in many years. I really hope that NBC is getting a very clear message from the fans, because everyone I've talked to is extremely impressed by the unique interplay, the depth of knowledge, and how easily they intersperse instruction and humor to discuss the performances. They don't talk down to their audience, but they aren't boring and dry either. I approve of them SO much. They're doing a marvelous job!

How about a sweet fried taco dusted with cinnamon and sugar, filled with ice
cream on top of a thin sheet of dark chocolate and topped with a strawberry?
I could definitely go for this.

And that's it for this Valentine's Day. I hope all of you have a wonderful day that isn't filled with angst, but instead with cuddles and sweetness (and maybe a nice meal and a piece of your favorite dessert). I'll be watching the men's freestyle skating for the second time today and I'll be happy, happy.