Yay.

More and more these days, I'm wishing that I would've made the decision to move to Houston with the S.O. instead of sticking it out here until the lease is over. I love the snow outside and all (supposed to reach 6 inches by Thursday) but the bitter fucking cold is a bit much. Let me bring everyone up to date in regard to just how bitter cold it is here.

Excerpt from Weatherchannel.com

"WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY!

Tuesday night: Partly cloudy and windy. Low 8F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph."

That's 8 before the wind-chill, folks. I'm really sad, aren't I? If I go back and read my older entries, I'll find (as will you) that every year I bitch about wanting cold and snow, then it comes and I suddenly have the urge to park my ass on the nearest space heater and not move until May hits. We had Tasty Dawg (it's been spelled that way since the early 70's) for a late dinner tonight and as I was pulling into the drive-thru, I see a sign.

"Dear Customers,

Effective immediately, any time the morning forecast is under 15 degrees for O'Hare, we will be offering a free 10 oz bowl of soup with any purchase."

Yo.

I can get a hot dog and bowl of soup for 1.79 almost EVERY DAY for the rest of the winter. Some people would think I'm kidding. That'll be the damn day that it gets to be above 15 before 2 in the goddamn afternoon. If it even happens then. I'm really lucky in the fact that for some strange reason, my apartment is EXTREMELY well insulated and it rarely gets chilly in here. Plus I have towels in the spare and master bedroom windows. The only other window is the sliding glass door in the den and I have a throw rug in front of that. Plus to quote a certain someone, I sleep under 8,000 (4 if you count the flannel top sheet) blankets anyway. Once I get in bed, I wouldn't notice it even if the whole wall blew in. Soon enough the new cat (still with no name) will be used to the apartment and he can come in the bedroom at night and add yet another resource for Keeping Nina Warm While She Sleeps. That shouldn't be too damn long considering the thing already follows us both around like a puppy dog (good cat) and hasn't done any of those annoying cat things like hiding under the couch (then again, it's a huge ass leather thing that it couldn't get under if it tried) or climbing up the shower curtain (then again, it's front declawed). But all that aside, it has been a fairly decent transition. He roams the apartment during the day (read: plops his ass on the throw in front of the balcony and doesn't move until it's time for bed or he gets food/treats) and then retreats to the spare bedroom at night. Hurrah for low maintenance animal companions.

There isn't much else going on right now. Trust me, that's a refreshing change of pace. Today's highlights included grocery shopping at Cub Foods, watching the special on Ashton Kutcher on VH1 and cleaning out the fridge. I'm headed off right now to watch "Law & Order: SVU" and then hit the hay. I pretty much have it to the point where I can get up at 7, leave by 7:30 and be at school by 8:20 (starts at 8:30). Then I'm only there for but a few hours and it's home again. It's quite nice, if I do say so myself. Clinicals (oh god, I'll tell that story later - I can't live with myself if I don't share the "But I want pie!" story) are a bit tougher (arrive promptly at 6:55 am, my ass) but there are only 4 more of those left (and I've passed five of them so far so ha). Anyway, enough of the bullshit and filler, more later.

before & after