cruising dreaming on a winter's day

AAUGH! Last week was totally miserable...harassed with everyone's computer problems at work all week...it was cloudy, snowy, or drizzly mostly all week...today it's snowing...and tomorrow - we're supposed to have thundershowers!
Ok, enough whining, let's dream of something more pleasant.

I love being close to the water...I adore a warm sandy beach on the ocean...but I don't like actually being far out on deep water. I'm terrified of an ocean cruise. Maybe because of the movie "Titanic"? Maybe because I can't swim?! And sadly I do get terribly seasick. Anyway, I don't see an ocean cruise in my future.

However, I saw this while web cruising, and it looks intriguing.

image from River Cities web site

River Cities floating condominiums! According to the web site, you "Cruise America's 6,600 miles of inland waterways on a slow boat to everywhere." I have to give the developer props for coming up with a clever idea for baby boomers with wanderlust and no interest in spending retirement in an RV(me). I have no affiliation whatsoever with River Cities and they haven't even offered me a cruise. I just think this is an incredibly unique concept. Meester and I have discussed having both a summer home and a winter home when we retire, but decided "No, we don't want the hassle of moving an entire household as the seasons change"(me). This way you stay in your condo and the condo moves from season to season. Oops, is that just like an RV? (I once took a vacation trip with a boyfriend in an RV, and let's just say it was NOT good.)

I've always thought it would be fascinating to take a canal boat cruise in the UK.
Doesn't this look idyllic?

image from Wikimedia Commons

And the canal boat is RED!
Oh it wouldn't it be loverly to be on that canal boat...in Spring in the UK?
*SIGH*

I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed

The inimitable Suldog has inflicted me with what he terms "web-based gonorrhea". We haven't even been acquainted that long! Jim "Suldog" Sullivan is one fast guy...or maybe I was too easily smitten at first site of his blogging prowess. This is what can happen to a lady carelessly cruising the internet.

Actually, it's a blogging award, but Suldog isn't much for awards other than making fun of them...and making fun of the person who bestowed the award on him...and making fun of his readers as he passes said award on to them. General all around fun guy, he is.

Suldog's blog has exposed me to perversions I never dreamed of. An associate of his is Eddie Bluelights, apparently a known "duck fondler". Another comrade is Buck, currently in Exile in Portales; heaven knows why he had to go into exile.

I should have been more careful with a blogger who claims to be "emotionally bifurcated". Hmmm... bi?...referring to his predilection for inflicting himself on bloggers of both genders?

Go HERE to learn more about Suldog - if you dare - he's addictive.
Don't say I didn't warn you.....

Random glimpses into my world thru the lens of my cell phone

Still not feeling particularly blogging inspired...so thank goodness for stealing ideas being inspired by other bloggers. I've seen the "What pictures are on your cell phone?" idea on other blogs (like Dawn in Austin), so here goes mine.

Let's start with the worst: last week's view of snow from my front door.

Something else nasty: Ongoing dirty, noisy construction in my office building.

Something nice:Yummy veggies roasted in olive oil, sprinkled with parmesan cheese. I make a big roasting pan full for winter suppers. I think I posted this recipe with pictures last year, but this picture is new.

Random snack discovered in my desk drawer. This why I fill my cell phone with random pictures, so I can make a random, driveling post with them.

My Dad's 91st birthday party. Notice the balloons on the wall from last year's party. The Green Bay Packers won the 2011 Super Bowl in honor of my Dad being a "Packer Backer" for about 90 years.

I love my scarves. I could never figure out how to do a whole post on why I use my overstuffed bedroom chair as a scarf holder.

I liked my Jane Iredale lip liner pencil in Spice shade so much, I used up every millimeter of it.

Stay tuned, cause I have enough pictures of my body lotions to put together another lame post!

Most woeful of winter

Our neighbor, "Mr. J", passed away last week; about a week after I did a post on him. We finally learned that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. We are shocked that it took him in less than 5 years. It took Parkinson's about 20 years to take both my mother and my aunt. Neither way is better or fair. Rest in Peace, Mr J.

We are in the grip of a record Midwestern snowstorm freaking blizzard. We considered ourselves lucky to survive the drive home from work Tuesday. Meester got out his snowblower and I shoveled. We finished the driveway and the sidewalks and a minute later you couldn't tell we had shoveled at all. We live on the edge of the city limits, so we are one of the last streets for the city snowplows to reach. We will spend all day Wednesday shoveling our property, but will probably not be able to drive off our property. The last time we had a big snow, which wasn't as bad as this one, I got tired of waiting for the snow plow and shoveled the street myself.

It all makes me feel bereft and disconsolate, despondent and melancholy, and cold. I feel as if the ice weasels have come and eaten my soul.
But I'm still alive...and life goes on...and in its time...Spring will come again.
I will live to whine and blog another day.
How does winter make you feel?