"STRETCH OUT AND WAIT"

I love post-dated blog posts. Write it up, set the date ahead and one can be sound asleep while a post pops up. I love it. And, although I rearely do this, I did last night with the "crack ain't kosher" post below. And, I was out like a light when it posted. I slept so much last night. I guess I just really needed sleep, but damn, I slept forever. Forevah.

So, let's see, I have a little free time as I wrap up my morning work, before I launch into a busy afternoon. What can I tell you with this free time? Well, my left ear and the very back of the left side of my throat still are a bit sore, which I find very weird, but ignorable.

It is zero degrees in Chicago, with a windchill of fifteen below or something.

I still have a frozen shower so I have managed to continue the pioneer bath experience nicely. I now have a space heater pointed at the wall in my bedroom the bathtub backs up against and am seeing marked improvement in the temperature of the porcelain of the tub. The drain is still not draining, but I am dumping a huge stockpot of boiling water into the tub every hour or so to at least keep the temperature up in the hopes of melting something, just a little, just enough to get some water moving. This morning, desperate to feel water running everywhere, I did dump said large stockpot full of water over myself and while it was perhaps a bit too hot, I was glad to feel moving, as opposed to still, water. I am investigating options of shower-borrowing this evening. I am a trooper and all, but I am getting a little desperate for a real shower.

In the meantime, question of the day, who would like to give me some really cracker jack advice for thawing a shower. Oh, and the hot water on my bathroom sink is all frozen up, too. To avoid repeats, here is a list of everything I've tried so far. I have:

(a) filled tub with pots of boiling water
(b) poined space heater at various points of tub, walls and tile
(c) rubbed a very hot iron over all shower tiles
(d) begged with faucet in desperation to thaw itself
(e) filled tub with hot water, lined bottom of tub with baking sheets right out of the oven the increase temperature
(f) added salt to hot water before pouring it into the tub

Really, if you have any wisdom, feel free to help a sister out.

Oh will you look at that. The temperature has moved up to one degree! The high today is going to be five. Look at that. Spring just around the corner. Whimper. Speaking of which, I need to make a reservation today to go visit my folks, who live in a considerably warmer climate.

My stack of work is getting smaller.

An eBay purchase arrived Saturday that I neglected to mention! I found a favorite book from my childhood. The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments by Arnold Lobel (1968, Harper & Row) and it made me so happy that I read it with welled-up eyes.

See, lately, I've wanted to gather books that I loved as a kid. The Great Blueness was a big favorite, as were the Dorrie, the little witch series by Patricia Coombs. I've only found two, which sit proudly on my bookshelf near the little blue typewriter.

That's all I have for now. Back to the salt mines.