When you're gone over the Thanksgiving long weekend and it is dark by the time you get home from work -- you end up trying to scoop dog poop with a flashlight.  I managed to find a decent amount, I'm kind of surprised.  I'm sure I missed my share too, but I deserve an A for effort.  I also pulled out the nasturtium that held in until the snow came.

I cheated on the last gift purchase for afar so I could get things in the mail ASAP.  I still need to make some purchases for local gift giving.  I'm getting desperate for ideas.

The tire pressure sensor finally turned off as I headed out of town on Wednesday.  I guess it did just need some time and distance with an acceptable reading.  That was a blessing and relief.  It was one less thing on my mind while I enjoyed the long holiday weekend with my Favorite Egg at two different family get togethers.

There are, of course, many stressful things going on in the lives of people I love once again in time for the holiday season.  It blows my mind how it seems to be such a difficult time frame for so many.  There are job worries/drama and trips to the ICU for a long time ailing elderly relative of a relative to name a few.  I'm allowing it all to remind me of the many things I have to be so very thankful for.  Not that life is easy, but life is just that - full of twists, turns, and challenges.

I'm still waiting for feedback on showings - both the second showing this past Saturday and a showing the Saturday before.  I have the good news of another showing tomorrow.  Time of year definitely doesn't seem to play as big of a roll in house hunting in this area as I expected it would.

I've allowed the house I liked going pending to make me focus on the things that I wouldn't have adored about that house.  I always said that renting a few places was good before owning a home, so you'd learn things that seem obvious - like how bad it sucks to have crappy windows etc.  I have no reason to not keep paying attention as it may help me get an even more perfect place for me.

I had a rather unusual dream this morning.  Most would label it a scary dream, but I wasn't freaking out in the dream and I didn't wake scared either.  Yay for all of that desensitizing I suppose.  I haven't really watched anything "scary" lately either (other than Walking Dead - but I even cringe at labelling that "scary", because it's not).

Anyhow, I was in an apartment of some sort - two entrances, the main one and like a back hall that fed out to landing areas with stairs, this hall felt more industrial than an apartment building.  The fire alarms went off, so I and two other people there in the room with me scrambled to find our IDs, which looked more like a cruise ID card.  We couldn't find the one person's so I said - let's just go.  We opened the door to the back hall and there were people hanging from nooses - one just outside the door and a few more there beyond her in the way of the stairwells.  I quickly closed the door and said to lock it and we headed to the other door to head down an almost spirally staircase that way.  We got to the main floor and everyone was there acting like they too had spotted the same issues on their way out.  Then the alarm went off.

Where did _that_ come from?

I predicted tears when one of the places I really liked went to pending, and I have them.  It isn't even so much that the house sold - as there are three others that I feel could be solid contenders -- if only I could get my house sold.  Of course, I'm sitting here looking at timesheets with limited hours due to some hiccups in the system and feeling that panic too to compound it all - so yes, it brought tears.

I knew before I even got here I should have turned around and went back to bed.  First, thanks to the cold weather the tire sensors went off.  Yeah, my fault, I should have added more air before the weather turned.  So out into the cold and wind to add air.  My hair was a knotted mess by the time I was done.  But even that didn't turn off the sensor light - I'm hoping it will be off when I restart the car here again in a few minutes for lunch.  When I got to work (later than intended) the printers were jammed and not cooperating, which I needed to use to print papers that were out for our sign in logs, and the paper towel dispenser was also empty so I couldn't dry my hands after washing the toner mess from dicking with the printer off.  Yes.  I wanted to throw myself on the ground like a 3 year old.  Please no more adulting this week.

Yesterday that plugged up something was in the apartment furnace.  Imagine my surprise this morning when things didn't seem to be coming up to temp very fast on my side and then I realized it wasn't always kicking the blower on as expected.  (sigh)  Fortunately, the HVAC guy was very responsive.  Something plugged up the condensation tubing (I'd guess something 'shaken loose' from the cleaning yesterday).  I'm back up and kicking once again.  Ok, go on house - what are you going to throw for the trifecta?

I'd say at this point we have about a half an inch of snow based on the railing on the deck, but it's been pretty windy so that might be less than what we really got.  There was only a dusting this morning, but it seems to be a pretty steady fall right now.

No word yet on yesterday's showing.  Much like buying a lottery ticket I allow myself to live in that fantasy for a few minutes I am dreaming today of having a moment with two families concurrently interested in the house.  Who says you need to stop pretending if you're not a little kid?

Last evening and this morning I put things in order, once again, for a showing.  I'm pleasantly surprised that the pace of showings has been steady.  I guess I expected it to slow down after school started or now, as we're starting to think holidays, but that hasn't happened.

The HVAC guy was here today while the showing took place, so they know I do tend to my house at least. He was able to clean things up and unplug something that was clogged up - so we're good to go again on the apartment side.  He also cleaned and checked my side.  I was expecting a painful cost but even on that I am pleasantly surprised.

Since the house was clean - what to do what to do?  I pulled out the ceramic Christmas tree and a few minor decorations and then brought the supplies downstairs to start wrapping the gifts I have.  I have shopping I need to get done so I can finish all of the wrapping.  After a quick run out to see if I could find any other good gift options, I decided to also get a start on my Christmas cards as well.

This morning the weather was still so nice (like yesterday) that I almost didn't want to believe what they said was coming.  Before noon the wind picked up and the darker clouds rolled in.  By the time we were in the car waiting for the showing the sleet had started.  That dissipated, but I see now a very light dusting of white across the deck as I put the dogs out for their last trip.  They were saying 6-10, then 3-5, now an inch... so you tell me.  My weather channel needs to be "get out of bed, walk to back door, see how much we got" - so I can stop panicking over the fear-mongering weather reports.

Dear this week,

If you could stop being a complete a**hole, that would be great.

-me

I've been on the waiting list for about a month now to get the furnaces inspected before winter.  To this point, no big deal because it hasn't really been winter, but it is a-comin.  AT lunch when I put the dogs out I stood in the garage waiting for the furnace for the apartment to kick over to blowing.  It never happened.  So, I went upstairs and turned up the temp a few degrees, I figured maybe it was just taking a while to warm up.  Much to my dismay it didn't budge while I was at work all afternoon.  I've now put another call in to the HVAC guy.  Good times.

Of course, there is a home warranty that I could, in theory, use - but guess if I do take the house off of the market for a few months I don't know how that would work, so I guess I'm just going to suck it up.  I do wish I knew something about these sorts of things so I'd stand a chance of trying to get it running on my own.  But alas, I am helpless when it comes to such matters.  I guess it is good that God gifted me that I can afford to bring someone in - if they are ever available to do so.

The recent uptick in spam telephone calls has me wanting to flip.  8 in the past week, 4 of them one day and 2 so far today.  STOOOOOP!  Does anyone seriously sell a life alert by annoying the f out of people?  And the dbags who are taking advantage of naive folks and stealing their money... you deserve a serious junk punt.

Not negative feedback this weekend, but I am left with lots of uncertainty and my mind - how she works - has me thinking about 100 different scenarios.  Since there was two showings an hour apart from one another we had an extra long time away from the house.  I was so grateful to have my Favorite Egg here to help out.  It allowed us the option to go into Petco and wander around a little bit.  Sure I _could_ do it by myself, but two dogs pulling on my arm if someone else doesn't keep their dog reasonably controlled is not a fun experience.

Iggle did not as I previously reported, have rotisserie turkey breast on Friday, but I did get a chicken.  We grubbed chicken, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, and fresh made cranberry sauce.  Saturday, long after the showing, we headed to the Orchard for wing night w/ a few folks.  Sunday I cooked again, tossing a pork roast into the slow cooker with kraut and a side of mashed potatoes.  Today, here I am cooking again - mmm meatloaf!  I'm going to need to start working out again really soon, for obvious reasons.

The sun was out earlier, but it looks a bit overcast at the moment.  I am glad I got out there in time to enjoy the sun as it was still pretty cold in the sun.  Regardless, the poop is scooped and more leaves are mulched up.  The dining, kitchen, and bathroom floors are all scrubbed (hands and knees) too.

I heard that Giant Eagle is now doing rotisserie turkey breasts too.  I'm hoping this is true and the have some this evening.  If they're half as good as the chickens it's going to be a good night.  I'm going to do a Thanksgiving tease dinner.  Of course the girls won't be happy when I run out to hunt and gather.

I got my mystery case of wine from Last Bottle Wines today too.  (You get a $10 credit if you sign up to see their daily offers - click that link!)  Seems like a nice mix to what I got.  $120 for a case (12 bottles) which included 2 that were $30 items and 4 that were $18+ bottles - good deal!

Looooong weekend!  I had a showing today that went super long. I'm hoping that's a good sign, but - you know - trying to not get too excited.  I have another showing that's been scheduled for a while now on Saturday (folks from out of town I think).  While I will be doing more cleaning, I think the rest of the weekend is going to be about getting a bit of R&R.

I can't believe I was half in and out of sleep last night until after 3am watching returns for the election.  I'm so glad it's over - but I'm even happier with and surprised by the results.

Don't get me wrong, Trump was not my first choice, but Killary was my absolute last choice.  Hate is a word I shouldn't use, so I'll say I struggle to find redeeming qualities.

Pennsylvania - I'm proud of you!  That was a real nail biter.  Proof that us backwoods hick deplorables can carry both our guns and our bibles to the polls en masse and override Filthadelphia.  North Carolina - I was watching you too.  So many friends there were all about the gal on FB, so this state also surprised me.

My candidate lost.  Am I sorry I voted third party?  No.  It was a difficult thing to come to, especially as I saw how tight things were in PA, but ultimately - even there I was not picking someone I agreed 100% with.  I can however get behind the thought that Government needs to back their noses out of everything, so I was rocking the porcupine rather than the donkey or elephant.

As deplorable as I am (while still not being racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or sexist), I still feel a little sad for her.  Unlike the hockey player who looses in the Stanley cup finals and can return again next year to give it another run - I would have to think 4 years away is daunting and even more heartbreaking.

I remain scared for our country.  The only thing I can hold on to is my prayer that the Lord's will be done, that he would change hearts here in the US back to him, that regardless of who is our President that he would be our King once again.

There are moments through my adult years where I get impressed when I look back.  These are the times when I busted butt, pushed through, and got so much done and I can't - when looking back - understand how I did it.  One stretch of time on that list is when I worked on my masters degree, while working full time, teaching online part time - all while still being a season ticket holder for hockey!  How the heck did I do all of that at once?

I'm starting to look back at my hard work earlier this year to completely clean the house top to bottom and ready things for sale as one of these stretches of time (albeit not as long of a period as was my masters degree, it was still a great deal more physically strenuous).  While it's good  I see it that way, it is also depressing because I haven't seen the fruit of that labor just yet.  I was pondering all of this while I was outside working today simply because "it needed done".  I realized I need to give myself some credit.  Yes, I've outsourced most of the mowing and the snow plowing for years, but damnit I deserve it - I do alot for myself around here.

I finally got out of bed this morning when Saffy finally roused to go potty.  That was around 9am.  I cheated a little when it comes to daylight savings time and I changed my personal clocks first thing this morning.  Now I not only feel like I got up shortly after 8, but I also felt like I had a much longer day to accomplish things, which is probably what got me thinking about what I am capable of when things simply need done.

Today I ran to Big Lots and Ollies, and then went to the Richland Cemetery where I got through 2 whole sections taking more photos!  The weather was barely in the 50's but it felt great and the sun was out which helped me along.  Getting back to the house I got in gear and made a large batch of ham and potato soup, which turned out amazing.  My feet were already aching at that point, but I forced myself back outside to leaf blow and mulch up more of the fallen offenders.  This needed done to keep things in ship-shape for showings.

My feet are barking right now - so I'm having a hard time convincing myself to get on top of the next task -- NO BAKES! I want to make a regular batch and a pumpkin batch.  If I get them done tonight I'll have them to fill empty containers to return to friends tomorrow and the rest will go to work on Monday to get hauled back to the AJ office.

I'm always planning the next vacation, so it goes without saying that I need to get some activities booked for days in port.  I am happy to say we settled on what to do in the two main stops for our next trip and one is booked.  I've also been ordering Christmas presents this past week, so I feel like I'm making good progress on things that could keep me up at night.

The weather has been amazing this week. It's pretty hard to return to work after my lunchtime swing home when the car is reading in the 70s in November.  I know it won't last long.  Oh - the tomato plants I started from seed/fruit of last year's plants (and brought inside a week or so ago) finally offered me my very first red fruit!  I'm pretty excited, because the one that grew is definitely a sweet 100.  Not sure on the other plant just yet, we'll see if/when fruit starts to form how large it gets.