I don’t think the new Fairlywell will replace Ordinary Saturdays. I’m not sure what it will be. Music and things I saw and liked. Unedited snapshots and snap decisions.  Maybe I just didn’t want to let anyone else have the name.  You’re welcome to watch over my shoulder – even my mom, who may find she likes my less-inhibited self after all.

(Image: Library of Congress)

Everything was this weird hazy sepia.  The blowing snow didn’t seem to settle, but kept getting higher.  The fence nearly disappeared.

Come morning the sky was clear and the streets were not.  A real snow day from work.

All the adults were out with shovels, digging out cars and complaining.

The kids were making snowballs.

Last week we went with a group of friends to the taping of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and posed for a picture after the show.  With a radio personality.  Yes.

Have I mentioned my Corgi?  Here he is playing with his stuffed bear, named Bono for reasons no one can remember.

Carl Kasell was on vacation, but the Wait Wait souvenir stand had Carl pillows.  Of course I wanted one.

We had a belated birthday dinner with DJ’s family.  I baked a cake.  It was hideous.  Everyone was sort of patting me and telling me it was just fine, that it still tasted good.  It did.  But it looked like a first grade art project.

It takes a lot of makeup brushes to make me look this… um.  Powdery?

DJ’s xBox controller was out, although I didn’t notice him playing that day.  He’s very considerate about video games.  He mostly plays when I am absorbed in other things or sleeping.  Which I suppose would also be the time available for an affair, so I really don’t mind seeing the gear out and about.

On Wednesday evening it was fourteen degrees Fahrenheit and I could not get warm.  I settled in to my nest with wool slippers, chamomile tea, and a book while DJ fought dragons at the condo board meeting.

I’ve been super depressing lately.  Sorry about that.

Let’s buy some floral tights and have a party.

(via pinterest)

So, DJ works for a bakery in a non-baking capacity.  The bakery is very generous.  DJ asked if there were a loaf appropriate for sausage cranberry dressing and was sent home with this assortment.  It’s a lot of bread. 

I’m thankful.  For the bread, for DJ, for the job.  Our holiday dinner was moved to Saturday to accommodate Kids A and B and their work schedules.  So I’m also thankful for the extra two days.  It’s not all cooking and cleaning.  DJ and I are running the Chicago Turkey Trot as usual - with the surprise addition of my mom. 

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.  If anyone needs a loaf of bread – well, I know a guy.

I motored on homeward, but something was wrong. The piece of black rubber that runs along the outside of the windshield was… wrong. Flapping in the breeze, actually. Who knew that could happen? I pulled over and attempted to tuck it back in place. But back on the road  it flapped free again. At a stoplight I reached out the drivers’ side window and pulled it inside the car – which meant the high winds were inside the car also. Excellent.

My route home passes a Toyota dealership, so I pulled in to their service department. Two teenagers and the service manager looked at the windshield with very confused faces. We can’t fix it, the manager told me. You’ll have to make an appointment with the glass guy, and that’s going to be expensive. But we can duct tape it. Okay then. They very earnestly applied a swath of silver tape.

Let’s just take a tally. I got the flu after having a flu shot. I broke a jagged spike where once there was a molar. And then my car was duct taped back together. It was not an awesome week.

This morning I had a root canal for the broken tooth. Even so, it was the best day I’ve had in a while – I found out I was right about something science-y at work and now I am absolutely insufferable about it.

p.s. On Saturday I’m running the Hot Chocolate 15k in Chicago. I’m just praying that I won’t slip on a banana peel and break into a million pieces.

p.p.s. The glass guy did fix my car. It wasn’t all that expensive, he just caulked the rubber strip back in place. It didn’t look very hard; now DJ is concerned that I’m going to start DIY-ing car repairs.

Today is Kid A’s birthday.  He’s 24.  DJ and I had a casual family dinner for him on Saturday, and I baked a cake.  Dark chocolate with caramel cream filling and marshmallow frosting.  It looked a lot like a Halloween cake.  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this exact cake somewhere in an October magazine or blog post, but this one was a birthday cake. 

Kid A’s childhood nickname was Mr. Boo.  I have no idea why, but we still call him that from time to time.  So I made a Mr. Boo cake for the kid born on All Saints Day.  I’m not so great with frosting and decorating, but I do love lame jokes.

Today I split a molar in half.  I bit down on an almond and a minute later my tongue found an empty place where half a tooth belonged.  Like a stress dream come true.  I called my boss.  Hey.  You’ll never guess what I just did.  He is now looking into having some sort of exorcism performed.  To make me less accident prone, I guess?  I called my dentist.  They had no available appointments.  I e-mailed my sister.  You know that dream you have where your teeth fall out?  What if it were real?  And your dentist were booked?  She sent me to her dentist.  Her dentist took a few macro photos of my jack-o’lantern half-tooth.  He had the look of a man who was about to make some money.  He says I need a crown, and maybe a root canal.  I am not about to argue.

DJ says it’s fine, this is why we have a savings account.  For rainy days and toothless Mondays.  But it’s so expensive.  I’m thinking about getting a diamond tooth, just to make sure I get my money’s worth.

Yoga tends to enhance whatever is happening at the moment. For me, anyway. Feeling out of balance? No problem, just hang out on one foot for a while. Feeling feeble, maybe lacking core strength and confidence? No problem, you just hold your limbs in the air a while and breathe deeply.  I kept thinking that I needed a yoga class before this yoga class, just to relax enough to participate.

The class ended with an eleven minute meditation. We cupped our hands together and looked down into them, breathing on whatever needed to be fixed. After the meditation one of the teachers went around the room telling people what color they were. I assume she meant some kind of energy halo, apparently corresponding to a chakra. She didn’t see a color for me. 

Later I thought I should have asked if it was possible that my color was white.  A combination of all the colors, everything needing work all at the same time.