Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

We’re expecting another big (for DC) snow storm tomorrow through Thursday. Four to eight inches (10-20cm), which is a lot for here. Work laptop came home with me, and I will take advantage of any and all “unscheduled telework” days that pop across, like the “Early Departure ?” DC area Federal offices status message that’s posted for tomorrow (the question mark, present in the original message, was my favorite part; like they weren’t sure they completely meant it).

Commuted in, met the husband in metro on the way home. Ordered pizza for dinner and watched the last half of season one of Big Boys, a British show on Hulu that we’re quite enjoying. Probably an early night tonight as Tuesdays are traditionally busy days for me as people manage to catch up on their weekend/Monday emails and start tossing bombs at the lawyers.

Giving into the clothing store conspiracy, the husband and I went clothes shopping today, after overdue haircuts. Got some dress pants and a couple shirts for myself, so I’ll have some fresh options as we careen toward full time in-the-office schedules. He’s already mostly in the office full time (he works at a local university, in a student facing position, so he has to be there to deal with the kids), so it’s business as usual for him.

Tried Raising Canes for the first time, at the husband’s recommendation. Not bad, I’ll go again. I appreciated that it was one of the simplest fast food menus in existence – how many chicken fingers did you want, and the sides depended on that number. Easy. Not a bad business model, either. I can see why they’re so popular.

The drive up to Massachusetts wasn’t bad. We made good time, and only really hit traffic when we got to the Boston I-95 beltway during rush hour, and even then the maps app had taken that into account with the timing. Checked in, all good. Got an upgrade to a “suite” because we walked into our first room and there were a handful of tools (think hammer, etc.) on the counter, so they switched us. Not bad.

Then dinner took as long as the drive up here did because we had The. World’s. Slowest. Waitress. Seriously, she was just bad at her job. Good food, but overly warm in the place and slow service left me slightly cranky. Felt good to get outside into the cold.

All unpacked and ready for whatever we’re up to tomorrow. I have a video call from 1-3 for the training class, and the husband is meeting one of his college friends while I do that, but otherwise we’ve no plans until Saturday.

I really should have done more aftercare after the walk yesterday, and before taking a rest day today. Quads (and maybe calves) were dragging the knee out of alignment and that was not fun. I beat both legs up with rollers and the Hypervolt this evening, so here’s hoping that worked the stiffness out of them.

Commuting tomorrow to the office. One meeting scheduled to touch base on the work emergency from Friday because even more people are involved now. Whee! Also going to use the opportunity to try a breakfast sandwich at Dunks that is supposed to be more tummy friendly for me (their sourdough is supposedly real, made-with-an-actual-starter sourdough). This is important because we have to head up to the home of Dunks this weekend (aka Massachusetts) and it would be nice to have a friendlier option.

The husband was out late, and it’s still gross outside from the snow, so I was up late last night to grab him from the Metro. But that’s okay, because it meant I slept in this morning, so he had to walk himself to the Metro first thing to get to work. Karma.

Still walked on the treadmill, still made my morning meetings (that I’d forgotten until the work computer dinged at me), still got a lot of work done. Today was more of a ‘leading people’ day than substantive legal work, which is okay by me.

Then it was picking up the husband from the Metro, grabbing the weekly haul of comics, and enjoying pasta at the Italian place next door to the comic shop. I’ll pay for the pasta tomorrow, but it was tasty. Apropos of that I ordered a new enzyme supplement that’s supposed to help with digesting FODMAPs, and is aimed squarely at the ones that I react to, so here’s hoping that’s useful once it arrives.

Had another couple we’re friends with over this evening, and made some new dishes (a maple glazed pork loin with Swiss chard & carrots; roasted broccoli; and lemon & parsley quinoa). They turned out well, for the most part, and were well received. The broccoli was a trifle overdone in spots (overly hot burner while pan roasting), but still tasted good. Then we played a couple riffs on queer versions of apples-to-apples that we picked up at the end of the year. Fun time.

Last day of work for the week was good. Nice chat with a new coworker, talked over some stuff that’s going on with transition, and made plans to address at least one of them with a couple quick meetings next week (because, putting on my former information lawyer hat, one should never create more written records when a conversation is better suited to the topic). Also talked about how I’m not completely clear on what my role is going to be going forward as a big part of my portfolio is moving over to another attorney who just started. I’m okay with the hire, just in a bit of limbo over the scope of my duties at the moment.

High FODMAP load kind of day for me. The “sourdough” from the grocery store was not true made-with-a-starter sourdough, so the reflux is not happy with me. Ah well.

Work was relatively quiet. Cleaning out emails and suggesting responses to some things, mostly. I have an actual meeting tomorrow (the scandal!) to check in with a colleague about some language the agency has been using to advertise some programs that needs to change. Whee. Housekeeper is coming tomorrow, and we have friends coming over for dinner. And hopefully a tool to detect and fix faults in Xmas light strings is arriving and will work as advertised. Much preferable to replacing a pre-lit tree.

Windy start to the new year. Walked outside after lunch (Denny’s, which was chaos; I tipped our poor waitress very well). Walk went well, had one spot where a gust threatened my balance, but kept my feet okay and kept going. Slightly longer walk today since it was the last “warm” day for the near future (47F/8C) as a cold front brings possible snow this upcoming weekend.

In a very rare showing we were at the comic shop before they opened at 11, and were not the first to get there. I grabbed a dessert drink from the Starbucks down the shopping row while we waited (sugar cookie latte, with sprinkles).

Now the husband is making homemade hotdog buns in a new pan I got him for Xmas. Yes, it’s easier to buy them at the store, but this seemed like something fun for him to try. From the cursing I’m hearing from the general direction of the kitchen it might not be as fun as intended, but I’m guessing they’ll still come out tastier than store brand, just from the ingredient list.

We went out for the last haircuts of the year this morning, then hit the mother ship of our local comic store for stocking stuffers. On the way there the road was blocked so we decided to hit a Barnes & Noble and let the blockage situation work itself out. We were forcibly reminded of why we don’t hit physical stores the weekend before Xmas. It actually wasn’t that bad, and I’m glad they were busy as I hope that helps keep them afloat, but it reminds me of how devout church goers must feel when the CEOs (Christmas-Easter-Onlys) show up at the holidays. It also reminded me of working at a mall in graduate school, when they made us park off-site and shuttled us over, which I was initially annoyed at, but then grateful for when we could get out of the satellite parking a lot faster, even with the bus, than one could leave the garage.

Stocking stuff picked up. Finished the brim on an elf hat for the husband and started on the body. The green yarn pull ball for the body is behaving a lot better than the brim; the white brim yarn kept catching and was just a nightmare to pull out until I finally managed to pull the bit that was catching out of the middle and undo it.

The in-laws arrive tomorrow afternoon, so the husband was baking up a storm. Ginger cupcakes with gingerbread men and vanilla frosting. Sandwich cookies (chocolate with vanilla frosting inside). And I think he has more planed, but that’s all that got done over the last two days. Good stuff, but I’m finding that I have less of an appetite for a ton of sweets. I’m trying to steer him toward snacking size cakes when it’s just us (aka a single layer in an 8×8 pan) so we don’t have, say, an entire 9″ two-layer cake with frosting staring us down.

Two last things to wrap, and one last thing that’s to arrive Monday, then done.

On Sunday I’m taking off for the middle of Virginia for two weeks of training for work. Haven’t started a packing list yet, but I know I’ll be doing a lot of laundry (and perhaps some ironing) in preparation. Business casual attire. It’s also finally going to get cold in this part of the world, so perhaps sweaters will be in order. Not that I own many of those; they tend to be too warm for me in most indoor environments.

Hit the grocery store relatively early this morning, where it was busy but not overwhelmed. No wait at the deli counter, and a normal wait at the checkout line. Might have to do one more trip before I leave to stock the husband up on non-perishable foodstuffs.

We decorated the interior of the townhouse for Xmas. Three trees up (two in the living room, one on the top floor), lego villages, etc. We’ll hang the exterior lights tomorrow or Friday. Tomorrow we’re continuing a new Thanksgiving tradition and spending the day building a big lego set (Barad Dür, to go with the Rivendell set we built last year), though it’ll likely take us more than the day to build, depending on how dedicated we are. Simple fare is planned, nothing fancy, lots of carbs. Talked him into a snacking cake sized dessert (8×8 inch pan, single layer) rather than something huge; should fit in the toaster oven while I make melting potatoes in the regular oven.

Yarn store didn’t have the color I needed to complete the hat, but they’ve ordered some for me (it’s one they carry regularly). The husband picked out a green for a version of the same hat, and while I’ve wound the yarn I haven’t started it yet. Will take the yarn with me to Virginia, along with a Woobles advent calendar I purchased earlier this year. No lack of projects at this point.