Sunday, December 21, 2008

Happiness Found In A Snowbank

Suddenly, it's all Pollyanna all the time over here.  I seem to be able to find the joy no matter what the circumstances.  Yes, snow is falling so hard and fast that I fear I shall not be seen again until the Spring.  Yes, the management company in charge of all things "maintenance" for my condo association has, once again, chosen the wrong company to do the job.  The plows never came at all on Friday, nor on Saturday.  They arrived late this afternoon to clean up two days worth of snow and I quickly scampered out to move my vehicle so they could find pavement.  I watched them spend twenty minutes and use two trucks to clear the lot next to mine.  I then watched them make one pass across my lot, sit in the truck for five minutes doing nothing then drive away.

My space remains buried.  I hate them.  

But I still feel that luck is with me. I see so many things over which to smile today:

* If nothing else, I had nowhere to go so, other than driving around my condo complex trying to find a place to put my car while the plows didn't clear my parking space, I was spared being out in this mess.  

*I received a phone call from my great-uncle this morning.  Being in his nineties and very hard of hearing, talking on the phone is a little difficult for him so it was really a treat to hear from him.  He was concerned that he may have forgotten to send my Christmas card this year and wanted to make certain that I knew of his holiday wishes for me.  My uncle is one of those incredibly eloquent people who use the Maine accent to make the language a beautiful thing.  He is what you might call an Old World Gentleman and doesn't so much speak as he orates.  He also writes in that amazing old copperplate style.  Phone calls, Christmas cards...either one is a cool thing to receive.  Those who can communicate in this manner are fast becoming a thing of the past.  I'll enjoy it while I can.

*On the less sophisticated end of the spectrum, I discovered one of my favorite BBC series had a season up on Itunes for what I considered to be a reasonable price.  I decided to give myself a little early Christmas present and download to my heart's content! 

( I suppose I should be more embarrassed by my love of Little Britain.  I should also probably just apologize to everyone in the whole wide world for its very existence, let alone my being a fan.  Lines are crossed.  Flagrantly and with little regard for political correctness, I suppose.  But if a show is going to cross the line, then they'd better do it well and LB does.  There are very few shows that can actually make me do that thing where you laugh so hard it sounds like a bark and you even surprise yourself since you didn't see it coming.  I can't help it.  It's just funny in a Guilty Pleasure sort of way...)

Frankly, I can't seem to find the downside.  Even the fact that my car remains buried and that I am assuming the plow guys will show up at midnight expecting me to go back out there and move it again doesn't seem to bother me.  I feel like I am having a run of good luck.  I think I may have appeased Karma to some degree lately.  




It might have something to do with my Massive Mitten Production.


I am fully aware of the fact that my sudden need to knit mittens for the holidays is sheer folly at this  point.  I am not going to have enough mittens to give a pair to every person who crosses my mitten knittin' path.  I am not even going to have enough to give to the people for whom I thought mittens might make a good gift such as the school secretaries or my teaching assistants.  But I like to think that Karma is pleased with my giving it a go even if I am doomed to failure.  Maybe Karma is just feeling sorry for me.  Whatever.  I'll take the pity if that's what I need to not have to drive in the snow and have fun TV to watch.

I'm just going to keep knitting those mittens right up until the last minute.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll actually end up with more than I'd thought.  I'm definitely going to knit a pair for Karma, though.

There is a deal on a zombie DVD bundle I just saw online.  I'd kind of like for my luck to hold out just long enough to score that before it all runs out...

SA

14 comments:

Annie said...

Have you seen the Little Britain in America/USA (sorry, can't remember which it was) series yet? It's even less politically correct, if that were possible.Yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but...

Kath said...

I don't get BBC and missing out on Doctor Who and Torchwood episodes makes me sad. But I have long suspected there might be even more good stuff on that channel.

Teri S. said...

Hmmm...Little Britain sounds like a fine show. We just got FIOS TV and perhaps BBC is one of the channels we get. That would be very cool.

The wintry mix we were supposed to get was wimpy. Geez...can't we have a real winter for once in ole Virginie? Although I've been told that the Farmer's Almanac is predicting at least one record snowfall for this winter. One can only hope.

Good job on the mittens!

Anonymous said...

Good job on the mittens! It's the thought that counts, right? I'm hoping so.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to know how you got your car moved when they haven't plowed in 2 days. There's so much snow at my house just from today's storm (never mind Friday's storm that was actually Friday & Saturday's storm) that I fear I may never get out of my driveway.

Mel said...

What Julie said. My car disappeared a couple hours ago, and I think David's pickup isn't far behind.

I love LB, too, but I expect that fact surprises you not one bit.

catsmum said...

I'm sorry but you and I will just have to agree to differ on LB - most of it just makes me want to cringe

although I get a giggle out of Vicki with the " nobutyeahbutnobutyeahbutno!" because I once knew someone who actually spoke like that LOL

catsmum said...

and I defend to the death your right to watch whatever the hell you want to cos I loves my Sheepie

Donna Lee said...

I wanted to make socks for everyone I know but only managed to make them for my immediate family. That will have to do. I wish we had some of that snow....but just some of it. We got copious amounts of rain and today have copious amounts of ice. Yay for Winter!

sheep#100 said...

Hey, remember this: you are a teacher. You can fall back on the "I was running late and had to stop for gas, so I'll bring you your mittens after the Christmas vacation, okay?" excuse and keep on knitting through New Year's!

Mia said...

I hate your plow guy too :) Will you please hate my garbage man for me? No pick up the week after Thanksgiving and they aren't scheduled to be back until the Friday after Christmas. I'm buried in trash. And snow. And turkey. *grin*

And you're great uncle sounds pretty cool in the old school kinda way :)

Kathleen said...

You could always use the Maine Morning Mitts pattern. Knock off a couple pair in an evening.

Yarnhog said...

I haven't seen Little Britain, but I'm all for guilty pleasures (I have a degree in Literature from Harvard, and you should see my collection of trashy romances).

I hope you enjoy your hard-earned break!

Jeanne said...

I love British humour. But I must say, I deeply and profoundly miss EastEnders. Since it's a daily soap that has been on for YEARS, the chances of downloading from somewhere are unlikely and would most likely be cost-prohibitive. Sad.

Your Great-Uncle Copperplate sounds like a treasure. Very cool that he called.