Things I adore...

One of my favorite things to do at the end of a long day or on a weekend morning is relax on the couch. I often prefer to take this time to catch up on my email with my laptop or read the paper. Add to this that I am often freezing (thanks to my husband, with whom I engage in thermostat wars...), and you have a complicated situation.

It's so nice to be all warm and toasty, tucked in with a warm blanket, but if I want to use my laptop too, I have to sacrifice a limb or two to the cold. Logistically, it's near impossible to find a way to stay totally covered and use the laptop at the same time. I've tried multiple blankets, tucking the laptop in with me under the covers, and even using a blanket-covered hand to type and click. All of which result in funny looks from J, and my frustration.

Enter:


The SlanketThe best little (big) blanket known to mankind. It's a large fleece blanket, plenty to cover you head to toe with tons to spare. And the best part: it has sleeves sewn in. :)

It's certainly a function over form kind of item; it's not the kind of blanket that's meant to display on the arm of your couch. However, it is warm and toasty and comes in a variety of colors. I was lucky enough to get this amazing invention from my in-laws for Christmas (with a little help from J), and though I had to settle for my 5th color choice (brown), I don't even care because this thing is the perfect solution to my arm-freezing problem.

Function: A+
Form: B-
Price: B- (worth it, but you could make one yourself for cheaper...)
Customer Service: D+ (we tried to exchange for another color after Christmas and they were not so great to work with... I ended up keeping the original one I got because it was not worth the hassle.)

Happy (belated) St. Pats!

Though I had to work on St. Patrick's Day, which meant missing the parade (what's up with that by the way? I agree with Guinness, who is petitioning to make St. Pat's an official holiday. But I digress...), we did get to celebrate a bit over the weekend, complete with a trip to Seamus' and another to LLywelyn's. (Which I spelled correctly on the first try!) Both were complete with very drunk parade-goers. Woohoo! On Saturday, we also got to see Nic and Nicole, which was a lot of fun.

J is on spring break this week, but is still working hard on school work/papers/our infinite to-do list around the house, and I have Friday off!! (Good Friday is a recognized holiday by the NYSE! Woo-Hoo!) Hope all of our Irish relatives had a great St. Patty's too! :)

Riiiight...

Well, the spring weather was awesome, but now it looks like this outside:
Close to a foot of snow. And it's still coming down. Yikes.

Fresh air.

So, as previously mentioned below, I've been sick for over a week now. I decided last night that I was sick and tired of being, well, sick and tired.

We woke up this morning to BEAUTIFUL weather-- in the 70s and sunny! We promptly opened all the windows and turned on the attic fan. It's about time we get the yuck out of this house.

The view from our back window.
I live for spring weather!!!! Too bad it's supposed to snow again this week...

So today, we:

• vacuumed and then swiffered everything, and even moved all the furniture to make sure we got everything
• deep cleaned the kitchen
• took down the Valentine's decorations (I know, a few weeks late) and put up our Easter/St. Pat's stuff (We decided since they're less than a week apart this year, we'd combine them . It's kind of funny to see Shamrocks and Easter eggs in close proximity...)
• re-organized the basement storage area
• let Bailey get a nice long romp in the yard (it's been too cold for that for months!), then gave him a bath and a haircut
  
• played hockey (that one was just J)
  

We also changed some of our decor... For our wedding two years ago, we made copies of pictures from our parents' and grandparents' weddings, and had them on display during our wedding reception. They've been boxed up since then, and while re-arranging the basement, I decided they didn't belong in a box. Here's how they look now, proudly displayed in our hallway:

(Clockwise from Top L: My maternal Great-Grandparents, J's parents, my maternal Grandma, my paternal Grandparents, J's maternal Grandparents, my parents, my maternal Grandparents, J's paternal Grandparents)

I think at some point I'll get black and white copies made of the color photos so that they all go together a bit more... not that I don't love the amazing 70s color in our parents wedding pictures... :)

Hope you all got to enjoy the beautiful day as well!! :)