For Emergency Assistance: North Hartland Corp

I arrived home late last night after an amazing evening with the BPO to find that sometime between 5:00 p.m. when I left and 10:30 p.m. when I got home, something went wrong with the furnace. It was 59 degrees in my apartment and 42 in my kitchen.

So I did what I always do when I have troubles I can't fix. I call my big brother, Obiwan of Seattle. Unfortunately, he can't fix a furnace from 3,000 miles away. So much for The Force! :D He did give me recommendations, though, the first of which was to call someone local and get them over. It was three degrees outside, and in that kind of weather, it doesn't take a real long time for the pipes to freeze.

Oh, joy.

I called my landlord, and after six telephone calls (three to his cell and three to his home), he returned my call at ten to midnight with the okay to call in a repairman. So I called my sister, Ian's beloved Aunt Bubby, at every single number I had for her, to see if her husband could help.

My poor brother-in-law, who owns North Hartland Corp., came all the way from Appleton at 2:00 in the morning to fix it. He had it up and running in what seemed like seconds.

If you live in Western New York, and you need help with your heat, call Chris. I'm not kidding. The man knows his stuff, and he will come at any hour, at a reasonable cost, and even be cheerful in the wee hours of the morning. :)

Happy Birthday, Mozart!

Yesterday, my friend Sue and I went to see Happy Birthday Mozart performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Oboist, Pierre Roy opened the show by performing Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314. A brief intermission followed, and then the amazing Caroline Goulding took the stage with the BPO. At just 17 years old, she is an incredible musician. As soon as I have some extra money, I will be purchasing her CD for my music collection. The performance was breath-taking, and Miss Goulding has extraordinary talent.

Looking back over the day, I realize it's no small wonder I'm exhausted. Washed six loads of laundry, made Picadillo Stuffed Peppers in the crockpot, hard-boiled a dozen eggs for breakfasts, made a big batch of Zero Point Soup (a WW vegetable soup that is wonderful), cleaned out the refrigerator, fed the boy child half a dozen times, vacuumed, dusted, and almost finished my Quantitative Analysis homework for the week. Waiting to hear back from the course mentor on that one. It's a whole lot like banging your head against the wall when you have no idea what you're doing and have no one around to ask. But hey, I've got breakfasts and lunches done for the week. Life is good!

Day off

Got an unexpected day off today in honor of getting new gas lines. National Fuel Gas had to shut off my gas for a few hours while they replaced and repaired lines from my home.

The smell of the gas combined with the word "leak" had me reaching for my Xanax. :D

A Veritable Heat Wave

It's 36 degrees outside! This, of course, reminds me that Spring Training opens in just .... 31 days!

Thinking of You...

Buffalo General Hospital is housing two of my favorite people for the night after their surgeries. The funny thing is, they don't know each other. Neither one of them is from Buffalo. Dawn should be going home tomorrow, and hopefully Bob will be leaving shortly, too.

It saddens me that can't get down there to see them tonight (my sitter is unavailable), but I hope they know they are in my thoughts, and I hope they are on the mend.

My heart goes out to Pat and Steve, too, their loving partners and another two of my favorite people, who will try not to worry until they are home safe and sound. I wish I could help all four of them through this and make it all better. That's the mom in me, I guess.

Sleep well, be safe, and let the healing begin.

Updates!

New entries and pics back to December 4th! (What a gal won't do to delay getting to Quantitative Analysis homework.) :D

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Happy New Year!

It's 2010. Wow. If you had asked me 25 years ago what I thought I'd be doing in 2010, I'd have told you I wasn't planning on living this long.

I've come a long way.

I decided not to make any 'resolutions' this year. I never seem to keep them. However, an acquaintance of mine passed away last week, and it made me think. He was 47. Heart attack. The end. I'm 45.

I need to make behavioral changes to bring about health changes.

Ian and I discussed our diets, and we agreed we need to eat healthier. I rejoined Weight Watchers in that on-going struggle to keep my weight under control. And I am going to make little changes, bit by bit, baby step by baby step, to get healthy again.

This week, Ian and I are going to plan our meals for next week. And then we're going to try to stick to the plan.

Baby steps. :)