Miscellaneous Meanderings

I've got a lot of little stuff to write about. It's been a heck of a weekend!

First to back track a little bit, for my birthday, Ron got me a pizzelle iron! Ok, I've made them before with my sister, Barb. I remember them being a lot of work, but the end result is just so worth it. I was excited to get going with my very own pizzelle iron!

Where to start? I called Mary Jane, who makes the best pizzelles around. I asked for her recipe, and since she loves me, I also got a free lesson in how to make them. Bonus! Mary Jane, Mike, Ron and I met up for dinner Saturday night and then back to our house to start cooking.

One thing I didn't remember is how l o n g it takes to make a batch of pizzelles. Our guests made sure I had a good handle on things, and decided it was time to cut out for home. Me and my iron sat there and had some mindless time together. Put the batter in, light goes from green to red, when it goes back to green again, pizzelles are done, take them out of iron, place on cooling rack. Rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. I gave up I think about 11:00 or so. Ron was a sport and took over until well after midnight. He really did the lion's share. I was able to finish up the batch on Sunday in just over an hour.

Now I have pizzelles. And they are absolutely awesome! My iron isn't exactly like Mary Janes, so my pizzelles come out a little smaller and a little thicker, but they are still good. No, they are still awesome. If anyone wants some, you better get back to my house before I get there on Friday! I'm drooling over here just thinking of them!

Now today is Monday, and that means I flew back to Chicago. From Cleveland to Chicago, I am on a small regional jet. It seats only 50 passengers and all bags larger than a briefcase or a lap top bag must be checked as there is no room in the overhead compartments. So, when I have to come to Chicago in the winter time, I pack my large suitcase, and pack my coat in my bag to save room in the overheads, then check the bag. When I get to baggage claim, I take my coat out and I'm good to go. Usually I'm only coatless for about a minute at curb side check in.

This morning when we left the house, it was -2 degrees. Yes, that's MINUS two degrees. I thought I'd just forego curbside check in and go on inside the airport to check in. At the last minute, I had a brain fart. The guy at curb side might have recognized, me, or else he was just humping another bag. But he grabbed my bag and said "ready?" I wasn't going to argue. I said sure, but I want to put my coat in my bag before you take it. Of course, this was the day he was going to have printer probems and it took awhile to get my baggage check ticket printed out; with me standing there is -2 degree weather with no freakin' coat on. Can you say brrr?

A nice brisk walk through the airport the 50 miles to my gate helped a little bit. By the time I got to the "D" terminal, I could almost feel my toes again. However, it didn't get any better after that. The terminal was absolutely freezing. The jetways are not well insulated, and the cold air was just coming right through the doors. Then when the doors were open to load or unload passengers it was even worse. Man not a good day to pack my coat in my bag.

Wait, it gets worse. It's finally my turn to board the plane. I can't feel my fingers or toes walking down the jetway. This was not a good day to be an elite flyer with Continental. My seat number was 3A. That means I'm really up in the front of the plane. Really really close to the open freakin' door. No wait. Not just one door, the galley service door is open as well! Two doors open and I'm right in front of them. Holy crap, I've never been this cold. The chintzy blanket in the overhead that I grabbed really didn't do much to help either.

I finally get into Chicago, get to baggage claim and pull out my warm cozy coat. I was never so happy to see some blue fabric as I was when I opened my bag!

Now, I've heard two different temperatures on the radio leaving the airport. One said we had a wind chill of -35 and a second opinion said a wind chill of -25. I don't care which one you go with, it's freakin' COLD. And at this point, I don't think that 10 degrees really matters in the scheme of things.

So now I must give Enterprise Rental Cars their moment. I was checking out a car for the week, when they said I get a PT Cruiser. Hey, I'm ok with that. I waited in the semi warm building for the guy to go get my car and bring it to the door for me. (I love this part of this Enterprise!) What do I see when he comes around? They have washed the car! It is now encapsulated in ice!! The entire car!!! Hello? Who in their right mind would wash a car in sub zero weather? This guy actually said to me that they just couldn't give me a dirty car. No, they'd rather give me a frozen shut car. I warned him that he better show up with a blow torch if I end up where I can't get in or out of this car. I had to pound some ice off of the side view mirrors to see out of them before I left!

So, it's been a miserable Monday weather wise. I haven't been warm since I crawled out of bed this morning. Now I'm sitting here in the hotel, the heat is turned up to about 80 and I'm looking at my king sized bed with the ultra plush comforter. So if y'all will excuse me, I think I need to crawl up under them covers and try to defrost my toes.