I'm crazy, but I'm not afraid...

That's the title of a song I'm listening to, so don't get any ideas. I'm plenty scared and not half as crazy as I think I am, so it's only partly true.

I just, after much dawdling, checked my bank account balance and much to my surprise, I had at least twice the amount of money that I thought I would have, which is such a relief, you have no idea. It is like I just got a present that I was not expecting. I checked and made sure that all the bills have been paid and yes, everything seems to be okay, so that's good then. I dawdled, because usually there is less money there than I want there to be and I worry about making it to the next payday, which is a week from today. It means I can go to the post office and mail those packages without worrying about how much it will cost.

I went back to bed this morning and slept a few more hours after which I drank a cup of coffee while extensively petting the dog and then walking him. It's only -1C and cloudy, but the sun is supposed to be out every now and then. Still, it's not warm enough for the snow to melt, but it may be tomorrow when we are expecting rain or snow, depending on what the actual temperature is going to be. We won't ask what I would like for it to be, because that's unrealistic and it won't happen. Needless to say, I want it to be warmer and for all the snow to melt. I've had enough of it. It's been fun, but I want to see the street and the sidewalk again.

I've got a terrible hairdo from alternately sleeping on my hair and wearing my snow hat, I can't be seen out in public without it on, because my hair is sticking up in three different directions. It totally doesn't faze me as long as nobody is around to look at it. I sit here in the privacy of my apartment with sticking up hair and every once in a while I run my hands through it in an attempt to tame it. Sleeping on my right side doesn't help, because it shoves all my hair upwards on that side of my head. A good rain shower would help now and maybe it would bring out the natural curls. Ha, just kidding. I have as much natural curl as a pack of spaghetti. I will stick my head under the bathroom faucet and try to get my hair to lie flat again. Either that or apply wax and hairspray. Water may be better, though. Once you put wax and hairspray in your hair, it gets sticky and you have an even harder time controlling it the next day. You look like a yak caught in a snowstorm.

I've been wearing the same gray cardigan for as long as there is snow now. It's the one item of clothing that's keeping me very warm. As soon as the snow melts, it's going in the laundry, but until that time I'm continuing wearing it. There's usually an item of clothing that I really get attached to and this cardigan is one of them. It's made of wool, partially, and it's very comfortable. It covers my big rear end and it matches whatever I'm wearing. I can change all my clothes and still wear this cardigan over them and I can wear any of my scarves with it.

Speaking of scarves, I would like to buy another one, but that involves going to the clothing store and that is something I'm not quite up to, which is a darn shame. I'm missing out on opportunities with this agoraphobia that is keeping me so close to home and so limited in my movements. I will be glad when it's gone and I can move about again. I would like to go to the little shopping center that's not too far from here and poke around in a few shops for some odds and ends that I need. It's very frustrating not to be able to do that.

Instead of going out, I'm doing a lot more reading. I've finished "Half Broke Horses" by Jeannette Walls and "The Blue Afternoon" by William Boyd. I just finished a collection of short stories by Alice Adams and I started a novel by her yesterday called "Superior Women." I definitely feel the need to read and can't get enough of it, but the problem is that I fall asleep quickly with a book, no matter how exciting it is. It's the serenity and the silence that do it and the fact that I just seem to need a lot of sleep. But the books are great and I'm enjoying them very much. I am kind of reading them randomly and choose whatever I feel in the mood for at the moment. Sometimes I let the title help me decide and sometimes the name of the author, it all depends. A good title will awaken my curiosity, like "Beachcombing For A Shipwrecked God." That sounded very good and it was a good book. I'll look for novels by Joe Coomer again. "The Blue Afternoon" was very good also, that's one of those novels that you think about later on and remember passages of.

I just got the mail and I have 4 new mooched books to add to my collection. They all look very interesting and they are novels I really wanted and I'm lucky I got them, and here they all were in one fell swoop too. I must make room for them on the bookcase, because they deserve a place of honor. I don't have any of these authors yet, but I'm very excited about having them. Dorothea Benton Frank, Clare Boylan, Kaye Gibbons and Carol Goodman. And that's the only mail I got too. No bills! Isn't that nice? A woman on her own deserves a break now and then and I seem to be getting mine today. I'm very pleased.

I just took the dog out for a walk, because he was looking at me with those eyes from about a foot away. Those Bambi eyes. It turned out he didn't have to do anything urgent, he just wanted a stroll around the neighborhood. I can't blame him. He wants to sniff in all the familiar places and explore some of the less familiar ones and see if there is anything edible underneath the snow, which I then have to keep him from devouring. He has less than discriminating tastes and I don't know what will quickly disappear in his mouth once he's found something. I have to pull him away from anything that looks suspicious as fast as possible and he does know how to throw his weight into it. He's a strong dog for an old man.

Well, I'm going to read for a while. The afternoon is drawing to an end and soon it will be dark. It still have to move that lamp to the armchair so I can sit there and read. I hope sitting there will prevent me from falling asleep, as opposed to hanging out on the sofa.

Have a good evening, or whatever time of day it is over at yours.

Ciao,
Nora