I took today off, and spent most of it cleaning house--I had originally thought I'd take the whole week off, since I had enough vacation days left, but since I had just had a week off and had only been back two weeks, I thought I should let someone else have the opportunity. I went ahead and took today, though, since I doubt anything much was going on at the office.

Bob woke me up a little before 8:00 by prodding me and saying "Aren't you getting up this morning? It's almost 8:00." I guess I had forgotten to mention that I was taking the day off, or I did mention it and he forgot, either of which is just as likely.

He really should have been the one staying home today. He has bronchitis, but they were moving his office today, and he had to go in. As it turned out, though, they didn't move his office--the mover didn't show--so he has to go in early tomorrow. And we got more snow overnight--an inch or so, probably--so I was just as glad I didn't have to go anywhere urgently.

I spent the morning and early afternoon cleaning and doing laundry, then went out in the middle of the afternoon. I had thought I might do some shopping, but I ended up spending an hour--my allotted time--at the bookstore looking at knitting books.

Every year around this time I get an almost unbearable urge to knit something. Anything. Right now I'm working on a baby hat that I started last year and never finished. There's just something comforting about sitting in a comfortable chair with knitting in my hands, creating something. I think I'd like to make a scarf for myself, or some mittens. The problem is a dearth of knitting stores around here, though. All there is here as a source of yarn is Hobby Lobby, which caters more to the toilet tissue cover crocheting set.

I found a treasure in the bookstore--The Knitting Goddess, a wonderful book about mythology and knitting, complete with a few patterns. I was very pleased with it, and pleased that I had something to read as I stood in the very long line to check out.

After I bought the book, I went to the grocery store for chicken soup, cough medicine, and clementines, then went by Matt and Karen's to check on Newman. He was happy to see me, as always. I sat down on the futon and he got up on my chest and butted his head against my chin over and over, and I let him chew on my fingers, and he purred and purred.

I couldn't stay long, though--I had to get home to my own cats and my sick husband.

I came in the back door with sacks of groceries, and the living room was dark. I thought I had seen his van out front, but I didn't really pay close attention--I thought maybe I'd seen someone else's vehicle, and Bob wasn't home yet. But once I got in the house, I heard water running upstairs, and figured he was taking a bath.

I went upstairs to see, looked around the corner into his bathroom, and this is what I saw:

Not only does she sleep under the covers with her head on his pillow, she takes baths with him . . .

I came downstairs and heated up some chicken soup, then took it back up to him in the bathroom, and removed Pyewacket and brought her back down with me. She didn't stay long, but long enough for him to finish his soup and get into bed, then she joined him, and Dinah slept on the chair in the corner for awhile.

I had soup, too, and a couple of clementines. Even though I've successfully (so far) avoided getting sick, I've had a hard time staying warm. I've been taking a lot of baths, which I shouldn't be, since my skin is very dry, but sometimes it's the only thing that warms me up.

Hot baths and hot soup and hot chocolate, and curling up under a pile of afghans on the couch.

I have to go back to work tomorrow, which I dread--not the work part, which I enjoy, but the getting there part. But I'll dress warm and take my orange juice in the car with me, and take a turkey sandwich made from my mom's leftovers from yesterday, and some sort of citrus fruit--we have an embarrassment of riches in that department right now (I ordered gifts for my freelance clients from Harry and David, and the grapefruit sounded so good that I couldn't resist ordering a box for myself, then we also got a box from a law firm that we use, so I took a box out to my parents yesterday)--and stick it out for a few hours until it's time to make the trek back at night.

We had a nice Christmas, as we always do.

We spent Christmas Eve at Bob's parents' house, with his family, had our own Christmas that night after we got home, then spent Christmas Day with my family. My sister who lives in Denver didn't get to come home with her family this year, but everyone else was there.

Bob gave me a beautiful pair of blue topaz earrings and a thin gold chain, and the usual (and useful and always appreciated) underwear and bath products, and a dream dictionary and a motion detector/burglar alarm thing that I haven't actually tried out yet, but which I intend to scare the cats with. :)