And the snow came...

After I left work on Tuesday, I went to J.’s as I figured it’d be easier for me to drive to work from his house, rather than mine. When I got there, he gave me the one thing I’ve been wanting for weeks…. NO cheeky monkeys, not that! A copy of The Departed, just released. That was his way of “celebrating” Valentine’s Day in a passive-aggressive kind of way and I’m ok with it! He also made me dinner: Lemon Pepper chicken with mashed potatoes and corn. It was pretty damn good too! He also went to the store to get food so I wouldn’t be stuck in his house, starving for two days, which was kind of sweet of him. Every once in a while, they turn on the sweetness. Gotta give him props for that. I gave him his card which he thought was funny and that was it.

I got a very lovely phone call early on Wednesday morning, letting me know that my office was closing for the day. Thank goodness because there was no way in hell I was driving into work on Wednesday. Earlier that morning I had made J. call me when he got to work (I was at his house) and it took him double the regular time and he said the roads were pretty crappy. I spent the morning watching school closings, Dawson’s Creek and the aforementioned Brick and Scrubs. I also had plenty of bonding time with J.’s roomie and his dog. Great fun, that it was! J. ended up having to work late because most people had called in, so he asked me to marinate the steaks he had bought. Ok, I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I don’t know shit about cooking. I actually called my sister and asked her how to marinate. First problem: The only thing I can find in the freezer besides chicken are boneless, skinless breasts (?) of pork. I assume that’s what he’s talking about. I then put them in the sink and ran hot water over them to get the defrosting process underway. A few hours later I poked holes in them (he told me that would make the marinade sink in a little better) and thought I marinated them. I smothered the pork with marinade and then put them on the baking tray and back in the fridge to further defrost. As I’m patting myself on the back I come across my second problem: I marinated it with the wrong thing. He had two bottles of marinade in the fridge; one a steakhouse marinade and the other a mesquite. Well, he had used the mesquite (along with the lemon pepper) the night before and had wanted me to use the steakhouse. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now! I let him know I did it and he didn’t really care either way. Plus, it wasn’t steak so I figured it would work out better the way I did it (or so I’ve told myself). Anyway, I used about half a bottle of the marinade and let them sit. He got home and called his mother to see how he should broil the steaks, as he’d never really done anything but cook them on the grill, and considering the snow and cold, that wasn’t really an option. She gave him directions and everything was well. I could hear him pounding around in the kitchen, but thought nothing of it. He comes into the bedroom (where I’m still watching Scrubs), sits down on the bed and gives me this weird smile… then starts laughing. So I said “I’ve never marinated before, give me a break!!” Well, he’s still laughing and is trying to tell me how to do it, but I really don’t care at this point and he knows that. Yes.. it’s a funny story about cooking, as usual, and I’m sure he’ll tell everyone I know. He did say that the steaks turned out just fine, even though I marinated them poorly and in the wrong thing (Ok, he didn’t say it quite like that, but I know what he was thinking). However, he did have his own brain fart: He said to me “I’ve never had a steak come out this white before.” My response: “That’s because you bought pork, not steak.” We both kept eating until I couldn’t stand it anymore and just burst out laughing. Yep.. that was my Valentine’s Day!

I called in on Thursday. My car was buried in his driveway and there was no way it was getting out without some extra help. I don’t shovel. I never have and hope to God I never will. You have to start that when you’re a kid. My sister was always the one that would help Dad, while I sat inside with a hot cocoa and a BabySitter’s Club book. I’m ok with that. Therefore, you understand why I was agonizing about getting my car out of its snow covered cocoon. So yeah.. I called in and told them I spun out into a field on my way to work and that was motivation enough for me to go home. Honestly, there’s a huge hill I have to get down on the way from J.’s and I was kind of nervous. And oh yeah… you couldn’t see my car. Anyway, I had nothing to do and nowhere to go so I vegged out for most of the morning, but when I emerged, my car was miraculously dug out of it’s little igloo! J.’s roommate decided to shovel the driveway and since my car was in there too, he dug it out for me. I was very pleasantly surprised and yes, I could have gone to work, but I didn’t. Instead I finished disk 2 of Scrubs, checked my email and listened to his dog whine for two hours while he went skiing. I could have left but the last time I put the dog in its cage is when he jumped through J.’s window, so I didn’t really want to take that chance again. J. came home around 3 and we hung out for a bit before I went home. Sue and I had decided we weren’t in the mood to go to dance that night, so I went home and had Moxie’s pizza with my parents, then a slice of awesome ice cream cake at my Aunt and Uncle’s to celebrate my cousin Lindsey’s 21st birthday. I’m now officially old. Actually, I will officially feel old tonight when we take her out and we’re with all her friends. So yeah, that’s the plan for tonight. J. and I are meeting everyone out after bowling and since my cousin Laura is driving us around, we can BOTH get drunk, which is a rarity for us. Should be entertaining to say the least. I’m sure there will be shots (which I’m not good at) and I think my Uncle Jackie is videotaping the festivities. Granted, he could be lying but it’s a great idea if he’s not! I hope to remember my camera so I’ll take some pictures and we’ll see how Lindsey handles her big night out!

I’ve done NOTHING today. Like I had anticipated, my co-worker is giving me the deep freeze today. I totally forgot about a deadline since I was out yesterday, and she ended up having to do some work for me. In all honesty, it shouldn’t have been that much as I’d passed the torch to the attorney who needed to finish things up. All she had to do was check it and mail it out, but she’s been cranky all week so I’m keeping my distance. Anyway, I leave at 4:30 (yay) as I got here around 8 am, so only an hour or so of faking it. I need gas desperately! I thought I could make it home but my ¼ of a tank quickly changed to that point where the gas light turns on. Gas is at least $.07 cents higher near Albany but it’s so damn cold out that I don’t want to stop twice regardless of price. Ok.. went off on a bit of a tangent on that one. Anyway, have a great weekend and I’ll try to get some pictures up over the weekend. The HOLIDAY weekend! That reminds me. I’m off on Monday. Now if only I could have had today off. A 6 day weekend sounds good to me! Have a good one!!