another cold week with a happy ending

This week has been challenging, I am knitting like a madman to finish and Irish knit sweater, only one arm to go, and my fingers are about to fall off. It has been cold as shit, but with my new pulse reading I seem to take cold much better since I seem to be always hot...not that I wasn't hot before, but you know what I mean.

Someone at work wants to meet my Dr. Jekyll side, mmm not a good move on their part.

Last night we had dinner with two old friends that we had not seen in ages. It was a blast, they are one of the few people that can make me laugh out loud. Great meal at the Ashmont Grille. Tonight is sisters turn, from what I understand she has tons of what we puertoricans call chismes...(nifty tidbits of family gossip). Dinner will be an Italian fest and I already saw that Paul is preparing a Tuscan feast.

what's new?

It has been a while since I have done an update, so here it goes. Last week went to a Paul work retirement party. It was a blast; not only well done and touching but a great group. It is always fun to see Mr Haus... a round of sparkling water for us.

The gym thing is going well, boring when it is inside, not so bad outside, although it has been either snowing or cold as hell.

The house in NH is on deep freeze. Between the feet of snow or the below freezing temperatures construction is on hold.

and I am very jealous of Croix and John for being able to see the three queens, in the NYC harbor. For a once in a lifetime, the new Queen Victoria, the Queen Mary and the QE2 were sailing out at the same time.

downgraded and not sure how I feel about it

Ever since my Dr Surgeon said start doing cardio, I've been walking more and lifting some weights. This week-end on Sunday I was feeling pretty good about my walks and was speeding up the pace. (my current goal is to do 10 minute miles) Monday morning about 3:00am I woke up not breathing too well; I didn't think much of it and tried to go back to sleep. Forward to 10:00am Monday at work, and I am getting the chills and I know I have a fever. At this point I was heading straight home to bed. I have no idea what I had, but the basic symptoms were not strangers to me.

I tried to take a nap, but as usual that didn't work, and about 4pm I did a temperature reading and was clocking 102.4... as they say in my home country...CALIENTE! So after much mental wrestling decided to call the doctor (Cancer Dr) since this was starting to smell like pneumonia. The thought alone was nauseating, but I called anyway. The nurse basically said to me, try to contact your primary care physician because what we would suggest is for you to head for the emergency room. PRIMARY CARE!!! what the fuck... downgraded to a non specialist??? OK prissy queen get off the pageant float!

I just didn't want to go to the emergency room, the memories are still too close to the surface. I made two decision points; if any fever returned or if sleeping didn't work because not breathing was keeping me up,I would go... YUKE.

I went to bed at 7:45pm and barring two phone calls (Paul & Eileen) I woke up about 9:45am. I dare say I needed to rest! Feeling much better but a little left behind. I supposed is a good left behind, but it does feel a little strange.

Building a house or an Igloo

After our porky cerdo week-end, we wanted to cross over to Waterville and see how the construction was going. We knew that construction would have been difficult; after all, New England ski areas have received over 28 inches of snow in 3 weeks. As we drove across the state, we stopped at a Plain Jane's dinner in Rumney, New Hampshire. As we were waiting for the check, the waitress comments that snow was to start at 11:00am (Precisely according to her) and that they were expecting 12 inches. As we left the dinner at 11:04am and the flakes were starting to fall, we were very curious as to what we would see when we got there.

First pic is the driveway and the foundation. what foundation you ask?? it is buried somewhere in there. Technically you should be able to see about 25 inches of cement from the point of view of the picture. Second pic is the view from the top of the foundation wall.

A winter wonderland

For the New Year celebration... otherwise known as "this fucking year is finally over" my sister invited us to her house up in Vermont. As always, all revolved around good wine (the field of empty bottles was a testament to our discipline), sleeping, and eating a lot.

For starters, Brother in Law found a tapas restaurant in White River Junction. Who would think that WRJ could support such a place. They also had a terrific pomegranate martini. One of the days we drove up to Montpelier to the restaurant run by the New England Culinary School Chef's Table) this was the brunch to end all brunches. Quality food displayed creatively and plentifully. We porked out so much that we had to skip dinner, but NOT cocktail hour. To round up the meals, the New Years meal was at the Corners Inn. Lobster, fillet, duck and snapper...

To finish the week-end we had about 9 inches of snow fall in the morning. Oh yeah... there is this wild turkey that I guess guards the house, rascally little bastard. Getting a picture of this bird was like catching sasquatch.

Christmas day

This year was an interesting Christmas. It was a very relaxing holiday week-end since this year, the usual stops where changed to two simple dinners. One was with friends, the other with my family. The usual family things were more fun than usual since this year we had two little kids running around and opening presents that belong to them or anyone in site.

Overall, the way Christmas should be.. all about the kids, and yes plenty of food.