February's Been a Drag, Hasn't It?

Or, is it just me?

First of all, the cold. The horrible, frigid, dangerous, relentless cold. Plus, I could swear ever since the plumber re-installed the radiator in our bathroom and bled all the other radiators in our house, the family room just doesn't heat up as quickly as it used to. Frustrating. He also didn't bleed the radiators correctly, according to Edwin. Grr.

I've continued to be crazy busy at work. It has eased somewhat, but I recently learned I am moving to a different jurisdiction in my department. Sigh! Exciting, and ... not. I have moved around a lot, which has required me to start over every time. And here I am, starting over again with new coworkers, training, expectations. Much of the work I've done before, but it's been years ago. I'm nervous but I'm confident. The way I see it, I've worked on New York and I've worked on USCA--Maryland will be a piece of cake in comparison. I am freakishly excited to learn they have a 90 day legislative session! And distinct signing dates!! Woohoo!

Valentine's Day came and went. It's one of those holidays I remain ambivalent about, even though I'm not single anymore. I know it's a lot of hype and not a "real" holiday but I can't help but still want a little extra love that day. I guess that is what is hard about such a holiday, I'm not sure what my expectations should be. In general I try to keep them low, but how low??

I've finished the second Sisterhood book (excellent!) and have now started a book called The Magician's Wife and am enjoying it very much. The Sisterhood books seem a great way to introduce different life topics to girls Saskia's age and older. Several different topics are covered among all the girls ... the death of a parent, a single parent dating, a parent having a mysterious past, broken down relationships between parents and grandparents, resisting peer pressure, etc. It's not just a story, it makes you think.

Monday was a work holiday for us, so we decided that would be a good day to go to lunch and see Dreamgirls while Anna was at daycare. Which we'd hoped to do in January but it didn't work out. Anyway, it was a nice time--we dropped off both girls, went to the Y, then to lunch at PF Chang's, then to the movie. We picked up Anna after the movie and since the weather was so nice we went to the park and played for a bit. All in all a refreshing day away from work.

Dreamgirls was good, but not great. I can't really articulate why, but it does make perfect sense that Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy would get Oscar nominations but the movie as a whole did not. They were outstanding, EM was especially impressive, in my opinion. JH is a better singer definitely, but EM's acting came through more as his character aged. I can't wait to watch the Oscars Sunday night!

All for now.