dorchadas: (Not he who tells it)
[personal profile] dorchadas
This is the last day of my winter vacation. It was two weeks off, to coincide with [personal profile] schoolpsychnerd's time off from school, and tomorrow we both go back to work. I'm not sure either of us is really ready, but the time has come.

Of course, much of our vacation was spent dealing with our furnace. It turns out that my earlier post about it was a bit premature--and honestly, this post might be too--because maintenance had to come out multiple other times after that. Finally, the day before yesterday they took out the entire assembly and cleaned it after having already cleaned all the pipes and hoses and clearing out a ton of debris, and since then it's worked without a hitch. It's currently 72° in the apartment with the thermostat set to 71°, with a previous low of 52° sometime last week. Of course, now it's less necessary since temperatures will be above freezing for most of next week, rather than the below 0°F they've been for most of our vacation. At least we were able to cower indoors--52° is a lot better than -5°.

While I was writing this, the furnace turned on again. There is yet hope. Emoji Weeee smiling happy face

Last night I went to a dinner hosted by [livejournal.com profile] ping816 out in the suburbs while [personal profile] schoolpsychnerd went off to another event. It was a ways out in the suburbs and I contemplated not going, but I'm glad I did, because I haven't seen a lot of the people there since ACEN. I sat across from [twitter.com profile] pharlik and [livejournal.com profile] smtemp and we chatted over dinner until the highlight of the evening came--the white elephant gift exchange. I hadn't brought anything and was preparing to sit it out, but one person brought two gifts and said it was fine if I participate, so I did. And I spent the entire time stealing gifts. Originally a Mei Nendroid because I thought that [personal profile] schoolpsychnerd might like it, and then a skull prop to go with my existing skull prop.:

Desk Skull

...but finally an arm grabber toy and a tiny doll violin, both to give to [personal profile] schoolpsychnerd, and those I got to keep. There was an afterparty happening, but I wanted to get home and someone else was driving back into the city, and in the interests of not taking another $50 ride I took that opportunity and headed back.

Today has mostly been prepping for the coming work week. Going shopping, making lunches for the week, doing laundry, cleaning the apartment, and luxuriating in the fact that it's actually warm. Tomorrow, back to the office. I didn't get as much done this vacation as I wanted to, but you never do. It was still a nice way to bridge the old and new years.
I'm ready for 2018. Emoji walking moogle

Date: 2018-Jan-10, Wednesday 05:21 (UTC)
tilmon: pink flowers (Default)
From: [personal profile] tilmon
Oh, wow. This brings back memories of an annual white elephant party I used to attend before... well, before I had mental health issues. It was a lot of fun, for sure. The hosts were amazing organizers. I really don't know how people manage to pull off parties. I have never been able to get more than 4 people together for anything. I'm not complaining. My lack of social grace or whatever just makes me appreciate that kind of skill all the more.

I didn't get as much done over the holidays as I would have liked, either. The major problem of Christmas break is that all time off gets absorbed by the demands of the holidays or the weather. I'm definitely looking forward to the next time I take off two weeks to catch up on household things. The last one was the most satisfying vacation I ever had.