the longest winter

yesterday i slipped on a snowbank
and slid underneath my boyfriend's car
as i was attempting entry.
i landed on my bottom
and my head smacked hard
into (thankfully) soft snow.

i just laid there, laughing and crying,
kind of confused as to how one can go from standing
to being on the ground so quickly.

getting into and out of a car
on the passenger side in winter
is challenging and requires a certain level of skill
that obviously i don't always posses.

other than that, it's winter as usual.
oh wait, the first day of spring was last week.
it's a bit hard to tell through the piles of snow
that fell that day and the following two.

i'm finding some spring here and there.
today i resumed my compost pile,
throwing into the yard and not into the trash
my orange rind and a grapefruit that went bad.

i also recently bought a maple tree that will be
ready to be picked up the first weekend of may!
i'm gathering up my garden seeds
and shopping for a new bicycle.
just in case spring arrives.
you never know.

-nicole

mace to the face

having had no experience with pepper spray,
and having recently been given some to carry for safety,
i decided to test out the sprayer to make sure that
it was ready to go should i need it.
was it pump action or a contant stream of pepper spray?
i didn't know and thought i should.
the directions clearly stated to test the sprayer outside
but it was cold out there so i sprayed a little into the kitchen sink.
just a little.
then i decided i better rinse it down the sink
and for some reason i thought hot water would be a good idea.
hot water produces steam obviously
and steam full of pepper spray is not good.

i effectively pepper sprayed my entire household
as well as a few guests who were over at the time.
not a full blast to the face, of course,
but there was plenty of coughing and stinging between us all.
sorry guys.
sometimes i just do dumb things.

-nicole

button button, who has the button?

just in case anyone who reads this
has ever entertained the idea
that i was a cool kid,
i should inform you that one of the things that
has been occupying my time this week
is organizing my button collection.

i recently acquired a shoebox full of buttons,
some of them still on their vintage packaging.
i'm tying the matching buttons together with book-binding string
and organizing them all according to color.

very girl-nerdy.
but hey, it's winter in minnesota
and an unusually cold one at that.
i'm just trying to find things to do around the home
besides eating all the day and evening long.

never have i a wanted a warm-weather vacation
more than these past days.

-nicole

i still tell you my every day

it's been the coldest of the cold here for a couple weeks
and my skin is crackling!
humidifier and baby oil to the rescue but it's not quite enough.

i'm getting a little bored being here in this house all the time
but what can you do, really, when merely one step outside
makes all that winter snot that normally runs down your face
freeze in your nose?

tonight boredom was kept far away by baking ginger cookies
and eating five of them with a big glass of one percent.

this was followed by making fireflies in the dark
using very dry, static-laden laundry.
i didn't think it was possible,
fireflies in january.

-nicole

anybody out there?

no posts in december?!
it was a busy month,
i used my computer to listen to music
and that's about it.
a christmas celebration here,
another one there
and a friend's wedding in between.

i sat at home and did a puzzle on new year's eve
and that was enough excitement for me.
i think i looked at my clock around midnight,
just to know when seven became eight.
it's nice to know those things.

-nicole

this and that

the high today was 18.
that's pretty cold.
not biting and painfully cold,
but close.
i'll save the words 'biting' and 'painful'
for those days that never do make it above zero.

i really enjoy seeing the thick clouds of breath and car exhaust
that appear when the air gets this cold.
there's something very familiar and constant about it.

i'm starting my tenth month without a car
and still enjoying it.
mostly.
i've not been brave enough to bike the last couple weeks
but the bus is kind enough to take me where i need to go.
i should get a better coat and some goggles
and then i'll be set.
i'm really not up for biking with stinging, watery
and eventually frozen eyeballs.

-nicole

where did i go?

this is a much overdue post.
and a weak one at that
as it's almost bedtime.

i'll try harder next time, i promise.

i'm way behind on all things internet right now.
blogs, photos, emails, everything. yikes.
and now i'm going to north dakota
for the rest of the week
where i'll be lucky to have phone service.
but it's time for some family, some stuffing, some vegetables.
oh, the vegetables!
i'm ready for gravy all over my plate
and running around with my littlest cousins.

i hope you have a lovely holiday.
make sure you stuff your face.

-nicole