I had a real hard time getting out of bed this morning, no doubt because it was one. And I don’t mean “one cozy bed” or “one hell of a great dream I was having” or “one of those mornings I was feeling lazy.” Rather, it was one degree.
a/k/a 1º.
Not inside the house, of course. But even with the thermostat running, it was all of 59º at 7 a.m. Who would want to ditch the covers for that?! But I also didn’t want to laze the day away, so I suggested we build a fire in the basement.
“If ever there were a morning to take advantage of a wood-burning fireplace, this is it,” I reasoned.
Tara was game, and within 15 minutes, we had a blazing fire going and cinnamon Horchata-spiked mugs of steaming coffee to keep us warm. With mellow records playing, it was one of those feel-good perfect mornings.
Thanks to a recent stretch of weather that has actually felt winter-like, we’ve been able to make a dent in our woodpile and have had quite a few fires lately. There hasn’t been any more snow since that dumping we got eight days ago, but with temperatures in the single digits, there’s still quite a bit on the ground — at least in shady areas.
I fa-la-la-la-love it.
We’d originally tossed around the idea of going to Pierre for Christmas at the Capitol this weekend, but realized The Big Day is a mere week away now, and there’s a ton of baking to be done yet. Not to mention some last-minute shopping for stocking stuffers. Too much to do + too little time = chill weekend at home. But sometimes, those end up being the best kinds of weekends.
Speaking of the holidays, our virtual MS Teams party at CenturyCo took place on Thursday and was pretty successful. I’d been a little worried in the days preceding the event, because our guest emcee — a local country music artist — was a little, shall we say, rough in his practice runs. He hadn’t even been looking directly at the camera, but instead, off to the side, making it obvious that he was reading from a script (and honestly, blundering his way through it). But we helped coach him a bit, and once the party was live, he came through for us big time. Basically nailed it. Which was a huge relief, because I’d written the script for the whole event, so it kinda felt like my baby.
One of the highlights of the holiday party is the prize drawings. CenturyCo is pretty generous, giving away something like 120 prizes ranging in value from $100 to $350, which means a lot of employees end up winning something. Just like last year, they called my name for a $100 prize. Score! We can choose from one of eight prizes or a gift card. I had my eye on a Ring video doorbell, but while Tara is pro-video doorbell she’s anti-Ring, so I’ll probably take the gift card. I don’t need a cordless drill, don’t want an air purifier, and had no idea what Apple Air Tags were until I looked them up. At least with the gift card, I can buy whatever I want! And coupled with the $50 I won for my ’80s punk rock look, I’ve got a decent chunk of change to spend now.
Once the party was over, I finally felt like I could breathe again. As much fun as it was, it’s also a ton of work to pull something like this together, so the past few weeks have been a busy blur in the office. I was still pretty new last year so my role was limited, but this year, I wrote pretty much everything. Scripts, speeches, bios, emails, the official program. Now that it’s in the can, I can relax!…
…except for the employee and customer newsletters due at the beginning of January, not to mention the myriad other tasks. And I’m only working three days next week, so I’ll still be hustlin’.
Oh, well: job security, right?
And, as if I didn’t have enough writing in my life, I signed on for WordPress’s first-ever Bloganuary. It’s a month-long challenge where you receive a daily prompt to help you craft a post every day. Clunky name aside, it should be fun. I’ve done similar challenges on other sites, and even blogged on a daily basis here a couple of different Novembers, but it’s been awhile. I’m down for the challenge.
Sorry in advance for clogging up your In Box, ha.
Mark My Words 
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