The cruelest month

It's February. Rah, rah. I've often said that February is the cruelest month, and this year I think many others will agree with me.

January is usually the month where we get all the bitter cold weather in Chicago. Then we limp along through February until spring finally starts to make an appearance in March. February may be the shortest month of the year if you just look at the calendar, but the way we experience it is as too many days between us and the thaw.

This year, February has been the bitter cold month and we're not limping through it, we're hunkering down and just praying for it to pass.

Last Monday morning, we found that the pipes in our master bathroom had frozen over night. This has never happened to us in the 5+ years we've lived in this house. I had just returned from a week in Mexico the night before, and it was not quite the homecoming that I wanted. The day I flew back to Chicago from my week-long trip to the lovely spa in Ixtapan de la Sal, the high temperature was 4 Farenheit (that's -16 C...without the windchill).

While I enjoyed my break in central Mexico, I spent most of it infected with the nasty flu that my husband passed to me as a parting gift. So, my vacation wasn't as fun and carefree as it could have been. But, I was in a fairly warm spot for a week. And, I was getting a massage every day. Yeah, it was a rude awakening to come back to the deep freeze.

Random Stuff

• I saw yet another commercial on TV this week that is shamelessly using one of the special songs from my youth. At least GM had the decency to re-record I Melt with You and not use the original version recorded by Modern English.*
• The new Imbolc issue of AntiCraft is out, and while it is a short one Zabet has included the pattern of her (in)famous Snatchel. I'm going to have give it a try, but likely not soon. I have other items to finish first.
• I'm slaving away at the sleeves on Mermaid and hoping to finish it by the end of February. (Maybe that would improve my feelings about this month.) I'm immensely thankful for the Hannah Falkenberg KAL and Amy. I could never have worked the pattern successfully just from the booklet that came in the kit; it's just too confusing. While I love many other Hannah pattern's, I just can't imagine working one without one of Amy's clear, concise spreadsheets.
• My other knitting project (the one for commuting) is socks for Mark. He wanted long, calf-length socks, so I'm working on the Gentleman's Half Hose from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.

Well, that's enough for now. No photos since my camera seems to be busted. I think the LCD screen was jabbed somehow during one of the numerous hand searches in the Mexico City airport. I'm waiting to see if Mark's theory that letting it sit with the battery out for some time (not sure how long "some time" is) will help. If not, then I'll have to either buy a new camera and send it back to Canon for repair.

*This is actually not the first time I Melt With You has been violated in the name of commerce. My friend Adrienne reminded me that it was used previously in a commercial and that I was outraged. Apparently, it was used in a Burger King commercial.