Today is my eldest son's 32nd birthday. He is here with his girlfriend. Happy and having a great time. We did sashimi last night, and then he met up with friends at some music thing at the riverwalk downtown. He insisted on eating outside and had the sliding glass door in his room to sleep, and when he is up he is on the balcony. Generally getting as much warm air as he can before going back to snow next week. He'll be going to watch one of his dad's basketball games tonight so he will be stuck inside an air conditioned gym. In the morning we head to the keys for a couple days. All in all a good time being had by all.

Laura, that sounds delightful!

Meanwhile in Tennessee, we are having our fourth snow day of the week (so that makes for a full week off from school, including MLK Day on Monday), and our street is still basically a sheet of ice. Yesterday the temperature was just above freezing for a few hours, but since it was accompanied by heavy cloud cover and freezing rain, that really didn't help matters. The next time we're supposed to get above freezing is sometime on Monday, so god knows how long it will take for all the roads to be drivable again. In my 15 years here I've never seen snow/ice shut the city down for this long!

Wow!

The weather is completely different here than it was for decades too. We always had drought from November through April, but it has rained every couple of days or so, sometimes in huge quantities. The tiniest little raincloud turns into a storm. The surf temperature isn't too bad at 76, but it should be chillier than that in January. The surf was over 100 over the summer in the keys, which has done so much damage to the reefs. Weather is whack, yo!

Oh wow, Kate! I was just saying the fact that it hasn't gone above freezing here is actually helping things after our little snow and ice the other day -- the sun has been out, so between that and salt, the streets and sidewalks are nice and clear.

Meanwhile the drought here in SELA is so bad cypress trees are dying all over town. It’s warmed up today but back to a high of 45 tomorrow, so I’m leaving up all my Jerry-rigged extreme weather measures.

Hi Kate! Good to see your pixels. That is crazy for Tennessee.

Laura, don’t leave us hanging - how did the swimsuits go over?

I’m now three for three ending the work week with a migraine this year. I left at lunch yesterday. I need to find a new job fast, this isn’t working for anyone anymore. I’m half tempted to see if I can get a Mardi Gras job and make some quick bank. My therapist thinks that’s a bit impulsive. She spoils all my fun.

Laura, don’t leave us hanging - how did the swimsuits go over?

They absolutely loved them. My son happened to have a shirt with him that was a perfect match and while we were out and about going to the dog park and out to dinner a number of people remarked on the awesomeness. His friends last night loved it too. Since hers is a 2 piece she wasn't wearing it out and about, but it is also super cute for the pool and beach. Picture of son from my FB page - [link]

So last night I had the breast MRI that I'm supposed to have six months after my mammogram every year since they found suspicious cells when they did my breast reduction. Well, now I have "a 7 mm x 10 mm x 10 mm oval, heterogenous mass with irregular margins scene in the lower outer quadrant of the left breast in the posterior depth," and they want me to come in for a biopsy, and I'm terrified. I have messages into my primary care provider and the care navigator at the hospital, but no one has called me back yet, and did I mention I'm terrified?

That is very scary, Susan. Sending all the ain't nothing to see here ~ma. In the meantime while waiting for a response, a reminder to not see Dr. Google. Also!! Call her back ~ma! It seems you never get anything but recordings.