We lost power

The weekend after Christmas, we had some heavy snow and strong winds rip through the Cape. At about 7 p.m. Sunday night, the minute Hubby finished his sentence, 'I wonder if we'll lose power tonight?' the power went out. So, we turned on our gas fireplace for heat (since our central heat is operated by electric thermostat) and lit some candles. We threw some dinner together (we have a gas cook top, but electric ovens), and I took some pictures of the dog.

The cat, of course, was no where to be found...I think he was afraid of the wind, that he could hear through the silence in the house. We raised Moxie to not be afraid of storms...Hanzo was adopted and has all sorts of pre-conditioned behaviors! (But we love him in spite of and some times because of them!)

And now, I have work tomorrow and the next day, before getting my day off. I'm so excited!! I bought a carton of orange juice and am planning on having an extra bottle or two of champagne in the house. I think we may have nailed down our plans: dinner at 7:30, with our friend, Spencer. Then, maybe before he's off to our other friends' party (which we will likely skip since I just don't feel like going too far to celebrate) we'll go down the street from the dinner restaurant to a small cafe where they will have live music (no cover!). Grab a drink, hear some folksy guitar music, and then Spencer can go to Ashley&Jason's and we can head home for a quiet night of looking up at the stars while drinking champagne in the hot tub!! Yeah, that sounds just about right.

Some times I feel like having a group of people around, and other times I like the solitude. Most of our friends will be scattered about this year, and instead of a)deciding where to go, or b)ringing in the new year in some place full of strangers, we can just be together. It is nice to just settle in and end the year being grateful for or tiny little spot in this world...something to be happy about.

Here's an annoying bit of my day today. There's a girl I work with that I really like. She's a Jehovah's Witness. She always has her 'books' and is reading them on her break. Fine, I don't care. I occasionally walk in on her 'preaching' to other co-workers, but don't care, as long as she doesn't do it to me. Well, today it came up that I am not religious and she asked me about it and said, 'are you atheist?' I said, 'yes.' She said she had other friends that were, too. Later she asked if she offended me and I said no. I don't get offended about peoples' religious beliefs or even care if they think I'm 'wrong' because of mine. But later she kept on about it. I had told her, 'I've never read the bible and I don't really know a lot about most religions, but I know I don't believe in God. I believe in being a good person to be a good person...not because I think it will help me when I die.' She asked if I would read her book since she 'happened to have it today'. I said, 'no, I won't, to be honest.' 'Fair enough,' she said. 'You don't believe in God, but do you believe in spirits?' 'spirits, like ghosts? yes, I do.' So then she pulls out ANOTHER pamphlet called 'the truth about the occult'. I stuck it in my bag, and said, 'one of my sisters is Wiccan.' She said, 'I have a friend who's Wiccan. It kind of creeps me out.'

Another co-worker was in the break room while this was going on and later, I asked him, 'how'd you like that religion class?' He said, 'people need to just be quiet.' I agreed. I said, 'she's lucky I like her.' It's just so inappropriate for workplace conversation and she shouldn't be doing it...but, as long as this is the last i hear of it, I'm gonna let it slide. Ah, and I remember how it all began...I sneezed and someone said, 'God bless you.' and they do not say that because it is based on a superstition, which they do not believe in...so they say, 'excuse you'...to me, that sounds like you've done something wrong! But, to each his own, which is precisely my point!