HotFlash!

It MUST Be Spring....

Back "in the day" (a phrase I truely despise, but seems appropriate far too often recently..) I was quite the Social Butterfly. Really. I had so many social obligations to fill that I actually NEEDED a date book...

Once I turned 35 and finally sobered up, those social opportunites seemed a little less important. So I stopped concentrating on them and got busy with my career (which was a total mistake, but that's another BLOG entry..) Funny thing...once you stop looking for social opportunities, they sorta stop making themselves available. Which was fine at the time. I was otherwise engaged.

Fast forward to now. I'm so out of the habit of looking for things to do in my spare time that it amazes me when I get inundated with invitations. And that's what's happened this week.

Suddenly, I've got friends coming in from out-of-town, former co-workers that want to congregate and chat about old times, and I'm being solicited to join a couple of seriously social groups that meet regularly and actually do stuff. Like good deeds, and community service, and all of the things that I think are important (but have never been very seriously involved with).

What did I DO to suddenly become this popular? Nothing that I'm aware of. It must be SPRING, and everybody in the Midwest has decided that their event it not complete without me. And it's not cold outside anymore.

I think that the improvement in weather probably has more to do with this than my magnetic personality. But then again, maybe I still have some of that old Magic...

Hope SPRINGS eternal....

Creating Your Own Springtime Reality

I have empowered myself to create my own Springtime!

Sadly, I have no actual power over the wretched March weather here in the Great Midwest. But I do have a few greenback dollars. And my baby sister is in town with nothing to do on this weekend. She may not be aware of this yet, but both she and I will be attending the annual Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier this Sunday.

I have never attended this event before. I understand that it is glorious. The venue is completely temperature controlled (indoors, obviously), and jammed with all manner of flowering annuals and perienials, sod, and yard and patio doo-dads and jymcracks. Several tons of soil, plants, flotsam, jetsam and such are turned into a virtual summer day inside one of the exhibit halls as a tonic for winter-weary midwesterners with credit cards.

COUNT ME IN!

The Baby Sis has a digital camera. Tune in later for fab fotos of our adventure into springtime foliage.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaak!

OK, it's time to face the music. I'm back, and I promise to give you, my faithful reader, an update of my sorry lot in life at least once a week.

I haven't written because it's Winter In The Midwest. This is the time of year that those descended of the true pioneers just hunker down and drink vodka and wait for Spring. Out of respect for my ancestors, I have done just that (and come up with a pretty satisfactory Bloody Mary, if I do say so myself.....)

Anyway, here's what's been going on in my life since shortly before Christmas:

• I got a great haircut for 20 bucks, and found a hairdresser that I think I can live with. Sadly, that was the introductory price, so from now on, I'll be paying full freight.
• I had a wonderful Christmas! My favorite gifts were the refurbished Dressy Bessy and Dapper Dan dolls my Mom gave me, and the beautiful Christmas scrapbook from my sister. My nephew gifted me with homemade strawberry jelly, which was fabulous. I also got booze. It's come in handy..
• My DBF (Dear Boyfriend, aka: My Hunge) gave me a huge check that I used to have my sofa, club chair and ottoman recovered. The couch is done, and it's gorgeous. The chair and it's companion are being picked up for refurbishment this weekend.
• The plumbing went south several weeks ago, making for several very uncomfortable days at Casa HotFlashChick, but all is well now, and hopefully will be for many decades. I found a wonderful, if not too bright, plumber named Wally. He is a wizard.

The good news is that February is over, as is the 1st week of March. Spring is probably only 2 months away. Perhaps. I currently crave July.

Rejoice!