What a week!

This past week has just flown by. I didn't do too well on the blog this past week, did I? I won't take much time tonight, because I caught a cold in NY City this week, and I don't want it to get worse, so I need to stay in bed under my wonderful electric blanket instead of typing at my computer under the drafty window.

The weather was looking pretty nasty this week, so Monday night after I picked up Stephanie from work, we drove to SVU and stayed with Cathy for the night. I needed to leave for my trip to Washington DC and New York City at 8am Tuesday and I didn't want the pending freezing weather to keep me from going.

We left at 8am and arrived in Washington DC around noon. We attended a presentation at the CATO Institute discussing eminent domain in connection with a book published by Professor Jeff Benedict called Little Pink House. It tells the story behind the Kelo vs New London Supreme Court Decision of 2005 allowing eminent domain to seize personal property for public benefit. Following a luncheon and book signing, we drove to New York City. We arrived at about 8pm, so plays were not an option. I ate dinner in Times Square at sbarros with Joe Bouchelle and his daughter Katherine. We went back to the hostel and made it an early night.

We got 3-4 inches of snow overnight and it rained all day Wednesday. That makes slush, and I didn't have proper footwear for shushing through the streets of New York City. My coat kept my body warm from my knees to my head (thanks to the hood), my cashmere scarf kept my neck warm, my ski gloves kept my hand warm, and my fleece earwarmers kept my forehead and ears warm, but I was wearing loafers and hose which meant my feet were cold and wet all day long. And to make matters worse, my umbrella had holes in it so, I didn't use it. LIFE LESSON LEARNED:Mom is right when she tells you to keep your feet warm and dry. My jacket took on about 5 pounds of water and I was wet through to the skin from the back of my neck to the middle of my back. I didn't dry out until after lunch when I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Then I took a cab to Columbia University School of Law to attend another presentation about eminent domain featuring Professor Benedict and Susette Kelo. Following the presentation, we left the City. We got back to Buena Vista at 3am. I found the Geo with frozen glass and no ice scraper. To add to my misery, the driver side door froze shut, so I had to crawl in through the back hatch in order to start the car and heat it up to melt the ice on the windshield so I could drive to Gayle's for the night. I slept like a rock - a cold rock. The next morning I had a tickle in my throat and my shoes were still wet. I could not wait to get home to my own bed.

While I was gone, the family had an adventure of its own. We have been without a working furnace since @ the 15th of January. Remember how I said I left late Monday night to avoid freezing on the roads - well it got pretty cold that night. Tuesday morning, the power went out at our home in Lynchburg - and stayed off until 9am on Thursday. No power in an all electric house is not fun during freezing weather. We lost most of our fish and had to BBQ in freezing weather to eat. All is now well except the furnace is still out, so only 1/2 the house gets heat.

Time to go and eat dinner. I don't want it to get cold.