"Oh, I can gather all the news I need from the weather report..."

Well, I still haven't made it to Ithaca to see Marty. Stupid weather!


It snowed, then it rained, then it all iced up and snowed some more.  Since hearing about the drivers who got stuck in their cars outside of Buffalo for TWELVE HOURS, I've become a big huge wimp about traveling in this weather.


I'm done being intrepid. Wimpy is fine by me. Cold temps, no food, small bladder, and the lack of bathrooms aside, the idea of being stuck with myself in a car that's not moving for twelve hours is terrifying! I don't do sitting in the car well. I've loaded up the crapmobile with books and a sleeping bag, just in case I get stranded between here and Wegmans and have to spend 20 minutes stuck in my car.


It's early for this kind of weather here.  I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it means an early spring.


Here's some other stuff that's been going on:

• I was asked to join The Fiction Writers Co-op, which is a group of "53 authors of distinguished, award-winning, and best-selling fiction," and, I am completely and totally in awe of the other writers in the group.  We've put together a holiday gift guide for the bookish types on your list.  The full list is over at Judy Merrill Larsen's blog - Buy a Book! You Can't Give More Enchantment For Less.  
•  I'm addicted to Ally McBeal on Hulu.  How did I not watch this show when it was on?  Juicy, complicated love triangle involving a college love, neurotic main character with an overactive imagination and an awesome name (even though she spells it wrong) - so great!  I've been watching it while I walk on the treadmill, and as a result, have put in some serious mileage.  
• I pretty much just want to hug Peter MacNicol and confess all my weird habits to him.
• Actually, I know why I didn't watch Ally McBeal while it was on.  When I moved to Jersey, one of my roommates was all, "Oh, I don't watch television. I don't need cable." And then when I got cable on my own anyway, she hogged the TV to watch Ally McBeal and was all, "Oh, I don't watch television except for Ally McBeal."  So being the fabulously mature person I was at 21, I decided it had to be a perfectly awful show and complained every time she watched it.
• J got me a new sewing machine as an (early) Christmas present.  My old one wasn't really a sewing machine as much as vehicle of mental torment that never failed to make me swear and cry.  I'd spend three hours fiddling with it for two minutes of uninterrupted sewing.  Then something would snap and thread, obscenities, and tears, would explode everywhere.  I couldn't figure out why other people seemed to enjoy sewing.  The new machine actually allows me to, you know, sew, and I get it now.  Amazing.  
• Yesterday, I made a really cute skirt out of an old sweater (expect a Greenists post about it soon).  It took me all of twenty minutes, and I didn't cry once.  (I still cursed, because I jabbed myself with a pin, but that's not the machine's fault).
• Over the weekend, I made Argo & Stella a super huge dog bed they can both fit on, but Stella likes to spread out and hog it completely.  

• I'm reading an ARC of ATTACHMENTS by Rainbow Rowell, which will be out in April 2011.  It's hysterical and I want to be friends with all the main characters.   
• Yes, getting to read books before they hit shelves is one of the best parts of being a huge book nerd who writes books.