In which I am up past my bedtime.

Only instead of a cocktail I made myself some hot chocolate with whipped cream and promptly slammed it.

The day did not start out with a bang. But thanks to slow traffic and having to stop at the school to put money into my son's lunch account I was late to work.

There might have also been a stop at Menard*s to pick up an electric heater and to inquire if the wood stove *might* have come in.  Guess what? It was in!

Work flew by.  We are sitting pretty good for publishing day come Monday.  Which is good because there is already rumbles about school's being close on Monday thanks to the severe weather.  And now there is talk about some schools shutting down because they use propane for heat. (If you don't know, there is a propane "shortage")

Got home, had supper and drove back to town with the truck.  For the uninitiated it's been years since I consistently drove a truck in the winter, much less one that doesn't have 4 x 4. So, to say that I'm a "nervous" driver, is putting it mildly, especially in the dark.

Drove there, after dark and got the wood stove loaded in the truck.  The forklift got stuck in the snow so my guy had to back the truck up so the stove could be set down into the truck bed. When we went in to get some other needed items we walked through the tiles again and sort of fell in love with some marble tiles. So we may need to rethink the whole game plan when it comes to the area for where the stove is going to be.

We got home just after 10 p.m. and I gave silent thanks to my truck getting me home safe and sound.

 It's a solid truck and the tires we bought are worth their weight in gold.

1. We have the wood stove and it's safe at home. As my coworker reminded me, this is an investment and I have a feeling it's going to pay for itself in no time.

2. Big warm fuzzy sweaters.  They are going to see a lot of use this next week thanks to another deep freeze.

3. When I was driving home tonite my son put his head on my shoulder and snuggled.

4. I have no where I *have* to be tomorrow.

5. In about 10 minutes I'll be in my warm, cozy bed.