A Plan Comes Together

Remember my great revelation that winter sports would make the time fly by? Dear reader, it's working already!

This week is our two year anniversary and we're celebrating by going up to the mountain (Mt Hood for you non-locals) overnight and taking some snowboarding lessons. It's a good thing it's only week two of the term since I'll be skipping classes already.

Although Jess has the sportier car, it doesn't have the clearance for tire chains so we'll be traveling in the hoop-d, as my car is affectionately known. I had the tires checked today (nail in the right rear) and yesterday we practiced putting on the chains. We're ready.

Jess' friends who just moved to Colorado have discovered cross country skiing and invited us to visit. We might be able to go after Easter if Jess can get time off. We'd also like to take a trip to Bend to ski, since the snow there is legendary for it's powdery perfection. Trying to find a good weekend between now and March makes it seem as if winter is already over and I actually had a moment of sadness, that maybe we won't be able to fit it in.

Yup, this strategy is working out great.

In the gear department, things are coming together as well. There was an almost-panic as I had to search the house four times for the snowboarding pants that mom got me for Christmas a few years ago. I've used them all of twice and had stored in them in a place that was a little too safe. I found an awesome snowboarding jacket for super cheap online with no shipping last month. The $20 I spent on wrist guards seems like a grand investment in leiu of the deductible for broken wrist treatment. And of course, a helmet is a smart fashion statement for any hair-brained activity and they were on sale at Next Adventure.

If I should happen to get hooked on this new venture, as I probably will, then I can see next about aquiring my own board and boots next winter. Jess doesn't think she's going to want to do it all that regularly, given the fear factor and the ongoing expense of lift tickets. I'm a little more into adrenaline thrills than she is, although she's been boarding more times than I have.

If there's a downside to all this winter fun, it is this: having convinced ourselves that we would actually spend some time at home this winter, we vowed to work on the ever present list of in-house projects. Things like, making the house look lived in (we still have no pictures on the walls), unpacking the last of our boxes (Jess has way more than I do), re-organizing the garage (haven't we done this twice already?). Not to mention the 16 credits I'm taking, that will start demanding some serious attention in the not-to-distant future.

But hey, I can sleep when I'm dead. Right mom?