well, crap. it's colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra. right now it's 23 degrees. ok, not cold by saffy's measure, but pretty damn cold for a southern girl who's not used to it.

i got up and on the move early this morning, going to throw some gas in the hoopty before i had to take hubby to work. so after hubby had vacated and the boy had made his way to the bus stop, i wasn't sure if i'd be able to do my usual and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. i thought i'd throw a log on the fire, take my usual spot on the love seat and see what happens. if i sleep, ok, if not, ok, but at least i'd have a nice fire to do either one by.

but for some reason, even with the flue open, cold air came rushing down the chimney and blew smoke into the house. yep, the smoke alarm started going off. it's pretty sensitive anyway, and it often goes off when i cook. so i'm standing in the living room fanning a pillow over the alarm trying to get it to shut up. meanwhile, the smoke keeps bellowing in and i'm getting quite frustrated. i'm sure my neighbors on both sides (one set is up, cuz she has kids so they had to be getting ready for school) are wondering what the hell is going on.

my big brave sergei headed for the upstairs to hide out on our bed (like that will save him). only after opening several windows, both upstairs and down, turning on the stove blower thing and fanning like hell at the alarm, did it finally go off.

well, so now i can't go back to sleep. since i'm up, i might as well hike up to the lake and try to get some shots of the sunrise. being surrounded by trees, i won't have a clear and nice shot, but we'll see.

lord. i have a splitting headache and i'm feeling ignored and unloved. we'll just chalk it up to my continuing feelings of inadequacy and the crimson tide.

oops, five minutes to full sunrise, gotta run.