Brrr...

I'm ready for this cold weather to end.

The snow on Tuesday sucked. It normally takes 20 minutes to get from downtown to my house, up to 35 minutes during rush hour. Well, I left work an hour early Tuesday because of the snow, and it took me an hour just to get from my parking garage onto the freeway. Then, after another hour of driving, I stopped at a Wendy's because I had to pee and get something to eat. Pregnant women just can't sit in a car for hours on end. Kevin eventually caught up with me at the Wendy's (he had been driving for about as long as me), and after dinner, we drove the rest of the way home, which took another 30 minutes or so. I've gotten from Columbus to Cleveland before in less time than it took me to get home from work Tuesday night!

Yesterday morning, after I closed the garage door when I left for work, the spring on the garage door broke. If it had broken after Kevin left for work, but before I had left, I would have been stuck! Or, if it had broken before the garage door actually closed, I would have had to figure out what to do before I left our garage sitting open all day long. Kevin called me when he got home from work yesterday, hoping that I had just come home early and locked the door opener so that the remote wouldn't open it. He was also concerned because the screen to the front door was locked, and we don't have a key for that. Fortunately, the screen to the back door was unlocked (which never happens, but I'm glad it did this time, or we would have had to call a locksmith or tear down a screen door) and he was able to get into the house.

I guess all the cold weather has been causing a lot of garage door springs to break, because we started calling around, and everyone said that they were unusually busy. We thought we were just going to have to leave the cars out in the snow for a while, but we actually found someone to come and fix it last night! He didn't get to our house until after 10:00 PM (I was already in bed), but the door was fixed with little or no fuss. It cost us 3 times what my parents paid to have theirs fixed a few weeks ago, though.

Other than that, there is a gas leak somewhere nearby the building where I work, and the smell is getting into our basement somehow, so the areas near the elevator kind of stink. Work crews checked our building yesterday, and last night they expanded the search to the whole block. Hopefully they fix it soon, and nothing blows up.

This morning, the water in all of the kitchens in our building (there are 8, one on each floor in the same spot) is not working. The building manager still doesn't know why, but I'm sure it has to do with the freezing temperatures. Fortunately the water is still working in the bathrooms. Otherwise, I would go home.