How I Spent the Snowpocalypse

So far, retirement turned out to be a good idea because

1. It gave me time to prepare for my kid's wedding,
2. I didn't have to take time off from work to have surgery and recuperate from it, and
3. I don't have to go out in the snow if I don't want to, which generally I don't, and as you probably know, we've had plenty of snow (and probably so have you, wherever you are.)

So there. Between the snow and the sharing a single car with the Hubs, I'm spending quite some time here at home, where I am not yet cleared for -- or interested in -- heavy work, like basement and/or attic cleaning. Here's what I've been doing:

Reading

I just finished a sort of series by Connie Willis about time-traveling historians, and I LOVED it and I was totally caught up in it and driven to finish them all, which I had the time to do because of the above referenced weather from hell (so to speak.)

DVDing

Long story short, I'm converting DVDs that I've recorded from TV back into files that can be read by iTunes, or QuickTime or something so that I can watch movies on the iPad, which has no DVD drive. I probably have 150 or so of these, and I'm maybe 20% done. I do other things while the computer is running the conversion, so it's something I tend to every couple of hours or so.

Baking

Yes, boys and girls, I do know where the oven is. I've been making various kinds of cookies, for one, and bread for another, although that's not necessarily an oven project. I brought the old bread machine up from the basement, where I had carefully wrapped it, all clean, some years ago, and when I unwrapped it, it was basically disgusting, so I figured hey, a hobby is a hobby, and during Saturday's respite from snow I went out and got a new breadmaker. Years back -- 15, 16, 17? -- I was very big into the breadmaker, made at least one loaf a day, and now, I have time to do it again. Yesterday I made Italian bread on the dough cycle and baked it in long loaves in the oven, but otherwise, it bakes in the machine. Although I think tomorrow I will try some pizza dough in the machine.

Crafting?

Okay, not so much into this yet, but I did just get the fabric I want to use to make a quilt for my great-nephew, who will be making his world debut in May. I cannot wait to meet this little guy! His father rode home from the hospital in my arms, when people still did that and carseats for newborns weren't so common.

Lottery

No, I did not win the lottery. But you knew that.