We are only a few days away from our departure to sunny West Virginia for my spring break. Rob has never been to my parent’s house, and I haven’t been there for quite some time….over 2 years. In fact, this is what Holden looked like during my last visit to my parent’s house:

Yes, that is a 3-month old Holden, getting a bath in a utility sink.  So, a visit to see my parents is indeed overdue.  Speaking of utility sinks and bathing, we have been without hot water for nearly a week.  We haven’t had hot water in the bath tub for longer than that—close to a month at this point.  H has been bathed at the neighbors, at our friends, etc.  It’s a long story, but basically the plumbing/heating company we hired SUCKS, and this will be their 4th trip to our house.  A few thousand dollars later, and hopefully we will have hot water once again.  I can’t wait until Thursday—that’s hot water day for us!

On top of this hot water ordeal, H was sick with a sinus infection and I have been sick for the past week with something that feels uncomfortably similar to an ear infection.  My midterm grades are due in, and I have mounds of grading, advising, and lecture prep to wade through before the week is over.  Any one of these things would be OK on its own–annoying, but I could deal.  Cumulatively, however, they make me want to gouge my eyes out.

So yeah, I’m complaining again.  I want winter to be over, I want to feel the sun on my back, I want to be able to breathe through my nose, drive with my windows down, run around in my bare feet.  I want to garden with H, go to the pool, camp, and cook dinner on the grill.  I want to drink wine on the deck and slap at those blasted mosquitoes as they alight on my exposed skin.  I want to smell campfire on the air, sleep between sheets not made of flannel, watch our neighborhood turn to green.

Come on spring—I NEED you right now.