What a pain in the neck!

Lookit how cute that kid is all dressed up in her lil' ski stuff.

I'd show you pictures of her actually skiing, but my camera's zoom lens isn't powerful enough to catch her up on the hill from my viewpoint which was at home on our sofa yesterday.

Yeah, I missed her first day of Powdercats.

Powdercats is the local resort's kid's program. They hone their basic skills and begin teaching them how to go through gates in preparation for racing.

While I'm really glad that Margaret is part of this program. I'm conflicted over the racing aspect. I know competition is healthy, but why turn an individual sport into a competitive venture? Why can't they instead learn to love the sound of the snow under their skis, the excitement of gliding down the hill, the thrill of being mastering dexterity in a beautiful environment?

Ah, that's probably just the Vicodin talking. (Mmm, Vicodin ... mama's little helper!) Yeah, I woke up Sunday in a really bad way. Due to a 6-year-old pillow usurper, my neck decided to treat me to some muscle spasms and agony.

I cried and bitched and yelled for a while until Bill made me an appointment at the local after-hours clinic.

As I was driving Bill's truck (he took mine up skiing), smoke started billowing out of the heater vents, just as I was turning an icy corner. The back end of the truck started to fishtail as the inside of the truck filled with smoke.

I quickly slowed the car and turned off the heater. I was about to be late for my appointment so I just pretended like the dashboard wasn't smoking and parked the car.

I hobbled into the clinic and tried not to look to cockeyed with my head listing off to the right (as it always does when my neck is in spasm). I had a very short wait until the doctor showed up.

After giving the doctor my history and assurances that I was not just after narcotics, he strongly suggested that I continue practicing yoga and wrote me prescriptions for muscle relaxers and pain killers.

Before starting the car again, I called Bill and told him of the possible dashboard fire. He laughed and said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. You either have to have the heater all the way on or all the way off or it smokes."

If it were my car, I'd figure out why it smokes instead of just living with the all-or-nothing heater option, but I'm like that.

A quick trip to Rite Aid to get my drugs and the rest of the day was spent in a drug induced coma, beached on the sofa with the remote superglued to my hand.

Mar's instructor said that she is doing great and both she and Bill had a great day on the mountain. I'm sorry to have missed it but at least I got good drugs.