Yes, i am well-stocked for weeks to come. Just the result of taking advantage of better prices at Stop Rite. I may be overdoing the "get ready for the new job/prepare for less time," thing, but anyway, my freezer is jam-packed, and everything else.

Poor little kitty, she's going to have to re-adjust once i start working again. No more lunch home every day (ahh, what a luxury), and no more get home at 5:05 pm. She has gotten into the habit of interrupting her daylong snooze to come and get some rubs and scratches every hour or so throughout the day, if i'm home. Now i'll likely be getting home around 7 pm, 6:30 at the very earliest.

Thankfully they are widening portions of the road i'll be commuting on, and i was even reading online about their progress. They won't be done until 4/2010; that's 2 years and 4 months from now. Sigh.

I tried to give away a dozen unused candles, a styrofoam cooler with gel paks and some other items on freecycle, but had no takers. It really seems that in my area, everyone expects the best, even if they're getting it for free. I've seen people say they're looking for a computer, but it must come with XP on it. Or they want a fridge, but it must be less than 5 years old.

I'm topping off my half full oil tank on Friday. Sticker shock: price was $3.19 a gallon, up from $2.19 wheni filled up last August. My guess is it will increase even more in January/February.

I'm not doing anything for New Year's eve; it's not usually a holiday i make a big deal of, even if i'm dating someone. I'm just thankful that now that we're past the hump of 12/21, the days are getting longer again.

And I'm thankful for my new job, and really looking forward to making some decent money again. Not knowing how long i'll be there (could be 2 years or 12, in which case, this would be my LAST f/t job), or whether i will want or be able to get a higher paying job like this again, i plan to be really careful and save as much of my salary as i can...defintely 15%, that goes without saying, but ideally i want to try for 20 or 25% of income. I think it's doable. I just have to be mindful of not allowing my spending to rise as my income rises. That's happened before, and it's so easy to do when suddenly all these temptations become possible to absorb without any real dent in your budget (except that it means less goes to savings).

Not having children, i can be very, very focused on a single long-term savings goal: retirement. (My secondary goal is paying off my mortgage in 7 years.) My net worth right now is about $437,000, not including my house which i currently have about $322,000 in equity). It still seems like a very long ways to go before i hit my 1st million, but according to all those online retirement calculators, i will have that by the time i'm 58 or 60, at my current savings rate. I am really intent on fast forwarding my savings rate and a new job with better income and the start of a new year is an ideal time to focus on that.

The last 2 days were warm enough (in the low 40s) that i could get outside for a nice, hour-long walk. Yesterday when i walked, i filled a canvas bag full of litter....mostly bottles and cans that can be redeemed.

Picking up litter while on my walks is something i do becus i can't stand the look of a beautiful woodsy road trashed by litter, plus i can redeem the bottles and cans and use that money in much the same way as someone else would use a coupon on their next grocery trip. However, i do also pick up flattened cans and non-redeemable containers as this can still be recycled.

I'm still reading Garbage Land, and it's just reinforced the point that new bottles and cans are produced at such enormous cost to the environment in terms of natural resources mined, air pollution and elecricity spent.

I still feel embarrassed to be seen picking up litter, though. So i'll wait til any cars in the area pass. Stupid, but that's just me.

I plan to walk again today, this time to the library to return some DVDs.

Two more good DVDs i watched were Water, an Indian movie about a widow (widows are relegated to low-caste status in India becus they're not supposed to have a life after their husband dies; i think the husband gets to remarry) who falls in love with a Brahim (higher class) man but she ultimately kills herself becus his parents don't approve of the marriage.

When the Sea Rises is a French/Belgium movie about 2 eccentric people who have an affair. She is a middle-aged married woman who spends a lot of time on the road traveling to different venues where she performs a clown routine. He works for a carnival type troupe. It's a very tender and bittersweet romance, as she ultimately needs to return to her husband and child.

I finally did some food shopping at the only Shop Rite around here, and i think it was worth it. Rice milk, which i use in my breakfast cereal, costs me $1.39 at Stop N Shop; there was a sale at Shop Rite so they cost $1 a quart. (Before they started selling it at S&S, i had to shell out $1.79 at a health food store.) I took the maximum of 4, paid for my groceries and decided to return for a 2nd trip and got 4 more, partly becus i had a coupon for Lean Cuisine and at checkout the cashier offered me my coupon back (??!), so on that return trip i also got more Lean Cuisine with the same $2 discount. Cool.

Shop Rite also had 32 oz. bags of walnuts for $9.99, which came out to about $5 a lb, less than Stop N Shop's low price of $6.99 a pound. For me, walnuts are a staple i always like to have in the house.

I started up a new price book to better compare Stop and Shop vs. Shop Rite purchases on my most commonly purchased food items.

Shop Rite is a bit of a ride, 15-20 minutes, but i've now signed up for their email circular, so when i see at least a few sale items i want, i think i will try to make a point to start trekking over there instead of Stop N Shop. (I won't do both, as the extra spent in gas to get there will likely eat up any cost savings on groceries.)

Groceries were a big expense last year and i'd like to work on that without sacrificing my organic preferences. The Shop Rite is in a huge shopping area with everything there, so if there are other things i can combine in the trip, so much the better.

I have a good freelance client who is now 2.5 months late in paying me $270 for work done in mid october. C'mon! They are a national company and while business is slow now for them, i don't think it's due to $ issues.

Each time i inquire, i'm told "it's being processed." Now, for the first time ever since i've been freelancing, the next time they ask me to do new work, i'm going to have to politely decline until i get paid. I have to be careful to be tactful about it, as this client gives me a lot of work. When i inquired about it before, it was directly with my client, who i know forwards my invoices to their accounting dept in another location. So on MOnday i'll call their accounting dept. directly. This is all very annoying. I don't have a lot of time to go chasing after my money.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Partly becus i'm really trying to consolidate any car trips into 1 big trip to save on gas whenever possible.

So that means: going to Stop N Shop solely to take advantage of their 33% sale on all Pepperidge Farm breads. I'm going to buy 4 or so and store them in the freezer. OK, i just ignored my earlier stated rule that i wouldn't shop at more than 1 grocery store each week, but i'm allowing that this time as i'm combining other necessary chores in this trip.

Since the dump is on the way, i'll also drop some trash off there, as well as my last Good Will donation of the year.

While in the car, i'll head down to the post office to drop off my junk mail in those blue recycling bins they have in the lobby. I am fond of saying, "They give it to me, and i give it back!"

I also need to price oil at 4 or 5 area suppliers and then try to fill up the tank, only about 1/2 empty this week, before i leave for dad's on Wednesday. I figured it'd be best to top off the tank now as they require COD and i can't figure out how to do that if i'm working an hour away. Plus i'm guessing prices will be a bit cheaper now as it's been a relatively mild winter so far, as compared to what we can expect in February.

Also on the way back from S&S i'll get about $15 worth of gas. That should get me down to my dad's house on Wednesday, and then i should be close to empty so i can fill up the tank and take advantage of New Jersey's MUCH lower gas prices.

I've been wanting to go to Walmart to get a room thermometer and some cracked corn for the doves around here, but it would make more sense to save that for when i'm coming back from my dad's on Thursday.

I do believe i planned that trip to dad's so that there won't be snow or rain driving either way. We've had a lot of that lately, and are expecting 3 or 4 inches overnight tonight. Which is fine, as i can give my new snow thrower another try since i had to get it fixed (belt came off). I hope this $279 thing isn't too temperamental and does that every time i kick up some gravel on my driveway. I do have some loose stuff on the driveway as it's breaking up. I am depending on this snow thrower to clear my driveway so i can get to work on time after a storm! Don't fail me Mighty Snow Thrower!

I've been reading, reading, reading to prep for the new job. Nearly done with what i assigned myself, and after that i want to start making a list of websites that will help me when i start researching my stories. I'll be studying what's on the sites which are often cited in the many articles i gave myself to read from my new employer's site as well as Kiplinger's, Smart Money and CNN/Money, etc. I know, of course, that they won't be expecting me to know all this at the get-go, but the more prepared i am and more familiar i am with the subject matter, the more confiden i'll feel going in. God, i should have been a Girl Scout cus I am SO prepared.

The saga of my Honda continues. (Hey, that sort of rhymes.) In the last episode, the nice woman from Honda USA told Fern she was sure that the Honda dealer service manager would be calling her to "work something out." That was 5 days go, he never called, so i started leaving messages for him and we finally connected today.

He explained the vibrating noise in the exhaust system was coming from the middle pipe, which is actually a pipe within a pipe. The inner pipe sometimes comes loose in older cars and rattles around. The only real way to fix it is to replace it, normally a $327 job.

Due to my overall aggravation at having made 3 trips there, my time and money spent (nearly $700 so far, but that includes a service and muffler replacement) and maybe just because, he offered to pay the $208 for the part if i paid the $118 for the labor, which was more than a halfway split. To be honest, Honda USA was so upbeat about it that i had been hoping they'd just fix the thing for FREE, but i guess that would be too much. So he is ordering the part and i'll bring the car in tomorrow afternoon and finally, the work on my car will be done.
At least both the muffler and the middle pipe have lifetime warranties, so at least for as long as i continue to hold onto this car, i won't have to worry about them (though there is still the exhaust manifold and the catalytic converter).

Can't remember if i wrote this before, but i decided to drive down to Jersey one more time to visit my dad and K. for an overnight trip. It'll cost me about $30 in gas and tolls, but i don't see my dad often so it's very worth it to me. It's my last free week before i start the job.

My dad had said that if i couldn't work things out with the Honda dealer, that we could get my brother, who is a mechanic and manages a big service garage in NJ, to fix it for me. I told my dad i didn't think B. would want to spend his work time on my car and probably would not want to charge me for it. My dad's girlfriend had told me before that B. had worked on her car, didn't charge her for it, but then my dad paid B. on the sly. But i don't want my dad to have to pay for it either, so it's just as well the dealer finally will be able to fix it.

...on this site, that is. I can't even stay away on Christmas Day!

I was up and at 'em very early today. Polishing my silverware, which i do every year around this time. I inherited it from my grandmother, and i figure, why put it away 364 days a year? So i enjoy them every day of the year. I decided to polish them today, Christmas Day, cus my friend H. was coming over mid-morning. I wanted to squeeze in a visit with her as i knew she was going to be home mostly alone today with just her mom. She and her daughter often clash.

So i made cranberry/walnut bars last night and had her over for a sort of post-breakfast/pre-lunch brunch, if there is such a thing. And i gave her her present, a fax machine from my old office they said i could take when i closed the office. (She had told me she needed one.)
She seemed happy with that. We chitchatted for a few hours until it was time for me to head to my mom's around noon.

But not before i got the usual phone call from an ex-boyfriend from about 25 years ago who calls on my birthday and holidays even after i asked him, first politely, then not so politely, NOT TO CALL ME. I even told him in the past i was engaged. We had a bad breakup which involved the police, which he conveniently seems to have forgotten, and I have absolutely no interest in any kind of contact with him. I don't even know how he got my phone number, about 4 or 5 years ago, after which he started calling me out of the blue as if he wants to rekindle something. (He lives in Mass., not my state.) So here i am, Christmas day, yelling at someone on the phone to stop calling me, i don't want to talk to you, etc etc and he says, gee, that's not a very nice thing to say to someone on Christmas Day...yes, i felt guilty, and yes i felt sorry for him that he's basically living in the past but for god's sakes, i can't be responsible for his life and we were history a very long time ago....So then after my friend arrived a little later, the phone rang again, and it was him again. "Mary?" he said into the phone. Apparently, he calls all his old ex-girlfriends on Christmas! I had to tell him, no, M., it's me. You dialed wrong." He semeed embarrassed and hung up. I'm sorry, but this guy is creeping me out. He just acts oblivious to anything i say. It makes me almost wonder if he might have early onset Aalzheimers (he's in his 50s now). That would explain why despite my telling him NOT to CALL that he keeps calling as if i'd never said anything, trying to have a conversation as if we're old friends or something.

We had a nice dinner and gift exchange at my mom's. My sister seemed happy with the camera we got her. I got 4 books i'd asked for, a Tupperware storage thing for cakes and one for quick breads, which i make a lot (no more tinfoil, hooray), a bunch of homegrown, organic preserves and dried herbs from my sister, two pieces of art made by my mother.

Among the books, two philosophy-type books including one by Wayne Dyer (Change your Thoughts, Change your LIfe, or something like that), one by the Dalai Lama, and one financial title called Work Less, Live More, which comes with a CD.

Just 2 more weeks of freedom before The Job begins. I'm helping my mom dismantle a gallery show with her work soon. She usually has to do it herself, and it can be a lot of work, so i help her when i can.

And i talked to my dad and K. tonight, they like the gifts i mailed, and want me to come down again while i still have free time, so will probably go down there for an overnight trip after new year's. I could go this week, but i'd like to stay off the roads as hordes will be returning gifts and using those gift cards, plus we have the biggest drinking day of the year coming up.

This morning i had an adrenaline rush, no doubt becus of the bright sun. So I swept and tidied up the garage. Then i Vacuumed the basement.

The electrician arrived on time and spent 2.5 hours here on a simple "please install a GFI" job which became more complicated. The wiring leading to the outlet in the garage was so old that it was covered in fabric, not plastic. I questioned whether it was safe, as it looked a little frayed. I had him replace it. Plus the outlet where he was installing the GFI was not grounded, so he had to fix that too. He had to cut about 5 small holes in the ceiling of my garage sheetrock to snake the new wiring from the outlet, on the far side of the garage, to the fuse box in the basement. I winced each time he started sawing. And he did also fix a light outlet in a closet that had stopped working about a year ago (bad switch). Tota: $288. (wince)

Recieved a holiday greetings call from friend R., whose eventually-to-be ex-wife still comes every other day to visit with their dog! Yet she left him, not once, but twice!! Seems she cares more about the mutt than the man.

Christmas a.m. i've invited friend H. over for let's call it a post-breakfst brunch? Well, it's really just a cup of hot tea and some cranberry/walnut bars i made tonight. I'm giving her a fax machine, which i knew she needed. I got it for free from my old office after they told me i could have it. I just put a bow on it and am calling it 'wrapped.'

Going over to my mom's at noon, where i'll be the rest of the afternoon. Spoke to her tonight; she said she's been cooking non-stop for 2 days. I don't know why, cus there's just 3 of us, but oh well. I made my apple/nut bundt cake but not sure what it will taste like.

Squeezed in a 25-minute walk. I'm pretty religious when it comes to regular exercise, or as close to that as i can get. As long as it's above freezing, i'm game. But i hate to be cold.

I have done my complete annual summary of 2007 expenses and compared them to 2006, but i will save the exciting details in a future post as no one will be reading this one anyway.

Still mulling over my 2008 goals. Certain things go without saying, like saving 15% in the 401k and fully funding the Roth IRA but i want to do more cus that stuff is a no-brainer.

Well, anyway, i have time.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

Thinly sliced red potatoes and granny smith apples in a casserole with milk and cheese baking in the oven just now. That would be my lunch.

Of the 3 DVDs i checked out at the library, 2 of them so far are duds. I usually get foreign films or independent movies; they're just less predictable than the usual Hollywood fare, plus I'm tired of seeing the same old American actors. But anyway, Angels' Fall, this Turkish movie was something. The description on the DVD cover described a WHOLE LOT more going on in the movie than i EVER picked up. In fact, the movie was pretty dark and lifeless and i really didn't get what was going on. Wierd.

The Boss of it All was supposed to be a Danish "comedy" about a small businessman who hires an actor to play the part of the head boss that none of the employees have ever met, so that he can sell the business without anyone hating him. (They can blame the head boss, not him.) It really wasn't funny, in fact it was kind of strange and undecipherable. I have often thought that humor is a cultural thing. hmmmmm.

Did some more reading for the new job. When i'm starting work at someplace new, I always like to read existing work that other writers have done there cus i get a sense of what they're used to and what their standards are. It tells me how high the bar is, in other words. What i read was really not that good, so that will make me SHINE cus i know i can do so much better.

I topped off the windshield wiper fluid in my car and even did the same with the water in the battery, which was a bit low.

It's been lightly raining all day and i'm hoping to squeeze in a walk after i have my potatoes au gratin, before the heavier rains and wind begin tonight.

Stuck inside all day, tho it's fairly warm (in the 40s).

I tidied up part of my file cabinet by rubberbanding together the past few years of utility receipts, bank statements and mutual fund statements collecting there. Their final destination will be the attic, where they'll sit for a few years more. After that, i think i can safely throw them out.

I'm making an apple bundt cake for Xmas, and will be doing that tomorrow as i wait for the electrician to show up. (Wish me luck...my baking skills are hit or miss.) I'll get the GFI for the garage outlet i'll be using for my new snowblower, and hopefully he can get a closet light working again.

Friend M. called and wanted to go to a movie, but i was in the middle of cooking and had just finished falling asleep to Angel's Fall, so am passing on that invitation.

So it's been a quiet Sunday, but i'm not complaining. I can always find things to do.

Watching the birds outside today. Was excited to see a wood thrush at the bird bath. They're not a seed eater at the feeders, so i don't often see them. You may not know what a wood thrush looks like, but one birds you probably know, the robin, is in the thrush family.

The squirrels, though, are driving me crazy, They keep climbing on the tube feeder, and although it's caged, i don't want them gnawing on the wire. So i open the bathroom window usptairs and yell and shout "get OUT of there!" and clap my hands and bang on the side of the house. That will usually cause the squirrel to jump off the feeder and run about 10 feet. In 5 minutes, he's back on there. Drives me nuts. Birdseed, like everything else, has risen in price this year.

I have a press release to write today but never got to around to it. Instead, my girlfriend picked me up and we got some (free) DVDs at the library, hit the grocery store and TJ Maxx where she wanted to look for a wallet, and then ended up at a local diner sipping hot chocolate and eating a slice of apple pie. A nice way to spend a winter's afternoon.

She has an on again/off again relationship with her daughter, who is exactly my age. Although the daughter lives in an adjacent town, my friend doesn't think she'll be seeing her daughter, or her 4 grandkids, for Xmas. Sad. We've been friends for the past 6 years, after having met at a job. Plus, she lives about a 1/4 mile from me, so it's been easy to catch a bite to eat or see a movie, go shopping or walk together. She has cat sat for me hundreds of times when I've gone away. We're a bit of an odd couple with really not much at all in common except we like to talk about food/cooking and i'll urge her to walk with me whenever possible. Still, the friendship works somehow, mainly becus we both enjoy some companionship. And she's very easy to get along with and is game for whatever you suggest.

This holiday is a quiet one for me, partly becus since i'm between jobs, there's no office party to go to. (Just as well, never liked 'em.) My parents divorced a long time ago, and with a divided family and dad and my 2 brothers living out of state, i have never spent xmas with them. It's usually just dinner with my mom and sister. I am grateful that our doting grandparents made Christmas a really big deal for us when we were growing up, and we continued in that tradition of going all out for Xmas for many years, but at some point we all agreed to pull way back from such extravagance. At a certain age, giving and getting presents becomes less important. I personally wish the media and retailers didn't create such a big build-up to Christmas becus it's impossible to create the kind of perfectly magical holiday that's portrayed on TV or in the mind of some marketing guru. It creates a kind of disconnect when your own personal experiences don't measure up to such perfection. It's enough to make you really want to hit the eggnog.

I've been going to the same dentist for about 20 years. Unlike most dentist offices I know, i never saw him unless my dental hygienist saw a problem, and she rarely did. No cavities or anything. He finally retired, in his 70s, last year, and I followed my dental hygienist (who was the real reason I stuck with this dentist...the whole staff was super friendly) to another dental office in town.

Less than a year after retiring, dentist #1 died, just 2 weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He never smoked.

I knew at this visit they were going to insist i get x-rays, which i routinely skip for 3 or so years. I've never had anything show up on dental x-rays. I think they just make money off it, and i'm sure i have enough radiation, thanks very much.

So i told them i lost my job and couldn't afford to do it now, as it'd be out of pocket. So they relented, and i got away with a $91 cleaning. My dentist is really big on cleaning your teeth with these wood sticks instead of floss. They're about the size of a toothpick, but blunter at one end, and you're supposed to wedge them in at the gumline. they're supposed to be much better than floss, which only gets between the teeth, not between the teeth and the gums.

I got 2 press releases out today, billed my clients for them and interviewed a realtor for the next one.

I got a Xmas card from my future boss, which i thought was very nice.

I nearly fell off my chair when i got my Amex bill today. Almost $1400. All that xmas and clothing shopping for the new job has caught up with me. I will pay in full, of course.

I checked my oil tank, filled at summer's peak at $2.19, a real bargain by today's standards, and see i have a half tank left. This should get me through most of January, I think,, though i'm also thinking of filling up the tank shortly before i start the new job, cus that's one of the things (COD) that will be difficult to do when i'm working an hour away. Even if i do fill it up soon, i'll still be on empty probably in early March. I'm not sure how i'll deal with that, becus they expect to be paid when they come to fill up, and they only give you a window of time when they will arrive. I can't take a half day off simply to wait around for the oil delivery guy to show up. I've heard of some people who leave a blank check out, but i don't want to do that. And since i got burned already prepaying for a whole season to a company that never delivered the oil, i don't want to do that either. Hundreds of people in my town got ripped off when that happened, most for a lot more than i lost. The company went belly up. Our state's attorney general investigated it all, but 3 years later, i haven't gotten any reimbursement.

This a.m. i drove about 50 minutes to get to my second focus group. Well, yesterday was a one-on one survey. Today it was a focus group but as it turned out, they overbooked (intentionnally, in case of no-shows) and my name wasn't called to go in (which is a good thing) so i and a few others got to leave without having to put in several hours at the focus group, and they PAID US ANYWAY. Two crisp $50 bills in a white envelope, thank you very much! Plus they fed us lunch! You can't beat that! This place is a class act.

The one i did yesterday, well, no comparison. The two women i dealt with there were really not very professional, either in their approach with me or in their appearance. They both acted like they hated their jobs. No customer service skills.

When i got home, i had a message from Honda USA on my machine. I'd been thinking of the gal i spoke with when she 1st called me yesterday, and feeling very bad that i was a little testy with her on the phone. I have no good excuse for it, she just called when i was trying to do 3 other things, bad timing, but i should have been nicer. She was, after all, trying to HELP me.

So when i returned her call today the first thing i did was apologize for my rude behavior with her the last time we spoke. She was very sweet about it. In fact, she said i made her day becus today, SHE was having a bad day and had just gotten off a rough phone call before me, so i think it made her feel a little better. I'm thinking of writing a little thank-you note to whoever her manager is, becus she was very calm and professional and i think i was kind of unkind and kind of a jerk.

You know, if i don't get good customer service smehwere, I'm not at all bashful about pursuing the matter however i need to, but i also really like to give someone a pat on the back when they deserve it. She deserved it. Imagine how stressful her job must be, acting as mediator between unhappy Honda owners and the dealers when there's a dispute.

So, anyway...I may not believe in god, but i do believe in making amends to people you have wronged. After my apology, she told me she did speak with the service manager at the Honda dealer and she was "100% sure" he was going to call me and "take care of it for me," meaning, i think, it's not going to cost me anything more. She said he noted that i was a good customer and that i regularly was in there to do my service tune-ups, and apparently, that made it more worth their while to help me out.

So, crossing my fingers, i'll get that vibrating noise taken care of (trip #4). Yeah, i have an 8-year-old car, she's no spring chicken, but those vibrations make it sound like a JUNK car on the road.

Last night H. and i saw a $2 movie, 3:10 to Yuma. It was a western, pretty good, with Russell Crowe, though not as good as No Country for Old Men.

I've got 2 press releases that have been ok'd for release, i'm just waiting for photos before i do distribution. And i just got asked to do 2 more. This works out perfectly, as i've had all of December free.

The electrician didn't seem upset that i rescheduled his visit a 2nd time; he explained what does bug him is when someone doesn't bother to call at all and then they show up to do work and they can't do it. So he's coming Christmas Eve day, which is fine by me.

I have been positively ITCHING to start posting my year-end expenses and all the interesting things i learn from my year-end summary. But of course, we're not quite thru December yet, so i have to sit tight. This year-end summary is what makes all the daily expense tracking so worth it, becus then i get to look at the big picture and size up how i've done compared to previous years, in which expense categories i've spent more than previous years, or spent less. Some of it is beyond my control, but much of it is not.

After a trip to the dentist tomorrow, i'm hoping to wash my car (by hand, in the cold). The salt on it looks terrible.

Thought you might like to see some of my decorating for the holidays. I make up for the lack of a fireplace by decorating my 'mantle'...

This is in my dining room. I got the artificial greens for pennies on the dollar at a local church thrift shop.



I haven't had a live tree for many years. It seems a waste of a living thing to use it only for a few weeks and then throw it away. And I'd rather not fuss wrestling a giant tree into the house. I'm perfectly happy with my 3 or 4 tabletop artificial trees. Each one is a little different. And this way, there's a little bit of Xmas in every room, even the bathrooms!

Here's a closeup of some detail on the mantel.



I've hung some ornaments from the dining room chandeleir here.



Too bad you can't really see it clearly here, but i've also hung some old ornaments from the 50s in my kitchen window.



The other day I bought some 'old-fashioned' hair rollers from Walgreenss for about $8. Most of what you find in the stores these days when it comes to rollers is those hot rollers you plug in, but i guess they can do a number on your hair. I bought some foam rollers that are comfortable enough to sleep in. Works for me, as i usually shower at night to save time in the a.m. and i wanted to see what my normally straight hair would look like with more curl.

When i took the curlers out, i made the mistake of using a hairbrush on my hair. They said on the package to comb your hair with your fingers, but with my thick hair that would be impossible. After brushing, i looked like i'd stuck my finger in a light socket. Yikes. Frizz Central.

We're in the middle of our first nor'easter of the season. I haven't been outside yet, but weather reports tell me we have several inches of sleet/ice on the ground with more to come all day. I guess i won't be using my sensitive snow blower on this stuff or it'll end up in repairs again.

The bird feeders are full and the birds are taking full advantage. I dreamt last night of some unusual birds visiting my yard. A barn swallow, for one.

I got a surprise phone call from the local place where i dropped my broken snow thrower off...it was ready to be picked up. (They told me initially it'd be "a week to 10 days.") Maybe they took pity on me, a single woman facing the imminent nor'easter with just a shovel, I'm not sure, but i ran to go get it ahead of the storm.

I asked him if it was one of the belts that went, and he said, no, it was a pulley that had slipped off. He said sometimes if you hit a stone or piece of ice that can do it, or if, when you shut the power off, you do so while it's sitting in snow. Better to pull the snow thrower out of the snow and let it run clear before you turn the power off. It could've been either scenario in my case cus my driveway's in bad shape with lots of little pebbles and what not. I will be more careful using it tomorrow after the big storm. In the meantime, i've cleared my driveway from yesterday's storm, by hand. I am sore, and earned two calluses, though one, i think, is from leaf raking earlier.

But his comments made me think. As i mentioned, the driveway's got lots of 'alligatoring', or cracks, all over the place and i'm waiting til it gets really bad before i have to shell out oodles, and i mean oodles, of money to have them yank it all up and pave a new driveway. (Or maybe i'll have sold the house before that time, who knows.) My plan was to only pave the sloped portion of the lower driveway, then do maybe a 3 foot wide apron of belgian block which would then transition to gravel at the top of the driveway which is all level. The top of the driveway is a fairly large area as it widens out as you approach the house, and there's also an extra parking spot to the side of the garage.

The gravel would be better for drainage, and i'm sure cheaper than asphalt, plus i hate the look of asphalt. Plus the gravel would work well here because it would be completely surrounded by stone walls and the foundation of my garage, so none of it would get into the grass. It would all be kept nicely in place. But i was wondering how i would clear snow off a gravel driveway. I guess it would have to be by hand (shovel) as either the snow blower or a plow would throw up all that gravel.

After i picked up the snow thrower, i went down to the school to volunteer as a driver to deliver some holiday food baskets to the needy in town. My friend sounded like she might want to come, but later decided she'd rather go shopping with her other friend. They pretty much meet every Saturday and do any or all of these: 1. shop, 2. eat out and/or 3. see a movie.

Oh well. I thought this would be a nice feel good, holiday thing to do and i also figured it'd be nice to have a map reader in the car while i drove. When she said she wouldn't be going, i nearly decided not to bother going myself, as the guy on the phone had mentioend they'd gotten a very good response for volunteers from the newspaper story that ran, and i thought well, they probably don't really need me. But I went.

well, since i had the snow blower in the my front seat, i didn't have that much room. I had pictured holiday baskets as being, well, baskets of food, but actually, they had large boxes filled with wrapped gifts, and one single box was just too big to fit in my Honda trunk. We jammed it in the back seat, but that's all i could fit. They were so organized, they gave me complete typed directions so i didn't need a map reader after all. So I had just the one delivery to make.

The address was at one of our town's 2 trailer parks, and i knew where it was. Aside from those 2 trailer parks, the only other place i'd consider 'affordable' in my affluent town would be the several waterfront communities filled with tiny houses on small lots, what used to be summer cottages.

Anyway, if you think you've got gripes and complaints about life, this is a good exercise to go through. I drove up the dirt road at the trailer park and found the address, no problem. The condition of the trailers varied, but I would say the majority were in only 'fair' condition. I was greeted at the door by an older woman and a very large German Shepherd. Her adult son, who i could tell was mentally disabled, peeked around the corner. I wished them a merry christmas and was on my way, good deed done.

I made some really good raisin bran muffins and am eating one now with a cup of hot tea.

You may have read earlier posts where i've boasted of keeping the temps in here at 60 or lower (57 at night). Well, I'm still at it, but i'm finding the problem with this is, since i'm home all day long until i start my new job, is that even with the sweaters etc that i wear around the house, it's still pretty chilly, and the warmest place is under my bed covers. I have flannel sheets, 1 wool blanket, 2 quilts and a comforter, so yes, it's warm under there, so nice that i find myself huddled under there and not wanting to come out!

I've noticed, too, that the cat seems to be hungry and wanting to be fed around the clock. (She usually gets fed twice a day, but since i've been home, that often ends up being 3x a day, just to shut her up. She meows and meows and drives me nuts.) She seems a little husky, but it could be that thick fur she's sprouted. I will have to weigh her.)

So here we are at year-end 2007, and I see my mortgage balance is $75,000. If I continue my aggressive prepayment schedule, by this time NEXT year the balance will be down to $68,000. In a way, it seems like it should be even lower, but that's interest for ya!

Actually, I am hoping that once i start my new job, to increase the monthly prepayments from $400 to $500 extra a month. That's A LOT of extra money, but i managed the $400 a month on my much lower salary, tho i didn't have much to spare. If I do that, i'll call the bank again and have them rerun a new amortization table for me showing my monthly payments of principal and interst and the running balance. This serves as a big incentive to me to see that figure dropping each month.

The long-term goal is to have the whole mortgage paid off in 9 more years. That would mean i'll have paid off a 30 year loan in 20 years total. I think that's pretty respectable.

Earlier this week Amazon.com delivered my new Toro 1800 electric snow thrower, $279. I put the handle and chute together, no biggie, and proceeded to try it out, as it snowed here last night. It worked beautifully...for 10 minutes. Then it died. I unplugged it, cleared the snow away from the rotary thingy and tried again. It got plenty of juice, that wasn't the problem. I could see that the rotary thingy wasn't rotating, tho i could rotate it manually with my hand.

I thought perhaps some part had frozen on it, so i brought it in the basement (50 degrees) and let it sit an hour, but it still didn't work after that. Sigh.

Very frustrating. It's brand new. It did at first work just fine, throwing snow a good 30 feet or so. So i called Toro and she said it sounded like a bad belt and referred me to my nearest area Toro authorized dealer, where i dropped it off this a.m.

It's covered by a 2 year warranty, so it's not costing me anything, but it won't be ready for 7-10 days. And our next big nor'easter storm is due here late tomorrow night. So i'll be shoveling, again. Damn.

Meanwhile, Plow & Hearth's postage paid sticker arrived in the mail today, so i'll be able to pack up and return the wrong color drapes they shipped me. I am still hopeful of getting the right color before Xmas.

I am really not happy with my Honda dealer's response in addressing the issue of the vibrating exhaust system. I mean, the main reason i chose to go there instead of my much closer local car repair place was becus i figured no one knows Hondas better than a Honda dealer.

I was there 3 times, 1st for a service tune-up, ($375) when i told them to please fix the vibrating noise coming from underneath the car. After they did the tune-up, they told me they couldn't fix the vibrating sound until i got my muffler fixed, and by the way i have a hole in it. (I did have a hole there, i could tell by the sound, but i had been driving around with it for about a year and it hadn't gotten any worse. Only reason i decided to have it fixed now was so it wouldn't become a problem after i start my new job.)

So i scheduled another appt. a week later to do the muffler ($225). After they did that, they said they couldn't fix the vibration, if it really bothered me that much, unless they replaced another part of the exhaust system ($200) even tho there was nothing wrong with it. I declined, but when i drove it home that vibrating sound was so pronounced, i really couldn't believe a normally functioning Honda should sound that way. So i called them when i got home, and they said come in tomorrow (3rd trip). I sat around for an hour while while they looked at it, but they came up with nothing, and said it's not hurting anything, nnothing will fall off and seemed to imply that maybe i was a little too sensitive to noise.

My friend noticed the noise when we went to the movies and she agreed it sounds pretty bad, and it's most noticeable when you start the car moving from a stopped position, and especially so again at about 25 miles per hour.

So on Monday, i was thinking of either calling the service manager at my dealership, or perhaps better yet, calling Honda USA. Now i know you wouldn't usually think to call Honda USA as they only make the cars, not repairs, but i think the dealers are most anxious to keep on good relations with them, no? My dealer always has these silly little framed certificates telling how highly they were graded (95%, 98% and so on) in terms of customer service. I just don't think i should have to put up with my car sounding this bad when i drive it, or be forced to shell out another $200 on top of the $5oo or $600 i've already spent there. (fume)

I caught the tail end of a mention on the TV news earlier this week of a Trader Joe's recall of their pinjur sauce dated 10/09. I mentioned this to H., who is a frequent TJ's shopper. To my horror, she said she thought she had some at home, half eaten. I told her to check the dates. Turns out she had 2 jars, one opened and eaten by her and her mother, with the recalled date. So of course she will return it, but gee, shouldn't she get something more from TJ's than a "sorry about that? We hope you didn't swallow any chipped glass??" I think a gift certificate would be in order, at the least.

I threw out some bread crusts and a pear core for the deer tonight, and in fact i startled one who bounded away up my side yard. I feel sorry for the deer when a crusty snow like this is on the ground. I don't know how they survive.

It started snowing this morning around 9 am and hasn't stopped since. I pulled the car into the garage and filled the bird feeders. Now it's pelting the windows, so temps must have risen a notch. They're calling for about 7 or 9 inches.

I had my Toro snow thrower delivered from Amazon just the other day. So today I assembled it (just the handle) and tried it out. It really works very nicely, hurling that snow a good 30 feet! Only problem is, my 25 foot long extension cord isn't long enough for the driveway. I paced the length of the driveway and counted about 70 steps, so just to be sure i've got it covered I ordered a 100 foot long extension cord for $10 online at Sears, and will pick it up maybe tomorrow.

It DOES pay to shop around if you have time. The 100 foot ext cord at Walmart cost $44, and online there seemed to be a great variation in price. Home Depot did not have the best price, and neither did Amazon. I knew i wanted/needed 16 gauge, 3 pronged version, and that's what i got for just $10 at Sears.

I used the Site to Store feature they offer, which is nice, cus I wouldn't count on finding this exact cord in the store with all the holiday madness, so i used the ship to store to ensure it would be set aside for me. They indicated online that it was "now available,' so about a half hour after i ordered it online, i got the email saying it was ready for pickup. Cool how that works. This way i save $9 in shipping cost, yet i can assure myself i won't be looking at an empty shelf when i get there.

Anyway, like i said, the snow thrower worked great, but then it stopped throwing snow. i suspect it got clogged, but i got they ext. cord wet when i unplugged it to clean the snow out of the rotary thing, so I didn't try it again.(Snow still coming down hard anyway.)

I also called an electrician who will show up here on Monday to install a ground fault interrupter on the garage outlet i'll be using with the snow thrower. I'm all for addressing safety issues, and i should have probably installed a GFI years ago since the hose/faucet is also in the garage. While he's here, i'll have the electrician fix a closet light that's not working. Maybe a mouse chewed the wire.

Yesterday H. and I caught a matinee and saw No Country for Old Men. It was EXCELLENT. The only caveat i would give is if you dislike anything gory; this has a fair amount of blood, but the movie was outstanding. Tommy Lee Jones. Woody Harrelson. It's about a simple guy who lives in the southwest in a trailer home with his wife and while out illegaly hunting he comes upon the remains of a shootout that involved drug smugglers from Mexico. A few dead Mexicans, a dead dog, a cache of drugs and then he discovers a suitcase filled with hundred dollar bills amounting to $2 million.

The rest of the movie is about his attempt to elude a really bad guy who's out to get the money and kill him. Tommy Lee Jones plays a sheriff trying to find this guy before the mexican mob does, and Woody Harrelson plays another bad guy attempting to get the money before the #1 bad guy does. I won't tell you the ending!

I got all the $ owed me from my old employer, save for the IRA rollover, which i'm assuming will occur soon. I was trying to make sure they paid me the right amount of severance, and it appears i got about $700 more than i could account for. I think it must be the xmas bonus i would otherwise have been receiving around this time. I hadn't thought to ask for this, and thought it was pretty nice they gave it to me even tho i was laid off a few weeks ago.

I recieved my double-wide insulated drapes 4 or 5 days ago but was really perturbed that they weren't the right color. So will have to wait some more, another week, to get what i should have gotten, which was "Linen." I can figure out what happened. Whoever filled the order grabbed what looked to their eye like "Linen," which is more or less an off-white, when in fact the "Linen" that i wanted and ordered is a definite tan color. They should have checked the color as written on the label. Oh well.

It's a balmy 57 degrees in here and so far this season, it hasn't gone above 60 degrees. I'm so impressed with myself, especially since i'm home during the day all this month.

FINALLY connected with a very dear, old friend i've known for about 26 years. I met her when, as a recent college grad who decided to live on Cape Cod cus i figured i may as well live somehwere nice, even if i didn't know what to do with my life, I met B. who was renting out a few rooms in her very nice home on the lower Cape. I lived with her for about a year or so before moving to Vermont to take a job up there.

And our friendship stuck. She's about 10 years older than me, and was divorced by the time I met her. I have to say, we've seen each other through many failed relationships on both sides, though most of that has been a long distance thing. We usually catch up each year around the holidays, for some reason, but i havent' seen her for about 20 years. After my mother, she's probably one of the most supportive people i know.

Was back at the Honda dealer for the 3rd time in 2 weeks, after they failed to address the vibrating noise coming from the exhaust system somewhere under the car. Apparently nothing they could do about it unless i wanted to spend another few hundred on replacing a portion of pipe. I said no thanks, i can live with it, though i have lost some confidence in Honda. Anyway, i spent about $500-$600 on muffler replacement and tuneup, but saved a good $50 or $60 on the AAA 10% discount.

I've been doing some clothes shopping getting ready for the new job, a little here, a little there. But i refuse to pay top dollar, so i found a few things at TJ Maxx, Marshall's and today i was at Macy's with a coupon and got a few knocked down items.

Being home so much i've been watching Ellen at 4 p.m. I love her! And i sure would love to be a guest on one of her shows during the 12 days of Xmas gift giveaway. Today she gave away $1,000 worth of kitchen gifts to every person sitting in the audience including a KitchenAid mixer, steaks, cookies, wine, etc. But anyway, she's in LA and i'm nowhere near there, so unlikely. I hear the tickets for these shows went in less than an hour! I guess you have to just show up and first come, first serve.

Got my first bit of freelance work since leaving my last job. I'll interview the agent tomorrow.

Still waiting for my severance and other payoff from old employer. I emailed her recently to find out when she was doing the IRA rollover, as the market's been really up lately (until today) and i was hoping she'd do the transfer on a decent trading day. She keeps giving me these answers that are so unclear, then she reverses herself 3 times so i don't know WHAT's going on.

Did an hour's worth of leaf-raking today, plus 2 loads of laundry. Pasta for dinner (me bad).

This Saturday i volunteered to be a driver for our holiday fund drive where they need people to deliver holiday food baskets to the needy around town. I invited a friend to come along to act as map-reader (we have a big spread out town) and all round elf helper. I think she's coming, but not positive yet.

Following up on some earlier talk about the effectiveness of dryer balls (which i bought at Linens n things for $10), someone here suggested using old tennis balls instead. Which i thought was a good idea, but i came across some discussion of that online and apparently the rubber on those tennis balls can melt in the dryer, so not a good thing i guess.

With all this free time on my hands, i seem to be getting pretty good at just padding around the house and filling my day with mostly inconsequential chores and tasks.

Sitting here sipping my decaf green tea and taking stock of what i've accomplished today (not much)!

Umm, i reordered checks online. Searched high and low for one of my mom's Xmas presents (real postage stamps with her art on them), can't find them anywhere, hoping i didn't accidentally throw it out with something else with all the paper threatening to bury my desk, so i decided to reorder another sheet of stamps, just in case. If the 1st set shows up, then she'll get 2 sheets of stamps with 2 different pieces of art on them.

i was supposed to walk today with H., but she called to cancel. She just wasn't in the mood, i guess. It's a very gray day and looks like bad weather is indeed coming our way. Could be icy in the a.m., they say.

My bone density test yesterday came back normal for my age. There were 3 different speakers talking about osteoporosis, 2 doctors and a nutritionist. It kind of seems that even if you eat well, get enough calcium/D3 and exercise, the gradual loss of bone density is nearly unavoidable as a natural part of the aging process; it's just the degree to which it happens that depends on your lifestyle choices.

I think one of the stats in the slide presentation by one of the doctors said that x% of women over the age of 80 have osteoporosis, and i think it was a very high percentage. So the first thing i did when i got home yesterday from the exam was to take a 50-minute walk.

I watched the most wonderful DVD last night. I mostly rent foreign and independent films from Netflix. This one was called Zelary, made a few years ago in Czech (has subtitles). I've seen many movies made during that war, from many different perspectives. Even if it's not about someone who was killed in the gas chambers, or soldiers on the front lines, the impact of the war was so far-reaching, even for those fortunate ones who fled parts of Europe before the army arrived. I don't think people today really grasp how tenuous and unstable life could be under these circumstances.

I live in my comfortable little home with all my possessions around me accumlated over many years. I've enjoyed a lifetime living in a country noted for its prosperity, stability and democracy. If you look at it this way, none of us has ever really "had it rough."

Can I imagine having to leave all I've accumulated behind and flee my country to save the skin on my back? No, I really can't imagine that. Can I imagine a seige-like atmosphere where soldiers might arrive at my doorstep, pilfering, raping and looting whatever they pleased? Despite the shock of 9/11, we Americans have never had to endure anything like that, not in my lifetime, not in any time going back to the Civil War. (Not unless you were black.)

(I used to work for someone who felt all this could change if there were a serious terrorist attack in NY, something involving chemicals or gas, and to protect himself from the anticipated panicky hordes of New Yorkers fleeing north, he had electronic gates at his driveway, German shepherds that patrolled the property and numerous firearms.)

There is so much unrest in the world, not just during WWII but especially so today. There are those countries caught up in civil wars, ruled by brutal dictators whose only interest is in enriching the lining of their own pockets. Other countries that never seem to get out from under the repeating cycle of famine conditions worsened by AIDS epdemics while other countries may be experiencing economic instability, rampant political corruption or social mores that here in 2007 still allow women to be treated pretty much like slaves with few rights.

Sometimes all this makes North America, western Europe, and Australia seem like tiny islands of peace and prosperity surrounded by unrest that is ever threatening to spill over across borders.

Sorry, this isn't a very inspirational Christmas message, is it? But i think it's worth it to take a break from our silly worries and stop to think of others who are dealing with true hardship. All things being equal, we're pretty damn lucky.

I made the most delicious lunch for myself today. I used a Boboli pizza crust, a Trader Joe's eggplant spread, then on top of that artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, chopped garlic, goat cheese and oregano drizzled with olive oil. It was soooo good. I was wondering if the cost of the somewhat expensive ingredients exceeded the cost of a pizza at my favorite pizza place. They probably do, but i still have leftover ingredients to make another pizza if i choose. A pizza around here, medium-sized, would probably be about $9.

Did my grocery shopping today and bought some tilapia for dinner tonight (trying to eat more fish), except that i'm still so full from eating half the pizza that i may keep the fish 1 more day.

It's been on the chilly side all this week so i haven't been out walking much for exercise. I plan to make up for it tomorrow, since it's supposed to hit a balmy 42 degrees. I have yet more leaf raking in the backyard on account of some dogwood and crabapple trees that didn't want to let go of their leaves until very late. And it's a good time of year to wade into the thickets and cut back the bittersweet, which threatens to strangle everything if you ignore it.

Before that, though, i'll be dropping in on the VNA to get a free bone density test.

We had a surprise inch of snow today, and seeing that white stuff, i broke down and ordered the Toro snow thrower online at Amazon for $279. That price was $20 cheaper than what i saw it priced for elsewhere. And free shipping, too.

Yesterday H. and i went to lunch at our favorite chinese restaurant and did a little window shopping, then hooked up again that night to see the Bourne Ultimatum, or the last of the trilogy. Action-packed from the moment the movie started, all the way through. Matt Damon was so busy crashing cars and running from the bad guys, in fact, there was absolutely no time for romance, which was a little surprising. That usually seems to be part of the formula.

finally got some nice checks in the mail from some overdue invoices for my freelance work. So now there's just $270 outstanding, and one press release i wrote, a month ago but am still waiting for them to pull the trigger so i can release it.

All of this leisure time and i sure do like it. No particular schedule, nothing too pressing to do. What with Xmas, snow throwers and clothes shopping for the new job, i sure have been spending money, though.

Went to the dump. And dropped off a bag of clothes for Good Will (getting a receipt for tax deduction purposes).

Then on to the Post Office for Xmas stamps. When they raised the price of postage stamps from .39 to .41, i bought 3 more .2 stamps than i needed. So i figured i'd buy 3 more .39 stamps so as not to waste .06. Well, they told me they no longer make .39 postage stamps. Seems unfair to consumers that they just lose out if they didn't figure to the penny how many .02 stamps they'd need. Well, guess i can keep 'em when they raise rates in another year or two.

Got an allan wrench at hardware store so i could take down the brackets from my old curtain treatments in bedroom. (Wrong size allen wrench, DRAT.)

Stopped to get some free calendars at our local paper.

Yummy lunch consisted of a whole wheat tortilla wrap filled with quinoa, roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes and some eggplant/red pepper spread. MMMM.

I'm continuing a really bad habit i have of watching at least a portion of Judge Alex between 1 and 3 pm.

One of my freelance customers dropped me an email to tell me she re-submitted some invoices they're really late in paying. The oldest invoice dates back to October 15, nearly 2 months old!! Grrr. they still owe me $790.

I went to costco for the 1st time in several years since giving up my membership. I tagged along with mom and spent $94. I always enjoy just browsing there, but once i put a frozen item in my carriage, i sort of felt like rushing as i don't want things to dethaw before i get home...even tho it was cold outside. I noticed a lot more organic or 'healthy' food items available.

already find myself losing track of what day it is...if you're not working or on a regular schedule, things sure turn to mush quickly!

Made a bran/raisin quick bread last night. Still reading my latest book on what happens to our trash after we throw it out. It's pretty interesting, and definitely making me more conscious of all the stuff i throw out on a daily basis, wishing there was some use for the little plastic hangars my underwear came on when i bought them at kohl's. If i'd been thinking, i would have removed them from the hangars at the register so they could recycle them. Wish there was some way to use the little cardboard rolls paper towels are wrapped around. I think i will take another go at composting come spring.

Can't say i've been more productive today than what i've recorded above. I do plan to vacuum as soon as i post this. And i resurrected my Netflix account once i got my new job (a very small splurge) so tonight i'm watching Babel, which i know is a good movie.

One more month to go and i can analyze my 2007 expenses every which way, comparing them to the previous year, totalling each expense category, tracking investment gains, etc. I'm always especially interested in how spending on utilities changes from year to year. I still haven't turned the heat higher than 60, for instance, even a bit more spartan than previous years.

1. brought my car in for major servicing; it cost $380 something, not too bad, plus got my snow tires on, but there's been a small hole in my muffler for about a year now and i guess it's about time to get it fixed (for another $300). So going back to the dealer in a week. I could let it go longer, til the road salts make it worse, but the more things i can get out of the way now, before the new job starts, the better, i think.

2. Linens n Things: got some 'dryer balls' which supposedly reduce energy use cus they bounce around in there and create more air space, drying your clothes more quickly. I'll let you know what i think. Also got 2 very nice curtain rods for upstairs bedrooms.

3. Bob's: i got one of those $10 coupons, but in the past got snagged by them cus there's hardly anything in the store for $10 or less, so you end up spending $ regardless. But this time they had a lot of yummy holiday candy by the register, so i got some dark chocolate raspberry truffles and some preserves which i otherwise woudln't get, so a treat for me for just $1!

4. Stopped at Walgreen's and got the free after rebate mineral foundation. Also some Vit. D.

5. The dealer has a shuttle service to area stores, so while they worked on my car, i did some shopping at Kohl's. Got lots of unmentionables which i could use for the new job + a sweater on sale and a mini food processor for those small jobs. I had a big heavy one that my grandmother had owned but i broke a piece of a blade when i tried using it for some cheddar balls at Thanksgiving. Also got the same exact black leather shoes ($30) as the pair that my dad's dog Bailey ruined when i was there, chewing on the heels. My dad insisted on reimbursing me, but they didn't cost anywhere's near the $60 he gave me.

5. Did a 25-minute walk around the block in the blustery late afternoon. A neighbor coming home from work yelled out that i "sure was dedicated to be walking today." I'm trying not to go to blubber as usually happens each winter.

Planning on doing some quick bread baking tonight.

All my Christmas shopping is done, how about that? Plus, it was ALL online. I broke down and agreed to split the digital camera with my mom for my sister. Amazingly, we spent less than $100 on a 6 megapixel Sony at Walmart. This is actually less $$ than i spent on an Olympus digital camera at Walmart several years ago.

Got a nice trio of prep knives for my mother, and in fact got another set for me, they looked so nice. They're those japanese knives, soboku or something like that, and come in a nice wooden box that doubles as a cutting board. $30 on HSN.

It's been such a cold, wintry weekend i haven't wanted to venture outside much.

Friday was my office moving day and my last day there. I hired a guy i know in town to move all our stuff, mostly files, to another location. The leased copier was picked up by a trucking company. Said my goodbyes to ex-boss and others in the office. My job there is done, and I did it all with a smile, to the end. Course, having another job lined up sure makes a layoff easier to bear.

So it was a bit of a bittersweet day, a mix of sadness to be saying goodbye to some people and places I've grown very comfortable with, but also some relief to finally close up this chapter of my life after what seemed like a prolonged ending.

Sometime in December i'll be getting my severance pay and my 401k rolled over into a new IRA. And a few loose ends more in the form of reimbursements they owe me for $ spent out of pocket for the office move.

Now begins my 5-week hiatus, aka VACATION, before i begin my new job. I am quite sure i will become bored with all this time off and will be ready to go at that new job when the time comes, but right now the way i feel about this break in the routine is how a 10 year old feels about summer vacation.

Friday night went to our town's tree lighting with friend H. Cold, cold, but we listened to the kids sing a few carols and waited for the big 'lights on' the evergreen. It was nice, but then we walked back quickly to H.'s house to warm up, and i spent another hour chatting with H. in her kitchen over tea. She's a diabetic and she put chocolate and cookies out on the table, so to keep her healthy i was forced to eat everything.

Today i ventured out to check out the library holiday book sale. Nothing for me, though i did earlier buy a used book there all about America's trash and where it really ends up.

I've been an environmentalist all my life, but have kept it somewhat undercover with many people i know since many seemed in the past to view it as a somewhat kooky, post-hippie thing to do. Now, thanks to Al Gore and others, environmentalism has 'come back into fashion,' so lately i've been getting into it more. After the book sale, swung by the grocery store to pick some things up, then returned home and started my dinner, a Moroccan style chicken with prunes, in the slow cooker. Pretty good, and smelled amazing.

Tomorrow a.m. i'll be bringing the car to the dealer to get the snows on, the oil changed, fuel/air filters replaced, fix that annoying scraping noise in front. Neither the regular tires or the snows seem to have a great deal of tread left, tho the snows have more. I'll have to ask them how many miles of wear they think they have left. I feel like i've had so many big expenses, and more coming, that new tires are really the last thing i want to think about.

For instance, i'm debating whether i should plunk down $279 for a Toro snow thrower. I've gotten by 11 years with my 150 foot long driveway and just me and my shovel, but i can't say it's been easy when there's a major overnight storm and i have to get to work. If i were still working in town, i wouldn't worry about it, cus they were easygoing and i could always walk. But with the new job, i don't think i can assume anything like that, and who wants to show up in a sweat? So despite not wanting to accumulate any more home-related purchass when i may be selling in a few years, this one may really be needed. I was reading customer reviews on the Toro 1800 and it seems to work pretty well.

Before i start the new job, it sure would feel great to be brave and get an enitrely new haircut, eg, something shorter than my usual longer than shoulder-length hair and maybe something more professional and befitting a 40-something woman. It's just that once i got a cut that is anything but a basic trim, then i'd have to 'maintain' it every month or so, and that means spending more $$$. Maybe i'll hold off on that and just have mom trim it a few inches.

Waiting for Prairie Home Companion to come on the radio. I used to listen to that religiously, for years. I love those little monologues that Garrison Keilor does about German Lutherans in the midwest. I'm one of them, and it cracks me up since no one else 'discusses' my ethnic group they way they do others.