What a gorgeous day!

It was in the upper 60s, maybe even low 70s, here today. Nice day.

I started it out by ordering my breakfast to pick up at the downtown cafe. It makes me feel wicked decadent to be able to call Shirley and say "I'd like an express breakfast to pick up." She and Connie have it ready to go by the time I get dressed and drive the few blocks down the main drag.

My office has a bit of a tradition of ordering breakfast from this place on Friday mornings. We call it in and I usually am the one to drive over and pick it up for everyone. It's one tradition I can say I like about this work place.

Anyway, today was gorgeous. I spent a lot of time running out to the garage for various things. I've been working more on my dining room and continue to make progress. I finally was able to make it to a little cabinet area which gives me more space for stashing dishes. Now they are out from under foot -- I'm not having to weave a narrow path through this area now. Almost all of the books have been moved to a proper bookshelf instead of being piled in here too.

It was ladder day, too. I got my handy-dandy stepladder out of the garage because I intended to change the long-ago burned-out bulb in my hall. Well, apparently the problem is not with the bulb, as I tried several and still have no light. I checked all of the breakers -- twice. That's also not the problem. I'm just not up to switching the socket to see if that cures the darkness. I could, I just don't particularly feel like standing on a ladder over the furnace trying to keep from dropping things into the furnace.

While I had the ladder out, I cleaned off the divider shelves between my dining room and kitchen and arranged some of my pretties. It makes me feel better to see my watering pots and teapots and pitchers and bottles on display. There's a common thread linking all of them, other than function. Lots of rich, deep jeweled colors that the light can shine through or reflect off of.

And I made a trip to Wal-Mart today for a few things that were in the sale flyer -- exciting things! Toothbrushes and oral rinse and body wash and deodorant! Wheee!! And I picked up a pair of jeans and a couple of clearance shirt that were $4 each. I passed on the huge package of paper towels. They had a 6-pack of Super Bounty rolls on sale for $10, but I'm not a big paper towel user and I still have some rolls in my supply closet.

Well, I've got some more piddling to do around the house while I listen to Celtic music on public radio through my computer. I can't get the NPR station on my radio, but luckily it is available to listen to live on the internet. There's always a way to skin a cat.

Hope your new year is going great! I've been trying to greet the new year with a sense of serenity and wonder. I hope it makes for a better year!