I’m feeling better than I was earlier in the week. I figure it’s due either to getting plenty of sleep, or the fact that at lunch I went and bought doughnuts, and the resulting sugar high is making everything better. (So far I’ve eaten a raspberry jelly filled. Very delicious.)

Yesterday, since Michael left work at 5, we went to Lowe’s to order the replacement doors for the kitchen. One regular door, one storm door. If all goes well, they’ll be installed sometime over spring break—except of course that now that we have made plans, we’ll now have a snowstorm, or it will rain the entire time.

Sorry about that.

I also picked up Dif and paint, and either that week or some time later, will redo the guest bedroom, which at this point has shiny wallpaper on the lower half of the wall. Although I really enjoy painting, I am not looking forward to stripping the wallpaper from the walls, nor do I particularly want to box up all the books in that room and find somewhere to keep them. (Because the room is quite full, despite the fact it contains only: 1 bed, 1 sewing machine, 7 houseplants, and books.(Okay, there are some sewing supplies there, but not a lot))

No, getting rid of books is NOT an option.

We’ve also discussed plans for redoing the kitchen, since we’re replacing the door, and need to repair water damage to the ceiling (I don’t even want to discuss it) so we’re looking into replacing the tiles. Why? First off, they’re mauve. Yes, mauve. And the rest of the kitchen is green. Secondly, at some point tiles fell out and were replaced. Badly. So at some point I’m going to start pulling tiles off the wall in the kitchen. Any suggestions as to what works best will be welcome.

And speaking of house stuff, my friend Del has started his own business, K & D Ltd, for doing odds and ends and whatever needs done. He’s in the Martinsburg/Charles Town/Shepherdstown area. He says he’s doing a lot of cleaning right now, so if cleaning isn’t your thing, and you’re in that area… his e-mail is k_dltd@frontiernet.net.

I’d meant to say something about that earlier, but Michael ended up with his business card, and didn’t give it back to me until last night. (Of course I’d barely seen Michael much until last night, so there is that.)

I also received a letter from my cousin Ben yesterday. He has, I think, a little under a year left to spend in Kyrgyzstan and the Peace Corps. I’m not sure what he’s going to be doing next, but I can’t wait until he comes home and I can talk to him about it. He took a brief tour of the Middle East over his Christmas break, and I am really interested in hearing in more detail what he saw and what he thinks about what he saw.

And that’s about it. Unless of course anyone is interested in coming over and helping my box up books and remove wallpaper. All volunteers are welcome for that!