My feet are cold.

I can remember reading these newspaper columns by Larry King in which he'd just ramble along in a total stream-of-consciousness mode...I don't know if he still writes them, but think of this as my Larry King-style catch-up.

We spent two weeks away from home over the holidays, and it all went great. We had some unexpected car trouble while home in Ohio, but it happened while we were close enough to home to get it taken care of easily--and it ended up being a problem that was covered under an extended warranty. On an eight-year-old car. Talk about your Christmas miracles!

We got to cram in a few quality moments with most of the people we love, too. Which was also great. Pictures will be forthcoming.

I started emptying cupboards and closets as soon as we got home on January 2, and then lost my momentum about halfway through. Right about the time I dropped two heavy books spine-down on my toe, come to think of it. The toe still hurts, and now I have no clue what to do for it since it's been almost two weeks. Do I wrap it, ice it, or what?

Today is my niece Natalie's fifth birthday, and we would have been there with her except that I came down with a touch of flu on Friday morning, thus derailing our weekend plans. I'm feeling mostly better today, except for the "aunt guilt." Sorry, sweetie pie! Keep a lookout for your present in the mail!

Todd had his performance review and got promoted from "project supervisor" to "engineering manager." Now he just needs to find out exactly what that will entail. But it's still cool, and I'm proud of him!

We bought eleven interior doors on sale today, and now we need to find some doorknobs and then paint them, install knobs, and hang them. It's going to make a big difference to go from brown "wood" hollow-core doors to white "wood" six-panel doors. I'm looking forward to it!

We also hung new light fixtures in the upstairs bathrooms, and they look awesome. And I found the flooring I want for the guest bath, and decided on a color for the walls.

We got about two inches of snow yesterday, and it was just gorgeous. I sat on the couch and watched it fall all afternoon and evening, and each of the trees in our yard had that light coating of snow on each branch that just makes them glow and shows off their shapes. Today it all melted, but it was a thing of beauty while it lasted.

This week I'll try to find some moments on the upstairs computer so I can post pictures of all our recent doings.