Yes, Aunt B, It Is.

She asked if Sandipa's really the bank-lady's name, and it is. She's East Indian and very lovely and one hell of a banker. The title company got its sh*t together so we met at 1 o'clock and signed enough paper to cover a good size room. Now in about 6 days it'll all be filed and proved and fulfilled and whatever else they need to do to write down a mortgage loan. I want a tiara. It's bloody cold today and isn't going to get much warmer for a few days. I had to arrange my layers of clothes so that when I have to go potty at work I can get the job done with the minimum of fuss. If I had to reverse the normal order it'd be sweater up, jeans down, turtleneck up, longies down, undershirt up, underpants down, and that'd just take too long. Funny but too long, so all the shirts except the outer sweater get tucked into my undies so all the pants can zip down in a herd. You might be laughing but I think about this kind of stuff. Efficient use of time and energies, etc. I worked on the next little bit of the basement tidy yesterday and got the area across from the washer repurposed. I shifted the few kitchen-y items into the shelves under the stairs and now all the paper plates, etc. and the disposable food keepers and the whole big box of wraps and bags from Mom's are all on those shelves where we can see what we have before we buy more. Then I sorted through 3 bins of old dive gloves, boots, and hoods. All of them went into the trash and a crate of old regs and consoles is coming to work with me to see if they want to salvage hoses or boots or whatever. Might as well get some use out of it instead of giving the spiders another place to nest. As an added bonus I managed to break two nails yesterday. Two! Good thing I plan to go Friday to get them done anyway. I'll just keep my hand in my pocket--or maybe a glove since it's so bitter cold.

January 17--James Morisset, Presentation Smallsword. Jamie and John never stayed near the house when they played pirates. They went down to the creek that wandered across the bottom of Parsons' old pasture. It had been so long since it had been grazed that the edges were thickets of young trees and brambles lay traps for the unwary. The boys tramped trails through the shoulder-high grasses that waves and rustled in the hot winds. Addy and Lia tried to get parts in the pirate games but they were unhappy that all they got to be were hostages or cannon fodder. They gave up after spending an afternoon lashed to trees serving as masts. The biting ants that crawled up their legs made them yelp, cry, and finally swear which brought Jamie and John running to let them loose.

It was a tired night last night. It's amazing how tiring it is cleaning a piece of the basement no more than 6' wide and then carrying up the trash and donations. The back of Durwood's van is all loaded so I can swing by Goodwill on Friday and unload it. I'm off to bundle up and go to work.
--Barbara