Mary, there has been one of those really long-drug-out colds going around. I had one that killed most of my December. I'm sure it resulted in my paying more for the holiday than I planned because I just bought some things I would have shopped for more carefully or made myself.

All of the holiday lights are now at least inside the house. And the extension cords. It's cold out, so I left the cords on the floor where they can warm up and will be more supple to loop and hang up in their regular place (these are the thick orange ones). And I've checked out the phone wire in the kitchen. I need to replace a couple more lines to rooms before I'm finished and can maybe switch to the cable company for my phone coverage. If a tiny bundle (Internet and phone) will make them happy so they'll give me a low rate for a long time, then I'll consider it. The AT&T phone sounds like crap right now, and gets worse every time it rains. My next door neighbor has the whole big bundle and says the phone sounds great.

SRS