Holiday cooking this evening - a pot of beans to contribute to a staff potluck lunch tomorrow.

I have ornaments that came from my mother and sister that also go front and center - more Scandinavian and secular in origin, but part of our holiday festivities. Doesn't everyone have a nissetroll to guard the tree? They don't like to be out in the open, so you have to place them in a corner or in a semi-hidden spot on a shelf, or in a closet with the door open a little they can see the tree. Really. They're about the only "good" troll there is out there.

Even as slow as your water is running, isn't it nice to be able to do your laundry at home, Dorothy? As opposed to lugging it all down to a laundrymat?

For those following the saga of the three dogs that have lived with my friend Susie for over two years (adopted after their original owner died of cancer), my friend isn't able to take them with her when she moves sometime in the next couple of months, so we have sought a new home. This weekend it worked out - the brother and sister-in-law of a co-worker of mine are going to adopt all three. They have a dog already (used to have 2, but one died of old age earlier this year) and she is going to have a dog trainer with with her dog and with the new ones to have a good integration of the pack. This is better than any of us could have hoped for, that the three can stay together.