Kat, how was Morgan's first day? Did he go home full of chatter, or did he fade fast and go to bed early? The first few days of a new job (and school IS a job) are very tiring.

My hall bathroom is looking better. I've scrubbed the sink and washed the mirror, and hung up some pretty towels on the towel rod. Next I'll scrub the shower tile and the floor. I need to put tile on the floor one of these days, and I think that day is sooner rather than later now.

The kitchen is a work in progress. Lots of papers sitting around. I'm moving them over onto a little table next to my file cabinet, and I'll file it all before the bills come in. Also, I need to thin out those files, they're getting to be a bit snug. Time to move the older bank statements down below to the larger file.

I'm thawing a chicken. I bought all larger birds when my son was here, but now I'll look for the smaller ones, or at the very least I will cut them in half before I freeze them. A whole bird is going to mean a lot of meals with chicken this week. On the other hand, I'm also drawing down stuff in the freezer that are favorites for all of us. I had some nice wild salmon, for example. What I can do now is find the sales and freeze a few portions at a time, keeping in mind that when he comes home he'll be able to enjoy those also.

Buying portions for one is the most expensive way to do it, so I won't try. We did tend to eat on impulse, and that is more expensive. My cooking and eating is far more wide-reaching than my son's picky palette, so now I can cook a lot of things that I didn't make often because he wouldn't eat them.

On another note, I'm trying to pay attention to what I touch around the house. After hearing that story about people being allergic to metal and getting the dry cracked fingertips like I have, this sounds closest to my symptoms. People who handle coins (making change) are one of the groups who get this. I don't handle that much change, but what else metal do I touch?

Susan, how long were you away, and how long will it take to get unpacked and re-organized? And for the kitchen, have you thought about asking to buy a new dishwasher and have a little deducted off of the rent each month to help cover the cost? I think that's what happened with the stove that's in my house. When it was a rental, the old stove died so they negotiated with the owner and were able to take a few dollars off for several months. (I found the family that had lived in this house for 10 years before it was put on the market. That helped a lot in making an accurate bid.)

SRS