"Thistle munching." Good term! Take care!

Rolled out of bed early to start work around the house. Laundry is in. I have packed up some now-dry herbs drying in the laundry room and have run the first batch of tomatoes through the steam juicer. I'd like to finish with these projects so the freezer has more space and the counter tops clear.

The rest of the work, housecleaning, is so the house looks good once my son is here and his dad is back in town and my daughter and friends of both kids come by. A friend who lives in Arizona is on her way to Fort Worth, after a stop with her son in West Texas, and she'll stay at least one night, I hope. So since several parts of the house will be in use for guests and festivities, I feel the need to clean it all and in a few places, organize the stuff in the middle of the room.

On the tech end of things, I've finally figured out how to answer my house cell phone using the base station/wireless (blutooth) phone, so now I can bring that handset into my office and leave the cell phone near the base in the kitchen and it's at least like having two house phones (and there is a cell phone in my pocket, with a separate number). Not the same as a wired phone in every room, but functional. I have quite a collection of unused wired and wireless phones right now.

Baking today also, another type of cookie. I may break down and get chocolate. The kids do like chocolate chip cookies, but alas, so do I, so it might be the most difficult to resist. Into the freezer. Oh, and next week, the frozen smoked salmon I made for the kids will come out of the freezer. That's their high-end gift, because smoked salmon is always such a premium purchase if you don't make it yourself.

Lots going on. I hope you're all staying warm and putting in productive days!

SRS