I am ever so grateful for my non-pedestrian washing machine. This house has enough problems already.

In kitchen news, Waseem has the stuff I want, and a decent design that requires only a couple of tweaks. Next I have to find granite I like for the counter tops, and plain white tile for the backsplash. I can feel the drain suction on my chequing account as the materials charges begin to mount.

On that theme, I bought ceiling fans for the bedrooms yesterday. Very nice, with curved propeller-ish blades carved from solid maple. Beautiful grain, couldn’t resist — plus, they’re last year’s stock that the shopkeeper has marked down by 25 percent. Still stunningly expensive, however.

There’s absolutely no way I’m going into an Ottawa summer in that south-facing bedroom without a ceiling fan.

Lent is well under way. No alcohol until Easter will help me dump the two kilos I gained since Christmas, while giving my liver a rest. Next week I will go mall-walking with SIL No 1, and it’s time to resume aquafit at the Sawmill Creek community pool. On top of that, rehearsals for the community choir’s post-Easter “Messiah” concert begin on Wednesday.

Speaking of choirs, I recently saw a YouTube video about the sharp decline in American church choirs as congregations give up the effort to recruit and train amateur singers and turn to professional “praise bands” instead. It’s part of a series on the collapse of Bible Belt church life on a channel called “Professor Archive”. I’ll post a link when I’m at my desk; the blue clicky method is beyond me on this iPad.