QOD: Friday: A date with DH! We haven't had a date in 10 months, but finally found a lady who is fingerprinted and back-ground checked who can watch Baby V once a month. Besh, maybe we'll light a fire later...right. One DD has a slumber party and one DD has a dance, so we are going to dinner on the waterfront! Saturday: Book fair at 9. Pick up pre-ordered tree at 10. Community Santa party at 4 to get Baby's pic with Santa,-if he will tolerate it! (Baby, not Santa...) Maybe a visit with prospective adoptive parents. Sunday: Off the rock to choose light fixtures for the new place. Maybe another visit with adoptive parents. Then DH leaves to go to the city for 2 nights and I have big plans to organize THE WORLD--(insert evil laugh here.) Donna- Hugs for your mom. Wow! That sounds painful! I slammed my right-hand pointer finger in my glovebox last Friday and took off the top of it. It's been pretty enlightening, learning how much I use that pointer! It's getting better after getting worse! Patti-Enjoy the scrapbooking. Dave has the right idea, for sure. Have fun with water! Peg: Your aunt is trying to keep you busy so you don't get into trouble! Everything happens for a reason! She sounded like she loved life and has everything planned out for leaving it. I love pre-plans in the funeral biz. It makes decision making much easier. I saw so many families aginize over the deceased and their funerals. PLAN AHEAD! Besh: I never miss "The Year There Was No Santa Claus" Heat Miser and Cold Miser are the bomb! Milkdud: The Friends of the Library here does SO MUCH! They also have a book sale in teh spring at the elementary school that earns a ton of money. People donate books all year and the "Friends" organize them on the risers at the school and sell them for a dollar an inch. NHSuzanne: you and your "Where did the year go?" lol. It was you who, a few months ago, couldn't wait to get through 2008! I remember because I felt SO STRONGLY the same way! Now we have almost made it. Raeanne and Milkdud: I still take the ferry and drive to my old town for dentist--an 8 hour drive plus the time in the chair. I take my kids there too. I can't bear to part with my dentist. I have found a new hairdresser but it's a ferry ride away and a short drive. I sent my kids as guinea pigs for the first visit, but I will go myself this month! Raeanne- PROMOTE YOURSELF. Your work is amazing. But the "shy" you would be fascinating to witness, I'm sure....lol. Have a geat weekend, everyone!

Len- I grew potatoes in some last year with success. I started with a little soil and filled it in as the plants grew. They dry out QUICKLY so keep an eye on them. This year we are using them for some squash and dwarf corn. I’m a fan of them but I’ve learned that it’s important to have a growing media that holds onto water. The ones I’ve been using are basically recycled plastic that’s been felted into a sort of fabric.

I don't post here much because I haven't been reading much of interest. But, I noticed something about my reading. I like to read a book associated with something I've seen or heard. Like, the book the led to a movie or show, or a book about another book (Prairie Fires is on my stack, for example, also The Catalog of Lost Books). So, recently I saw the show "Million Dollar Quartet". I enjoyed it so much I saw it again a week later! I hadn't realized it was based on an actual event, I thought is was just a "what if..." kind of story. Well, that got me looking for the actual recording of the day Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, gathered at Sun Records for a jam session that was recorded. The CD is so fun to listen to with lots of chatter, and there's a book -- also titled Million Dollar Quartet -- written after the show came out, with brief bios of the guys and the founder of Sun up to that day, then about the session, and then a little bit about each track on the recording. So fun! I'm having kind of a "multi-media" moment, a delightful distraction from life.

Happy New Year to you also, Margi! And Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone! An update on the microgreens I started on Sunday. One of these is Johnn'y Spicy mix and the other is a Mild Mix (I added some red amaranth to both of them) And I started a few lettuces (I can't remember the variety right now) I have been trying Espoma's seed-starting mix. It seems to work well, but it has some larger chunks of composted material and isn't as fine as some of the other mixes. I have decided to follow in the footsteps of the rest of you and pick up a container of ProMix in a couple of weeks to use for some things. I still go back to Jiffy Pods for a lot of my seed-starting needs though. I know a lot of people hate them, but they are so convenient and work well for me. I'm at work for half a day today, then I am off for the Holiday.