One of the nicest Christmas presents I received this year was from my mom: she spent the entire year finding and buying greeting cards and then filled a box with dividers: Birthday, Blank, General, Sympathy, Congrats. So, I now have hundreds of cards to choose from whenever there is an occasion for making someone's day. Which is what that gift did for me. :)

The rain is coming down, drip drop, and has been for what seems weeks. There are huge standing puddles of water everywhere in our giant sea of mud yard. The water table is full. The ditch is running. The sides of the ditch are eroding. I think we need to do a snow dance. I just checked the outside temp and it says 3.6 celsius. sigh

Plan for the day: pick up kids dept., strip and make beds, work on AWC website, work on collage book for first time in MONTHS, go to the library, watch West Wing. I'd better get moving as it's already 1 p.m. eek!

Last night I watched the 2nd Harry Potter movie. So far, I'm impressed by neither the books nor the movies, although I did think the filmmakers did a virtuoso job of bringing the first book to the screen. There are so many YA books out there that are BETTER than J.K. Rowling's efforts. She's done a good job, don't get me wrong, and I appreciate what she's done to get children reading, but Diana Wynne Jones, just to name one, beats her hands down.

It's so dark in the house, because of the cloud cover, that it feels like perpetual evening. The lights are on and all we lack is a roaring fire in the fireplace. Maybe next year we'll have the fireplace. There are still so many things I want for this house:

• fireplace with 2 comfy upholstered armchairs and footstools in front of it
• a dining room chandelier (not crystal)
• new kitchen table and chairs that seat 6
• new living room furniture
• the fish tank up and running
• lights in the rest of the places where we have outlets for lights

to name just a few. I'm also feeling the need to do a major cleanout and throw/giveaway of STUFF. We got rid of TONS of stuff when we moved, and it seems as if, once again, our possessions immediately expanded to fill the new space as soon as we unpacked in the new house. My packrat instincts are constantly at war with my Virgo ascendant's need for order and tidiness.