I was seriously bug-phobic as a child...and it only got worse after one morning I walked half a block to the bus stop for school, felt like there was something in my shoe, took it off to shake out...and found a roach. Ewww!

meara, I've enjoyed your photos/status updates on Facebook and here! Glad you've had a fantastic trip. I'd like to see Vienna soonish. But not more European snow vacations, unless I'm on skis in Switzerland.

Sox, Sox's husband, and little adorable HKF are all passed out in my bedroom. I picked them up at BART around 1, and we spent the day visiting and preparing my place for the big NYE shindig tomorrow. Sox's husband was a patient saint who assembled the large patio heater I bought. I've been wanting one for a while, and I know I'll get ample use out it. So tomorrow we shall break it in. HKF got to help me decorate and I gardened while Sox was super useful prepping some new cooking appliances, etc. A very productive yet enjoyable afternoon. And HKF can NOT wait until a certain Matilda arrives tomorrow. This is going to be so super fun.

Oh, a patio heater will be super nice on your porch! I love your backyard.

And thanks! I've been enjoying the wifi and the chance to share the trip as it happens...but I definitely think my next trip, whatever it is, will have to be better weather!!

I don't remember what I did with them, but since Teppy's Boy and I have a lot in common wrt to animals, I probably took them to the local SPCA.

Yeah, part of the problem is I remember exactly what I did.

I need a plastic bubble now thanks to you people. That, or I need to drink more before I go to bed.

It is deeply amusing to me which ones of us are all, yeah, and you know what's worse? and which ones are, OMG stop talking!

OMG stop talking! Or start whitefonting. Gray, at least. Or italic. Pretend that I can squint through this conversation?

A. No sticky traps!

2. Kat, can you embroider over the clipped patch? If you use the same fiber content yarn it should wash and shrink/not shrink the same as the body of the sweater.

III. Congratulations on your cozy nest, Bonny! It sounds wonderful! I picture Helene Hanff's apartment in 84, Charing Cross Road.

D. Welcome home, ChiKat. Pull up a cozy chair and a side table for your hot cocoa, settle in and make yourself comfy.

(Ignoring the disconcerting vermin talk)

This conversation would be a lot harder for me to take if I had a terrifying pest incident of my own to share. I guess there was the one time that Irvine was taken over by mice, but my roomie and I somehow managed to escape from that one mouse-free.

I very strenuously sat around this afternoon. And ate what I consider the island's best fried fish. It takes a long time to prepare, but they do walk the fish in right from the dock for you. And then you take it out to an uninhabited cay¹ where you eat and drink for a couple hours under the sun.

I want ita's day.

So my DH is once again spending the night at the hospital with his mom, so the kids are piled into my bed. I hope I get to spend NYE with my husband, but I fear that will only happen if his mother gets discharged from the hospital tomorrow.

I want ita's day.

Me too.

Highlight of mine was a pedi with Peace on Earth. Burrell, you might really like this one. It won't fix things, I know. But it's a pretty color and a really nice ideal too.

And grocery shopping was accomplished at Trader Joe's. Fooooooooooood.