WhooooOOOooo. Friday the 13th.

I'm in a really great mood today. K.T. got to come up and scrapbook with us after work yesterday, and it was really nice to see her. And it sounds like she might be able to come with me on the scrapbooking retreat in April -- though she has to figure out how to pay for her dental work, first. We'll see.

And Penny was really good last night and this morning (well, mostly -- she got a time-out for throwing cheerios on the floor this morning, but there wasn't any milk in the bowl, so it wasn't that big a deal). But she begged to wear her new ladybug raincoat that Karen sent her, and it's warm enough that we were able to give in, and she's so adorable in it that it's like she was sucking up all the cute in a five-mile radius.

And my Christmas presents from Karen arrived yesterday along with Penny's ladybug raincoat, so I got to open them last night, and I'm finally out of my Christmas No-Buy Zone. (Of course, the Valentine's NBZ begins tomorrow, so if I want to buy anything I need to do it Right Quick, but I think I can make certain exceptions. Matt is highly unlikely to get me any scrapbooking stuff for Valentine's Day, for example.)

One of my long-term projects at work is approaching the end of the phase it's currently in, and that's a big relief; it's been kind of a pain in the behind. Aside from that, I think today is likely to be fairly slow and relaxed, work-wise, so I'm hoping to get a little personal stuff done, like writing. Or a few sudoku puzzles. Or some painting, as one of my presents from Karen was rice paper to use with the brush-painting kit she gave me last year.

And I went to my doctor yesterday, and I got him to look in my ears. He thinks there's a problem with my eustachian tubes, which means that air pressure can't equalize in there, which is why everything sounds like I've got cotton packed in my ears. So he recommended that I go see an ear/nose/throat guy (I'll probably just make an appointment with the same ENT who did Penny's tubes, since we know him already) and he thinks probably the ENT will recommend that I get tubes, myself.

And that's not really good news, I guess, but I'm relieved that there was something visibly causing my hearing loss, something with a clear course of treatment.

So anyway, I'm just generally in a really good mood, and that's a good thing for a Friday. I'd say a Friday going into a long weekend, but alas, I do not get MLK Jr Day off from work, so I'll see you again on Monday!

--Liz