Some people sneer that those folks will probably just pay their heating bills.

I believe there are going to be a lot of Random Acts of Kindness out there soon. I know there are rules in place. After all, with great power, comes great responsibility.

I love it. I just love it.

How else can we change the world?

Lucky for me, I don't flounder.
I read the cross-country papers online each day,
And there's a bottle of rum on the counter.

Best of the Midwest and NDHSSTA,
Gifts must not mellow.
I fill twenty-four hours a day,
With every ounce of my Yellow.

There were a lot of people who were unable to go home for the holidays that year. Because we had the fireplace, Tash and I hostessed. I found a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie... and so it began...

There is an element of me that truly believes I can outlast the neighbors. They are young and can't possibly live there forever with their loud, invasive dogs, who perpetually dig trenches beneath my fence.

In order to outlast, I feel a need to redo. There's going to be a painting party at our home sometime soon.

My plan is also to fortify the fence where the Nextdoorian Dogs have toppled planks and dug holes for years now, as they are left in their yard twenty-four hours a day, always. No wonder they're frantic. Knowing the way we baby this dog lying at my feet, I fail to understand how you treat your pet that way.

Yesterday marked one blissful, strong, more self-assured, seizure-free year for me.

I'm trying to will this rain north. Need some rain? We'd love to give it to you.

However, a few things bother me. 'Go, don't sell yourself short. I was just there, and I know what these items are priced individually. Living in a tourist area, I know that people will pay exhorbitant mark-up.

Tanya takes amazing pictures of her kids. She takes amazing pictures of other people's kids. And she GIVES them away. I could just shake her. She could be making a ton of money doing that. My goddaughter will be going to college one day.

I held her tiny, warm body and played with her big feet as she yawned, smiled, stretched and slept. Elissa suggested this might speed up my wanting a baby. I loved on this one, then her mommy took her and put her back in the bassinet. Oh, she's delish.

Then, we went to see eleven-day old Katie Rose, but she wasn't home.

Nope. My biological clock is still quiet, and digital. I don't even know what time it is.

I'm so jazzed to get these projects going! Thanks, Mom and Dad, for cleaning up the weed problem in the yard while you were here. Wanna come help with my front porch dream?

We'll consider ingesting your prescription drugs, but keep your crazy damned cows to yourself!

Erik wondered why I cried. I can still feel the graininess of the sand in my hair, in my not-so-white-anymore canvas shoes, and in my bra, after the sandbag line. You'd cry, too, with sand in your bra. But I will also never forget how it seemed to put a spring in everyone's step when Sam backed up the Y94 truck and blared music out the back. Lasered onto a frame in my mind is the view out of the Y studio, across the park, and the elderly apartment building's roof sticking out of the Red.

That was the year I first rode an airplane. I shook Al Gore's hand when he came to check us out. That was the year I turned 21. Thanks, Heather. Cranberry juice never has been the same.

This year, when Denver and New York are getting so much snow, they'll really need our prayers in another month or so, depending on how fast that all melts. Everywhere has its own thing, my beloved brother's beloved Nicole and I agreed, as we decided just where is the perfect place. Because hovercraft RVs aren't commonplace as yet, I guess we will just have to pick a spot, then accept, adapt, and continue. And Always Give Something Back.