One of the best things about our new community is the neighbors. We met two of our next door neighbors the day we closed on the house. They were arriving to close on their house as we were leaving with keys in hand. He bounded over to our car, smiled and put out his hand, and introduced himself, then we went to his car to meet his wife. We've been friendly ever since. We had them over for dinner shortly after we moved in, and we've had dinner at their house. He helped us avoid a problem early on, when he told us that our satellite dish needed to be on the back of the house instead of on the front where the installer had put it.

He told us he is "just a country boy who has had to learn to do a lot of things for himself." He has been so helpful to us that it really is a joy to live next door to him and his wife. He is going to build ramps for the front door and for the inside garage door, so I have easier and safer ways to get out of the house. He's agreed to help us build a deck for the back yard later on, and we're already planning summer barbecues.

This past weekend, he discovered that his house had no insulation, so he contacted the sales office of the subdivision, and got the name of the company that is responsible for the insulation. They came out and put the insulation in at no cost, under the warranty. When he told us about this, I asked him to check our attic to see how much insulation it had. It also did not have adequate insulation. Yesterday, the crew was out to finish the insulation in his house, and he asked them to come over here and put more insulation in our attic also. We had already contacted the company ourselves, so it was approved by the owner or foreman of the company. The end result is, both houses now have plenty of insulation. This will cut down on our heating and cooling costs. Having good neighbors (and being good neighbors) is worth a lot, especially since we will be here for years, God willing.

His wife is also a gem...we can get laughing very quickly, and I feel very comfortable with both of them. Even his beagle puppy has adopted us! I couldn't have chosen any neighbors nicer than these.

I am actively creating one of my new websites. Finally. This time, instead of editing template code first, I am writing my content. This not only keeps the creative process going, it will be easier to copy and paste all of the content at the end.

I am planning two sites currently, and the one I'm working on is the easier one to complete.

I have removed a lot of unused applications and games from my computer. If I haven't opened one in six months, it's not going to happen...so out it goes. I used the Add/Remove Software tool in Windows for this.

The other day, I came across a computing tip that I like: Give XP the Performance Tools of Vista. Check it out; you may find it helpful.

Another trip to the local Home Depot and Walmart this afternoon, and we have the living room and master bedroom curtains and rods up. We chose a white curtain for the patio door, the Texas Flag for the front door window, a nice tan and beige curtain with palm trees for the living room windows, and dark blue for the master bedroom. All of them are fabric shower curtains. Next, we will get duplicates of the living room and master bedroom curtains, and hang them as double panels instead of single. We still do need a curtain for the guest room also. I may also get a duplicate of the curtain for my office. It's really amazing how attractive these curtains are, and the rods were quite easy to hang, not to mention they look really nice themselves.

We got a small grab bar for the bathroom while we were out. That will be a tremendous help. We didn't forget the outside of the house; we bought insulated sleeves to put on the outdoor faucets to keep them from freezing, and another water hose, this one a standard garden hose to supplement the soaker hoses we bought just after we moved in. There are still things on our to do list, of course, but little by little things are coming together quite well.

Tomorrow, we will get some quick dry cement; our neighbor is going to build some ramps for the garage and for the front door so that access will be easier and safer. Then Jay can park in the garage, and no more getting soaked when it rains.

We did not get to church this morning. Jay and I both have upset stomachs, for some reason. He had a backache that has improved; mine is still sore. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

We went shopping yesterday, to get more curtain rods for the house. We still need four more. We continued using fabric shower curtains as window coverings; we put white ones on the patio door, with an opaque white liner added. For the office, I chose a white fabric curtain with flowers trailing down it. It is very attractive, and affords privacy as it lets in the light. I used shower curtain hooks to attach them to the rod, because the buttonhole type openings for the hooks were too small for the rod. We're doing to get some dark blue ones for the master bedroom windows; I'm not sure about the living room windows yet. I'm considering hunter green for the guest room. I know it sounds odd to use shower curtains as window coverings, but it really does work well, and it isn't too expensive.

Per one of my New Years' resolutions (yes, I did make some informal ones this year), I have begun working on what will eventually become a new website for Firefox. Right now, I have a template for it that I'm not sure I'll keep...but I decided to focus on content for now. My freeware site is also planned.

I have changed my music player. As you can easily see by checking the player at the end of the page, my taste in music can probably be best described as "eclectic".

I grew up listening to country (because my parents did); I still like some of the more "classic" country (Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and my latest discovery, LeAnn Rimes) and later expanded to what are now called "oldies" (from the 60's). At some point, I discovered classical composers (enter Beethoven and Mozart) and I have always loved Gospel (Carman is one of my all time favorites). There is a control on the player so that the music can be turned off or muted if you do not want to listen to it.

Happy 2008! We did stay up to see the New Year in. I have a hard time imagining 1 million people in Times Square in New York City. I'm just as glad we stayed home; not as many fireworks as I thought there might be, but a few more than in the city, I think. The girls didn't seem too bothered by them this year; they always go hide under the bed when people start shooting off firecrackers. I never got much past sparklers, myself, and it's been ages since I held a sparkler. It's a wonderful day here, with bright sunshine. One of many things I enjoy about this house is that we don't need any indoor lighting during the daytime unless it is very overcast outside. I have had my New Year's blackeyed peas (for lunch today), so I'm all set. I did a bit more work on the blog template this morning, and I'm still finding plenty to study. I'm trying hard not to have my blog become the "link dump" that it once was. Still, I learn new skills each time I edit the template, and those skills transfer to other projects relatively easily. And a blog does seem like a relatively safe place to practice. If I mess up, I can always go back to a saved version of the template. I definitely believe in making backup copies.


I am going to start working on my transcription class this weekend. I do plan to write a lot more. I'm thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo. Need to find out more about that.

It's hard to believe Dylan is going to be four at the end of February, and Ryan will be 1 on my birthday. How quickly they grow up. I have had no more respiratory illness since we moved in here. Maybe the water treatment system is partly responsible, since it includes an air filtration system.

Babble had just 64 words today. I much prefer LARGE grids...