Our front door has a beautiful oval glass that covers the center of the door. Since I do not care for the idea that people on the street could possibly look in on us without my awareness, I've been trying to figure out a way to cover the glass in a way that would not detract from the attractiveness of the house from either inside or outside. I don't sew, and do not own a sewing machine, nor do I have a lot of money. So I've been puzzling over this since we moved in.

Today, I had a brainstorm. The door is steel, so I'm going to buy two magnetic curtain rods and a fabric shower curtain in colors that complement or contrast. Then I will just thread the hooks of the curtain onto the top rod and make an opening in the hem of the shower curtain for the bottom rod to fit through. I will gather the curtain so that it is full; if it is too wide, I can cut it slightly, but I don't think I will need to cut it much if at all.

It should work really well, and it won't be too expensive.

Amidst all the activity of work, school and final exams, unpacking and life in general, it really is beginning to feel like Christmas. I have been reading Kim Komando's newsletters for some time, and I listen to her weekly radio show regularly. Kim's husband works with Mannheim Steamroller as a producer of the annual Christmas radio show. I plan to listen, and you can look for a station in your area if you'd like to hear it also.

Jay finishes his finals this week, and we do plan to put up a few Christmas decorations once school is over. Last night, we met the minister of a local church we will be visiting, and he is very easy to talk to. He's also a lot younger (mid-30's) than I'd expected. We will be making some modifications to two of our interior doors pretty soon, so I can have easier access with my wheelchair, and we will be having some ramps made for the exterior doors.

I do love this community! Everyone is so friendly, and neighbors look out for and help each other. It doesn't get much better.

I am so glad we got the new bed; I am sleeping a lot better, and I am having no more back pain or muscle pain. I was beginning to think the pain was going to be permanent.

We've made a fair amount of progress unpacking. The kitchen is put together, and we bought a cabinet for use as a pantry. We also bought a new bed today, (a new queen size mattress and box spring with frame I found on Craigslist...the owner is moving and needed to sell it, and we got a huge bargain) so sleeping will be more restful. We had our first company over for dinner last night -- our neighbors. We had homemade enchiladas, rice and salad. They have a new puppy, plus an outdoor cat. We had a good visit, and plan to get together again. We also rearranged the furniture in the living room to make better use of the space. I'm hoping to rest better tonight than I have been.

It really is nice having the house come together.

We moved into our new home, as I've noted, on November 15. And we've had encounters with various sales people already: One man was selling furniture from an 18 wheeler (no thanks); one was selling meat packages from his truck(we bought one package); one was selling water treatment equipment. Whoa. Water treatment? Come in and let's talk. The water here is very unpleasant to drink; it is heavily chlorinated, and also very hard, with calcium and other minerals in it. Since the home is new (so is the plumbing and our appliances), we want to do whatever we can to protect our investment. Last night, the man from the water treatment company came out and showed us with some simple demonstrations just how hard the water really is. So we bought a system, and it is being installed now. It will be about 3 days before we can drink the water, but for other uses it will be fine in the meantime. And we do have bottled water for drinking. We will save money in the long run, on soaps and cleaning agents, on plumbing, and even on appliance repairs. I say it is money well spent, plus we won't have to worry about health problems like kidney stones, which can form when water is very hard.

before new templates and hacks became available for Blogger, since the update of the platform. I'm happy to say, I've found some new templates, and new hacks for later tinkering! I've never been the most patient of people, but these were well worth the wait. I like the new xml format for templates, and it's an extra opportunity for learning. I may just jump in and see what it's like...but I'm going to wait until I have a couple of days or so, because it looks more complex than html...although, come to think of it, there was a time that html looked like Greek to me...

Many changes to write about. I got tired of the old blue template for this blog, I made that one with an online template generator, but it did not work well with the new version of Blogger....so I waited for new templates to be created. I found this one today, and I like it well enough for now, so I'm all moved in...for a while, anyway. I tend to change templates fairly often. I may look into WordPress later. I haven't blogged in a while, but I am back now.

In July, my daughter called me to tell me that she and her husband had received a real estate flyer in the mail. She said she didn't think anything would come of it, but she filled it out and returned it, and they were pre-qualified to buy a house. So she gave me the name of the buyer's agent, and I called to find out more. Later that afternoon, the buyer's agent called to say WE were also pre-qualified, and when did we want to go look at houses? The next day was a Saturday, and we met the buyer's agent, who brought us out to a small, semi-rural town about 40 miles from our apartment, and we walked through three of the model homes in a newly developing community. I immediately felt a huge wave of peace about the community and about the house and even about moving here...which I did not expect. Every time before when I have even thought about leaving Austin, I would panic...but not this time. I could almost literally hear God saying, "yes, this is what I have for you. Come on." We talked it over, and finally chose a floor plan that is 1300 square feet, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The master bedroom is almost twice the size of the one in the apartment, with a huge bath inside the suite. There is a linen closet just inside the bathroom door, with a huge walk in closet on the other end of the bathroom. It sounds like it would be awful......but it is not at all. It works beautifully. All of the appliances are included, too. We have a digital range, range hood, dishwasher, refrigerator-freezer with ice maker, dishwasher, disposal, and a washer and dryer.

On August 4, we signed a contract to purchase the home, and paid a small amount as earnest money. Then in September, we met with the loan counselor at the mortgage company, and filled out an application for the mortgage. The loan processor worked with us then, and the loan was approved in early October (after we'd spent about six weeks "chasing paper" to collect all of the needed documentation for the loan. It had been raining more than usual all summer, and I was a little concerned that the weather would delay construction of the house...but it stopped raining, and construction began in mid-October.

We came out to the property once or twice per week while the house was under construction. We saw empty land (grass, rocks, and sunflowers) the first time we came out to our property. Then the foundation was poured, and we took the opportunity to anoint the foundation of the house with myrrh oil to bless the house and dedicate it to God. (We also blessed the foundation of one or two of our neighbors' homes, because we could not tell for sure which one was ours...) When we did meet one of the neighbors as we were leaving the sales office after closing, I mentioned we had blessed their home...just in case. The wife laughed and said, "we can use all the blessings we can get." I like them both.

We did take photos of each stage of the construction, and it was so wonderful to watch the house take shape. I was able to come inside for the first time just before the house was completed. I love the layout of the floor plan. There is abundant natural light during the day, so no electric light is needed. The living room windows, the patio doors, and the bedroom windows are all on the back wall of the house, with my office window on the front, and the guest room window on the right side of the house. The windows are double paned, and insulation is excellent, so we don't lose much heat at all. It was 34 degrees outside, but it was 70 degrees inside, without the heat on.

We closed on the house on November 15th, and I made it all the way through the closing...then I cried when the keys were placed in my hand. What an incredible feeling! We brought the girls to closing with us, and Jay and I came home and reset all of the locks so that the builder's locks were disabled. I stayed at the house to wait for the telephone installer, and Jay went back to the apartment to wait for the movers. We were in the house for the first night on the 15th, and Jay turned off the lights when we were going to bed...and literally could not see his hand in front of his face! It is so quiet here, my stress level has dropped quite a bit.

I was able to work on Friday the 16th after the internet was connected...and the satellite was installed for the television (no cable out here yet) on Saturday. Then the satellite had to be moved to the back of the house on Monday, to avoid a fine from the homeowners' association...but it's fine now.

We had arranged for the utilities to be transferred into our names prior to closing, so that was one detail we did not have to manage after closing. We are working on unpacking, and we did buy shower curtain rods and water hoses and sprinklers already.

My second grandson, Ryan Anthony, was born at 5 PM on my birthday, Valentine's Day. He weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. He and his mother made it through the delivery just fine, and they went home from the hospital the following day. Now Dylan is getting accustomed to being a big brother.

Some people collect stamps. Some collect coins. I collect links. I can't help it. I'm a packrat when it comes to good computer applications and links to the plethora of websites I come across every week.

I am a long-time reader of Chris Pirillo's Lockergnome newsletter, one of the first newsletters I found when I began learning about computers and technology. I still find lots of good information in LG. Chris has recently developed Pirillo's Picks, a daily, weekday e mail with links to various sites he finds interesting and useful. Thanks to Pirillo's Picks, I've already found some good software and informative sites that I might not otherwise have found. You can subscribe to it by sending an e mail to picks@lockegnome.com.

I've migrated my blogs to the NEW version of Blogger. I'm going to spend some time looking at all of the new features, and it is likely my template(s) will change. Now I can go through all of the e mail tips I've been saving to see which ones I want to use.

We've been inundated with rain (5 inches on Saturday), sleet, ice...and snow is forecast for tonight and tomorrow, into Wednesday. Passing strange, in this part of the country. I did not go to work today, and may work at home through Wednesday, depending on how fast the weather clears. Bill Engvall has a comedy routine about how the State shuts down when ice and snow occur in places where it is unusual. And he's pegged it: schools close, businesses shut down, people stock up on all kinds of necessities in the event of power outages. If this were Chicago, it would not be news; it would just be winter. Down here, it's major news coverage. The news calls this "Ice Storm '07." My goodness. I just call it c-c-c-cold!

Lauren has just five more weeks until the baby (to be named Ryan, which I think is a wonderful choice) arrives. I worry about her driving on icy roads, so I hope things warm up quickly.

The induction phase of the South Beach diet is almost over. On to Phase Two in just a couple of days. That will last as long as it takes to lose the desired amount of weight, then Phase Three will maintain weight loss.

Many people make New Year's resolutions. I do not; I gave it up a long time ago. But this year, Jay and I are embarking on a change in our lifestyles. We both need to lose weight for health reasons and because it's just time to do so. I was at the doctor's office a short time ago, and noticed a handout he put together that has a variant of the South Beach Diet's induction phase. I asked him about it, and he said the South Beach Diet is medically sound and was created by a cardiologist. My doctor did recommend the South Beach Diet. Rather than use the handout, I went out and bought the book. Jay and I agreed to begin the diet right after the holidays, according to the guidelines in the book.

We started with dinner last Monday night, so we have about another week to go on the induction phase which is stage one of the plan. We have radically cut our use of fat and sugar, and have had no soft drinks at all. For someone who was accustomed to drinking soda several times per week, it hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected. In fact, if I never drink another soda, it wouldn't bother me a bit. We are eating fish, seafood, some lean beef, skinless chicken breast and lots of fresh vegetables. No breads, pastries, baked goods, rice, pasta, corn, potatoes or carrots. We are using small amounts of olive oil for broiling and for salad dressing, along with a balsamic vinegarette.

The most surprising thing about this diet is that I plan to stick to it indefinitely. Sure, there are times when I'd like a sandwich, but the carbohydrates will be reintroduced later in the plan, in moderation. I have had surprisingly few times when I have "missed" the foods not allowed in this stage of the diet. It is a mind-shift and a lifestyle change in the best sense. I already feel more alert, and energetic. The weight loss will be an added benefit; I'm in it for the long haul.