Having the cat rest his chin in the v of my shirt.
1. Finding a solitary bobby pin of a white cat in a beret in the grocery store parking lot.

2. Feeding animal crackers to the squirrels that live outside our complex and hearing the chitchitchitchitchit of their chewing.

3. Mistaking �night night� for �light bright� as we�re going to sleep.

4. Taking unexpected photos with Luke and pets.

5. Admiring the tiny, felt-covered, deep green new leaves on my African violet

6. Peeking at Luke while he dresses in the morning.

7. Delighting in him jettisoning his pants when he�s tired of being fully dressed in the afternoon.

8. Realizing that winter is over and everything has turned that fresh brilliant green overnight.

I called the insurance company nurse line last night about my back. After answering a bajillion questions, he told me that a normal doctor should see me in the next few days. I�m not going to be following that advice, nope, no way. I do not like doctors and I don�t want x-rays. We can�t afford all kinds of testing and treatment, so as it�s getting better on its own, I�m just going to deal with it. I had Luke pound the crap out of it last night and I think that it really helped a lot. I should have had him do that all along. Little does he know, that until I�m better, he�s roped into massage duty. I stretched it quite a bit this morning i.e. made it hurt until it didn�t hurt anymore and that seemed to help as well. I have a feeling that as long as I remain positive, the placebo effect will start working its magic and I will be better.

Luke�s hours and position have changed yet again. I�m hoping that this is the last time. He was moved from Frontlist to Fiction lead and his Tuesday hours are now eleven to seven-thirty, with his Wednesday hours eight forty five to five fifteen. It will be nice not to have to do the six thirty wake up at all anymore, but I am growing tired of all these changes. As far as I know, so is he. He says that it could have been a lot worse. Most part-time people are now on call with no regular hours and there was a chance that he could have been let go, despite not being part-time but lead which is full time and very important. His being let go would have need absolutely devastating to both of us and would no doubt plunge him back into the deep depression he was in when he lost his last job. I am very thankful for the little things, though I suppose him getting to keep his job is not little by any means.

We went to bed early again last night. I don�t know why we�ve been so exhausted lately, especially since we�ve been getting more sleep than we used to on a regular basis. The sad part is that even though we got to bed early, I still go back to bed when I get home from dropping him off. I am attributing the tiredness to the fact that my back is trying to heal and I need the rest more than usual. Of course, chances are that I�m just making excuses for being a lazy lump of girl. No! I take that back! I am feeble! I need the rest!

I made black bean soup last night with some of the ham that Luke�s grandma gave us as we left Sunday night. She gave us far more than we could ever manage toe at before it goes bad, so I threw a bunch of it into soup, which we had for dinner and the remainder is now frozen. I think dinner tonight is going to be ham with mashed garlic mashed potatoes and corn. I know it seems like a hamstravaganza, but I�m unsure as to how well already cooked meat freezes. I want to try and get rid of it before it passes my self-imposed one-week throw-out date. I�m making a huge pan of lasagna tomorrow night so that I can freeze it and have it for dinners when Luke is working. He won�t eat it when I make it, seeing as he doesn�t much like pasta, so if I want it, I either have to make it with him around and eat it alone or eat it when he�s not home and not worry about what he�ll do for dinner. It�s funny because I still have some of the last lasagna I made frozen, so I guess I will be eating the frozen and making fresh to freeze. It doesn�t make any more sense to me than it does to anyone else, but it�s what I want to do, so I�m going to do it. I need something to fill my time other than watching television and petting the cat, so cooking it will be.