We moved the red chair in my office today. I know, this looks like a huge room, but it’s about 10×10′, and the chair’s ottoman comes close to the middle of the floor, but still … the chair is in front of the closet now and within arm’s reach of the bookshelves with all the knitting books. (And, yes, I DO have a lot of knitting books!) It’s harder to see out of the window now, but it’s not like it’s THAT far away, and I can always move over to the cedar chest under the window if I want a closer view. The rug in the corner, alas… the one that I had in my bedroom and that I love … doesn’t fit. It’s banished to the garage. I suppose I COULD have it cut down to fit, but since it had a rectangular border all the way around the edge, that seems … odd. I’ll miss the look of it, even if this room does have perfectly good carpeting.

I’ve got all my books unpacked. Granted, right now they’re just shoved on the shelves, but still! They’re out of the boxes and lying flat. I found one paperback that had its back cover torn off, but not as many damaged corners as I’d been afraid of. They won’t always look this messy, mind you, just until I can get them organized. The important thing is that the boxes aren’t piled in the middle of the room any more!

And, look! Food in the pantry. Honestly, I can’t imagine how we would have managed without this.

The family came to visit today. We gave them all chores to do, but then fed them pot roast, mashed potatoes, corn, and the Grandma Cake I baked yesterday. They brought me a homemade floor pillow as a birthday present, too, and helped hang my dresser mirror on the wall.

So far as I know, this concludes the birthday festivities … all of which I appreciate, even if I still don’t quite feel like I HAD a birthday. Too busy, too many chores that needed to be done, but still … lots of love.

And, yes, I might take one of my still-unused vacation days next month and treat myself to a day to just have FUN … kind of a birthday redux.

I can’t believe I have to go back to work tomorrow. I hope Chappy will be okay, considering how he howled when I left for an hour on Friday. I hope he goes to the bathroom like he’s supposed to while I’m gone. He HAS, incidentally, gone several times on the deck–not every time, but often enough that I’m not as worried. He still hasn’t “downloaded” there, which means that he’s only done one of those each day, while on his regular walk, but … that will come with time, I’m sure.

Has this been a relaxing vacation? (Ha! What vacation?) Um, no. Has it been productive? Very. We got an enormous amount of stuff done this week, and hopefully won’t need to do this again for a long, long time. Even down-sizing, we’ve got a ton of stuff!

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