My grandmother had 2 cases full of precious moments and I just do not get having all these figurines to set around.

I have angels that come out at Christmas, but then they go away.

Kat, do you use a special foot to put the binding on the hospital gowns? Or do you do it in2 passes?

Those hospital gowns are adorable, Kat.

Good onya for getting stuff out of the house, msbelle. I should do the same, but I'm trying to sort of hold the line on stuff coming in. We purged so much in the move, and we've been sort of on lockdown on aquiring stuff that wasn't for construction (guttering, stairs) or rehabbing the house. Still, I do have stuff I don't use, or even look at, that still requires dusting and is a psychic weight.

Consuela, have you had your chimney swept and checked? If not, that might be a good thing, if you've not had a fire before.

Our Christmas stuff comes down Tuesday. Should be three hours, tops, if that, including storage. I love having dedicated storage--the loft in the semi-heated shed is wonderful for that. And then we can pull everything out of my office closet, take it back to the walls, take down the shelves and relocate the standards and brackets to the interior wall. Rather than buy and cut wooden shelves and then have somehow dispose of the coated wire ones, H had thin pressboard cut to fit. He'll attach the board to the shelves, and mount the shelves on the brackets. This provides a shelf surface I can slide things side to side and in and out without snagging on the wires, and small objects won't fall through and get lost. Then we install the rehabbed chest of drawers to store stationery, office and crafts supplies.

And *then* I get to go through everything we pulled out of the closet and load it all back in, in an organized and findable order. And then I'll be happy, right?

Jesse, you've never ever sounded sanctimonious, for the record!

Hil, would putting the menorah in the freezer help? I know I've used that for various candle holders and the frozen wax pops right off/out.

Next to zero was accomplished in Chez Suzi today. And that is fine by me.

Don't feel alone, the highlight of my day's productivity was walking to the libarary to return a DVD. Other than that I've not done anything unless it involved food.

I walked home from my parents', in addition to walking to! Often the dark + groceries encourage me to take the subway or bus home, but tonight I only had a few groceries, didn't see the bus coming, and it feels so warm out! (40, ftr, but it was 20 last week, so now this is balmy again.)

Survey question: I signed up for an event this Tuesday months ago. I haven't heard anything since, so emailed them today. She emailed back, "You were confirmed on October 2. But regardless, you're all set!" Am I crazy to have expected some followup with details? I mean, now I have to re-google where it is and everything.

In my quest to sample all the apples, I bought a Rome apple on Saturday and only made it one bite in--it was highly unappetisingly mealy. Bad apple, or bad variety?

I've had some decent Rome apples but they do tend to be mealy IME. There's a narrow window of goodness there. Not one of my favorite varieties at the best of times.

One of the things I did today was to buy a lifetime Crowded House Fan Club membership. I am both proud and shamed by this fact.