I visited NZ 30-plus years ago, long before LotR, and I do wonder how my view of NZ is different from those who visit now. My take on it was "beautiful but very English", not the least bit exotic. But that was before the lighting of the beacons and other iconic scenes became part of the culture.

Sophia, that's wonderful! Nice to be appreciated, isn't it?

I'm pretty sure hydrangeas are toxic to cats. Try to keep Petunia from gnawing on them. She may just sniff them and lose interest. My cats don't care about flowers, but they'll chow down on the spider plant.

When I get money again, New Zealand is high on the list of places I want to go. My BFF needs to go visit the Hobbit village, too.

The Post Office is open tomorrow. This is a good thing. Saying a prayer for the health of the postal employees.

I need to do stuff!!!

I have done stuff! Finished Christmas shopping, except one thing that has to wait until Monday, cleaned the bathroom, have a cake in the oven and laundry ready to go in the dryer. I also listened to approx. one million podcasts. I hope I have enough for the big clean on Monday!

Also my potato ornament was a victim of Buddy, I assume. At any rate, it was broken on the floor this morning. Sad!

OMG, I just got a flower deliver with $100 Amazon gift card from Nigel!!! I mean, I am sure he had Katie actually arrange it! If I had known that quitting would give me so much more respect and attendtion, I would have done it years ago!

I feel like I try to tell people this! I've sort of been a job-hopper, but honestly, people who stay in one place a long time are almost never appreciated the way they should be! Anyway, that's really nice.

If I get to NZ, yeah, the touristy LotR sites. But also, as many of the Whale Rider locations as possible. And as many Maori things as white tourists are welcome to see/visit/take part in.

Guys, I need a bit of help. My entire facebook page just suddenly went all Spanish on me. The hysterical thing is I'm sure there's a button somewhere to switch it back, but I don't read Spanish so I can't tell where and what that button might be. I may have accidentally pressed something while I was on the site this morning, but I went elsewhere when I finished what I was reading, didn't log out b/c I was returning, and when I came back, lo, Spanish! Anybody?

My search brought me this.

Change the Language: Launch your Web browser and navigate to the Facebook website. If you see your Facebook page with the language in Spanish, it means you are still logged in, but the language setting has been changed. Click the "Espanol" link at the bottom of the page. A dialog box appears. Click the link for the language you prefer to use, such as "English (US)." The dialog box closes, and your Facebook page now displays text in your preferred language.

I don't know how you got there, but you should be able to fix it here? [link]

Since I opted not to go to my newly expensive class reunion, two of the people I was interested in seeing have also said they're unable to come. Definitely glad I didn't spend the money.

I have made me some food (always a first response when I start feeling anxious). Found two pages to guide me on finding a mover, and have taken pictures of the two big pieces of furniture in my house I need to sell.

Good one!