Soap.... good.

I gave myself a to-do list for tonight, having chilled during most of my free time over the weekend. I did some shopping at REI: walking sticks for the next hike (I was so envious of Bill's when we went to Tent Rocks). Lots of hikers had them so they must be all the rage. Either that or we old farts need a little extra balance, which I know is true, but I want to believe it is also trendy (as well as sensible). We are thinking of some kind of outing next Monday so perhaps I can put the new sticks to work.

Then I stopped at Costco for resources to clean up my act: bar soap, deodorant, dental floss. Was running low on all of these and I did not want public complaints to be filed.

Watering the yard I got to skip this evening as it began raining mid-afternoon and was still going, though only a drizzle, when I got home.

I harvested two small eggplants and stir-fried them with garlic, pepper flakes, and black bean sauce, mixed it all with Yakisoba noodles and vegetables (the little packs you microwave for three minutes). Had that and a glass of white wine for dinner. Reasonably tasty. Food from the garden - hooray!

I have ironed a pair of slacks that was wrinkled from the store shelf and a top sheet for the guest bedroom.

Now I will give myself a haircut and call that enough accomplishments for one evening. Glad my Italian homework is already done. (Better get to work on the lessons for next Sunday so I can preach in Spanish and English on Sunday evening.)

In small but encouraging good news, I found the key to my bike lock.

There is so very much to go in order to bring order out of chaos in my life, but these little steps give me hope. I realize this all sounds mundane and some of you keep house all the time on an ongoing basis (bless you) but for a total slob like me these are shifts in tectonic plates. Maybe better habits will emerge.

--the BB