On the 4th of December
December 4, 2002


Boy, was it cold in our bedroom last night. I had to grab my blankie and pull it over me at 2:00 in the morning. The cold woke me up. It's unusual for me to have to sleep with the blanket on. Bill said he had his electric blanket cranked up to 7 and he usually doesn't have to go higher than 5. When we lived in that apartment, he only had to put it on 2.

This house is seriously underwired. We couldn't even use our newfangled, ceramic top, self-cleaning, digitized stove in the kitchen. When Todd replaced the outlet and plugged our stove in, a smell of plastic smoke and a low buzzing sound erupted. So, he hastily turned it off and we went back to square one. That is, having to use the old stove that came with the house.

Now, it's a good stove as far as old stoves go. I'd say it's a modern old stove. It has a light in the oven, a light for the surface top, a built-in timer, a clock that rolls the numbers around, and it is self-cleaning ( - hallelujah - ) even though every time I set the timer I have to reset the clock. But it does function, well, except for one touchy element that I have to keep jiggling with a wooden spoon. But I miss my ceramic top stove with the French words on it (since it was bought in Canada). And I do wonder if it still works after its near voltage experience.

Bears celebrating Christmas in the snowThe only picture I can think of to share today is a Sims picture. If you're wondering what IS the fascination for The Sims, well, you're probably NOT wondering but anyway here's an example. Sorry if it loads slow because I left it big. When you can have bears in a game, you gotta love it. It makes a nice seasonal desktop picture.

We went out looking for a Christmas tree. The one that's located at the shopping mecca on the west side of Hamilton wasn't open. Probably will be at night when there are lots more people abounding. Then we tried a nursery that's close to us. They had trees, all of them advertised for $22.95 apiece, but they were the icky sticky kind that prick you if you even get near them. And they were trimmed like some mannequin tree. I'll have to resort to some online Xmas tree searching.

I had the big toe ache at 11:34 a.m. This toe is proving to be very reliable, indeed. By 7:00 p.m. snow had started to fall. By the time Bill got home from work an hour later, there was an inch of snow on the ground.

Bill and I spent the next two hours helping Todd, our son-in-law, do research on the Internet for his college paper. He was writing about freeware and all its aspects. Using MSN Messenger, Bill and I were in hot pursuit of sources for Todd to quote. Don't you just love the Internet?