A lot to write. Where should I start? No time like the present. I'm sitting at Panera having an asiago bagel with veggie spread (hear that Teronni and Rich?) This is a different Panera than the one I was at on Monday. I came in and noticed no laptops. Hmm... I did a quick walk-around looking for an outlet. No outlets. I found an employee to ask if they have free wireless (yes) and asked where the outlets were. There is 1 in the entire place, under a booth. And here I sit. I came here to meet a buyer for my IKEA bedding. I scanned the Sunday advertisements before I left the house and saw that Staples had a Sony 1G MP3 player on sale for $39 with rebate. I've been wanting an MP3 player to download free audio books to from my library. There was 1 in the store and I have it in my bag. New toy!

Here's a view from my bathroom window. Flowering pear tree hogs the view.


Now I can skip around. Keep in mind I'm on my second cup of strong coffee. I did the haircut of a friend, Esmerelda on Friday. One of the first things she said was, I can't wait to take a picture to put on my blog. Yes, my ears perked up. She's a former co-worker of my ex and I see her very infrequently because she hardly ever gets her hair cut. I thought she was cool from the first time I met her 9 years ago. She's just so funny. Her blog is soontobejustme. Visit her and find out why.

I love going out to eat. It was something I did a lot of when I was married, and the places we went to were really nice. Now, especially since Emily is pretty selective in what she likes, we go to mostly chain restaurants. I was meeting Kit last night for dinner, and she suggested we go to a place she liked, her treat. When we got there, she told me not to pay attention to the prices and to get whatever I wanted. Yum. A glass of wine, a wonderful salad, seared rock fish with a sauce of shrimp, pea salsa and candied walnuts and a dessert of bing cherry and dark chocolate bread pudding with pistachio brittle ice cream, and I left a happy, if heavier, person. Thanks Kit! We hung out at her house for a while afterwards, and then it was home to daughter. She was at the neighbors and I came in just in time to play a game of Phase 10. Anyone ever heard of it? It's a card game, easy for any age player, and fun. There were 4 of us playing, with Emily being the only 'kid'. She turned out to be the winner. A good time was had by all. I did a little entertaining by relaying a story about a very 'interesting' client I had on Friday. They were all in stitches by the end.

Well, time to run to Walmart for some finch food, then rescue said daughter from a boring day at home, alone.

Later...