Not a whole heck of a lot of news here. It's very cold here, but so is most of the country. I plan to venture out shortly to pick up some groceries, but otherwise, fuhgetabouitttttt.

Watched a good DVD last night, very touching, called Departures. It was Japanese, made last year. A classical musician (cellist) who plays in an orchestra loses his job. He moves back to his hometown and in desperation, takes a job working at a funeral parlor. (He thought the job had something to do with a travel agency becus the help wanted ad referenced "departures." Turns out that was a typo and it was supposed to say, "Working with the departed.") ha ha ha ha ha

So at first he's totally squeamish about the job, which involves preparing the dead for burial, but he comes to like the job. A most unusual movie.

I'm kind of psyched becus i got a postcard in the mail the other day from yet another local fitness center looking for "volunteers" to take part in a supervised 21-day fitness training program. Your $20 deposit is fully refundable as long as you complete the study, which involves 30 minutes of exercise 3x a week. I'm in! Perfect timing and the price is right. Have I mentioned I gained 15 pounds in the past 4 months??? I hope it's not a "Biggest Loser" style training program.

This week is a "busy" week becus i've got something going on Mon/Tues/Wed. Monday night is a dinner/talk by a physician, Tues night a literary agent will talk on how to get published at the library and Wed. I have a meeting with a fitness club i'm writing a press release for. Whooee. Work. Nearly forgot what that word sounded like.

And, since the weather will be moderating, i aim to walk Monday through Friday. I'm bound to slip up out of sheer laziness, but ya never know.

Waiting around to collect all my various tax forms so i can start thinking about doing my taxes. I should get a decent refund this year which i could really use.

Found myself surfing websites browsing flannel sheets last night, all the while knowing I don't NEED any more flannel sheets and that I shouldn't spend the money. Still, I lingered over the $20 full set of Queen sized sheets over at sears, or amazon, or wherever the heck my travels took me. Thankfully, i didn't buy anything.

There are certain categories of "things" I like to buy, in excess of what I need. Flannel sheets is one of them. Writing stationery used to be another, though I think i've more or less weaned myself off that since there's only 1 person in the whole wide world that i still write to, once a year, at Christmas. I also have a thing for mortar and pestles, and oh, yes, gemstone jewelry. And shoes. And nice dishware and glassware.