I did my barter with my neighbor. She got some booze which frankly I have no use for, and she gave me a bread machine she'd given her son, which he said he used only once.

I hope it works okay. I noticed the clear plastic window on the top is all scratched up, and I have no idea why that would be. I thought it rude to ask about that, since I am getting it free, and truth be told, she was going to give it to me anyway, regardless of whether I had something to trade her in return.

So maybe today I'll pick up all the special ingredients....the buttermilk, bread flour and dry yeast.

I bet "heads" for the Super Bowl toss and watched just that portion of the pre-game to see if I won a free pizza from Papa John's. I did! Hopefully will get the voucher emailed to me some time today. There's only one Papa john's in my vicinity, a 15-minute drive, but I guess it's worth it!

I enjoyed chit-chatting with my neighbor yesterday over tea when we did our barter. She's really great at scouring thrift stores and finding great deals (sometimes with their own repainting and refinishing), and yet her home always looks so upscale and luxurious. She's actually doing a lot of thrift store scouring these days because they're putting their 5,000 sf house on the market next month and she needs inexpensive, but good looking furniture to stage it.

She mentioned she has a ton of books and an 18-piece set of china she'll have ready for me if I want either/both next time I'm up there. She doesn't want to have to wrap and pack all the individual pieces of china (she has 2 other sets) and it wouldn't be practical to have to ship on Ebay. So I could be the lucky recipient. I haven't seen the china, but I really like her taste in general, so it could be very nice. As for the books, I have no idea what she likes to read, but I would be very interested to browse thru them.

So, I am going over to one of the places she mentioned today becus I can't resist. Just looking.

I have to run over to see if I can fix my mother's computer problem. I also need to get windshield wipers at WalMart.

I started my taxes but along the way discovered that the bank that held my mortgage never sent me the mortgage interest 1099-INT, and my chief freelance client never sent me a 1099 either. I'll have to call both. I mainly just need to know how much mortgage interest I paid this year as I already know what I earned from the freelance client.

I'm seeing The Author for tea on Tuesday.

Had a long talk Friday night with the woman who shares my job with me. She pretty much shares my feeling that they are getting the grand bargain of the year having us do their tedious and boring work for $12/hr. The same rate of pay for a bagger at Stop & Shop, I recently noticed.