The storm that was headed east with a vengeance hit New England sometime last night, and I awoke to a new blanket of snow, about 3 inches, on the ground.

With rising temps, the snow has changed to rain and I'm waiting for it to stop (around noon, they say) so i can get out there and shovel the wet stuff off the driveway.

Tomorrow I am bringing my mother to the hospital for cataract surgery. I have to get up at 5:30 am at the very latest. This will be interesting, since I haven't used my alarm clock in months.

She won't be done til about 9:30 am, so I'll have a good three hours to kill, maybe with shopping errands, while she's in there, even though the surgery itself only takes 10 minutes.

My mom was feeling pretty anxious about it (who wouldn't, it's your eye) but after talking to a bunch of people (everyone seems to know someone who's had it done), she seems to feel better about it now because it's a quick recovery.

Let's see, I can hit Xpect for some cheap wrapping paper, then Costco for some milk since I'm running out. I could always order from the $1 menu at a fast food joint and I'm not averse to sitting in my car. Oh, bummer. I just realized those places won't be open around 7 am. Maybe I'll just go home again.

Yesterday H. and I saw The Invention of Lying in the $2 movie theater. It was pretty good and i thought a very clever idea for a movie, the idea being, a world where no one ever lied and how blunt and funny some of the things people said to each other were when only the truth could be told. Rob Lowe and Jennifer Garner were in it; I'm not sure why this movie never seemed to get much PR when it first came out.

I made a really good dinner last night, pasta, shrimp, pea pods and broccoli in a peanut butter sauce (just a half cup of PB, sesame oil, sesame seeds, water, rice vinegar, garlic). Every so often I get a PB craving and this definitely satisfies it.

For the past several weeks, I've kept the heat on at 64 daytime, 63 nighttime. Any cooler than that and it gets real chilly around here if you're sitting still. I felt, too, that one of my cats was getting cold, and since I'm here all the time now, I might as well be comfortable.

I checked the tank the other day and saw that I've still got a half tank of oil. I'd like to think I could get through til early January with that, but they are predicting much colder temps this weekend, so I don't know, since I never really turn the heat down now. It's a treat, though.

Craig's List sales have kind of fallen off. Bummer.

It looks pretty, but i haven't ventured out all day. Too cold for a walk.

Today was a No Spend Day.

I made chili for lunch.

Negotiating with family when I'll be down to Jersey. I had planned on a visit Dec. 21, but K.'s daughter in law wanted to come that day and if we both came, one of us sleeps on the couch. I can just as easily move my visit since I'm not working, although I had wanted to go that day in particular so I could join K. and her dog at their therapy dog training class.

We agreed I'd go down the following Monday. It'll be after Christmas, but that's ok.

I called to report in to the unemployment office this morning at my earliest time yet, 5:30 am and would you believe the line was still busy, busy, busy.

What else did I do today? Very little. Broke down some boxes and newspapers for recycling later this week, turned off the outside water to faucets (forgot to do this earlier), set some mousetraps in garage, filled the bird feeder and suet feeder and wasted time on the computer. I also reposted about 10 Craig's List for sale items. I'd love to keep the sales going.

This week I'll be transporting my mother to the hospital for cataract surgery and on the following Monday, I'll be picking up her art from a local exhibit. Also hoping to meet up with former colleagues for a networking get-together at a diner, maybe 5 of us.

I've gotten a little bit of Xmas shopping done. I need wrapping paper but hate like the dickens to contribute to the massive paper waste stream of the holidays. Wish I had old maps or something nicer than a brown paper bag to wrap the presents in. I'm not terribly creative.

I pocketed another $22 from the sale of a tripod bag. The gentleman, a retired engineer who spent most of his career at a local hospital, then took an early retirement package, traveled about 50 minutes to pick it up.

My bag isn't padded, but even then, the new ones seem to go for about $50.

If he had known how the economy would unfold in the past few years, he said he probably wouldn't have retired early. He says he spends his time doing wildlife photography and recently bought a wood tripod he never uses cus he doesn't want it to get banged around, hence the purchase of my case.

I finished a load of laundry this morning and billed a client for some freelance work. I called 2 survey/focus groups to see if anything's cooking, and the woman at one told me they're expecting some work coming in Tuesday, so I should call back then.

I love to express small bits of income in terms of what it can buy me. So that $22 will cover a month's worth of cable TV.

Yesterday I spent about $40 on a voice recorder. It's not something I would have chosen to spend money on now, but I bought it out of fear and concern that my neighbors' sons will escalate a little situation here. Last summer I complained to the town zoning that they were running a commercial landscaping business from their home. The noise from the trucks, trailers and equipment coming and going, plus repairs at times done 10 pm at night, is not something I want to live next door to.

The zoning enforcement officer kept giving them 30 days to find someplace to store their equipment, but i could see they were just ignoring that request and then I'd have to call zoning and tell them that nothing had changed. Each time zoning would talk to them and they'd say we need a little more time. As far as I could see, they weren't doing anything differently, except they started hiding their equipment in the backyard, becus they didn't yet know it was me who complained and i guess they thought the zoning officer randomly saw the equipment herself during a drive-by.

Now, more recently, they've taken to driving their trailer and mowers up a long driveway that goes to the side of my house and to an interior lot where another family lives, and that family apparently gave them permission to leave their stuff there. Then, in the morning, i see my neighbors driving up to retrieve the trailer and head out for the day. So they're trying to circumvent town zoning laws by hiding their stuff at another nearby house. Amazing.

I guess by now they've figured out it was me who called zoning (i've had noise issues with them before, namely, the same sons pre-driving age driving their ATV and dirt bike around the yard) becus 1 of the 2 sons who has the business has taken to revving/racing his engine as he drives up that driveway, or past my house.

The other morning, one of the sons banged on my door. I didn't answer the door, but i have now purchased a small, hand-held voice recorder I intend to play if he comes to my door again. I'm sure he will be very angry and i want a record of any altercation if things continue to escalate.

The 2 sons are about 19 or 20, and the zoning person told me the one she spoke to slammed the phone down on her. If i hold the recorder in my hand, it looks very much like a cell phone. I am most concerned about vandalism to my house or property, and i have taken to parking my car in the garage now, which i don't usually do unless it snows.

It's a little stressful, and I'm not walking in my neighborhood much, but this neighborhood has never been quiet, due mainly to this one family, and they are, after ones, the ones breaking town laws, not me. So I won't back down and will keep after zoning to enforce the law. This has been going on since July.