I picked up bagels at the Senior Center and went straight to Edgewater to get Peter’s help with trash and recyclables before he went to work.

Went with Ron to his doctor’s new office for blood work, then we offloaded at the transfer station and dropped off the Sandwich library book at their book drop in South Sandwich.

Got a call while in transit from a pest removal company. They set up HaveAHeart traps to catch the squirrels under the solar panels.

Ron cut down a couple of substantial branches which we think the squirrels might have used to get on the roof from the big oak in front.

I removed and wound up the lights from the front bushes and put all the lighting goods in the attic.

More fine-tuning and bug fixes for MRS.

Cold today. 19.

Ron made omelets for lunch. I did stir fry and rice for supper.

We boxed up one joke gift (beer steins) and one nice gift (book by C.L. Fornari) for the Yankee Swap at yesterday’s M2R party.

There were several cakes, some fine entertainment and lots of good fellowship. Ron had a great time! We brought home a Woods Hole Spritsail hot plate and a four-pack of beer from the swap.

Other gifts included a basket of produce; a “crouching tiger” knick-knack; a cowbell; jam; scratch tickets.

Got the sheets changed and that was about it.

I ran around for over 3 hours today, starting with a brief visit with the M2R standout people.

From there, I stopped in for a tour of People for Cats and their magnificent shelter. Didn’t make a connection with any of the cats which didn’t surprise me. Hope Ron might be willing to take a look.

Shopped at Walmart, Shaws and then back to Mashpee to check in at CVS for my card. Got a number to call for a replacement. Picked up a few things at Stop & Shop, including chowder for lunch.

Didn’t do anything special for supper. Ron was busy going through a huge box of paperwork. He made mulled wine, which isn’t to my liking, and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards.

Yesterday, he cleaned the coffee maker.

I had a crying breakdown yesterday after listening to a plaintive soundtrack from of all things, a video game. Talked with Cathy for a while; she helped me feel better. I was so depleted, worn out with being sick, the MRS project, money, glad to be done with the holidays.

Glad Christmas and New Year’s are over.

Peter dropped by yesterday to drop off new year’s good luck grapes and our Christmas gifts: brandy, wine and mulling spices. Creative, generous, thoughtful!

I made pumpkin soup and continued to work on MRS. Ron put away the outdoor light extension cords. We did a light shop at S&S.

Warm and pleasant yesterday. Colder today but sunny.

We took care of the transfer station run, laundry and bedding yesterday (Sunday).

I’ve been frustrated with power settings on the pc that’s running my current project.

The complicated page I’ve been toiling over for days, works. It’s based on a technique I found two years ago that uses ViewState as a data source for a datagrid.

The SQL proved to be tricky.

I’ve tried to like it, but canned spinach is just not my deal.

I cleaned the toaster oven and it works fine. Ron used it the other day to bake potatoes.

Second day trying to do without Omeprazole.

Felt up to a shower and shampoo today; feeling better.

Ron got us pizza, salad and fries yesterday. Fantastic to wake up to a clean kitchen this morning. He’s out shopping now.

Cathy dropped off cranberry bread yesterday; it’s scrumptious.  She’s had another hellish week with her mother.  There has to be a better way.

We had stir fry for supper last night.  Good, too.

This is day 3 of my being sick.  Laryngitis but otherwise doing okay, with the Nyquil.

Damnable Stop & Shop gas still has a $100 hold on my bank account, even though the actual charge for gas cleared days ago.  Cost me $5.  I threw money in this morning to cover the Fallon premium check, which had been refused, and the $8 or so that the account was supposedly overdrawn.

Ron is in a tizzy about being sick for over a week.  I’m just glad to have stayed healthy so I could make Christmas a little less grim for us.

I finally found a definition: wealth equals the difference between assets that can be liquidated and debts.

Median wealth for White families is somewhere around $116,000. That includes equity in properties. We may be close to that even with no investments other than two houses. It’s kind of a meaningless, dumb measure, though, since it doesn’t take into account income streams from retirement plans and Social Security. I think so anyway.

Speaking of which, I keep my fingers crossed that Ron’s retirement plans remain financially stable. He keeps an eye out for this.

Made chili for Christmas dinner with a pile of different vegetables – onion, garlic, green pepper, spinach, black beans, celery, carrot, tomatoes – and started a tofu stir fry.

Connie dropped off a beautiful plate of sweets yesterday, and I’ve devoured most of them by now. Feeling guilty.

I loaded the truck and got to Peter’s early enough that he could help me with their transfer station materials.

Transfer station was a zoo. The bins were overflowing and 2 or 3 guys were on the ground cleaning everything up.

Stop & Shop was a zoo as well. I got a can of cocoa free, a bunch of candy bars for less than 30 cents each, and half & half was on sale.

Stir fried the gorgeous box of riced broccoli and made quiche.

Picked up 3 quarts of ice cream at Polar Cave.

Ron says he’s feeling better this afternoon.

Patriots won the AFC East title.