Some Friday random

*I'm (mostly) over the cold. I'm not coughing myself to pieces any more. (Running the humidifier last night while I slept helped; the percent humidity was at the "will preserve mummies" level here yesterday). I think I will probably be okay to re-start exercise Monday.

*I did more decluttering in the kitchen yesterday. I have a "separate" cabinet (as in: a piece of furniture I use as added cabinet space) and I cleared that out. I had, at one point, thrown baking supplies into the lower half (it has doors you can close). I wound up getting rid of a lot of the opened stuff (it was really old, and also I found, way in the back, part of a bar of Ghirardelli baking chocolate that apparently was one of the victims of the LAST time I had a mouse in the house. (As I said: still no evidence of mice coming in this winter, and I noticed two new possibly-feral cats in the neighborhood. While I don't really approve of letting cats run around outside - especially in town where there's lots of traffic - I have to say they seem to keep the rodent populations way down).

That cabinet now houses the stuff-in-glass-jars (my emergency peanut butter, the jars of pesto, the jars of spaghetti sauce that I keep on hand for when I'm too pressed for time to cook it from scratch, and the few small bottles of wine I keep on hand for cooking with). The uppermost, open, shelf now houses the granola bars, dried fruit, peanut butter crackers, and other pre-portioned, grab-it-in-a-hurry stuff I use to make my lunches with.

I'm seriously considering, once I get the tea moved and that area of the counter cleared off, moving my microwave there - it's a space that would not be ideal for prepwork (too far from the stove) but which would house the microwave nicely.

I've also decided that my big "reward" for getting the kitchen totally re-organized is that I am going to replace the light fixture. What is in there now is an overhead light with ceiling fan that's been there since before I bought the house. I don't NEED a ceiling fan in the kitchen - in fact, I bump into it when I climb up to use the high shelves (another reason I didn't use them before). And one of the four sockets on the light is going bad - it flickers, which worries me that there's a short in it (tightening the bulb in the socket does not help). I went to Lowe's yesterday afternoon but didn't see anything *perfect,* I may see if there's a lighting store in the area that would have better choices.

I think I'll probably hire an electrician to take care of it. I know it's something a homeowner can do, but if it involves wiring, I'd rather have an expert in, especially with the older wiring in some parts of my house.

*As a result of the rushing around and moving heavy stuff, I developed an ocular migraine yesterday afternoon - actually when I was over here to get my allergy shot. It got bad enough that I was afraid to drive (usually the migraines trash my peripheral vision on one or the other side), so I asked the nurse if there was a dark room I could sit in for a little while (I've found that sitting in the dark and staying still and quiet seems to make them go away faster). So she put a chair in one of the storerooms and I sat in there for about five minutes (She also gave me a dose of ibuprofen, suggesting it might help). Eventually it seemed like the flickering had gone away (I can see a "flicker" or flashing lights, even in the dark, even if I close my eyes, when I have one of these). I try to stay calm but I admit I always have the tiny little fear of, "What if this never goes away? What if I can't see well enough to read, or use a microscope, or drive, ever again?"

* I still plan to go to McKinney tomorrow. I need to do a little measuring (so I know how tall of a jar I need for storing spaghetti, in case I find one, and also, what is the maximum possible height that would work for a small low table/bench - I want to try to find one to put under my dining room window so I can fit more houseplants there). I also need to look up how large of a backing I need for a particular quilt I am planning - on their website, Quilt Asylum was showing a new line of fabric that would be pretty perfect for this quilt. I also need to call them to find out if they're still a Project Linus dropoff because...

*...I FINALLY got bindings sewn onto the two Puppy Dog quilts (photo of one is here, and the other is here. I had them quilted at the place here in town and just never got around to binding them (Well, also, I never got around to getting to McKinney this past fall...). The binding on the smaller quilt is all sewn down and I'm going to finish the binding on the second one tonight. These are the quilts that I'm "informally" (because there's no formal way to do it, I'm just doing it in my mind) donating in memory of my mom's friend Faith, who was a quilter. (And whose q-snap frame I have inherited, and I also inherited some of her fabric and quilting stencils).


*Oh, and a recipe, in case anyone wants some sparkly rainbow cookies. The blogger who posted the recipe calls them Unicorn Poop cookies.