Saturday afternoon. Agreeably overcast and cool outside. Built a nice fire in the fireplace.

I love the fireplace. Buying a half a cord of decent wood gives me a real feeling of wealth and security.

Today is Saturday. Pat and Mike dropped the kids off this morning. Mike stayed in the car. The kids had stayed at Pat and Mike's since I dropped them off on the way home from Kelly and Bob's on Thanksgiving.

Yesterday I put up the rest of the Christmas lights (up on top of the 16-foot ladder) and then shoved off for Ikea, Kelly and Toni had both warned me that yesterday was not a good day to go to a shopping mall.

I got on the freeway and was just thinking "Why, this doesn't seem so -- " and traffic stopped dead for about four miles, until the cut through the hills just before Mira Mesa. Then it really wasn't so bad. Found my way to Ikea, found a place to park, poked around until my shopping cart was quite full. Made my way outside and loaded my vehicle. Drove home.

Enjoyed that trip. Bought four lamps, a chair, a bookcase, a pillow, some other small items. Very happy with the new lamps.

Today I ordered a ping pong table and TWO futons, one "semi-double" size for me and a "single" size for Flynn. Real futons. That will be great.

I also ordered the bench legs for the Soloflex, cannot locate those anywhere.

Can't do much of anything without the bench legs. So, another delay. It'll shine when it shines.

What else? Washed a lot of dishes, did a lot of laundry, put Cassidy's clothes away. Finally got around to making some coffee around noon.