Things have been going better, slowly. Everyone's been really sad and kinda depressed around here since Cleo's been gone. Little things remind us of the absence of her great presence--like finding her catnip toy under the couch. But things are getting better.

Yesterday was my niece's birthday, and I forgot to call her. So I'm going to try and call her today, and wish her a happy birthday. But in case I forget again (a common occurance lately), I can wish her a

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
here.

She posted a comment asking how I wash my dishclothes. Sorry I haven't answered before now. I tried to, but my dial-up connection timed out and dumped me. I can't tell you how much I hate dial-up. Maybe I'll try the library and see if I can post from there. Then at least I can upload it faster :)

Washing and caring of dishclothes: I wash with my laundry depending on colors. The bright, and dark colors tend to leave a lot of dye in the water, so I usually wash with darks in cold water. The first couple of times I may wash them with my dark towels in hot/warm water to help the bleeding. The lighter colors I wash in my whites in hot water. I also only use the cloth for one day, then put in the laundry. Unless I've washed something really gross after lunch, then I use a new one for the dinner dishes.

The dishwasher makes a great drying rack. It no longer works, no longer leaks, after the plumber came out and disconnected the pipes leading to it, and fixed the washer in the cut-off valve. The insurance adjuster came out and looked at the damage the dishwasher left (subflooring is all wobbly, and needs to be replaced. Not to mention the linoleum and perhaps the cabinets). Apparently the dishwasher has been leaking for about a year. She agreed that there was no way we could have known about it until the wood become so saturated with water that it started dripping into the basement. But because it was a long-term slow leak, insurance won't cover it.

2 days later, the brakes on the truck went out as the Man was going to work. I mean completely. He thought that the master cylinder had gone out. That was the only thing of the brakes that didn't go out. We had to have the brakes completely replaced, including the brake lines. $600 later the brakes are working and I'm not having to get the Boy and myself up at 5 am to drive the Man to the other side of town so he can make some money working really hard.

Speaking of the Boy: he's all excited about Halloween. He's picked out a Grim Reaper costume this year. We're going to a big hoe-down up on the Mountain (Lookout, that is), and we should have lots of fun. There's going to be lots of people we know there from church, the homeschool group, and around town. Should be pretty happening.