So far it's been a busy day. I've cleaned out the cabinet under the sink, sorted out the number of extra cooking tools that we don't use very often and put them into a plastic shoebox and washed and put away my new flatware service for 16.

This is my third flatware service. The first one I had bought for my apartment and used it after I got married, but then I decided to use my good flatware for everyday. Over the years the number of pieces has dwindled. No one knows what happened to the forks, spoons and knives that have disappeared, but I suspect they were inside some food container and just got trashed. It's a shame.

While I was doing that I made the foolish decision to put my oven on self-clean. My eyes haven't forgiven me yet. Thankfully it's not too cold to prevent me from opening up the sunroom windows to let some fresh air in.

Now it's out the door to pick up Erica and then off to the vet's office to get Chicklet's nails clipped. I hadn't realized how long her middle toenails had grown. We have shredded paper in the bottom of her cage (in our living room) and just didn't notice. There's been so much more on our minds lately, still adjusting to life without Milo, and just haven't been as observant as we should be.

Elmo is improving. He's no longer coughing as much as he was, but he's starting to scratch again, but not as much. I don't know if we'll ever get his allergies completely straightened out. He is doing so much better on the sweet potato and venison dry food.

Time to run...