all in all, a good day. Started off going to farmers' market for some veg. I'm going to make lots of soups this weekend and stash them in the freezer to have on hand when classes crank up again in a few weeks.

Went over to Pet Club to re-stock the kibbles and cat litter. I love the Swheat Scoop litter--and so do Simon and Billie--but it is rather spendy. I may have to switch to something less expensive, but Billie is so damn picky about the litter. Simon's a trooper, he'll use the litterbox no matter what's in there. But the texture has to be just perfect or else Billie registers her protest someplace else in the house.

Anyway, as I was making my way through Pet Club, a very sweet elderly woman said she noticed I was buying Science Diet and offered me her coupon for $5 off! She said she didn't buy it, but she clipped the coupon and whenever she is out shopping, she looks for people who are buying it and gives them the coupon. Considering how tight money is right now, I couldn't thank this woman enough. Whoever sent me that angel, THANKS!

Then it was off to Trader Joe's to settle up on that package of ground turkey that I didn't get charged for. After all, I don't need to be carrying debt into the new year...monetary or karmic. The manager was really sweet. He thanked me for my honesty, and said it was on the house!

Later, I went out to pick up Billie's birthday present--a small, travel-sized packet of Q-tips because she just loves to play with them. I decided to treat myself to one last peppermint mocha at Starbucks. I haven't had coffee for about 10 days. After the peppermint mocha, I had such a caffeine burst that I shifted all the furniture around my living room! I even shifted the bookshelves out of the living room and into my bedroom.

I had been thinking of this change for several weeks now. As "off" as things have been, I thought maybe I had some bad feng shui going or something. Anyway, I like the new set-up. For now. Goodness knows, I'll get tired of it and shift everything around again!

While I was at it, I had to clean out the algae-festival that was Warren Betta's fish tank! Blech! That was pretty grim. But after a few rinsings, I got almost all of the algae out of the pebbles and re-filled the tank. I put in the chlor-out and stress coat last night, then gave the tank a good 15 hours to "set" before dropping in a "no more algae" tablet this morning. Warren Betta returned home not long after the tablet dissolved. He seems to have settled back in. Poor fishie...I don't think he liked being in the small container while his tank was being cleaned out and set up.

Nothin' like crankin' up the Alice In Chains and re-arranging the apartment to end off the year! Later today, I think I'll run around with the sage smudge stick and see if I can't smoke out the nasty wraiths...don't need to carry them into the new year, either!