Sunday 8:00am

I have been sleeping erratic hours. Been up since 1:00am.

I've just been writing letters, reading, and watching TV mostly the past few days. Have been working on embossing the first piece of the Christmas cards little by little (we're making 50 of them). There will be another piece to emboss around the edges later and we are probably going to emboss the inside saying, too. I so love having Leah come over to get crafty with me--hehe!

I more often have pain flares, I guess, but lately I've been smack dab in the middle of an exhaustion flare. You feel tired and kind of weak all over--kind of like when you have the flu. Hard to explain to people. I'm fine, tho. Just moving even slower than my normal snail pace--hehe! This too shall pass.

Leah and I have appointments to go to Dr. Hager on Tuesday afternoon, so I changed my appointment with Caroline for cleaning to the following week. The bedroom window that the man fixed--broke again already. It was really hard to shut it since he fixed it and something snapped and twanged the last time! Only this time, instead of not staying open and sliding down, it doesn't want to open at all. This is only a tragedy to a woman in menopause--chuckle! I'll have to call the office Monday.

I watched The DiVinci Code--last DVD that has worked on the player connected to my bigger TV in the living room. The DVD/VHS player has been going for some time--the DVD part of it--taking longer and longer to load the movies. Then it wouldn't be able to read them, it said--but I had already watched half the movie it said it couldn't read--so I knew it was lying. So that started a contest of wills and an open and close routine until it would finally decide it could actually read the movie. The DiVinci Code took ten minutes to load--but it was the last battle I won. Since then--even a 20 minute battle hasn't convinced the DVD that it still possesses the skills to read--so I gave up. Sigh! They sure don't make things to work like they used to! I think Dagan and Leah got the DVD player for me last Christmas! I emailed them to see if they had the receipt. Maybe it is still returnable? In the meantime, I can watch movies on my little laptop screen.

Anyways, it was a good movie. I haven't read the book yet (unusual--I usually try to read the book first and I even own it), but I'll have to try to get to it now.

Based on Dan Brown's best-seller of the same name, Ron Howard's gripping film stars Tom Hanks as Harvard professor Robert Langdon and Audrey Tatou as cryptographer Sophie Neve, who must untangle a web of deceit when the curator of the Louvre, a member of a secret society and a relative of Neve's, is found murdered in the famed museum's hallowed halls. To crack the case and arrive at the truth, they must look to the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Also watched A Prairie Home Companion, but a different DVD. This was a filming of the 30th anniversary program with all the music and commercials and his little talk--all there! I enjoyed it! I watched the extras, too--some little bits that didn't make it into the movie for some reason--also good!

For years, storyteller Garrison Keillor has ruled the public radio airwaves with his broadcasts from a fictional Minnesota town called Lake Wobegon. And woes do disappear for viewers thanks to this show, which documents a live performance of the series at the Fitzgerald Theater. With its mix of delightful vignettes, compelling tales, entertaining musical performances and Keillor's sonorous voice, A Prairie Home Companion never fails to charm.

I'm reading Jennifer's book "And Their Eyes Were Watching God"--am almost done with that one. Then I can read "The DiVinci Code" if I want to. If I feel up to all that heavy thinking--hehe! I'd need more energy than I have at the moment.

All is quiet up here in the North country. Reporting from Fargo....