it's miserable cold here, really only about twenty-seven, but it feels terrible because it had been warm for about a week. it was so warm, we'd stopped heating the laundry room to keep the pipes from freezing, and i was getting used to wearing socks and sandals, which is really my only comfortable shoes. now it will be cold for about a week. and i shouldn't complain, it's kind of to be expected for late february, but i'm complaining anyway because that's what a diary is for.

yesterday was garbage day but they didn't take a bag of leaves that i'd left out, which this morning was only about half full, and turned on its side in the street. they'd taken the rest, garbage and recy, and i'd brought in the bins but didn't know what to make of the leaves and left them 'til this morning. now i'm a good neighbor and i went and got them. late february is the classic stray dog holiday in illinois since the feds take presidents' day, the state takes lincoln's birthday, the garbage people follow one or the other, not sure which, and therefore a lot of bins are left out there too long or never make it out there and the garbage ends up blowing around, as it's windy, cold, a little snowy, not nice out there. it will warm up. it will become green.

i make affirmations because what else can one do. i will resist drinking a third cup of coffee before lunch. i will do something about cleaning the house. i will do enough walking to work the pain out of my knee which could be there from having to wear stupid shoes. i will sweep my room and i will get back into the quilt which is just kind of sitting here waiting for me to get started again. i will finish my book.

sometimes the more pressure i put on myself the more it backfires. that's definitely true with my weight.

i enjoy my upstairs window though. over my shoulder cars go down or up broad street at about thirty mph and because it's brick, i hear it pretty well and even feel it when my hearing aids are out. one thing i like is that they could care less about what's happening in an upstairs window, on a street with lots of houses and a lot of space between stop signs. a bag of leaves would have annoyed them though.

i wait for the ncaa's for some reason. i need to fix my printer so i can print a bracket. i will get to that printer.