Today we got the house all cleaned up so that we could have visitors from the old neighborhood.  Ann, Erin, and Irma came down and surprised the daughters with their friend Jessica.  Ann also brought her dog, Lily, who is my dog’s best friend EVER.  The dogs were overjoyed, but not as much as the daughters, who managed to convince Jessica’s mom to let her sleep over.  Of course, hubby and I loved having the grownups over, but nothing can match the enthusiasm of a dog or a kid when it comes to playing with friends.  So we’ll have spaghetti for dinner, pancakes for breakfast, and then >we’ll< visit the old neighborhood tomorrow when we bring Jessica home.  Might even bring the dog up. . .we shall see.

And the weather is so much nicer than the weather reports predicted.  Delightful.  We had doors open, even sat outside in the sun to chat.  The dogs chased each other all around the yard, the cats tried to avoid them while going in and out, and the kids got some quality outdoor play.

I went to Shoprite after the gym (woohoo!  I went to the gym!) and it’s a really nice day.  Most of the snow is melted, the sun was out, and these little birds were having a bath in the puddles.  Sorry it’s not better quality, but I took it with the phone.

They were all over the parking lot, and when a man tried to pull into the space, the birds actually gave him what looked like a glare.  They didn’t move until they absolutely had to.

Well, even though we didn’t unpack all the boxes from the family room, we did move them out to make it more pleasant for guests (and us, as it turns out.)  Since we no longer had the world’s largest fire hazard in the room, I decided to try out the wood-burning stove.  Heaven!  OMG, I like it even more than the two-sided fireplace!  Yeah, you can’t really se the flames, but you know it’s there, and it makes the room so lovely to be in.  I even unpacked two boxes rather than leave it.  And I’m READING!  I don’t often just sit and read besides the morning newspapers lately, but with the fire going, the family room is a great place for a book and a cup of tea.  I might just move the computer in there. . .