YES! Taxes are done, e-filed, return should be here w/in two weeks. Alex gets credit this year for moving so quickly to get this done - once I saw him finishing his up yesterday, I knew I had to do mine as well. Not as big of a return as I expected, but (as my mother would say) better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Ruby had ANOTHER accident last night - this time it was her little face colliding with the bumper of my truck (I was in park!!). She was playing ball and thought it was about to be thrown to her, so she took off and slammed right into the bumper. She has a big gash underneath the scar from where her right eye used to be. :-( Poor little dog. It wasn't bleeding, and we checked and couldn't find any broken bones in her face, so we decided not to do the vet thing. She's a little swollen and a little quiet this morning, but seems to be okay.

I finally made up my mind to hire someone to come clean the house - a cat and a dog produce an ungodly amount of hair that lurks in all the corners and all over the wood floors. The last thing that I feel like doing each weekend is cleaning - I'll still have the usual grocery errands, laundry, ironing, cat box detail, etc. - but someone else can vacuum and clean toilets from now on. The other problem besides paying someone was finding someone - but Joni has started having someone come in on a regular basis, so I'm going to call her, get her over here to have a look around and tell me how much she'll charge (if it's in the $75 neighborhood, it's a deal). Then we'll set it up for her to come and do a top-to-bottom on the place, with every other week after that. What a relief that will be. One of the things I get from my mother is that I absolutely hate a dirty house, it kills my mood and makes me grumpy. I don't mind the actual cleaning, it's just that with a house this size, it feels overwhelming to get started, and it usually takes me most of the day. No more!