What I did on my winter vacation.

I am cleaning the dishwasher in the hopes that we don't have to buy a new one.  I guess this better be a post-Christmas tradition because it was caked with old soap scum and I can't remember the last time I cleaned it.  It's not "dirty" just white with scum (no, not snow).  No wonder it wasn't cleaning very well.  I took all the racks and everything else removeable out of it, scrubbed it with stainless steel cleaner and a special scrubbie and now I'm running it on super hot in the the hopes that the hot water will melt everything I loosened and rinse it away.  I've been using the recommended dish "tablets" and rinse but I think it was too little, too late...anyway, it's not overflowing with soap suds yet although it's growling and churning louder than usual...it's been so bad that I've had to dust the white specks of soap off the clean dishes before putting them away and who knows how much soap we've ingested...can't wait for New Year's...maybe I'll clean the oven..."oh what fun..."

New info on cancer and school:
No cancer detected in first mammogram since surgery.  Yay!  Finished school on December 17 with my last 2 finals and am happy with my grades.  Looking forward to six weeks off then five more classes until I graduate in May.  Ordered my textbooks online today -- much cheaper than the bookstore!  I'm taking a class on symbolic logic and found a book by Lewis Carroll (yes, that Lewis Carroll) on symbolic logic, but can't find a copy yet.  Hope this class is not going to be a trip down that long, dark rabbit hole or through the looking glass...I don't remember Johnny Depp talking about symbolic logic...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to seeing old friends and customers at stamp shows around the country in 2011.  Mary Jo and I are doing a road trip in August; first stop is the Novi Michigan show, then Stampaway in Cincinnati the following week.  We plan to antique shop between shows and visit a few friends.  If you have any suggestions for "points of interest" in the vicinity of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, please let me know.

Another road trip in January to Palm Springs for a few days.  Richard Avedon exhibit at the Museum of the Desert and lots of thrift shops.  We're living large at the Motel 6 for a few nights and I found out that it's the same weekend as the Palm Springs Film Festival -- pretty embarrassing to meet celebrities and invite them back to our Motel 6 room with four of us...and our usual blizzard of magazine clippings on the floor.  This is the second time we've done a local road trip and wound up in the middle of a film festival; last time it was Santa Barbara in January a couple of years ago, when Mickey Rourke's film, The Wrestler, was featured.  Can we pick 'em or what?

Have a very happy new year!