When I got to Park Meadows yesterday it was still recess and both Diane and Patti were on duty, so I had a chance to chat with both of them for a bit.  I did some reading tutoring with Daniel, and then Jenny, in the library. Sure do love working with the kids, and of course Diane is so appreciative. She hopes we can get together over the winter break and catch a movie together - and also do some additional commiserating on the polical disaster that continues to astound us on a daily basis.

After that I headed to the grocery store. As I was pulling into the parking lot the garage door folks returned my message. (The door has been kvetching for some time, but in the past day or so all of a sudden sounded so bad I was afraid it was going to quit altogether and leave the car trapped inside.) Since that business is right behind the house on our corner I was hoping someone could pop over for a quick look and let me know if it just needed some lube (hope springs eternal!) or maybe a new belt/chain - or if, as Tom feared, the whole thing was shot and needed to be replaced.  She said she would get back to me in a bit and let me know.

The grocery store was busy, and checking out took longer than it should have. But on the plus side there was plenty of food to choose from, and I had the money to buy everything in my cart - so it could have been worse, right?

When I got back the hot tub was cleaned, refilled, and the heater was running. I haven't been outside this morning to see what the actual water temp is, and most likely the dial will need to be tweaked some - but I expect to be soaking soon! :)

The mail was here, and there was a package for me from Terry - a Don Richmond CD! He's a good friend of theirs, and I've heard him play on occasion over the years. I certainly enjoyed listening to his music when it came up on the shuffle this past summer, so when he had some CDs for sale at a recent music 'thing' she knew just who would appreciate having one!

Alex spent the rest of the afternoon over at our place, on his computer and phone, trying to find health insurance.  What a nightmare (as I found out a couple of months ago when I spent the better part of several days, also on the phone and computer, trying to help with that.)  But he's running out of time! His insurance will be cancelled the end of this month, and he needs to get something done before he flies to Georgia on the 15th with Aja, to spend the holidays with her family.  

At least he was able to easily figure out (and fix) another 'problem' with my iPad; for some reason it had recently stopped reorienting itself when I turned it from vertical to horizontal. Seems somehow a button on the side had gotten moved (maybe when I crammed it in my bag during my travels?) and now that he switched back for me all is good again.

Alex stayed for dinner, and shortly before it was time to eat the garage door guy came by.  James checked everything out thoroughly, and then oiled the mechanism in every possible place (including some I would never have found) which did the trick! He did 'notice' that it's an old unit (our house is old!) and said that at some point we will likely need to replace the springs (a couple of hundred dollars), but the good news is that we are currently up and running. 

After dinner Tom and I watched the second episode of MARS (which had taped while I was gone), and it wasn't until we started the third episode around 8:00 that my tiredness hit.  I was probably asleep shortly after 8:30, and delighted that I did go back to sleep <yay!> for another couple of hours after I awoke at 4:00. So I shouldn't be too tired today.  Not sure if lack of sleep had anything to do with the burst blood vessel in my eye that Alex noticed yesterday.

Off to do some sewing (and see what 'new' mistakes I can make?) while I wait to hear back from Linda on today's schedule.  I'm going to visit, and help her chase after Zahn.