With our lease coming up for renewal again, Donna and I are seriously considering moving. It's a combination of finances and just wanting a change. It would be nice to have a bigger place and possibly, with a decent mortgage, a cheaper one. Not only could we do what we wanted with the interior, since most places have very, strict guidelines on what you can do with the exterior, but there wouldn't be somebody above or below us. It sometimes seems the guy upstairs is bowling or lifting weights right above our bedroom. The former tenets below us would be visited by their daughter, who was a heavy smoker and we'd get blow back through the vents and from open windows. I'll keep everyone updated on if or when we do make the move, so you can send those house-warming gifts. :-)

Had to bring my car in for some maintenance this past week. The 'change oil' light kept coming on and initially I thought I was just overdue for the 3,000-mile check. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the pistons. I had to leave the car overnight and got a rental (paid for), but it turned out to be worse than originally thought and it became a two-day affair. Strange driving around in a new car, but Enterprise was pretty good about it and even waved having to pay for used gas, which was really nice of them. Will definitely use them again, as we have in the past. The repair even came in under-estimate so except for having to get up earlier than usual for three straight days (in order to get to work on time), it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Man, where has the year gone? It will be Labor Day in a few weeks, Fran is coming out for another cruise and the birthday I could happily ignore is too rapidly approaching. Hope things are going smoother in your lives!