Apparently Grace is a fairly common name. Grrr. I was hoping that my daughter would go through life not having multiple girls in her class with the same name, and not having to be referred to as Grace W. Granted, Karyl (or Carol) isn't that common of a name anymore, but I did have another Karol in my class all the way through elementary school (and also when I returned to finish high school), so I was Karyl G. Not fun. Especially when there was a Kara G. as well. Very confusing.

But one of the ladies whose blog I enjoy reading has linked off her site the Social Security website for common names, as well as another site's compilation of common names based on their poll. Grace is #13 on the Social Security's website and #16 on the other site. Frequently when I take Grace out and we introduce her to all the folks who want to coo over her, the ladies I meet say, "Yes, my daughter/best friend/cousin named her daughter Grace as well!"

Oh well. If she had to have a common name, as least it's pretty. I feel sorry for all the Heathers and Chrissies and Stephanies and Tiffanies from my childhood.

Update on the Hotmail situation -- my husband received an email from Hotmail this morning saying that since he has had his Hotmail account for some time, that he will be allowed to continue accessing it through Outlook Express, but if he chooses to open a new account, he wouldn't be allowed to use OE anymore for that account. I had found on MSN's site that new accounts would be prevented from OE, but no one in tech support that I contacted would give me a straight answer as to whether I, not having a new account, am exempt from this rule. Apparently I am. However, I still cannot send mail from my Hotmail account without verifying my identity, although I can easily receive mail. At this point I shall just have to send all mail through my ISP mail account and read whatever comes through on Hotmail.

I still would like to give Mr Gates a large piece of my mind.

Damn, I hate mornings. It takes me so long to wake up (Grace woke me up an hour ago, and she's back down for her morning nap), and I end up with major sniffles because it's cold in the house. I swear I am allergic to mornings.

I have no idea what is going on with the freezer. Some days it works like a champ, some days it's warming up to almost 30 degrees. What is one to do?! I know it will have to be replaced soon, but at this point we're going to wait till the damn thing absolutely dies before we buy a new one. I know which one Kurt wants, so if it dies while he's on WestPac this summer, it won't be a big deal. Plus I have lots of room in the freezer in the garage, so it's not like it's a major emergency. The only things left in the kitchen refrigerator are things like bagels that I like to freeze so they don't go stale, and Grace's bottles, salad dressing, and lettuce and other fresh produce. Most everything that is seriously important, like eggs and milk, are in the garage fridge. So we'll just play the "wait-and-see" game. Should be fun. :o)

It has taken me almost two years of living in this house to start to make it look like a home. My in-laws said it looked well-decorated when they were here, but I didn't agree. Now I do. I have pretty sage green curtains up in the living room, and blue curtains in the bedroom, both courtesy of my handy husband. We also bought a room-darkening roller shade for the bedroom which keeps it extremely dark, which will be fantastic come summertime when the sun tends to drill holes in my eyes as I sleep. On President's Day, we made good use of Kurt's day off by moving the computer armoire into the hall next to the front door, and the bookcase that was there is now on the hearth in the living room.

Plus I went through all the books on the bookcase and got rid of the majority of them. There aren't that many books I need to keep from a collection standpoint, so if I read it and thought it was okay, then it went to the local used bookstore here. The guy that was working there yesterday seems to believe that I will have about $50 in trade credit the next time I go back. Score!!! I already used $13 of it. That store asks you to pay for 25% of your purchase, and the other 75% is deducted from your trade credit. I guess it's so you pay for the sales tax or something; I'm not too sure. Yesterday I bought four new books (one of which was the fragment that Jane Austen left when she died) that totaled $20, only I paid $5 for them. Not bad for a hardback and three trade-sized books!

And for me, it's not so much that I want to make money back on my books. Books are the one thing you can purchase new or used and still make some of your money back when you're done. I could have auctioned off all my books on eBay and made a pretty penny on them, but then I would have had to schlep boxes and Grace to the post office to send them out to the auction winners, plus invested in boxes and packing material to be able to box them up. I would just rather give them to my local used bookstore so that they can stay in business, so if I need a book, they will be there for me. Donating them to a thrift store is also a grand idea, only thrift stores are rather few and far between where I live, which is a shame. I get a lot of my books from thrift stores for less than a dollar, usually.

Well, I suppose I really should start my day. Getting dressed and getting more coffee is definitely called for. Have a great one!