Friday. Oh thank god. That is all I really need to say. So in honor of the evening where I can drink wine and watch Dexter, I will do some catching up.

• Our Condo sits up against the back of the football field, baseball diamond and track of Broughton High School. During most of the week it is quiet and really nice to have as a backyard. Not so much on Friday evenings during a home game. When I drove up tonight, I would have sworn that the band and the players were standing on our back deck. Inside it isn’t THAT bad, but it certainly causes one to raise the volume on the TV a tad. We’re pretty certain that Iona thinks all the cheering is for her. If you doubt the proximity, here’s a photo from our back door.

• The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend, so back to the House we go. No Durham World Beer Festival or Farmer’s Markets for us. We know how to have real fun, so we’ll attempt to remove a deck and some bad hardwood floors. Our contractor’s truck is parked in front of the House again, so it would be a shame not to fill it.

• Someone asked why it was bittersweet getting my new NC plate. Well, it felt like winning at a bad game. It was such an ordeal going through the process that I was relieved and excited for being successful, yet bummed to give up my CA plate. I expect I will feel better when my giant bear IONA plate arrives in 4-6 weeks.

• I’m not sure if I mentioned that the shed is completely painted. If we can salvage the hardwoods that we are removing today, Michael’s thought is to install them in the shed. I think he loves the shed. Our Anniversary is in a couple weeks and I was initially concerned that the shed would be my gift. I think he loves it too much to even gift it in principle to me though. Considering all the money we’re spending, I am not entirely opposed to home equity projects counting towards our presents. I do hope though that he at least buys me flowers to go with my wall paper removal tools and paint stripper.

• The best box of good things arrived for Iona last night. She ran out of food a couple days ago and we’ve been feeding her some store-bought stuff that she consumes with zest but also seems to give her a stomach ache and bad smells. We started her on Limited Ingredient food (Lamb and Brown rice or Duck and Potato…yum) last year when she was battling allergies, and it worked so well that we’ve been remiss to change. I haven’t found a local place that carries it (WE ALL miss the Centinela pet stores), so I went to the magic of the Internet. It’s like Christmas for Corgis around here.