I served my first dinner in my dining room this weekend. I had my son, his wife, their two children, and my DIL's mother over for beef stew. It was really nice to use the room, and the stew turned out great! I even lit the candles.

The old dresser is now set up as a sideboard in the dining room, and I had the kids move a bookcase to a better position. Baby step by baby step, I'm getting the place in order.

I had two adventures this weekend: shopping at Whole Foods and making dishwashing detergent.

I had a $5 coupon for Whole Foods if I spent $25. I spent $33 after the coupon was subtracted. I didn't find it very easy to find things I wanted. I ended up getting stew beef, a chocolate bar, pumpkin butter, raspberries, Rice Dream Egg Nog, almond milk, hormone-free ice cream, organic salad greens, and soy creamer. The prices were intimidating, but the people were wonderfully friendly. It was the most friendly experience I've had in my new town!

To make the dishwashing detergent, I had to buy washing soda, borax, kosher salt, and Lemishine. I already had citric acid, which I ordered online. Finding the washing soda was a problem -- I went to three different places before I found it at Ace Hardware. My DIL put it together for me, and now I've got enough dishwashing detergent to last several years, I think. Does a really good job, though! The ingredients cost about $40.

I also went to see Cloud Atlas with my other son ($10), did some laundry ($3), bought groceries at Target ($11, after coupons) and bought some generic Glucosimine Chondroitin. ($18) My joints have been killing me, and the science community seems to agree that G-C, when taken in combination, helps some people. I have taken it before, but stopped when I broke my ankle. The powerful painkillers I took after the surgery made it redundant! But the pain has come back. I think it is partly because I am walking and climbing stairs so much more. My joints are complaining, but I think in the long run the extra exercise will develop muscles that will help my joints -- and maybe even help to get some weight off, which would be the best thing I could do for my aching hips and knees.

I went for my first followup to the pelvic surgery this morning. All is good. My next appointment is in four weeks. I paid $5 for parking.

It's turned chilly! Winter is breathing down my neck!