Austin, TEXAS, December 7, 2005 — Daily things get forgotten. Become pedestrian, quotidian. It's no big deal that I brush my teeth, floss (OK, sometimes I skip that), shampoo my hair. It's not that big a deal when I work out. Eat meals? Snack? Spend money? Every single day. Well, I've made a post here for every single day since September 15, 2002. It's so much a part of what I do that I don't think about it. That I'm sometimes surprised that everyone knows my business.

But for today, and through January 6, 2006, I've made a solemn vow to post via Holidailies. Will it become drudgery because of this? Like flossing? I did it last year but that was as a "Holidailies at Home participant." The only

difference is that you don't go to the portal and announce your entries. You just make them.

I pride myself on being a person who does what she says she is going to do. As a result I'm very careful about what I commit to do!

Normally on Monday and Wednesday my dad and I go to water aerobics. Today I think we were both anticipating worse weather and having our excuse. Anyway, when I called he said he wasn't going. The weather was tending toward worse with the temp dropping and some rain falling. While Monday and Wednesday isn't a daily obligation it is close enough os that I always feel like I got a reprieve if we cancel. So I wasted the next hour and a half looking at the WEB and posting my journal and seeing what was up on Holidailies.

I realized that I had a conversation snippet with my dad that he's repeated several times lately. After he said he wouldn't go to water aerobics, he said, "You go get some exercise and stay in shape. You have to outlive me so you can look after me."

"Yeah, after you're gone you don't care."

"Ha. No."

Is that just a conversation thing he sticks in or is he really worried something will happen to me?

I try to get some exercise every day. Even if it's just tennis, water aerobics or riding the recumbent bike or a walk. So I did head to the club. As I was walking in one of the 'tennis ladies' who'd booked me to play tomorrow, said hi as she left the gym. "Don't even think about playing tomorrow." Well, temperatures well below freezing, possible sleet, wind. Nah. Heck they didn't make it Tuesday.

I went inside and got on the recumbent bike and dug into the newspapers with the idea of getting a bunch of this pile disposed of. I could just transfer my out-of-date piles directly to recycling. But then I wouldn't learn things. Like that there is scientific evidence that you get less drunk if you eat before drinking or that the market for table wine in France was so bad that some producers were selling it to be turned into ethanol for fuel. And I wouldn't discover new WEB sites on which to waste time. Like the del.icio.us site where people set up bookmarks and classify them, creating a unique kind of search thing.

I could make a commitment to read the day's papers daily on the day they arrive. But that doesn't seem to work for me. I can spend that time writing meaningless words, but not flipping through the newsprint.

When I'd finished with the bike (I intended thirty minutes, the timer said fifty-two), I realized there were a couple of weight things I hadn't done in a long time. I did a few of those and left. The weather was a bit more bitter when I emerged, windy, cold and rain.

I don't do some things daily that I should do. Keep a close watch on my financials and the other mundane things of life, for example. But today I went home from the gym and we went to the lawyer and signed updated wills. I checked up on some other financial things later as well. I should be on top of this every day. But, of course, I'm not. I started redoing our sort of balance sheet spreadsheet that we keep. Mostly just thinking about how to arrange it. I don't get to the plugging in the data part. That's where I get frustrated looking for mergers, buys, stock dividends and trying to get everything straight. Nothing to do, though, but just do it. Although maybe not today! I should do something every day on it, though.

On the way back we decided to stop at Central Market. The wind was kicking up, the temperature dropping. We weren't committed to anything tonight and planned to stay in. Be nice to have some food around. (FFP had opened cans of chili and made Frito chili pie for me, the bookkeeper and himself for lunch. The pantry can always yield something but still.) We swung in to CM and there seemed to be lots of like-minded folks. We intended to spend $30 so we could get some free stem-less wine glasses with a coupon. Not to worry. The bill nudged a hundred bucks as we stocked up on produce and bought sushi, spring rolls, talapia, tofu dip, soup, Orangina, non-alcoholic beer, wasabi peas and such. I mean you don't want to get stuck at home in an ice storm without limes, fresh Clementines and dip. Ice storms in Austin by the way aren't just not quotidian, they aren't even annual events. But we could have one. And that would be rare for early December. So we were pretty stocked up. And more so after FFP made another trip to the regular store and got the bread he likes, a tomato, automatic dishwasher soap and drain cleaner. I was reminded of my counting sheep substitute from the other night, but we weren't stocking up quite that seriously. FFP filled the car up with gas, too, so he wouldn't have to do it when it gets even colder. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to look for my gloves and scarf and that Polartec thing to cover my ears. Or not. Around here by the time you find such stuff, it's warm again.

Around five, with the cold weather surrounding us outside (and coming up under our rug-less floors) FFP decided to make...Bloody Marys. He has a recipe courtesy of our friend Al who is the most refined gourmand we know. Maybe Bloody Marys don't seem to be the right thing for a cold winter night, but I knew I bought those limes for something! He made a pitcher and we made two each before it was over, eating sushi, spring rolls and tofu dip with them.

We settled in to read. I attacked the puzzle in the NY Times. I finally won. I watched a remake of The Miracle on 34th Street. What is wrong with me? Well, anyway, who could be productive after that? Not me certainly. I got my journal written. All the other things I should do every day? Not so much. I didn't even take time to note that it was Pearl Harbor Day.