This may not look like much ...

But it represents a very real and dramatic milestone for my house.

You see the kitchen. Doesn't it look nice and tidy? The dishes are washed. The stovetop reflects light. (Well, it WOULD reflect light if I were standing right over it with the flash!) The crockpot holds tonight's dinner, simmering away nicely. What you don't see is that the floor has been vacuumed and scrubbed. The dishwasher has been run. You also don't see the laundry hanging outside on the clothesline, nor the honking huge basket of towels that was put away.

What does all this tidiness mean? Quite simply, it means that I am feeling better. LOTS better. After a week of wearing my nightgown and housecoat, sleeping endlessly, blowing my nose constantly, consuming copious amounts of generic cough medicine, sneezing, moaning about not feeling well, staring bleary-eyed at the world, and in general being a miserable patient,

I AM BETTER!

OK. I'm not yet at 100%. But certainly better. Well enough that I did housework for the first time in a week. Well enough that I actually went for a walk outside -- a brisk walk at that! Well enough that preparing food for the other residents of my home didn't seem like an unreasonable risk! Yes! I'm better!

And even better than feeling better is having completed yet another Dulaan project.

This little sweater (no, it is NOT the same sweater from two weeks ago) was giving me fits. Not because it was difficult. Not because I was bored with the endless stockinette stitch pattern.
It was giving me fits because I was not entirely sure that I would have enough yarn to finish the last sleeve. And since the yarn was ... um ... old and from stash, I figured the chances of being able to even remotely match the dye lot would be impossible.

Fortunately for me (and some little toddler in Mongolia or Pakistan), I had just enough yarn to finish the sleeve. And I must say that I actually do like the stockinette in this sweater. The colour striping in the yarn was just enough to be interesting without the danger of making a mistake in my drug-induced haze of the last week.

And even better -- now that I've completed two projects for charity, I get to make something for me and mine. I feel another Christmas project coming my way. I am *SO* going to be ready this year.