We're repapering the kitchen this weekend. The paper that was there when we moved in in 1990 was OK except that the people who papered before us didn't strip the previous stuff, so it didn't adhere well and we've been having to try to stick it back up periodically. Eventually you just can't do that anymore. The walls are stripped, cleaned, and primed in spots now, and tomorrow morning we'll see if our marriage and family structure will once again survive the acid test of a home improvement project.

This is partly because it really needed to be done, and partly because we need to start getting our house ready to go on the market in case we end up moving. We have some other things that we need to do as well. The downstairs bathroom floor needs work ONCE AGAIN. The upstairs bathroom ceiling needs help where years ago the roof leaked and the ceiling had kind of a delayed reaction. And things of that nature. If we end up staying in Memphis, we'll be glad we did this stuff. I thought we'd stay in this house forever. It'll be paid off in a few more years. Well, who knows what will happen.

F started researching Kalamazoo as soon as I told her what was up. She has been inserting factoids into various conversations - 69.7 inches of snow per year, normal low in January of 16 degrees, etc. The other day, however, I was driving her somewhere and the traffic was just impossible. I was spitting by the time I got her where she was going - when I dropped her off she told me to stop somewhere and sit down and get a cold drink. But when I wondered what the traffic is like in Kalamazoo, she told me that between 2001 and 2003 there were 10 traffic fatalities, compared to 232 for that time period in Shelby County, with only about 4 times as many people. I repeated this to R. Last night we were leaving the grocery store and it was such an ordeal just to leave the parking lot that he looked at me and said, "I'm ready to go."

So we're going back and forth.

In other news, we did put down a litter box for Molly in her chosen corner of the living room, and to our great relief, she has been using it. We left it there for a few days and now have it inserted in a solvent box lying on its side, so she can have some privacy, and have started moving it toward the bathroom. To fill the spot where it was so she doesn't get ideas, we bought a little cat bed today and put it down, and I sprinkled it with catnip. Molly thinks it's the bee's knees. So maybe this little crisis is behind us.