Emojis are taking over the world

ITEM!: Oliver seems to be feeling much better, which means that I am feeling much better. He's slept in bed with me the last couple nights, and is snoring alongside me right now. His back legs are stable again, and he's moving around a lot more. Of course, we'll continue his anti-inflammatory and pain pill regiment for the next several days, but I'd like to get him into the vet later this week to have his back checked again. I can't begin to tell you how scared I was, and how relieved I am now. That little man is among my everythings, and I am just not prepared to worry about his mortality.
ITEM!: Breaking news: We, as a family, had a social entertainment today! June texted me yesterday to ask if we all would like to come over to their house today and watch the Patriots game together. Her husband is originally from Boston, and is therefore a huge Pats fan. She knows we are too, so thought a good idea would be us hanging out and watching the game together. It was! We had a lovely day! Sydney and Miyuki played all morning, and all us adults enjoyed the game. Brian suggested that we get together next weekend for the next game. Oh my goodness, you guys, we may have made social friends today!
ITEM!: I did some work on the downstairs powder room, in preparing it for the repainting. The room is all painter taped up; and I took down the inexplicably full-size towel bar and repaired the holes in the wall. Sydney and I investigated the paint situation in the garage, and were delighted to discover one full gallon, as well as another mostly full gallon can of the paint we want for the room. All I need now is a tray, and maybe a roller (but I actually think I may have one in a bin in the garage). Also, I need to visit Lowe's tomorrow to check the paint I have, and to discern if I need a primer before I get started. In I-should-have-seen-this-coming news, Sydney would like to help with the painting.
ITEM!: I started on Dan Brown's Inferno yesterday, and I have to say, I'm not too impressed. I'm about 200 pages in, and will soldier through it because I feel like it definitely will get better, but I'm suffering right now. Random aside: I don't understand why the male protagonist and the brilliant female character that is working with him to unravel the mystery, must have some kind of romantic and physical attraction. They don't have anything in common except for their circumstance, and Brown just threw in this random "oh, she thought he was hot and had an unexplained sexual attraction to him" in the middle of a storyline that, frankly, doesn't need it. It smacked of Woody Allen movies, where Allen always casts beautiful young women to fall in love with him or a character similar to him, in that I figured Brown considers the Langdon character to be like him, and he wants every female in his books to think he's all that. It's distracted me from the severity of their situation, and that's irritating. This may be the reason why I'm not loving the book.
ITEM!: The smartest thing I've done lately is set my DVR to record NBC Nightly News every night. I enjoy the Brian Williams, for sure, but there's something super cool about being able to watch the national news whenever I want. In fact, here it is, 11:15 p.m., and I've just finished watching today's news. I feel better about knowing what's going on in the world, no matter the time. Yay DVR!