Lindsay Lohan makes good progress on probation

Actress Lindsay Lohan, who is on probation for drunk driving and theft convictions, pleased a judge for a change on Wednesday by completing her court-ordered community service and therapy sessions on time.

Miss Lohan, you have actually done your work, and not only done it, but done it early, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner told the actress in court.

Lohan, 25, dressed conservatively on Wednesday in a cream-colored cardigan and trousers, and she smiled and joked with the judge after her progress report came back positive.

The judge's praise was a turnabout from an October appearance in Sautner's court in which she angrily revoked Lohan's probation because the actress had failed to perform community service, as scheduled.

At that time, the judge called Lohan's previous sentence and probation a gift and said, there's something called looking a gift horse in the mouth.

A few weeks later Sautner sentenced the actress to jail and ordered that, upon release, she perform a strict regimen of at lest 12 days of service at the Los Angeles County morgue and four psychological counseling sessions each month, both of which she completed in time for Wednesday's progress hearing.

Lohan's next progress hearing is scheduled for January 17, 2012.