We Made It!

Oh my! They say that moving is the third most stressful event in a person's life and I BELIEVE IT! Actually, my question would be why it isn't #1 or #2.

I can't even say it was one big thing that made moving horrible. It was just a bunch of little things that added up to a huge amount of stress and hassle. Luckily, I had the support of my husband, friends, family and pharmaceutical products that allowed me to survive, not injure/harm anyone and deal with a kitty that cried (non-stop) from Maple Glen, PA to the NC state line. That's a story for another entry.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you my 'views' of our drive from PA to New Bern.

More good moving stories to come!

Did you think I forgot about Buffett Trivia #2?

Oh, please. Do not fear. I may forget my own name, but I would never forget ANYTHING Buffett related.

Jimmy Buffett has a fondness for flying. Before purchasing his Dassault Falcon 900ex jet, he was know to pilot a Grumman HU-A16 Albatross known fondly as, "Hemisphere Dancer." At a flight survival training course (Little Creek Naval Air Station in Norfolk, VA), Jimmy learned the expression, "Bubbles up!" Should a pilot have a water landing, or accident, the course taught participants to follow their bubbles to the surface.

Good thing. This piece of knowledge ended up saving Jimmy's life after his seaplane crashed off of Long Island. "Bubbles up!" was the last thing he remembered before blacking out after the crash. He saw which way the bubbles were going, followed them, and survived.

Just think . . . Without "Bubbles up," we might not have "It's 5 o'clock somewhere"!

Buffett Trivia #1 . . . . Answered

You know, time just got away from me. Everyday last week was spent packing and, by the time I looked up, it was 5 o'clock somewhere . . . . . Like Hawaii. . . Which means, on the East Coast it was about 11 PM. Needless to say, I was just too darn tired to blog. Oh well. This whole move thing is a hassle right now, but will be sooooooo worth it in . . . hmmm, . . . . I'll say about two to three weeks.

So, did you want some answers????

Buffett Question #1

Well, as you can imagine, Jimmy knows a lot of important people. Bill Gates, Alan Jackson, Al Gore, George Clooney, Bill Clinton,George Strait and many more high-profile people that Jimmy calls from his cell.

The busboy who found the phone thought it would be amusing to make repeated crank calls to Bill Clinton. The Secret Service visited the boy's home, confiscated the phone and returned it to Jimmy. Oh! And the busboy? He was fired.

"Bubbles Up!"

Now, let's move on to Buffett Trivia #2

One of Jimmy's favorite expressions is, "Bubbles up!"

Where did he learn this expression? Why is it so near and dear to his heart?

P.S. The picture should give you a hint . . . . . It's of one of his planes, the "Hemisphere Dancer."

T minus 6 days . . .

For Parrotheads, like myself and DJ, attending a Jimmy Buffett concert is one of the highlights of the year. (Did I mention that we scheduled our move/closing on the new house around the Buffett concert schedule?) Ranking right up there with chocolate, it is probably one of my top four loves in live. . . . In fact, this is how I would rank them . . .

1. I love my husband

2. I love my cat

3. I love chocolate

4. I love BUFFETT

Numbers 1 thru 4 might flip-flop some depending on the severity of my PMS, if my husband suddenly finds it amusing to see how he can pluck my last nerve, how many furballs my kitty might be hacking up during shedding season, amount of wine I've had to drink, how much cold weather I've had to endure or number of frothy, fruity/coconutty drinks I've consumed.

So, for all you Parrotheads (and non-Parrotheads who just don't know what you're missing out on), I'll be your Domino College (look it up) Instructor teaching a week long course of Buffett Trivia.

Today's question: Buffett's song, 'Everybody's On The Phone' was written after Jimmy lost his cell phone at a Delray Beach restaurant, May 2005. How did he get his phone back?

Is it hot, or is it just me?

Holy Moly! Can y'all see the heat waves radiating from the sidewalk? It is days like this where cooking over a stove/oven or eating heavy meals is just unappealing. So, I hope the lettuce montage provides you with some edible inspiration for dinner tonight, tomorrow night or sometime over the next 5 days (length of predicted heat wave here in PA).

Thoughtful Thursday

Pictures of some of the children I met in Peru this past February. No 'thoughtful' words necessary here. I'll let the images do the talking.

Does your office furniture include a fuzzy orange paperweight?

DJ and I decided that we want 'grown up' office desks in our new place. So, we decided to sell our two current home office desks. Both of them are that compressed wood/particle board from Sauder furniture company. This decision makes sense since it will decrease the weight load of 'stuff' to move, thus decreasing our moving costs; and the moving company made us sign a waiver that said they were not responsible if the pieces of the desk did not go back together correctly in their new location. Hmmm . . . Having to sign the waiver did not instill a boatload of confidence in me. . . . . .

I listed the desks on craigslist.org (great site, check it out) and, much to my delight, they sold in less than one week. Just one problem . . . My husband's office is in total chaos (and we know how he likes his order . . . .). He has his office computer on a filing cabinet, the keyboard in his lap, the home computer is set up on two shelves of a bookcase and the two printers on the other shelves.

But, being a good 'daddy,' he made sure to leave one-half of a shelf open for the kitty. So, using some ingenuity, we've ensured that my husband's 'assistant' can still keep an eye on him while he works.

Quote for the day . . . .

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."

--Lily Tomlin

OK, OK. I'm guilty of taking the easy way out of updating my blog by using the quote above. I could/should be regailing y'all with all the crazy details of moving, selling a house, buying a house, setting up phone service, getting a trash can and (the all important) recycling bin, shopping around for flood insurance (a lesson to be discussed later), etc, etc.

Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.

This Day in History

The year was 1944 and America was still at war. On June 2, after an urgent plea for help from Joseph Stalin, the American bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force launched Operation Frantic. Originally named, Operation Frantic Joe, the name was shortened so as not to insult the Soviet dignitary.

From History.com:

The Fifteenth U.S. Air Force was created solely to cripple Germany's war economy. Operating out of Italy, and commanded by General Carl Spaatz, a World War I fighter pilot, the Fifteenth was recruited by a desperate Joseph Stalin to help the Red Army in its campaign in Romania. In exchange for the Fifteenth's assistance, Stalin allowed the American bombers to land at airbases within the Soviet Union as they carried out Operation Frantic, a plan to devastate German industrial regions in occupied Silesia, Hungary, and Romania. Given that such bombing patterns would have made return flights to Foggia and other parts of southern Italy, the Fifteenth's launching points, impossible because of refueling problems, the "shuttle" to Poltava was the solution that made Frantic a reality.

Sunday Ritual

In times of turmoil, even the simplest of rituals is comforting. For example, take our Sunday morning 'production' of changing the sheets. Yes, 'production' is the correct description.

Removal of the old sheets is a three part process.

1. One of us picks her up off the bed (which is about as easy as holding onto water)
2. The second person pulls off the flat and fitted sheets while the first holds the squirming kitty above.

3. Then, we drop the kitty back onto the bed so she can 'dig' into the mattress cover for a few minutes.

Putting clean sheets on? Oh, yeah. Real production . . . . as you can see from the pictures above. Why only three pictures? Because they are the only ones that didn't come out as creamsicle colored blurs.