We’re in Nebraska. Almost to Wyoming. But it got dark, so we stopped. I love this precious little hotel! Pets welcome, it’s all done up for Christmas, and there’s a wonderful Mexican restaurant right across the street that worked with me in a most generous fashion so Frank and I could eat gluten-free dairy-free. They even checked the bottle of soy sauce that they use for their fajitas to make sure it didn’t contain wheat, and they made no fuss.

So today we drove across Kansas and into Colorado. I don’t know what y’all are talking about, Kansas being boring… I LOVED Kansas. When you’re used to seeing nothing but cabbage palms everywhere you look, I’m telling you — wide open spaces with oodles of hay and cattle and prairie and giant skies all over the place! Heaven. Then Colorado. COLORADO! We did take 385 up to Nebraska. We didn’t even see a mountain in Colorado (northeast tip), and it was breathtaking! Rolling hills, more cattle, more wide open spaces, clouds in the distance that looked like mountains from afar… SIGH. Just SIGH.

The sunrise in Kansas this morning was lovely, the sunset yesterday was nice. Today’s sunset in Colorado was just beautiful. Seriously, other than arthritis, I do not get why people retire to Florida.

So we’re almost to Wyoming and praying that the weather is with us the rest of the week. I’m budgeting two days for the remaining 836 miles. So if you chose Friday in the poll, you just may win high praise! But Saturday’s a good bet, too.

Frito Lay sunflower seeds are far superior to David’s sunflower seeds. I’ve been suffering through David’s seeds for most of the trip, because I accidentally bought a giant bag of them and didn’t remember that they’re not so good until I was eating them on the trip. David’s are way too salty — so salty that my tongue burns after eating more than a couple of handfuls — while Frito Lay seeds have the perfect amount of salt. Also with David’s, you get a rotten seed about every third or fourth seed, and rotten seeds are very rare in a bag of Frito Lay seeds. Anyway, I stopped to use the bathroom at a gas station yesterday, and I feel bad if I don’t buy something or gas up when using a random bathroom; the first thing I thought was, “Oooh! I can get good sunflower seeds.”

I thought y’all should benefit from my thoughtful analysis. You’re welcome for this most informative post.

Except the Pawnee Nation. I heart them. See, I locked the key in the U-Haul today, and Bobby from the tribal police had me back in within a half hour. Hey. 2900 miles — it was bound to happen at least once.

As for Kansas, much better roads. My opinion of Oklahoma’s roads did not change during the daytime driving.

Tomorrow we hit Colorado and hopefully Wyoming. One question: my mom says we should avoid looping around Denver at all costs due to the traffic, and I’m all for avoiding traffic. I think 385 takes us where we need to be (though we’ll have to do something with the guns for the small amount of time we’re in Nebraska)… is that an ok road to take? Also, what do we do when we get to snowy places? I don’t think the truck came with tire chains, and I don’t know how to use those anyway.

Because Oklahoma sucks.

Yes, old joke, I know, but so fitting. I’m still trying to figure out which state I hate the most: Mississippi or Oklahoma. I can give you a quick list of things/people who should be destroyed in the most efficient fashion possible.

* People who drive with their brights on and don’t click them off when other cars are approaching.
* The civil engineers and construction companies involved in the making of the roads of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
* Hotels that try to charge a fee of $25 per pet.
* The Indian Nation Turnpike in Oklahoma and the genius who designed it. Seriously, if I’m paying $9.75 to drive down a road, it should be lined WITH STREET LIGHTS!
* Heather Graham and her stupid giggle. That’s unrelated to this trip.

I would tell you more (and one day I will) but I’m so exhausted from today. I am never driving in the dark again. EVER.

p.s. Rowdi decided to escape and run onto the highway tonight. She didn’t get hit.

We’re in Louisiana. If it can go wrong, it has. I’ll write more when I have time.

P.S. Do y’all know how much it hurts to have a cat claw the inside of your nose while ripping the glasses off your face? Also, what’s the previous world record on a dog chewing through a seatbelt and cutting it in two? I’m guessing Rowdi can top that.

Guess where we are!! Give up?
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Comment spam. Since Google knocked me down from my long-time PR5 to a PR3 at mm, I’ve starting getting less comment spam. Meanwhile, over at SRM, my PR4 blog, the amount of comment spam has started multiplying like little dust bunnies tend to do at Casa de J (pronounced jota). I mean, I don’t have to clean it up or anything — but there is more to scroll through to make sure real comments haven’t been eaten.

We were only supposed to take a one-hour nap. I told Frank that wouldn’t happen. We slept with the lights on so we wouldn’t get too comfortable. That’s probably what kept our nap down to three hours.

And now we have five hours until the movers get here to load the truck. So I’m gonna go buy a hundred espresso machines and get back to work. I figure as long as enough is done for the movers to be able to access all the furniture, we’ll be fine. Right? RIGHT?

No. I am not freaking out. Yet.

the realtor just called to see if she could bring by a retiree couple in a half hour to look at the house. Hahahahahahahahaha. They’re in town for a very short period of time, of course. She’s gonna call and see if they’d like to see it Wednesday morning instead (um, y’all should see the disaster I’ve got going over here). Please let them want to see it Wednesday morning.

UPDATE: He wants to come see it dirty. Hahahaha.

UPDATE: The whole family came! Yeah. The older couple (snowbirds) would be buying the house. Their adult son and his wife and kid came, too. The whole family was so nice. I think the son was here on vacation, for today only. Anyway, that was wholly embarrassing. I did manage to bag up all the trash that was sitting in the floor in distinct piles waiting to be bagged (I just toss it all in a pile and bag it later — it’s faster that way, never having to fight with the bag to make sure the stuff goes in). I also cleaned the fresh cat puke off the garage floor (thank you Simple Green!), tossed out two cat litter boxes (we were going to chuck ‘em tomorrow anyway) and changed the other one and added two disposable boxes to the garage floor, sprayed air freshener in the garage, cleaned enough of the top of the stove that I could put my cooling pan of brownies over what I couldn’t clean fast enough, took the freshly baked bread out of the oven (at least there was that, right?), picked up pet fur, and even managed to put on a bra. Yay me! They seemed to like the house and were very interested in the golf course and the community benefits. They also asked about the neighbors — they’re snowbirds and have a house near here, but it seemed to me like they’re wanting to get into a community of retirees with a golf course. That sounds just like our community!

Holy soccer balls, y’all! Okay, so the movers come tomorrow at noon. And the truck place just called and said we can pick up the truck today instead of tomorrow for no additional charge; we will definitely take advantage of that — will make tomorrow less nightmarish. And ok, so here’s the list of things I have to finish before tomorrow so we can spend all day tomorrow cleaning and such. I think we’re going to coordinate with neighbors or our realtor to have a cleaning crew and a carpet cleaning crew come in after Thanksgiving. That makes me feel better and takes away stress and tells me that it’s okay to not have everything perfect when we leave, because someone else is going to come in and take care of that. Which means, of course, that we will end up with enough time to actually do the cleaning.

• Book hotels. Yes, I was going to do this last week, and I got down to the making reservations part, and if you’re booking through the pet friendly website, you have to pay the whole bit in advance, you don’t get to pay there. I tried going to the individual hotel websites, too, and nothing was happening for me there either. And well, we’re traveling with FOUR ANIMALS. That part just blows my mind still. So what if we have animal emergencies and don’t make it all the way to the stops we intend? No refunds, dude. Or what if we make it a lot farther and are like, well, we’d better just keep going and stay at the next town. AAAAACK. I have the trip laid out in five legs of 8.5 to 10 hours, so that should work, but I’m just worried since this is US. And guess what this week is? Thanksgiving. Which makes me think that by this point we’re just gonna end up sleeping in the truck or car or both because this is when everyone travels. Oh, and I can’t save this one for Tuesday after the truck is packed, because we lose internet tomorrow. And we don’t actually know what time tomorrow! We just know they’re picking up the modem and the DVR in the late afternoon. I don’t know if they’re stopping the service tonight at midnight or when they pick up the equipment.
• Finish packing. Yes, those two storage rooms I filled with stuff over the last six months, and I’ve still done a weeklong pack of what we left in the house. Which is remarkably more than it seemed. If I finish packing the kitchen this morning (we bought freezer food yesterday to eat through tomorrow night), I’ll feel much better about everything. Most of the clothes are either packed in suitcases or space bags. I still have to pack the den closet and figure out how we’re transporting Mr. Shiny and friends. And I haven’t packed most of the tools yet. I’ve given away and thrown out soooo much stuff this year, so I just don’t understand how we can possibly have this much left!
• Make three twoone more loavesloaf of bread (I made one yesterday) and one more pan of brownies (also made one of those yesterday).
• Three or fourTwo loads of laundry. I’ve been doing this for several days, but I have so many categories. I’m going to ban us from wearing anything red, purple, denim, yellow, or delicate until we’re on the road, yo.
• Figure out which wall hangings won’t fit in this giant wardrobe box I have for them. I have a plan for those.
• Patch nail holes. Finish touchups around the ceilings! Wallpaper that island if we have time, which we won’t.
• Change the address on our credit cards and our wonderful checking account (I’m so glad they have our bank in Idaho). Um, after we have a PO Box in Idaho.
• Have the post office hold our mail until we have a PO Box in Idaho.
• Bring in the stuff from the back patio.
• Give our propane to the neighbors.
• Coordinate with neighbors or realtor on the cleaning and carpet cleaning.
• CleanSweep the garage floor.
• Change the cat litter. Yes, it’s only for one day, and thank God we have disposable litter trays for the whole trip, but it really needs changing.
• Unpack those three boxes that came with me from Texas. Yes, this is ridiculous, except that they have silverfish in them, and I am not transporting silverfish with us. I’ll probably be unloading everything directly into the trash or shredder, but it must be done, and that’s three fewer boxes to deal with there.
• Get the iPod loaded with driving music — I can do this tomorrow after the truck is packed.
• Finish loading into iTunes the few CDs that never got loaded.
• Pack a case of CDs for Frank to listen to in the car.
• Tape up the back of one of the walkies. I got them working, but one of them decided it didn’t want to stay together.
• Vacuum and steam floors. Yes, we’ll have it professionally done, but what if someone comes to look before the pros get here?
• Clean as much as possible. See above.
• Do anything that requires the super-awesome ladder, since that will be loaded onto the truck at noonish.
• Drop off a bag of food and clothes.
• Run the dishwasher one last time. I’d better do that now.
• Call my dad again about the family reunion since he never got me that info I asked for.
• Load the last food bin for the trip.
• Throw out the last of the fridge stuff.
• Clean the shelves in the fridge (door and crispers are already clean).
• Cook the bacon we have for the trip. Also buy the bacon, as apparently all the bacon is expired.
• Decide which house we’re renting after Frank’s mom sees the last one on our list.
• Clean the microwave.
• Breathe. I hear it’s good to do that.

I’ll update y’all later. And if you don’t hear from me tomorrow, I’ll touch base Wednesday night from our first stop. Mwah.

Good dog, Digger.

When you make your totally awesome potato soup, make sure you don’t throw in the contents of just any can that has a picture of coconuts on the front. A whole can of creme of coconut will make your soup inedible.

kthxbai.

Frank has just put Minerva into a decorative trunk and is trying to add Omen.

SARAHK: NO! Put her down. Oh! And get Minerva out of there! BAD!
FRANK J.: Minerva likes it in there.
SARAHK: Get her out.
FRANK J.: No. You can’t tell me what to do.
SARAHK [narrowing my eyes]: I’ll spit in your peanuts again. So there. Get her out.

Why yes, peeps, I *did* spit in his peanuts. Why, you ask? For my own sanity.

See, he spilled some of his honey roasted peanuts all over the couch and floor earlier. He started picking them up while I focused on not letting the dog eat the peanuts. After a while, I realized that he was putting the peanuts back into the can.

SARAHK: Why are you wasting a whole can of peanuts?
FRANK J.: I’m not. I’m picking them up and putting them back in!
SARAHK: No, you’re ruining what was left in the can!
FRANK J.: No I’m not.
SARAHK: Yes you are. Now you can’t eat any of them!
FRANK J.: Yes I can. I’m going to eat them.

I actually felt one of my eyeballs start to detach from the optic nerve at this point.

SARAHK: You are NOT going to eat them!
FRANK J. [picking peanuts up off the floor, NOT wiping them off, and popping them into his mouth]: Uh huh. See? I’m eating them.
SARAHK: You are so gross! Stop it! [Getting up and trying but failing to take the can of peanuts from him]
FRANK J.: No. There’s nothing wrong with them.
SARAHK: Throw them away. Now.
FRANK J.: No! I’m not going to waste them!
SARAHK: You already did waste them! You picked them up off the floor, which is FULL of dog hair, and just threw them in with the clean peanuts! You canNOT eat those!
FRANK J.: I’m eating them. And you can’t stop me.

So I walked over to the can of peanuts and spit right in it.

SARAHK: There. Case closed.
FRANK J.: You’re so mean! I’m hungry! You ruined my peanuts!
SARAHK: No, YOU ruined your peanuts. You have another giant can in the kitchen. Eat those. They haven’t been on the floor, which is full of hair and dust mites and all sorts of disgusting things.
FRANK J.: No, I’m not going to eat the ones in the kitchen. Those are for the trip. I’m not going to waste them.
SARAHK: It’s not wasting them if you’re hungry and you eat them. It’s eating them.
FRANK J.: No, because then I’ll run out on the trip.
SARAHK: Well, we might be able to find a Wal-Mart somewhere along the way and buy you another four dollar can of peanuts.

Just now, I told him that I was blogging about the peanuts.

FRANK J.: That was mean. I can’t believe you ruined my peanuts.
SARAHK: I did not ruin your peanuts.
FRANK J.: You didn’t even try to stop me from putting them back in the can. So when I started, I was watching you to see if you were going to stop me, and you didn’t so I was like, okay.
SARAHK: I was busy keeping the dog from eating the peanuts. All I had to say to her was “Shhhhtt!” and she understood. So the dog understands better than you do that it’s not okay to eat peanuts off the floor.
FRANK J.: Oh, sure. You care more about the dog than you do about me.
SARAHK: Well, she listens to me sometimes.

Ay. I don’t ask for much. I don’t request shiny rings and diamond pendants. I just ask that my husband not eat off the floor.

It’s so painful (for me) trimming Rowdi’s claws. There is always much peanut butter involved — unless she’s gulping down spoonfuls or Kongfuls of PB, she won’t even let you touch her claws. It makes me really angry with her previous owners, because it means that they didn’t get her used to it at an early age, didn’t massage her paws so she’s okay with being touched there. I’ve been working on that lately, massaging her paws and her knuckles and all that. And trying to trim those things often. Until earlier in the week, I was always afraid to cut too much, because I had no idea when I’d get too close to the quick.

Well, we trimmed her claws just now. Scratch that. We trimmed her right front and right back claws. I went a little at a time on each one and used a flashlight shining across the claws to help me know when to stop (it’s really hard to look at the face of the claws themselves, because it’s hard enough to get the paws off the ground, much less enough that my head will fit under them). Other than pinching my own hand a few times with the trimmers, everything went well… until we got to her pinky toe on the back paw. I got one small cut done really easily. The second cut? I barely moved up the nail. Maybe a millimeter. I made the cut, and the puppy, who cannot be distracted from peanut butter for any reason… she yelped.

That’s when I told Frank I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to leave it to the professionals. The good thing is that I looked, felt, everything, and she wasn’t bleeding. So I’m pretty sure I didn’t cut the quick.

It was all over after that. Oh, she was still lapping the peanut butter, but when I moved over to cut the left side, every time I picked up her paw, she stopped eating the PB (that is major, folks), looked at me with sad, watery puppy eyes, and started licking my hand. Her eyes were telling me, “I would bite you, but you would just hate me more.”

So we only got one side done today. We’ll try the other side tomorrow. Maybe she will have forgotten I hurt her.

After worship Sunday morning (actually, we don’t get out until afternoon, because class is an hour, we have a half-hour break for greetings, etc., and then worship is about two hours), the congregation is having a potluck for us. A nice send-off. After they asked tonight if they could do this and we said yes, I started wondering how we would deal with that. I do not want to offend anyone by not eating most of the food, but I can’t afford to get sick on Sunday, or I’ll be out of commission all week. Can’t do that.

But I don’t think it will be a problem. The preacher’s wife came up and asked if there is any type of food I like in particular, and I grinned, got a little embarrassed and quiet, and told her that I love anything that doesn’t contain wheat or dairy (it’s more than that, but those are the main things). She said she was glad I reminded her (everyone there knows about my food intolerances), and I told her that they didn’t need to make a big deal, and I was sure I would be able to eat some of what people make. Then one of the older ladies (the same one who said to just pack up and go) asked what she could make us that I could eat. I told her I just can’t have wheat or dairy, and she said she could make me a cake. :-) “What you mean, you don’t eat no meat?! … It’s ok. I make lamb.” After I told her that I can’t eat cake (well, I can, but not standard cake) because it has flour in it, she said, “Well, what about a pie? No wait. You can’t eat that either.” I told her to please not worry about it and that I’ll make myself a gluten-free cake (I have a mix that I wouldn’t mind trying). Then yet another sister came up and asked what it is that I can’t eat, but before I could answer, she had already answered that I can’t have dairy or wheat. People nearby gasped at the prospect that there’s nothing good in the world I can eat. Hahaha. I told them about my homemade bread (there’s no need to tell them it’s from a mix) and that I eat pasta and blah blah blah, mainly just have to use alternative flours and stay away from most processed food and shop at the health food stores. One of the girls there knew a lot about gluten-free, so we got to talk about it for a few minutes.

Anyway, I think they all want to make sure we’re well taken care of and that I can eat at least a few things at the potluck. It was kinda touching.

I’m so excited about the prospect of hiking soon! And not just the kind where you hike for an hour and turn around and go home. I mean you get up early in the morning, pack a lunch and a ton of water, hike until late in the day, and return to your car just as it’s getting dark. Of course, overnight hikes are even better, but a long day-hike doesn’t take vacation days, and those are going to be reserved for family, at least for the first year or so.

There is only one problem I foresee in our hiking future. While Frank still has his Grand Canyon hiking boots, I actually have none. I did have a pair the first two times I hiked the Canyon, but I gave those to my mom, because they hurt my feet so much. When I hiked the Canyon with Frank, I used a combination of running shoes and a pair of sturdy velcro sandals. My feet actually hurt less than they did with the hiking boots, but wow, the pain was still horrific. That was before I gave up dairy and gluten, so I have far fewer foot problems to start with these days, but I still think I need to get a good pair of hiking boots. But I’ll tell you — I am the worst at picking out hiking boots. Every pair I’ve owned, even the expensive ones I gave to my mom, have just been foot killers.

I guess when we get there, I’ll have to go to the big outdoors store and look around. I know from last winter’s grand opening that they do carry hiking and hunting boots, so I should be able to find a pair. Knowing me, though, I’ll buy them online after I know what I want. That way I can price shop.

Actually, I wish I hadn’t already given Frank the go-ahead on Guitar Hero, because hiking boots would have been an even better Christmas present for me. Oh well. I’ll just take the money out of our grocery budget. Who needs to eat anyway?

We went to BJ’s yesterday to buy more packing tape and return the iPod car adapter we had bought on Sunday. The adapter was for second gen and didn’t fit my first gen iPod. We were able to find a different one for ten bucks more, and I was pleased that they let me return the previous one without the receipt for store credit. Of course, after we had those two items, Frank made a beeline straight through the plasma and LCD TV section (pausing briefly to look at the lifts), because he knew what he would find on the other side: Guitar Hero. He had played it on Sunday for the first time, so he knew right where to find it. Since I hadn’t yet played it, I got to go first. It took me a while to get the hang of the game (especially with hubby saying over and over in my ear, “No, you can select the colors ahead of time, you don’t have to wait until you’re strumming,” advice that is just not going to work for me). But once I did get the hang of it, I loved it. So. Much. Fun. Of course, just when I was in the middle of my long streak, Frank started saying, “Look, you can get star power!” and since I ignored him and continued to play, he reached over and just started pushing buttons, trying to find which button gets you star power. Well, instead, he paused the game, completely breaking my rhythm and concentration, and it took a while for me to get back into it after he hit the button to start it again. Bad sweetie!

Anyway, he played, and I didn’t randomly hit buttons, and he was able to figure out how to get star power.

It’s fun. Fun fun fun. So that’s what we’re getting for Christmas for each other. At least I don’t have to stress about what to get him this year.

Well, I have our travel route from Florida to Idaho mapped out. We would go the upper route through Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, etc., like we did last Thanksgiving (a beautiful drive), but since we’re hitting Austin before Amarillo, we have to pretty much use the coastal route all the way to Texas. That’s fine, we did that one before during our U-Hell trip from Texas to Florida. I don’t remember if I told y’all during that multiple-installment, never-finished saga about all of the Minerva-hiding that happened. No no, not the time when she hid herself so well under the seat in Pensacola that we thought she had gotten out of the truck through the cracked windows during the five minutes we were inside the Burger King using the bathroom and buying burgers — the incident that had me walking door to door, bawling, and asking the business employees whether they’d … *sniff* … seen a … *SOB* … calico running around. I was a mess. No no. Not that Minerva-hiding.

The Minerva-hiding of which I speak was the hiding that *we* did every night when we brought her in from the car and into our motel rooms. I felt like such an outlaw — wait until no one is looking and rush into the room, hiding the crate as much as possible. That was fun and a little stressful. Oh, and make sure you leave no traces of a cat behind. Yeah, a cat that sleeps with you. There was a roadside motel in Cisco, Texas, that allowed pets, but that was the only one we found on our drive.

Of course, that’s before I knew there were wonderful websites out there that will list only pet friendly hotels. My sister-in-law told me about such sites last Christmas. I’ve been using officialpethotels.com to help find our options in each town. It’s so much better than scouring the listings of all hotels and having to find out which ones are pet friendly. I just click on advanced search, tell the system the dates and cities I need, and tell them I also want high-speed internet (so I can tell you the saga as it occurs, of course), and I get a list of pet-friendly hotels with high-speed internet. I played around with the site yesterday — I guess I should start booking. I’m afraid of winging it and just showing up, since we’ll be traveling Thanksgiving week.

So apparently a new IKEA store has opened or is opening in Orlando. And there are people camped out in front of the store, waiting to save money by spending money in there. And folks, I would like it stated for the record that that is completely retarded. Yes. So ridiculous. Peeps, whether you’re there when the doors open or not, it will still be there the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that. For years and years. I can understand camping out for concert tickets or *NSYNC CD releases (I’ve done that), but camping out for a store’s grand opening? Unless they are serving a ten-course meal with those bookshelves, camping out and chanting “open open open” is just dumb.

We are just sitting here in Florida. The thought of going out and getting jobs here is ridiculous, because we can do that in Idaho, be where we want to be, and only have to make enough to cover rent, renters’ insurance, and increased utilities in order to be better off there than we are here. This sitting around waiting is getting us nowhere.

So last week, a lady at church said we should just pack up and move. I told her we would if there were a job or the house had sold, because it’s silly to just go with nothing in place. So then wRitErsbLock said if we want to put our faith in God, we should just go. We discussed that. And then I took a shower and came up with a plan. Showers are great for planning. I told Frank the plan (basically a timeline), and within a day or so we had decided to just dooooo it.

So we are.

We leave next week, will hit Texas for Thanksgiving and be in Boise before December. No sense just sitting around miserable in Florida when we can be at least somewhat better off in Idaho. As long as we make enough money to cover the rent, utilities, and insurance, we’re better off there anyway. Not to mention that it will probably be easier to get jobs if we’re local.

I’ve applied for an accounting job and also sent my resume to a temp agency. Frank also has two potential jobs in the works. One we’re waiting to hear a decision on, and the other Frank applied for over the weekend and did a phone interview today. I’m actually excited about doing accounting work again. I did say in my notes to the temp agency that I will absolutely not consider public accounting again and will even take lower-level jobs for less pay rather than do that to get the pay I want. I’m standing firm on the no-public thing this time. I loved my industry job many moons ago and am actually excited about the prospect of working in industry again. I love financial accounting and spreadsheets the way Hillary Clinton loves to eat the souls of little children.

Anyway, we’re packing and prepping and all that. The moving truck is booked. The movers who will load and unload the truck are booked. I’m having a hard time finding a maid service to do top-to-bottom clean, because, you know, next week is Thanksgiving. I still need to book carpet cleaning. And figure out things with my family. I think my mom is afraid Rowdi will eat the little children if we let her in the house while her family has Thanksgiving, and I know Rowdi will climb my mom’s 8-ft fence, no matter how tall it is, because it’s chain-link. I haven’t even gotten all of the details of my dad’s family reunion from my dad. Ack. This is why the blogging suffers right now. Please forgive, and stay tuned. Y’all know there will be some wacky stories up in here.

I’ll be in the moving truck towing my car (sounds familiar) with Sydney and Minerva, and Frank will be in his car with Rowdi and Omen. We’ll have walkies. And I’m going to have the video camera charged and ready at all times. Also the photo camera. I document for you.

Mike Modano scored his 1,233rd point! And on a breakaway goal. (It’s a rather heart-warming article. I cried.)

UPDATE: Another. Yeah, I cried over that one too.

How
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We leave Florida in less than two weeks. Wahoo!

I’m looking for jobs. Accounting jobs. I know, you’re thinking, “What? But she hated it!” Actually, I hated public accounting. I loved industry long ago. And that’s before I even knew much about accounting! Anyway, it’s getting on my nerves. I see a great job that says it’s in Boise, Idaho. Click on the job opp, and it’s in Montana, and relocation to Montana is required. Dudes! Just advertise in Montana! Another thing that gets under my skin? Ridiculous spam listings. They list on every single job category, and it’s the same spammy job. “Earn thousands of dollars working from home! You will be a bajillionaire in days!” Come here, spammy job, let me punch you in the face.

I know, I know, I need to be focused on moving to Idaho first and then think about having some fun. But detours into Alaskan cruises aren’t so bad, right?

I’ve wanted to take one of those for so many years, even when I was against cruising because of the whole you’re-floating-on-water thing; I guess I got over that when we did our Caribbean cruise. Anyway, I really want our next cruise to be Alaskan in nature. The breathtaking pictures I’ve seen just get me all worked up. We won’t be going for another two or three years, and the time frame will depend on how quickly the house sells, how quickly we get vacation funds saved up, and how many years it is before my family stops insisting that every vacation we take is in the general direction of Texas (that one could take a while, ha). I would prefer that Disney has Alaskan cruises available by then, as I just can’t imagine cruising on any other line, and since they are adding new cruises every year, I’m hopeful.

So. While I sit here with the fan blowing over me (yes, the cold from this morning is slightly less pronounced now, as expected), y’all tell me about your Alaskan cruises so I can dream about places that are cold for more than two days a year.

After I went to Publix the other night, I stopped by Walgreens to pick up some meds. I wasn’t sure if the prescriptions would be ready yet, because I was early, and I needed to pick up some other things, so I went inside.

I’ll tell you about everything I bought later, but first let me tell you about the pharmacy. They were incredibly busy, and I was third in line when I got there (if you don’t count the million bajillion people who utilized the drive-thru during my lengthy stay). They were working on my prescriptions, so I turned around to take a seat — with all of my future purchases in hand. Lo and behold, the shiatsu massaging chair (Homedics, like mine) was available. Ooh, now with heat! I was all in.

If you are related to me or get uncomfortable with certain things that can be purchased at the pharmacy, I warn you: look away now.
(more…)

I have a question. How long do you think it will be before wireless broadband service providers drop their prices so they can get more customers? I would love to have a wireless broadband card, especially for times when we’re roadtripping (and/or seeing my mother, who still has dialup, bless her), but last I checked, it’s a little cost-prohibitive. For one, I don’t like that you have to buy the card *and* the service, the same way I don’t like having to buy cell phones and therefore usually end up getting them for cheap or even free. And that begs the question whether you have to upgrade the equipment every couple of years as you do cell phones (and for that matter, are they like phone companies, which love to raise rates frequently?). If so, it’s much less appealing. Also, I wonder if wireless broadband is as fast as the cable modem? The only way I see us ever getting that service is if we could get rid of internet service at home, and I’m not willing to give up fast for slowly convenient, especially since we usually stay in hotels with free internet when we’re away from home. Do any of you have a broadband card? How does it work (in terms of service, I don’t need instructions on how to plug a card into a PC slot)? Do you like it? Tell me.

And now I see that they have wireless broadband phones. We have a broadband phone at home, but I’m actually not even sure if it would be considered a regular broadband phone or a wifi broadband phone. I mean, our phone modem has a cable that plugs into our router, so I would assume that’s wired, but then we have two wireless bases for the phones. I’m not sure I understand which is which, or if they’re all the same. Again, you tell me. My little blonde head doesn’t process so well.

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

So we were at the Space Center last Friday for the World Space Expo, and Frank and I were walking by the model of the International Space Station.

FRANK J.: What are those things hanging down from the Space Station?
SARAHK: I don’t know. Maybe they’re solar panels.
FRANK J.:
SARAHK: No, those are solar panels up above, I think. I don’t know, maybe they’re wind panels.
FRANK J.: Wind panels. Okay, what would be the purpose of wind panels in space?
SARAHK: Um… I don’t know. To help move it along.
FRANK J.: Is there wind in space?
SARAHK: Um… maybe. Maybe it can catch a draft from the Space Shuttle when it flies by.
FRANK J.: Is that likely?
SARAHK: I don’t know.
FRANK J.: What’s in space?
SARAHK: A vacuum.
FRANK J.: Uh-huh…
SARAHK: And there’s no wind in a vacuum?
FRANK J.: Very good!
SARAHK: Well, you don’t know that. Have you ever been in one and tested that?
FRANK J.: What do you need for wind?
SARAHK: Stuff… and air…

Then the conversation moved to how Mythbusters should do a show on that scene from Armageddon where the ISS blows up, and there’s a big outward explosion. And Frank became the cutie head:

FRANK J.: Yeah, how would they do that experiment?
SARAHK: Uh. They can create a vacuum and explode a model inside the vacuum.
FRANK J.: Oh yeah, they have the equipment for that.

So. What are those things hanging down? Best I can tell from looking at the interactive model on NASA’s website, they’re radiator panels.

If you are in car shopping mode (as I would be if we hadn’t been able to fix the Explorer), CarsBlvd.com will find quotes in your area for the year, make, and model of car you desire. Personally, I’ll most likely look into a Kia Sorento when Pinky finally gives up, but if you’re the Honda type, you can get Honda car quotes. CarsBlvd.com lets dealers compete for your business and sends you up to two quotes (they say below wholesale prices) for your next car. There is a drawback to the site (one too big for me to complete the process) — you have to give them way too much information, as they want addresses and phone numbers *plus* the email address. That’s too bad, because if they only required zip codes and email addresses, I could have seen for sure whether to recommend their service. As it is, I’ll only tell you about it.

Brrr! It’s cold in here!

Yes, this is truly amazing, because I’m in the tropics. It’s so cold that I’m wearing my full IMAO tracksuit, not just the pants. This is so awesome!