Random Musings Friday

Well, here we are again...another Friday and I am not sitting at Thumbs Up Diner in the ghetto-ish section of Atlanta, enjoying a goat cheese/onion/mushroom/spinach/tomato omelette, cheese grits, and delightful conversation with Shana (as well as the occasional big hair sighting...I mean big). I'm splitting my time this morning between tying up loose ends on a ton of custom orders and preparing for my Kentucky Derby party that I will be hosting tomorrow for all of my Georgia peaches and packing the car for a mini-vacay to the beach. I have to say, I wish it was last Friday, but this one ain't half-bad, either. So, I'm parked for a minute to share some Random from the week and then it's on to the next task!

1. I finally sat down about 3 weeks ago and finished my business taxes (mostly because I file within our personal taxes and Neal was getting really itchy for that tax return...and also because there's a deadline). I owed $100 for my business license fee. No surprise there. That happens every year. But I also owed public school taxes because I made a profit in 2011. How much did I owe, you may ask?

Two pennies.

But I am not one to screw the US government (or the county) out of even one penny. So, I wrote a check, hesitantly because I had never written one for under $1.00, for 2 pennies. And guess what? They cashed it. As Mama Virgo said, I hope that helps keep them afloat for another year.

2. The skyrocketing temperatures here in the deep south have caused the girls to start shedding their winter coats. All over the house. Fur tumbleweeds blow down the hallway and petting them causing the fur to fly. I try to keep them brushed but it's sort of like cleaning up the kitchen during a party. What's the point? Except that Lulu has started puking hairballs every morning. This is an event that only a cat-lover can appreciate as dogs don't make this lovely gagging sound, followed by a projectile chunk of semi-digested fur. And because Poppy is a bit....rotund...Lulu often cleans her, too, because Poppy can't reach a lot of the parts of her body. So, it only makes the whole situation worse.

Also, she has started sleeping under the ottoman. Probably because it's cooler. But it calls to mind the comment Neal made once that when the girls die, they will probably go hide somewhere to do it...so that it takes me awhile to find them. I poked her for about 5 seconds yesterday before she finally moved under there. I am almost certain that my heart stopped, thinking that my beloved cat had died under the ottoman after vomiting hairballs for 3 consecutive days. Thanks, Neal.

3. Tomorrow is the Kentucky Derby. If you live in Kentucky, it's kind of a big deal. If you are from Kentucky, it's kind of a big deal. While I've never had the patience to make my own Derby hat, I do love an excuse to gather friends, eat Derby pie (basically pecan pie with walnuts and chocolate chips, but...um...without the pecans), drink mojitos, and bet on the horsies. So, tomorrow I will be doing just that. All my rowdy friends will come over and we'll make friendly wagers amongst ourselves while gorging on Kentucky foods and drinking minty cocktails. And so the preparations have begun...

I realized this morning that my Kentucky B&B cookbook is actually in Kentucky, so "Catering to Charleston" will have to work. It's basically the same thing.

4. Finally, I went to the commissary last night for some milk and noticed that a Lincoln towncar with a sticker that said, "Warning: No Smoking. Oxygen in Use" was parked in the "Expectant Mother" parking space. There are 2 "Expectant Mother" parking spaces and about a dozen handicapped spaces at the commissary. My first thought was, "Oh yeah, I'm SO sure the woman driving that car is an expectant mother." But my second thought was, "HEY! Don't be so judgy! Her life may be really hard...she's 8 months pregnant and having to chauffeur her very ill, oxygen-dependent mother to the commissary for some eggs and bacon! At least you don't have that going on!"

The owner of the O2-mobile happened to be at the trunk, watching the bagger load his groceries, as I walked by. He was not expectant, nor a mother. I am both the daughter and the wife of Rule Followers. (I am also the daughter of a Rules-Are-Merely-Suggestions thinker. As in "speed limits are suggestions of how fast you should be going.") So, I gave the unoxygenated, non-expectant, non-mother the stink eye and managed to not ask him when he's due as I walked by. I'm sorry dude but if all of the handicapped spaces are taken (for the record, I've never seen that happen), and you don't have a handicapped parking sticker or tag anyway, "Expectant Mother" parking is not your plan B.

I hope you all have lovely rain-free, sunshine-filled, relaxing weekends. And if you happen to be home around 6ish tomorrow, tune in to the Derby and pick a horse. It really is the most exciting 2 minutes in sports!

Got your own random goin' on? Grab the button and link up with Shana. She's all about a good party, so the more, the merrier!

Cheers!