Today is the final August special event - whew!  It’s been quite a month!

Happy birthday, JJJJB!

(Here’s a nice picture of him and Baby - awwww - aren’t they cute??)

(Title Credit:  Chic / Risqué / 1979)

It’s just about 1:00 PM ET here at casa de Buzz y Empress.  It was just about 10 hours ago that the fun finally came to an end for the evening with Pete and Erin and Buddha and Valley.  (Well, several of us made earlier exits than that, but the house was settled down for the night just around 3:00 AM.) What a lot of fun we had!  It was great to meet Pete and Erin and was so relaxing just to sit around and watch a baseball game and play pool and darts and drink and eat.  Good times!

(Pictures will be forthcoming on flickr soon.)

Now, I think it might be time for a little nap.  Yes!

(Title Credit:  The Andrews Sisters / 1937)

Welcome to Pennsylvania.  It’s a nice state to live in - it really is.  Although I complain about the summers, the weather is not all that extreme.  We hardly ever get earthquakes or tornados and by the time hurricanes hit us, they’re usually quite weak.  We have some gorgeous scenery and trees everywhere you look (except in most new housing developments, where they chop down the trees and then call the development “The Woods” - it should be “The Woods That Used to be Here").

There is definitely a lot to be said for Pennsylvania.  I’m glad I live here - almost all the time.

The problem is that I have developed a pallet for some decent wine.  And I regularly go to wine tastings.  And there are occasions when I get introduced to wine that I just can’t buy here in Pennsylvania.  And I can’t have them shipped to Pennsylvania because we’re a backward uptight state-controlled state in that area.  All this I understand and, despite how it gripes me, I have learned to live with it.

Recently, Pennsylvania liquor stores have tried to portray themselves as all service-oriented and stuff.  You can order anything you can get in Pennsylvania and have it shipped to your local store for pickup!  See how consumer-friendly??

I tried this new feature out.  There is a wine that Buzz and I really like.  It’s a very nice chardonnay, which is very nice during the summer.  It’s too pricey for regular consumption, however.  Well, at least it was.

I checked the LCB site and found that this wine (which was around $21.00 per bottle) is now a closeout and priced at $11.59 per bottle.  I searched for this wine in local stores and found none.  So I searched all of Pennsylvania and found that a liquor store two hours from us had 27 bottles of it.  I called my local store and asked them to get me a case of it (12 bottles).  They said they’d try.

After a week and a half, I finally got a call back from them saying that the other store agreed to it.  But it’s going to take about a week to get it.

A week?  I could drive up there and get it myself and be back - all in about four hours!

We stopped in at the store about three days later and they guy said that it’s probably going to take a “couple of weeks”.  A couple of weeks.  By then, summer will be over and it will be time to break out the big, heady red wines again!

Some service.

Editor’s note:  I had drafted this post back on August 2nd.  We still do not have this wine.

Today is my sister, Chris’ birthday!

Happy Birthday, Chris!

(Editor’s note:  I happened to find this post drafted in my entry list from last DECEMBER!  I guess I was afraid to ruffle any feathers.  But, hell, I’m 45 now.  I’m all done with that.)

You hardly ever see anything political over here.  I don’t like to talk about it and I don’t like to be yelled at by anyone, so I try to avoid controversy.  But I found this quiz on someone’s site through Blog Explosion (I apologize - I didn’t keep the address) and I thought it would be funny to see how I would be categorized.  (There weren’t enough questions and there weren’t the proper answers to some of the questions, so this is not exactly right.  I did what I always do when choosing my politicians - chose the lesser of two evils!)

You Are a New School Democrat

You like partying and politics - and are likely to be young and affluent. You’re less religious, traditional, and uptight than most Democrats. Smoking pot, homosexuality, and gambling are all okay in your book. You prefer that the government help people take care of themselves.

Let’s review this assessment:  I like partying - well, if that means staying at home and drinking too much with my husband, then that’s dead on!  I like politics - oh, good lord, no!  Young and affluent??  Hardly!  Who writes this stuff???

That next line - You’re less religious, traditional, and uptight than most Democrats - OK, I’ll give them that.

As for the third line, I’m iffy on the smoking pot thing.  I don’t much care one way or another.  I have never understood how one can make a plant illegal, but this is not a fight I have ever, nor ever, will engage.  I don’t smoke it, I don’t want to smoke it, I’ve never wanted to smoke it.  So it’s a nothing point to me.  Homosexuality - is this even an issue any more?  Why???  Get out of everyone’s bedrooms, people!  It’s none of your damn business!!  (OK - that one I have strong feelings about.) And gambling - hey, whatever floats your boat!  Or your paddleboat in the case of Mississippi river gambling!  (Heh!)

And that last line, I prefer that the government help people take care of themselves - yes, I believe that, as long as it’s a viable option.  As a general rule, I feel like you have to make an effort to support yourself, if you can.  And then there should be government programs to help those who cannot manage it.  All children should be offered a good education and everyone should have enough to eat.  I don’t know how that is supposed to happen, but I’ll bet there are budget modifications that could be made so that there are no hungry, uneducated children in this country.  That’s why I vote.  I try to make sure that someone who also believes that’s a priority is elected.  So far, no president I’ve ever voted for, except for Clinton in his second term, has won.  So I’m not doing a good job exercising my influence on the country, but I do vote.  In every single election - large or small. 

I think that’s about it.  So, a partying Bill Clinton, I am not.  But a liberal Democrat - yea, you can label me that.  I’ll wear it proudly.  (Just don’t bring it up to my mom - she’ll be very upset!)

Yes, this is cheating, doing them all at once - and late! - but at least I’m remembering to do it.

Friday was a fairly stressful mental day for me.  I didn’t have a whole lot to do after noon but I was stressed.  I stopped at the liquor store on the way home and bought four bottles of wine, ‘cause it felt like a wine night to me.  Plus, I had been abstaining for quite a while, preparing for my blood tests.  I bought a bottle of “Woop Woop” wine.  It’s an Australian blend and it was priced very right ($9.99) and I drank it.  It was quite nice!

Saturday was weird.  I volunteered to help out with something at work and I ended up being there for 13 hours.  I’ve been helping out with this since last March and this was the culmination.  Almost everything worked perfectly, as far as the things I helped with.  It was quite a relief to see it actually come to fruition.  There’s a little more to be done tonight, but I think it will all be just fine.

Sunday, Buzz had to work in the morning.  It was a very lazy day for me.  I did the bills, eventually took a shower, watched a baseball game and a NASCAR race (well, when I wasn’t napping) and just bummed, really.  I needed the downtime.

So there are my happy moments from the weekend.  Now I’m caught up!

(Title Credit:  Mamas and Papas / If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears / 1966)

It’s Monday.  I have missed several Happiness Posts but not because I wasn’t happy.  I have been busy.

Friday morning, I went to get my blood work done.  It’s been four months of eating whole foods and taking beaucoup supplements and now is the moment of truth.  Has this been doing anything for me or am I going to be just another statistic subjected to the evils of chemical warfare on my body for the sake of “health”?  I’ll probably know by the end of the week.  Think good thoughts for me, if you don’t mind.  For your Monday morning viewing pleasure, this is what happened to my arm when they took one small vial of blood using a pediatric needle.  I was going to entitle this post “She Bruise Easy”.  What’s up with that?  Fortunately, I don’t really bruise easily - just when they stick metal into my arm.  Else I’d really be concerned!

So, naturally, this is what is obsessing me right now.  It will be a relief to know - one way or the other - what my life is going to be like from now on but I sure hope it’s good news.

In other, much nicer news - it’s our bestest bud Beanne’s birthday today!! 

Happy Birthday, Beanne!!!

(I love this picture of Beanne and Bob.)

Yep, we’re celebrating another birthday today - it’s Sporty’s birthday today. 

Happy birthday, dude!  We miss you lots and lots!!

Today is our friend Harvey’s birthday!  Yay!!

Unfortunately, she has to work today.  And I’m going to work with her, too, and that will be fun (provided everything goes well, that is!).

Happy Birthday, Harv!

I was looking around for some information on cholesterol and fat (in the lunch that I had just finished eating - doh!) and I came across a fat, cholesterol, calorie chart.  It contained nutritional information for lots of kinds of food.  The one that jumped out at me as something to avoid was this:

FRIED VEAL BRAINS - 1803 g of cholesterol

Your Public Service Announcement™ for today is when you’re trying to decide what to have for dinner, be wise - skip over the fried veal brains.

I’m here to help!

My moment of Happiness came early today.

I was ready for work a little bit early so, following Buzz’s example, I took my cup of coffee and went outside, where the weather was simply gorgeous, and sat on the front porch in my rocker.  (Yes, just call me Gramma!) As I sat there and sipped my coffee, I got to see hummingbirds visiting our newly installed hummingbird feeder - three times within 15 minutes!  It was simply wonderful! 

Oh, and did I mention that the moon was still out?  It was an awesome amber color and huge right on the horizon.  Now that’s my kind of morning!

I must confess.  I have a greasy cat.  Yes, it’s true - Phoebe is a dirtball, greasy cat.  She’s underdeveloped mentally (that was kind!) and she doesn’t take care of herself.  She’s also OVERdeveloped physically and can’t reach certain areas of her body even if she chose to clean those spots.

This cat is also a bundle of nerves.  We have never hit or abused our cats and yet she’ll jump if you move your foot.  That cat just ain’t right!  So the prospect of bathing this cat is something I would never, ever consider.  I’m sure it would result in injuries - probably to me.  But she’s getting dirtier and dirtier. 

Do you think I could use this on her?  Do you remember this stuff?  Probably not - it was a big hit in the late 60s, early 70s.  Back in the days when we were transitioning from our parents’ generation of bathing once or twice a week, right through the hippie generation of never bathing at all, and into the “new age” of bathing every day, like one should!  (What were we thinking??) I used this product a few times as a young adolescent.  I was not encouraged to bathe every day but found that I was struggling with oily hair and oily skin.  So I tried this stuff.  It totally skeeved me.  Nothing like spraying chemicals on your hair to sop up the grease!  Yuk.

But do you think it might work on Phoebe?

I don’t know what’s up with me but I struggle to find the desire to write or read any blogs when I’m home.  I enjoy my “not working” time so much and I guard it jealously.  So blogging has taken a lower priority again.

Also, there hasn’t been a whole lot happening lately that I’d feel fits into the ”happiness post” category.  It’s not that anything bad has been happening, these have just been normal days and to try and pick out one thing that’s made me happy has been difficult.

So, I’m gonna have to go with the lack of bad things happening to make my happiness from yesterday.  Lame, I know, but sometimes it’s nice to just have a “not bad” day, right?

(Title Credit:  Beatles / Rubber Soul / 1965)

Today marks the anniversary of the very first fatality caused by an automobile.

Bridget Driscoll was killed on this day in 1896 in London

Did you notice the last quote in the article?

The coroner Percy Morrison (Croydon div. of Surrey) said he hoped “such a thing would never happen again”.

Oh, how far we’ve come since then.  There were 1577 traffic fatalities in Pennsylvania in 2003.  Just in Pennsylvania.  Just in 2003.  Amazing, isn’t it?