Pre-Travel Blues

Tuesday before vacation, i woke up at 2 am and couldn't get back to sleep. So i got up and stayed up, taught class that day, did all the usual stuff including cooking two dinners. This had to be done so Sweetie could have both leftovers for lunch the next day and a dinner to take to work, since he was scheduled to work late Wednesday. Thus bedtime was late Tuesday.

Wednesday morning began at 4am, made sure Sweetie had a lunch and dinner packed so he could work late, got several errands run, bought everything we needed except the cat litter Wal-Mart was, of course, out of, did all the usual work for the day. Then we went to the church to clean, arriving at 8 pm, just as the Wednesday evening meeting was ending. The side door lock was broken, we had to set up for our substituted to clean for us next week, and i had to do two weeks worth of the once a month jobs so we were there late. We arrived home close to midnight, and Sweetie came in at 12:30 am, and wanted to talk a while. Bedtime was after one.

Thursday morning began at 3:50 am when Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, came by to borrow Sweetie's car so he could go out of town for the day. Took Sweetie to work, went to the rental place so they would have my driver's license, ran errands, especially for cat litter, did the usual day's work, including all of the last minute laundry, kids to school, and all of us went and cleaned the shelter. Went home and fed everyone and everything that moved, moved a refrigerator, and made sure everyone was packing. Another late night.

The schedule for Friday morning is to be out of the house by 7am. By that time, i should have had four hours sleep per night average for the previous 4 days. Heaven help us.


Today is:

Crispus Attucks Day*

International Flower Show begins -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Multiple Personality Day

Nametag Day (celebrating those silly tags that say, "Hello, My Name is Illegible"!)

National Cheese Doodle Day

Ploiaphaesia: The Festival of Navigation aka Navigium Isis -- Ancient Egyptian and Roman Calendars (Sailing Festival, honoring Isis as sea goddess)

Potty Dance Day -- celebrate the fun of potty training with your child! (Yes, the company that makes Pull-Ups is serious about this.)

Say Hi to Mom Day (Just like the jocks do on tv!)

St. Piran's Day (patron of Cornwall)

Stop the Clocks Day (another of those with-no-explanation web holidays that sounds like a good idea)

Swamp Buggy Races -- Naples, Florida (through tomorrow)



Birthdays Today:

Jake Lloyd, 1989
Niki Taylor, 1975
Kevin Connolly, 1974
Eva Mendes, 1974
Andy Gibb, 1958
Michael Warren, 1946
Samantha Eggar, 1939
Dean Stockwell, 1936
James Noble, 1922
Rex Harrison, 1908
Zhou Enlai, 1898
Heitor Villa-Lobos, 1887
Howard Pyle, 1853
James Merrit Ives, 1824


Today in History:

Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death, 363
Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama, 1046
English king Henry VII hires John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) and his sons to explore unknown lands for England, 1496
Smoking tobacco is introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes, 1558
Copernicus' "de Revolutionibus" is placed on Catholic Forbidden index, 1616
Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans to take possession of the Louisiana territory from the French, 1766
*Boston Massacre: British troops kill 5 in a crowd, including a young boy and Crispus Attackus, the first black to die for American freedom, in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War five years later, 1770
The Dutch city of Leeuwarden forbids Jews to go to synagogues on Sundays, 1820
Samuel Colt makes the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber, 1836
George Westinghouse Jr patents the triple air brake for trains, 1872
Nikola Tesla, in Electrical World and Engineer, describes the process of the ball lightning formation, 1904
Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri, 1946
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations, 1970
Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters, 1979
America's Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles, 1979
The Soviet probe Venera 14 arrives at the planet Venus, 1982