Miscellaneous

I've got a more serious topic whirling around in my head, but I thought it might be nice to catch up and sort through some odds and ends.  It's nice to meander through the garden, now and then.  And speaking of garden (how's that for a segue...), it is supposed to be near to 80F today.  No, I'm not kidding.  I know that some of you are reading this and the winter has been so harsh that you've had to buy two pairs of long johns for every day of the week.  You know it's COLD when womenfolk of all ages no longer care about looking cute when they leave the house.  When it's a choice between boots that will keep your feet warm and dry and boots that look FIERCE, warm and dry wins out...because sandal season will eventually arrive (I promise you it will...it always does) and sandals do not look cute on feet that have lost toes due to frostbite.  Just sayin'.

  • Friday, Mr. Snark and I attempted to get our Georgia license plates for the vehicles. I say attempted because when the tag agent informed us of the tax we had to pay, we left the tag office without our Georgia license plates.  The amount equaled our mortgage payment plus one half more!  Close your mouth, honey....you'll catch flies!  Anyway, while waiting for Mr. Snark to arrive at the courthouse, I stood on the front steps with my face turned to the sun.  It was magnificent.  No, we've not had it as cold as some other places, but for this part of God's country, it's been plenty cold.  It was nice to let the warm seep into my bones.  Hooray for Vitamin D!
  • Mr. Snark and I were able to get our Georgia Driver's licenses...after producing more documents that some politicians have had to produce to get on the national ballot!  Something about driving around with our Social Security cards, birth certificates, marriage license and two utility bills in a folder makes me feel a little wary.  Y1 is STILL without his GA license because of paperwork.  His temporary AL license expired at the beginning of January.  His permanent copy didn't get to us before we left AL.  Not sure why....he was licensed on the 6th and we didn't leave town until the 19th.  The forwarding order didn't start until the 18th...seems like that would have been plenty of time.  Did you know that things like driver's licenses don't get forwarded...they get returned to the issuing address.  Yeah, we didn't know that, either!  Nice lady at the DMV gave us a number to call..."Just call this number and they'll fax us a copy of Y1's record."  Oh, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.  I spent what amounted to an hour and a half and cycled through four...maybe five different phone numbers.  In the end, I got a very nice lady named Christine, who was very helpful.  But before Christine, I had the privilege of speaking to one particular DMV agent who decided it was her job to provide me with a little life coaching.  And I paraphrase:  "Y'all should not have moved until his license came in the mail.  That was a waste of money.  They don't forward that with the regular mail...it comes back here to Montgomery.  Y'all should have waited and there's nothing I can do to help you.  You'll have to call this number...blah-blah-blah."  I was stunned.  For whatever reason, I felt the need to justify and explain our decision and the timeline.  Then I called phone number 4..it might have been five and spoke with DMV agent Christine.  I explained the situation and nearly fell out of my chair when she said they don't fax that information ANYWHERE because that information is available to all fifty states via an online DMV data bank and has been since 1997...and Georgia STILL doesn't use it.  She went on to say that she gets about five calls EVERYDAY about this very thing.  I. lost. it....whatever it was, if I had any of it left, I lost it.  Especially when she told me that every other number I'd contacted could have told me the same dadgum thing!  That's when I got ILL!!!  Shared with her the life advice her colleague gave me....she sat on the other end of the phone in shocked silence and then asked me to repeat the incident.  Poor Christine....I told her that I found it beyond the pall for some stranger to suggest that our family prolong the four months of separation and relocation hell for a driver's license...because it is.  Poor Christine. 
  • Made a trip back to B'ham for the annual Tablescapes event.  SOOOOOOOOO much fun!  This year, all I was responsible for was getting there with my table fixings, which was plenty, but it seemed odd not to be in on the planning stage.  First stop once I hit town was P*blix.  I walked in and just basked in the lovliness and then made a bee line for the sushi counter!  It was wonderful seeing everyone and their reactions to seeing me was such an ego boost! It's nice to know that you are loved.
  • Made it back to SMALLtown before Snow-mageddon descended upon Dixie.  Gloryosky, what a mess!!!!!!!!!!  What was predicted to be a light dusting turned out to be five or six inches of snow on top of ice.  Schools and businesses closed at the same time and it was a MESS!!!  I watched it play out on F*cebook and worried myself nearly sick as the reports came in about kids being stranded at their school because their parents couldn't get to them...folks abandoning their cars along the roadsides.  Two DEAR friends braved two nights in a hotel that could be called "sketchy" at best...which is kind of humorous if you know who they are and that one of them is married to the engineering manager at one of the swanky hotels on 280!  No one was hurt and everyone was back home within 24-48 hours but it was CRAZY.
  • Bubby and Uncle came and spent a couple of nights with us and that was loads of fun.  They are a whirlwind of delight and joy!  They couldn't get over the house and it made me proud to know that they were so pleased.
  • Joined with one of the local churches, yesterday.  So excited to get plugged in.  Bittersweet to close the chapter on our church life in The 205.  Wondering if any of my smarty-pants friends will oppose the transfer of our letters or if they will send letters of warning to our new church.
  • Have you ever seen a man trim his beard in the front yard, using his truck's side mirror for reference?  I have.  Have you ever seen this same man take a few steps away from his truck and partially conceal himself behind a pine tree and well, relieve himself?  In the front yard...facing the highway...that is heavily traveled.  Pretty sure that I did and completely sure that I'll have a hard time forgetting it!  If you need more details, call me.
See why I had to get that out of my brain?????  We'll get to the good stuff another time.

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