Tale of a Shooting Star…

A man walks into a restaurant with a full-grown ostrich behind him. As he sits, the waitress comes over and asks for their orders.

The man says, “I’ll have a hamburger, fries and a coke,” and turns to the ostrich, “What’s yours?”

“I’ll have the same,” says the ostrich.

A short time later the waitress returns with the order. “That will be $6.40 please,” and the man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change for payment.

The next day, the man and the ostrich come again and the man says, “I’ll have a hamburger, fries and a coke,” and the ostrich says, “I’ll have the same.”

Once again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change.

This becomes a routine until late one evening, the two enter again. “The usual?” asks the waitress. “No, this is Friday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato and salad,” says the man, “same for me,” says the ostrich.

A short time later the waitress comes with the order and says, “That will be $12.62.” Once again the man pulls exact change out of his pocket and places it on the table.

The waitress can’t hold back her curiosity any longer. “Excuse me, sir. How do you manage to always come up with the exact change out of your pocket every time?”

“Well,” says the man, “several years ago I was cleaning the attic and found an old lamp. When I rubbed it a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there.”

“That’s brilliant!” says the waitress. “Most people would wish for a million dollars or something, but you’ll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!”

“That’s right. Whether it’s a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there,” says the man.

The waitress asks, “One other thing, sir, what’s with the ostrich?”

The man sighs, pauses, and answers, “My second wish was for a tall chick with long legs who agrees with everything I say .”

I’m back into the swing of things (mostly) and sitting at work today. My body is quite grumpy and so am I, but I’m here and I’m working, so what more do you want? 😉

The long weekend was fairly crazy for us. It was hot, stormy and busy! My parents arrived Friday evening while I was still finishing my work for the day from home. We went to the grocery store, picked out dinner and some other things we needed, then settled in for the night, watching TV and playing some games. Saturday saw my dad going on a 4 hour trek with me and Terry through the wilds of furniture shopping and a not-so-brief stop at Lowe’s for some paving stones (98 of them, to be exact) and the usual bunch of other stuff that comes along with a visit to the home improvement store. That pretty much shot the day, which didn’t exactly please my mom, since she wasn’t able to go with us, but we accomplished a lot.

Sunday morning, my parents left to go home and Terry and I went outside to do some work. It was very hot and sunny and I thought I was going to pass out after less than an hour in the sun, using a total of 2 gallons of weed killer in a vain attempt to get a handle on our continuing battle against thistle and dandelions. And I haven’t gone back to put down the dandelion killer on the ones scattered about the yard. Terry mowed the lawn while I was dealing death to the weeds. Then we showered and went to a friend’s house to play some computer games, stopping to pick up subs for dinner on the way. We actually ended up watching Date Movie (pretty funny!) and then playing a game.

Monday saw us going to another friend’s house for a holiday get-together of a small (very small) group of close friends. We had fun, but their house is freezing cold, so my shoulders were a tight ball of mess by the time we get home. Hence yesterday morning’s migraine. My shoulders are still stiff today and I have a bit of a headache plus an IBS flare-up, but I’m determined to have a decent day despite it all. I’m thinking of buying some exercise equipment to help me get rid of the little roll of fat I’ve developed below my belly button and to help me achieve my exercise goals on my list of 101 Things. Add that to the weight lifting routine that I would like to start to help with my shoulders and neck and the occasional dance workout and hopefully I’ll start to get back into the shape I was six years ago before I got married, changed my job and started sitting on my butt all day instead of running around helping people and lifting computer equipment. The sedentary work of a computer programmer isn’t exactly conducive to better physical fitness! 😆

That’s my status report and I’m sticking to it. I’m behind on blog reading, as usual, so I probably will sacrifice commenting in the name of catching up. I usually say that and then comment all over the place anyway, but just in case I don’t, you’ve been warned. 😀

3 hours ago, I had a migraine. For once, I decided that I wasn’t going to mess around with any other medications, knowing the characteristics of how I was feeling, and went straight to the heavy duty abortant (Maxalt, for anyone who wants to know). I went to sleep, using my cushy new blindfold (from Dream Essentials, a wonderful site) that blocked out all of the light and let me sleep in peace. Now I’m feeling calm, relaxed and normal, for once. 🙂 However, in the interest of not having to repeat the process, I’m signing off for the day. I’ll catch you all up on the weekend activities tomorrow or sometime later this week.

Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow Americans! And Happy Birthday to our special pup, Phirecracker Phoebe (her AKC registered name), who turns 9 years old today. 😀

First, a couple of woohoos as I checked the current balance on my credit card for new charges:

1. A charge for the glass fountain pen that I ordered, but wasn’t sure if the company still existed because their website wasn’t up to date
2. A charge for the class I signed up for at CATS in Hershey – I guess I was accepted!

Second, the totally cool, neato moment of my day came when I went to Google to try to find the phone number for my neurologist’s office (no emergencies, don’t worry). I plug in Dr. “Seth Haplea” neurologist and what do I come back with? The second major link reads Migraine – Welcome to Dr. Haplea’s Blog! There is also a line in the description of the link that reads “Meet Dr. Seth Haplea, Migraine Expert.”

I’m thinking, is it possible? Nah, it couldn’t possibly be my neurologist. A migraine expert? In my little corner of southeastern Pennsylvania? Seriously? What are the odds? I click on the link and right there is Dr. Haplea’s smiling face. MY Dr. Haplea. Wow! Very cool!

So, I keep going. I scroll to the bottom of the first page of Google results and hone in on the link named Seth Haplea, M.D. and Chester County Neurology, LLC. I’m thinking, it’s going to be an ugly, plain website with very little information, like many doctors (if they even have a website). Surprise! I have to say, it’s pretty nice!

Now really. What do you think? Is it not the coolest thing that my neurologist is hip enough to not only have his own website, but a nice one at that, PLUS his own blog?

I have truly been blessed with wonderful, intelligent, attentive doctors. The medical building that sits next to the local hospital which is just a mile (literally) down the road from my home holds a goldmine of doctors. Every one that we’ve seen there has been great! I just keep wondering how this little area hospital has managed to attract such good doctors, even if they split their time between that office and another?

What a crazy day. And the weather is cooperating to be just as crazy. I looked out a little bit ago and the sun was peeking through the clouds, so I thought that I might go for a walk. Then, just a minute or two ago, it was pouring rain, slanting sideways and pounding away at the roof. Now it has stopped again completely. Whew!

I hope everyone else is having a great Monday, as well! Woohoo!

You may have seen a mention of this personal growth effort on some other stitcher’s blogs, like that of Annette or Melissa. When I first saw it, I remember thinking “Oh yeah, that is a good idea. But it’s too much for me.”

Well, I said something to my dad about it earlier this month and we decided to have a go. As a result, I have a list and am ready to go. I am just waiting for my dad to catch up (and I think I’m going to have to help him when they come down this weekend) and then we’ll get started.

Our intended start date is July 1st, so I would encourage any other bloggers who have been thinking about having a go at this to spend this week coming up with your own list of 101 things that you would like to accomplish in 1001 days. If you actually sit down and devote an hour or so to brainstorming, you will be surprised at how far you can get. 🙂 Especially if you reference other people’s lists. It really helps to jumpstart the process again if you get stuck. I’ve found that I’m still coming up with ideas even now that my list is finished. I’ll have to start keeping track of them somewhere else so that I have a starting point for the next 1001 days after this round. 😉

If you’re joining in with a similar timeline, feel free to leave a comment for me and let me know. I would like to keep up with everyone who is going to undertake this effort.