I'M COMING!!!!

I'm coming!  I'm coming, Peggy!  To see the eclipse!

I hadn't planned on it, but as I was standing there at work pondering the mundanity of my life, I said to myself, "Dadgummit!  I do want to go see that eclipse!  I'll just put the hotel on my credit card and let the financial chips fall where they may."

By the time I got home, my zeal had cooled a bit, and I thought, "Nah, I'll just watch it from here."  Just out of curiosity, I got on Hotels.com anyway and checked out rooms in Cape Girardeau.  There were two available rooms left in the entire city, and they were $850 and $550.  Nope.  Not going to happen. 

Then I hopped down and looked at rooms in Memphis.  They were much more reasonable, but still....

But when I got up this morning to head in to work at 5:00 AM, I said to myself, "NO!  Dadgummit!!!  Life is more than just working and paying bills.  I am going to go see that eclipse!"  I got back on Hotels.com and began looking for rooms in smaller towns between Memphis and Cape Girardeau.  First I looked in Sikeston, MO, where I'd stayed last time, but there were no availabilities.  Then I looked in a little town in northeast Arkansas.   

They had rooms available, and pretty cheap, but none of the hotels had very good ratings.  I decided to pass on them.  Moving further South, I found a room in Covington, TN that was in a hotel with a good rating, and with the  One Key cash I'd saved up from all those weddings last year, I was able to book the room for only $71!  I am coming to see the eclipse!!

Covington is just up the road from where my friend Leann lives, but it being a Sunday, I don't know if we'll get to hang out or not.  The plan is to drive up to Memphis, maybe go to the zoo, maybe find some craft stores and see if they have the safety eyes I need for my emotional support chicken, maybe go to the Bass Pro in the Pyramid -- which Cody says I really need to do...just hang out in Memphis.  Then Monday morning, I'll drive on up to Jackson, MO and impose upon Peggy and her husband.  After the eclipse, I'll have to hot foot it back to Grenada, because I'll have to go back to work the next day.   It'll be worth it, though, and I don't have to worry about boarding dogs this time.  

In other news, I've about decided that everything that is going to germinate in my little mini-greenhouse has already done so, so I'm going to buy some more seeds and try again.  To avoid making the same mistake twice, I got my little poker tool and marked 1/4" intervals on it.  

Maybe that'll help me get them planted to the correct depth.  Another thing I'll need to do is figure out why some of the cells are sopping, while others are desert dry.  I think my kitchen cabinet where I have it sitting isn't completely level.  I'll need to check that before I plant anything else, and if it isn't level, I'll have to figure out where else I can put my greenhouse, or figure out some way to level it where it sits.  

The first step will be to find my level...

OK, moving right along.  A while back when I was first getting into pen-palling, I'd bought some stationery from Amazon, but to be honest, I never really liked it.  I have finally almost used it all up.  I have one sheet of paper and one envelope left, and I think I'll jot a quick note to my sister on that this weekend. 

Anyway, what I didn't like about it was that the paper itself was too busy -- as in, it had too much decoration that obscured the writing.  Some of the patterns were OK, but others were almost unusable.  Well, enough complaining...as soon as I finished that last letter to my Australian pen pal, I got on Amazon and ordered some more paper, with matching envelopes. 

It's much bigger, much simpler, and has lines!  No more slanted writing.  Now, I just need to find more pen pals.  Anyone want one?  

And finally, look what I got in the mail!  A magazine from the Seaman's Church Institute!  

Isn't that cool?  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get to knitting.  I've got sailor's heads to cover!