Good News + Bad News

Man's Best Friend

Sammy has gotten really bad about "fishing" things out of our wastebaskets. Lois got us a new kitchen receptacle, which is impossible for him to raid. We have to be extremely vigilant about what we throw away in other wastebaskets around the house. He seems especially fascinated by cardboard, discarded tissues, food wrappers & containers. Any suggestions besides sprinkling red pepper into our tsu's? *
* Trash storage units. **
** Yes, I seem to have a fascination for acronyms . . . Could it be my OCD? Could it be the influence of family members who are in the military, served in the military, serve as nurses? ***
*** Example #1:  "Advance to sector Einstein & be prepared to activate your PLD's. Bring plenty of EMR's. And don't forget about the TGOH! Stat! ****
**** Example #2:  "Code DOD in Room 911. Activate ELODP's. HRU's:  bring complete ERT's. Stat!

Trying to Look on the Bright Side of Things

The Good News is that we did NOT get the winter storm that multiple weather-reporting agencies threatened. 
On the other hand, when we got up this morning the air temperature was 8. Wind chill was -14. Lois didn't get a snow day.
When I filled up my car at Hy-Vee last night in anticipation of miserable weather conditions today, gas was $2.45/gallon.
Thanks to fuel saver points, I put in 12 gallons & saved $6.73 cents off a $29.55 fill-up. *
* For those of you who, like me, are English majors, that means my net cost was $22.82. 

License Plate Progress

2018 is off to a great start. Since 1/1/18, between the two of us, we have already checked off Alaska, California, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, & Wyoming, w/o having to leave Norfolk. * 
* For those of you who are English majors, we need to average about 10 states per week to hit our ultimate goal of 50 states--a number we haven't been able to reach since 2014.

Dept. of Shameless Anecdote Stealing

From Reader's Digest, Lord Help Us, (Oct. 17):  "After a worship service, a mother w/a fidgety 7-year-old told me how she finally got her son to sit still & be quiet. About halfway through the sermon, she leaned over & whispered, 'If you're not quiet, Pastor Charlton is going to lose his place & will have to start his sermon all over again.'"