And now for the News...

Yes, it's St. Paddy's Day. Since I'm mostly Italian I didn't grow up celebrating this holiday much. No big parties. No green beer.

When we adopted Shmoo we found out he's of Irish heritage which he loves to carry on (and on) about. He thinks it's very significant. That said when I was making pasta salad for the St. Paddy's potluck at work today, Shmoo chimed in with a "It's St. Patrick's Day tomorrow?" Ain't he somethin'?

I can't remember why I was telling you all that. To wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day? Probably. Let's go with that, shall we?

In other news, you may have noticed in the comments yesterday that Wendy the Super Librarian and I have purchased our airline tickets for Washington DC. Yippy, yappy and yahooey! Now it's real. Four more months. Since we are two and a half months into 2009 already, that's not that far away. Am I crazy or does it seem like it was just Christmas?

Beanie is officially working at Disneyland. He's a submarine driver on the Finding Nemo ride. He's also registered with an agent to do extra work and maybe, just maybe possibly get some work in commercials. What can I say, the boy's a big dreamer. He's also finally found a "good artist" to draw his comic book idea. I think this makes a total of 4 people collaborating on it now. Of course, I'm constantly asking motherly questions like, "And, how's school doing?"

Like most college kids he's burning the candle at both ends but seems to be thriving. I'm happy for him. Please Lord, one more year to graduation.


Shmoo is rethinking his commitment to the fire service. The kid I had to nudge, push and shove through his senior year of high school actually likes college. He announced to us over the weekend he thinks he will go ahead and get his 4-year degree. While I'd love to send up the halleluias I know his mind and attitudes changes with the weather. OTOH, I'd be a liar if I didn't say it made me happy that he's even considering a degree. It was a brief moment of bliss to think that maybe, just maybe some of the stuff we've been drilling into his head talking to him about since he started kindergarten has stuck.

GG has had some rocky roads and tough transitions at work lately, not the least of which was a co-worker being struck and killed by a truck in the freight yard where he works. The truck driver was where he was supposed to be, the co-worker in the correct crossing area, they just didn't see each other. Horrible, horrible accident. Knocked my GG a bit off kilter. His words to me, "You just never know what a day will bring. All the guy wanted to do was go to work to take care of his family." I love my husband. I really do.

Day one of my new job? Pretty darn good. Of course the transition is nothing like being brand new at a company. I know all the people and routine. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be in my very own office. I got all kinds of keys today. That's one of those things you don't know how to feel about. Good=They trust me. Bad=Crap! They trust ME? Yes, this is my internal dialogue. It's so fun. NOT.

I didn't make my bed today. It was liberating because I didn't think about it once and got home and was surprised by the unmade bed. Okay you probably don't think it's significant, but if you've been reading my blog for awhile you know that it was b-i-g for me.

I'm walking. I'm swimming. I'm trying going to lose more weight before DC. Although I've pretty much conceded that if I want to read and blog I'll probably be sleeping less.

I told GG sleeping was overrated. He said, "Not when you aren't getting any." I hate it when he's right. And gets the last word.