Category Archives: Flotsam / Jetsam

Flotsam / Jetsam

Everything's going my way

I had to return the license plate for Rockford’s old car today, and I initially went to the wrong place (the DMV rather than the license plate office). One of the employees saw me standing there with the plate and a restless toddler, and she told me I had the wrong place before I waited to get to the front of the endless line! Hooray for that lady!

Then it turned out that the license plate office was only two stoplights away, in the direction of home! Hooray for proximity!

And when I got to the office, there was only one other person in line! Hot dog!

I also needed a replacement registration card for the van, because the original has disappeared. I asked what I needed to do to get said replacement, and the lady said, “I can print that for you right now!” And then? She didn’t charge me a dime for it.

I think today must be Great Customer Service Day in the state government world.

As if that dreamy experience wasn’t enough, here are a couple other lovely things about today:

  • Poppy has asked to go potty three times today, and she’s actually gone twice! She seems to have discovered that the promise of pee-pee is enough to get Mommy to postpone her nap a few minutes.
  • Kmart’s giving away free candy!

    I hope you’re having an awesome day, too.

    • Diversions, Flotsam / Jetsam

    Where was I?

    Blogger Mary Demuth is tracking her 10-20-30 meme to see just how far it will spread. I picked it up from Sandy’s blog. If you decide to do it, too, leave a comment on Mary’s blog show she can keep track.

    There’s a very good chance that my memories of What I Was Doing Then aren’t accurate. I can barely remember what I did yesterday, much less 10 years ago. So consider this What I Was Doing Around 10-20-30 Years Ago.

    10 years ago
    I was 19, working at a movie theater and going to school part-time. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, other than marry Rockford and live happily ever after.

    20 years ago
    I was 9. And in the fourth grade? Maybe? Definitely living in North Carolina, and definitely self-conscious about most everything. This would have been around the time that a classmate told me I wrote my lowercase Ks wrong. I never recovered.

    30 years ago
    I would be born in a year. At this time, though, I’m not sure that I was even a glimmer in my parents’ eyes.

    Flotsam / Jetsam

    Time capsule

    And our love is in a time capsule
    Let’s dig it up …
    (Matthew Sweet, “Time Capsule”)

    Whenever we move, we end up with one or two boxes of “stuff” — those last boxes thrown together in the kitchen the night before it’s time to go. They’re usually the last boxes to be unpacked, too, because they rarely hold anything essential. They’re full of the stuff that we probably should have just thrown away but for one reason or another never did.

    We opened one such box today. It had remained unpacked for far longer than it should have. It was the random stuff box from the duplex we lived in in Missouri. That was at least three moves ago.

    Among the box’s contents:

  • an unopened straw from Subway.
  • a container of paper clips.
  • a Tribune employee newsletter from February 2003.
  • a packet of photos of baby Poppy.
  • one baby booty.
  • a Polly Pocket doll that our niece left at our house in 2003.
  • scissors and pens.
  • several letters and drawings from Sam and Sophie, including the following missive, dated September 18, 2001:
    Continue reading Time capsule →