thinking nonstop.... This morning I had to take our cat Nemo to the vet. She was up for her rabies shot. While there, I told them that we would be taking the cats to Italy soon, and asked for copies of their records. "When are you leaving?" they asked.

"We're leaving here the end of May."

"End of May!?! There's so much stuff you HAVE to do!" One of the nurses started listing all these requirements that some countries had for taking animals overseas. My heart jumped to my throat and I had to try to stay calm before I flipped out. No one told us to do more than get a copy of their records. Jesus! UGH! It's as if "they" like to give you such little information just to watch you find out the truth about what you need to do, and I'm sure they laugh while you squirm in panic.... ugh...

So, after going on about what I might need, another nurse got online and looked up Italy's requirements. She told me they only require a "health certificate" which costs about twenty something dollars, and a microchip implanted in them which costs seventy-five dollars. Our sponsor in Italy never mentioned any of this when we asked him what we needed to do in order to get our cats safely to Italy. So, I'm a little frustrated, but not too much. Well, okay, a little because we have one and a half months left here. God, where did the time go?

I have been thinking nonstop today. It's really been kind of annoying. But I do that when Hubby's gone all day. Today is another duty day. blah. And my mind has been racing... mostly my reactions to tv shows I've been watching. Black.White. on FX, which I'm really dissapointed in, and frankly has been pissing me off everytime I watch it. Oprah's show today on the "Education Crisis" of America. I've always known that highschool is stupid here. I remember bringing that up to a teacher my senior year... okay just a few ramblings on that...

Texas has a test taken by students each year. It used to be called the TAAS test while I was in school, but now I believe it's called the TAKS test. The test is basically the minimal amount of knowledge that the state believes its students should have and be able to use. So, what happens when the schools teach nothing but that test for almost the whole year? The students recieve a minimal education. They never learn past that accepted "7th grade level" that the state requires of all its students. Geez... thanks guys! No wonder kids flunk out once they get to big colleges. No one listened to me my senior year though. So I quit caring... You memorize what you need for tomorrow's test, and forget it by the next afternoon. People cheat, like crazy. People sleep. (even I fell into that category my senior year.) High school bored me. I like learning, don't get me wrong, but I hated the clique filled classrooms filled with teacher's favoritism of football players and cheerleaders, topped with closed mindedness... etc etc etc... I could go on and on and on.

I'm rambling I know... but that's okay. Tomorrow, Hubby is supposed to be getting off of work early, and we've got plenty of things to do. We still have to figure out how and when to get our car shipped, what to do with the cats, get new IDs, figure out when we can fly to Italy ourselves, schedule our packout, and figure out what we're going to do for our daughter's birthday which falls on our last day here....

I need to go relax and space out... I think I'll go read.  ¶ 8:12 PM