gottawonder

Today I am grateful for:

Another beautiful day with lots of sunshine.

A good phone conversation with Mom. She seemed very cheerful and chatty.

I MIGHT have found another carpenter to build the stairs. He is coming on Saturday morning hopefully, to meet with my Sweetie and plan the work, and get an estimate. I SO HOPE THAT THIS WORKS.

I am no longer sure that we are buying the truck from our friend. I insisted on having OUR mechanic look it over for red flags (I know the mechanic our friend got to check it over, and he's a terrible mechanic that I do not trust). Turns out, there is a slow leak in the radiator, that our mechanic says unless it is replaced the continually leaking fluid will destroy the engine. So, I said I we might still consider buying the truck, less the cost of replacing the radiator, but only if it is NOT DONE by the shit mechanic our friend uses (who did not see the leaking radiator). I don't know if we're buying it now. We have to talk it over with our friend.

I went to town today, with the entire point being to ENJOY MYSELF.

I bought a little drum, called a 'steel tongue drum' for anyone curious to know. It was on buy and sell, and I paid a VERY fair price for it. Almost too good. I sincerely hope that this was an honest purchase. It was still new in the plastic bag and everything. I have been looking at these for a while, but was hoping to find one on buy and sell, since it seems a little pricey new for what is more or less an amusing toy.

I found a lovely wool jacket and a great shirt at the second hand boutique. It has higher end stuff, and I've found a few gems there. The wool jacket is one of those fitted, fun items with a big collar and loose sleeves, in blues and purples.

I also went to the thrift store, and found a few treasures. I also donated the big cushion from the papasan chair that the frame broke. The cushion was always in a cover I made for it, so it is pretty much new.

I picked up a few things at the drug store, and then came home.

My Sweetie was back from work when I got home. He mostly just wanted to take a bath and go to bed.

Today I learned a little bit about the tiny little country of Lichtenstein. I have known about it's existence for quite some time, but I learned that it is per capita a very wealthy country with nearly the highest standard of living in the world. There is one billionaire who lives there and his income is about half of the GDP of the whole country. His empire is built on dental products.

It is about 62 square miles (used to be a lot bigger, but lost about 600 square miles of farmland and forest to Czechoslovakia and Poland in WWII because of Germany first annexing Austria, then borders being re-drawn after the war ended), has about 38,000 residents, and is nestled between Switzerland and Austria, completely in the mountains. It has virtually no debt, also no military, and no airport and is completely land locked.

Half of the people who work there don't live there, they commute from outside the country every day.

It is still a constitutional monarchy (Hans-Adam II (Johannes Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marco d'Aviano Pius; born 14 February 1945) is the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, and is also the OTHER billionaire), but also has a democratic government with an elected parliament.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein

https://www.businessinsider.com/liechtenstein-map-gdp-per-capita-population-astounding-facts#5-liechtensteins-per-capita-gdp-is-165028-the-second-highest-in-the-world-5