Wow.  I am just jazzed!  I found out earlier this evening one of my blog readers and fellow MyTMMO board members has paid for a gift for me.  No name was attached to the notification of the gift, just a message to pick one out because I “deserved” it.  I’m not entirely sure what I did that was so special to rate this:

This is a HandCrafted Pen by Hans, another fellow MyTMMO board member who started this out as a hobby and it has grown into a side business.  He takes great pride in his work and considers his handmade pens to be expressions of art (people from the board who have bought them agree whole-heartedly).  This particular pen is a “Big Ben Ultra” made out of Ambonia Burl, a very rare and exotic wood that was used to make the dash boards on the first Rolls Royces.  Y’all remember Radar O’Reilly from the series M*A*S*H who was mailing home an army jeep piece by piece?  Consider this the first piece of a Rolls Royce for me LOL  It may take 20 or more years before I get the rest of it, though.

I’m not sure who did this wonderful thing for me (although I have a list of “suspects” half a dozen long) but I would like to put out a public THANK YOU here on the blog.  This is one of these fancy things I always thought was cool but could never quite justify the expense.  Now I feel so special :)  Thank you!

Now to pass around a bit of blog carnival link love:

• Last week Quest For Four Pillars hosted the 50th Carnival of Money Stories and included my post Tip Your Pizza Delivery Person (which is still collecting interesting comments!)  Interestingly enough, QFFP has also delivered pizzas.
• Lynnae, in a continuing fit of insanity, once again hosted the huge Carnvial of Personal Finance (#144) and included my post about Changing My Major in the career section.
• Ask Mr Credit Card hosted the Carnival of Debt Reduction (the subprime edition) and included my post about the Debt Reduction Success Story in the Army Times
• I did a spur-of-the-moment guest post for Clever Dude that posted this morning, which he titled Couples In Conflict: Different Money Priorities.  Y’all know the fun I’ve had getting hubby on board, so go over and show CD some comment love
• Mrs Micah gave me free rein to rant in a guest post for her blog, and so I did: A Letter to the Fed (Federal Reserve Bank, of course!) with my honest thoughts on the subject of these rate cuts.  Not that it seems to be doing any good…

OK, I think that catches everyone up on my hijinks around the blogosphere … did I miss anyone?  Oh, and one more time: whoever bought me the pen, THANK YOU!!!