Tuesday, December 20, 2011

#241 New Line

A friend of mine had this on her Facebook wall the other day and I thought it was very funny, and very appropriate for me right now. Sometimes all you can do is laugh!

"Everyone I know is getting married or pregnant. I'm just getting more awesome." - Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother

Monday, December 19, 2011

#240 Luminary Ride

Each Sunday before Christmas, some Irvinington residents put out luminaries along their driveways and streets. It's a beautiful sight! In the past I've either walked or driven through the neighborhood to look at them and all of the Christmas lights.

This year I decided to do the CIBA Luminary Ride. At 5:30 approximately 50-75 people took off from Broad Ripple and rode along the Monon Trail to the far east side. Going out was fun - there were a lot of other riders and cars were nice to let us all go through intersections. However, once we got to Irvington, the group splintered due to traffic, etc. We made it to Audubon to see Santa and there were only about 10-15 people. My friend and I decided to ride to Julie's house to say hi and use the toilet. By then it was around 7 p.m. and we still had to ride back to Broad Ripple. And we were by ourselves. I was a bit nervous about riding on the Monon with just the two of us, even though my friend was a guy. We decided to go on and after he fell after hitting a hole covered in water (I hit it first but popped right out and then yelled too late), we made our way down Michigan. We saw flashing bike lights in the distance so sped up and finally caught them just past Tech High School. There were five of them so rode behind all the way back. I made it to my car just after 8 p.m.

Overall it was fun. A little cold, but I was actually fairly comfortable the entire way. I was disappointed that my hands were cold - I just bought new cold-weather bike gloves. I put toe warmers in my shoes and that helped a lot. If I did it again, I would have someone drop me and my bike off at Broad Ripple and then ride one way. One way is enough and that would leave me more time to actually ride around and look at the lights.

After I got back to my car, I cranked up the heat. Back at home, I kept my bike clothes on and ate a late supper. Then I sat on the sofa with my blanket covering me and watched an hour of Geek Love on TLC. Was a funny way to end the evening!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

#239 Orga(ni)sms

Last night I met some work friends and some former work friends downtown. We get together once a month to catch up. Denise told a story about her daughter who is in her first year of middle school. She was somewhere with her daughter, her daughter’s friend, and that friend’s mom. Her daughter was talking about a class at school and mentioned that “Mr. ‘Smith’ hasn’t taught us about orgasms yet.” Denise held it together and told herself to not laugh or have any kind of reaction. Then her daughter’s friend said, “I think you mean organisms.” It was a science class. Too funny! Denise and the other woman had a good laugh about it later, and Denise even sent an email to the teacher about what her daughter had said. His response was something like, “Yeah, we’re not going to cover that in my class.” I love that her daughter and friend were so matter-of-fact about it. They probably have no idea what that word means and it didn’t even occur to them that what they said was inappropriate, especially when talking about a teacher. Ahhh, the innocence of youth!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

#238 Another Marissa Update

My last Marissa update was in October (Post No. 222). I just read on her blog yesterday that she is having surgery this Thursday (December 15). She recently had her first seizure since January so the docs are going to try another procedure. (The link to her blog is on the left side of my page.) Please continue to pray for her!

Monday, December 12, 2011

#237 Mary and Joseph

It's that time of year when thoughts turn to the baby Jesus (for some people, anyway) and his parents, Mary and Joseph.

I have a friend named Mary who I’ve known since we were in kindergarten together. She and her husband, Joe, live near Fort Wayne. Her parents and some siblings still go to my church so I see her once or twice a year, usually around Christmas. Her parents had a Christmas open house last Sunday and I was able to visit with her.

Mary and Joe have 10 children. The oldest (twins) are 15 and the youngest is four. He just turned four and Mary said it was a milestone birthday because now they don’t have any kids in car seats (for their 15-passenger van). And not only does Mary have a house full of kids, she also home schools them. Amazing! As I said before, I don’t see her or the kids that often, but they are some of the best-behaved kids I’ve ever been around.

I used to laugh because I’d see her mom at church in December and she’d tell me when Mary was going to be in town. She would usually say, “She’s pregnant again!” Another Mary and Joseph expecting a baby around Christmas time!

#236 Annie Strikes Again

Last Friday I visited Annie's Resale Shop (see Post No. 206) and bought three pair of shoes! Are you kidding me? Shoes??!! I walked in and immediately saw two pair of short boots on the floor. They were size 11 and a similar style, one black suede (Naturalizer), one brown leather (Clarks). They fit! I have found that some boots run larger so wasn't entirely surprised. I then spotted a pair of leather dark plum strappy dress shoes in size 12 - BCBGirls. About a 3" heel.

A month or so ago I found a pair of Buckle jeans with a 35 1/2" inseam. And last week I wore a pair of Ann Taylor wool pants to work that I bought at Annie's. They originally had a 3" cuff at the bottom that I let out and pressed. I think each of these was $6.50.

LOVE Annie!!