#135 Shrinkage

No, not THAT kind of shrinkage. I'm talking about height shrinkage. I've heard that as people age they sometimes shrink an inch or two. My mom recently told me that a childhood friend of my uncle (her brother) who used to be 6'4" is now 5'9". Holy cow! I never knew someone could shrink that much! Mom had a physical yesterday and she is now 5'7" down from 5'7". Hmmm...maybe in 40 more years I'll drop below 6'0" and can find a man taller than me.

#134 Big

"Big" is one of my favorite movies. Tom Hanks plays a young boy who wished he was big, then wakes up one morning and he is a 30-year-old man.

The past couple days I've been around lots of kids (mostly from Saturday's basketball games). They are great in that they just say what's on their mind. So when they see me they immediately tell their mom/dad, "She's big!" Since they are kids and have no filters yet, it doesn't annoy me. Their parent's are usually embarrassed though. I usually smile and go on my way.

I suppose I'm used to it. Melissa, one of my friends from high school, used to call me Big Girl back in school. When her two boys were small (around 6 or 7), I would see her and the boys from time to time and they'd run to me and say, "Hi Big Girl!"

#133 CVS

I was out doing some Christmas shopping today and stopped at CVS to buy some milk. As I walked out, a man who had also been in the store got out of his car and asked me how tall I was. After I told him he said, "I know you don't like short guys, but we would make a perfect match." He was in his 60s I would guess. We both got a laugh out of that and we wished each other a good day and Merry Christmas.

#132 Blockbuster Day

What a day! I began my day at at the Jorday YMCA watching a friend's children (5 year-old Maeve and 4-year-old Owen) play basketball. They practice for a half hour and then play for about a half our. They are too cute!

From there I made a quick stop at Community East Hospital to visit Julie. She had an accident in her home Thursday night and broke her ankle in three places. She is doing well after surgery, but will be on crutches for six weeks. They inserted about seven screws and a metal plate so she now bests me in hardware (I have two screws in my left arm).

From there I went to Conseco for the Boilermaker Blockbuster. It was a Purdue doubleheader with the women taking on Auburn in the first game (War Eagle!) and the men playing Indiana State in the second game. The Lady Tigers did not fare well and lost by 20. Indiana State gave them a good run for their money, but the Boilers prevailed by about 13. It really was a closer game than the final score indicated. I organized a group of about 20 and we sat in the second row behind the visitor's bench. Very cool. I was happy that my Purdue family members could be that close to the action. Some of us wore Auburn t-shirts for the first game and then changed to Purdue t-shirts for the second game. We're equal opportunity fans!

We had some time to kill after the game and hung around inside Conseco for about 45 minutes. One of the security workers started talking to us (I think he was wondering why we were standing around) and in the conversation we found out he is Tyler Hansbrough's brother Greg. Krista was especially excited. She is one of the biggest North Carolina fans I know. He's really nice, even though he kind of made fun of me for acting like a five-year-old. (I was reenacting some of the first game I watched today.)

After the games we all went to Iaria's for dinner. Iaria's is a local Italian restaurant that's been in Indy for many years. Very good food. I had the spinach ravioli. I hadn't eaten much during the day and definitely made up for it at dinner.

Aaron is home for Christmas break. I sat next to him at the Purdue games. He's used to sitting in the Paint Crew section and it was fun to watch all the gestures he does for each player. I kept asking him, "What does that mean?" I learned quite a bit today.

A long, but very fun day.

#131 Q95 Comedian

I listen to Q95 every morning and there was a comedian on there this morning (I forget his name) who had a really funny line. He said he was fairly tall for his family (6') and that when he goes home they constantly ask him to get things from high shelves or cabinets. He thought that was rude of them to expect him to do that for them. He said something like, "I don't walk up to a midget and ask them to pick something up off the ground for me." I had never heard that before and shared it with 7' Ethan here at work. We both got a good laugh!

#130 Hey Paula

Paula is a co-worker and our cubicles are separated by a small walkway. We sometimes “yell” back and forth during the day. She’s really funny and we have some good laughs. She was instrumental in me flying south last month. I initially planned to drive but realized my weekend work responsibilities wouldn’t allow me to go. She asked if I’d looked at flights yet (they’re usually expensive) and when I looked, I saw that they were very reasonable. I probably would have paid the same for gas as I did for a plane ticket and a rental car and I got there in a fraction of the time (it’s an 11 hour drive one way). She also recommended I try Priceline.com for my rental car and I got a great deal. Thanks Paula! She’s also a regular reader of my blog and lets me know when it’s been too long between posts.

My funniest story about Paula involves her husband, Tommy, and it took place several years ago. Tommy was at the airport and saw Jim Breuer, who had been on Saturday Night Live. When he called Paula to brag about seeing a celebrity, she had no idea who Jim Breuer was. When he mentioned SNL, Paula called me over to talk to Tommy, as it’s well known throughout the office I am a huge SNL fan. I had never met Tommy so it was a little weird to talk to a complete stranger about Jim Breuer. It made Tommy’s day that someone, even a total stranger, was excited he saw Jim. Since then I’ve maybe seen Tommy a handful of times. Paula keeps telling me that he wants to set me up with his brother who lives in Oklahoma.

#129 Dresses

I have covered various tall fashion topics in my blog: pants, shoes, tops. The most difficult by far is dresses. I'm amazed that I can walk into a store and find skirts that come to the top of my knees but when I try on a dress it's a micro mini. What's up with that? I am in need of a dress for an upcoming formal event in March and really want a dress. I don't want a long dress so am looking for cocktail attire. Heck - it's hard enough to find a short dress that's long enough, let alone a long dress. I tried on a couple dresses at Nordstrom (they do not have talls) and found one I really liked but...mid thigh. Not appropriate for a 42-year-old. I also tried on one with a 4 inch hem but it really wasn't a flattering color for me. I've watched "What Not To Wear" too much and know what looks good on me. The only stores that carry tall dresses (that I know of and actually like) are Banana Republic and J. Crew. J. Crew definitely caters to the mid-thigh crowd. I ended up finding one at BR and used my 40% off coupon. I had to buy online (naturally) so will see how it fits in around nine business days. My other alternative is to find a cute top to go with one of two dressy skirts I already have. Stay tuned for updates...

#128 Mall Lotion Guy

I went to Circle Centre Tuesday on my lunch hour to do some Christmas shopping. I had to pass by the lotion kiosk and was approached by the "lotion guy" trying to make a sale. They will say anything. This time it was, "Hello my future wife." He was kinda cute and tall, but I kept walking. I do smile and say, "No thank you." I wouldn't want their job. So then he said, "Can I ask you a question?" thinking he was going to ask about my height. He asked what kind of lotion I use! Unbelievable! I told him I didn't want to talk about lotion and walked away.

#127 Bangs

I considered naming this post "She Bangs" because I tend to use song titles, but this is a family-friendly blog. ha (Sorry Ricky Martin) Anyway, I am currently in the middle of my third adult attempt at a version of bangs. A couple years ago I tried them with more side layering. A few months ago I tried again with a small section and I liked it ok. Last month I got a little more cut in and had them done shorter. I like them when I do my hair fairly straight, but when I wear it wavy, not so much. I am now officially growing them out. Again. Sorry Michelle! Megan just had bangs cut last week and her hair looks fab. I am happy for her. I'm just not a "bang" kind of girl.

#126 Facebook Trouble

Monday when I tried to log in to Facebook I was told there had been an attempted compromise of my account. Basically someone from Ft. Lauderdale tried to log in as me. They asked me to verify I was actually myself by identifying certain photos from my Facebook friends. When the first pictures came up I thought, "Who the heck is that?" I did much better with other pictures and was able to re-set my password. But I still couldn't log in. I had to do the photo-checking thing three times before I gave up and sent an e-mail in for troubleshooting. Then when I checked my e-mail account I saw two messages from Facebook telling me that since I re-set my password I needed to follow the link below to regain control of my account. That would have been nice to know earlier. So now I'm totally locked out and was then told in my next e-mail, "...writing in multiple times will not result in a faster response. Once you submit your initial request, it is placed in a queue and responded to accordingly. We appreciate your patience." Fabulous.