#214 Gym Locker

While at the gym this morning, the woman next to me was getting ready and all-of-a-sudden she jumped up to see if anything was on the upper shelf of her locker. She didn’t seem particularly short to me. I can see the top of the lockers while in my bare feet. When I have heels on I can see clear over them all.

#213 Gym Shower

As a tall person, I have a few challenges out in the world. One of them is shower head height. I think I mentioned in a previous post that while on a bicycling trip I once took a shower at a middle school and the shower head came to my waist. I had to squat to wash my hair.

When I take a shower at my gym I have to do a wall squat to watch my hair. A few weeks ago I had a particularly tough workout in my circuit class. We did lots of lunges, then I did body squats for about 10 minutes total. My legs were NOT happy when I had to squat to wash my hair.

#212 Ronnie Milsap

I’ve always liked his songs, so a few years ago I went to see him in concert with a girl from work. The headliner was George Strait. I do like George, but was really excited about Ronnie. As Kelly and I like to say, “Ronnie Milsap is a musical genius!” The stage was set up in the round. There were four keyboards placed around the circle. If you are unfamiliar with Ronnie, he’s blind. A woman led him out to the first keyboard. He sang there for a while. Then he moved over to our side. He moved on again, but something was wrong with the mic or keyboard over there so he moved back to our side. Yes!! He then went to the opposite side of the circle to finish. I’m so glad I got to see him live. I just love his songs and especially love that he’s always smiling. He seems to have such joy in his heart.

#211 Dual Survivor

I have another new favorite show. This show also has two men. And to prove it’s not all about the “eye candy”, I do not find either particularly attractive. :-) The show is Dual Survivor and the two men are Cody and Dave. Cody is a hippie with long braids, a ring in his nose and he never wears shoes. He lives in Arizona and is a a minimalist and primitive skills expert. Dave is a military-style survival expert and professional hunting guide and tracker. In each episode, Cody and Dave are placed in a common survival situation such as marooned sailors, lost hikers, trapped divers, and stranded mountain climbers. They then have to survive for a few days with only the gear that a person who found themselves in that scenario would have.Along the way, they demonstrate how to survive off of the land and make gear they need to survive. I was at my parent’s house yesterday and Paul and Aaron were watching it. At first I was repulsed by the bugs, dirt, etc. Then I found it interesting. They are both very smart and I learned a lot about survival. After I got home I turned on my TV and there was a Dual Survivor marathon so I watched about two and a half more episodes. It’s just fascinating! Who knew you could tap a birch tree for water? Or that there is sometimes water inside bamboo?

#210 7 Footers - Where Are They?

The summer double issue of Sports Illustrated has an interesting article about 7 foot basketball players - where are they now? Turns out a gal I met while at Colorado Springs is married to one of them. Gwendolyn Gillingham played at North Carolina. Her sister, Heidi, played at Vanderbilt and I played against her in college and also roomed with her in Colorado Springs during a "big girls" basketball camp. Attendees had to be 6'4" or taller. What a sight we all were walking through the airport!

#209 Well Heeled

Nancy and I planned to wear our 4" wedges (see Post No. 187) to work on the same day. Ta daaa! Don't we look fashionable! Ethan is not happy I'm topping out at 6'10" today.

#208 Property Brothers

Two of my favorite shows are on HGTV – House Hunters and Property Virgins. I love seeing all the different houses in all the different cities/countries. Recently I’ve added a new favorite to my HGTV list - Property Brothers. Instead of looking at great houses in your price range, the brothers, Drew and Jonathan Scott, show you the house of your dreams, only to then tell you it costs $1 million. (That was last night’s episode.) Not bad – only $650,000 over your budget. So what to do? Then they show you hole-in-the-wall houses below your price range, but tell you they can help you fix them up to become your dream home. Drew is the realtor and Jonathan is the renovation guy. I love it! I am amazed though that most people have absolutely no imagination when looking at houses. Carpet can be removed. Walls can be painted or town down. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but how cool to be able to create your dream home! One bonus about the show – the brothers (twins) are easy on the eyes AND 6’4”. They are now on my celebrity crush list. I think they need a tall woman sidekick. ;-)

#207 Hide and Seek

A couple weekends ago Krista and Kenny had a bonfire. A small group of us had a lovely evening talking and eating. Around midnight we decided to play hide and seek. Mind you, most of us were over 40. Two were in their early 30s. And all but one wore flip flops. (It IS summer.) For an hour we crazy adults played hide and seek in Krista and Kenny's great yard/woods. It was awesome. There was one collision, but no major injuries. Julie was "it" three times in-a-row. We'll give her a break - she was wearing the aforementioned flip flops AND was hobbling a bit from her broken ankle from earlier this year. We also had multiple mosquito bites. It was all worth it. Next time I will throw sneakers in my car.

#206 Good Will Toward Women

For the past month I have been perusing Goodwill. And Annie’s Resale Shop in Irvington. A friend at work mentioned she got tons of outfits for around $60 at consignment stores so I decided I would give it a try. Yesterday I wore an outfit (not counting shoes) that cost under $10. I took my mom last Wednesday to two Goodwills in Carmel and we got some great deals. I even bought a great table lamp. At Annies I found a tan pencil skirt with the tags still on for $5. Recycle, reuse!