A welcome relief. . .

They say you should use your brain - stay busy - stay active - do mentally challenging tasks - to help keep alzheimer's from taking over in your old age. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but at this point in my life, a little alzheimer's would be a welcome relief . . .

I'm so vain. . .

So last Thursday, David emails me toward the end of the day to let me know that we were invited to a fundraising event on Saturday evening for the Paris YMCA. I replied right back saying ‘What’s the dress code – and be sure to ask someone who actually knows!”. His reply was semi-formal. So I did the semi-formal thing – black cocktail dress, stockings (and that's another whole story), black shoes, pearl necklace, etc. The whole 9-yards so to speak. I wanted to do my nails too, but rather than go spend the money (AND take the time) for a manicure, I went to Wal-Mart and bought these fake French-manicure nail tips. Just getting them on was comical, but I will say that they looked REALLY nice. And all day yesterday, I had compliments about how nice my nails looked! I was feeling a little special (translated - VAIN!!!) I’ve never had nail tips like this before, and typically when my nails get very long I clip them back because they interfere with typing, writing, picking my nose, etc.!!

At any rate, I come to work this morning and open the drawer to get the orientation laptop out and popped a nail off. THAT ticked me off because now my nails don't look so nice. Tough luck, must proceed with the day and laugh, right?! Orientation goes well, and I return to my desk. I open a drawer to get something, and POP goes another nail and I laughed out loud. By this time, I had told Twon and Tonya that ‘vanity has its price’ and was laughing about my poor fingernails.

Just a few minutes ago, the office is full of people because there are two interviews going on at the moment, and I went to get something out of my purse. . . POP goes the third nail and by this time, I’m just thankful that I wear glasses so that I don’t blind myself as the fake nail tips go flying about the room!!!

So much for vanity. I’ve tried to pop the rest of them off (so that my hands don’t look so. . . STRANGE), but of course now that I WANT them off I’ll need a pry bar and gasoline, turpentine, or some other highly flammable solvent to dissolve the glue. Glad I didn’t spend a lot of money on THIS manicure!!!

A Quiet Week. . . OR QUITE a Week . . . :)

In the past week, I've been :

1. on an airplane (with my 'not-so-very-nice thoughts' toward those people who bring carry-on luggage that is WAY too big to fit in the overhead bin)
2. ridden in a 15- passenger van (whose driver was in a REALLY big hurry!!)
3. in a taxi cab (whose driver was in an even bigger hurry and drove with the windows down for some odd reason)
4. on 4 different train trips (with my newfound friends!)
5. crammed in a mini van taxi with 10 other people (how long has it been since you said 'How many people can we get in a . . . . ? This was for a 5-minute/$30 ride to the hotel after midnight, and when we asked the driver how much to take us to China Town - ~1.5 hour ride - the next night, he cracked up and said NO WAY!! Go figure!!)
6. on the subway (VERY scary - not to mention dirty, smelly AND frightening)
7. in a limo with 11 other people (EVEN scarier - I seriously doubted the wisdom of this decision but it's a loooong story!!)
8. on top of the Empire State Building (AWESOME - thanks Katie for being our tour guide!)
9. to Italy (Little that is. . . and had the most awesome Chicken Marsala for dinner - REAL Itlalian food - quite possibly "THE best thing I ever ate" and I took a picture so that David could see it!!!)
10. almost to China (Town that is . . . I chose NOT to go the additional 2-3 blocks just to buy a cheap 'knockoff' Coach bag from a trailer down a dark alley)

Many of these antics happened after spending most of the day safely 'otherwise engaged' at the Adecco Training Center!! It was a great week that I'll never forget, spent with some awesome and incredible people who were total strangers on Tuesday afternoon, but who turned out to be great friends!!!

On Wednesday evening, I told the group that I'd like to split off from them and have dinner with Kate who lives in NY, and had agreed to get me back to the train station and safely on the right train. These 'total-strangers-turned-friends' informed me - NO WAY are we leaving you. We came together, we leave together!!! I was secretly very glad, because the experience later that evening of 10 people trying to find the right train 'home' was quite intimidating and the hour-long ride back to Long Island (and the taxi-ride to the hotel) would have been a.) VERY scary; b.) VERY scary; and c.) VERY scary without my friends!!

A Loooooooong Day. . . .

Never ever ever have I gotten (grammar??) out of my warm cozy bed at 4:30 a.m. when it's 16 degrees outside to go shopping. . . until today! What fun! We left the house at about 5:00 and shopped until I couldn't take it any longer. The girls would have continued, but when I looked through the doors at Target and saw only a sea of people I said, 'Girls, I've got nothin' left' and I went to the car. OK OK OK - so I went to the food court instead and watched the people while, the rest of the group finished their shopping.

Then we went home (back to Paul and Marcia's) and had left over dressing and corn bake for breakfast. THEN a nap - and ah say ah say - aaahhhhhhhh!!!

Happy Black Friday!

'Deer' Ella. . .

I'm sorry that your 'deer' Grammy won't see you this Thanksgiving. Grammy went deer hunting last night and the hunt was successful (unfortunately). I got an 8-point buck. Grammy's 'weapon of choice'. . . ??? A '2-doubleaught-8 Saturn Aura' . That 'deer' little mishap, combined with the bad winter weather that Old Man Winter is sending to Minot has caused Grammy to change her plans my 'deer' little sweet girl.

I hope you have a wonderful first Thanksgiving 'deer' little Ella. Give Mommy and Daddy hugs from Grammy, Grampy, and Uncle Caleb! We love you Sweet Baby Girl! NOTHING will keep us apart for Christmas! Stay safe and warm this weekend. XXXOOOXXXOOO to all of you!

(We love you too, Nathan and Ruthie!!!)

How NOT to hunt deer. . .

Pictures of my deer . . .

Pictures of my car. . .

I'm Perplexed. . . and Scared!!

I think one post every 5 months is sufficient. Isn't it? For some reason lately, posting on my blog has been on my mind a lot. I think I'm going to take the advice of a new friend, and break up with Facebook, and focus on my blog. I might stay friends with Facebook, but only to post a link to my blog 'ramblings'.


At any rate, I am starting a new study called 'Perplexing Proverbs' by Susanne Scheppmann from Proverbs 31 Ministries. The first day introduces the study with Proverbs 1:1-6 - "The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young - let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance - for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise."


All these years, I've been perplexed by trying to gain knowledge and finally I learn that all I had to do was look to the Book of Proverbs. WOW!

Proverbs 1:7 - "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

I think I'm going to like this study!