Running with Ducks?

I have recently taken up jogging around my neighborhood for exercise. I started walking, but moved to jogging quickly when I realized my heart rate was only slightly elevated at the pace I walk!

About 2 weeks ago, on a beautiful spring morning I was jogging down a neighborhood street when I saw 2 ducks enter the street not too far ahead of me. I decided that if I continued at the pace I was jogging and they continued at the pace they were waddling, they would be across the street and out of my way before I reached them. Well, I don't know if you have been around ducks before or not, but as I approached they started to serpentine back and forth.....like ducks do, and not to continue on in their straight course across the street. I slowed to a walk, because they were a little unpredictable, but kept on going figuring they would continue on their merry way after I passed. Not so! They fell into step with me, the male occasionally getting under foot. I tripped on him once or twice. I turned around and stomped my foot at them, trying to scare them away (you know like you do to a cat or dog that is pestering you!) but they kept coming. I tried to run away from them, but they flapped their wings to sort of fly/walk to keep up with me!

It was about this time I noticed a lady standing on the sidewalk watching all of this, a little further on (with an amused look on her face, I might add!). I threw my arms up and shrugged my shoulders at her, to which she responded, "They're not your ducks? I thought maybe you were taking them for a walk!"

As my little entourage got closer to her, the dog she was walking became interested in my walking partners and began to bark at them, which luckily scared them off a little ways. However, the street I was on was a DEAD END. As I was contemplating how to handle the return trip without picking up unwanted company again, she suggested that I cross the park and continue on another street totally unconnected....which I did.

I'm not sure I'll jog on the same route again, but it made for an interesting morning!

Hey, thanks, PBS!!

We were driving in the car with several of our kids (I think we were on the way to Grandma's funeral). Our son, Matt was riding in the back seat with the little girls. He started to laugh! I asked him what was so funny and instead of answering me, he proceeded to ask Kelsey (our 5 year old) where she had heard that word. "Word Girl." came the answer. I guess I have PBS to thank for educating my baby! Apparently it was "sweltering" in the back seat! We could all use a couple more words like "sweltering" in our vocabularies! I think I will start watching "Word Girl" myself.

Yearbook Yourself

Oh, my gosh....how funny. Some of these could be out of my real yearbook! Like the first picture is supposed to be 1984....I looked just like that!!! Too much fun! Of course, some of these were from before I was even born! The site is called Yearbook Yourself....check it out!

I've been tagged!

Susette Fisher tagged me...and I guess I am supposed to name 6 quirky things about myself! I don't think I'm quirky at all...LOL!

1. I have never slept very well...sort of an insomniac. I had trouble falling asleep and sometimes would wake up in the middle of the night.....until this job at Costco (where I start work at either 4 a.m. or 5 a.m.). Now, I have NO TROUBLE falling asleep, and nothing wakes me during the night, but if I wake up at all.....I very rarely am able to fall back asleep. I might as well get up and get something done!

2. I have never found a food that I didn't like....except maybe some bad sushi at a chinese buffet!

3. I LOVE to exercise. I mean it, I really LOVE it. And not just afterwards, you know, when you are proud of yourself for doing it. I mean before, during and after.....I LOVE IT! If I had no other responsibilities, I think I would exercise several hours every day!

4. I sing all the time. I bet you didn't realize there is a song for EVERY subject. Sometimes things that people say will remind me of a line in a song and I can't help myself, I belt it right out! Maybe not at that exact moment, I don't usually like to sing for an audience (unless it's my family....they are so used to me singing I'm not embarrassed any more). Too bad I don't have a better singing voice!

5. I am kind of a perfectionist....but only selectively! I like things neat and tidy (I organize my spices alphabetically in my kitchen cupboard, sort my stamp sets by size of box, socks by color, you get the picture) but I can go a week without mopping my kitchen and not have it bother me...? Hmmm.

6. I can't stay awake in a vehicle while it's moving....especially on trips longer than about 15 minutes! Even if I'm driving! Aaaah!

So there you have it, I'm really not quirky at all! I tag you! Gina, Ginay, Dana, Deena, Stacy, Kelli, Susan and Janelle.

The House FIre that Wasn't

Last evening we were at Albertson's doing a little grocery shopping, when my cell phone rang. It was my friend, Gina, calling with a message from a neighbor who had just driven by my house and seen "tremendous amounts of smoke pouring out of my house".


This is what I'm picturing. (This picture is not of my house, by the way!! Just in case you were worried!)

My dh, Todd, overheard me and immediately picked up his cell phone to dial 911. We left our grocery cart where it stood and RAN for the car, both of us on cell phones, dragging kids as we went. I called a neighbor across the street. Her teenage son answered. I asked him to look out his window to confirm "smoke" pouring from my home. Not that he could see. Hmmm....would you please go to our back yard and see if you see anything. He obliged me, but again, nothing that he could see. I (only slightly panicking) gave him my garage code and asked him to enter my home to see if he could see or SMELL anything unusual. Again, same answer. We are still racing towards home.



We pull up (emergency vehicles preceeding us! They are FAST!). No smoke. We enter the home. Can't smell anything. Hubby goes to the basement and I head upstairs. Nothing. We go to the backyard. No evidence of anything out of the ordinary. The fire chief is following us around curiously. None of us can find "tremendous amounts of smoke pouring out" of the house or any evidence that it was at any point. By this time, curious neighbors and passers-by are stopping to see what is going on.



We get word from a neighbor that a block south of us they were having a barbecue and the grill caught on fire. I guess that might be described as "tremendous amounts of smoke pouring out". Just not out of my yard, and certainly not my house. But, I guess, better safe than sorry. Never did get my groceries though!

House Hunting and the Nervy Realtor!

My one and only son, Matt and his sweetie Kelli have been house hunting for a little while now. I went with them the other night and talk about fun! I LOVE looking at houses, but it almost made me want to move....ok, maybe not....but at least remodel or something. It's great to have kids so you can live vicariously through them and not have to experience things AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN......Did I mention that I hate moving! I just love new houses! Well, not necessarily NEW houses, but houses that are new to me! It's so fun to see decorating ideas and color combos.


So, get this! It's 8:45 pm, we are at the last house for the evening. We pull up and there is no porch light on, just a light in a room upstairs that we can only assume is the bedroom. The home belongs to a single guy, and the realtor (my good friend and partner, Gina) informs us that she doesn't have a set appointment time, she had just told them we would come that evening. We ring the bell. No answer. We knock loudly. No answer. She starts looking around for a lockbox. Using the cell phone for a flashlight, she opens the door. She calls "HELLO! WE ARE HERE TO LOOK AT YOUR HOUSE!" Still no answer. I am a little panicked at this point, thinking he is up there in bed asleep or in the shower! Still, we proceed to look around the main floor and Gina decides to go up to the bedroom to find out once and for all if someone is actually home. She knocks (loudly) on the bedroom door, "Hello...."

She comes back down the stairs and says, "Well, the bed is turned down, but I don't see anyone." I want to crawl in a hole!! We skip the master bedroom, but continue to look through the house, moving to the second floor. Kids bedrooms....empty....but he is a single father with shared custody, so the kids could be with mom. Finally we brave the master bedroom....

Bed turned down, lamps on, shoes beside the bed, still don't see anyone....The master bath.....dirty shorts on the floor (how embarrassing!) but nobody home! Thank goodness!! My heart can stop pounding out of my chest now. And thus ended the stressful viewing of the last home of the evening. Kicker is...they want to make an offer. It WAS a great house!!

Teacher or Educator?

I don't know if this is really true or not, but it's pretty funny! A certain school in Garden City, MI was recently faced with a unique problem.

A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the wash room. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. He called all the girls to the washroom and met them there with the maintenance man. He explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, he asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
MORAL of this story: There are teachers, and then there are Educators.

Toilet Seat Art?

Ok, I have seen everything now!! I was at the gym this morning, sweating away, when a toilet seat on tv caught my attention. You are not going to believe this... It was a "DIY" show (do-it-yourself) and she proceeded to show how to turn a hard-surface toilet seat into a perfectly good picture frame (?) or magnet board, or even mirror! Check this out! I can not imagine hanging this on my wall. I have done a lot of crafts in my time, but I think I'll pass on this one. Just had to share!

AGING

This is in honor of my birthday last week and my partner and best friend telling me that I am ALMOST 50! I'm fighting it with everything I have, but I love this!! He has nailed it right on the head.



George Carlin's Views on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the key! You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. 'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . You become 21. Even the words sound like a cere mony . YOU BECOME 21 YESSSS!!!

But then y ou turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60. You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

Happily Married?

Found the funniest site today as I was "surfing". Here are a couple of my favorites of her products!! Anne Taintor has taken vintage photos and added messages to them (what she thinks they might be thinking) and made them into magnets, etc.! She has a great sense of humor! For a great laugh, look here.

What a fun lady!