Ear Me Out

In our family, the girls get their ears pierced on their 12th birthdays (that is, when they are old enough to take care of the piercings themselves).  When Anna came by on my birthday last week, she reminded me that, when I took her to get her ears pierced 8 long years ago, I had told her she could return the favor when I turned 50.

"Really?" I asked.  "I said that?"

"Yup!" she said, as she handed me a gift bag that contained, among other things, a pair of earrings.

I promise you, I will NOT be doing this.

Well! Consider the gauntlet thrown.  My jubilee year has, apparently, become my year of living dangerously.  Think about it - so  far I have done a 30-mile bike-a-thon (absurd!), plus a walk/run 5K (unheard of!).  And this weekend my very squeamish self accompanied Anna to the mall, where, sitting in the special chair in which Anna had sat 8 years before, I let a perfect stranger PUNCH HOLES IN MY EARS.

Yes, actually, Anna did have to hold my hand.  Do you have a problem with that?

Soothing puppy picture instead...

So now here I am, trying to get used to having these lumpy things in my earlobes.  I confess, it's sort of weirding me out.  Because I'm old and set in my ways, for sure.

Old, but still, as we have discussed recently, susceptible to peer pressure...

[Well, aren't I sorry I searched on images for ear piercings!  I'm going to go throw up now.]



[Bungee jumper image: MouthShut.com]
[Puppy image: Trainer Trish]

Weird

Yup - that sums it up.

I had a really nice day today, for no reason.  I mean, nothing special happened.  I'm thinking that maybe the endorphins from exercise really can make a person happier.  My healthy friend took me on a 4 1/2-mile forced hike this morning, and the rest of the day felt quite pleasant.  But maybe it's just the contrast.  After all, if you are banging your head on the wall, it feels pretty good to stop, right?

So I took Susie and Rachel to the pool for Susie's swim lesson, and I swam 4 laps myself (MORE EXERCISE) and then I lay in the sun and read a book and felt content.  After that, I took the girls out to lunch, just because, and we picked up a few groceries, and no one whined and nothing was stressful.  JUST LIKE OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES.  I even made the girls weed for 15 minutes with me, and it wasn't the end of the world. I don't know, the whole day went like that.  It was weird.  I mean, what the heck am I supposed to blog about?

David comes home tomorrow; so maybe then, with his technical expertise handy,  I will be able to show you my Amazon birthday purchases and talk about the books.  I know!  The excitement is just overwhelming, right?  Contented people are pretty darn boring.


[Smiley image: Zazzle]

Night Owls Save Lives

It's a good thing I stayed up late blogging last night, or I wouldn't have noticed that our AC was no longer working and that our thermostat was registering in the 80's.  We could have suffocated.  Or not.  Larry thinks I exaggerate.  But HE doesn't get hot flashes, so what the heck does he know?

Anyhow, I managed to prevent our collective demise by flinging open windows (the humidity had dropped, by some miracle) and installing window fans.  Because that's what I like to do at midnight, instead of going to bed....

This is me in the humidity.

The AC guy arrived today  - early enough to prevent our dying of heat stroke, but not soon enough to keep my floors from getting so sticky from the humidity that the Swiffer wouldn't work on them.  He said lots of complicated things about burned-out capacitors and power surges and tried to sell me some sort of whole-house surge protector for "only" $150.

Seeing as how we pay for a maintenance contract that (among other things) requires the company to replace burned-out capacitors for free, I have no incentive to surge-protect my house. In fact, I told  him the company should just install it for free so they don't have to come out again for this same problem.  But he refused.  Imagine that!

And I strongly suspect that, next time I need a repair, the service guy is not going to show up quite so quickly.  I'd better buy more fans, don't you think?


[Witch image: Long Island Press]

Wherein I Feel Like The Ancient Mariner

I had a lovely blog post all set to go last night, about the books I received from Amazon, etc.  But my camera broke and so I took a picture of them with Larry's IPod Touch, and then I couldn't figure out how to get that picture onto the computer so I could use it on my blog.  So I went to bed.

Can you tell David's away?  Without him, Larry and I are apparently helpless babes in the big, bad technology woods.  To make things worse, a staff person from Civil Air Patrol encampment emailed me yesterday, asking me to download certain documents David had forgotten to bring with him.  I needed to fill out the forms and then scan them into the computer, so that I could email them back to her.

NOT

All of which would have been fine, except that the ONLY person who knows how to make the scanner talk to the computer happened to be away.  At Civil Air Patrol encampment, to be precise.  Surrounded by gadgets that should have made the entire process simple and efficient, I ended up taking pictures of the completed docs with my (very) dumb flip phone and texting them to the (very patient) administrator. 

Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

Maybe - just maybe - I need to stop making fun of all the nice older people who throw money at David when he shows them how to find their digital photos and sets up their printers.  We have met the technologically incompetent, and he is us.


[Geek Zone image: Denver Public Library]

I Wish I May, I Wish I Might...

Well!  After I dropped the girls at band camp today, I decided to celebrate my first day of freedom by taking an 8-mile bike ride.  Then I came home, showered, and cleaned the bathrooms. 

Naturally, I spent the rest of the day sitting around and feeling virtuous.  After all, there is only so much productivity one gal can handle.  But I'm thinking I won't have much of a problem adjusting to an empty nest when the time comes.  In case any of you were wondering...

Did I mention that Susie woke up at 5:45 this morning, from sheer excitement?  I could have wept.  Larry took one for the team by getting up and giving both girls (yes, Rachel was also up by 6) a ridiculously early breakfast .  I can't believe I used to be a morning person.

Books!  How old-fashioned of me...

That's all I've got, folks.  Apparently, a life of childless leisure does not lend itself to interesting blog posts.  I'll spend tomorrow eagerly awaiting my birthday Amazon order -- essentially, EVERYTHING (except hardcovers) that's been sitting on my wish list since approximately forever.  It was my jubilee year birthday present to myself.  With the threat of age-related dementia looming on the horizon, I feel the need to prime my brain by reading something a tad more challenging than blog posts and magazines. 

Any suggestions for next year's wish list?




[Lady reading image: Wikimedia Commons]