Strollin' in the 'Hood

This evening, Andrew and I went out for a run. Ok, a jog... with a lot of walking. When we were running by 19th and Alabama, a large black man hung out of his car to tell me that I had a nice booty after calling me "Lollipop". I will admit that I am a silly white girl, and I have no idea what he meant by "Lollipop", nor do I want to know.

I hate gravity!

Why is it, that even though I feel like I've gotten poison ivy over a sever sunburn over most of my body, that I feel guilty for calling in sick to work? Never mind the fact that I'm still working, and I'm probably getting more done at home than I would in the office. It's a good thing I decided not to try out for the 2008 Olympics... since I'm on 'roids now! Everyone should stay way from fabric softener that only has directions in Spanish.

Damsel in Distress

It was very important to Andrew and I to buy a house with a garage. This means not needing to scrape ice and snow off my car in the mornings. But this does not help when the freezing rain, sleet and snow fly while I'm at work. With the new car, I haven't gotten a scraper. Luckily for me, someone at work lent me one after scraping half of my car with a credit card.

Something to Think About

While driving 38 mph in a 35 mph speed zone on my way home from work late one night, a jay-walking pedestrian yelled at me to slow down. Now, who was more wrong?

Telemarketers

For a couple of months now, I've noticed that I've been missing a call from a California number that I didn't recognized. Like any other number I don't recognize, I would let it go to voice mail, but they never left one. The other night, (during my night time minutes of course!), they called and I answered. It was a telemarketer that was trying to sell me 6 months of "free" magazine, a "free" watch and enter me into a "free" vacation giveaway. I guess I should fill in a little bit. When I answered the phone, what I heard was, "Please hold for the next available operator." from a recording. So I let her go through her spiel, and at the most available moment, I told her that I wasn't interested, and that she was calling my cell phone, and by law, they couldn't call me with an automated calling system. She yelled at me for wasting her time, and that the number is not on the "do not call list". I then told her again that it is a cell phone, so even if I'm not on the list, it's still illegal to use the automated calling system on the number. She starting yelling at me again for wasting her time, but I hung up on her half way through. She did spend about a minute and half on the phone with me, but monopolized the conversation. If she was so concerned about me wasting her time, maybe she should have started the conversation with, "Hi, I'm going to try to con you into magazine that you don't want and a vacation you'll end up paying for. Are you interested?" That would have saved a lot of time.

General Observation

I work at a chemical plant, not a farm, so the hours are set, and not by the sun, but by the clock. I've noticed this week that when I get to work (between 7:45am and 8:00am), there have been significantly more people in the parking lot than there was last week, before we rolled our clocks back. I've also noticed that there are less cars when I leave than there were last week. I guess my plant would never survive in Iceland.

Sore

As some of you out there in the internet world may know, I have been taking horseback riding lessons (again) for about a year. I rode for awhile when I was much younger, and I have now re-discovered it. I recently (at the beginning of the summer) changed barns and love it. In the past, I had only ridden at Hunter/Jumper barns, but this one is an Eventing Barn. Yesterday at my lesson, we did some fun exercises. They included riding doing some jumping while not holding on to the reins. The last exercise was to jump six stadium style jumps that were pretty spread out so that we could do some cantering between the jumps. I was asked to go first, and the first jump was perfect, the horse refused the second jump twice before I got him over it, and on the third jump, he jumped a little too big which resulted in me seating myself on his back before he had landed. That turned into some bucking, and me eventually on the ground. This horse has bucked on me before, us but I had always been able to stay on. This time, I lost my balance, and while I ended up on the ground, I was still standing. Like any good instructor would do, my trainer came over, asked if I was ok, had me get back one, and take the jumps again. The purpose of this is that I don't have time to think about what just happened, and to get me over the jumps before I get scared of them. I now know that when you fall off, it's kinda like a car accident. You feel fine the day it happens, but when you wake up the next day, you are so sore, you can barely move. Surprisingly, I'm looking forward to my lesson next week!

Like I don't know already

I love going to weddings. I love seeing people I haven't seen in a while, watching the ceremony (usually crying), and dancing the night away. One thing I do not like about weddings is that I can't make it through one without at least 3 people commenting that I'm not married or engaged. There are always comments about my left hand being empty. I don't understand the point of these comments. It's not like I don't know. I'm pretty sure that if I got engaged, I would realize it. And if I ever get engaged, I'm positive I'm not going to keep it a secret. Maybe people think that I am keeping it under wraps, I don't know. If you see me around, and I am not wearing a ring, chances are, I'm not engaged. No need to talk about it; it will really ruin it if I do get engaged.

And the story goes on...

The morning after my last post, I woke up to this in the office:




He's just a little guy. I decided to let him sleep in there all day and keep Chica company. When he still wasn't up by 7 pm, my roommate decided to squirt him with water. He didn't move, it just made him wet. So I took care of things.

A bit creepy

Yesterday, my roommate left to go shoot clay thingies and to spend a night out camping and drinking. I spent the day patching cracked plaster and taping of the trim in preparation for painting. When I decided it was time for some sleep, I went into my bedroom, lowered and closed to blinds but when I went to turn off the light, something caught my eye. In the office, Lilly was watching something in the air. At first I thought she was chasing a fly, because she goes crazy when there are flies in the house, but then I saw a shadow of something much larger than a fly. I walk into the room and turn on the light. Flying around in circles was the only mammal with wings. That's right my friends, a bat.

Now the room he was flying around in was the same room that has the door to the attic. I had gone up to the attic much earlier in the day, but I had shut the door behind me on the way up and on my way down. Actually, there are two doors to the attic, and I just closed the bottom one on my way down. At any rate, I don't recall a bat flying out either time.

But now I had three cats watching a bat, all waiting for it to come down low enough for them to take a swipe at it. How do you catch a bat? Thoughts went through my mind of getting a blanket and netting him, but with my ungracefulness, I knew I'd probably break something. So I shooed the cats out of the room, and opened the attic door. If I could just get this little guy to fly into the attic, I'm sure he could figure out how to get out from there. He flew around and around and kept trying to hang on the walls, but would just slide off. I knew he must have been getting pretty tired. Finally, he flew through the open door and I went to go close it up, but then he flew back out and straight at me! I waited a bit longer as he continued to fly around the room in circles. He was starting to make me dizzy. He flew back into the attic and I shut the door.

I have to admit that thought of sleeping with the covers over my head ran through my mind all night, but as far as I know, he never came back. Now, sometime today, I have to go up and close the second door... I hope he's not planning an escape. I think I will name him Jake.

City Wildlife

I know what you are saying... "City Wildlife, you have GOT to be kidding." But no, I'm not. Living "downtown," Andrew and I have enjoyed the company of some of our favorite wildlife. They inclued:
the squirrel couple, Francis and Penelope,
the mourning doves, Edwardo and Phylis,
the sharp-shinned hawk, Chester,
the Siamese alley cat, Sampson (the name on his tag),
the stray dog that used to live under our porch, Shenandoah
and many more that have gone unnamed. We have a cardinal family, a purple finch couple, a flock of wrens, a momma rabbit and her 3 little ones who have recently left the nest. There is one member of the wildlife that we have not seen yet, but we know he exists. He likes to dig through my potted plants, tip over my water-starters, and eat our welcome mat. Andrew said that he would put up a webcam so we could catch him in action. I will keep you posted!

Such a Bad Afternoon on Such a Pretty Day

So, after a drive up to the doctor that wasn't worth the gas I burned getting there, I went to Keystone at the Crossing to check out the final days of the Parisian store closing event. After spending about an hour and a half in the mall, I came out to find my car had been broken into. The thief broke a small window in the back, but instead of smashing straight through it, he swung at it, and as a result, gashed the door in addition to breaking the window. He took out my back speakers, which I think cost me $70 about 6 years ago. He then rifled around in my glove compartment and in my work bag. He took my CD holder full of burned CDs, most of which were scratched so badly that they wouldn't play in the CD player, or they have epoxy on them and stick together (don't ask). He also took the brand new set of stirrup leathers that I bought last week. That probably pisses me off the most. But he did leave the stereo (which practically falls out on it's own) and the faceplate (which was laying on the floor). The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police came out, and was very prompt and polite. All-in-all, I guess I got off light. At least I didn't go to the gym this morning. If I had, my gym bag would have been in the car with my iPod. One good thing about being lazy.

Filling the House, Part II

While the Meyers family is filling their house with little human creatures, such as Jacob,


Congratulations Liz and Scott!!!

Jacob was born at 7:19pm Friday, July 6th, 2007. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 8 ozs, and 20.5 inches long. More pictures are on the web album


Andrew and are are filling our house with little kitty creatures. Meet Zoe.

Filling the House

I am experiencing something I haven't lived through in a while. A "bare" looking house. After graduation, of course I had the near-empty apartment, but it didn't stay like that long. Then when Andrew and I combined two 2-bedroom apartments, in to one 2-bedroom apartment, things were pretty out of control. Now, in a 3 bedroom house, things feel a bit empty. So, I bought a piece of furniture yesterday.

I think that it was a fabulous find! I went to a yard sale Friday afternoon thinking that I might find a couple of doors that may work as replacements to the 2 we are missing (one to a bedroom, and one to a closet). When I walked into the yard, I didn't see any doors. Even though I was tempted to just leave, I decided to look around a little bit. Then I saw a desk that looked promising. Andrew said that he wanted something to go in the foyer for the mail. Sitting in front of me was a slant top desk that I thought would be perfect. I took some pictures on my cell phone to show to Andrew. After getting approval, we went up yesterday to purchase. We lucked out, and it was still there, and they were able to find the key for it. I talked them down to $125, and now it's sitting in the foyer waiting to be re-finished. I'm really excited about it!!

Obesity in Children

There have been many reports on how childhood obesity is on the rise in America, and I have discovered why. You may be saying that there have already been explanations given, such as children eating more fast food and playing video games. But I think it goes back much further than that. As many people I know either have small children, are pregnant, or want to get pregnant, I tend to notice children a lot more, and how they behave in public and what their parents are doing. So here are my observations.

Kids are lazy and their parents make them that way. And I'm not talking about the 12 year old that wants to stay in and play Mario Kart all day. I'm talking about the 3 year old that is sitting in the stroller when they could easily be walking. Or the 4 year old I saw being carried from the car into Toys R Us. I have a few general rules now. If the child is old enough to pull down the sun visor on the stroller by him/herself, they are too old for a stroller. If you have to get a stroller that seats more than one child, and you're not the mother or father of multiples, the oldest one gets to hoof it. If the child no longer needs a booster seat at restaurants, he/she no longer gets to boost a ride from mom or pop. If you have to spend $50 on a pair of children's shoes, they should be worn out before the kid grows out of them.

Just think about these things. If the child gets more exercise, then they are more likely to take a nap. And wonderfully magic things happen in our sleep. Our body's recharge, they grow, there's a significant amount of brain activity that's processing the day's events. And, the caregiver gets to take a nap too. Hell, they've been toting the kid around all day, why shouldn't they get a little break?

I think there should be a long-term medical study done that looks at the number of incidents of ADD in elementary school children that did not get regular naps as toddlers.

And, I know what all the parents out there are saying. "How would you know what it's like, you don't have kids. It's easier to push, pull, or carry the kid around because it takes less time/less whining/less catching them when they get away from me." What can I say? I'm mean. Mean Aunt Sara. The kid will have to keep up, not whine and if they get away from me? Well, when they are lost and scared, they will learn not to run off. That, and they can't get too far when I get a tracking device embedded in their shoulder blade. Beep..... Beep... Beep..Beep.BeepBeepBeep. Gotcha!

Break time!

Take a break and watch this... Something to make you smile...

Shoes!

Andrew and I had a discussion over dinner this evening and the topic was shoes. Andrew claims that I have "a lot" of shoes. I was able to count approximately 15-17 pairs of shoes, which, I don't think is "a lot". So, in order to put some parameters on the relative term, I'm calling all females to leave a comment stating how many pairs of shoes you own. Of course this count includes flip-flops, athletic shoes, dress shoes, sandals, etc. Help me out girls!

For your viewing pleasure...

No, no one is getting naked... not in my little piece of the internet. You'll have to go else where for that nonsense. I wanted to let everyone know that I have updated my online album. It's the first link to the left, that's in German and you've never clicked on because either a) You didn't know where it would go and you didn't want to see nakedness or b) You are afraid of Wiener schnitzel. At any rate, there are new pictures including the not so recent trip down south and house pictures.

Enjoy!

The Big Move!

Andrew and I are moving into the new house on Saturday. It should be a day filled with fun and excitement! We've already taken down most of the wall paper. A boarder in one room still remains. The new paint colors are picked out, and we're ready to do some priming!

The move starts at 9am on Saturday for anyone who would like to help out. There will be something provided for both breakfast and lunch.

Crazy Weather!

So the weather recently has been crazy! It's in the 80's one day, and we have freeze warnings the next. And snow on Easter? It shouldn't be like that in Indiana. Canada maybe, but not Indiana. Those Canadians are the ones sending us this coldness. It's probably because we send them our pollution. Man, they fight dirty.

And, on the home front, we bought a house. We're moving on April 28th, and would appreciate any help we can get! We'll think of something to repay you with. Probably along the lines of food and beverages. :)