Zumbalicious

It was a busy & exhausting week. We were shorthanded at work & in the midst of a sales contest. My dad had eye surgery on Thursday so I spent most of the day at the hospital. On Friday I had to get up at 5:30 to take him to Morgantown for a follow up appointment. As it became time for the 2 hour zumba master class I signed up for on Friday night, I began to wonder "WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!" I was soooo tired! But I had pre-registered & paid so I knew I had to go. What an experience . . . I am so glad I went! Erick, the instructor, is from Miami & very compelling. He was high energy, & it was so easy to get drawn in with his enthusiasm. In addition, I realized that this must be quite an opportunity when they announced that there were people in the class from not just WV, but MD, VA, PA, OH, IL, & FL. About 20% of the class were zumba instructors which was a little intimidating. Fortunately, I was able to pick up the choreography pretty quickly because the place was packed . . . one wrong move & I could have knocked somebody down. Well, it was a really hard workout but so much fun! It is gratifying to know that I can do over 2 hours of cardio &, with the help of 3 bottles of water, survive. A little hip hop, a little kick boxing, some Latin . . . just an amazing night!

Above is a picture of Erick & one of some of the instructors he called to come up on stage including our own Brionna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp-6dmO_njI&feature=PlayList&p=AD3CFB3E8E8EB506&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=20

Good Grief!

Tonight while I was watering my plants, it happened again. I was swarmed by bees & stung multiple times on my left hand & under my right eye. Apparently there is a bees' nest under my deck floor . . . I'm afraid to look! The bee sting stick I just bought didn't touch the pain or the swelling. So I took a frozen margarita pouch from the freezer & held it with my left hand over my right eye. It helped on my hand, but my eye not so much. I tweeted about it & someone sent me a home remedy to try. . . chopped parsley mixed with vinegar & salt. Well, it probably would have worked better if I didn't have to substitute parsley flakes & wine vinegar, but all I ended up with was parsley flakes stuck to my face! Eventually, I decided that the margarita pack might be more effective taken internally so I drank it. My eye is still swollen, but I'm a lot more chill about it now.

Yeow!

Two Saturdays ago I was on the deck drinking my coffee. I had been having trouble with my sciatic nerve which had caused a great deal of pain in my back, hip & leg, & I had been unable to sleep for several nights. So instead of just sitting (which was painful) with my coffee I decided to walk around the deck & move some of my plants. Just as I picked up the first plant I got stung on the foot by a bee that then became trapped between my toes. As I was trying to both kill the bee & free my foot from it, I began getting stung on my left leg (yes, the one that was already sore!). Bees were now in my pajama pants, & all I really could do as I hopped & screamed was take my pants off & hope that no one would see me. Now I'm free of the bees but standing half naked on my deck screaming like a banshee! Eventually I calmed down & went inside only to find I had nothing for bee stings. I dragged myself upstairs, threw on some pants & drove to CVS. As I limped through CVS I armed myself a bee sting stick, BenGay & Advil. I was in tears when I checked out. Of course I told the sympathetic clerk my story. Yes, I felt like a total baby, but it really hurt!

Catching Up

Starting over . . . 

I have watched some intense baseball . . . my own boys plus my nephew, Jay. The kind of baseball where your heart is in your throat . . . where you live & die with every pitch. This summer I have started back at square one with both Owen & Drew playing t-ball for the first time. The "rules" are unique . . . no score, no outs, everybody bats . . . just have fun & hopefully learn a little about baseball. Well, it is fun & funny & just about the cutest thing I've ever seen! Owen's league is for 5-6 year olds some of whom seem to have a clue. Drew's league is for 3-4 year olds & is more like herding kittens! Both boys have got the professional look down though . . . it's all about the uniform!

Moving on . . . 

I attended Owen's preschool graduation a couple weeks ago. It was 3 songs, a certificate, & off to a celebratory lunch. Owen announced to his mom at some point that week that he was "moving up in the world." 

Too fun . . . 

For Christmas I received concert tickets for Julianne Hough from Ryan. No one has ever accused either Ryan or me of being shy so we picked our way through the crowd & positioned ourselves right in front of the stage. Yes, we may have had to elbow some pre-teen girls out of our way, but hey, how many opportunities does one get to be front & center at a concert! Ryan got some really amazing pictures from that vantage point (I think he took about 150!), & we stayed to meet her afterward & get a picture with her. Although I look like I'm half asleep in the picture, I really was energized & having a great time.

Weather . . . 

I've always wondered why people talk so much about the weather until now. June gloom??? We have had maybe 5 days of sunny & warm since spring began! I'm sick of rainy & cold, sinus headaches, & constantly changing from heat to A/C & back. Summer? Bring it on!!!

I love a parade . . .

Actually, I pretty much hate parades with the exception of the Disney electrical light parade. But this one was pretty unexpected & rather hilarious. Eight year old Kerry had the bright idea over Memorial weekend that we should end our family cookout with a parade. She determined that she would be the princess & would ride in the back of a pickup truck along with her three year old cousin, Drew, who would be the prince. Fearing that Drew wouldn't be allowed to ride without supervision, Kerry decided that his mom, Kelly, could be the queen & ride along with them. Kerry got her dad to drive & throw candy. Her grandfather appropriately was the grand marshall since he is a WWII veteran & was to lead the parade in his golf cart. Brother Jay would bring up the rear on a riding lawnmower. The parade route went around the block in their neighborhood. The rest of us were to be the spectators. A light drizzle did not deter this determined little group from their mini-parade. Kerry had signs for the truck & even made a sign for her grandfather to indicate that he was the grand marshall. A good time was had by all, & many good sports contributed to making this very special for Kerry! This parade I did love!!!

Drew is 3!!!

Happy 3rd birthday, Drew Jacob Zundell! You are an interesting,  funny, charming little guy . . . your personality is a nice combination of both of your parents. This has been a big year for you as you have become a big brother to Tyler along with mastering so many skills & acquiring an amazing vocabulary. I know it will continue to be fun to watch you learn & grow . . . I love you!

Still Alice

Here is why I don't want to read the book Still Alice about a woman who develops Altzheimers:

Yesterday on my way to tennis I realized that I had forgotten my water--no real biggie; we all do that. I knew I could buy water in the machine at the tennis center, but, since I had only a $20 bill, I started rooting through my purse for the $1.25 I would need for the machine. Although I was successful in finding enough change I also found (GASP) my paycheck from last week! Now I'm really concerned about the lack of money in my account--but I don't remember to make a deposit on the way to work today! It does occur to me as I pull into my office parking lot so I decide to go to the bank during lunch. As I wait in the drive-thru line I prepare my depoit ticket & endorse my check. Then I check my email & voicemail. (I'm beginning to realize I do not multi-task well!) Next I pay for my apples & yogurt & head for the bank. When I was sitting in the bank drive thru, I glanced at the passenger seat & realized that I had driven off without my food!

Woman vs Mailbox

My neighborhood is quiet & has a very low volume of traffic. I always drive through slowly ever vigilant for pets, kids, &, of course, deer. So it's rather amazing that I managed to have a minor traffic accident less than a block from my house. As I was driving down my street my purse slid off the seat & turned upside down. I reached down to retrive it & accidently hit a mailbox. Yikes!

The mailbox survived, however, it knocked off my side mirror & put a rather unsightly dent in my car. I will take this as a reminder to keep focused on the driving & not be distracted by extraneous things. Message received!

Easter 2009

At family gatherings I sometimes (okay, often) become the target of  jokes. Unfortunately for me the more I put myself out there with blogging & twittering, the more material I provide my sons & nephews to bust me. My Iphone, which is such a source of entertainment & information for me, does get me into trouble from time to time. It seems that I am not always able to manage the phone, & once I make a blunder it's out there for all to see & ridicule. Yes, I did send a photo from my phone 16 times, send an email to all my contacts including people I don't know socially, tweet at Ryan Seacrest about my car . . . all inadvertent, but once I put it out there & then realize my mistake, it's too late! I'm learning that an attempt to tweet quickly from my phone is not such a great idea as it can lead to sending a direct message to someone whom I'm sure could care less. I find it ironic that those who are so quick to harass me for twittering are either following me or lurking (yes, Jan, I mean you!) So they seem to also find something pretty entertaining about twitter. At least I have the ability to laugh at myself for it seems I can always find a way to do something lame. My impulsiveness & the ability to put out a quick tweet are not a good match. To further complicate things for me, I now have TweetDeck to master--yikes! 

It's amazing how well I respond to a list. Last Thursday night I made a list of the things I needed to do over the three day weekend. By mid-afternoon on Saturday I had completed everything on the list. Inexplicably the act of crossing items of the list provides me with motivation. Too bad I don't make a list more often!

Drew had his first Carpenter family money egg hunt this Easter although he seemed to be less interested in finding eggs than in finding eight year old Kerry! When I asked Drew if he wanted to find more eggs, he responded, "let's find Kerry!" He might have been more excited if the eggs had contained jelly beans since he managed to stuff quite a few of those into his mouth all at once. I put aside my aggressive egg hunting to walk with Drew & help him look. It was actually lots more fun! Tyler, still too young to look for eggs, was captivated by watching the dogs run around in the yard. By the way, I do know that Cyrus is not the Colorado egg hunting champion--seriously, I think he found fewer eggs than Drew & I did! How weird is this . . . Jenny found an egg from a prior year!

On a serious note as I sat in church with Rach, Trent, Adam, Kelly, Tyler & Drew yesterday I felt truly blessed!

Milestones

I was in Ohio this past weekend visiting Ryan, Renea, Owen & Lucie. I arrived in time to watch Owen's private swim lesson & was blown away by how much he's improved since last summer! His freestyle looked like an actual freestyle, & he has a nearly flawless breast stroke. We went to the movies & went to church & all the while I was mindful of just how much Owen has matured. He has little problem sitting quietly when necessary. After I left yesterday he was going to try to ride his bike without training wheels . . . he promised to call & tell me how it went. About a hour so later while I was still driving home, he called. Yes, in a matter of minutes he had mastered the two wheel bike! So for Owen spring will be more bike riding & swimming along with t-ball. This five year old seems like he's ready to take on the world!

Just crazy!

Who knew that Ryan & I would be leading the pack of the family blogs? Ryan has been blogging daily so I have attempted to step up my game as well. Trent & Adam . . . not so much! Blogging often about one topic is easier than trying to blog occasionally when there are numerous things I want to say & don't have the time or energy to type it all out. In addition I try to stay on pace with my kids' blogs, podcasts & tweets. Keeping up with my family & friends via the social media could be a second job! 

Too cute!

Yesterday we heard on the radio that former WVU quarterback (& future NFL star), Pat White would be at the Waterfront Hotel signing autographs. In an instant I called to see if I could take Drew to meet him & was told he could go. I picked him up & made a bad decision to try to go through town instead of getting back on the interstate. This little jaunt did lead to some lively conversation though. As I commented about the traffic, Drew wanted to know if everyone was going to see Pat White. In addition I was explaining to him why it was necessary to always stop for a school bus. A few moments later he yelled "STOP" from the back seat. I asked him what was wrong, & he told me a school bus was coming. So I then needed to further explain that we only needed to stop when the bus was stopped to load or unload kids. He told me we were taking the same road that they took to go to church & added that they didn't go to church last week because they had too many things to do. Of course he asked several times if we were almost there. Well, it was cute to see hundreds of preschool kids in various Pat White attire at the event. Drew did not miss a thing as he had on his WVU sweat suit, Pat White jersey, & WVU baseball cap. As we stood in line he was so friendly that all the security people kept stopping to chat with him. He was talking about all the things he planned to say to Pat. Eventually, we got to Pat, & after saying "hi" & giving Pat a fist bump, Drew became rather star struck. Pat was great though & started asking Drew questions like "do you like the Mountaineers?" So Drew answered Pat's questions, then wished him good luck like we had talked about. Drew was rather disappointed that Pat wasn't wearing his uniform though. All in all it was really fun! (Yes, I was excited to meet Pat too!)

April Fool

I have not been into April Fool's pranks since graduating from grade school. In fact, for me it is pretty much like any other day. So when I checked my twitter account at work & discovered that Ricky Braddy, a friend of my nephew's who appeared on American Idol, stated that he would be back on AI & would appear on Ellen the following day, I immediately was excited. I called my sister to see what she knew about it, but she didn't answer. I then sent a text to my nephew asking him what was up. He didn't know anything about it but told me he would find out & let me know. A few minutes later I got a text telling me Ricky was playing an April Fool's joke. Haha! Well, of course, I had already started to spread the word that Ricky was back on AI. How dumb did I feel. 

Apparently this planted a seed with my nephew. He lives in Nashville & has had the good fortune to become well acquainted with some celebrities there. So Wednesday night as I am driving home from tennis I get a call from him. He tells me he has some good news. My friends who are riding with me suddenly stop talking since I am shrieking excitedly as he tells me an elaborate story. He begins by telling me that one of his connections had set him up with an interview/audition. Making it very believable he describes his nervousness & his concern that his voice wasn't 100% due to a recent cold. All the details of this meeting were meticulously narrated including the names of everyone present for the group Rascal Flatts. He proceeded to tell me that their keyboard player was taking some time off since he & his wife were expecting a baby & that they seemed to like his audition. He went on to say they called him back & offered him a job going on tour for 6 months beginning in a couple of weeks. To further the story he said he went right out & bought a new car which he also described. I suggested that he email me a picture of the car; he agreed & asked me to check it out & call him back. After we hang up my friends & I are excitedly talking about getting tickets to see him on tour. I was so pumped about it that I forgot to check my phone for the picture. When I finally did, I saw a text message instead from my dear nephew stating "April Fool." Well, yes this year I am the April Fool! 

Twitterific

It started as a lark. My kids were talking about twitter so I decided to sign up & check it out. At first I only followed my kids plus Tony Caridi, the WVU play-by-play announcer. Easy enough, manageable . . . took only a few seconds a day. My son, Trent, then pointed out that I could get twitter on my iphone. Twitterific! One day I decided to add a couple of people that I knew were on twitter. Then these people added me. Soon strangers added me so I added them. Then I discovered celebrities on twitter so I added people like John Mayer (who twitters so much I may have to drop him!), ET & Ryan Seacrest. Then a friend of my nephew's was on American Idol so I added both him & his fansite. Of course, I was also twittering (tweeting) while I was adding & being added to other accounts. It wasn't long before I got some direct messages so I fired messages back. Recently I discovered both the head football coach & basketball coach at WVU were on twitter . . . couldn't add them fast enough! Soon I began checking my twitter account at red lights & while grocery shopping. I find it fascinating to not only keep up with those in my family who tweet but to also get random comments from miscellaneous other people.

I know I have an addictive personality (thank God I never tried drugs!) so I guess it's not surprising that I have now become a twitter addict. Is there a 12 step program for this? 

De-frazzling

After spending the majority of the weekend gathering data for FOUR tax returns, I am rather frazzled! Today I will drop all of this off at the accountant's . . . yippee . . . It will be off my back & become someone else's problem! I don't know why I find this so daunting. Perhaps it's because the IRS is pretty formidable, & I'm afraid of making a mistake. A prison term is not part of my long range plan! At any rate it will be a great feeling to have this over & done. What a bummer to spend most of the weekend immersed in paperwork though!

My project of having the main bathroom renovated was supposed to take a week. It was bad enough that the bathroom was torn apart the day before Ryan, Renea & Owen were coming for the weekend, but I thought it would be worth it to have it finished by Friday, March 20. Here we are on March 31st, & the bathroom is still a work in progress. Yikes! I'm sick of living with the mess not to mention the inconvenience. Contractors are just in a league of their own when it comes to deadlines!

On the home front there are a couple of exciting tidbits of news:

It was discovered on Saturday that 5 year old Owen is following in his father's footsteps & is a natural breaststroker! He also has signed up for a t-ball team.

It was believed that Drew, who will be 3 in May, had narrowly missed the cutoff to play 3-4 year old t-ball (can't really even wrap my mind around that!) this summer, but they will make an exception for him. Alrighty then, let's play ball!

TREATS!!!

Who knew? Apparently everyone but me! I only get unsweetened iced tea at McDonalds & don't give their menu a passing glance when I go to the drive-thru to order my tea. The other day my friend, Nancy, came back to the office after lunch with a treat for me. McDonald's low fat yogurt with berries & granola. Whoa, this is wonderful! In addition, my eight year old niece told me you can get apple slices with fat free caramel dipping sauce at Burger King. Well, I tried that & YUM! So I have been sharing this information with my friends all of whom already knew about these treats. Yikes, I feel like I've been living in a cave!

One thing (inevitably) leads to another . . .

While shopping for a new WVU t-shirt for myself, I went to the boys department since those shirts fit me better & are generally less expensive. I found a shirt, but before I could buy it I spotted a WVU warm-up suit in Drew's size 50% off. Naturally, I had to have this too thinking I could save it for his birthday. I then went to get a baptism gift for Tyler. After I purchased his gift, I thought that I might as well give Drew the warm-up on Sunday when Tyler will be getting lots of gifts. So, that should have been the end of it, but a couple days later when I went to Walmart to purchase a cd, I saw a WVU basketball uniform in kids' sizes so I bought both Drew & Owen a uniform. Then I needed to get something more for Tyler so I bought him a couple of WVU onesies. Things seemed to be pretty even-steven at that point, but unfortunately, before I could check out I saw Spiderman t-shirts in Owen's size. So I picked one out, then went to see if I could find something comparable for Drew & Tyler. As luck would have it, I was able to get Spiderman t-shirts for them too. I proceeded to check out without a glance to the left or right since I feared I might find something else that would be just too cute to pass up. So not only have I purchased what I had planned (a little gift for Tyler's baptism & a t-shirt & cd for me), but I have also bought a warm-up, 2 onesies, 2 basketball uniforms, & 3 t-shirts. (Think I may refrain from shopping for awhile!)

Baffled

Today as I was cleaning up my computer desktop & assigning photos to various albums, I came across this picture. I know that it was taken by my camera, not my iphone, but I have no idea who it is or where it came from. Owen & Drew occasionally will take a picture, but this is so random that I'm baffled by it. Before sending this to the trash, I thought I might just see if anyone could identify this person.

Reality Rant

This week my reality tv life started out well with perhaps the best show of them all--The Amazing Race. My only real complaint with this show is that sometimes winning does not give the team a time advantage on the next leg of the race as waiting for flights or for a specific business to open allows other teams to catch up. I'm sure this is done to keep the whole thing competitive though.

On to Monday's Bachelor--yikes, there are no words! I haven't watched this show for quite a while, but there was something really appealing about Jason Mesnick, single dad of a 3 year old son & two-time loser in love. He seemed like such a stand-up guy. A couple weeks prior to the finale though, the sleaze factor emerged for me as he spent the night with three different women in the span of a few days. (Anyone else worried about STD's?) In addition, he was routinely shown kissing & making out with all of them in the same day & sometimes even on the same date! As you may have heard, he was torn between two women in the end. Now in my opinion these conflicted feelings should have been enough for this man to know he was not ready to propose marriage to anyone, but nooooo! He dumped one, sobbed uncontrolably, then proposed to the other all on the same day. Fast foward to the show immediately following the finale--Six weeks have elapsed from the proposal to the taping of this After the Final Rose show. On this show, he changes his mind & dumps his fiancee; then asks the one he rejected to take him back. Like a fool she agrees! Of course, in five minutes they are making out. The real winner here--bachelorette Jillian, who made it to the final three & was then eliminated. Well, I'm so angry that I wasted three hours watching this on Monday & that I ever actually thought this man had any redeeming qualities. Somewhere his ex-wife is probably laughing her head off!

Last, but not least, American Idol. For me this show has become over-produced & far less of a "reality" show each season. In the preliminary auditions, they cut a huge number of people who can actually sing so that some of the crazies go through to see Randy, Paula, Simon, & Kara.
That might have been a mildly entertaining in the first season, but it's become old & tired now. It seems the power-that-be at Idol are more interested in drama, backstories, etc., than in providing an opportunity for an unknown singer to emerge to win a recording contract. As a viewer I would like to see all singers who make the top 36 have a televised audition. Since the show chose to show drama instead of singing in the early weeks, a few of the top contestants were seen for the first time the night they had to sing to be voted through to the top 12 while others already had been so heavily featured that they already had fan clubs & had the message boards buzzing. Level playing field? I think not! Yes, I've become cynical & am so over watching this contrived show!

The good news . . . Dancing with the Stars premieres on Monday!

Inept!

What was I thinking? I should never buy furniture that comes in a box! Over the weekend I bought a new tv stand, & thought it would be easy enough for me to assemble. I guess prior episodes of having parts & pieces scattered all over the room with no real ability to make sense of it all had faded from my memory. Last night I spent over an hour trying to figure it all out to no avail. If I could have managed to get all the pieces back in the box, I would have returned it to Walmart. Now I'm stuck with a tv on the floor & pieces of wood, screws, tools all over the room. I guess it will be necessary to do what I always seem to do when I have a crisis that requires tools; I'll call Trent.

This & That

Recently a local radio station was promoting an appearance by Steve, the Regurgitator. Naturally, Nancy & I were curious as to why anyone would want to pay money to go watch someone vomit. The thought of it was nauseating! So we googled him & found this video. I wonder at what point in this person's life this would this seem like something he would want to try to do for a living! Stevie Starr the Regurgitator

Owen, age 5, has been playing floor hockey so I traveled to Ohio to catch a game. Amazingly, these four & five year old kids wielding hockey sticks all seemed to grasp the concept of getting the puck & pushing it toward the goal. Other than the time I was snapping a picture of Owen & he stopped playing to pose for me, he took the whole thing pretty seriously. There were times it all was rather hilarious, but I found my competitive spirit kicked in when Owen almost scored, & I nearly jumped out of my seat! He did score recently & called to tell me about it . . . it seems that while scoring he simultaneously lost his shoe!

This past weekend I took care of Drew & Tyler while their parents went out on a date night. With very busy lives & two young children, Adam & Kelly don't get to go out together that often. After about five books & several stalling tactics, Drew seemed pretty compliant about going to sleep. Then I heard him "fake" crying & went in to ask him what was wrong. He then said "I NEVER get to see my daddy (awww, I thought . . . Adam had a game the night before, & I guess Drew was really missing him) . . .  or my mommy (Kelly is with him just about 24/7)! I then realize that Drew is just being a little dramatic. So I tell him that his mom & dad will be home soon & will check on him & kiss him goodnight. "Ok," he says, "love you." And that was that.

Whew!

A week ago I received a phone call about 9:30 pm from a man whose name I did not recognize on my caller ID. Reluctantly, I answered the call & was immediately asked some questions. The caller asked my name & if I had a credit/debit card with a certain bank. I responded rather cryptically. The caller then asked if my card was in my possession. I told him that I was sure it was since I had used the card earlier in the day. He asked me to go check so I did. My card was missing! He then asked where I last used it, & I told him. As it turns out he had found my card lying in the entryway of that store. So he now tells me he would like to return the card to me & begins to give me directions to his house. In my mind a red flag goes up . . . he lives on a road in a rather remote area . . . so I tell him I am unfamiliar with that road & doubt that I could locate his house at night. He then suggests meeting in a parking lot of a business that I know would be closed so I tell him I don't know where that is either. He offers to bring the card to my house, but I do not want to give him my address. I suggest meeting in a Dairy Mart parking lot since I know it will be well lit & should have people milling about. I think this man finally sensed that I was uneasy with all of this & offered to bring his wife along. While I was driving to meet him, a zillion thoughts go through my mind as I am rather afraid. A few minutes later we did meet at the Dairy Mart. This man turned out to be quite nice, & (anyone who knows me well will not be surprised) we talked for about 15 minutes. As it turns out he had a son in high school with two of my sons & called me because he remembered the last name. Upon meeting he told me he remembered my son as a high school football star . . . & my (looking back on it) somewhat egotistical response was "which one?" All's well that ends well, but I was really frightened! Unfortunately, it's difficult to trust anyone in today's world, but as it turns out this guy was a good samaritan!

Catching Up

I guess I wanted to start 2009 by being better organized & by getting back to the healthy eating & exercise that became rather sporadic over the holidays. This plan was thwarted by a bout with the flu that sidelined me for several days. Having already used 2 of my 5 sick days for the year in January is a real bummer!

The holidays were fun, crazy, chaotic . . . lots of family & food! I then felt it was my duty to eat anything left over including the sweets so I may have been on a sugar high for awhile. When I wasn't on a sugar high, I definitely also had my quota of alcohol with delicious after dinner coffees laced with Tia Maria or Starbucks creme liquor as well as Eddie's Irish coffee & lots of wine. We were able to get a rather amazing group photo on Christmas day of the family gathered at my house for dinner. It was amazing in that no one looked bad. With a group this size (23) & no professional photographer plus several kids, this is quite an accomplishment!

So I'm attempting to now get back to real life . . .  back to the gym, back to the brown bag lunch, back to finding some sense of order both at home & at work. The social media has grabbed me to the point that I could spend literally hours reading blogs, listening to podcasts, texting, & twittering--yikes, it can be a real waste of time, but it's such a quick & easy method to keep up with everything! Finding out that President Obama was twittering throughout his campaign has rather legitimized it for me, however, I'm sure his answer to "what are you doing right now?" is way more riveting than my "getting ready to take a nap" or "watching the Steelers!"

As a quick aside, my little grandsons are complete delights who continue to amaze & enthrall me! It is quite a tall task not to spoil them rotten!!! 

So I guess the funniest/most unusual thing that happened to me recently was my trip to the eye doctor for my dad's appointment on a day the temperature was -3. Across from us in the waiting room was a 30ish man wearing boxer shorts (or boxer-style shorts . . . I'm not sure if he actually was wearing his underwear) with hunting boots. I could see way more of him than I wanted to & couldn't imagine why anyone would choose this attire on any day let alone the coldest day of the year! It was so entertaining that the staff one by one found an excuse to visit the waiting room to check it out. I just crossed my fingers & hope that my dad would reserve his comments for later which thankfully he did!

(For anyone who missed it, check out my nephew Brooks Parker on youtube singing with Sarah Chapman in an Amy Grant/Vince Gill Christmas concert in Nashville.) Baby Its Cold Outside - Sarah Chapman & Brooks Parker