Bloggable Moments

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The One Where I Make a Fool of Myself

August 26, 2010 in Bloggable Moments, Just Plain Funny by Sara | 3 comments

Last night I got a late start walking Lucy. Dusk was just falling and as we turned the corner to walk up one of the hills that makes me breathe hard and sometimes swear a little under my breath, I saw a snake on the road. It wasn’t a very big snake. Just about a foot long. Tan and brown stripes ran horizontally down its slender body.

As I got closer, I realized it was really flat. Poor snake. Evidently someone had run over it earlier and squished it good.

So I didn’t bother to give it a wide berth. It was dead. It wasn’t going to do me any harm. I walked right by it and as I did I must have stepped on the end of its tail because all of a sudden it JUMPED STRAIGHT UP IN THE AIR AND TRIED TO BITE ME!

I then jumped straight up in the very same air and let loose with a scream that must have echoed all over the neighborhood. I jerked poor Lucy’s leash so hard I nearly choked her.

After my heart stopped racing I looked back at that dangerous snake. Then I crept a little closer and took a better look.

It was a piece of grass.

Do any of you remember the story in the Little House book when Pa walked to town, got delayed and then had to walk back home in the deep dark black night? In those days the chances of being eaten by a wild animal while wandering around in the dark were pretty high, so Pa’s imagination was working overtime. He thought he heard panthers and wolves and all manner of other wildlife all around him as he hurried home toward Ma and the girls. He looked up to see what he was sure was a bear standing in his path. For the longest time he stood there stock still hoping the bear would lumber away. No such luck. That bear just stood there glowering at him and thinking what a tasty morsel Pa was going to be. Finally, Pa screwed up all his courage, took the ax out of his knapsack, held it high over his head, ran toward the bear screaming at the top of his lungs, swung the ax with all his might and………

hit a tree stump right square on the head.

Then he had a good laugh at his own silly self and went on home.

I never felt as close to Pa Ingalls as I did last night.

Lucy is still laughing.

We Interrupt This Program

July 1, 2010 in Bloggable Moments, Faith, Family by Sara | No comments

Hello you faithful people who show up here faithfully day after day. I don’t really get why you do, but it has become something that I kind of count on.

So don’t stop, okay?

There has been quite a bit of upheaval in this house for the past two weeks. It’s a story I’m dying to tell you as soon as I figure out how to do it and still protect the privacy of some of the folks involved. It’s a dandy. Nothing bad, but still some of the most challenging days I’ve known in quite a while. This little blog has become the way that I process lots of stuff, so you are just about to get an earful.

But for the next few days I’m taking a little break to get my house (both figuratively and literally) back in order.

I’ll be back next Wednesday ready to unload:)

In the meantime, please keep my niece Sara in your prayers. She is going on a mission trip to London tomorrow and staying for 2 weeks. She is so excited and I am thrilled for her. I think it’s going to change her life.

I’m just hoping my sister doesn’t have a nervous breakdown watching the plane take off. If you read about some crazy woman stowing away in the wheel well of a plane headed for Europe, don’t be surprised if it’s her.

Maybe you ought to say a quick prayer for her as well.

Thanks ya’ll.

SHE’S HERE!!!!

June 24, 2010 in Bloggable Moments, Family, Kids by Sara | 4 comments

At 3pm on Tuesday I got a text from my mother saying,

“The Baby Is Coming!”

By 5:30pm Michelle was 6cm and walking around.

She’s a wonder woman.

By 6:30 she STILL had not had her epidural or any pain medicine of any kind.

At this point I offered her a dollar if she would go the whole way natural.

She said “you can keep your dollar”

Now that’s talent. To be able to be funny even though you are entering transition.

And even though I upped it to 100 dollars she declined my offer.

Imagine that.

And just about 3 hours later (after her epidural at 7 CM!!)

she pushed this new little life into our world.

6lb 10 ounces

20 inches

Olivia June

The newest member of our family.

Welcome Olivia.

We already love you like crazy.

My Reality Week

June 16, 2010 in Bloggable Moments by Sara | No comments

It was a little hard coming back down to earth after the great weekend I just had. JD had a business trip, the girls have camp and softball games and there were groceries to be bought, clothes to be washed, work to go to. You know, the usual stuff that keeps your life running along its merry way. All made a tad harder by the fact that I don’t have my partner here to help out.

So tonight I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself as I took Lucy out for our nightly walk/run (emphasis on the walk). But some time spent by the little stream that runs through the woods close to our house and which has become a favorite stop midway through our workout, watching the baby bunnies scamper away from my yearning dog, and meeting up with two lovely friends at the end had me rethinking things.

My reality is pretty darn wonderful.

My Non-Reality Weekend

June 14, 2010 in Bloggable Moments, Food, Friends, Travel by Sara | 3 comments

This weekend caught me several times shaking my head and wondering, “How in the world did I wind up having these experiences?”

My dear friend Julie from Virginia asked me about 6 weeks ago to join her and a few friends for a weekend in Philadelphia. I didn’t give it much serious thought because it was the first weekend after the girls were out of school, Katie has softball games EVERY FRIDAY night, etc., etc., etc.

But my dear husband said, “Why don’t you go? I can handle things here.”

So Friday found me boarding a plane from Dayton heading to Philly. I really hate the taking off part of flying but I thought perhaps this time would be okay since there was a nun boarding my flight and I just couldn’t imagine God letting a plane crash with a nun on board. I have actually been known to hold the hand of a complete stranger while taking off and this time it looked like I was in luck. A very handsome man sat down next to me. But it was not to be. A few minutes later a woman who smelled very much like stale popcorn booted him right out of that seat and took his place. So I settled for putting my ear buds in and listening to the Jayhawks and praying without ceasing.

Because Julie works in the hotel business, we were able to stay at the Ritz-Carlton without taking out a personal loan. It was mighty fancy, I tell ya. There were about six layers of sheets on the bed that were a bit of a puzzle to me at first. Finally I just slipped in between two of them and called it done.

We were also fortunate enough to get to see the final performance of the Pennsylvania Ballet’s performance of Romeo and Juliet. Now, previous to this weekend my sole experience with the ballet had been a couple of performances of the Nutcracker at the community theater. So I was pretty much prepared to dislike the ballet. I was really wrong. It was so beautiful. The costumes were beautiful, the dancers were beautiful, the set was amazing. Best of all, Julie knew (because Julie knows EVERYBODY) the conductor, Beatrice Affron, from music school. They met when they were 6 and 7 years old, went to music school together for many years, lost touch for a bit and then in a very cool way reconnected. She was lovely and smart and was kind enough to take us backstage during one of the intermissions. There we were able to see the dancers close up. They were warming up for the next act and let me just say that if you or I attempted some of those stretches they were doing we would be in traction for the next six months. It was painful just to watch them. And the ballet guys in their tights up close. I felt vaguely like I should avert my eyes.

We were able to eat some amazing food. The food at Alma De Cuba was nothing short of spectacular. The flavors were out of this world. The downtown market provided breakfast the next morning with a variety of egg dishes, po boys, apple fritters and mac and cheese (I think it should be made an official breakfast food). We topped if off Saturday night with dinner at the Ritz whose chef just happens to be Jennifer from last season’s Top Chef. I had some baked halibut that came out of the kitchen looking like two fluffy marshmallows and tasted like nothing I’ve ever had in my life. (This was the only part of my trip that impressed Elena andyou should have seen how big her eyes got when I told her.) I have clearly passed my love for reality TV on to my youngest daughter.

So you can see why I call this my Non-reality weekend. It was about as far from my normal life as I could have possibly imagined. And I didn’t even tell you about the the Comic Con convention that made for unusually entertaining people watching, the part where one of our party crashed one of the many wedding receptions going on in the hotel and brought us all back pretzels to eat, the hostess that may or may not have been a man in woman’s clothing, or the Egyptian cabbie that I will be friends with forever.

Maybe it really was just a dream.

A Different Drive

June 9, 2010 in Bloggable Moments, Work by Sara | 1 comment

I was driving to work this morning when it hit me what a different experience my drive to my little office out in the country is from the commute I used to make in northern Virginia.

In Virginia there were housing developments and privacy fences as far as the eye could see. In Ohio, there are corn and soybean fields spread for miles along side the roads I take to work.

In Virginia I could mark the passing of time by the progress made on the houses springing up on every side. Well, at least until the housing crisis hit. That kind of put a damper on the construction trade. In Ohio, I take note that the corn seems a foot taller on Monday morning than it did on Thursday afternoon. When I remarked to one old farmer how fast the corn seemed to grow he told me that if you stood outside in the fields at night you could actually hear the corn popping as it grew. I’m dying to see if he is right.

In Virginia there were certain places on my commute where I had to look out for recent immigrants to this country trying to cross the road in front of me. Evidently there are many places in the world where crosswalks are seen as mere suggestions rather than a rule to be followed in order to keep you from being run down by a large vehicle going 50 miles an hour. In Ohio, about the only thing I’ve had run out in front of me lately was what at first glance I thought was a large dog, but turned out to be a really large coyote.

On my way to work these days I often get the one finger salute from people I pass on the long straight roads I take. For those of you unfamiliar with this greeting, imagine your hand grasping the top of the steering wheel. When you pass someone, you merely raise your index finger off the wheel and extend it fully. It’s a shortcut to a wave. A way to say “howdy”. In Virginia, I often got a single digit greeting of an entirely different type. I’ll assume no explanation needed?

I’ll take my country commute over my city drive any day of the week.

I Promise

May 3, 2010 in Bloggable Moments by Sara | No comments

Parents are still here and we are too busy visiting for me to do a recap of the weekend justice.

Come back tomorrow. You better believe that after mixing the two families for 3 days there are stories to tell!

I can’t often promise that what I write will be entertaining, but I think I can pretty much guarantee that a couple of things will bring a smile to your face.

See you then

Whatta Ya Know

April 21, 2010 in Bloggable Moments by Sara | 2 comments

So guess what?

Today I got an e-mail from a guy in the front office of the Dayton Dragons. He saw my post of yesterday and offered us all tickets to any game we want to attend this year!

Now before you think I’ve gone and gotten the big head, just know that I know that they are just hooked up to a feed from Google and therefore every mention of the team gets fed right onto someone’s desk whose job it is to see what’s being said.

But still……

Pretty cool, huh?

When I Recover

April 5, 2010 in Bloggable Moments by Sara | No comments

Back tomorrow with lots of stories. We’ve had one of our best weekends ever.

Hope you can say the same.

Keeping Me Humble

March 19, 2010 in Bloggable Moments, Kids by Sara | 1 comment

Oh those darling children of mine. They know just what to do to keep me from getting too big for my britches.

The latest involved the night we went to the horrible, horrible aluminum show.

The kids had been playing outside for a couple of hours before we left. I had been busy doing something like watching bad tv laundry and didn’t pay much attention to them as we hurried out to the car and drove to the theater. It wasn’t until we got there and I saw all the nice people in their lovely clothes that I noticed that my children looked……well……not so lovely.

They kind of looked like homeless children.

Katie had on pants that were too short (that describes everything she owns as she has grown about 6 inches in the last 4 months) and while that didn’t matter when she had her boots on during the day, she had unfortunately decided that her purple Keen water shoes where the appropriate shoe choice for a night out on the town. Her long sleeved t-shirt had the “lucy tore a hole in my shirt” hole on the arms that all her shirts have these days. (Luckily they are all 4 dollar Old Navy shirts so I’m not completely crazed by that). Oh, and did I mention that she had dirt all up and down both sleeves and a nice smudge on her face?

Elena looked not much better. Although her pants were long enough, the knee had worn through on one leg and she too had plenty of dirt from our front yard as accessories.

Then I did the unthinkable, I asked them both to let me see their hands.

Just use your imagination people, they were as bad as you are thinking.

Fine, I thought, I don’t really see anyone we know. It’s a Thursday night and who’s going to be out and about?

Turns out, plenty of people. Including a couple of patients from my practice which is TWENTY FIVE miles away.

The kicker had to have been when we took our seats way up in the balcony and I was relieved that we hadn’t seen anyone else we knew. The lights were going down in just 15 minutes. My shame was almost hidden.

Until I looked over to find that one of my neighbors who I’d not really met yet was sitting right next to JD. Along with her three (out of four) perfectly turned out children. The girls had cute little skirts and headbands end and the little boy was just precious in his polo shirt and khaki pants. There wasn’t a water shoe or hole or dirt stain anywhere to be found.

She was just lovely and kept engaging the girls in conversation. I tried to keep up my end of things all the while praying for the show to start and for Katie to keep her hands (palms down) on her lap.

It’ll go down as one of my most humbling parenting moments.

And a reminder to give my children a once over before we go anywhere.

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