I Have a Strange Bus Driver

This is what greeted me when I got on the bus this morning. I catch the bus at the very first stop, so it usually pulls in and sits there for 5 minutes or so before beginning the route. Today, the bus driver thought it would be funny to pull in and then put on this lovely mask and see how people reacted.

I have to admit I did a bit of a double-take, but I'm glad to say that I did not scream, jump backwards, and almost fall off the bus like the lady who got on after me!

Though it did occur to me later that I was maybe a bit too trusting to just go ahead and get on the bus with this guy. After all, until he took off the mask, what proof did I have that he was actually one of the usual drivers and not some random weirdo? =)

I Would Like to Introduce the Concept of Sweatpants

To the gentleman who jogs past me every morning on my walk to work in his Richard Simmons-esque incredibly short shorts:

Perhaps you have noticed that it is, in fact, winter. It was 29 degrees when you jogged past me this morning in your very short shorts. On other days so far this winter, it was actually much colder. The day that it was 3 degrees above zero and I saw you in your tiny shorts sticks in my mind particularly.

I do commend your dedication to exercise. Not everyone is willing to go out every day in spite of the weather. (Not even everyone in your own household, as evidenced by the dog that you have to drag unwillingly along as you run.)

However, might I suggest that you might be more comfortable if you were to switch from the itty-bitty shorts to a nice pair of sweatpants? You are obviously aware that it's cold out. You are wearing a thick coat, hat, scarf and gloves. However, I can't imagine that they do a great job of keeping you warm when half of your body is fully exposed to the elements. And while it may be that you are just naturally pale, your legs certainly LOOK as if they are white with cold.

There, isn't that better? I'm just saying...

Yours,

Cold Just Looking At You

I Have Yet Another Blog

Because apparently I have decided I don't have enough on my plate, I've started yet another blog. (I already have this one and my scripture reading blog, and occasionally manage to contribute to a recipe swap blog.)

Now I've started another because of a story I heard on the radio a week or so ago. They were talking about a woman on Facebook who planned to take a picture of herself every day so she could watch how she changed over the course of a year. That sounded fascinating!

Of course, I have no desire to take (let alone look at!) pictures of myself every day all year. But it just so happened that only a few minutes before hearing this story I had been thinking about the fact that I don't take enough pictures of the kids. I want to have pictures to remember all the things they do and what they're like at each age, but I often just forget to pull out the camera.

So I am interested in seeing how my kids change over the course of a year. I resolved to try and take a picture a day of each of my kids. I'll post them to the new blog (Love 365) and watch to see how they change over 365 days.

Of course, real challenge is going to be remembering to take the pictures every single day!

I Got a $70 Haircut

And it was fan-freaking-tastic! I have frankly never understood why people would pay so much for a haircut. I usually consider it a splurge if I go to the place in Brighton that charges around $30 for a haircut instead of the usual $15 at Great Clips.

But I had a gift card for the Brown Palace Spa - a very posh place in downtown Denver. It was about to expire and I certainly didn't want it to go to waste. And I'd badly needed a haircut for about the last six months. So I decided that I would use my gift card for a hair cut at the spa and salon... even though the $70 cost at the Brown Palace Spa is certainly more than I've ever paid for a haircut.

It was wonderful. They pampered me thoroughly and it was great. I was so relaxed by the time I was done. The stylist even decided that she should straighten my hair before cutting so she could be really sure to get everything evened out (hard to tell with curls). I've never seen my hair this straight! I love it. I can't stop running my fingers through it.

Of course, my darling husband told me it looked "odd." And he could maybe "get used to it." So he's not as thrilled by it as I am. Then again, he's not the one who has tried and tried and tried to straighten this hair for many years. But Preston told me I looked like a "rock star mommy," so I guess he liked it a little better.

Oh well, "odd" or "rock star," it won't last long. A few days at most before I have to give in and wash my hair and all of this beautiful straight hair will revert to its usual curls. Hopefully I like the haircut just as much when it's curly! Because although I love the look when it's straight, I know that I'm not going to go to the time or trouble to try and straighten it myself on a regular basis. For one thing, I just don't have the time every morning to do that. For another, I don't have the right tools. And finally, I just don't have the 3-4 extra arms that I think I would need to do a decent job of it!

So while the new look won't last for long, I'll enjoy it for a few days. And I'll enjoy the memories of the nice evening at the spa for quite a bit longer. And for future reference, I will be accepting Brown Palace gift certificates for any and all gift-giving occasions. ;)

Quick Funny from Preston

While at dinner with my brother-in-law Tim last night, Tim took off his baseball cap. Preston took one look and exclaimed: "You don't have any hair on your head, just like Grandpa!"

Ha ha ha. Good thing Tim had a good sense of humor. =)
(And Grandpa too, when he reads this.)

I Am Not Too Hot... Not Too Cold

Aaahhhh... just right! That's how I can describe the temperature in my house this morning. And it's been months since I could say that. Ever since the thermostat went on the blink, we've been constantly playing with it, adjusting it, jury-rigging it and trying to keep the temperature somewhere near pleasant. But all too often, it was either too hot or too cold. (In fact, Aaron called me just yesterday to mention that he'd had to turn on the cooler, because the furnace had decided to heat the house to a balmy 82 degrees.)

But now... it's just right. This would be thanks to Tim. Tim is my brother-in-law. Back on Monday, I saw on my nephew's Facebook page that his dad was out of town for the week. When I asked where his dad had gone, I learned he was in Denver for some training. Well, since we pretty much never have family come to town, I knew I would have to take advantage and connect with Tim while he was here.

Several days later, I actually remembered to do so.

At any rate, we got in touch and I graciously invited Tim to make a very long drive (from the DTC to Brighton area, for you Denverites) to come visit us. (Yes, I am aware that it would have been more gracious for us to go to him, especially since he doesn't know the area. But it was a school night and I needed to get the kids to bed somewhere close to normal bedtime. And Tim was kind enough to agree.)

In the course of conversation on the way to dinner, it came up that our thermostat was on the blink but I had been too chicken to try to replace it because I was afraid I would just make things even worse. As I was saying this, I had a sudden brainstorm: Tim is handy. Tim, in fact, used to work as an electrician. Tim could probably fix our thermostat!

I immediately offered to buy Tim's dinner if he would replace the thermostat for us. (Actually, I had planned to buy Tim's dinner anyway. After all, he did make the long drive up to see us. But that's beside the point.) And after dinner, Tim quickly and easily replaced the broken thermostat. It works perfectly. And now we are not too hot... not too cold. Thank you, Tim!!

Haley Doesn't Like Options

I guess I didn't realize how often I do it, but I often present options to my kids. As in (a couple of recent examples):

"You can clean your room and earn the 50 cents that you wanted, or you can not clean your room and not get the 50 cents, or you can throw a fit about it and go to time out. Those are your options."

or

"You can eat your dinner and go play for a while before bedtime or you can decide not to eat and you can go to bed right now. Those are your options."

It normally works pretty well, which is why I keep doing it, I suppose. But the other night I presented a couple of options to Haley and she responded with, "I HATE it when you give me my options!" and stomped away.

Hmmmm.... I don't remember offering that as an option! =)