Bought myself an iphone a few weeks ago when I renewed my contract. The price was good ($99) because the “new, updated” version of the iphone was scheduled to come out a week or so later. Wasn’t sure I wanted an iphone though because I thought it might be more phone than I needed. But I’m enjoying it. I like being able to handle email, Facebook, and Twitter from my phone. And I like having a large screen to look at and having a full keyboard. Erica helped me download some of my favorite music so now I can listen as I ride my bicycle … which brings me to my next subject …

It has been so terribly hot the last week or two all over this part of Texas and I have not felt like I could get out in the heat and ride my bicycle. I tried riding early in the morning (6 am) but even then the temperature was already at 88 degrees and by the time I rode a few miles, came back and showered, and got to work, I was absolutely drained of energy. So then I thought perhaps I’d ride late in the evening. So I tried waiting until about 8:30. That wasn’t much better … the temperature was only at 95 degrees but at least the sun wasn’t beaming down on me. And when I got home I could soak in a nice, hot tub of bubbles and then go to sleep! It didnt’ matter if I was drained of energy!

But … the highs are predicted to be 100 degrees today and 101 degrees tomorrow. And hovering around those highs for at least the next 8 days. As a matter of fact, as I was watching the 10 pm news last night, it was still 97 degrees! So, there is nothing that will convince me it is safe to ride when it’s that hot, whether the sun is shining or not. But like we say around this part of Texas … “If you don’t like the weather, stick around. It’ll change soon.”

It can’t change soon enough to suit me!

May 5th … the last time I posted here. Where has the time gone? I’ve been super busy at work and have been rewarding myself with some “me time” when I’m at home. Yeah, call it selfish if you want, but I’m doing it anyway. I’m (way) over 50 years old and I can do whatever I want, when I want.

I’m still riding my bicycle regularly. Some days the weather doesn’t permit me to get out and ride but most days it does. Of course, the really hot part of a Texas Gulf coast summer hasn’t even hit yet. Temps have been up in the low 90’s and it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. But I’ve been getting up at 6 o’clock in the morning (it’s cooler then … only about 78-80 degrees) and after taking my meds, brushing my teeth, and washing my face … I hit the road about 6:15 for a ride. By 6:45 I’m back at the house and sit in my backyard swing for awhile … resting, of course … then I take a shower and get ready for work. I usually go for a ride as soon as I get home which is about 5:15 … although I will probably change that as summer progresses. I’ll wait until 9:00 (at night) to ride because the temps will be back down in the low 90’s by that time. And … the sun isn’t beaming down on me!

So that’s my life these days … boring, but relatively peaceful except for the “wicked witch” …

For some reason I’m extremely tired this morning. Could it be because I rode 4 miles last night? Hmmmm … anyway, we (being me, Chase & Erica) rode over to Roseanne’s house which is about a mile or so away and met her. Then we all rode through her neighborhood and then we rode home. And although I didn’t feel like riding this morning, I made myself get up and ride a mile. So I am really, really physically tired. Hopefully the caffeine will kick in soon …

… at gardening …

As you can see from my former post, I bought a bicycle. Although I have yet to “officially” ride it to work, I have been consistently riding it 2 to 3 miles each day since I bought it. I mapped out a mile route through my neighborhood, and I ride it in the morning before I get ready for work and then again as soon as I get home from work. I have increased my route a little this week so I can work up to at least 3 miles each day. My goal is to probably ride about 10 miles a day when its all said and done. I have to say that I am feeling much better physically since I started riding. My back doesn’t ache as often, my knee and hip joints don’t seem to ache, I can get up and down off the sofa easier, I have more energy and less of an appetite. I can actually do a mile and a half … at a good pace, as Erica says … without getting winded. She has ridden with me a few times and decided that I set a pretty good speed for someone as old as myself. Yes, the temps are warming up and I sweat before its over, but there’s always a shower or bubble bath, right?

And I have decided to start a ladies’ bicycle riding group. There are about 10 ladies at church … of all ages from college to my age … that want to participate. We have our first planning meeting next week. My vision for the group is to meet weekly at various locations such as hiking and riding trails nearby, and ride for 30 to 45 minutes. Then we’ll pack up our bikes, drive to Panera or Starbucks or somewhere like that and have a drink and a brief devotional time … I’m thinking 10 minutes. Then we can visit until we feel like leaving.

I chose the name PEDAL PUSHERS for my group as a play on words. Those my age will understand what that means. The younger set calls those type of pants CAPRIS. Plus, we will be pedalling our bikes.

I also thought of playing off the name of a motorcycle group my pastor leads called the JC RIDERS. I thought JC PEDALERS might be cute. I mean, we’re not riding motorcycles but we are pedalling bicycles. In the end however, I decided on Pedal Pushers. The other one was just too cutesy for my taste.

So, that’s my life the last few weeks. Pretty mundane, actually, but hoping it will pick up soon.

Wow! I can’t believe it has been almost a month since I posted anything on this website. A lot has happened since my last posting: (1) Chase got a job, although he has a little over an hour drive each way, (2) Erica turned 22 years old earlier this month, and (3) I completed a 3-year clinical trial study with MD Anderson Hospital. Add the normal, everyday things that go on and you can see that it’s been a busy time. Another positive thing is that I bought a bicycle last week. It’s the old-fashioned kind … one speed, no hand brakes … and believe it or not, they’re few and far between especially when you want a new one and not one from a yard sale. Mine is very retro looking, which I like. Here’s a couple of pictures:

On nice weather days I would like to ride it to work. I live just under a mile from my office so it won’t be any big deal. Not sure I’ll do much daytime riding like that once summer actually hits, though. Just something about being out in 95 degree / 95 percent humidity weather that doesn’t sound very appealing to me. Call me crazy. So when those kind of temps get here I will probably try riding it first thing in the morning before I get ready for work. It should only be 90 degrees then. Or right before I go to bed. It will still be 95 degrees at 10:00 o’clock at night, but at least the sun won’t be bearing down on me! Anyway, I guess that’s about all the news I have to tell right now. Hopefully I won’t wait as long to update next time.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks! Too much personal stuff to actually go into here, but suffice it to say it has been stressful on almost all of us. Work has been crazy, too. But on the good side, Chase has a job. He drives out to Kingwood each day, which is quite a trip … a little over an hour if the traffic is good. But it’s a job and he works for a nice guy.

Otherwise we’re all doing okay.

1. Walking can add minutes to your life. This means that at age 85, you get to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at a cost of $7,000 per month.

2. My grandpa started walking 5 miles a day when he was 60. Now he’s 97 and we don’t know where he is.

3. I like long walks … especially when they’re taken by people who annoy me.

4. I have to walk early in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing …

5. I joined a health club last year and spent about $400. Haven’t lost a pound. Apparently you have to GO there.

6. Every time I hear the dirty word “exercise,” I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

7. The advantage of exercising every day is so when you die they’ll say: “My, doesn’t she look good!”

This time reading through the Bible from beginning to end is proving to be very different than the last time. During that time God gave me something I called WORD PLAY, basic spiritual principles He revealed from Scripture passages as I was reading. I named it WORD PLAY because one (or sometimes more) word(s) from that passage would get my attention. I did a “play on words,” if you will, comparing the Webster Dictionary definition with what God meant when He used that word or words. They were originally written for my own spiritual walk but maybe I’ll share them with you some time. Meanwhile …

I’ve thought a lot about the Israelites during my reading. Although I’m almost at the end of 2 Chronicles now, lately I’ve wondered why the Israelites just didn’t do what God told them to do! Instead, they actually wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years … a million people in the same area for 40 years! Go figure.

Then it occurred to me that I’m no different . I know that God expects obedience … a pure heart … loving Him with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind … can’t plead ignorance there because I have God’s Word to tell me. So why don’t I obey!? Am I stiff-necked? I realized that too many times in my past I lingered and wandered in the wilderness of life much longer than God would have desired me to do … sometimes even stuck in the same area for longer than I should have been. Ouch! It can be painful to get REAL with God, but what a blessing we get out of it.

So, my prayer personally is that I will become more obedient. Not just HEAR when God speaks, but HEED what He says. Are you ready to take that journey also? Think about it …

What a whirlwind yesterday was! Mike and Erica went to an orienteering meet at Sam Houston National Park this weekend. It’s about an hour and a half north of Houston. Stubblefield, the section of the park where the meet was held, is thickly wooded and difficult to navigate through even for experienced orienteers. Anyway, one 13-year old boy got confused on his course and was missing for 24 hours.

The course he was navigating should have taken … at the most … 45 minutes to complete. When he was 2 hours late returning to camp, they sent out search parties. After another 2 hours they called the Park Ranger and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department who promptly sent out search teams to help. As dark fell, they called the Coast Guard, who house a helicopter with infrared cameras at Ellington Field (Houston area). They searched all night and found him around 10 am this morning. The temperatures dropped into the low 30’s overnight so they were worried about the young boy not having warm enough clothes on. Anyway, Mike helped search yesterday and got home about 10 pm last night. He was planning to go back up there this morning if they weren’t having success finding him.

And to top it all off … yesterday was Mike’s birthday! What a way to spend it, right?

Perks of reaching 50 or being over 60 and heading towards 70:

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. In a hostage situation,you are likely to be released first.
3. No one expects you to run … anywhere.
4. People call at 9:00 pm and ask, “Did I wake you?”
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
7. Things you buy now won’t wear out.
8. You can eat supper at 4:00 pm.
9. You can live without sex but not without your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.
13. You sing along with elevator music.
14. You eyes won’t get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the National Weather Service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
19. You can’t remember who sent you this list.
20. And you notice this is in bigger print for your convenience.

(I will apologize early for the use of a “bad” word in this post.)

One
Big
A$$
Mistake,
America

Well, another weekend is over. It was a weekend of home projects, and not the kind you plan on! The flush handle on the toilet in the guest bathroom broke so I made a trip to Wally World and got a new one. As Mike was putting it on he cracked the tank, so it was off to Lowe’s to buy a new potty. Then when Mike was trying to put the new one on, we ran into problems. But he eventually was successful in his endeavour however, not before he got pretty discouraged. Our plans yesterday were to begin replacing the portions of our wooden fence that Hurricane Ike destroyed. Obviously that didn’t get accomplished. Then today Mike had to work on the old Suburban we own … he thought the starter needed to be replaced. After he removed the old one he could see that a small wire needed to be replaced. Turns out the starter was perfectly good and the fix was inexpensive and minimal. So it ended up being a good day after all. Kinda made up for yesterday’s anguish, I guess. Ha!

Now we can start all over again … a new week … a fresh slate on which to write the next portion of the journey. Hope you have a good week!

Copy and paste this in your url and watch a cute video clip of an adorable little girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nn9dd6FfE8

Robbie and Erica

Jesse and Alex

Interesting things are going on around my church … not only are we in the mode of getting our church building back to normal after Hurricane Ike all those months ago, but we now have a small group that meets here for Bible study and to ballroom dance. Now most people may not find that very unusual, but for a Baptist church, let me tell you that it is EXTREMELY rare to allow dancing in the church building. Then again, our church is known for ground-breaking ideas among our denomination and the city we live in.

For the past 8 or so years we have lived life as a true family of God … we live OUTSIDE the walls of our building. Our worship service on Sunday is contemporary. We have small groups that meet in homes throughout the week; some in the daytime, some in the evening. We have small groups that meet on Sunday mornings for those who like the feel of something traditional. And now we have a ballroom dancing small group. They have a Bible study one week and learn to ballroom dance the following week.

I think that’s one of the coolest things our church has ever done!

This is a picture of my grandmother and great-grandmother on my mother’s side of the family.

Picture of my mother, father, and sister taken around 1947.

I’m glad it’s over. I’m sorry my team lost. I was disappointed in the commercials this year. None of them seemed to jump out and get me like they have in the past. Of course, I’m still partial to the ones for E*Trade with the little baby and I did see a couple of those. And I also liked the Clydesdale one where the horse “fetched” a log. But otherwise, I thought they were lame and I felt like the sponsors got the short end of the stick for what they had to pay. David & Cari, and Daniel came over and watched the game with us. I made some yummy snacks and overall we had a nice time. But I was glad when it was over. Today, I’m in the office by myself. Micki had to make a quick trip to Mississippi and won’t be back in the office until Wednesday.

By the way, here’s a picture of one of my snacks that was oh, so yummy! It’s basically a rice krispie treat (made with cocoa krispies), and peanut butter and decorated to look like a football:

Since last Monday was a holiday and I didn’t have to work, I decided to do something I’ve been needing to do for a long time. I cleaned out the closet in the master bedroom.

My original aim was to get the clutter organized so it could once again become a “walk in” closet. But during that process I found a box of photographs. Somehow, in the deep recesses of my mind, I knew they were stored there, but apparently they had not been a priority for me.

What a delightful treasure I found when I opened the storage box! Of course, there was the usual family pictures we’ve taken throughout the years. But I found a lot of OLD family pictures … my ancestors. Pictures of my mother and father and my sister in the early days. Pictures of my grandparents and even a great grandmother. (NOTE TO MY SISTER WHO IS PROBABLY READING THIS … When I can scan them, I will send them to you.)

Since I recently started researching my genealogy, these pictures are priceless. Not that they weren’t priceless to begin with … in a sentimental way … but now, thanks to the fact that my mother always wrote on the back of pictures, I have more leads on names to research.

So now I need to think about purchasing some genealogy software. I’ve been tracking my information on ancestry.com, which is great. But I need more flexibility than what ancestry allows me.

More later …

Yay for long weekends! I normally have Fridays off which is great because I get a 3-day weekend every week. But I also have Monday off (MLK Day) this week, so I get an extra day. And I need it, too. I am so tired lately. Not sure why … maybe coming off the holidays has something to do with it. I also have a doctor appointment Tuesday to see about getting a referral to a surgeon for a hernia I have. It has really begun to bother me the last couple of months … aching all over, especially the lower back. So hopefully I can schedule an appointment and have some surgery and feel better. I’m sure it’s day surgery. Most surgeries are these days. So since I already have a 3-day weekend, I’m going to see if I can schedule it for a Thursday. Then I’ll have the entire weekend to recuperate. Hopefully, since I sit at a desk all day, I can return to work on Monday or Tuesday of that following week. But I guess I’ll have to wait and see how it goes.