Uncategorized
I am back at my blogging post after a brief hospital stay and recovery. Thanks for being patient and mentioning that you missed me!
 |
Me and Amy at her 40th Birthday
Camping Trip. |
Amid fits of laughter my intensely beautiful and surprisingly funny friend waves her arm across the air like a banner and announces, “Aaaaaamy’s Fuuun and Faaaabulous Fortieth Frieeeends and Faaamily Festiiiivitiiies!!!!!” Whee! It became our mantra for the past few weeks looking forward to the camping trip celebrating Amy saying goodbye to her thirties.
I say “intensely beautiful” because the men in Italy could not get enough of her. She was even kissed by our very first waiter in Rome. I was watching him throughout our meal and suspected he felt a little hubba hubba for our Amy. My suspicions were confirmed when he wanted to personally escort her to the restroom, which upon her return is when he planted a juicy one on her cheek. She was also hit on by a leather store owner as well as eyed up and down by any male with a heartbeat as she passed by.
And she’s “surprisingly funny” because of the stereotype that beautiful women aren’t funny. Well she is. Funny in a sneaky, hee hee, sort of way.
Amy is a kindred spirit to me. We both made it to 40 by “never finding a man who could stand to be as deliriously happy as we would make him.” We are the special kind of SingleMinded people that know, though being married would be a wonderful thing, we don’t have to wait for a walk down the aisle for life to happen.
I watched her with the children of her friends attending the, “Aaaaaamy’s Fuuun and Faaaabulous Fortieth Frieeeends and Faaamily Festiiiivitiiies,” and knew she was making an impact on young lives. I saw the respect and admiration of the husbands in attendance knowing she had built in handymen, heavy-thing-lifters and advice-givers when needed.
Being singleminded, when done well, can be Faaabulous when you have great Frieeeends and Faaamily for Fuuun Festiiivitiiiies!
Question: Do you have an Amy in your life?
Uncategorized
 |
| Mark and Matilda |
Let’s see how I scored on my pre-Memorial Day camping trip list:
Yes indeedio! It was put to the test during a 20 minute hail storm–IN MAY!!
Our rainy/sunny/rainy/sunny weekend was sandwiched between two glorious, sunny weekends. But I’m not complaining–really!
2. Beat the pants off of the kids in Speed.
Sadly, I didn’t play any card games this trip. Nor did I read a single word of a book. Very unusual for me.
3. Successfully dodge all the marshmallows spit at me.
As I was oh so very innocently sitting at the picnic table I noticed a few marshmallows sail past me, and I hollered, “We’re under attack!” So that would be a no.
4. Take advantage of any sun breaks and walk off all the chocolate I stressed ate last week.
Not once!! I did take many a leisurely walk though, but I did not spill one ounce of sweat on a training walk. Not one!
5. Relax, rejuvenate and refresh…kind of like reduce, reuse, recycle…only different.
I relaxed as much as I could while dodging hail and combating pneumonia.
Most definitely the funniest part of the trip happened on a walk with my friend Dawn, the instigator of building our tarp thingy. She had seen it on a camping trip last summer and knew we must have one. Anyway, while on the walk I pointed out an officially store purchased double sized pop-up. She stopped dead in her tracks, gawked and said, “You mean you can BUY one of those things.”
She couldn’t believe I hadn’t at least mentioned we could buy one during the process of designing and building our own. I just thought she wanted the joy of creating. Who knew? Anyway, Matilda, that’s what we named our glorious tarp thingy, is bigger, better and much cheaper than any store bought double sized pop-up tarp thingy. Even though it does take a village to put it up.
 |
| Mark setting up Matilda |
But Matilda did her job during our 20 minute hail storm. The ground was a mid-January white but we were as cozy as could be under Matilda’s protection. It was a proud moment.
So I only accomplished one and a half out of the five on my list. But that was all this single chick could handle under the circumstances.
Question: If you knew you could make something cheaper than you could buy it, which would you choose? Build or Buy?
Uncategorized
There is a fear amongst single people of dying alone. That’s why I have cats. But, I try not to be the epitome of the single-cat-loving-woman, so I have kept my cat quota to two. There were times I wanted more, but to keep the stereotype at bay, I decided against the third feline.
 |
| Mary |
We’ve all heard the pathetically sad news stories of single women being found alone and dead in their apartment after days of no one knowing. Alone except for being surrounded by hundreds of hungry cats just days away from eating their dead flesh.
I really don’t want to be that news story.
Those are the kinds of thoughts that run through my head when I am sick. Like now; I have pneumonia. Never had it before. Never want it again. I was first diagnosed with it by all my camping companions on my trip last weekend.
 |
| Martha |
I kept denying their claims until late one night. It was cold so I burrowed way down inside my sleeping bag. As I opened my mouth to breathe I noticed there was a motocross race going on inside me. The sound of revving engines and squeaky brakes coming from my lungs was hard to ignore.
The next morning I told my friends they were probably right; and the doctor confirmed it this afternoon. I have pneumonia. And cough syrup with codeine that makes me warm and sleepy…zzzzzzz
I shall deliver my camping trip highlights next week after the drugs have worn off.
Question: Have you had pneumonia? Can you spell it correctly on your first try?
Uncategorized
I am returning today from my annual Memorial Day Camping Trip; the trip that begins the season. Thanks to the ever so handy “auto post” option, I am able to write this before I leave. Hopefully, during this trip I will:
1. Stay dry under our new tarp thingy
2. Beat the pants off of the kids in Speed
3. Successfully dodge all the marshmallows spit at me
4. Take advantage of any sun breaks and walk off all the chocolate I stressed ate last week
5. Relax, rejuvenate and refresh…kind of like reduce, reuse, recycle…only different
Since I’m writing this before I leave, I can’t wait to get back and find out if I did!
Question: What did you do over Memorial Day Weekend?
Uncategorized
There are times it is good to have a husband. Let me rephrase that. There are times it is good to have a husband who is handy and knows how to fix things. My friend has one of those kinds of husbands. She’s lucky; I’m jealous.
We spent several hours Saturday rigging up a giant PVC pipe tarp-holder-thingy for our upcoming Memorial Day weekend camping trip. Since it has rained the last three times we’ve gone, we vowed to be better prepared this year. Her husband was great and had the plans all drawn up and knew what to do. We added our two cents worth, but in the end, it was his plan that came through for us.
The day began with a trip to Home Depot: the husband, his wife, their 4th grade daughter, me and another single female friend. That ratio had his testosterone at an unfair advantage to our estrogen. He acts like it’s hard being outnumbered, but we know better. He loves us. Putting up with us is another point in his favor in addition to the whole deal about being good at fixing things.
Most of the time I’m fine with being single: I’m good at it, don’t mind being alone, and can usually take care of myself. But there are times when I go camping that I do wish I had a husband to help me set up my tent…and carry all the heavy stuff…and keep me from being afraid once it gets dark…and to have a fire burning when I wake up…and to load, unload, reload and unload the car…Okay, forget what I said about being able to take care of myself. But it would also be nice having another man around to give my friend’s husband some testosterone to hang out with when the estrogen starts to get a little too chatty.
Question: If you’re married, what is something practical you really appreciate about your spouse? If you’re single, what is something practical you’re looking for in a spouse?
