Aunt Sarah

It's official!  I'm an auntie for the very first time!  And I'm weirdly excited about it, hence all the exclamation marks!!!!!!

Being born just makes a girl tired

Ain't she a darling?  I've gotta run--I need to get started crocheting adorable tiny things for my brand new niece :)

If I keep this up, I'm going to get a reputation

Here is our "before" picture......and I bet you can guess what happened next.  I just can't resist a chance to crawl around in the mud.

Last weekend, I received a belated birthday gift--a chance to try a little caving.  My mom and I went on the short version of the wild cave tour at the Lost Sea in Sweetwater TN.  Of course, we didn't have the fun of exploring (that part of the cave is thoroughly mapped), but we did get to crawl, wriggle, inch, and slither through small spaces, short drop-offs, and right-angle turns.  This particular mud was much drier and stickier than the Mud Run mud.  Here is the result:

I have a whole new crop of bruises to tend--mostly on my forearms and knees.  However, almost no scrapes and all of my bones are intact.  I didn't even bump my head!  (Got mud in my hair, though.)

I think it would be more fun to explore a less traveled cave, but I suppose you have to build up some technical expertise first.  Probably it would be a good idea to work on my upper body strength too (sore, sore arms and back).  Maybe someone in the caving club at the local university would be willing to teach an enthusiastic (if older) newbie?

Young at heart, huh?

Most of our Zombie Squad members are located far away from my area.  So our official chapter is here, but we don’t get to meet all the other people—we only bump into them on the forums.  One of our official ZS events this year is to host a room in the local YMCA Haunted House.  I sent personal invitations to all the members who have signed up on the chapter forum, because we really need more people to make our idea scary.  It’s only been a couple of days, but I’ve already had a few responses.  The response that made me the happiest?  A guy who might be able to make it and who is older than I am.  I’m excited because I probably won’t be the oldest person in the room this year.  I’m also excited because we so rarely meet these guys (seriously, we only know them by their screen names), but my biggest Yes! moment was when I checked the dude’s profile and saw that he is 6 years older than me.  So much for that “young at heart” attitude.  Sometimes, I just make myself laugh. {snort, headshake}  To borrow a term from one of my favorite bloggers—crazypants.  Just………..crazypants.

Trying to be a grown-up

My grandmother always said "If you can't say something nice, then zip it, kiddo."  She was a wise lady and I try to follow her advice when I can, which is why I didn't even try to post yesterday.  I've been spending the last couple of days coming down from my sugar buzz and catching up on bill-paying, daily work, cleaning, cooking......basically trying to be a grown up.  I'm even eating my vegetables!  I do wish that I could spend my birthday $$ on fun presents for myself instead of on living expenses, I have to admit.  Acting like a grown up sucks, but at least I have the skills to dig in and take care of things when I must.              (sigh.)

Also, we're all waiting for Awesome Coworker to have her baby.  Just got an update--she is going in at midnight to be induced, if she hasn't gone into labor by then.

It's Official!

I got whiplash for my 40^th birthday.

Not physically, but emotionally.  I was able to sleep in a little that morning, because I had a doctor’s appointment (yay), and I wore one of my favorite dresses and some cute shoes to boost my confidence (yay).  But I forgot to grab my lipstick when I left the house (boo) and I had to skip my lunch hour because of the appointment (boo).

When I got to work, my coworkers had decorated my desk.  Well, added to my decorations, because I had put up a bunch of quotes about aging that made me laugh (“Regular naps prevent old age, especially if you take them while driving.”  “It’s important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle.”  “We are young only once, after that we need some other excuse.”)  I had expected the black crepe paper and confetti, but the “RIP Sarah’s Youth” on the department door and on the cubicle hit me really hard for some reason.  I stomped a few of the balloons (yay for high heels), but it didn’t help as much as I had hoped.  I came uncomfortably close to crying and it took most of a cup of coffee to recover (boo).  My recently discovered half-sister sent me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a small box of Godiva  chocolates, which helped the recovery efforts immensely (yay).   We were going to order lunch from my favorite Chinese restaurant, but they weren’t open for lunch that day—kind of random hours there (boo).  So we had Chik-Fil-A™ instead (yay).  My cake had a Maxine cartoon on it, but it wasn’t one that made me laugh and Maxine and her dog were not really recognizable (it wasn’t bad enough for Cake Wrecks, but it was close) (boo).  It was a tasty cake, though, and there was Breyers ice cream to go with it (yay).

I had dinner at my favorite local sushi place (yay).  But only 3 of the dozen or so people I had invited managed to show up (boo).  We had gobs of fun without ya’ll—just so you know.

The rest of the weekend was filled with similar ups and downs, but it’s wearing me out just to talk about it, so you’ll have to take my word for it.  Whew.  Happy Birthday to me—can I have that nap now?

Heavy

Went to a Chinese buffet for lunch and ate waaaaay too much.  I’m so full, I can barely think, much less write.  I feel like I swallowed a watermelon.  Whole.

Since I’m too full to be creative, here’s an email conversation I had with one of my coworkers this morning:

Me:  Got a weird question for ya.  You know anyone who has a digital camera they don't want anymore?  I'd like to be able to put pictures on my blog.

Awesome coworker:  Other coworker* said her camera is nice but it’s definitely been used.

Me:  Used for what?!?!?!        (O.O)  

k.  Now that’s out of my system.  Does it still work, does she have the cords n stuff, how many dollars does she want for it (cuz I don’t have too many extra at the moment)?

Awesome coworker:  We were thinking about for your bday but I didn’t know how you’d feel about a used camera.  She has everything to it.

Me:   Did you ever read the Winnie-the-Pooh story about Eeyore’s birthday?  Where Piglet brings him a balloon, but falls on it and pops it when he’s running to Eeyore’s house?  And Pooh brings him a pot of honey, but gets hungry and eats all the honey on the way there?  Then Eeyore is all excited because they brought him a flat balloon and a jar to put it in, and spends the rest of the afternoon happily putting the balloon in the jar and pulling it out, over and over?

I’d feel like that.

She laughed at that last bit, which is just one of the reasons she is awesome.

*Not her real name.  Seriously—Who would name their kid “Other?”