We're purple now!

Last night we took our "test" at the swing dance club. Mark danced with the fabulous, award-winning Amanda and I danced with the instructor, Richard. We both passed to the next level - purple. Yippee! We get to learn a few more moves.

Elbow Room

• I have the day off!
• Tessa is coming home from OSU for the weekend!
• I'm nearly finished remaking the ODF website. Check it out!
• I've lost 5 pounds!
• It's Friday!!!!

A quote for my sister:“Adding 'just kidding' doesn't make it okay to insult the Principal” Bart Simpson

"As servants of God, we must learn to make room for Him-to give God 'elbow room' ...Do not look for God to come in a particular way, but do look for Him...Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides."-- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

A day in the life...

Got up early, rode with Mark to work and dropped him off. Drove out to Del City to pick up the dental van for a day of treatment at an elementary school. Had to chip ice off the security card reader where we store the van, but the big, heavy gate was frozen shut. Ice skated, shivering in the nose-hair-freezing air, across the road and tried to force it open, but no luck, so ice skated back to my car and called to cancel. Glanced up at the Sunnylane RV sign above me and admired the icicles. Kinda ironic, that name. I guess in general people aren't eager to go get their RV out in this kind of weather. Probably just as well, since I'm thinking the water lines might have been frozen anyway.

Took our 4th dance lesson last night. Next Monday night is "test" night. We have to dance with the instructor to see if we can pass from the pink class to the purple class. Hopefully we can since I'm getting kinda bored with this one. It's fun though and ridiculously good exercise. I felt a lot like a junior higher last night. Dancing with "boys" of all shapes and sizes - some shorter than me that have to reach to twirl over my head, some with sweaty hands, some with a look of confusion because they aren't sure what to do next. It was the first time the instructor just turned on the music and turned us loose. Sheer terror for some of the guys since they have to decide the next move. Spent a lot of time dancing in place while watching my partners search desperately through their mental files to find another move. Fortunately Mark is turning out to be a good dancer, so it's fun when we get to dance together. He knows all the moves. But then, he always has :)

Gotta finish grading some papers tonight from my Organizational Behavior class before starting to teach a Human Resources course next week. Glad I got the wireless router hooked up to our internet at home. I can curl up on the couch under a blanket and grade the papers online. Mark put a roast and potatoes in the crock pot this morning. I'm looking forward to that too. My life is fascinating.

My alter ego (the other "I")

Have you met my alter ego? So far she is without a name, but I can describe her in detail. In my everyday life I imagine myself to be an educated, sophisticated (not in the fashion sense, but in the been-around-more-than-one-block sense), white-collar, management type. More familiar with things that can be done at a desk. All too familiar with committee and coalition meetings, conference calls, hearing and avoiding the use of buzz words like empowerment, stakeholder, scorecards, benchmarking, core competencies, process improvement, re-engineering... blah,blah,blah. Suits are the uniform, heels the standard. Will drive around the block 4 times in search of any place to put the car that doesn't require parallel parking.

And then I get behind the wheel of a 35 foot Winnebago equipped as a modern dental office.

That's when my alter ego shows up. She's an overweight, 40-something with baggy jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. She prefers a quick sandwich from a truck stop over sitting down to an expensive meal, thus saving precious driving time. Need to start a generator in sub-freezing weather? Need to know all the best radio stations in all four corners of the state? Need dental equipment repaired or a cabinet reattached to the wall? She's your woman. Unafraid to grab the tool box and shimmy under the RV to see why the leveling jack isn't going up. Ready to accept the challenge of squeezing into tight parking spots and navigating narrow bridges on rural roads.

I admit it. I lead a double life.

three-and-four, five-and-six

Just came back from our first dance lesson. Swing dance is what we're learning. Theoretically! I think we did actually learn something though. It is definitely good exercise and a lot more fun than jogging. It's a challenge to be the follower when everyone in the room is learning - trying to trust someone who you know is just as inexperienced as you. I'm sure there's a sermon in there somewhere. We traded partners often, so Mark ended up half way around the room from me by the time we were finished. I'm thinking that might be partially to keep the peace. I would imagine if a room full of couples were left to partner only with themselves, some fights might break out. This way you have to be polite to a stranger when they mess up, and they have to be nice to you. I KNOW there's a sermon there. We have a week to practice before learning something new at the next lesson. Good thing too!

Better Shape Up

Yeah, so the cable guy finally came today and fixed the internet connection so I can get back online. Hurrah! Winding down my two week vacation. I'm kind of enjoying being a woman of leisure. If leisure is sweating on my hands and knees pulling up old flooring, or getting carpal tunnel from holding a paint brush for hours. But the sun room is looking good. Mark and Berry are going to lay the floor tomorrow since doing so would be the last straw for my back. You'd think I was 46 and out of shape or something.

Speaking of being out of shape, I'm once again tackling my "shape". Round is NOT in. I'd like to be more longitudinal than latitudinal. For some reason I've developed several bad habits. And I don't mean too much bread and sweets, although that's true also.

Bad Habit #1 - Letting others decide how my time will be used. - What woman likes to put herself first. That seems like the antithesis to being a wife or mother. Seems so selfish. At least that is what I've been telling myself. But really who in my family would balk at my taking care of myself before taking care of them? I'm thinking no one. So pretty sure that's a cop-out ( what was I born in the 60's? Who actually says cop-out?)

Bad Habit #2 - Protecting myself. Somewhere along the way I've convinced myself that my body needs protection (probably after years of being sick with some weird intestinal thing). My body DOES need protection. But not the sit-on-the-couch kind. The build-healthy-bones-and-muscles kind. Weird things our brains do to us. Need to fight this one.

Bad Habit #3 - Telling myself I'll start tomorrow. Nuff said.