tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79890452024-03-23T13:44:19.446-04:00little language loverSharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.comBlogger645125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-31651572499037446702015-10-03T19:08:00.002-04:002015-10-03T19:09:29.343-04:00What's happened so far in 2015...Dear reader,<br />
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It's been too long, but let's get back to it! No excuses, sincere apologies, and now let's jump into Adventures in California!!<br />
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But first, it's been a busy year so far and worth mentioning a few things that happened...<br />
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January 10 (Saturday) - was supposed to go on a missions trip to Haiti, but ended up staying home and being a prayer partner, due to a weird white infection in my throat. Which disappeared later!<br />
Late January - took a weekend roadtrip to Tennesee with Kendra for Grandmay's funeral<br />
February 6 (Friday) - flew out to California to spend a week with Vijo<br />
February 14 (Saturday) - Vijo and I were engaged!!<br />
Late February, March: ...Begin the wedding preparations to continue all spring and summer, including renewing passport...<br />
March 20-21 (Friday, Saturday) - went to our church's overnight Ladies' Retreat<br />
March 26 (Thursday) - Vijo arrived on my birthday for a week's visit :D<br />
March 28 (Saturday) - big birthday double bash with Elisabeth and lots of friends!<br />
month of April - sadly missed going to Germany for Mareike's wedding and meeting up with a friend visiting from Switzerland<br />
May 1 (Friday) - Matt's and Lyndsay's wedding!<br />
May 8 (Friday) - fly to Texas for Melinda's graduation!<br />
May 22 (Friday) - Vijo comes for Memorial Day weekend visit! Late-night pickup in Chicago<br />
May 23 (Saturday) - Kathryn's and Andrew's wedding!<br />
May 26 (Tuesday) - super early drop-off for Vijo in Chicago<br />
June 12 (Friday) - fly to California! to look for apartments<br />
June 19-21 (Friday-Sunday) - attend the Landmark Forum<br />
June 22 (Monday) - fly back and teach ESL that night<br />
June 26 (Friday) - drive to Ohio!<br />
June 27 (Saturday) - drive to PA for Esther's wedding!<br />
June 28 (Sunday) - drive back to Indiana with Derek<br />
July 2 (Thursday) - drive to Iowa for Jason's wedding!<br />
July 3 (Friday) - Jason's wedding!<br />
July 6 (Monday) - off work for special reasons<br />
July 11 (Friday) - fly to New Jersey/ New York for confirmation in the Church of South India plus a quick weekend visit with Ben & Franci & Co. Incidentally, we bought the tickets one week before, and were originally thinking of trying to catch the confirmation happening in Toronto on July 5.<br />
July 13 (Monday) - fly back to Indiana early in the morning, get to work just in time for a bridal shower thrown by colleagues<br />
July 19 (Sunday) - bridal shower at church<br />
July 21 (Tuesday) - some routine heart checks which took the afternoon<br />
July 22 (Wednesday) - finish packing stuff in the car and leave for Des Moines! pick up Kendra and stay with friend Alina<br />
July 23 (Thursday) - drive from Des Moines to Colorado Springs and stay with cousin Erica<br />
July 24 (Friday) - drive to Salt Lake City and stay with friend Rebekah<br />
July 25 (Saturday) - drive to San Jose!<br />
July 27 (Monday) - fly home after a day of rest and loading stuff in apartment<br />
July 30 (Thursday) - pack up everything at work and leave the Warsaw building for the last time<br />
July 31 (Friday) - Michael drives Stacey and me to Chicago with our stuff! Meet parents and Vijo and fly to India!!<br />
August 2 (Sunday) - arrive in India early on Sunday morning<br />
August 3 (Monday) - wedding sari shopping!<br />
August 6 and 7 (Thursday and Friday) - Vijo does his CSI marriage counseling<br />
August 8 (Saturday) - Our India wedding :)<br />
August 11 (Tuesday) - fly back to U.S.<br />
August 12 - 14 (Wednesday - Friday) - Lots and lots of prep!!!<br />
August 15 (Saturday) - Our U.S. wedding :) Got to church at 9am, left after 7pm... Went back to house to finish packing and order things as much as possible... waited for our friends to get back with the car... fell asleep and ate dinner... finally left after 10pm and stopped by our pastor's house to sign the marriage license... drove to our stop for the night in Merrillville and got there after midnight, barely awake.<br />
August 16 (Sunday) - went to join St. Marks' CSI church which was on a retreat there from their usual Chicago location. Then drove to Fennville Michigan for a couple days to ourselves!<br />
August 18 (Tuesday) - got up early to drive to the Chicago airport and caught our flight to San Jose! Finally back in our apartment. :)<br />
August 20 (Thursday) - I started back to work<br />
August 28 - 29 (Friday - Saturday) - I attended the ladies' retreat at C3SV<br />
September 5 (Saturday) - left for a honeymoon in Belize. Got to meet up with Jon and Ranae in Atlanta that night.<br />
September 11 - returned to San Jose<br />
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And since then it has been a little calmer, though with other types of excitement that I can share about later.<br />
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By the way, this is just from my perspective, and of course doesn't include the ridiculous amounts of prep, late nights, communications, etc. And it doesn't cover all that Vijo was doing... or that my family and friends were doing, particularly in the days and weeks before the U.S. wedding. We're so grateful to so many wonderful people who helped make things happen!<br />
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Ok, next up will be some live updates from San Jose!<br />
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love,<br />
Sharon<br />
<br />Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-19536508754814991092014-05-12T22:01:00.001-04:002014-05-12T22:01:09.691-04:00summary of the latest adventures including pink flowers, lanterns, cucumbers, girly movies, and FIRE!!!Dear readers,<br />
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Well it seems like it is high time for an update isn't it?! By the way, winter is over. almost 5 months later. In case you wanted to know.<br />
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It has been a busy life. Let me see what I can remember...<br />
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The 1st week in March I went to England with my beloved mom. More stories and pictures to come!<br />
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The 1st Friday night in April I went to see Captain America 2 with friends. At an IMAX 3D theater! Except I was just now told that it was not a true IMAX... the real ones have huge wrap-around screens that you have to lean back to take in. Apparently. Well I was still pretty wowed by my "faux" IMAX experience, especially by the countdown numbers that zoomed up through my skull. Oww it hurt! I had to close my eyes. And the movie was great too!<br />
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That same weekend and following week we wrapped up an intense project at work, which meant the end of 10-hour days and working 2-3 hours 2 nights a week. What relief and I am still thanking God!<br />
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The 3rd weekend in April was Easter weekend, I believe. With Good Friday off, I headed down to Tennessee on Thursday to spend the weekend with my cousin of cousins Hannah Holder. We had such a good time... relaxing, exploring Knoxville, walking to our supper, watching most of Wives and Daughters (still one hour left to go! how have I ever been able to keep living in the interim??) and driving down dogwood-decorated streets, actually they were laden with redbud and azaleas too. Knoxville is quite the pink place. Very pretty!<br />
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The 1st weekend in May I flew down to Texas to join in the graduation festivities for brother Derek! Enjoyed chauffeuring my mom all over and giggling over stuff with her. Ask her about my makeup driving advisories. Heh heh :) and of course a great chance to hang out with sisters Melinda and Carolyn! We five had some of the best times ever just hanging around talking and reminiscing... and singing a little concert in the campus chapel (and Derek and Carolyn are quite the pianists too!) and having a crazy cookout with Derek's buddies and their families, great conversation topics like how to burp and how to get a job if you car breaks down back in the day. And which of one family's kids was the sweetest. And how you can see all the stars in both hemispheres by standing on the equator. It's amazing the knowledge that springs like a fount as the campfire dies and the stars wheel overhead and you become less and less able to not laugh! hahaha :)<br />
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So that brings up to the first week in May, when one of my good friends (Lis) has been in town, plus another good friend (Anila) graduating, so we have been up to all kinds of shenanigans...<br />
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Wednesday night was game night with my Bible study group, and I finally had a chance to try out the riddle I learned in N.Z. WITHOUT using the answer as the first line. Lis then proceeded to recount how she imagined I had told it with the punchline first... it was so dead on that I almost fell to the floor laughing. Then Anila showed me how to rub cucumber slices on one's face for refreshment. So I started doing that and apparently I was getting into it enough that THEY almost fell to the floor laughing. And then we did play some actual games too.<br />
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Thursday night we girls went down to the lake to set off some of those floating lanterns in honor of Anila's graduation. The first two went off splendidly! once we stood in the shelter of a house to get out of the wedding. We were so excited. Then there was mine... I did not hold the top up enough, so the side got singed as the fire was building to lift-off... then I got nervous and let go too soon... it wobbled its way up... seemed to be coming down... wafted back up... down... went along... finally we saw it pretty definitely going down, way far along. By this time we were picturing Warsaw in flames. However we were unable to find the lantern or a fire for that matter, and since that was not the headline in the next day's news I think we may have very fortunately and blessedly escaped going to jail for unintentional pyromania.<br />
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Friday night three of us (Stacey, Lis and myself) decided we should have a sleepover! so we did, in a big living room with 2 full couches and an air mattress. We found Tangled on TV. and then we put in Bride & Prejudice (best movie EVER!!). When that finished, we started giggling our way to sleep around 3:00am... and were popping up around 8:30 or 9:00am to go our ways seeing friends, attending graduation, etc. What fun, you NEVER get too old for sleepovers! At least I pray I never do.<br />
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I hope that gives you an idea of some of the adventures lately. And I promise to post here again much sooner! Since I know this blog is the main source of inspiration, hope and joy to all 2 or 3 of you. heehee :)<br />
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love,<br />
Sharon<br />
<br />Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-46453831146425695092014-01-26T19:39:00.003-05:002014-01-26T19:39:17.848-05:00snow day in the "country"Dear readers,<div>
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Today was Sunday, so of course I got up at a decent hour, and was just about ready to hop in the shower when Stacey came out and told me church had been canceled. I was kind of surprised. We had had church a couple weeks ago when the blizzard had begun to set in with nice thick heavy snow. But OK. Snow day! The first thing to do was try to get a little more sleep. But as Anna from Frozen would say (maybe she is rubbing off on me after seeing her in the theater for the 3rd time, heh heh), "The sky's awake, so I'm awake!" So I got up and set my pinto beans to soak and made myself pumpkin custard oatmeal, and had a relaxing time reading the Bible for a while, and then got my financial matters all straightened up and my desk cleaned off and the trash and recycling ready to go out... really quite productive! </div>
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I was going to have lunch with Stacey's family so I took the trash out on the way. I lifted up the one trash bin lid, that one was almost full, so I just put one bag in there. Then I lifted the lid of the other to pop in the 2nd bag... I stared at what looked like the leg of the goat. No, 2 legs. No my goodness, there was a horn and the whole body in fact... Was it dead? Or had it crawled in there to escape the cold for some reason? Well even if it had, it was pretty stiff. How disturbing to touch something that used to be romping and living. Ok well I could fit both trash bags in the other bin after all.</div>
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I have to admit I was just a little sad to discover they had plowed our driveway already. I was expecting to get some good fun out of escaping the drive. Once inside town I passed 3 state troopers in a row. Was not sure what they would be doing all together unless there was a drug bust, wouldn't it be better to split up and spread out to help people if necessary in this interesting weather. Not that I would tell law enforcement what to do of course!</div>
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Later when I got home I went out to the little neighborhood loop across the way for a little walk. There are like 3 houses on it. It was not that well plowed, so I guess I should not have been surprised when a plow truck came along, when I was on my second lap. I figured one or two times around and he would be done and I could finish my walk in peace... but he just kept going around and around and around! I know I should not get upset at a snowplow but seriously. :)</div>
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Well let's see how bad the windchills get and how wildly the snow blocks up the roads tomorrow. Would love to be stuck at home!</div>
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love,</div>
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Sharon</div>
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Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-75913178404003304352014-01-19T16:42:00.001-05:002014-01-19T16:42:29.403-05:00winter wonderlandDear readers,<br />
<br />
I promised snow pictures and here are some! All except the first picture were taken on that magical Sunday before the blizzard hit.<br />
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I would love to add captions... maybe later....<br />
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<br />
love,<br />
SharonSharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-51080232427604085532014-01-18T17:11:00.003-05:002014-01-18T17:11:42.810-05:00returning any moment!Dear readers,<br />
<br />
As one of you kindly informed me, I have not updated this blog for way too long. I promise I am going to do it soon. I would like to share some pictures of the big dump of snow we had, and our blizzard, it was quite the adventure!<br />
<br />
Apart from that, life continues as normal. Work and friends... seeing movies with friends, visiting friends, making new friends... in fact I am off to meet a 2-year-old and then off to check up on a slightly laid-up friend, hence the reason I will have to post the snow pictures a bit later.<br />
<br />
I hope you are all having a splendid Saturday!<br />
<br />
love,<br />
SharonSharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-83512114050965686762013-11-24T19:15:00.003-05:002013-11-24T19:15:46.478-05:00running off to Chicago for an eveningDear readers,<br />
<br />
Today I would like to tell you a little tale of Chicago...<br />
<br />
My brother Derek was in Chicago this week (to give a presentation and attend a convention I believe... I am so bad with the details) and when he first told me, I immediately made the plan to go see him. After all Chicago is only about 2, 2.5 hours away. My first brilliant plan was to drive out Sunday since I would have all afternoon and evening.<br />
<br />
Sunday morning I got up and saw the radar for the day. High winds and tornado outbreak across the Midwest ESPECIALLY from Illinois to Indiana. I was tempted to say, Tornadoes, psshh, we never really get anything. But I knew some people would not be at all happy with me. So in the afternoon I waited to see what happened. Around 4pm we had to run over to our neighbor's basement. And... nothing really happened. The storm passed. But there had been a severe tornado in Illinois, there were still high winds and I was tired... I decided that getting to Chicago on Sunday was not necessarily wise.<br />
<br />
Derek and I attempted to find another evening when I could drive out after work, but it didn't look likely.<br />
<br />
Then on Tuesday night he called me up to say that Wednesday evening if I wanted to come out, we could have dinner with some mutual friends who also happened to be in Chicago that night! A friend of his from school and a friend of friends of mine.<br />
<br />
Well that was exciting, I agreed to it. Even though I had a meeting till 5:30 on Wednesday. Which said meeting ended up leaving me so stressed out and feeling like a failure that for the first 20 minutes of my drive to Chicago I could hardly pull my heart up from the depths.<br />
<br />
But then I finally got distracted by the interest of trying to get to Chicago, especially without a proper GPS. I had Google maps but it didn't seem to be giving me directions, just showing where I was... Well that's ok, I thought, I did print off Google directions before I left. Not easy to read them in the dark but HEY, I had my nifty little new flashlight!<br />
<br />
I had to take the 80/90 toll road and I was considerably surprised to find we would have to go through automated machines... and for the line I was in, every car was taking a minimum of 3-5 minutes. It was incredible. When it was my turn, I had come to the conclusion that cards were not working well for my predecessors in the line, so I pulled out my $20 for the 60-cent toll... and for a minute I wondered if that had overloaded Toll Machine's brain. Then hundreds of quarters came clattering down. Ok maybe not technically hundreds, but that is what it seemed like.<br />
<br />
As I was getting into Chicago and heading up the Skyway, I began to get a little concerned about how exactly I would find Derek... he said the McCormick Place center was huge and he would be waiting out north of it. As it turned out I missed the Place almost right away... turned around at the University of Chicago and got on the phone with Derek. I was slightly concerned to find out he was waiting for me outside, his phone was about to die, and I was not seeing any of the roads he tried to direct me to... Oh whew! There it was. And there he was. Well that was exciting.<br />
<br />
Now that I had Derek safely with me I was much more excited about bopping around Chicago. We set out to find the restaurant - Gino's East. There were several Gino's in Chicago as we found on Google maps, but we found an Original Gino's East and Derek confirmed he knew it was this one. Derek had somehow figured out how to make my Google Maps act like a GPS, which I was ticked off but ultimately delighted to have happen. As we were headed down Michigan Avenue and getting close... we suddenly started hitting a surge of emergency vehicles. Fire trucks, ambulances, police cars... Most of them headed the wrong way down streets. Cars pulled over as best they could. Derek and I found that the majority of them seemed to be headed exactly to where our restaurant awaited us... so we ended up heading ahead several blocks as best we could. There was not always someone directing traffic, and when we did come to an intersection with a policeman in the middle, he started waving our lane of cars on only to have the oncoming traffic start going... so we stopped. Then suddenly a fire truck appeared out of nowhere trying to get past us. I pulled way over into the cars against the curb and it was still not quite enough... it had stopped but was trying to inch past me. I inched over more, as much as I dared. It pulled past me and shot on. It had passed literally within one inch of my car. Derek was somewhat concerned for my car and amazed at the close quarters, but that did not bother me particularly, after all this was city driving.<br />
<br />
When we finally found Gino's, we searched around for a bit for a free or cheap parking spot. But ended up pulling into a privately-controlled parking area which was $8 for about 2 or 3 hours. That didn't seem too bad to me, I paid up and we went inside to find our friends. Except we couldn't find them. Even after walking around the restaurant twice and peering at everybody, which was kind of fun actually. Finally I made Derek get in touch with them and yes indeed, we were at the wrong Gino's. There are several. Gino's East was different than Original Gino's East. However, it was only a 6-minute drive away. And apparently the deep-dish pizza that they had already ordered for all of us would not be ready for a while yet. So we went back to my car and piled in. I did not even bother trying to get a partial refund, I did not care. Money psshh!<br />
<br />
When we found the RIGHT Gino's we attempted looking for parking again, failed since it was right near a hospital and it seemed hardly any parking was allowed, and ended up using the valet service, which was not bad... $14. Right inside the door one of our friends was waiting for us, that was a welcome sight!<br />
<br />
<insert 1.5="" a="" about="" and="" conversation="" for="" hours="" meal="" pleasant="" yummy=""></insert><br />
<br />
When we parted from our friends after the meal, I took Derek back to his hotel, which was really only a 5-minute drive away. This time we DID successfully find a spot to park on the street. I paid for an hour. Derek showed off his super-posh hotel and snazzy room to me... quite fun. That hour went WAY too fast, suddenly it was time to leave. But just as well since both Derek and I needed sleep.<br />
<br />
For the trip home I made Google Maps work like a GPS and I had a very easy time getting out of the city, getting through the tolls - except the pay-toll that kept trying to spit out my ticket - and all the way home. It did get hard to keep my eyes open for the last half. For a while I fought off drowsiness by popping in my barbershop CD and singing along, but I finally had to stop and get some nice cold water and snacks to wake my head up a little more... That did the trick and I arrived safely home at the reasonable hour of 2:40am. Hey, if you get in before 3:00am, it's not too late!<br />
<br />
Well that was our evening, we enjoyed it quite a bit and I must say it almost entirely distracted me from the stresses of work, which did ease up slightly the following couple days. So I thank God for the gift of Wednesday night! Even if my friends did laugh at me and call me crazy for driving to Chicago after work. They probably don't realize the awesome experiences you can miss by not doing crazy things.<br />
<br />
love,<br />
Sharon<br />
<br />
P.S. I wrote this in 2 sittings and did not proofread so I hope it flows reasonably well.Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-13790195612714993362013-11-17T15:01:00.000-05:002013-11-17T15:01:20.339-05:00understanding modern EnglishYesterday Stacey and I went to the big city to get running shoes, among other things. Well, while we were at the shoe store, we got to chatting with the guys helping us try on shoes. The one guy is apparently an ultra runner who had not too long ago done a 100-mile race... but he hadn't quite been able to finish. He said however that he was glad that had happened, because then he did some real damage in the next race he ran.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
He said this twice and both times I struggled mentally with his enjoyment of damaging his body by running too hard... only to realize he meant he had done well in the race.</div>
Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-41170677437279708972013-10-05T23:29:00.003-04:002013-10-05T23:29:54.518-04:00tell a tale of FranceDear readers,<br />
<br />
Well, here it is a couple weeks later, so what else is new?!<br />
<br />
When last I wrote, I think I was getting ready for a trip to France. Well that is now history! It was a good trip. I had some adventures, as usual. I had good flights going to France, first a connecting flight to Atlanta, then the overseas flight to Paris, then a connecting flight to Lyon. This was my first business class flight and I must say business class is amazing. They keep bringing out all these drinks and food and heated towels for the first couple hours. By the time you get a chance to sleep, you are really only going to have an hour or two until they wake you up trying to feed you breakfast (!) and saying you are landing in an hour. Also, the flight I was on had seats the reclined back quite a bit but not fully, and the legs go up as part of that reclining... So every time I wanted to get up and get a drink or go to the bathroom, I had to put my chair legs back down. And in the process several times I squished some of my articles of stuff under the legs, or realized once I had the legs up that what I needed was beneath them. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. I watched 2 movies and that probably did not leave me much sleeping time either.<br />
<br />
So anyway, I left Saturday afternoon when I finally got to Lyon on Sunday around noon, I had several things to do before I even left the airport. I knew I needed to buy a train ticket to Switzerland for the last couple days (I was going there Thursday for a day of work and a bit of time to visit friends). But first I figured I should take out cash, that is, euros. Well what do you know, when I got the ATM my cards did not work. I was slightly shocked because I had called my bank and my credit card company before leaving. The people at the currency exchange place were not able to help me either though they tried running my card and doing everything they could for me. I had about $40 US dollars on me and I ended up exchanging that for euros and paying some of it toward a 10-euro phone card to try to call my bank or credit card company... Because my phone did not work overseas either. Too late I remembered that the guy I had called had said I would have to call a different number to get the international use turned on, just because I had so recently started service with my new carrier. Oofa! At the point I had to buy the phone card I was not doing a very good job at fighting back the tears... which was evident to the currency exchange gentleman. While he was typically French and pretty detached, I could tell he was starting to have a great deal of sympathy toward my situation. I had a hotel booked already in town, but was not certain that any of my cards (including my business card) would be accepted by the taxi that I would need to get there. So anyway, to make a long story short, after several calls with the phone card and basically finding that both of my cards had been temporarily locked, I determined that I would at least try using my business card and see if it was accepted anywhere. Which it was. So after purchasing some lunch and then the great success of a train ticket, I set off to try for a taxi. The currency exchange gentleman had told me the last time I had spoken to him (probably the 4th time or so) that if I could not find any way to get to my hotel, then if I wanted he could drop me off on his way home from work. I was extremely touched. Not a typical offer at all. So when I found out that a taxi would indeed accept my card and take me to my hotel, I ran (ok figuratively) back up to the exchange counter to assure him that I had a way to get to my hotel and thank him again. Yet another brief encounter in my life where I make a new friend for a couple hours and when I leave I'm left wishing there was a way to keep in touch... because I am just one of those people that has to stay in touch with EVERYBODY, even if I don't actually do a good job of it...<br />
<br />
Well, I made it to my hotel. For a bit it looked iffy just because there was a roller-blading competition right in the last streets we needed to get through in order to reach the hotel. But we made it. I settled into my hotel with great relief, with a map of Lyon and with the kind and quick assistance of all the hotel staff, I was quite impressed with them. They told me the hotel had actually just finished a 6-month closure for renovation. It was quite beautiful. There was a neat glass elevator, that took probably twice as long as taking the stairs since it seemed to have a mind of its own about which floor it would go to next and stop at to pick up more people... It was quaint. I was also fascinated to learn that my hotel key card doubled as the mechanism for turning on the lights in the room, there was a little slot for it. So leave the room and take your key and everything shuts off. It was a power-saving device. Basically the law if I remember correctly. When I got back all my U.S. friends were surprised to hear about this, but my friends from Europe were like, "You've never seen that?" Surprise surprise...<br />
<br />
By the time I felt like I was ready for the next day, including knowing what transportation I would take (the metro and then the tram to get to the work site... since my colleagues were not there yet to all take a taxi together and I felt I would rather try out public transportation), it was getting later, 5pm or so, not quite the time to thoroughly explore the city that I had hoped for. I did go walking around to get my bearings and visited the nearby plazas, and found the river - I mean one of them, and crossed one of the bridges to take a look at the other side, and went way up a set of stairs partway up the hill. But I didn't know where the main route up to the top was and didn't want to get lost on steep cobblestoned streets so I eventually headed back. It was lovely though. Around 7 or 7:30 I went back to my hotel room and got a few things and then went out into the streets near the hotel to find dinner. I found a spot not too far away and took a seat outdoors... By the time I got done with my food and dessert and had paid the bill, it was at least 9:30. It just takes a while. I literally was nodding off several times while reading my book waiting. Did not know if I would make it, but I did. Then went back to my hotel room and that night slept quite soundly...<br />
<br />
... To be continued, hopefully. :)<br />
<br />
love<br />
SharonSharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-35415290009404198512013-09-15T16:31:00.002-04:002013-09-15T16:31:50.749-04:00sunday afternoon... the last quiet oasis for a whileDear all,<br />
<br />
Another week at least and Sharon has been a major slacker about writing!<br />
<br />
As you can see I am good at starting things, but not always so good at keeping them up or finishing.<br />
<br />
Well, instead of trying to go day-by-day over all the adventures I've missed, let me at least start with the last week and work backward from there if I have time and have not fallen asleep over my keyboard.<br />
<br />
The past week has been busy at work. It was time to start prepping for a week of testing next week. So there were some colleagues who came to Warsaw from other facilities. I only knew one of them but we went out to eat twice, once with another colleague whom we met for the first time this trip. On days like that, my schedule goes something like this: Get up, get ready, go to work. Work all day. Go home around 5pm, work out as much as possible in the time left. Sometimes after errands. Quickly shower and neaten myself up and then run back out to dinner around 7pm. Get home around 9 or 9:30 and then just chill a bit before bed. So as you can see, there goes the whole day - of course it's fun though!<br />
<br />
So this week, I have a couple people coming into town specifically to help me out with my part of the testing, and I foresee more of the same... but it is always worth it to spend time with people. And I like to be hospitable for people who come to Warsaw. I should show them some of the nice spots around town, like the Winona Lake area with the Island and canals. And make them brownies too. I remember a couple years ago I made brownies for some colleagues visiting from Switzerland and from Boston area and I think I packaged each up in its own bag with a name tag... Wow I must have been young and energetic then! I don't think I will be going to THAT much effort this time, but I still have to do something! In keeping with my life motto, "Big sister to the world!"<br />
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(If any of my brothers are reading this I am sure I just gave them a great opportunity for some eye-rolling! However as most of you know by now, I genuinely mean everything I say unless i follow it up with "I'm joking!")<br />
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And here it is late Sunday afternoon, the last oasis of free time before a very busy week followed by a weekend of flying to France followed by a nice intense week mostly in France and 2 days in Switzerland... Very excited about my first overseas business trip, but a little nervous and worried. Just thinking about everything that has to be done for a trip always makes me nervous. Which is funny because I travel a lot and should not be worried about it. What you have to do is just have a packing list in advance and other than that, forget about it, take each day as it comes and don't start packing till the day before you leave if you can help it. And don't try to figure out every detail of the trip and your connections and blah blah blah because the point is to live the adventure, not know it by heart in advance.<br />
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I do have to say it has been so good today to go to church and get several chunks of good Bible teaching, and of course time worshiping God and visiting with the rest of the family in Christ. For lunch we went to Stacey's parents' house. Had a yummy meal and then each person was given a huge piece of pie, I really should have asked for mine to be cut in half, but as soon as I saw it in front of me I couldn't resist... the old old story of Sharon and Chocolate. Never ends.<br />
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And this afternoon I made a lot of time to read various things.... that was nice! It is a grayish cool afternoon so just perfect for that.<br />
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Well, I hope you are all having a fabulous Sunday. And hopefully this brings you a bit up to date and I will try to be prompter with posts in the future,<br />
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love,<br />
Sharon<br />
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<br />Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-61671527538298359632013-09-07T15:26:00.000-04:002013-09-07T15:26:03.409-04:00the last few weeks... part 1My dear readers,<br />
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I apologize for the lapse of posting! It has been a busy couple weeks, full of traveling and vacation. You know how vacation seems to just eat up all of your life once it hits.<br />
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Let's see, my last post was a couple weeks ago on a Wednesday. The next day was Thursday, which is always Bible Study night. To be honest I cannot remember at all what happened. I just recall that we stayed up pretty late talking. And I had to throw together my luggage so I could leave straight from work for the airport the next day, to go to Philly!<br />
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I had planned to be in Philly that weekend anyway at the end of a work trip, in order to visit Philly cousins and also NZ cousins who would be there visiting Philly cousins! Berwyn and Veronica and Emlyn. Wel lthe work trip was canceled, but I made my own plans. :) So I left work early and hopped on a plane. My neighbor on my first flight was a lady who had children my own age, I didn't really start talking with her till the end of the flight, then I found out she had a daughter who had studied at the same university in Buenos Aires as I had! Universidad de Belgrano. So that was a fun connection. The next flight was a bit longer, Detroit to Philly. I had landed in the middle seat of a 3-seat row. On my left was a young lady who I figured was originally from India, on my right was a laid-back gentleman who offered me a paper after I had sat down and the plane was taxiing. At first I thought he was one of those guys I would rather not talk to, but that first perception was quite wrong. So we started talking about the paper and the flight and blah-blah you name it. Well, I thought it was going to be a bit hard then to engage the girl on my left in conversation, but it was not. It just took a while to find a good opportunity to do it. She was very happy to talk and I found out she was going to Philly to visit cousins too! That was pretty much the fastest flight to Philly I have ever had. People on either side to talk to. I mean it doesn't get much better than that for me! :) Incidentally, I ordered hot tea and got it just late enough, and it was just hot enough, that I had barely started to get in some good sips before the flight attendant came along with the trash and with considerable concern obliged me to throw it in the trash because she was afraid the descent would be bumpy enough that I might burn myself. You should have seen my face. My neighbor on the left could not help laughing in deep sympathy. The landing was quite fun I must admit. For a while we were not sure the plane was going to land because it would be headed down and then seemed to head back up.<br />
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Once landed, I went to get my rental car in the now-quite-familiar Philly airport, with the expectation that I would make record efficiency getting from the plane to Jeremy and Lillian's house, since I had done this several times before. And it would not even be totally dark hopefully. Quite. Well I did very well right up until I was pulling out of the Avis lot, and then the guy who was clearing me to leave noted that my car was a step up from the class that I had ordered, asked me where I had got it, and told me that to be sure the charge wouldn't be extra I would have to go back in to the counter. Oh joy. So I did. (and for your information I had gone straight to the space indicated and it was the right make and everything) I had just gotten everything settled to my satisfaction, mirrors, water bottle, the works, was not too thrilled. When I got in, by good chance I had the same agent as had initially given me my key, and he was ticked off enough at the inconvenience to a customer who had to come back in, that he set me up with my current car with no extra charge. Woohoo! So then, I was off.<br />
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The construction area on the highway was extra slow and so I could not shoot down the narrow lane at the same adrenaline-inducing speed as usual, but, just as well I suppose. And I was in the wrong lane to turn at one light in the city but the car catty-corner to me very nicely let me fudge the lanes and turn. And so I finally made it to Jeremy and Lillian's, found a parking spot almost right in front of their house (total miracle!) and was just turning off the car when Berwyn came out seemingly just to welcome me and stood waiting to greet me! What amazing perception to realize I had come! Well, actuallly he had just been coming out to the car for something and happened to see me and realized it must be me. But it was still lovely. What fun to see him again, and meet his wife Veronica and son Emlyn, and of course see Jeremy and Lillian again... pure happiness. Had a nice time visiting before we all went to bed.<br />
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I got to sleep on an air mattress on the living room floor, which was very nice. Konked out until people started waking up the next morning, starting with baby Shanna of course. And then.... but that is Part 2.<br />
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Till next time, hopefully very shortly,<br />
your honored blog post writer,<br />
SharonSharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-76919249395935027942013-08-21T22:35:00.003-04:002013-08-21T22:35:52.598-04:00Wednesday night is theater night, duhDear friends,<br />
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Because Wednesday night is a great night to go to the theater, right?!<br />
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Stacey and I went to see a show called the 4 Plaids. I mean Forever Plaid. Wow I really wish I knew what was wrong with my brain, I feel it blipping every once in a while. Despite being about 4 dead guys it was a pretty good show. Lots of great music! It was like a musical on steroids. Mostly 4-part harmony barbershop, so Ethan, I wish you could have been here!<br />
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These guys were pretty good, they made me almost die laughing a couple of times.<br />
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There was even a police car to let the traffic out after the show.<br />
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And now, I have no motivation to do anything. Absolutely anything. I don't even want to go to bed. Although I know it will be good for me. But I feel like it would be better for my sanity to stay up and do something fun for a while. Isn't that childish?<br />
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Well anyway, 8 more days of being a child and then the braces come off. :) AND it is the same day as Stacey's birthday!! So that night we are going to PAR-TAY!!! :)<br />
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love,<br />
Sharon<br />
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<br />Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-85539941929763117712013-08-19T17:31:00.000-04:002013-08-19T17:31:04.821-04:00happy MondayDear all,<div>
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It feels like a normal summer weekday. For a few more days, until the NEXT TRIP hits!! Philly in 3 more days.</div>
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In the meantime though, there is not much to report. The latest adventures have been pretty normal... Staying up late on weekend nights... hanging out with friends... backing into a trailer hitch... pretty much the usual. I should probably share some pictures of that last event. It was a nice clean punch at least, right into my brand-new race-red bumper. Poor Cherry! She is a trooper though. She continues to happily zip around, enjoying the road, as I do. We are extra cautious about zipping backward though.</div>
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In other more momentous news, I believe my family is about to hit a milestone... in another day or two there will be ONLY boys at home. Plus Mommy of course. The last girl is going to college... Carolyn, the one like me. :) In fact there are going to be 3 Iowa Hoyts at LeTourneau this year, yikes. They may form a club, a conspiracy, or just end up finding the whole campus plastered with posters about how cool they are as I believed happened a while ago. In any case, I am expecting to hear about some major momentous moments from down there and I am planning to go down and visit them sometime to help out! Hee hee.</div>
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Today was the first day I can remember talking to someone on the phone who was practically yelling at me. It was quite an experience. I managed to mentally distance myself from it, for about 20 seconds. </div>
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Oh yes, I should add that I do have a new phone, it is a gorgeous Samsung Galaxy III that makes the coolest sounds. I could sit there and listen to the sounds all day. The water sounds when it goes to sleep and wakes up, the swishy sounds when you unlock it, best of all the bird chirp sound when I get texts or emails... I mean how much better does life get?? Sometimes though I have to admit I am slightly confused about whether that was nature or my phone.</div>
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Wishing you all a happy Monday evening,</div>
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love,</div>
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Sharon</div>
Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-21311645079878084342013-08-06T18:08:00.002-04:002013-08-06T18:08:34.058-04:00the latest news in this neck of the woodsHi all,<br />
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There has been a lot happening, it is time for an update!<br />
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First of all, yesterday when I got home from work I glanced in my driver's side mirror and what do you think I saw?? A spider had spun a little web right in the mirror! Of all the NERVE!! I can't imagine how it survived my efficient driving and turns... It is a pretty little guy and I have not bothered to remove him yet. Her I mean. All spiders that spin webs are girls right?<br />
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Kendra is here and we are watching a lot of movies in the evening. Well, sometimes. It is a great way to bond, by reacting to the movie and to the other's reactions to the movie.<br />
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I had a party with my Sunday School class last Saturday. They are 1st and 2nd graders. There were 5 kids who came and it was so much fun, as it always is, also quite wild. Even though I had them sit on the floor there was still a considerable amount of food and drink spilled. We had lunch and went on a trek through the nearby wilderness (the tree farm etc.) and blew up balloons and played balloon tag and then the boys carried on a good violent balloon fight which I extricated myself from in order to make the puppy chow with the girls. And then they made animals and eyeglasses and things out of pipe cleaners while I finished up the puppy chow. Then we sat around and ate as much as we had time for, before going out for a water gun fight. Which quickly became a water fight that included cups of water being thrown at people, mostly of course Miss Teacher. It was a blast! And then I sent baggies of puppy chow home with them. 4 hours goes very very fast on an action-packed Saturday afternoon. It probably took me longer to clean up than it took me to clean in preparation, but it was very much worth it. I kind of love the barely controlled chaos of kids running around. Of course I am used to having the ages a little more spread out, if they are all the same age that makes it a bit more wild.<br />
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And now I am getting ready for my 4th smart phone in 1 year, have to go with a new carrier since U.S. Cellular is getting bought out by Sprint in this region. So there you go, time for AT&T and a new phone (can't transfer phones though you can phone numbers, how dumb) as soon as I can get all the pictures uploaded off my camera, which is currently blazing along at the blinding speed of about 40 pictures uploaded a day, out of 889 total.... Maybe I will just go into the store and see if they can help me quickly get that done. I cannot sit around letting slow stuff hold me back from the future!<br />
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And besides that, tonight I have to make cookie bars for my colleague who is moving to another area of the building. And have to go shopping for the chocolate chips for those. And I wanted to watch my first episodes ever of E.R., with Kendra. And also wanted to go to bed early and get some work done. It's 6pm and I still have to take my run before getting to that. How likely do you think that is? Well I'll just have to jump in and see how far I get.Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-89542181271402226862013-07-28T15:36:00.002-04:002013-07-28T15:36:51.269-04:00what happened a week ago todayDear readers,<br />
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I have been home from California for a few days, part of me wants to go back and part of me is glad to be here. A few weeks of Indiana summer life before the next trip, and it is going to be a crazy couple months of travel.<br />
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Last time I think I left off after recounting the Saturday in San Francisco adventures? I know I did a very quick job of that, but hopefully it gave you a picture of the full and fun day.<br />
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On Sunday we slept in, we had yummy grilled hot dogs and buns and grilled corn and little tabouleh and couscous salads for lunch, then Natalie and I finished our movie (Little Miss Sunshine) while Jon took the dogs to the park for some exercise,which they needed after being shut up all day. Oh yes, Jon and Natalie have 2 dogs and 2 cats. I am amazed at all the animals in their apartment but it is pretty fun.<br />
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When Jon got back, he informed us that we could take the next train which by the way was in 10 minutes! That is, if we were ready. Oh my goodness! So we scrambled around, grabbed our stuff including sunscreen, and for the 2nd day in a row took off for the train station.<br />
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We took the train into town and then took a cab down the bayside (hmm the driver did not know where the Ferry building was... insane). We walked along the bay for a while, in a mall, (one of the cool urban malls with nifty stores), around town a bit, then I decided I needed to head back and head out to San Jose for work that week.<br />
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Somehow I drove to San Jose without having to turn around... more than once, initially I got on the highway headed north instead of south. Figures!! But with a GPS it is easy, and actually I kind of like the freeway ramps in California, it is easy to turn around on them. huge improvement on the East Coast and even the Midwest.<br />
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I got to my hotel and was IN AWE at the beauty of it... amazing, when I have a few minutes to collect my pictures I will show you. Got my computer online which is of course the most important part. Took a picture from my balcony. I wish I'd had more time that week to simply hang out in all the different parts of my suite and enjoy it... That is one of the things you have to keep in mind, those of you who have the working world ahead, when you have a job that sends you on cool trips, you are often busy enough that you don't often take the time to properly appreciate it even if you do initially appreciate it very much with your eyes and your gasps of delight. In fact that applies to all of life. Enjoy what you are doing right now and live it to the full. That is a paraphrase of a great quote by Jim Elliott, a missionary who died for Christ in South America.<br />
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Then I finally realized my text messaging was failing and I called the person I was meeting for dinner to find that he was already there... so I took off! I had dinner with a new friend I made over the weekend, my cousin's friend who was also there for work. We went to an outdoor mall and I picked out a French restaurant, mmmm yummy. What a fun evening and delicious food. And then it was plenty late and time for both of us to go to our hotels and get some sleep before the work week ahead.<br />
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Well I will tell you about the rest of the week in another post because this one got a bit long and I don't want people complaining that they have to read through a book every time.Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-6630754344773611392013-07-21T03:40:00.000-04:002013-07-21T03:40:50.934-04:00bopping around San FranciscoSo on my first full day on the West Coast, we got up and ate breakfast my cousin cooked, we dashed out the door with a friend to catch the train to the bike shop, where we rented 2 bikes for those of us who are just temporarily in town, met up with another friend who biked there to meet us, and set off on a bike ride across San Francisco and to the Golden Gate Bridge! which we crossed. Then we biked doooooooown the hill and found a place to park and lock our bikes, with some difficulty, and sat down to a delicious lunch which was more or less seafood for all of us. Then we went back to take the ferry back across the ferry... I mean across the bay, guess I am a little sleepy. But apparently we needed tokens and tickets to get on the ferry and there was not time to get that hour's ferry. So we got ourselves tokens and tickets for the next one and then went and sat in a little restaurant place and got something to drink and sat and chatted and bonded for a while. Oh yes, after locking up our bikes before that. so then we went and picked up our bikes again and waited in line for the ferry! And we got on it and enjoyed a nice chilly super windy ride. When we got back we rode our bikes through downtown traffic to my cousin's office because we had to wait for the next train. Oh yikes, that ride was a little interesting. Then we hung out in the office and warmed up for a while. that office is AMAZING! nothing like the cubeville I am used to. when we left, we said goodbye to one of our friends and then it was the four of us walking back to the train station. Well I said something, joking, about racing. Two of us had bikes, two of us didn't - me and the friend. The friend seemed to think I was mostly serious and that started me running and then we both started running breakneck down the sidewalk, then we were just about ready to slow down when my cousin and his wife on bikes started passing us! So we ran again really hard and just managed to run into the train station ahead. We were very excited about that. Hahaha!! These little impromptu adventures... Then we took the train, then we got home, the friend left to go to another even he needed to attend, and I and my cousins went out to a VERY cool Mongolian restaurant (are you reading this Derek??) where you have a hot plate in the middle of the table and a pan of broth there, kept at a rolling boil, and you order different kinds of meat and vegetables and other things that you want, and you take pieces of them and dip or leave them in the hot broth to cook for a minute or two, then eat them... totally new incredible experience! I have to learn how to do that. Probably not hard, just takes some prep. If you ever get the chance to have Shabu Shabu (i think that's what it's called), please do.<br />
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And now we're back home chilling, Natalie and I are watching the first part of a movie (Little Miss Sunshine),, and I should really go to bed. It is 12:40 here and 3:40 Indiana time. Yikes! But a very fun day. Tomorrow should be more relaxing, although, I would totally take another day like this.Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-59513017049359039792013-07-19T11:38:00.003-04:002013-07-19T11:38:51.454-04:00jumping back in history for a momentDear all,<br />
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When I went to the airport to leave Philly back in June I had some fun getting to my gate, so thought I would share... I typed this out back on the day it happened and never remembered to post it.<br />
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This afternoon my flight was at 6pm so I left my cousin’s house around 3:15. They only live 20 minutes from the airport. But here’s the story. First I set off toward what I thought was the nearest gas station, I just missed it apparently, after a couple minutes I put it in my GPS and circled back around to it. Then I pulled up on the wrong wide, the gas tank was on the other side. Then I could not figure out how to open the gas tank!! There was no fingerhole on the tank lid and no lever anywhere in the car…. So I had to Google that on my phone and it said to push the gas tank lid. I was so mad, I did it and <bam> it opened. But it was funny. Then I drove off to the airport. I missed one of the turns on that really big ridiculous traffic circle so I had to take a back way to the right road (my GPS rerouted of course), then I found myself at a 4-way stop on this new route between 2 Drexel police cars. I was slightly freaked out but laughed about it right away. Fortunately they weren’t with me long. Then there were cars stopped on the road I needed, got around them. Then there was one-lane construction ramp, finally got past it and to the airport. Then the lady took a while to figure out how to split my charge for the Avis rental. Then I had to wait for the bus. Then when I got to the airport they did very quickly check my 1 bag for me but security was a long line. Then I got almost all the way to my gate printed on my ticket and looked on a flight info board and it said it was a different gate on the other side of the airport! Before I went all the way down there I asked someone and they confirmed my 1st gate was right. I had to ask the lady at the gate too because the sign said it was going to San Juan Puerto Rico. That would have been a fun place to end up but I guess it’s just as well I went home. On the plane I sat next to a married couple so there wasn’t a lot of point in trying to talk although I did have to ask them about my seat belt which had a weird detachable part… hahhaha! They said I won the prize for having that. On the flight first I dozed for a while and then I read a book. Hmmm I had better stop talking, this is getting pointless to go through all the details. But it will make my blog post about these adventures much faster! Haha, sorry, that will be a repeat for you then. So anyway, I am in the right gate for my flight to South Bend and I shouldn’t miss it.</bam>Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-19707354488480363412013-07-18T22:43:00.003-04:002013-07-18T22:43:57.037-04:00heaps of stuff!Well, I think this year I am going to beat last year's record. Last year I recall that I did not even leave the state of Indiana in the month of July... though I did every other month. This year I am going to California. Yikes!<br />
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Yes, a new work trip, I can't say I balked at all when the San Jose site asked me to come out for a few days. Have never been to California and am extremely curious and a little nervous about it. Will the air feel different? Will California smell weird? Will I fall over and pass out? Will the people speak the same language as me? Ok, I better stop. :) haha! Regardless I am looking forward to it, and I really hope this time I can avoid missing my connecting flight and showing up late at my hosts' home. How handy to have second cousins basically right in San Jose a few minutes from the airport!<br />
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the other grand bit of news is that I had an orthodontist checkup today and my orthodontist gave the go-ahead to schedule the last 4 appointments, which involves everything necessary to take the braces off. I have been saying for quite a while that I will actually be a little sad to lose the braces and lose my teenager identity, and yes I will be a wee bit sad about that, but now that they have said it is almost time, I am truly excited to have them off. Funny how that works. I guess you start looking forward to whatever you know is coming!<br />
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Right now it is 10:37 and we are sitting around waiting to see if the bible study group who basically all couldn't come at the regular time was serious about coming around 10:30 or if it was just a joke. It is so hard to tell with these people. I need faces to look at. And people to make the sarcasm sign if they are actually joking. But it's cool, a little time to hang out with Kendra and update the long neglected blog. But nobody has been complaining very vocally... That is, at all... So I must assume no one cares too much. Nevertheless I will try to do better!<br />
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Well, I better go brush my toophers and floss and all that good stuff, especially to impress my dentist tomorrow morning. He is going to be super excited to hear about my braces! Come to think of it, I will miss my orthodontist and all the techs there. My orthodontist has a standing joke about "this appointment is going to hurt" or "pull a little to make it hurt and she might bring it treats" because once it did hurt so bad I cried, and then I felt bad, and brought in brownies as an apology. Hahaha! Some great laughs over the last 2.5 years.<br />
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Happy Friday!!!Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-566855858140552902013-07-13T10:32:00.001-04:002013-07-13T10:32:21.066-04:00time wants to run when you're having funHow did a whole week run away and I did not notice?! <div>
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Last weekend when I left you, we were jumping full swing into wedding preparations... I spent all afternoon helping with that (including cleaning a bathroom at our friend's house... which is really ironic since I almost never clean the bathroom here, dishes are my assigned chore), then we had the wedding rehearsal and dinner afterward at Hacienda, then we ran home to find KENDRA was here!! That was exciting. Then we ran out again for fireworks. Winona Lake fireworks were a slight disappointment in the length, I think they only lasted about 20 minutes, and we missed the first couple minutes. However they were very beautifully staged and delightful to watch. But the length was more than made up for the following night when we spent at least 30 minutes watching fireworks exploding right over our heads at the wedding reception. That was a great day and probably deserves its own post. I really hope someday I have the time to sit down and write all the things I should. Till then I will try to keep my readers updated while occasionally picking some adventures to describe in more detail.</div>
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The last week with Kendra here has been fun! I think we have done something fun every day. Basically. Fun on purpose I mean. Just hanging out with siblings is fun, you know. So many inside jokes and shared memories and total license to pick on each other... !</div>
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She did totally blow me away on Thursday with the news that she had passed her board exam which oh, by the way, she had taken on her way out here but had not told us!</div>
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Today the plan is to go shopping, because we need clothes. And we have tried the shops in Warsaw and they have not measured up to our needs, so we are going to go hit The Mall in Fort Wayne!</div>
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And then we have to come back and go to the last Masterworks concert of the season and.... etc.</div>
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Have a great Saturday!</div>
Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-35022989721631836952013-07-05T12:58:00.003-04:002013-07-05T12:58:45.237-04:004th of July weekend...Hi guys! Sorry. The slacker blogger finally updates. I am not doing very well at keeping this up! Not from lack of desire, just from the busy-ness of life. Even now as I sit here my fingers are still damp from washing dishes, after a morning of booking a flight to California (next work trip) and running errands and cleaning the house in preparation for Kendra coming! and even I am trying to stuff down some healthy food before going next door to help with wedding prep. 'Cause our super good friend Elisabeth is getting married tomorrow! And I am a bridesmaid so I should help. Plus a good friend and next-door neighbor so I want to. :) <br />
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Yesterday was July 4th as I'm sure you know. I confess I didn't spend the WHOLE day in patriotic celebration, I spent some time in the morning practicing hairstyles and sandal tying with another bridesmaid. You may ask yourself "sandal tying?!?" Well for the wedding we got these sandals that have the foot part and then several loops for a long ribbon, which you can tie through the loops different ways for different styles. The ribbons are pretty long and there are a LOT of different styles so we had to find one that we liked, that looked good with the dress, that felt good on our feet and wouldn't let the sandals fall off. We were successful after just 3 tries. Then I can't remember what I did all afternoon... Oh, I took a walk, and researched lots of different flight options so I could get the best one today. Different airports to fly in and out of, different times, different prices... complicated! Then I made some brownies and drove up to Goshen (stopping to pick up potato salad on the way) to hang out with Uncle Doug and Aunt Cindy and a couple of the cousins and a couple of the first-cousins-once-removed (otherwise known as FCORs). I did my best to explain this term to them (the once-removed ones, who incidentally are all 12 or under) and they mostly had it by the end of the evening. Had grilled corn on the cob for the first time ever! Cut mine off of course. After dinner and a game of Apples to Apples, in which my 12-year-old FCOR won, we went out to the driveway to set off some fireworks! Josh said that some of them were illegal but some of us were slightly doubtful he could have just walked into WalMart and bought illegal fireworks. They were all very fun... I set off a couple too. Some of the neighbors stopped over to help us.<br />
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And then I drove back to Warsaw and decided that 60 miles left on my tank of gas was plenty to leave that chore over until today. There were a lot of fireworks to see on the way home.<br />
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And then I watched part of a movie at 11:30 before going to bed because you know on these holiday times you can't just go to bed right away!<br />
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Well I hope you all had a good 4th of July, thanking God for the country we have to live in, and I hope you keep enjoying the weekend! Stay tuned for more wedding weekend updates. :)Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-30705888048748407392013-06-29T01:46:00.000-04:002013-06-29T01:46:09.843-04:00just another Friday nightI realize I am supposed to finish the Dunes story, but that is a bit long to tackle tonight, and you surely don't want to wait a couple more days for any blog post at all, right?<br />
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Today when I walked out of work on Friday I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I had met my deadline, cleaned up some of my email, and the week before I had been notified that I was getting another raise. So, I decided to go shopping!<br />
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Often I dread clothes shopping because it takes so much time, with not a lot of return. But this time I was blessed to pick up several useful items, including... .... MY FIRST PAIR OF NEW BLUE JEANS EVER BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY. I know that is just ridiculous. But I have never found new jeans I liked even though I have tried tons of kinds. Most of the ones I have found up until now have been from Goodwill, because that at least has a wider range of styles and sizes which might actually fit. And one pair of "black" jeans from JCPenny's. And I did have one brand-new pair of jeans a long time ago but that was a gift to me after the WalMart bleach spilled down the jeans I had. That was probably when I was 13 or so... can't remember. Anyway, this is a pair of Levi's! I didn't even realize it when I bought them. They weren't even where they were supposed to be I don't think, but I noticed they were my size and also Short, and I thought, "ooo, I was about to walk out of the store but let's try these." <br />
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Then when I was in the checkout line, a nice man behind me gave me his 30% off coupon which he said he wasn't using (? go figure) and even got them to give me credit towards my next purchase... Basically he was very nice. So it was a rather pleasant trip to the store. I did leave my necklace in the dressing room by accident, but when I got home and realized, I called them and they found it for me. Don't let me forget to go pick that up tomorrow.<br />
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Have a happy weekend!!Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-20673712389288317282013-06-25T06:00:00.001-04:002013-06-25T06:00:07.474-04:00dunes day - part 1Friday morning when I woke up, I had no plans for the weekend, other than maybe shopping and the usual housework, and it sounded lovely.<br />
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Friday afternoon one of my friends sent a message round to the girls asking if anyone was up for one of several different activities, one of them being a day at the the beach about 2 hours away. At first I thought, wow, there goes my whole Saturday and I will not accomplish anything if we do that. But the more I thought about escaping to the beach... It ended up that all 5 of us wanted to go to the beach, even last-minute.<br />
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So Saturday morning we got up not too early and somehow got ourselves together and packed up all our supplies (including lots of snacks) and went to buy water and still more snacks ('cause you don't want to starve at the beach... what a dreadful way to go!) Finally around noon we left Warsaw. Of course, I offered to drive us in Cherry. So there we all were cozy in a zippy little red car, deeply anticipating the beach joys ahead.<br />
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It took us a little bit to get there because, for some reason, Highway 31 turned into Business 31 and 933 and was no longer itself. So at the last minute we swerved left onto the 80/90 toll road (Ok... so we didn't quite swerve) and had not even gone all the way up the ramp onto that highway before we discovered that staying on 933 would have intersected us with 12 after all. Oh well. So we stayed on 80/90, we got tired of the radio and started messing around with one of my CDs to put in, the girls decided to listen to the "handsome guys" (Il Divo) which I was pretty happy about because (A) I thought I had lost that CD months ago, (B) I love their music. Well by the time we had got it safely in I saw a sign passing and gasped, "Oh - did we want 12??" Thankfully my extensive experience of turning around enabled us to get quickly back on track. Then we didn't see the name of the next road so...passed that one too. Then we were finally on Broken Arrow highway... Oh wait. They kept telling me it was Red Arrow or something. I don't know why I had Broken Arrow stuck in my head.<br />
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By this time Sharon is feeling quite short on protein and I confess if there's one thing that makes me irritable... So I insisted that we stick to the original plan and stop to get some lunch. The first place we stopped did not allow take-out. So we went across the road to a Mexican grill and we all ended up getting 1 taco apiece. And took them with us to the beach which we FINALLY reached!!<br />
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~~ by now you are probably about ready to quit reading for the day... I wouldn't blame you ~~<br />
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When we first got out of the car we were kind of surprised to find that it did not feel so deliciously hot as it had back in Warsaw, and even rather cloudy up here. I began to think it wasn't very smart to not have brought sleeves. But the AngloSaxon spirit in me rose to the occasion, as it usually does, and we all got ourselves down to the beach and settled on our towels with our tacos.<br />
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I can't even convey the sweet peace and happiness of finally having a full tummy. And my less-than-8-hours of sleep and the increasing warmth of the day came to bear on me until I clunked out on my towel... Well not until I had lathered sun screen all over. I even had Stacey help me with the back. Unfortunately while I was proactively thinking about that, I totally forgot about my chest and so... But that will come up later in the story. And finally, after this exhausting effort of putting on sunscreen, I collapsed on my towel and began the afternoon with almost falling asleep on the beach.<br />
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Well, I am not sure this story really merits 2 parts but I guess that is what will happen!Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-17158324109164133172013-06-21T20:29:00.004-04:002013-06-21T20:29:36.914-04:00adventures with Sharon on a Friday eveningHi kids!<br />
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Sorry, it's Friday night you know... and even if some of you are not kids, I can't help it, it's the big sister coming out in me.<br />
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So I am sitting here at my lovely Lenovo with my SUPER COOL Logitech wireless mouse! It has only taken me about 3 years to get a wireless mouse... Not too bad. It feels very nice to not be using that little red dot or the not-quite-specific-enough touchpad.<br />
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This evening after I got home from work and errands (errands such as picking up my super cool new mouse!), I went out for a quick run. Well while I was running out through the tree farm on my way to run, I ran right through a little patch of insects! And they started swarming all around my head and flying above me as I ran on! At first I thought they were just a pack of annoying gnats or flies. Then I looked up and they were bigger! but not big enough to be real bees or wasps! And they would not leave when I swatted at them, and I started sprinting to try to outrun them, but I couldn't! And then terrified I thought that they must be some kind of mini killer-bee that would start stinging welts all over my face and I would suddenly find I was allergic as my body violently reacted and my throat closed up and I fell to the ground... Somehow I kept running even though they stayed with me. My last desperate thought was that I could run back to the house and grab some bug spray and spray them till they fell out of the air dead. And then, I realized they were no longer with me. Maybe they read my mind? At any rate it was quite a horrific experience and I made sure to avoid that whole area when returning. I do not usually get to start my runs out with sprints, guess it was a nice change of pace. No that was not a pun! Come on, you know I do not say this stuff intentionally.<br />
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Well, this has been another episode of Adventures with Sharon. Tomorrow we are planning a beach day, so I should have plenty to tell you about that afterward, like how it was to hang out in the sun for the first 30 minutes, then the next 30 minutes, then the next 30 minutes... And also hopefully swimming (trying to keep learning anyway) and running up and down the dunes till we fall over gasping in the sand. :) <br />
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<br />Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-59208457913051066092013-06-19T22:42:00.000-04:002013-06-20T12:41:23.253-04:00everyday pain and other everyday stuffWell as usual I forgot to remember to update my blog until bedtime! But I will write a few lines anyway.<br />
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10:30 is the new bedtime. I made an effort to get some sleep once I got sick, and I got so high on the euphoric morning rested feeling that now I have to keep it up... :) <br />
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It has been a normal week I guess. Work all day, errands and housekeeping and stuff in the evening. Today I cooked for the first time in probably weeks. What was on the menu, you ask?? Well, it was quite gourmet! Bacon and asparagus! which I made enough of to share with Stacey. And tomato and corn tortilla. And I had found this little 2-pack of chocolate pie at the grocery store on Sunday so we had that for dessert.<br />
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There is nothing like cooking food and doing dishes and having a piano in the house to make you feel like you have a home!<br />
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I burned my pinky finger while cooking the bacon. Did you know that hot water is not really soothing to a burn? As I found out while I was doing the dishes. But I toughed it out and eventually my finger got used to it and the pain became less searing and less long-lasting. These small actions of bravely surmounting difficulties, of whatever size, are the stuff that truly tough people are made of. Don't you think?<br />
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Hope everyone has a Thrilling Thursday tomorrow!! (and I know you think that sounds like a name I made up, but that is not my name for it, I got it from a colleague!)Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-58525783941190730732013-06-16T22:28:00.002-04:002013-06-16T22:28:59.502-04:00oh no! quick quick!Oh my goodness I haven't updated the blog in a while! But I just have 2 hours until bedtime!! What can I say?<div>
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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious</div>
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How many words can you make up with that? If you need something to do. Hee hee</div>
Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989045.post-55933546465139517942013-06-14T23:45:00.002-04:002013-06-14T23:45:32.367-04:00ah-chooI don't know about you guys but I HATE colds. Forgive me for using the h- word. I have said in the past that I would rather break my leg than get a cold, I suppose that is extreme but whenever I have a cold I still feel that way.<br />
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This cold hit me like a wagon of bricks that stopped and catapulted all the bricks over at me, the first few fell like random allergy-induced sneezes and the rest came <whomp> down late last night, as we were finishing up Bible study and hanging out with friends... Actually the real WHOMP was around 3am when I found myself lying in bed struggling to swallow without extreme trauma. I immediately self-diagnosed strep throat although I have to admit the pain wore off partway through the next morning, so there was probably no way it was strep... Anyway without sickening you with all the dirty details of a cold, this one is progressing so fast that I do have some slight hopes maybe it will already be wearing off by Saturday, which would be nice, since I had plans.</whomp><br />
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The crazy thing about a cold though is that sensation that ripples all through your body, the sensation that every single one of your kazillions of cells is only functioning at 20% capacity or less and it is just not quite enough for you to move without fatigue.<br />
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But can we all agree that pain pills are a lifesaver? Pain pills have seriously decreased my misery level more than that DayQuill stuff did. I love pain pills, don't you??! Don't worry... I did not even come close to taking the amount they say you can.<br />
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Well I hope you are all staying healthy and far away from illnesses of every type, and enjoy breathing in the beautiful air!<br />
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<br />Sharonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03560264745568041764noreply@blogger.com0