Before Going to the Gym

I just checked my e-mail and in it were the prayer requests from our Bible class last Sunday. And mine was phrased thusly: "Susan-- Grandpa broke hip & family." Now to be fair, I think that is how my husband wrote it down. However, while my grandfather does indeed have a broken hip, he did not break his family. We are all still in one piece. I really hope everyone else find it as amusing as I did. As far as Grandpa goes, apparently he will be in hospital for at least a week. Our phone card ran out of minutes on Wednesday, and we don't have a cell phone (pauses for gasps of horror), so I haven't talked to them in a couple of days. I just get my information from my brother's blog.

Yesterday! I bought a new coat! That may seem like a lot of excitement for what is actually a very small deal, however it can be substantiated. My last coat I've now had for seven winters. It was a thrift store find in Glasgow, one of those with two layers- an outer windbreaker and an inner fleece jacket- that can be worn together or separately. And when they are together, it is the warmest jacket I've ever owned. So I've been reluctant to part with it, but it has been steadily deteriorating over the past few years of wear, and after my bike accident last fall, the windbreader now has two irreperable tears in the sleeve. So I decided to wait until winter coats went on sale, and get a new one as much like the old one as possible. I had anticipated it would take most of my day today to (1)ride my bike to the mall, (2)find a place to park it, and (3)look in several stores until I either found something I liked at a reasonable price or gave up in frustration. Well, while sitting at work yesterday, I decided that Chad and I should walk to Kmart (pauses for a second gasp of horror) after work and see if there was anything available that would be suitable. So after a rather windy (and life-threatening-- some of these people should have their driver's licenses revoked) walk to Kmart, we walked straight to a rack of exactly what I was looking for. Not only does it have two detachable layers, but the inner layer is reversible, and it's a nice lime green. The only drawback to this new jacket is that the outer layer isn't wind- or waterproof. But I am still pretty happy about it.

Chad is getting our bikes fixed this morning (another reason against riding my bike to the mall) and I'm going to the gym. I've been doing cardio workouts all week in our mini-gym at work, but I need to do some weights, too, and thus far I've been avoiding it. Fortunately, there aren't many people at the gym at this time on a Saturday, so I can take my time figuring out how much weight, how many reps, etc. And if I am totally bewildered by any given piece of equipment (which seems likely), I can ask without feeling too dumb.

Tonight is the Aim graduation banquet, for... I think the class that began in 2003. This is the only class in recent years of which I know quite a few people. After being an assistant for the 2000 & 2001 classes, I haven't really kept up with them. And, quite honestly, it's hard for the Aim students themselves to be interested in talking to someone who is outside their realm. I found that out when I tried talking to various people in the current class, early in the year. And goodness knows I remember what that was like-- there are too many new people, new sights, new experiences, and so on to want to add anything extra. Even going to the grocery store was an exercise in "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto" for me. Anyway, the banquet also is the beginning of Camp Adventure, and it is a time to see friends we don't really see apart from this time of year. And a friend of Chad's from California is the main speaker during the week, so we always enjoy getting to see him.

Until next time...