My parents brought a few things that belonged my Grandmother during this past visit. One of the things I was looking forward to the most were her beautiful strawberry dishes.  I have such fond memories of these dishes and I can’t remember a time when these weren’t on the table.

Among the boxes of knickknacks I found an unexpected tin, one I remember fondly, but had not thought about in so many years. My paper dolls. This morning, I took them out and played a little.

When I was young, my Grandma and I would play with these dolls for hours and hours. And when they ripped, she carefully taped them back together. She kept these dolls in a special place on a top shelf of her entry closet, and when the sentiment hit me that these had been on her shelf for over 37 years, I was a little overwhelmed.

I hope someday I’ll have a granddaughter who can play with and love these dolls as much as I did.

Miss you, Grandma. XXOO

So much is going on in my life that sometimes I don’t feel in control of what’s going on around me. I’m needing a time out, I think.

But the most beautiful girl in the world is not taking a time out from growing. Kenza is already taller than me. How did that happen? When did this happen? Where did my baby go?

Next Tuesday I visit the physician once more to get some more results, and then I’ll post a proper “8-hour physical” post. So very interesting.

So here is my “tan in a tube” arm against my white belly after one application. Not a huge difference, but I’m going to add another layer to the arms and legs and begin Operation Midriff Tan as well, today. So far so good. No streaking when riding or running and I’m not orange. The Tan in a Tube has a little glitter in it that washes away, but it’s kind of fun while it lasts. I like to sparkle.

Things are so exciting around here I can hardly stand it.

Oh, but I did run 9 miles this morning. My longest run in a long while. Go me. I have a two hour ride tomorrow and a one mile timed run on Monday morning. I’m a little nervous about the one mile run because it will determine what my speedwork plan is going to look like over the next few months. I have never done a one mile timed run so I have no clue even how to approach it. Right now my plan is to run as fast as I can for as long as I can . . . but I’m open to suggestions.

Six miles today. 1:05:32. And felt FABULOUS. I’m so slow, but determined. I’m also the palest runner in the world. I’m fish belly white. I’m the whitest white girl on the white block. Why is it that pasty white fat appears fatter than tan fat? I guess fat follows the same basic black principles of the fashion industry. Someone tell my fat it needs a little black dress, please! And how do you do that? Easy.

I’m rewarding my fat with a healthy tan because 1) I’m a loser and 2) I’m old and I need to be better to my skin. Years of basking in the rays have taken their toll in the appearance of not so pretty fine line and wrinkles. Getting old is so fun.

I’m a wee bit nervous I’ll turn into a bleeding pumpking. I’ll keep you posted.

I reckon tomorrow I’ll just keel over dead. Getting old sucks.

is better than getting botoxed.

I need my eyebrows done, my hair colored and a crane to remove the giant pimple on the side of my face. I also ran out of deodorant about 3 days ago. And I am way hairier than a any female should be allowed to get. I have disturbingly neglected anything related to personal hygiene to get this house through inspection. And guess what? It passed – even with some minor structural damage and a swarm of wasps that we agreed to take care of. But now, the buyers are backing out of the contract because they really want a pool. Don’t they know they can just swim when it rains? Seriously, that is way more fun than a pool. Oh, and I have no tan. Which is really just wrong.