Back in the spring of 1979, I was a fifth grader seeking redemption. The temple to which my family belonged was holding its annual contest through which three lucky Sunday School students would win a two-week scholarship to Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute (OSRUI), the Oconomowoc, Wisconsin overnight camp for Reform Jewish youngsters. The contest consisted of an essay written during religious school from a pre-selected prompt and then, if advanced to the final round, an interview with members of the temple Board of Directors to determine the winners. The prior year I was a much less mature fourth grader who wrote in freeflow. That’s why, when given the prompt…
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- Best Thing Ever, Childhood Memories, Music, My Sister Has Mad Skillz, Something That Could Change Your Life, Uncategorized
Totally Worth The 30-Year Wait.
Something incredible happened this weekend. I don’t even feel like I can put a proper post together, partly because I only got five hours of sleep and partly because I still can’t believe it. My sister and I saw Adam Ant live last night. If you don’t know me well, you might think, “Oh, cool…I guess.” It was beyond cool. Trust me. You may recall that Adam Ant was my Numero Uno back in the 80s. I wrote about my obsession here, in a post that even includes a picture of me dressed up as Adam Ant for Halloween 1983. I never saw him in a live concert, though. Back…
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Accidental Hoarder
You may recall that in July, Jim and I started our master bathroom renovation (in thirty easy steps!). Since we replaced the tub, not a lot has happened in there. And now it’s October. Time to get back to work! Jim took the day off yesterday so we could take out my half of our double vanity, among other tasks. Before Jim was able to use his jig-saw to cut the thing out, I had to clean out the cabinets and drawers. The cabinet on the right side was no problem: it was full of things like bubble bath, Roxie’s shampoo, and other containers of stuff. The cabinet on the…
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And Then There Was Graffiti Art.
Something I have learned throughout my life and over and over again is that creativity begets creativity and that it runs in the family. My mom, my sister, and I are all very, very creative, in very different ways. Mom is an artist, a painter, and a quilter. Julesie is a photographer, a graphic designer, and a hobby chef. I am a paper crafter, a cake-baker, and of course, a writer. So it shouldn’t have surprised me when J, who plays guitar and has become quite good at mixing music with DJ equipment, showed talent in an entirely different category over the summer. “Mom,” he said, “I want to show…
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Retired.
I have been alluding to some changes as of late, and one of them happens today. This evening I will be teaching my last spin class, ever. I have been thinking about retiring for months now (after teaching for more than nine years!) for many reasons. Just a few of them are: 1. The reason I started teaching in the first place was because I loved taking group fitness classes and thought A) I’d be good at teaching and B) Why not get paid to do something I really enjoy, but once I started teaching I mostly stopped TAKING classes and as I got further from that part of it,…