#23 - One Scary Joy Ride

Hello Everyone!

A few weeks ago, we cleaned out our garage.  Under all the rubble, low and behold, I found my old bike!  I hadn't ridden it in years.  It was covered in bird poop and cobwebs, but I've been on this fitness kick lately, so I thought, gee, since we have a paved driveway now, this would be a good time to start riding it.  So, I pulled it out from under the pile.  Now remember, I have this brittle bone condition...so, training wheels are a must for me...well, it's a little embarrassing calling them training wheels...so I think I'll call them my safety gear.  As I inspected my bike, I noticed that one of the "safety gears" was missing.  So, I went to the local bike shop to get a new set.  I brought them home the other day, and struggled and struggled to get them on...but tonight, I finally had success.  Ah, I can finally ride my bike.  I use to ride a bike all the time as a kid...but I forgot...I'm not a kid anymore.  I went to get on the bike and instantly remembered...my Dad use to pick me up and PUT me on the bike.  Hum...what was I to do now?  Well, I wiggled and waddled and tried to get up on that bike.  All the while, shaking like a leaf, because I remembered the last time I fell off a bike, I broke my arm...So, I did the only thing I knew to do...I called Ken for help.  What a sweet man.  Another new challenge...I forgot Ken has cerebral palsy...Well, have you ever seen a shaky guy try to load his wife on a bike with training wheels? …I thought not.  Well, you should have seen us, because it was hilarious.  It didn't help that I was laughing so hard I was practically crying.

He finally got me up on the bike, and then we realized the tires were flat.  So, my wonderful husband went to get the tire pump.  I decided, since it took about an hour to get me on the bike, I'd better just sit there and wait.  He filled the tires, and stepped back.  Oh wow...I couldn't believe I was up on a bike!  I couldn't get my feet on the peddles...so Ken lovingly placed my feet upon them.  "You are ready to go," he said.  "No I'm not" I'm thinking...But after all that work, I figured I might as well give it a try...So, off I went...out the garage and down the new driveway...what a feeling of freedom....wind blowing in my hair...it was glorious...and so easy because the driveway goes downhill.  Everything was going wonderfully, when all of a sudden the kids and Ken started screaming...."Your wheel, your wheel!!!"  Ohhhhhhh gosh...I threw on the breaks and stood there as I froze with fear...."My wheel fell off????????"  I don't know how to balance a bike!!!!!!!!!!!!  The kids were laughing so hard, they were screaming...I never heard them laugh so hard....I started screaming, help, help!  This wasn't fun anymore!!!!!!!!  My guardian angels held me on that bike until Ken came running out to grab me.  I don't even remember how he tried to grab me, but I knew it wasn't gonna work....he started laughin, I was practically cryin, the kids are still laughing hysterically, and the neighbors are driving by waving hello!  Oh, gosh, what a calamity!  Ken finally found a gentle way to gently set me on the ground...the lovely ground...Actually, my family overreacted a bit, because my wheel hadn't fallen off, but it was just about to.  That was enough exercise for one night...Do you think I should try this again?

Love,
Missy

#22 - Give me that flippin fish!

Hello Everyone!

We'll it’s been an interesting day. Last night, Michaela found out that Justin Bieber will be performing at the Palace in August.  Who is Justin Bieber you might ask?  Well, he's kinda the Elvis Presley of the new millennium.  Michaela discovered that tickets had already gone on sale, and she decided she wanted to make Justin's concert one of her summer activities.  So, she begged and pleaded for us to try to get tickets for her.  This would be no easy task, because usually if you do not stay in line overnight to get tickets for these concerts, you ain't gonna get any tickets....  But, what the heck, I thought I would give it a try.  I called the Palace today and asked if there were any seats available.  "We are all sold out of that concert, ma'am" he said.  "Oh, no...No tickets, not a one?"  I said in dismay!  "No ma'am."  He replied.  "What about handicapped seating?  Do you have any seats open in handicapped seating?" I pleaded.  "Well, let me check into that" he said.  "Why yes, I have just two tickets left in that section!  You have the LAST two tickets available!"  Wow!  How exciting!  If I was the scalpin type, sitting on the right street corner, I could probably pay for her college education with these tickets!  But, I think she would rather skip college than miss this concert!  Baby, baby, baby OH!

On a different subject, we learned a valuable lesson tonight...never pick a restaurant that has no cars in the parking lot during dinner rush hour...there is a reason for that...We went to a local restaurant...a nice family-style restaurant...It took me about 15 minutes to decide what to have.  But I finally settled on the pasta with alfredo sauce...yum...I love pasta!  Sometime later, our waitress came by and exclaimed "Ma'am, we're out of that"  Oooooh, I just hate when that happens!  It takes me so long to decide what to have and then I get my taste buds all set for this wonderful pasta...and then I find out they are out of stock!!!! How can that be?  She handed me a menu and said, “Would you like to order something else?”  So, I grabbed the menu and began the grueling task of trying to change my craving.  As I am sitting there with the menu, the waitress brought Ken's and the kids' food out to them.  Oh, now I was really cranky.  "Just forget it", I said.  The waitress was quite insistent that I order something else...so I finally asked for a bowl of broccoli soup.  After all, how could they get that wrong?  Well, they could.  It wasn't really soup...it was more like broccoli pudding.  Yuck.  But I chomped it down and tried to be grateful for what I had. 

Just then, to make the meal more interesting...Ken had a tremendous cerebral palsy induced shake attack...he accidentally flipped one of his fish fillets in the air and it landed on his booth seat.  Looking down at the fish...we all wondered what his next move would be...will he pick up the fish and toss it aside?....Will he pick it up, scrape off any and all germs that might have fallen off the dairy air of the person who sat there last?.... Or, will he just eat it?

I'll let you just wonder which of the three options he selected!

Have a great day!

Love,
Missy