Height has some real disadvantages...

Saturday, December 11, 2010

I like to find unusual places to shop for Christmas presents and did on a trip to Amish country some years ago. I convinced Savannah, Ash and Ollie to come with me and headed east on old Rt. 422 to Parkman, Ohio and Auntie’s Antique Market. I like shopping there because I like to find deals, unusual items and old stuff. They have a lot of these things. Savannah and Ash were impressed with the collection of stuff and Ollie…well…I think the operators were thrilled to see a 3-year old in a tightly packed antique market.

I can’t help walking through these places and identifying so many things that my mom used to hoard in our house. I saved so much old stuff from my grandparents and parents and get a kick out of seeing similar things and the prices they’re asking for it. It makes me feel a little better about the clutter back home.

I found the item for which I’d been searching…Jason will love it and we headed back home. I have a good friend in the hospital and needed to spend the afternoon with him. We had a Christmas party later that night and I was beginning to doubt that I’d have time in between to do a workout. In my head, I saw myself coming home from the party, setting up the trainer, and riding for an hour…in my head.

The party was another graze through the calories. People had brought different dishes, which were put out throughout the evening, forcing me to return regularly to the table to be certain I didn’t miss anything. I didn’t…and the walks to the table weren’t long enough to burn the calories in a carrot stick. I was packing it on…again.

Holly and I were sitting, eating, and people watching…something we do amazingly well. The tallest man I’ve ever seen outside of a basketball uniform entered the room and began a conversation with a couple of women in front of us. She looked at him and commented, “I’d hate to be that tall. Anyone talking to me would be able to look up my nose and see my nose hairs.” Everyone has their issues. Holly’s is ‘nose hairs’. Since becoming folically challenged, I grow hair in all the places you don’t want it…nose and ears are strong growth areas for me.

“Good point. Bet he keeps them closely trimmed. Want to go meet him and check it out?” She declined my offer. We stayed, ate, and talked some more so that by the time we left, I was stuffed with crap and unwilling to board the trainer upon my arrival at home. I’m starting to push against the belt notches I’ve been using since losing weight and that’s unacceptable. If I can only make it the next two weeks…