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I wish I could say I’m making good progress with my packing. But it seems I can’t get much done in spite of all my good intentions. Every night before I go to bed, I promise myself that I will get my packing done by the next day. Next day comes and I get distracted with blogging and procrastinating. By the time night falls, I would have nothing new to report. Duh! I really need to kick myself!

I promise I will get my packing done by tomorrow!

I promise I will get my packing done by tomorrow!

I promise I will get my packing done by tomorrow!

Let’s see if this helps. If not, I’ll write 100 lines, okay?

… packing. I wish I could say I love it but I don’t. Not one bit. It really stresses me out because in the back of my mind, I’m always wondering if I’m missing anything important. I always tell myself that whatever I miss, I can always buy when I get there. Doesn’t always work!

Right now, I’ve got my suitcase on the floor and I’m just tossing stuff in, bit by bit, as I go along. Strangely enough, that’s what my girl friend, the ever-efficient secretary, tells me is the organized way to pack. I didn’t know that! I never thought much about it.

Anyhow I’ve got mostly shorts and tank tops in there because it’s going to be hot, hot, hot in California. And a shirt (in case I’m suddenly required to look like a mom!), a smock top (in case we go out to dinner with friends) and… okay, I’m stuck, don’t know what else!?! I’ll leave that till tomorrow!

But I reckon I won’t be packing much. Trying to save some space for Steev’s stuff and once he gets unpacked when we get there, I’ll have space for my shopping spoils. How’s that?

So officially I started back at the gym Monday. Well, actually it was the Monday before but after an hour’s worth of cardio, I was so sore I decided to give myself a whole week off. Nope, I didn’t feel any guilt at all, if that’s what you’re wondering !

After all, the gym has been under renovation for 1.5 months and I felt no guilt slacking off for that amount of time plus another 1.5 months on top of that… which brings us to this past Monday when I happily skipped into the new and improved gym, eager to get down to work on all those lovely new machines and so glad the good ol’ machines that I love are still there.

This is one of my favorite machines. I get to sit down, lean back and look like I’m seriously working out when, in fact, … let’s just say it’s the perfect way to slack off without anyone being the wiser . Yup, it’s definitely good to be back!

Way back in college, I was the proud owner of a ten-speed bike just like this one except mine was red and black. I named it Scorch!

Scorch and I had lots of adventures, lots of tumbles. I also had a pet cactus which I named Morris after Morris the Cat on a pet food commercial you’ve probably seen on TV way back when.

And my minivan is affectionately called Truck. Okay, so I’m in the habit of naming the inanimate objects in my life. Now you can go ahead and call me weird !!

Twas a stormy evening when I got home from sending Raine to her tutor’s house. A short while later, Hip2bDad went to collect his golf shoes from the top of my minivan where he’d set them to dry earlier… and they were GONE!! His new shoes, gone!

Of course! I’d driven into the storm without realizing they had been sitting on top of my minivan. How was I to know? Mind you, the roof of a minivan is pretty high up and it’s not as if I were born with a periscope on top of my head !

The only thing left to do was to keep an eye out for ‘em errant shoes on my way to pick up Raine later. Easier said than done. Ever tried looking for a brown shoe on the road in a torrential downpour? Not easy, I tell ya! I felt like Cruella de Vil cruising at snail’s pace, peering out of the window, stalking a brown puppy shoe!

I spotted what looked like a shoe on the ramp leading onto the highway. Steev confirmed it was but there was no way I could stop the car on that busy ramp! OMG! I guess that’s it, it’s probably bashed up anyhow though Steev said it didn’t look like anyone’s run over it – yet!

I drove on and on the way back, we spotted the other side of the shoe a couple of corners from the tutor’s house. That road was pretty quiet so I pulled up alongside the shoe and Steev hopped out to retrieve it. Is it Daddy’s shoe? Yep, and it was still in good condition.

Now for the other shoe. I had to make a turn and head back in the opposite direction to get back to that ramp where we’d seen it earlier. I was in two minds whether to attempt the dangerous feat of stopping on a busy ramp in pouring rain to make a dash for the shoe!

Luckily when we got there, there was no traffic. at. all. On that usually busy ramp? Wow, someone must be looking out for us! I quickly put on my hazard lights, stopped as close as possible to the shoe and with both Steev and I keeping an eye out for approaching traffic, Raine hopped out and in a flash was back in the car with the other shoe!

What an adventure! The most amazing part was that no one had run over either of the shoes. They’re good as new after a day out in the sun!! Hip2bDad is smiling again. And this story definitely deserves to be a chapter in The Adventures of The Hip Family to be handed down the generations !

I had lunch with a girl friend the other day and she ordered this…

Stir-fried pumpkin!

It’s supposed to be good for health. So I’m telling the girls we’re going to have this for lunch next week. And Raine’s smart reply is this :

“I simply won’t eat anything that turns into a carriage!”

Heard any smart remarks about food? Share it with us. It’s the weekend and we could all use a good laugh .

Skye and Hip2bDad are making their nightly run to the kitchen. Skye is pouring herself a glass of milk while Hip2bDad happily pops a fresh egg into the microwave. And before we know it,…

Ka-BOOM!

Skye jumps out of her skin. Hip2bDad wonders what the heck’s going on. The small explosion is heard all the way upstairs. Looks like a midnight artist tried to create modern art in my microwave. Let a man loose in the kitchen and they sure can get creative!! Hahaha!

I’m sitting in my mechanic’s office one morning waiting for my car to get fixed. It’s usually pretty quiet in there with just one or 2 girls working. But then, a woman walks in, plops her bag on the table, sits down and starts telling the clerk how her car’s battery had gone flat while she’d been away on vacation for over a week.

Then she goes on to relate her travels in great detail followed by tales of her children’s lives, where they are, what they do, things her grandchildren do, the number of cars each of her children owns, her only daughter’s boyfriends, the new business she’s starting and that she’s on apidexin to lose weight… on and on she goes.

I confess I’m not the most chatty person. I’m just content to sit there staring at the walls. But since I have ears, I’m privy to every word she’s saying to that poor girl who clearly is very busy but has to look interested somehow. First chance she gets, she bolts out the door on the excuse that she has something to discuss with the mechanics downstairs.

The minute she’s out the door, the woman turns to ME! Yes, innocent little me, the quiet mouse sitting in the far corner, minding my own business. What you here for? she starts and I’m going OMGosh. Frankly I don’t think she’s interested in me as much as she’s interested in recounting her entire life story. Stories I’ve just heard. Stories I don’t want to hear again. H-e-l-p!

I’m sure she’s a nice person and means no harm. Still … anyhow, what would you do if you were in my shoes?