All The Crazy Things

Twelve days ago, it looked like this on my morning run:

Yesterday, on my way home from work, it looked like this:

You can’t tell from the picture, of course, but it was 52°. That is some crazy damn weather for Michigan in January! Forty years ago, we were dealing with the Blizzard of 78. Or so I hear, I was only six. Plus, I was not actually in Michigan; my family and I were moving from North Carolina to Michigan that very weekend. Talk about bad timing. 😮

(Random fact: I was born in the South but moved up to Michigan when I was six and have lived here ever since.)

No, let’s see, what other crazy things have happened in the last week or so? I don’t really consider this next one crazy, but a lot of people would: I got up at 5 AM last Saturday to meet my girlfriends at 6 AM so that we could get in 6 miles before two of them had to go to early basketball games. There are no pictures from the run itself, because we began and ended in the dark, but I did get a lovely shot of the sunrise on my way home down Jefferson.

I am usually the loudest one grumbling when we all meet up for our early Saturday morning runs, but I do love them. My running girlfriends are the best, and I don’t know what I would do without the free therapy they provide for me once a week.

Another crazy thing that happened:

For reals, I had to go back and double check that my previous week’s weigh-in to make sure I remembered it right. But yes, it’s true, I lost 3.4 pounds in a week. I definitely followed the plan better, and I was very active all week, so I think that helped. I’ve been trying hard to make good food choices, like Saturday night’s dinner:

Man, I wish I could take better food pictures with my phone. However, Lindsay at Pinch of Yum I am not.  😉 (She is by far my favorite food blogger.  Her pictures are just…*sigh*. )  So, you’ll just have to suffer with my lousy pictures and take my word for it that it was a lovely presentation done by my husband of a sweet-and-sour chicken dish.

Here is a crazy thing that makes me laugh every time I look at it:

That would be two hockey players with their helmets stuck together. No, I’m not making it up. Somehow, these two players, who were antagonizing each other on the ice and probably getting a little too close to each other as they fought for the puck, ended up stuck together when the cages on their hockey helmets somehow got connected and couldn’t get free. I have this hysterical progression of pictures of these two trying to untangle themselves to no avail, until they eventually just stood next to each other and waited for the ref to come over and untangle them. My favorite part was when our player reached out and started patting the other player on the head while they waited.

That kid (ours) actually has a great sense of humor, and I could just imagine him saying to the other kid, “It’s OK buddy. We’ll get through this.”

One more crazy thing for the week: I started yet another project. Kind of a big one.

Earlier this month, in a crazy series of events, I got connected with someone who loves history and historic architecture as much as I do. Separately, we had both longed to to start a historical society for our little township, and after a very enthusiastic phone call, we met for the first time this past Sunday night.

We were a little surprised that the township board had requested that we present a proposal to them—the very next night!—but we came up with some things, and Monday night, we stood in front of the township board and presented our mission, vision, and goals. The board wholeheartedly approved our proposal (why wouldn’t they, right? 😉 ).  The very next morning, I got a phone call from a local reporter. He had seen the line item on the township board agenda, and wanted to get more information about the new historical society being started by two township residents. I was kind of like…uhhh, we don’t really have anything to talk about yet. We just met for the first time two days ago! 😛

The reporter did a very brief telephone interview with me, so brief I think it maybe took five minutes, and when I hung up, I figured it would be a little note in the community section. Yeah…not quite.

Holy history, Batman! It was a nearly full-page article, with a flag at the top of the front page directing readers inside. (Getting the “front page flag“ is a pretty big deal!) Included in the article was a description of our township, its 150th anniversary being celebrated this year, and some quotes from the township clerk.  There were a couple of quotes from me.

I had this sneaking suspicion by the way he kept asking me to repeat things that he might throw in a quote, and I was horribly nervous that I would say something to make me look stupid.  I won’t say he quoted me word for word in exactly the way I said it, but I think I came off okay. 😛  People started calling me that very day, wanting to share historical items or just tell me their family story. Which is so awesome!!

So now, in addition to the other projects I’m working on (did I mention I am starting a middle school lacrosse team, ha ha?!), I am now a co-founder of the township historical society. Although this has long been a dream of mine, it’s happening really fast and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. Still, I am so grateful that I’m not alone, and my co-founder is as excited as I am to make this organization thrive. And, on a side note, Monday night was the first time in the 24 years since I graduated from college that I stood up in front of a group of people to tell them that I have a degree in history—and it was actually RELEVANT to the conversation, lol!

Thanks for reading!