shoe trauma

So, I have the weirdest feet ever. Those of you who know me well already know this, but for the rest of you: They're short, they're wide, and the toes bend up in a weird angle which makes my dear husband say that they are "deformed" (in a very loving and sweet way...).

So, when it comes to buying shoes, it is like trying to fit a camel through the eye of a needle (for you biblical scholars out there). Finding winter shoes (or closed toe shoes) is not so bad, because nobody really knows that there is an inch or two of space in the front. However, trying to buy cute sandals for the summer is hellish.

The first three attempts to find the perfect black, strappy sandal was spent in local shoe stores in the Cool Springs shopping area. No luck. At Dillards, we even got an Egyptian shoe expert to help us, but after he measured my foot and told me I was a 5 1/2 M, I just laughed and moved on to the next store.

The next attempt was to order three pair of 5 1/2 W sandals from the one and only zappos.com. They showed up within a couple of days (their service rocks), but alas, my poor feet couldn't squeeze into any of them. So they stood in my hallway for a week until I found 5 minutes to print out the return slip and drop them by the UPS store.

At that point I pretty much gave up and decided to wait until I can go to India, where they apparently have stores that will make any shoe in the store to order. It sounds like a magical country.

Then I got impatient and irritated and decided to see if there were any 5 1/2 WW sandals that fit my criteria for a cute, black, strappy sandal. Results returned:

I ordered them. They're borderline - could work, but a tad wider would be nice.

Search for 5 1/2 EE Black Dressy Sandals returns:

Sorry, no results found.

new favorite snack...

Ok, if you haven't tried the new (well - at this point "newish") Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Granola Bars from General Mills, you don't know what you're missing!!!



The almond bars especially are heavenly. They're not the lowest calorie bar out there, but at least no trans fat, and they're better than a candy bar.

My friend and colleague Prasad and I make trips to the Publix across the street *just* to get these. I bet we go through four boxes a week between the two of us.

Well, what are you waiting for!??! Go out and get some and experience the magic...

Close-Up at Six Flags

Close-Up at Six Flags
Originally uploaded by tabita.

Rebecka and I went to Six Flags over Georgia this weekend. It was a blast. I wasn't quite sure how she would react and the first Roller Coaster wasn't exactly a good way to ease into it (more like being thrown into it). But... Rebecka's reaction was: "That was awesome!!!!!" And for the rest of the day we rode roller coasters - and pretty much nothing else.

We also got to spend some QT with my pal Steve. Lovely dinner and comfy couch... :) And breakfast at Panera, of course. (Come see me soon!)

Since Rebecka hadn't been back to Atlanta since she was around 15 months, I also showed her where she used to live, including Columbia Theological Seminary where Todd got his M.Div. She was mostly interested in playing hide-and-seek with Steve and swinging on the playground, but hopefully it was slightly educational... ;)

Fun and exhausting weekend - as a weekend should be.

more geek proof...

As I'm sitting behind a black Toyota 4Runner on my way to work, I take note of the licence plate and smile: JDK - Java Development Kit...

Nice.

letters

As some of you may know, I was naturalized and became a US citizen a while back. Rebecka shared this information at school and her teacher, Mrs. Hughes, asked me to come talk to the class about the process. So, I did.

The other day there was a big, manilla envelope by my spot at the table when I got back. It contained thank you letters from the kids in the class. I thought I'd share a sample with you (I'll omit the salutations and closings):

"Thank you for coming to talk to us. How do Sweden people talk? Have a nice time in America."

Well, people from Sweden, i.e. Swedish people talk like this: Hej, hur mår du? Jag mår bra. Visst är det kul att blogga? Men är det någon som läser eller bryr sej? Vem vet?

"Thank you for coming to talk to us. How old were you when you Immigrated? Was it fun on the ship or plane?"

Hmmm - I was 21. Just a young 'un. The plane ride was fun. I love flying alone.

"Thank you for coming to talk to our class. Was it hard to learn the U.S. language? Was the test very, very, very hard?"

Learning the U.S. language wasn't too hard, because I grew up bilingual. However, I still have trouble spelling because the U.S. language doesn't make sense. The test was very, very, very easy.

"Thank you for coming to our class. You are a vary good U.S. citizen Mrs. Green. And was the test really hard? I am so glad you were born in Sweden."

I'm a good citizen? Ok. Again, the test was a friggin' joke. And I'm glad I was born in Sweden too - it's a swell country.

Kids are so cool... :)

PS. I'm going on a field trip to MN tomorrow. Will get so see my dear friend Katie. This is a very happy thing. :)

world-wide conservatism

So I guess it's not just the US that is moving further right. Appears as though the entire world is moving in that direction (or, I guess the Holy Spirit - if that's who you think elected the pope).

Welcome Pope Benedict XVI - Good Bye any chances of women priests or other progressive changes.

Btw, isn't it just a little suspicious that the Holy Spirit went with the favored candidate? Seems like the Holy Spirit would think outside the box and not give in to outside pressures... But what do I know?

On a side note, my dear husband found out today (unofficially - well, I guess it's official to the blogging world now) that he passed his QEs with "even more than flying colors." Congratulations Todd!! I'm so proud of you.

geek proof...

You know you're a geek when you're balancing your checkbook at 6 am and the fact that the ending balance is a palindrome puts a big smile on your face...

Different topic (well, same topic in that it describes my personality as well): As I was cleaning the kitchen around 5:30 am this morning, I came across three very brown bananas.

Normal thing to do: Throw them away or possibly cut them up and throw them in the freezer.

Tabita thing to do: Make some nutritional banana-nut bread.

The aroma in here right now is to die for - totally worth it. :)

what a life...

During lunch, the hubby and I went for a lovely walk around our favorite lake. The sun was shining from a clear blue sky and the temperature was just perfect for a brisk walk. There were these awesome purple flowers growing everywhere and little white flowers that look just like a very famous Swedish flower, vitsippan. It all made me very happy.

As we turned the curve to finish the last stretch of hiking back to the car, we saw an insanely cute sight: A little turtle family of three was lined up on a log that was sticking out of the lake. Each family member had its little head reaching toward the sun. What a life.

I'm filing for an extension for our 2004 taxes. Some guys at work convinced me that I should itemize. I don't have time for these things. I'll be calling an accountant tomorrow. The Greens are filing for an extension - perhaps this is the end of the world...?

spring cleaning!

I took a time-out this morning to clean my desk. Not just remove piles of paper and such (I never have piles of paper). No, this was more like remove everything and dust and spray Windex and wipe clean and move things around and throw things away and...

It's awesome!!! I will be 10x more productive now. At least for the first few hours.

CNN question of the day

So, this morning, the CNN question of the day with Jack Cafferty was something like: "Should Wisconsin allow cat hunting?" Apparently there are 8 million stray cats in this country. I wonder if we can get this allowed in Tennessee??

Completely different topic: As I am always pressed for time, I'm always thinking about ways to make my life more efficient. So, today, I had a break-through in the locker room. Every time after my workout, I walk over to this shelf to get three plastic bags to put my stinky clothes/shoes in (don't ask about the '3' part - it's all very logical to me). Anyway, I spend several seconds standing there, tearing off bag by bag. Today, I realized that I could tear off all three in one tear and do the individual tearing of the bags on the way back to my locker - saving several precious moments. Very exciting.

And a small side-note: why the heck did the YMCA powers-at-be switch to cinnamon-flavored mouthwash??? It's disgusting!!

busy...

busier...

busiest...

barely have time to breathe,

sleep,

eat...

but my running will NOT suffer.

has it really been since wednesday???

Unbelievable.

It's been a busy week - that's for sure. But - 4 days with no entry!?! This is absurd. Well, I guess the few moments that I've been free, the weather has been so nice that I haven't wanted to sit at the computer.

I guess I'll start with yesterday, cause that's as far back as I can remember... Awesome run - first "almost-6-miler" since my knee started acting up way back when. Pleasant visit to the shiny, new Publix across the street from my office. I love that store!!! Hmmm. Oh - yeah. Birthday Party at the Nashville Humane Association! How could I forget? Rebecka and her little friends had a fun-filled time doing crafts, playing games, and learning about animals. Somebody knew her quite well and got her - yes, you guessed it - a stuffed animal cat. I'm not sure how Fluffy is handling this new rival.



Later on that evening, Rebecka and I went with my friend Subba and her girls to a dance recital at Vanderbilt. It was awesome! I love dance. So much. My favorites are the ethnic ones like Indian and West African. The Indian dance was set to Ellai Illa Inbam. Sound familiar, oh readers from India? I think if I were to pick up dance, it would be African - it is so intense.

Good day all in all. Yep. And today the sun is shining on a clear blue sky with little fluffy clouds gliding around up there. It is absolutely heavenly. We went to the park for a while to soak up the beauty of the day. Wow! Ok - I'm hungry. I'm going to help Todd cook (I know - it's shocking).

April is National Humor Month

So - I encourage you to laugh as much as you can and make people around you laugh (at you or with you - I don't care either way). One website describes the benefits of laughing as follows: “Laughter is internal jogging.” Need I say any more??

Read more here...

Go Lady Bears!!

And congrats to Todd for finishing his final qualifying exam yesterday. My housekeeper is back!!!

That's all I have time to say.

the human body is strange (at least mine)

This morning, I woke up at 6:00 am sharp, after less than 3 1/2 hours of sleep, and bounced out of bed for an outdoor run - craving it. I was greatly rewarded. A chorus of morning birds cheered me on (much better music than at the Country Music City Marathon) as I ran down Oaks Drive and when I turned to go east on Old Hickory Blvd. - what a sight I beheld: My friend, the Sun, was making a grand entrance, painting the sky with a purply, redish, orange color. Too beautiful to imagine.

I let gravity and my body weight pull me down the hills - enjoying the exhilaration of running faster than most people would ever dream of - even if chased by wild dogs. This didn't work quite as well going back west and against the wind - but my legs picked up the slack. 30 minutes and no knee pain later, I ran up the last hill to my house feeling better than I've felt in a long, long time.

Man, if everybody who reads my blog does NOT become a runner, I have failed miserably. Anyway, we'll see what my body has to say about all this in a few hours... But for now I'll enjoy the thrill - and my morning oatmeal.

0:00

I don't think I've ever seen my computer switch over from 23:59 to 0:00... It was pretty cool.

Tonight, I learned what the ISO 8601 standard for date is: YYYY-MM-DD. Good to know. Why can't everybody just do it the same? And who uses a.m. and p.m. anymore...? Ooooh - wait - it's just the US (and perhaps one or two others). Well, my application's home page will comply with the International Standard - there you have it...

grapple time

So, I just had a piece of grapple - yes - it is an apple soaked in grape juice to make it taste like grape. Crazy! If people want grape taste, why don't they just get grapes?? Well, I guess this tastes more like the fake kind of grape taste that you find in sodas and candy. Becka loves it!

Maybe there is something to the theory that this will make for healthier children. It is not often that my child asks for a fruit for snack... If so, I'm all for it. But I think I'll stick with regular old apples...

it worked!

Yes - I slept until close to 5 am this morning... Slightly more normal awakening time. Maybe I'm just so incredibly excited about life these days that I don't want to waste too many hours on sleep?!? That's how I'm going to look at it.

Yesterday was good.

In the morning, I was feeling really sluggish and Todd said: "Why don't you go workout?" To which I responded: "OK." Best suggestion ever. Two hours, one workout, and one shower later, I felt like a new person. I was ready to conquer the world. Whew - it's amazing what a good run will do for your spirit.

In the afternoon, Todd's advisor called with some superb news... He passed his first (out of three) qualifying exam!!! This was especially good news, since he was 100% sure that he had failed. He takes the second one today. You'll do great honey!!

In the evening, I went to church for my two choir rehearsals. The kids were great - so talented and fun-filled. I gave them highly discounted Easter candy - they were thrilled. My adults were awesome as well. We have this Cameroon processional that we're working on that has a little dance to it. Some of the guys are not ecstatic about the prospect of dancing down the aisle, but it's going to be fantastic. We're even going to have real, live percussionists. Yipee!

OK - time for oatmeal. Have a great Monday everyone!

time changes...

It's 6:06 - feels like 5:06. I'm liking this time change thing. Especially since I've been having this problem lately of waking up at ridiculous hours like 4 am. Now it will be 5 am, which is almost normal.

Sweden changed their time last week. For one short week we were 8 hours apart instead of 7. What about India? Do they change the time there? I need to know, so that I know when to call my UI designer.

Speaking of India, I've been learning a lot about that country lately. I have several very good friends from there (you know who you are) and they provide me with wonderful details about the rich culture. I want to go. Soon. Preferably to a wedding (no pressure...). I love the music, the religion, the festivals, the languages, and the people - of course. They are funny, generous, open, spiritual, and very intelligent (don't you just love generalizations?).

I saw my first Bollywood movie the other night. My friend Rohan gave it to me to show off the city where he grew up. It was different - that's for sure. So colorful. So musical. So very, very different from Bergman... I think you need both extremes of movies in your life - to achieve balance.

let the right team win...

If Louisville wins today, I win the pool at work - no matter what happens in the final.

Everybody cheer for Louisville, please! :)

PS. I can't figure out how to make these damn comments links smaller... I need help.

face lift...

Just FIY - I'm still working on this... I accidentally published a bit prematurely... Ooops. But what can you expect - I'm Tabita. I'm the one who thought that her computer was dead when she really had turned off the power to the outlet to which the laptop was plugged in. Yeh - having a high IQ does not often help with everyday life.

Anyway, I have to stop my beautifying process for a bit and go pick Rebecka up from her sleepover and bring her home by 7 o'clock so that she can leave for her next adventure, which is going to Atlanta with one of her friends. She has a kick-ass social life.

Stay tuned for more style sheet modifications...

it's clean!!!

Gracie did a fine, fine job. Happiness is a clean house.

Crazy day - didn't get much sleep, woke up to a dead computer (come to find out it was really user stupidity), freaked out, went to work, computer came back to life, talked to friends (only good part of the day), went home to work, went to lunch (ok - that was a good part too), worked some more, fell asleep, woke up (phone call), worked some more... Now I'm dehydrated. Need water. Better go downstairs and get some.

This weekend had better be good. And it will be. It's up to me, right?