Man oh man, I’ve been so mentally exhausted these days and my blog has suffered. And not just the blog, I probably haven’t posted a Facebook status in two weeks! It’s unforgiveable on some planet, I’m sure.

Not to worry - tax season is almost over and baseball season is in the beginning stages and I’m looking to April to bring back a sense of normalcy (well, my warped sense of normal at least). Oh, the fun we’ll have! This Michigan girl is ready for spring!

Oh, and I guess today is St. Patrick’s Day because everyone is wearing green, so… Happy St. Patty’s Day! (And Happy Tuesday, I love Tuesday)

On my walk back from the gym today I said hello with a smile to an older gentleman (I use that term loosely) who was sitting on the sidewalk, leaning up against a building. He smiled back and said “Hello, how are you doing?”

Then I said, “Good, how are you?”

Then he said, “Good. You’re cute. I like them cute girls…”

And that’s when I picked up the pace a little.

I try to be nice, and what do I get? Hit on by a homeless guy.

I got really tired of squinting and finally caved. I enlarged the fonts on my computer. Now I don’t have to keep my face six inches from the monitor to read stuff.

Yeah, I feel like an old lady now but look, I can read again!

I’m pretty sure I need new glasses.

I am relaxing on the couch, sipping a delicious cola. It’s surprising delicious given the fact that it has no preservatives, no artificial sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup, and no caffeine. All-natural soda. Who knew the stuff existed? As a rule, I don’t drink pop (that’s what we yankees call it) because of all the crap that’s in it. Occasionally I’ll have some because it sounds good but then I always feel like crap afterwards. Gives me headaches and stuff. But this all natural stuff – I could get used to this!

The surprisingly delicious cola was given to me by two friends of mine – the man was an acquaintance from a ministry I used to work with, and his wife is someone I have come to know through blogging. Hi Kim! I had never met her face to face but I had some baby food making supplies and a cookbook to loan her, so it was the perfect excuse for paying her a visit. I am so glad I did, and not just because of the free cola Kim is such a warm and genuine person in real life and I do hope yesterday’s visit does not turn out to be our last face to face meeting. Oh, and I must mention that her son is outrageously adorable! Maybe he and Luke will be good friends someday.

A coworker told me today that I’m “withering away”. That made me a little giddy inside. It’s true, I’ve lost 5 pounds so far this year. My pants are starting to look a little ridiculous and belts can only help so much. It’s a fantastic problem to have.

Mike and I watched The Dark Knight last week. Twice. I loved it. That Joker is so creepy! And always playing such crazy tricks on everybody! Silly Joker. That was on the list of suggestions y’all gave me for my Netflix queue, so good pick!

I’ve been loving Facebook lately, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I think I have a bit of an addiction. But really I just use the program to keep in touch with the people I love. And since I’m not much for talking on the phone, it works for me. Also, it’s what I like to call socially acceptable stalking and who doesn’t love to peer into someone else’s life every now and then? I know you do! That’s why you’re here! Now enough peering, go make yourself a snack or something.

Oh the tears, the laughter! Mike just got an email from a complete stranger. The sender apparently had an incorrect email address and Google somehow routed it to him, even though the message was clearly intended for a different Mike Richmond. Mike decided to answer his questions anyway.

And here is how Mike replied:

I just learned that according to Wiktionary, the word is NOT spelled “supercede”. I know! Shocking, right? I totally thought it was spelled with a ‘c’. In fact, it’s blowing my mind a little bit right now.

My understanding of the spelling of supersede has been superseded.

Mike bought some new jeans recently and today he was wearing them and found a small, porous stone in the pocket. So I guess they really do use stones to stone wash!

My biggest pet peeve of this year so far is this:

When people pronounce it “two thousand and nine” as opposed to “two thousand nine”.

I have no idea why it bugs me but it really does. It’s almost as bad as flour, or fingernails on a chalkboard.  I suspect the root of the annoyance goes back to my elementary math teachings, in which I learned that the word “and” denotes a decimal. So when someone says “two thousand and nine” in my head I picture the number 2000.9, which is just nonsense. Pure nonsense, I tell ‘ya!

This week I discovered….

• the comfort and joy of yoga pants
• the petite clothing section at Kohl’s (woohoo!)
• that hard work does pay off (in case I didn’t believe it already)
• I really like De La Soul

What have you discovered this week?

Please Mr. Next-Door-Neighbor, will you shovel your sidewalk when it snows? Just once? I mean, it snowed on Friday and now it’s Tuesday and everyone else on our block has managed to shovel their sidewalk by now. You know people walk on those sidewalks, right? I know they do. You know how I know? Cuz there are big holes in the giant mound of snow in front of your house where they have trampled through. So those poor kids who walk to school and that old couple who walks their dog every morning had to make a choice between climbing through two feet of snow or walking in the road. All because of you.

I know you can do it, because I see that you shovel your driveway when it snows. Every single time. And I know you are home, because I see your car in the driveway. I actually saw it parked on the street yesterday and then you moved it to the drive, so it’s not like you’re just on vacation and left your car at home.

And while we’re making friendly neighborhood requests, could you try not to leave your raked up leaves in a pile along the edge of your yard next fall? When it gets windy and they all blow into our front lawn it makes us very unhappy. Especially after we’ve already raked and bagged our leaves. That’s the key, bagging them when you’re done raking. If you need Mike to show you how, I’m sure he would be more than happy to.

Thank you.