Wow, so sorry that I have been so remiss in keeping you up to date with all of the November happenings, but HELLO it’s November and I am in retail….dadadadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  ( wait til you read my posts in December if you think this is bad).

So, since I have about 45.5 seconds to devote to this entry I will keep the details to a minimum (probably your preference anyway) and fill you in with bullet point, astriks, or whatever fun key my fingers happen to fly over….ready?

!- Avalon is growing like a weed.  Weened. Sleeping through the night. Finally in her Gro-babies!  Laughs

@-Found a new hand surgeon in Indy…my hand needs to be repaired, or in other words, totally redone plus more.  Can’t wait:(

#-Celebrated turning 5-0 in a huge way!  My beloved family planned and hosted a surprise party for me with 22 of my favorite people.  It was intimate, spiritual, and truly heartfelt for (I hope) everyone.  Made 50 sweet!  

$- (Ironic symbol) Today is the second day of OT’s holiday open house.  I really hate open houses…so much preparation and most customers aren’t even aware of the specials when they stroll through the door.  I appreciate them, but it would be nice to have more “intentional shoppers” who bust down the door at 10 a.m. sharp wanting the deal of the day!  Please at least come in for the cookies and wine and cheese…Courtney and I eat and drink far too much when you don’t come:)!

That was more than my allotted time so I gotta go…time to make the donuts!

I have officially reached what I will affectionately refer to as “the plateau”.  As a runner, this a good place to be …well trained condition, consistent performance, not too fast, not too slow, not too short or to far….just right.  And flat terrain.  No hills up or down to worry about, just plod along enjoying the scenery.  That’s where I am.  50 and just plodding along.  The scenery is very good at this level.

Oh yes, the top 10 too!  I know you are on pins and needles waiting… here goes:

10. The Bible

9.  Hands in clay, or paint, or plaster, or something messy 50% of the time

8.  Running slower and shorter, but still running.  Always.

7.  Learning to let go (and not picking it back up) And letting go again:)

6.  Compromise (and being okay with it).

5.  Peace (never give up). Or maybe that is Hope.

4.  Grandbabies!!!!

3.  Faith

2.  28 years of a faith-filled marriage…thank God for fidelity!

1.  Being alive/staying alive and enjoying the scenery!

That’s it. Gotta start working on 51-60 now.

See you in 10.

Time is quickly approaching so here are the next 34-11 “Top 50 at 50″!

34.  Maundy Thursday quiet reflection and communion

33.  Maddie Kay born this year 1993

32.  Picasso

31.  My blue miata

30.  Mara Eileen born this year 1990

29.  Christmas Eve and sleepovers!

28.  Sunshine everyday, please?

27.  Courtney Bock born this year 1987

26.  Life of a “Cat Rancher” on the farm

25.  Natural Childbirth Birth

24.  Kaley Jessica born this year 1984

23.  Catching Fishing (not just fishing)

22.  Donating blood

21.  Half Marathons

20.  Spending endless time in my studio blasting the Beatles

19.  Walks on the beach singing cute little songs with cute little girls

18.  Gerber Daisies-especially yellow

17.  Email and ichat

16.  Beatles “Love” Cirque du Soliel

15.  Classic Rock- but no Bob Seger! blech!

14.  Tailgating- winning is obviously not the point!

13.  Kal-Haven Trail on the 4th of July!

12.  Sleep

11.  Friends and Acquaintances (and knowing the difference)

In honor of my 50 years in this thing called “life” I have documented a few of my favorite moments of discovery and enlightenment that have made me who I am today.  Some are just random favorite things, some are listed according to my age when they occurred, since I couldn’t begin to rank them.  So today, 3 days and counting, I am sharing #50-35.  Don’t judge me, just see if any of them fit as you know me.

Ready?

Jamie’s top 50 at 50

50.   Orange Tree

49.   Baking Homemade chocolate chip cookies

48.   Clayquot/ Vancouver Island

47.   Learning to REALLY pray

46.   Spring Breaks in Florida- ranging from when I was in junior high school to now having teenage girls and grandbabies in tow!  Memories all around!

45.   Cakebread Chardonnay

44.   The Alchemist- I could read this every week!

43.   Chicago Marathon 2000 3:54 PR!!! Oh the days of having a 3 at the beginning of my time.

42.   New York City

41.   Loving dogs; Rex, Rosie, Cooper, Corby, and Sam

40.   Sir Elton John  (I grew up in the 70’s, what can I say?)

39.   Princess Di’s wedding dress- Again, what can I say?

38.   Running, running, running

37.   Winding Brook Park and Friends~ Won’t you be my neighbor?

36.   Parents and Grandparents- still have grandma of my own~how cool is that?

35.   Lake Austin Spa-AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhOmmmmmmmmm

So that’s it…next 15 tomorrow.  I still haven’t had many suggestions as to how to celebrate, commemorate, commiserate on Thursday….

Well the big 5-0 is just a mere three days away and I still don’t know what to do to commemorate the big event.  Hello, Family! Are we at least dining out somewhere?? I haven’t even heard that yet, but they surely know that I am not cooking on my birthday (can’t say that I ever have actually).

I thought about doing something very self indulgent for the day, but realized I scheduled myself to work in the store.  So much for that idea.

Suggestions?????

This week Kaley, Courtney and I snuck out for a girls week in Florida….That’s right, NO guys!!! We have giggled, eaten stupid stuff (peanuts and candy corn should be outlawed!), and permed some heads (not mine:)!  But we have a secret……don’t tell the guys, but I think each of us are in major love affairs!  We have been spending time cuddling, kissing, and yes, sleeping with someone new to each of us.  And, we have hardly thought of our “significant others” in the thick of our intimate acts.  We are in absolute heaven.

It started with Kaley…she always has gotten us in trouble!   Courtney and I caved to peer pressure and, BaBooom!  We were smitten.  Here’s a peek at our new Florida love infatuation:

Yep, Mom, Auntie Courtney and Mamie are falling all over ourselves taking care of this little peanut.  She has been a fabulous traveler and so much fun especially now that she smiles and coos as directs our daily activities.

Life of a Mamie is good.

Today Avalulu Avalon went on her first punkin hunt at our local pumpkin farm.  She was a punkin in the pumpkins!!!

just look:

It was a perfect cool, grey day and absolutely October in Indiana (heard it may snow tomorrow).  GAH

But everyone was happy, as you can see!

A first for the new family!

Happy Halloween~BOO!

Yesterday was Jeff’s birthday and his favorite restaurant is Hani Yori here in South Bend.  It is traditional, teppan-style, Japanese gruel.  We affectionately refer to it as the “Diarrhea Palace”.  Of course, that is where we celebrated the big 4-9 for our #1 dad, grandpajeffattaboy!

This is how the evening went:

Avalulu slept throught the whole thing (except when the cook lit the “volcano”‘ and she feared for her newly hatched eyebrows!

and:

Courtney was Maddie’s official date!

and:

Maddie was Courtney’s official date!

After dinner:

We had some bloating issues!  But hey that happens with all that rice!

Jeff~we can’t wait to do it again next year!  (Thank God we have a year to recover:)

Happy Burpday!

This is the title of a book I saw while cutting through Barnes and Noble the other day and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since.  My initial response was, “Why the heck would any woman want that????”  Then I started to think maybe it was a medical digest describing some new horrible disease that women need to be aware of.  You know, act like a lady or else!  Maybe a “how to” in prevention from morphing into this “y” chromosome mindset.

Yesterday I took Courtney with me to B & N for a coffee and we looked up the book just to determine the warped reasoning behind this concept.  A few things we learned about ALL/TLM:

1.  It is written by a man (surprise!)

2.  It is about SEX and relationships (surprise)!

3.  Women should want to think like a man (according to the author) and (also according to the author) this will make them better at SEX and relationships.

4.  The entire concept of the 200+ page book was found in the two page introduction (this is a the mind of a man!) Hmmmmm

I have my own (female) thoughts about this issue, and I still can’t quite shake “Why would I want to think like a man???”

For example, I just witnessed my own beloved husband “hunt” for 4+ continuous months.  Jeff does not own a gun, and that I know of, the only animal he has ever killed was a peahen at the farm (another story).

Hunting for Jeff is what women refer to as car shopping.

Ironically, our hunt/shop experiences happened at the same time, kind of.  Jeff’s went like this:

April 1, turn in SUV when lease expires.

April 1 begin hunting

May 1 continue hunting

June 1 hunt

July 1 hunt, hunt hunt

August 1 hunt consider kill

September 1 maybe kill

October 1, Make the KILL and acquire 2 year old SUV. Whew!

October 2,  Begin making critical comments about 2 year old SUV and begin search for new hunting ground in which to spend the next two years.

My Shopping experience went like this:

August 14, Maddie starts school and we begin sharing MiniCooper

September 8, Decide it is time to just surrender Mini Cooper to Maddie

September 9 drive through used car lot

September 10 drive two used cars three blocks home and back to lot

September 11 drive home with new 2 year old car.

TADA!

I do need to applaud my diligent hubby for getting the most for his $ in selling an old SUV, and shopping hunting until he found the BEST deal available in a 5000 mile radius.  He is king of the hunt!  Thanks honey:)  However, I do know deep down he loves the hunt.

Me? Why would I want to think like a man???

Last week my fam…Maddie, Court, Jeff and I went to a local restaurant for some Italian “Thursday food”. Today’s “Thursday’s food” was Chinese so we are really a globally supportive family.  At any rate, last week, our young Italian (ha) waiter came to the table to take our drink order…Courtney order a glass of wine, I ordered a glass of wine, Maddie was lemonade…she is so sweet!  Of course, the waiter asked for Courtney’s ID…she is 21 almost 22, but yay! he fulfilled his duty as a responsible waiter.  Then he looked at me and asked me for my ID.  Woooooohooooo!  I almost spit my sip of water across the table.  ”You are kidding me, right?”  ”No, Ma’am.  I need to see your ID”.  I mean he was totally serious and I hadn’t already given him a tip.  After I finally figured out he was really serious about this, and I found the proper ID (I had forgotten that this little piece of laminated info was for something other than to produce to police officers who stop me for speeding).  I proudly presented my “ID”.  Surprised that he didn’t ask for a calculator to figure my actual age, I was ready to adopt the darling young man for Christmas dinner and hang his personalized stocking on our mantle.  What a kind person.

What an idiot I am.

So yesterday as I was going through the mail I came upon a document address to me.  How sweet.  I ripped it open thinking, perhaps, it was a  long lost check, lottery winnings, or a notice of some great, sweet surprise.

I had been carded again!

Yep…AARP. Ugh!

So much for my  deluded life of a 20 something.

My only question, now do I get a discount on speeding tickets?