Women Over 40

I just realized that yesterday slipped by without a blog entry and today is about to as well. It seems I'm a little too busy and overwhelmed to think straight. I can't come up with anything amusing to say today so I'm going to share an email that Penni recently sent me. I just loved it. You may have already heard it, as Andy Rooney wrote it, but it's worth hearing twice.

60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS)

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, 'What are you thinking?' She doesn't care what you think. If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.

Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk, if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize.

For all those men who say, 'Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!

Ta Da

Here it is . . . the one picture I took over the weekend and my big accomplishment in the kitchen. I fired up the new waffle maker and made the batter completely from scratch. OK Lisa, get up off the floor. It wasn't too bad. Karlo did the hardest part - separating the egg whites from the yolks. I'll work my way up to that some day. And working the machine was pretty easy. There are nice little lights that tell you exactly when to flip and when to remove. No batter spilled out onto the counter and no pajamas got soaked. All in all it was a successful breakfast. Now I'm hungry . . .

The Pictures I Didn’t Take

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying really hard to stop myself from buying a new camera. Every now and again I get the itch for a new camera, but normally I’m able to scratch the itch and forget about it. This time it’s persisting and I can’t seem to shake it. But then I have a weekend like this past weekend and I realize that I probably don’t deserve a new camera. Here let me tell you all about the pictures that I didn’t take . . .

Friday night Karlo and I got dressed up in the closest outfits we could to looking like we were in the 50s era. It took me a long time to convince Karlo he should wear rolled up jeans, white socks, and a t-shirt instead of a little wrestling outfit. He was convinced he should dress like he did in the 50s. I should have let him do it (since it was close enough to Halloween). We went to a sock hop and danced the night away. No pictures to show for it.

On Saturday evening JoAnne and her family came over for a visit. We managed to squeak in about 30 minutes of bonfire before the weather got crazy. The kids were so cute sitting with their Daddy on a big rock with the glow of the fire in their faces. But my camera was all the way in the house . . .

Then yesterday we took a gorgeous hike with Peanut. (The scenario of us trying to get Peanut out of the house without Bentley knowing is a story all unto itself, but for another time.) We went to this same spot with friends last weekend and when I realized how awesome the high overlook was I wanted to go back this weekend to take pictures. The leaves still had enough color to make the miles and miles of distant views terrific. So we hiked up there and guess what? I forgot my camera. Sigh.

I did manage to take one silly picture this weekend, but I forgot my camera at home today. I’m really not getting off to a good start this week. I’m going to have to leave you in suspense as to what that photo is all about. Stay tuned.

Completely Random Thoughts

Two things happened last night. One, I remembered a web site that I could share. I rarely use it anymore, but when I first discovered it I thought it was the greatest invention of all cyber time. The web site is called Pandora Radio http://pandora.com/ and it’s a free service (you have to sign-up to use it) that allows you to select your favorite artist or group and it builds a completely commercial-free radio station based on music similar to the artist that you selected. So for instance, let’s say your favorite artist is Sting. Based on that musical taste, the station manages to pick all sorts of music that you will love. And it really works. I was astonished. It’s eerie how it just ‘knows’ all your other favorite music based on one artist pick. Give it a try.

Two, I discovered another web site (sort of) that I can share. On any give day I get about six catalogs in the mail. Normally I throw just about all of them away without even looking at them, but last night one new one caught my eye. It called to me so strongly I couldn’t resist it. I think I’m in love. They should just rename the catalog from Athleta to “PaulasWear.” Every thing on every page looks like it was custom made just for me. If I designed my own line of clothing, this would be it. Bummer that I don’t think a single reader shares my affection for this type of high-tech clothing (Tina is going to laugh), but I thought I would share anyway. They have a site www.athleta.com and thankfully they also have a ‘sale’ page. The stuff is gorgeous, but expensive. Maybe Santa will mail order instead of driving to EMS.


And my story from two nights ago that Lisa is so anxious to hear all about. I decided it’s too boring to share. Maybe some other time . . .

Too Much Pressure

I missed posting a blog entry yesterday and today I got reminded of it. I very rarely have nothing to say and I’m not even sure how yesterday slipped by without me writing. Oh wait, I remember. I spent half the day cleaning my office because I was sick of feeling like I’m going to keel over and die every afternoon. I didn’t think anybody wanted to hear about how dirty my office was or how I didn’t feel good.

Today I was all set to write about our big exciting night last night. I even took pictures. Don’t get too excited. Our excitement is sure to put all my readers to sleep. But now I can’t even tell you about it. Seems Lisa has different ideas for what I should blog about today. So much pressure . . .

Not sure if anybody reads Lisa’s blog but she suggested that her blogging friends make a list of their 10 favorite web sites. I didn’t actually visit any of her links (I will some day . . . maybe) and I’m sure nobody will believe this, but I can’t even come close to picking 10 favorite sites.

Off the top of my head I came up with . . . exactly nothing. I had to go and visit my own bookmarks to see if maybe I bookmarked a site that I liked (at one time) and intended to revisit (and never did). Lisa made me realize today that, although I’m online all the time, I almost never aimlessly wander. I only regularly read blogs of people I know (sadly, that includes two) and 90% of the time I’m online I’m checking emails, updating my own blogs, processing orders, buying something, or researching something. I visit no sites on a regular basis and the only blog in my Google reader other than Lisa’s blog and my cousin Jamie’s blog is one that only a graphic designer would enjoy. It’s called Smashing Magazine. Here, see for yourself: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

The only place I visit to waste time is Facebook and this has become a new thing for me. I used to visit once every other month to check-in on my step-daughter Jessica. I like dropping in on her life and seeing her pictures. I recently got into the habit of checking every day and trying to keep in touch with some friends that I wouldn’t otherwise ever talk to.

I never Twittered (is that the proper term?) and don’t see me getting there any time soon. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I lead an incredibly boring cyber life. Just keeping up with my 3 email accounts, my own 4 blogs, Karlo’s blog, and two web sites is almost more than I can handle. But one of these days I’m gonna check out Lisa’s links.

A Dangerous Weekend

The first thing that caused potential danger was my new kitchen gadget. I’m still not sure what came over me when I decided that I must have a Belgian waffle-maker. Anybody want to place a wager whether or not I ever actually use it? I had all good intentions of making some waffles on Sunday, but I didn’t have all the ingredients. Oh well. I tried. Just washing it caused enough grief – a flood on the counter and soaking wet pajamas. No doubt this kitchen danger will leave me frustrated, stressed, and disappointed. Perhaps someday we’ll have waffles for dinner so I can sip a martini during the cooking process.

The other dangers of the day happened outside. Karlo spent all of Sunday breaking ledge with a sledgehammer, digging holes, cutting wood, and mixing and pouring concrete. Gee, I’m sorry I missed out on all that fun. Luckily he didn’t get hurt. He’s sore, mind you, but at least he still has all his limbs. There is still a question of the real cause of his soreness: moving the woodstove all by himself, digging through 12 inches of solid rock ledge, or simply his old age. I guess we’ll never know.

And what is it exactly that Karlo is working on? Stay tuned for more info on that in the future.

And Speaking of Fine German Engineering . . .

Karlo has gone to heaven without the ill side-effect of actually dying. He scored himself a bike-sitting gig with his dream BMW GS 1200 Adventure. The bike belongs to our boss. This is the bike that he bought and drove across Alaska on his big 'Bucket List' adventure. The bike has been sitting dormant in his garage ever since the beginning of July. Karlo is claiming "BMW abuse" and managed to transfer it from his garage to ours.

Today I went for my first ride and to my dismay, I didn't like it. Now I have nothing bad to say about the German engineering. The bike looks fabulous and has got to be the best in the world for what it was made for - serious off-road and long-distance adventures. I'm sure being in the drivers seat was a dream. But this bike was NOT made with the passenger in mind. I endured it, but I have to say, I will be very very sad if Karlo trades in his VStrom for this seriously expensive and uncomfortable bike. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed. If he wants to take a GS for a wild adventure, I'm all for it - as long as we are in a land far away and I'm on my own GS800 (preferably a yellow one).

New Appreciation for Germany and German Things

I have to admit, on my first trip to Germany I was not impressed. I first visited in April and it was cold, gray, and dreary. I visited Northern Germany and felt that it lacked charm and character. Now in its defense, I did visit the part of Northern Germany that was mostly destroyed in war so instead of the typical old European architecture, I saw a lot of big grey concrete boxes. Not pretty at all. And my only exposure to Germans was our cranky distributors that are never happy. Nothing ever seems to be good enough for a German.

When I returned to Germany a few years ago, I did not look forward to it. I only went because biking was involved. There is a lot to be said for not having expectations. I expected to dislike the country and instead I adored it. Southern Germany is like a completely different country. I loved everything about it – the scenery, the people, the food (OK, I am referring to the bread, pretzels and gummy bears). The place was beautiful and the biking was spectacular.

Today I’ve made new German friends (that still own a house in Munich) and they are delightfully friendly people. I would love to return to Southern Germany for another visit. I have also come to the realization that the reason our German distributors are often cranky is because they are accustomed to excellence – and apparently it’s hard for us Americans to measure up. Nothing made this more apparent than driving my Mini to work today after spending two days behind the wheel of the company Prius. Night and day difference. Nobody can build a car like the Germans!

I Still Don't Believe This

See our pretty new wood stove. We ordered this baby back in August and have been waiting for a phone call ever since to tell us that it was in. We waited and waited and got more and more impatient as the temperatures outside started to drop. We spent the last 3 weeks hounding the dealer for a delivery date and we never got a call back. Today I contacted the corporate office with a tiny rant and amazingly, Karlo got a phone call this afternoon to tell him the stove was in. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I was in Hartford all afternoon and had no idea that Karlo left work early to go and pick up the stove - all by himself. Not like I could really lend a hand in moving a 500 pound stove, but I would have liked to witness the big event.

Imagine my surprise when I got home tonight and found the old stove already gone and the new stove sitting in its place. I have no idea how on earth Karlo did this all by himself. The last time I saw a stove moved was when our friend Luke asked Karlo, and one other guy, to help move his. I was stressed watching three guys move a stove. I guess it's a good thing that I wasn't around for this ordeal. The man is simply amazing - and slightly insane.

And the sad part is that I will probably be more sore from my weightlifting session yesterday than he will be from his stove workout tonight.

Fresh Lemony Eggs

I had a slow day yesterday and nothing out of the ordinary happened to write about. It’s a good thing that my neighbor Robin came over last night for tea and snacks (yes, more snacks – not good). She told me a rather amusing story that I just have to share . . .

Robin spent a good part of one of the weekend days cleaning her house. She was busy dusting and polishing the furniture when her very thoughtful husband offered to cook her lunch. How nice. He made her some tasty lemony eggs that she really enjoyed. When they were done with lunch she headed back to her chores of polishing the furniture. She grabbed her rag, but couldn’t find the Pledge. She knew exactly where she left it (next to the rag, no doubt) but it wasn’t there. Suddenly she got a sinking feeling in her stomach, ran to the grill (where her husband cooked the eggs) and found her bottle of Pledge sitting there. Apparently the Pledge looks an awful lot like the PAM! The good news is that she survived without evening getting a stomach ache.

So here’s your cooking tip of the day: If you ever run out of PAM and need to grease your pan, why not choose a fresh lemony bottle of Pledge.

Please Welcome . . .

Daniel Joseph Zawisa. Tammy's newest little addition. He was born on October 5th (3 weeks early) at 6:05 PM and weighed 7 lbs 9 oz. Congratulations Tammy! Can't wait to see more pics of the little guy. You are really going to have your hands full now.

A Very Nutritious Weekend

It’s a good thing my ‘training’ doesn’t start until Spring. I had quite the un-athletic weekend. Not only did I not do much in the way of exercise, but my diet was horrific. We spent the first few hours of Saturday cleaning the house because guests were coming over that evening. The guests were coming over to sit by the bonfire, but you know Karlo . . . everything needed to be scrubbed down, de-cluttered, every leaf needed to be removed from the deck, etc. I think I’ve decided that we are never having visitors again. I can’t take the stress he puts me though during the preparation.

Anyway, back to my story. After we cleaned we had the lunch of a 10 year old – peanut butter & jelly and nacho chips. We did manage to go for bike ride in the afternoon. Unfortunately my hip and knee were sore during the ride and I ended up with stomach cramps 10 miles from home. Not the best ride to make me feel good about committing to a race. I was feeling old and out of shape.

We went to Buell’s Apple Orchard for dinner. Our neighbor tipped us off that they had roasted chicken dinners. That sounded perfect, as I was not about to cook. So we went to get our chicken dinners, but all they had left were hot dogs and hamburgers. Uuugh. We had nasty hot dogs for dinner and completed the meal with a candy apple (for me) and a block of fudge (for Karlo). And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we finished the night by drinking beer and eating brownies and chips by the fire.

Sunday wasn’t much better. We attended an Oktober Fest party most of the afternoon where we sucked down sausages, pretzels, pie, misc other treats, and oh yeah, more beer. We went home to have another little bonfire. We needed to get rid of lots more brush. That turned into dinner by the fire. You guessed it – we ate smores for dinner! I feel like I need to repent for all my weekend sins.

A Tough Week

I started off this week with my first trip to the gym in months. I can really only bare to be working out indoors when the weather is too cold be outside. So I let Karlo torture me for the first two days of the week. It was hard and I felt weak. I hated it.

On Monday night we went to our swing dance lesson and had a ball. The next day I woke up with a sore knee – my typical bad knee and my typical knee pain. No big deal, but I was feeling like quite the wus being sore from dancing. I must say that hearing about my idol, and Olympic gold champion, Misty ending up in a cast from her dancing stint made me feel a little better.

I went back to the gym with Karlo on Tuesday for more punishment. On Wednesday I was very sore, or at least I thought I was very sore. I had no idea how much the soreness would intensify as the days went on. I thought Wednesday was bad . . . Thursday was even worse. I had a hard time just getting through the normal course of the day. Lifting my arms past shoulder level was simply impossible and there wasn’t a square inch of my back that didn’t kill if touched in any way. Try living with Karlo in this condition. You have no idea!

I actually starting to have feelings of, “I’m getting to old for this nonsense. Why do I do this to myself? I think I should retire from torturing my body.” I was getting comfortable with giving up on the idea of killing myself to stay in great shape. Life would be so much easier if I just let go of this impossible ideal. And this blissful thought lasted for at least 14 hours.

Then last night I went to line dancing class. I talked to a new local friend and got the report on how she did in her very first triathlon. She really inspired me and I made a comment like, “You go girl. I wish I could do it.” That led to her saying, “Hey, maybe next year we can do it together as a team.” My eyes immediately widened and twinkled. I jumped up and shook her hand, “You’re on. Let’s start training in the Spring.” I went home so excited I couldn’t sleep.

Paula For President

I tried really hard to refrain for blogging about politics today. I don’t ever talk about politics. Just the word (or thought of the word) normally makes me break out into hives. But how can you avoid the subject these days? I can’t escape from the nonsense.

Last night I did something that I don’t normally do. I subjected myself to the circus that was playing on all the major networks. I’m almost sure that I never actually watched a presidential debate. Well, I might have sat in front of the TV in the past, but never really paid attention. And now I remember why. I hate it with every fiber in my being.

I feel as though my intelligence was truly insulted. How can anybody watch that nonsense and get anything out of it? I kept turning to Karlo and asking, “What was the question again?” It seemed to be a rare occasion that the candidates actually answered the questions. All the like to do is backstab and attack each other. It makes me sick. Karlo called the whole thing WWF in suits. Too bad they couldn’t actually hurt each other because that would make it more enjoyable to watch.

How can we gain any insight into the candidates with this form of debate? No matter what the question, the answer was a series of attacks against the other. And did you notice that the second candidate to answer the question always had to attack the first candidate’s answer? It was a joke. Now if it were up to me, I would either put both candidates into a sound proof booth or I would put them into separate rooms. Put each of them on the hot seat in front of American citizens with hard-hitting questions and let them answer as honestly as they can without knowledge or concern what the other is saying. No attacks against the other. No grandstanding against the other’s answer. Just answer the stinkin’ questions with your own true thoughts and ideas.

Maybe I should just run for President myself.

Bring It On

I am now ready for winter. After spending hours in my closet last night making the twice yearly season swap, I cleared out the sandals and short-sleeved shirts and brought in the turtlenecks and boots. As much as I hate to see the warm weather disappear something about bringing out the cozy clothes excites me. I really do think I would get bored in a climate that never changed. Not to mention I just adore sweaters in general.

I also love the opportunity to reorganize twice a year. Nancy inspired me last week. She had all her clothes arranged by color. I was all set to follow her lead and steal her idea. But after just a few minutes of grouping my clothes by color I realized that it made better sense to group by type. After all, turtlenecks deserved their very own section. I was genuinely enjoying this task. Maybe only Lisa will understand as she suffers from the same organization affliction. For instance, she can related to the fact that I would rather spend an evening organizing my beads rather than actually beading and making jewelry.

So this afternoon I'm off to the consignment shop. I have the entire back of the Mini filled with sweaters. I know what you're thinking, "How many sweaters is that, 6?" You would be amazed how much stuff fits back there. Once the store decides what they want to take I'll have lots of free sweaters to share. Anybody want any?

Home Sweet Home

We're back. We took off at noon on Saturday and drove 11.5 hours straight home. As Karlo pointed out, my 'driving tolerance' has greatly improved and I was perfectly content for the first 6 or 7 hours. The final stretch through New York and Connecticut got a little unbearable. Even the poor car was getting tired and struggling to pull the trailer up the big hills. Needless to say, we were thrilled to see our driveway.

I'm still marveling at how much I enjoyed a vacation that I put zero thought into and really wasn't all that excited about going on. I am truly in love with VA and there is no doubt that we are strongly considering it as our 'early retirement' spot. I can't wait to go back and explore more of it.

Our visit with Rick & Nancy was simply delightful and we enjoyed every minute of it. The house was everything I expected it to be and more. We really lived it up and got completely spoiled. Rick is a gourmet chef and Nancy is not far behind. Although they both were way too trusting of my kitchen abilities. I didn't screw too many things up and we had a grand feast every night that included special "PPTS" drinks. They tried to liquor me up to help me sleep so that stands for "Put Paula To Sleep" drinks. Not exactly sure why I couldn't sleep. Maybe I just didn't want to miss a minute in that house. Thanks so much Rick & Nancy for your hospitality.

The final pictures from our trip can be found here.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Robin Leech here reporting from the Holzshu's. OMG this place is gorgeous. Funny part is that I'm "roughing it." They only have dial-up. And this town is making Easford feel like a metropolis. There is nothing around here. But then again, why would you want to leave this house?

On Thursday Karlo and took another motorcycle ride. We drove out to Stratford Hall which is the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. This dude is a very popular here in Virginia. You can't go anywhere without hearing about Robert E. Lee. I won't give you a history lesson because I'm not sure I can bare another one. Word of caution, if you visit VA, you must be ready for lots of history lessons. And be prepared to be called a Yankee!

The house was interesting to tour and the grounds were beautiful. My favorite part was hunting for treasures at the beach on the Potomac River. Nancy showed me shark teeth that she found and I was obsessed with finding my own. I could have spent all day combing the beach for artifacts. It took hours, but we finally found some cool shark teeth of our own.


That wasn't the end of our frolicking in and near the water. On Friday we took a great boat ride right from Rick & Nancy's dock. The weather was perfect and we got a nice tour of the area from the water.


After a few gourmet meals it was getting time to say goodbye. But first we took the kayaks out for what started out to be a nice leisurely float along the river. Mac came with me to assist, seeing as this was my very first time in a solo kayak. He did great as my first mate and I was ready to make him help me paddle when we got down to the jetty and the wind was so strong I didn't think I was going to make it back. Now I can fully appreciate the greatness of a tandem kayak with a big horsepower engine in the back.

Life on the Appalachian Trail

This morning we checked out of our motel in Harrisonburg and drove the car and trailer back to Shenandoah. During the drive Karlo and I both agreed that we definitely will come back to drive the entire Blue Ridge Parkway. What we couldn't agree on is whether or not we would drive the motorcycle from home or tow it to Virginia again. There is no guessing who wants to drive the bike from home . . .

So today was all about hiking and driving across the state to get to Rick & Nancy's. We drove up to the visitor's center and researched some nice trails. I planned to do a short hike, followed by lunch, followed by another short hike. Karlo changed the plan midstream and decided to do one big long hike on part of the Appalachian Trail. I was very excited to actually hike on it, but my enthusiasm waned at the 2.5 hour mark. I was getting tired and hungry and sick of climbing. According to the map we were about halfway to our destination. uuugh. Luckily we got hopelessly lost and ended up on in a campground parking lot. Out of pure frustration we decided to give up on finding the right trail and just walk back the 1.5 miles on the road. This easily shaved off about 2 hours from our hike. And it was a good thing.

We walked directly to the lodge and had a late lunch. No sooner did our food arrive and the skies opened up. Boy was I happy that we got lost and cut the hike short. We jumped in the car and marveled at the fog that seemed to roll in out of no where.
- Water and beef jerky at the gas station; $6.50
- Two bowls of soup at the visitor's lodge; $8.00
- Karlo saying, "It sure is nice to have the flexibility of the car and the trailer," as we drove through thick fog in a downpour; PRICELESS

Click here to view more photos from today's adventure.