Category Archives: Events

Proof I cannot walk and do anything else at the same time

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Today started out great. I found my TomTom in a bag that I searched throughly twice earlier. I’d been looking for my TomTom for days and on Friday came to the conclusion that I just was not meant to have a GPS device (an earlier one was stolen from my car).

Today was also a film group day. I’d seen the film, so just went to help out with tickets. I got there early and talked with a number of patrons as well as the manager of the theater. We had a large number of people show up – always a good thing.

At ten I left the theater started to walk to my car. I crossed Woodmont and was stepping up on the curb in front of Barnes and Noble when I tripped* and had a spectacular fall, landing on my nose and the right side of my face. I felt my glasses bend and grit scrape my cheek. My first thought? “Gee. I hope no one saw me!”

I rolled over on my side and sat up. No such luck. A crowd of concerned Bethesda folks were asking me if I was ok. I think I said I was, then noticed the blood dripping off my nose. Someone handed me some tissues, then a car stopped, someone got out and gave me about 50 tissues. She then went back to the car and got me some “wet ones”. Those stung my face. The car left and a police car pulled up and the officer asked if I was ok and if I wanted an ambulance. Another woman asked if there was someone she should call. I gave her our number, but I’ve taught the kids not to answer the phone if they don’t recognize the number. Oops.

The policeman asked if I wanted an ambulance again, just so they could check to make sure I was going to be ok. I finally said ok. He told me to sit back on a bench instead of the ground where I’d been sitting. The woman with the phone kept trying to get through, and finally Clare answered. The woman gave me the phone and I told Clare that I needed Dad to come get me from Barnes and Noble because I fell. She gave the phone to Dean who promptly asked if I crashed the car. When I told him I fell, but thought my nose was broken he said he’d pick me up, so I told the police officer he could cancel the ambulance. (I most certainly didn’t want an ambulance contributing to the gawk-producing spectacle)

While waiting for Dean the police officer gave me some sanitary gauze, someone else gave me a box of tissues. I got lots of second glances. Another police car stopped to chat with the one police officer. That was causing more people to look my way.

Dean finally arrived, pronounced my nose possibly broken and took me to Suburban’s ER where they didn’t give me stitches (but super glued my flapping nose skin together) and where X-rays showed that my nose was not broken. Good news.

It doesn’t hurt, really. The scrapes sting a little and my nose is tender to the touch.

I look a mess though – and am told it will get worse. Maybe when it gets really ugly I will post a photo. Yeah, right.

*I think I misjudged the height of the curb. I was wearing glasses – which is unusual for me to wear them out of the house.

Hiptop Halloween Hunt

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I’m not a big fan of Halloween for many reasons. Masks scare me if I don’t know who is behind them, and sometimes even when I know who is behind the mask. I also don’t appreciate people coming to my house and demanding things.  As a former teacher, Halloween and the day after were some of the hardest days to teach. The kids were high on Halloween with excitement and high on sugar the day after Halloween. Finally, the first several years of my kids’ lives I felt compelled to find them perfect costumes. I don’t sew, but one year made a cat in the hat costume for my daughter – I even made the hat out of fabric I painted, sewed and hardened with fabric stiffener. That was the same year I made a Peter Pan costume for my son. Unbelievable now, I know!

There are a few Halloween traditions I do like, however. I like leftover candy. And I like the Hiptop Halloween Hunt.

I bought a Sidekick when they first came out around 2002 and have had one ever since. A few years ago an energetic young man put together a Halloween photo scavenger hunt. This young man may have actually invented mobile photo blogging – or at least was in on it at the very beginning when he began Hiptop Nation.  I participated in the second and third hunts that Mike organized. I forgot about it last year, but Mike emailed me before the hunt this year and suggested I join his team. I’d briefly thought about joining this year, but would have probably forgotten about it had I not heard from Mike. Even if I’d remembered, I might have chosen not to participate, but since the creator of the experience (who stepped down last year to be a participant instead of the organizer) invited me to be on his team, I couldn’t resist.

So I cleared my schedule somewhat for October 31 and when the list came online, started snapping photos. I’m not a real outgoing person, but since I dragged my daughter along to the mall to get some shots, she forced me to be more aggressive than I normally would. (The cherry picker shot was her idea and she bullied me until I went along with it.)

The two shots I am proudest of are the Apple store employees. We were lucky that one of the employees was talking to someone who happened to have his Sidekick LX out. I asked if he would mind letting the Apple Store employee hold it so I could get a photo. The list rules said that I needed to be in the shot too, so I thought I would get no points for this. Luckily the judges took pity on me and gave me full credit for both shots.

I’m not sure I’ll participate next year. I’m getting a little old for this. In fact, I’m willing to bet I was the oldest person doing the hunt. Maybe that’s why the judges cut me some slack.

Andrew gets a haircut

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We are not the strictest of parents, but we do set limits. One thing, however, that we let the kids decide upon is their hair styles. When Andrew wanted a buzz cut we let him do it (I think I shed a few tears though). When Clare wanted long hair, we let her grow it long, even though she fussed when we tried to comb the snarls out.

A few years ago, Andrew decided to grow his hair long. I’m not sure how much of a conscious decision this was on his part, or just part of his not wanting to suddenly change his appearance in any way – even getting a hair trim on a Friday would make him feel as if people were staring at him on Monday. By 6th grade Andrew’s hair was to his shoulders and he was the recipient of much female attention -I mostly saw the adult females telling him how pretty his hair was and how jealous they were that their hair was not blond and curly like his.

He put up with a lot of teasing about his hair length, too. His grandfather always asked when he was getting it cut, his wrestling coach called him “Sunshine“, his wrestling team threatened to hold him down and cut his hair, and he was mistaken for a girl too many times to count. I really expected this to bother him, but he took it well and even dressed up as a girl two Halloweens in a row.He’d found a way to stand out in middle school in a good, but slightly unique way and would probably still have the long hair if it weren’t for wrestling.

Andrew’s new wrestling coach in high school made it clear to him at wrestling camp this summer that the long hair was going to have to go. We knew about this rule, so it wasn’t a shock to any of us, but it was sad nonetheless. I liked being the mom with the kid with the long curly blond hair – and I liked the way it looked on him. I also wondered what would replace this as his way to be accepted in school.

So a few days before school started I made an appointment with my stylist and friend, Doug Miller. Doug has long hair himself, so he was able to sympathize with Andrew and assure him that if he wanted long hair after high school, it would grow back just fine.

We took a few shots of Andrew’s hair before we went to see Doug. The front and back and sides – for memories. And of the hair on the floor during the cut. (I remember doing this when the kids had their first haircuts).

Throughout the cut, Andrew was fine – a little subdued, but resolved that this had to be done and Doug chatted about things other than hair.

Clare chose to come along for the appointment – I don’t think she had an appointment that day and wasn’t sure why she was with us, but by the look on her face in this picture, I think it was go gloat. Or perhaps to give her sisterly support. Nah. Look at her face.

Before and After shots of Andrew’s haircut. Which one do you like better?