The Bulb Show

You know Spring is right around the corner when the Bulb Show opens at our local college.  It’s a beautiful show every year, but this year was particularly spectacular.  Maybe I only thought so because it was really the first year we’ve gone where I haven’t felt like I’ve had to keep a super-close watch on the kids.  I was free to meander slowly, take all the pictures I wanted, and not worry about anyone getting in trouble.  The kids wandered off together, and  Nate and I caught up with them eventually.  It was the most pleasant, relaxing bulb show yet.

 

The bulb show gives me hope every year… within a few weeks, this cold, muddy, soggy month will give way to green grass, leaves on trees, and these beautiful flowers!

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My Hamster Wheel

My Christmas present this year was this:

It’s an elliptical machine.  Many people also know it as a “clothes rack.”  I call it my hamster wheel.  I got it because it’s so hard for me to exercise in the wintertime here.  I really prefer to exercise in the morning, and by the time the sun even thinks about coming up, Nate has already left for work.  Plus, it’s like zero degrees out, and snowy and icy.  So, the only hope I have of getting any kind of exercise in the morning is to hop on my hamster wheel and get moving.

I’ve been doing pretty well with it.  I’m on it 4-5 mornings a week, for two miles.  It started out as torture, but it’s gradually gotten easier.  I just get up with Nate at 5:30, throw my sneakers on, and away I go.  Well, I don’t really go anywhere – that’s why it’s called a hamster wheel.

The key for me is that I watch TV while I’m on it.  When I’m outside running, I listen to music, and my mind wanders, and it’s all good.  But I quickly found out that when I’m on the hamster wheel, it’s extremely monotonous.  There’s nothing to look at.  The mind, she will not wander.  So, I pulled out the iPad and fired up Netflix.  Guess what’s on?  Buffy.  That’s right.  I’m a closet Buffy addict.  So I’m rewatching all of Buffy.  And just to be SUPER nerdy, I’m watching Angel, too.  In chronological order.  Yes, now I’m really out of the closet.  I found a fan site that lists all the episodes in chronological order, so that I can combine Angel and Buffy the way they were meant to be seen.

Oh, yes.  Any nerds here?  <hand flies up.>

So, next time you sleepily awaken at 5:30 am, you can just think about me – I’m running, running, running on my hamster wheel, not getting anywhere, and watching Buffy save the world from doom and destruction.  And feeling pretty good about it, too.