Seven Snippets: Biometric Selfies, a Mr. Andi Surprise, and a Study of Minnesota Weather

— 1 —

As I mentioned earlier this week, I had last weekend all to myself. I dropped each kid off at school on Friday morning, but Mr. Andi was picking them up so after I deposited Nathan at 9:00, I was home free. I went back home, helped him finish packing, and saw him off. Now what?

I contemplated going shopping (Birthday Money! WOOT!) but realized I couldn’t get to the mall and back before 1:00. Then I remembered that I didn’t have to be back by 1:00 because I didn’t have Nathan to worry about.

I headed to Best Buy and bought a FitBit. After Best Buy, I wandered through Ross, World Market, and a few other places and then headed back home. I made it back by 3:00, just in time for Sarah Kate to get off the bus. Then I remembered I didn’t have to worry about Sarah Kate.

My time alone was not quite the nirvana I had anticipated.

— 2 —

Yes, I got a FitBit – the Flex. I couldn’t be the only geek in the world unable to take biometric selfies. I’ve been curious about them for awhile, and when several of my friends got them for Christmas and started talking about them (and enjoying some healthy step-count competition), I became even more interested. I probably wouldn’t have purchased one with my own money, but birthday money is supposed to be spent on stuff you’d never buy yourself, right?

It’s funny how motivating this little thing can be. The dogs like it – we’ve taken a few more walks than I would have otherwise, even at night.

— 3 —

Mr. Andi shook hands with Prince Charles when he was thirteen –  a fact I never knew until this week (next month we will celebrate eighteen years of marriage, FYI). This little nugget was brought to my attention because his mom sent a box of his childhood things home with him on Monday, and inside was a card he wrote to his grandmother.

I like he how included meeting the Prince of Wales – during the height of his popularity, no less, as he was still married to Princess Diana then – as an afterthought. No biggie.

— 4 —

A friend shared this TED video with me of Maysoon Zayid, a comedian with cerebral palsy. Not only is she funny, but she uses her sense of humor to effectively advocate for the disability community. It’s fourteen minutes long, so not brief like most internet videos, but worth your time.

— 5 —

On the drive home from the clinic visit on Tuesday, I could tell Sarah Kate was nervous. She’s old enough now that I knew she understood the discussions, so I tried to draw her out and find out what was bothering her. She was nervous about the surgery, she said, so I asked a few more questions to find out why (like I’m not nervous, too…)

Imagine my surprise when she revealed that she didn’t want to have to watch the operation. Bless her heart! She was afraid she would be awake the whole time. Once I reassured her that she wouldn’t see or feel any of it, she was happy as a clam.

— 6 —

Though we don’t have a travel date yet, I decided to find out what the weather is like in Minneapolis this time of year. On Monday in Minneapolis, the HIGH is supposed to be -10. The HIGH, people! The average temperatures for the last week of February are a high of 32 and a low of 18, which sounds downright balmy compared to Monday’s forecast, but … that’s the weather we had here a couple of weeks ago that caused school to be canceled (the same weather that led to my discovery of the tiny snowflake light on the dash of my car).

— 7—

On a lark, I checked the record high temperature for Minneapolis for the last week of February – upper 50s. That’s 10 degrees lower than the Mayberry average for the same week. Ouch. All I have to say is that unless Minnesota is hitting some record highs while we’re there, we better see some snow!

UPDATE: Sarah Kate sorta-kinda achieved her dream this morning. We had barely-visible snow flurries in car line. You’d have thought she had just won the lottery.

Have a great weekend!

This post was inspired by and is linked to Conversion Diary‘s 7 Quick Takes.