where wildly different is perfectly normal
My book and my bike
My book and my bike

My book and my bike

The new phonebooks are here! The new phonebooks are here!

No, wait, not the phonebook. My book. Yes, If This is a Gift, Can I Send It Back?: Surviving in the Land of the Gifted and Twice-Exceptional is now available. The Hold In Your Hand paper copy is available through Amazon. There are also ZOMG! I Can’t Wait To Get My Hands On This Hold My Calls digital copies for Kindle and Nook. You can add it to your Goodreads list as well. Hopefully your Goodreads to read list is smaller than mine at 633; I could read every minute of every day and never get to the bottom of that virtual pile.

It’s a scary thing, having a book out there. People reading it, not knowing what they’re thinking. Thankfully life is never dull around here, and thus I am well distracted.

Today was the kind of gorgeous day Chicago likes to toss out every so often, I assume to prevent a mass exodus of the population for saner climes. (Psst!!! Chicago! I’m on to you!) Clear air with little humidity, a breathtaking blue cloudless sky, sweet little breezes. The kind of day when you’re seriously ticked off that you do not own a hammock. The kind of day you’d like to spend at Wrigley field watching the poor beleaguered Cubs have their asses handed to them.

We went on a family bike ride.

I haven’t been on my bike for…well, last I remember riding I had both boys in a trailer behind me, so probably six years ago or so. When I realized I was pulling 50+ pounds behind me going uphill, I swore off riding until they could pull their own damned selves up the hill. Sadly, that meant that my mad riding skillz rusted out and sat in the corner sulking for several years. That didn’t bother me in the least, as there is not a square inch of level surface in the entire state of Colorado and my buns of mashed potato steel didn’t care for hills. Bike riding points to northern Illinois: it’s flat.

I carefully and gingerly eased myself hopped on my bike and was stunned to learn that it really is just like riding a bike. The only difference being a several year hiatus results in I-am-going-to-wipeout-in-front-of-my-children shakiness. I spent the first block of the ride mentally walking through the week to see if there was anything that would be difficult to do with one or both arms in a cast. The remaining miles I resigned myself to standing for the next several days; road bike seats are not designed for women who have twice given birth. I am sure that is TMI and frankly, I’m too tired to care. I’m just sucking down iced tea and thanking every deity ever that I took preventative ibuprofen before heading out. Soon a margarita will replace that iced tea and ice packs will visit everything from the hips to the ankles. An Olympic athlete I most certainly am not. I made the mistake of standing up to get more iced tea and found that muscles seize up a lot quicker when you’re older. Thankfully the entire main level is laminate flooring, my office chair has wheels, and I need not make that mistake again.

Books and bikes. A Sunday afternoon at the House of Chaos. Yeah, that’s about right.

5 Comments

  1. Yay!! Going to Amazon right freakin’ now to order my copy!!!

    I bought an “old lady” seat for my bike when I bought it, but then never rode the damn bike! True story – I bought it on clearance in the fall a few years ago. I brought it home, put it in the garage, telling myself I’d pull it out in the spring. That winter, I hit it with my car, and totally bent one of the wheels. That summer, I took it to a bike shop and paid MORE to have that tire fixed than I did for the damn bike in the first place!!! AND, after all that, I STILL haven’t taken it out for a ride! Yep, I’m a loser.

  2. We loaded 3 bikes onto the car to go to (very flat) St. Simons GA last week. Then we rented a tourist bike for me. It was awesome. It was very upright with feet in front of your torso a bit, a very wide seat, upright handlebars and even had a basket. But riding in a wet woman’s swimsuit is still not to be recommended….

  3. Kasi

    Loving the book so far. Had to laugh at the “focus” part because I’ve only been able to read a paragraph at a time since pretty much as soon as I sit down and open the book, chaos ensues. It’s not a long read, but it will be for me! Thank you for helping me feel not so alone!

Whaddya think?

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