I Can't Catch a Break!

Today while shopping for a last minute Christmas item, I ran into a guy that I went to high school with. At first I wasn't sure if it was him. Laverne went to a dance with him and I thought it was him, but had to do a double take. We talked for a few minutes and said the nice things that you do when you run into a high school acquaintance. I left and got into my car to leave. As I was backing out and looking in the rear view mirror I noticed something on my chest right above where my shirt hit. I looked down and guess what?

Huge blob of melted chocolate. I swear to you I haven't eaten any chocolate today. I have no idea where it came from, but it looked like a drop of poop! Great. Way to make an impression. Awesome job! Sigh, I am just so, so sad.

Shirley

Amendment from Last Night's Awkwardness...I Forgot. There's More!

Sweet. I forgot something else. Since I enjoying showing everyone just how completely dorky I am I thought I better amend my last post. During the concert Henry leaned over and said, "I forgot to tell you. You look great tonight." Awww. I love that. It's always nice to hear a compliment. So...how do I respond. I mock him. Yes. I know. Totally rude. Completely unnecessary, but there it is. That's what I did.

I leaned over to him and said nice socks (dripping with sarcasm). Why? I do have a good reason. Henry always looks good, but he is totally a guy, with guy taste. He had on athletic sports ankle socks with khakis and dark shoes. The comment was needed and one could say even warranted. However, it may be a little early in the relationship for criticism. Especially since he is always so complimentary towards me. Thoughts?

Also, today I received a phone call from a very good friend (who I still consider my friend, even after this phone call). She sent Henry an email. Yes. I know. What was she thinking. What did she say? Something like this. I think she thanked him because she likes seeing me this happy and that I am enjoying getting to know him. Kind of embarrassing. Actually no, I take that back - it's totally embarrassing. He did respond. Which I am surprised about. He actually responded faster to her than he has to me - hmmm? His email said that I am amazing and he is having a blast getting to know me as well. I think he also mentioned that he is taking it slowly with me. Can we nick name him the turtle? Although as my friend mentioned - slow and steady wins the race. I think she joked about sending that back to him, which, if she does I will do bodily harm to her!

My best comment from my friend - hey he said you were amazing and he's not afraid to tell your friends. I guess she does have a point. Dear friend - you get to live to see another day. No need to respond to his email. However, if you feel you need to, please, please promise me that you will at least tell me what you said. I have to know what I'm in for as far as my next encounter with Henry.

I think this is all I forgot to mention.

Shirley

Can I Be More Awkward?

As you may have noticed, I have a knack for saying really awkward and/or embarrassing things while on a date. If you like that kind of thing, read on. I had dinner with Henry and some of his friends tonight. The food was great - his friends are fun and I really had a good time. I really liked his friend's wife. She was great and we got along really well.

I may have mentioned that Henry has a little (well, maybe big) germ phobia. The first couple of dates we went on he showed up with hand sanitizer. Which he applied liberally before and after eating. I think it's funny. I like to tease him about it. He offered to share part of his salad with me tonight and I asked if he was sure about that. He said yes. His friend asked what that was all about? Henry explained that he has issues with germs. Part of that is he doesn't share drinks. The friend said - what about kissing that's like sharing a drink. I responded "that's why we haven't kissed."

Well...lucky for me everyone stopped talking and it felt like the entire restaurant went quiet. Sweet. I can't believe that I said that. It was so uncomfortable for me. I meant it to be funny, but I think no one knew how to respond including Henry. He kind of laughed it off, but his friend just looked shocked. Great! Everyone did recover and the subject was quickly changed.

I am laughing at myself right now as I write this. I am super cool, right? I can't believe how things just come out of my mouth. Why must I embarrass myself? Later that night I ran into a girl that knew that I was hoping to get Henry to ask me out. That's a story for another day (won't go into the details now). She said are you dating Henry. Long pause on my part. Still not sure how to respond to this question. We do go out on dates, but I don't know if we are dating. She gave me the full two thumbs up and was so excited for me. It was cute, but again I felt my face turning red. Nice. I love that feature. Red face, open mouth insert foot, no lingering at the car.

In spite of all that great awkwardness we do have plans for next week (Tuesday) and possibly this Friday or Saturday. I have to check my schedule to see what works for me. Come back to see what other fun things I have said or done. You won't be disappointed!

Shirley

Hanging with Henry

I keep asking myself what's up the the weekday dates. Am I not worthy of a weekend date? This particular date was full of illicit appearing activities. Wow! Now it just got interesting right? Let me start at the beginning...

We met in a parking lot (totally romantic, I know!). I actually needed to get something in the store so I ran in thinking that I had a few extra minutes. I first needed to use the bathroom. As I came out and was heading for the toy section, ran into Henry. Who was in line buying stuff. I told him I needed to get something really fast and ran back to pick out a birthday present. We headed to dinner and then to his performance.

He was performing at a church function and I sat in the pews while he was practicing. Soon several ladies started to wonder in. I got lots of fun questions that night. First, is this your boyfriend? Are you guys dating? Well...do you like him? Rapid fire all from the same person. Luckily, Henry was practicing on the piano and I don't (here's to hoping) think he heard the questions. I told the woman I didn't know how to respond to her. Seriously, I don't know what to say. Why? I think we are dating? Honestly, I'm not certain. I don't know how he would answer that question. I don't call him my boyfriend that's for sure. Yes. I do like him.

After he was done performing. One lady asked if we sing together. Hahahaha! If you know me and have heard me sing that is self explanatory. For those who don't know me, let me just say this. I could clear a room out pretty quickly if I started to sing - I am that BAD! I do appreciate people who are blessed with the gift of music in all forms. She then asked if I have Henry sing to me? Yes, please. I actually haven't, but I would totally welcome it. The last and probably the best question of the night - Is he your husband? Umm. No. Thanks for asking though.

We left and went back to the parking lot. We talked in my car for a while. He gave me some more CD's of his and we had turned on the interior light so I could look at some of the songs. This is where it gets illicit. We had talked about going to see the Nutcracker. I haven't ever had a guy willingly say he would go to the ballet with me so I am really excited about this. We made plans for Tuesday because in my mind online it said that is was playing Tuesday night. He called his friends and they said that they wanted to go. Henry asked if I would get the tickets. Well...he then handed me a wad of money to pay for the tickets (remember the lights are still on and we are in a parking lot) and I look up with said bills in my hand and see a woman walking by staring at us through the window. In my mind (bad Shirley) I think all sorts of inappropriate things, especially if I am that woman. I did joke about it with Henry and he laughed. At least he thought it was funny.

Now comes the part where I embarrass myself. It's time to go and I get out to give Henry a hug goodbye. Wait for it...wait. For some reason I feel compelled to say to him "I can't believe that you're not married. You are kind of amazing." Why, why, why do I say things like this. Why does my mouth open before my brain can process what is going to come out. He was totally nice when he responded, but I couldn't actually look at him. I can feel my cheeks are turning red and I just want to get in the car and drive home. Which I then do.

I get home and get online to buy the tickets and guess what? It's not playing the Tuesday we picked. Great! I had to call Henry and tell him, apologize and give him dates that it is playing. He said that he would call his friends and call me back. He couldn't get a hold of them that night so he said that he would try tomorrow. He called me the next day and said that we were still on for Tuesday. We are going to a concert and dinner with his friends. Should be fun. We"ll have to go to the Nutcracker another night.

I will mention here and I may have said this before I am surprised that he continues to want to do things with me. Not that I'm not a great girl and all, but I don't feel like I have many bright shiny moments when I am with him. I think that I can be funny and carry on an intelligent conversation, but when I am with him, my brain shuts down (not all the way). I can usually rapid fire comments and joke back and forth, but for some reason when I am with Henry my brain is slow and can't think. It's super annoying. I think that Tuesday with his friends should be fun. I am hoping that they will tell me more fun stories about Henry. I really hope that my brain will begin to work. Check back to see what happens. At least I can entertain you while I embarrass myself.

Shirley

Three Strikes - You're Out! One Down...

Bob told me that if I fail to answer his phone calls or text messages three times - he will stop calling. Thank you, Bob! You gave me the easy out that my chicken-self needs. I know that I should be a grown-up and tell him that I like him, but don't have that "connection" with him.

I'm wimpy and afraid. Don't hold it against me, please. My first communication from him came via text it said "Don't think I've forgotten about you, my week has been crazy busy. We should talk soon." Umm? Was I waiting for a phone call from you or some form of communication? Not really. Again, thank you for giving me an easy way to fade off into the sunset. My only hope is that we can be amiable if we see each other again in the future.

The good news is that Henry called and actually talked to me on the phone for a while. Usually I get a very short and succinct call to coordinate our date. It's nice to know that he can carry on a decent conversation via the phone. We have plans tomorrow - watch for a post soon after.

Let me also say something about Kurt - he really likes to text and I get random text messages from him during the day. Some I don't think warrant a response and others he likes to use the ;) a LOT!!! What does this mean? Is it supposed to be winking (which is what I think it looks like), does he just not push the shift button while trying to make the smiley face thing, or is it something else all together. I still don't fully get texting and I'm not a big fan. I'm getting better at it, but don't have all the emoticons figured out. Also, Kurt told me that I'm not good because I don't respond. I think that he is trying to flirt with me via the text. Not sure though. I could totally be wrong, I have been many times before. I just like a guy who picks up the phone and actually wants to talk. I like it so much better. You get tone and emotions so much better than - ;) LOL lol (that's all I know - I told you I don't know all the subtleties of the text). Something to think about.

Shirley

A Love Story via Google Search

Just saw this on another website and wanted to share - kind of fun!

Just Another Manic Monday...

Getting ready for the dinner party on Wednesday. My house is a mess, trying to clean with kids is unproductive. I clean, they destroy, it's a vicious cycle that just frustrates me. Trying to get cleaning done after they are a sleep. At least it's clean for a minute that way.

My date tonight with Henry was great as always. We had dinner, another couple was supposed to join us but had to cancel at the last minute. They couldn't find a babysitter. We went to their house for dessert. They have a beautiful home and were easy to talk to. Henry and his friend have known each other since before their missions. I got to hear more about Henry from his "younger" days it was fun and comfortable (something I was worried about). The wife worked in the same field I did so we discussed that and talked about kids and she likes dancing so we had things in common.

I made some breakfast puffs for Henry. I think I have a disease. This cooking thing is taking over my life. I should really work on that. I can't keep all this food in my house, so I give it away. Certain friends (who shall remain nameless) are getting upset because I keep dropping food off. I like taking food on dates because I know most of the guys I give it to really appreciate it. It is sort of cheesy, really, but it works for me. Henry sent me a text on the way home that made me smile. Have another date planned for next week.

Shirley