New Bad Habit

I'm pretty sure that I was one of only a few college freshman (maybe the only??) to show up at Johnstone Hall with an espresso machine.  Really- I did.  I must have made 4-5 cappucinos a day.  ( in addition to the 4-5 Cokes out of the machine down the hall - but that's another story.)  I fondly recall the "Coffee Shop" downtown too.  Unfortunately I don't think it's there anymore... and I hear there's a Starbucks somewhere around campus now.  Poo!

After a few years I ditched the espresso and cappucinos for wine.  (wow, am I a snob, or what???)  I don't know exactly what happened to the espresso machine.  All I know is that it's long gone by now.

Over the years I haven't drank much coffee.  But since moving to this job over 4 years ago I have upped my java intake.  And it has especially spiked since we go the Keurig machine about 18 months ago.  I still drink a lot of tea - but I've noticed over the past 6 months the tea has taken a backseat to that dark, rich luscious brew.

Now that the hubby and I are getting up early I decided last night to break out the coffee machine I keep for when dad visits.  It's a nice Krups.  (I go all our for dad - only the best!  or at least what he consideres the best....  you know, like Bud Lite in bottles...)  It has that nifty programmable feature on it.  So I took full advantage.  That baby was brewing at 5:45 this morning.

The issue?  I'm still drinking just as much coffee at work.  Not only am I pretty sure this isn't that good for me - ingesting all this caffine - but I'm pretty sure it's not good for my teeth either.  Or these invisaligns. 

OMG!  On another note - as I'm sitting here writing this I'm absently scratching at my chin.  I just realized my chin whisker is back!!!

AAAHHHHHHHH!!

Excuse me while I go to the restroom and wrestle it out of it's folicle.

Partying like it was 1999

I was a "2nd-year senior" in college in 1999.  And let me tell you - this weekend reminded me why I hardly drank in college.....

The hubby was out of town this weekend for coaching.  So I spent most of Saturday with my lil' sis.  We went to the farmers market and bought veggies and herb and tomato plants.  We went to yoga (of course!) and then came back and potted said plants.   I even mowed the front yard while she "weeded".  She actually only pulled out about 4 dandelions in the time it took me to mow the front yard - but that's ok.  It was just something to keep her busy while I mowed.  BTW - she informed me that "weeding is hard!!!"  Yeah, pulling 4 plants from the ground in about 20 minutes is sooo exhausting and difficult...  whatever.

After I took her home I rented "The Lovely Bones".  I wanted to see the movie since I'd just finished reading the book.  Don't watch it.  All the good parts of the book I liked aren't in the movie.  And it's just Peter Jackson's try and creating weird, stupid "heaven" scenes...  

Around 9:20pm I was bored and thought it too late to start yet another movie.  So I let the dogs out for the night with the intention of going to bed.  I was out on the deck making sure Liam wasn't eating rabbit poo when my next door neighbor waved "hi".  He and his GF and some other friends were on his deck with a fire in their little fire-pit-thingy.  My neighbor, Joe Muscles, invited me to come over and have a drink.  I told him thanks, but I'd already had a gin & tonic while watching movies and I was heading to bed.  (After that admission I'm surprised he continued to open the invitation....)  But he said they were going to be over there if I changed my mind.

I'd hardly made it into the house when I realized "what on earth do I have to do tomorrow that requires me to go to bed at 9:30!! on a Saturday night????!!!!!"  So I grabbed my 2/3's full 750ml bottle of Tanqueray, tonic water and bottle of lime juice (classy, I know...) and headed out my front door over to his deck.

It was me, JM, his GF, his cousin and his GF.  Over the next few hours 4 of the 5 of us managed to FINISH the whole bottle of Tanqueray.....

Needless to say, Sunday morning was a bitch!  WOW!  I haven't drank that much since... well, probably the infamous Europe trip in high school.  When I woke up I decided I needed some good ol' greasy food and headed to Crackle Barrel with my Nook.  I ate a HUGE breakfast.  So big, in fact, that I felt even worse when I got home.  I promptly got into bed and slept until 1pm. 

So lesson learned.  I am no longer allowed to play at JM's house becuase they party too hard for me.  (BTW  Party = sitting around a fire talking and drinking...) 

I was a little bummed that my whole bottle of gin was gone.  But on second thought, I'm not sure if I will continue with gin & tonics.

Kitty Saga Continued and Money Saved

I felt guilty all yesterday afternoon for "locking" my poor kitty in a dog crate.  But it's for her own good, right??

First let me tell you that I now know why the kitty playpens are "tiered".  This morning when I went to let Cabby out I realized that she had kicked litter all over the inside of her crate.  (hopefully not on purpose, but you never know..)   All over her bed, all over the floor, in her water dish....    I felt so bad that I didn't even make her go back in it once she was done with breakfast this morning.  I'm just going to wait until the playpen arrives later today.

Yes, later TODAY!  I had it shipped overnight.  I bought the pen off Amazon for $99.  For shits and giggles I chose "overnight delivery" just to see what the charge would be.  WHOA!  It was $105!!!!

Don't worry - I didn't pay more than the pen to actually get it shipped to me...

I was thinking maybe I'd fork over another $10 or so to get it here overnight, or even 2 day.  But definitley not over $100!  Especially since I could get it shipped ground for free anyway.   But as I was checking out I was prompted to accept a free month trial of a "Amazon Prime" membership.  You pay $79 a year and get free 2 day shipping and $3.99 overnight shipping on all your purchases.  Hummmmm... 

A plan started to develop...

The hubby and I buy stuff from Amazon on occasion.  I can't remember the last time something we bought didn't qualify for free shipping.  (ground, of course).  But we have never been in that much of a hurry.  So I definitely didn't want to actually pay $79 for this year "membership".  But this could really be a boon for this particular purchase!!

So I signed up!  And I got that 46 lb. playpen shipped overnight for $4!!!!

Of course the catch with the membership is that after a month they will automatically charge you the $79 unless you tell them not to.  So I immediately went back into my account and chose "do not auto renew" and I'm done.

Four dollar overnight shipping and I don't have to worry about getting a surprise charge.  I LOVE it when I work it to my advantage!!

I hope Cabby likes the open, tiered playpen more than she likes the crate....    More on this after we recieve and set up the playpen....

"children" problems

One of our children is acting up again.  Cabby peed on the kitchen island again!!!  ARG!!!  This time the hubby found it and it was none too pleased.  (welcome to my world, hon...)

I was on the phone with the vet for quite a while but really had already decided what to do.  I ordered a cat playpen. 

I know, I know.  I'm turning into one of them...  But I cannot continue to have my cat pee on my island.  (Thank god it's a "solid" surface material by DuPont so I can disinfection the crap out of it... pun intended...)

Until it arrives I'm going to put her in one of the huge dog crates.  She'll have her own litter box, water and food and will not have to be worried about getting picked on by the other "bullies".  But she's so skittish in her old age that you can just walk about a foot past her and she'll cower, hiss and meow at you.  Maybe even try a whap or two.  I think this solution will really help her.  I have a nice sunny place by the piano already picked out for her.

The poor girl is 14.... and half blind.  All she does is lay in one place on the back of the sofa or on the bar stool at the kitchen island, eat and go the bathroom.  If she were a younger cat I'd probably feel guilty penning her in all the time but I think Cabby's going to love it.  That is - so long as she can figure out that they other cats can't get to her....  And then at night when I'm watching TV she can snuggle up with me on the sofa.

I just have a feeling this cat is going to last a looong time....  so I might as well just buck up and make her comfy.  She's not goin' anywhere...

Update:
I went home at lunch and the hubby and I set up Cabby's new digs in one of the dog crates.  Much to my amazement she did NOT like it!!  (at first....)  She yowled and yowled... you'd a thought I really had skinned her!  But she finally started to settle down and check out her new temporary abode.  I just sat there watching her for about 10 minutes.  She used her head to rub up against the crate door - like she was looking for an exit, she got her front paws in the litter box - twice - but didn't actually "go" (probably doesn't like an audience), "smelled" the water dish, and kneaded and made several "cat loops" on her bed.  But she never did lay down while I watched her and I had to get back to work.

After I got back to work I was hoping she was doing better so I IM'd the hubby:
me: how's Cabby?  Any better since I left??
hubby:  She dumped her food and is running the bowl along the door singing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot...'

Disaster Averted!

It's a quiet afternoon here in the Workplace.  The kind of boring/ sleepy afternoon that happens, on occasion, in some offices.  I was sitting here at my desk, sneakingly reading an eBook when my head nodded, my rings clanked against my keyboard... and I WOKE UP!

I seriously just nodded off at my desk!  Thank goodness my rings clanked or else I might have ended up out of my chair and on the floor!

And now I'm officially awake.

Ode to the Foodsaver

Foodsaver you make me say "WOW"

by being such a fabulous pal.

I buy all in bulk 

and then I don't sulk

if we don't end up eating all our chow.

I go on spree at Sam's

Buy up all the meat that I can.

At home I separate the pieces

and seal it up with you in only two seconds

And I eat frozen meat for a long span.

Ok, ok.  There's a reason I'm not a poet or an English teacher...  but you get the drift.  As some of you know, I bought a Foodsaver right after the hubby and I got married.  I have generally used it for meat over the years but it's also handy with cheese and the "other half" of an avocado.  But if you're going to save the other half of the avocado be sure to leave the pit in!  (or you'll end up with guacamole whether you wanted to or not.)

Over the past year or so I've been looking at getting a small top-load freezer.  The freezer on our fridge doesn't hold squat.  It's my own fault.  Due to the houses age (about 25 years now) the space for the fridge isn't very wide.  And when we went looking for a fridge I had to have one with in-door water and ice.  So that left us with a side-by-side.   And a narrow one, at that.  I like to freeze meat, and other things, so I needed more room.  Out old "extra" fridge in the basement worked for a while be we finally got rid of it about a month ago.  However every time I looked in fliers at Lowe's or Home Depot the small freezers still cost about $200.  I really couldn't justify spending that much.  But two weekends ago we were at Sears and the one I had my eye on was on clearance for $89.  I told the hubby we were snatchin' that thing up!

So now I have a freezer with no food to go in it.  Well I couldn't let that happen!  I convinced the hubby that a visit to Sam's was in order.  (the last time we went was probably almost 2 years ago.)  My main goal was to just buy meat.  To freeze.  I got 2 lbs shrimp, 2 pounds tilapia fillets, 2 pounds tuna steaks, 8 round eye steaks, 4 pork loins (5 pounds-ish) and 6.75 pounds ground beef.  I think that'll keep the two of us for a while...

'cuz I love a bargain, I spent $10 on the shrimp and I usually pay $8 for one pound at the grocery.  I also got the bag of tilapia fillets for $15 and I usually spend about $6 on two fresh fillets at the grocery.  I hardly ever buy tuna steaks 'cuz they're expensive and I think I got that bag for about $20.  And of course the beef and the pork - it was way cheaper.  However I was not able to buy grass-fed/ organic beef : (  That's the only drawback.  I decided to keep on buying organic chicken at the grocery because I can't get it at Sam's. 

Sunday I got to work separating it all out to freeze in serving-size bags.  Bonus: the tilpaia and tuna steaks were already individually sealed!!  Yeah!!  I made it through the 4 pork loins and was halfway through the steaks when disaster struck.

My trusty Foodsaver couldn't finish the job.  It would suck, but not seal.  (insert your own joke here...)  I left it to cool down for 10 minutes.  Still no luck.  I unplugged it and left it to cool more.  Still no luck.  I still had a few steaks and almost SEVEN POUNDS of ground beef to freeze!!!

My Foodsaver had been a good girl for me these past 6 years.  But her time was up.  I had to make an emergency trip to Wally World to buy a new one.  I had a couple of observations:

• No matter what kind of Foodsaver you get it's going to be a lot cheaper than the one I bought 6 years ago!!!  (I think I paid over $200 for my original one.  I got a new one for $100.)
• The newer models are a helluva more compact than my unit!!  Granted the new one doesn't hold the roll of bags in side the unit nor does it have a cutter.  But who cares!!!  
• The black color of my new one is much cooler than my old white one!

There are many more features that beat the pants off my old girl but I won't go into it here.  Just know that if you:

• are single or there's only two of you in your household
• you like to buy in bulk for either convenience or savings

you would LOVE a Foodsaver.  I highly recommend them.  Now you do pay a good bit for the bags but once you become the queen of bag making (like me) it's still a great savings over all.  And more importantly, my new freezer isn't so lonely in the basement!!

BTW - in case you're wondering, we're having tilapia tonight.

Made it!

I made it through the week!!  What a doozy!  I'm going home and having a fat glass-o-wine!

This week the hubby and I decided that we both need to start:

• Getting up earlier in the morning
• Working out (again)

Based on this premise I suggested yesterday that we start getting up earlier in the morning and officially start our half marathon training.  (Did I mention that the hubby said he'd run one with me if I decided to do another one??  Trust me, I'm as shocked as you are!)

After a little grumbling he agreed.  I used the "smart coach" on runnersworld.com and got us a nice and slow training schedule.  Probably on the easy side for me (since I've run one) and probably a little challenging for him (since he hasn't run in a looooong time.)  I have us starting next week and our first run isn't until Tuesday.  (which, BTW, I will start us running/ walking, a minute on/ off so I don't kill him...)  I suggested we start getting up a little earlier each day until then and get our bodies more used to it.  So today I got us up around 6:20 and we walked about 2 miles together. (about 32 minutes)  The point was not to "train" but to start waking up earlier and get moving. 

Ok, so we're making progress.  But honey, if you're reading this, if you tell me to slow down walking one more time I'm gonna drop you from my training schedule like a bad habit.  If you thought keeping up with me walking was hard just wait until we add a bounce to it....

In all fairness he was just a little whiney at the beginning and was fine by the end.  I suppose I'd be a bit cranky too if I hadn't woken up early to train for something since, say, college....

If you noticed, I have tried to add some widget to the right side of my blog.  The idea was to get you guys to post what your workout is going to be and then check back in with details - like did you do it??  How'd it go??  I'm not sure this is the best widget but it's all I could find for the moment.  Plus, when I try and swap my questions around to make chronological sense it won't do it.  So if you have any better ideas please do share!!!  Do I need to just start a new blog? (but then I thought that would get cumbersome...  we're all busy and don't have time to roam through a bazillion blogs all the time...)  So let me know!!  I'm open for change!

Ugh!!

Have you ever had a shi-tac-u-lous day???  I'm having one.  And I mean that in every sarcastic sense of the word.  (If you consider that a word.)

The big man is on my shit list today.  I won't name names but it's not the hubby, my dad or God. 

Our "relationship" is one of "he says, I do".  I used to be more of a fighter for my own thoughts and ideas but I learned long ago it's not worth the fight.  (seeing why I'm so terribly bored???) 

I'd had it today.  I went in to his office to get clarification on something.  I figured we'd do the "dance" that we always do.  It goes something like this:

• I waltz in and explain a situation.
• He foxtrots back with "What's your recommendation?"
• I salsa forward with "I suggest....."
• And he tangos over to tell me what he really wants done (which rarely agrees with my suggestion)
• And I chachacha right out of his office thinking "if you just told me what you wanted to do in the first place, like you always do, we could dispense will all this time-consuming shit".

So I gave him my suggestion solely based on his direction in such matters in the past. However, that's not the directive he gives me back.  The direction he gave me came completely out of left field (as compared to his previous comments over the last, say, FOUR years..)  When I asked for further explanation/ clarification ('cuz this was all new to me folks!) he said in not-the-exact-words "Your the marketing director you figure it out".

Uh oh.  Two whammies within 60 seconds of each other.  1) Completely surprising me with his answer (not in a good way) and 2) touching a soft soft about my "position" here.

I immediately shot back "I'm NOT a director, I'm only a manager!!" because I'm still pissed about something related to that.  But I won't digress and get into all the details here.  However if you're going to tell me to "act" like a director (which I used to be at my old compnay, BTW...) then let me do my frickin' job!  But alas, I'm only a manager so I will do as I'm treated... and paid.  After I said that he started getting testy and I shot back with "You don't listen to my suggestions so why don't you just tell me what you want to do!"

I'm not sure that even penetrated his skull.  He gave me some look - which he gives me when he's pissed/ frustrated/ not in the mood to explain something (so apparently I'm a mind reader too!  add that to my "manager" description!!) and then proceeded to keep talking.  I should clarify that "the look" is something akin to facially telling me that I can't do my job.  My response to that - I'd happily do my job IF YOU'D LET ME! 

UGH!!

Whatever.

Running (or as I call it - bouncing up and down from foot to foot trying to move in a forward direction, preferably faster than those walking.)

I heart Runner's World.  Not that I'm a runner.  (please refer to title of post)  But they have great articles (online, of course.  I don't waste paper...)  Here's an excerpt from one of them.  If you like this please read the whole thing here.

Running Rules of Thumb


1. If you see a porta potty with no line, use it. Even if you don't need to.

2. If you have to ask yourself, Does this driver see me? The answer is no.

3. If you have to ask yourself, Are these shorts too short? The answer is yes.

4. 1 glazed doughnut = 2 miles

5. You rarely regret the runs you do; you almost always regret the runs you skip.

6. Not everyone who looks fast really is, and not everyone who looks slow really is.

7. Nobody has ever watched Chariots of Fire from beginning to end. Not even the people who made it.

8. You can never have too many safety pins on your gym bag.

9. Running any given route in the rain makes you feel 50 percent more hard-core than covering the same route on a sunny day.

10. If you care even a little about being called a jogger versus a runner, you're a runner.

- Mark Remy, Runner's World

Thanks!

Thanks to Christy and Neda who offered to help me get up and get back into exercising! This will definitely be an experiment. I'm in NY, Neda is in FL and Christy is in CA. So if we can get this NO ONE has an excuse!!

  

My goal this week was to start getting up earlier and just do a 30 minute yoga video before getting ready for work. Here it is Tuesday and I'm embarrassed to say I have slept in both mornings. But that's going to change. If anything I should be guilted into getting started. Once I get moving in a program I usually keep with it pretty well. But in order to stay motivated I need a goal. It's after I complete my goal I fall off the wagon....

  

For those of us that want to work out first thing in the morning but are having a hard time getting going I read a few pointers:

•  set up your coffee pot in the evening so it's ready to go - or even better, get it going ahead of time with a programmable machine
•  lay out your workout clothes night before (I did this Sunday. but that's not enough to get me out of bed...)
•  Get ready in a brightly lit room, preferably with fluorescent lights. It's will immediately signal your brain it's time to wake up and go. (because of this tip I set out my clothes in the guest room where I can go in, close the door, flip on the lights to get dressed.)

 

These tips were specifically geared towards getting up and running or lifting. But I think they'll work just fine to get my ass out of bed and downstairs to do yoga. I'm even considering bringing the coffee machine up out of the basement and actually using it. I'm not a coffee-at-home kind of girl. I only have the machine for dad. But luckily I bought a good one and it IS programmable!!

Maybe I should try and convince the hubby to move the coffee table out of the way for me when he's done watching TV at night. That way all I have to do it whip out my mat and go. Honey, if you're reading.....

 

I also want to apologize for my whining lately. I don't know what's gotten into me!!

 

Library Crazy!!!

Can I emphasize exactly how crazy I am about the library?!?!?!?  And my Nook?!??!?!?


I have always been a reader.  Granted, there was a time I was only reading smut - so I'm not sure that really counts.  But as soon as I could string a few letters together I've had my nose in books.  (my to the detriment of some of my relationships...) 

That alone should explain my fascination with the library.  and my Nook.  But combine those two things together and ...

JACKPOT!!!   Reading gold!!!

I have become a library fool since figuring out how to "borrow" ebooks from the library and putting them on my Nook to read.  This is fantastic!!!  I've always loved my Nook but I was trying to watch how much $$ I spent on books since I got it.  I've only spent the $30 gift card that the hubby got me with it to purchase books.  I have been trying to keep myself occupied with freebies through Barnes&Noble.  But I was quickly reaching my limit.  A girl can only read so many "classics" at a time.  My brains needs to be able to scan the pages written in modern English on occasion as to not make my brain explode. 

Since joining the local library last Friday I have sped through a trashy romance novel and am currently reading The Lovely Bones.  Not exactly what I expected but great nonetheless.  Including the one I'm reading I have 5 books checked out.  I get them for 14 days.  no problem.  I average a book about every 3-4 days.  (unless, of course, it's The Count of Monte Cristo....)  Did I mention I stayed up until 3am reading the other night??  Without a book I'm in bed between 9 and 10.  If I'm in the middle of a great book I read it until it's finished.  (headaches aren't an issue at our house..  it's more like "sorry dear, in the middle of a good book...)

Here's my perplexing question.  If I love reading so much how come I completely lost intrest in reading during college????  not kidding.  I really could have exerted myself a LOT more during that time of my life.  Maybe I was all read out???  Good thing I ended up with a job anyway...

Right now I'm just borrowing books wily nilly since there is a limited selection available.  Or, as I'm finding out, most are available online in audio book format.  Which is nice - but I want to read it, not listen to it.

Anther question...  How do people read 3 and 4 books at one time???  I know plenty of people that are "in the middle of" several books all at once!  I can't fathom that.  Technically I suppose I have 2 books going right now.  But one is a "reference" book on personal finance (I'm brushing back up on long term investments) and the other is my "fun" book, The Lovely Bones.  (although it's not really "fun" per se...)

Once I read a book I usually can't remember it 3 months later.  (sometimes just 3 weeks later...)  That's it!  I've got it! 

I'm a sieve!! 

It just goes right through me!  That's why I can read so much and not get "filled up" by it!!  Remind me not ever to dye my hair blonde.  I'm pretty sure the dye would further open up my brain....

Hot Prod to the Rear

Last year I spent a few months training for a 100 mile bike ride. I took one week off after the ride and then started my three and a half month training period for my half marathon. After my half marathon I essentially quit. I have run about 3 times since mid-January.


What happened?? I used to prefer working out early in the morning but I can't seem to roll out of bed before 7am anymore. (remember, 7 is late for me and definitely not enough time to get to the gym, workout, shower and get to work.) When I don't work out until after work I'm 75% less likely to do it at all. (75% is my not-so-scientific estimation. Although honestly, it's been more like 99% lately.)

I have to have someone to work out with. But I've been running a lot lately and need to find someone that wants to run with me too. But is around my pace. I'd love to find someone who is all about swimming to help me get comfortable in the water. I tried joining a "meet up" group a few years back to get to know more people but it didn't work out. Explain to me how a few hundred people in a group can be full of the most exasperating drama I have ever seen! I tried joining the group to help relieve stress (and boredom) but all it did was make me long for a quiet day on the sofa, or deck, reading a book. Geesh!

So - anyone out there in the blogosphere need a training partner? I'm convinced we can try to keep each other accountable via the internet. (Although I'm not exactly sure about the logistics of it...)

So if anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them.

Update:

I've been sitting at my desk trying to figure out what happened.  Why have I lost my motivation?  And I don't mean my motivation for the past few months.  I mean I've lost my motivation over the past decade.  I know, life changes, people change.  But I feel like I'm losing great habits I used to have as a kid/ young adult.  I remember in high school I would spend hours in the room above the garage dancing, doing sit ups, donkey kicks, gymanstics, all kinds of things.  In college I loved to workout! (so long as it didn't involve long distance running or rowing... but that's a whole 'nother story...)  I was driven.  Now I'm not.

 I always end up in the same place  - I end up beating myself up over it.  All I can think about is my cushy job, the fact I have no kids to eat up my time and energy, I have a husband who is at practice anyways so what's keeping me from working out when he's not home?  Is all this signs of extreme boredom??  That's all I can conclude...

I think I need to stop rehashing all this and, in the infamous works of Nike - Just do it.  I need to just set my alarm for 'O-dark-thirty and get up and run.  (Did I mention I never hit the snooze button on an alarm in my life until after I got married??)  I need to stop being bitter that every day I'm up "early" and the hubby is all snuggled in bed and cozy.  I should be thankful I still have a body that physically can run.  Because one day I might not...

The Universe speaks

I like to think that I have a pretty balanced marriage.  But I think the Universe has other ideas about it.  I believe the Universe thinks I take the hubby for granted too often.  And likes to insert a subtle (or not so sublte) reminder of how I can't make it without him.  

Remember the sump pump incident?  (The first one.)  That occurred while he was out of town on business.  Yes, in the end I took care of it.  But I was also on the phone with him pretty much the whole time. (And when I wasn't on the phone with him I was on the phone with my dad.  Or cleaning up the mess with his dad helping me...)

I got another knock in the head this week.  Not so much one incident in particular - just everything in combination.

• Since we had to wait for the epoxy paint to dry properly that leaves me stuck with starting to move things back in the basement.  I had to "borrow" the son of the next door neighbor to help me move the washer and dryer back into place.
• Apparently every animal we own has decided to throw up on the floor this week.  In retrospect his is probably a good thing to happen when he's out of town....  (which is precisely why we own a nice steam cleaner.)
• Due to the moving of the litter boxes upstairs and then back down for the painting project I apparently have a very confused cat.  Not good.  I awoke yesterday morning to find a pretty little pile-o-cat-poo in front of my china cabinet.  You know, where the litter boxes were before I moved them back downstairs.
• I thought I was just going to pick up a little pile until I went into the family room and noticed a wet spot on the dog bed.  No, our elderly dog is not becoming incontinent.  It was cat pee.  The WORST!!!  Thankfully it was just on the bed (didn't soak through to the carpet or anything) so I can just throw the bed out.
• Liam appears to bark incessantly when he needs out and you aren't there.  Well I guess I didn't hear him barking because I found a nice dog poo in front of the sliding glass door.  Where I'm sure he was trying to patiently wait for me to let him out.  And didn't make it.

Did I mention everything except the first bullet happened on Monday morning?  What a greeting for the week.. (and it continued with me getting to work to find my computer had crapped out...)

Needless to say I threw my hands up in defeat and called Stanley Steemer.  They are coming this afternoon.    Luckily they are still running a special.  'Cuz at this point I didn't care if it was going to cost my $500.  And the cleaning ladies come tomorrow.  I'll have everything back to "normal" by the time he gets home on Friday.  I really think it would have been easier to just throw a kegger while he was gone...

Don't get me wrong, with six animals we deal with this kind of stuff all the time.  Just not all at the same time.  Ugh.

Hey Universe.  If you're listening, I get it.  I'll stop taking the hubby for granted.  Please just stop throwing all this crap at me. (literally.  You're really funny....not)

Heart attack

I do 99.999999% of all my computing on my work computer.  Yes, even blogging. However, said work computer decided this morning that it's done with me.  For the moment anyway.  As IT tries to work on it (all of this morning, might I add) I have not been able to check my work email.  Which is kind of a problem since I haven't checked it Friday.  And I don't mean this past Friday.  I mean Friday-before-I-went-FL Friday.

Sure I could have checked it while on a business trip.  Heck, I'm sure they want me to check it while I was on a business trip.  But I was busy and then too tired to care.  I don't get too many emails at this job anyway.  (for comparison I did log in today and saw I had 77 new messages.  That's for 9 days...  In my last job I averaged 80+ emails a DAY...)  I could open Outlook - I just can't read anything...

So during lunch I've come home to check it via our web mail system.   Which, guess what - isn't working!!

So I decided to update my blog.  I don't have it bookmarked on this computer. (why would I??) So I typed in my address just to get the links to read all of y'alls blogs.  Can you image the heart attack I had when I saw this on my page.  (you gotta click it to see..)

 
When did I get pregers and not know about it?!?!?!

Needless to say, I typed the wrong address.  That's the blog you get if you go to suburbanzookeeper.blogspot.com.  Whew!  I had a mini heart attack there for a minute.

Where to begin??

Sorry for my absence but I was in Florida for work last week.  I flew out early Monday and came home around midnight Thursday.  I had Friday off.  So much has happened since last Monday I don't know where to start (or what exactly you'll be interested in reading...)  So here, in chronological order, I will try to recap some funny, some interesting things.

1.  Apparently hell froze over.  I connected to my FL flight through Detroit.  I had gotten up really early to catch my original flight so I was really hoping to sleep on this leg.  I was in the aisle with a relatively young mom, dad and 2 year old.  (I say relatively - I know the mom was under 30.  i.e. younger than me.)  The toddler was starting to get cranky before we ever pushed back from the gate.  Yes, I admit it.  I fly 99% for business and I have no kids.  Therefore I am one of "those people" that cringe when kids get on my plane.  I completely understand that families travel and kids are part of the package.  And kids, more often than not, are just fine during the flight.  But not always.  So when this toddler started getting fussy (and I myself had been up since 4am) I started to panic.  In a fit of desperation I started playing peek-a-boo with her hoping to calm her down.  Next thing I know she's holding her arms out to me wanting me to hold her.

I know, I was as surprised as you probably are.  I usually repel kids.  Or scare them.  But little Madalyn wanted on my lap.  I didn't care and her mom didn't either so I took her.  She immediately curled up and went to sleep.  On my lap.  On a 2.5 hour flight.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep because I was afraid to wake her.  Her mom and I chatted that whole time.  (Believe it or not, I rarely talk to people on planes.)  Maddie stayed put.  She slept until about 30 minutes before touchdown.  Even then she was groggy and just flopped around occasionally.  All in all she was fine.  At one point I asked her mom if my MIL had paid her for this little stunt.  Mom laughed and assured me she does not know my MIL - but knew how I felt.
(Note:  as cute as she was she didn't sway my personal feelings on having kids.  So, MIL, if you're reading, your little stunt didn't work.)

2.  Kayaks and gators.  I was in FL for our managers meeting,  There were 8 of us total.  Three of us are women.  Wednesday afternoon was supposed to be our "group activity day".  Which I find ironic as we NEVER do anything as a group during this time.  Not to be the one to upset tradition, Eastern Division Manager and I decided we weren't getting roped into another round of golf.  So we booked a kayaking trip in the Everglades.  Customer Service Manager wasn't feeling well so she opted to stay at the hotel and linger by the pool.  EDM and I took an AWESOME three hour guided kayak trip in Everglade City.  Our guide was SO knowledgable!!  It was just me, EDM and the guide so we got a great experience.  Not to mention we saw LOTS of gators.  Some in the 10-15 foot range.  As in LONG.  We would just paddle by and they'd just be there.  Maybe 15 - 20 feet away.  It was surreal.  (and a tad scary..) I was doing ok until the guide asked if we would be interested in going through some narrow areas to get to a cyprus forest.  I thought it was a fabulous idea... until she grabbed her paddle, started paddling into the reeds and yelled over her shoulder "just watch out for snakes."  I stopped.  Did you know I have an unbelievable fear of snakes?? 

I finally sucked it up and went.  Luckily I didn't see any snakes.  Then again, I wasn't looking that hard.  Hopefully EDM will send me some pictures she took and I'll post them.

3.  Painting a basement floor.  The hubby and I finally had enough time to paint the basement floor with the Rustoleum floor kit.  An epoxy paint, complete with chips you sprinkle around.  It's drying as I type this.  Looks MUCH better than the original floor.  And it hides the wear and tear from our first sump pump flood, let alone the second one....

4.  And finally - the library ROCKS!!.  I haven't had a library card since, well...  I don't think I've been in a library since grad school....  I decided to get a local library card Friday.  I thought it would be a good thing to have now that I have a LS.  Can I just tell you how COOL it is?!?!?!?  Ok, ok - I'm sure lots of you guys with families, and/ or teacher are already in the know.  Did you know you can rent MOVIES there?!?!?  For FREE!!!!!  (the hubby and I watched Adventureland last night.)  And our library also rents ebooks that I can download on my Nook!!   For FREE!!!! How cool is that?!?!?!?  I was just playing around with it before I decided I needed to blog about all this stuff. 

PLUS - the day I signed up for my card they were telling me about upcoming events.  They were having their first FREE yoga class the following day.  They are starting to have a free yoga class every Saturday!!!  AWESOME!!!!  So I went.  I took my own little yoga mat all by myself (cuz KVeg crapped out on me : P  )  It was very basic but just what I needed.  (I've been having some issues with my back and hips... ) the stretching really helped!

So, here's what you need to glean from this post:
1. If your toddler starts to be comfortable with ALL strangers, be worried.  Not a good sign for the future.
2.  Gators are fun to watch.  Behind a fence.  But if you decided to be stupid and look at them in a kayak it's probably better NOT to go during mating season.  (did I mention that it's now the start of mating season???)
3.  It's a wonderful feeling knowing you and your significant other can complete an arduous task without killing each other.  It's even more gratifying to know that you actually work well together.
4.  Get a library card!!!!