Weekend Review {10/12}

FRIDAY

I had to set an alarm (GASP) so I could actually wake my ass up and get ready and commute my ass TO WORK.  Oh yes, I went into the office.  It could barely be called a work day, but that's exactly what I did.

Backyard watch team.

FIRST HOODIE OF THE SEASON
Ok, it's actually the 2nd, but this was a DAYTIME hoodie, so I'm counting it as first.
Also, someone besides Husband got to see it.  That matter.

My commute into DC was easy peasy.  The most complicated part was that the garage to my building is closed so I had to figure out where the other garage was.  There had been a vague discussion about it earlier in the week so I knew it wasn't far and I just kinda winged it and it managed to work out.  I only had to ask 1 person for direction and I did validate with security that I was in the correct building.  From there, I relied on my shitty memory of going in for my first day to get to where I was supposed to be and it worked.  I was actually ALMOST there before second guessing myself and asking that one person, but I didn't check the OTHER direction, so I didn't see where I was supposed to be and went back to where I started.  Whatever it's complicated.  I managed.  

FIRST EVER OFFICE SELFIE!!!

One of my coworkers was in the office to check the mail so I got to meet him in person and another coworker was actually coming into the building to manage some other stuff, but swung by to say hi and give me a copy of the relational diagram for our database which made me super pumped.  I had some issues getting all my stuff setup and connected, but thankfully, the IT guy who I met on my first day (who actually remembered me AND my name (riddle me impressed)) was in the cube right across from me, so he was able to help me out.  Once I got everything righted around and we figured out that I had accidentally turned off the power on the power strip under the desk, which was why my coworker couldn't remote into his tablet, I headed back home.  

I stopped and picked up lunch on the way in since I had a meeting as soon as I got in the door.  After my meeting, Teh Bestie and Teh Chief Smartass departed and I could no longer function due to a #BarometerHead situation and took to the couch.  And then I had to get up and go medicate, and then I went back to the couch.  I was to the point that I was nauseous, so it was bad news bears.  After an hour of almost napping, I was able to open my eyes and breathe again without the vomitous feeling.  The rest of the evening was spent on my screens and snuggling with beasties. 

I ended up going to bed at 0100 because I make poor life choices.

SATURDAY

Secret made sure to start barking about whatever the fuck she was barking about at 0620.  I told her to go back to bed.  She continued barking.  I got up and let all the beasts go business and went back to bed.  Then at 0730 or something, the barking started back up again and I yelled at her and she barked and I yelled and she barked and I finally lost my fucking shit on her and screeched like a banshee and she STFU and ran away terrified that her parents had left her with a fucking psycho bitch (she ain't wrong).  I was able to have 15 minutes of peace and I finally got up and fed the assholes breakfast.

Since I was already up, I opted to make my grocery store run to pick up the ingredients we needed for taco soup.  Teh German was leaving Charleston in the AM to deliver Pax and the rest of the dog things and both motorcycles to MD and I knew I wanted to have everything ready for when he arrived.

Ok so, quick story.

When I first came back from GTMO, I went into the grocery store and my mind was blown by ALL THE OPTIONS.  We had a limited supply in GTMO and everyone there accepted it because we didn't have a choice.  I felt like that lady from The Sound of Music who is singing in the fields, except it was me dancing down the multiple aisles of frozen goods.

When I came back from Bahrain, I went into the grocery store and my mind was blown by the comfort of recognizable things.  Mostly, I did my grocery shopping at the market below my flat and at the NEX while I was on base so I didn't have to make a trip out in town to the actual grocery store (Carriefour).  

So anyways, since Teh Bestie moved to northern MD, she's talked about going to Wegman's.  I worked in a grocery store for multiple years while I was in high school.  I get grocery stores.  Obviously, I've been going into them my entire life.  I had never experienced anything like walking into Wegman's.  It was like I had been going to the GTMO commissary my entire life.  Wegman's is like the MECCA of all grocery stores.  I didn't even know.  I thought all grocery stores were created equal.  Turns out, I was fucking WRONG.  

I wanted to just stand there and marvel at all the things.. but then I would have been blocking ingress/egress traffic and I don't do that as a personal mission, so I carried on and picked up my 4 items turned 5, after finding brown cheese that I've been searching for since March 2014 after I met the Prince of Norway at Epcot.  Unfortunately, that Disney brown cheese must have had the special Disney magics, because the brown cheese I had when I got home was not nearly as delicious as I remember it being.

Anyways, before I had went into the grocery store, I called in my breakfast order at Rise, which was across the street.  There are no photos because I forgot that my phone could be used to do anything besides GPS, Disney Emoji Blitz, take dog photos, and group text.  Oops.  I had the blueberry biscuit with sausage and added a fried egg and it was just as fucking delightful as I needed it to be.

I spent the rest of the day playing Throne of Bitches with my bitches (the dogs) and reading Allie Brosh's new book (which I'm still not sure how I feel about).

I did have to make a 2nd trip to the grocery store to pick up some items I had forgotten, but I went to Weis, a peasant grocery store (and by peasant I mean normal grocery store).

Teh German arrived with Moosey-Moose and Bagheera and Lars-Ludwig around 7:45 and we got Pax fed, fed ourselves, then unloaded the trailer of all the things.  After we were finished, we had some screen time, more for Teh German's sake than mine, and decided at 10 that it was bedtime.  I knew this would have consequences in the AM since Secret gets her late night snack at 11 usually, so she'd be hellbent in the AM about waking me up since she'd be starving.  But Teh German had been driving all day, his first long trip with the new trailer AND with Pax and he was tired, so it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning started exactly as I expected, with Secret annoying the fuck out of me.  Instead of going banshee on her, I got up and let out all the beasts and fed them.  I knew this would mean extra annoyance in the PM hours, but I just wanted to fucking lay in bed without being harassed for a few more hours... which is exactly what happened.

Teh German and I finally got up around 0915 since he'd wanted to leave earlier so he wouldn't be getting back to Charleston super late.  Our original plan included riding the bikes to brunch, but there was a threat of rain and Teh German said that he'd like to get back home at a decent time, so I acquiesced as I was not the one driving 8 hours, 12 hours after having driven 8 hours to be at a place.  See, I'm not always bad at marriage!

After coffee and breakfast, Teh German headed out and I spent a 2nd day playing Throne of Bitches with my bitches + Pax.  My day consisted of Disney Emoji Blitz and listening to my audiobook and texting with Teh Sister about hip surgery and listening to it rain and snuggling with dogs and being generally lazy AF.

Olive needed to check that my business was going well.

And then she was adorable.

Since I had eaten taco soup for breakfast (keep your judgement to yourself, that shiz is delicious), I really didn't want it for dinner.  So I spent a battery killing amount of time trying to decide what I'd like for dinner and when I noticed that the Cheesecake Factory had pineapple upside down cake cheesecake on the meny, it was easily decided.  

Things I noticed:

1- Doordash charges $1 more on all the menu items than to order on the Cheesecake Factory site for pickup.

2- My driver sat at a place that was NOT Cheesecake Factory for 15 minutes AFTER picking up my order.  I was a little pissed when my food did arrive and it was barely lukewarm.  But it was delicious and I ate like I had never eaten before ever.  

If you don't get the pineapple upside down cake cheesecake, you are wrong.

After dinner was couch time until it was doggy dinner time.  Teh German did call as he got off 26 and he was rather hangry, which I gently pointed out to him after I tried to ask some silly "road trip" questions and he got pissy with me.  I was just trying to keep him entertained, but he wasn't in the mood.. because he hadn't eaten anything but gas station snacks and greek yogurt+apple+nuts all day, but what do I know?  Also, one of the first things he asked me was if there was still a frozen pizza in the freezer, which would indicate that he hadn't eaten and was hungry.  So ya know, I'm a real genius over here.

My evening was spent on my screens, as my day had been spent.  After my phone was almost dead a 2nd time (shut up with your judgement, kthx), I gave it up and moved to the laptop to do something productive with my screentime, like draft this post that I won't be able to write on Monday since it'll be MY turn to drive back to Charleston.

Dog evening looked like this: 

Pax's archnemesis is ANY fly in the house.  He becomes very alligator like with his snappy teeths, which is moderately alarming if you're not expecting it.  This photo is after he missed the fly. 

The Bestie and Teh Chief Smartass came home ALMOST past curfew (looool), but they did manage to make it home on Sunday night after a weekend at Cedar Point.

______________________________________________

I told Teh German that I was glad for a completely lazy, nothing-to-do weekend.  I know that next week is panning out to be extremely busy with packing things and dinner dates.  I did feel bored at points, but I was able to mitigate it enough not to go crazy... and obviously it wasn't that bad if I didn't absolutely HAVE to get out of the house on Sunday to pick up dinner.  /shrug.

I underestimated just how short Teh German's time in MD was going to be, but I did definitely appreciate one night of snuggles.  I spammed Instagram this weekend with all the cute dog photos and I have a secret obsession with scrolling through my own Instagram feed because I'm obsessed with my dogs and I realized that I didn't even realize that the last photos I took of the beasts at home were their last photos in Haus.  It was definitely a sad realization.  Teh German even commented that he was going to be ALL ALONE overnight in the house and that it was going to be weird.  We tried to think back to a time when that had happened before, but we couldn't come up with anything off-hand, although I'm fairly confident that he's had overnights without me or the dogs before, although maybe the tank was around then, so there was at least a fish to keep him company, LOL.

Part of me wishes we'd gotten one last family photo in front of the house, but I know we'll get a new family photo in front of the new MD house.  I think that a photo in front of SC Haus would bring up too many sad memories of leaving our framily behind, so maybe it's best we didn't get one.  

So, in fun news, I'm off work tomorrow, LOOOOL.  I forgot that we are now in the season of holidays every month!  ANNNDDDDD now I get all these holidays off AND PAID and it doesn't come out of my PTO!  I'd say it's the small things, but that's fucking huge.

In addition to being off, it's also Sandy's 8th birthday!  That doesn't seem like old lady age, but for a big dog, that's elderly AF, especially when your Mahm doesn't know your past-life and expected you to die a few months ago since you were supposed to be a hospice foster, each day is a cherished day.  

That said, Sandra is obviously no longer a hospice dog, much less a foster.  I'm not looking forward to the day that we have to make any hard decisions for her, but I will do that for her because she's shown me strength and perseverance and determination since May.  She's shown me that old ladies are full of surprises and do best when given LOTS of delicious treats (preferably freeze dried chicken hearts and beef lung pieces), plenty of space on the couch, and allowed to drag you down the street at a full on sprint because she's feelin' sassy.

Floofus snuggles melt my heart.

Happy Birthday to my Sandra Dee,

These past 5.5 months have been... interesting.  You don't know the strife that it caused when I insisted on bringing you home.  We are not a 3-dog family, but apparently we are now, even if it's definitely temporary.  But no matter what happened before you arrived, all of the strife was absolutely worth it.  I am sorry that your family decided that they didn't want you anymore because you are everything I didn't know I needed + a little more stress that is slightly unnecessary but I'll manage because you are the bestest floofiest old lady that I've ever met.  I know they loved you at some point because you sit and shake like a champ.  You are never shy about what you need, be that to go outside or play time with Mahm and Dad or extra snacks.  I'm so glad that your strength has returned and I'm much less worried about your shuffles these days, as you get around just fuckin' fine, thank you very much.  I know you don't really love strangers, but you were a champ with all the stranger danger at the going away gathering and for that, I love you extra.  Thank you for being my umbilical cord dog, even if I get frustrated sometimes.  Despite not being a 3-dog family, I hope you're around for as many more years as you'll give me.  

Love, 

Your Mahm