The worst best day.

Today is the worst best day.

Today 3 years ago, I started my college career. I spent the morning at the vet with Phil, who we had to let go, then I went home for a little bit, made the announcement that Baggins was gone and the dragged myself down to the Citadel to speak with an advisor over a degree plan. I was late and explained I had put my dog down earlier that morning and she was like, "Why did you come? We could have rescheduled." I said, "Life has to go on."

And so it has. 

Exactly 3 years later, to the day, and within the same hour of meeting with that advisor, I completed my final final.

I'm relieved and anxious and scared and numb and happy and sad about it.  

Coinciding with that coincidence, I finally revealed a secret I had been keeping, the addition of a Sandra Dee (Sandy) to our pack. 

Today has been hard. I've been in my feelings about Phil and about school and next steps and the future + work frustrations + graduation disappointments and crushed expectations + the joy of 16 legs in the house and I'm all over the place. 

I write this as my Monkey-Doodle sleeps beside me on the couch, and my Paximoose sleeps on my other side on the floor (his choice, there's a bed within a foot of him), and Husband sits on the couch across from me with the Floofernoodle asleep at his feet. 

Despite the roller coaster of emotions and feelings, the strongest feeling I have is that of contentment. 

This is my life. 

This is what I work for. 

This is what I've earned. 

This is enough. 

PS.  I'll catch you up soon on the last few weeks.  Obviously, it's been crazy around here.

Weekend Review {07/15}

FRIDAY

Friday morning was like a normal workday, except that my backpack was heavier than normal since I packed a weekend's worth of outfits in it.  Thankfully, it's summer, so just the backpack was actually an option.  I'm silly and brought a long sleeve shirt "just in case" which is laughable after the fact.

I brought Teh German to work, then I went to work until I needed to leave to get to the airport.  I picked up Teh German, brought us to the airport, and then Teh German headed back to work while I enjoyed my TSA Pre-Check life.

The flight was quick, which was great.  After we landed, I hoofed it across the airport to find that the rental cars desk was NOT in the airport as advertised, so I had to take a bus to the rental car pick up place, ugh.  Not that I didn't have the time, just that I don't like being inconvenienced in anyway.

Once I got the rental car situation sorted out, I left the airport, the long/wrong way, and stopped by IHOP for pancakes because I have been craving IHOP pancakes since Germany.

On the trek to Pax River, I almost finished my audiobook.  It was good I had a GOOD audiobook to distract me from the shittiness of DC/NoVA drivers, which I had forgotten about.

When I arrived to Teh Running Bestie's house, everyone was excited to see me, as excited as I was to be there!

We didn't have any plans so we hung out and did nothing but chat and scroll and laugh.  Around 5:30, we headed out to KFC to pick up dinner, then headed to St. Mary's College to eat and endure the heat and wait for the concert to start.

We continuously had to remind ourselves where the correct camera dot was.

Sunset over the river.

The River Concert was a-ok.  There was some chorus stuff, that Teh Running Bestie enjoyed more than I did, as she was a Chorus Nerd.  As the concert went on, it got better.  There was a light show and at the end, one of the chorus dudes did a solo and he was walking through the crowd like it was his personal concert hall, owning the place like the MFin' boss he was.

By 9:45, we were back home and scrolling and laughing and chatting with our dudes and dogs.

To ensure a proper bestie weekend, bed sharing and talking yourselves to sleep is #1 requirement.

SATURDAY

Our schedule got rearranged by the greyhound hauler, so we went to the Groomathon in the AM and then had a full day of laziness.  Welll, I did.. Teh Bestie had to accomplish some adult shit.  This wasn't a bad thing because it meant that I got to see my old, and best, landlord ever.  It was great to be able to take some time to chat with him and catch up on life.  It's crazy that we've loosely been part of each other's lives since 2013 and his daughter has gone from a little girl to a big girl who does cool shit with him.

Olive begging for extra breakfast.

Scritches with Olive

New retired racer!
I have no idea what his name is.. only that he peed for like half my life and then just stood there in pee-stance, not peeing.

I also finally got to meet the new puppy, Dash.
He's a monster.  I love him.

On the way home from the Groomathon, we stopped by Mission BBQ to pick up lunch to bring home.  When we got home from the Groomathon with 2 foster dogs, they were put in crates to chill out while we were eating.  One of them was more serious about his chill out time.  Sadly, I didn't get a photo of the 2nd foster, who is a cow-dog.  They were both good boys.

In the evening, after the roof person and landlord had come and gone and the backyard poop spot had been mowed, we did lazy things together.  Eventually, we decided on Blizzards from Dairy Queen for dinner.  We sat at DQ for a long while because it was perfect outside in the shade with the breeze and the not melting hot.  Also, I tried the Sour Patch Kids Blizzard.  Not my jam.  I enjoyed the flavor, but not having to pick gummy shit out of my teeth.  No thanks.

We sat there for long enough that we got kinda hungry again, so we agreed to go to KFC again for "dessert".  #NoRagrats #SorryNotSorry #BestieWeekend #NoRules. We got our KFC to go and brought it home.  Teh Running Bestie packed some stuff after dinner and then we had some screen and significant other time.

Olive napped before bed.

After significant other time, I did some research on Samsung smartwatches, which led me down a rabbit hole until after 0015.  We were in the bed, talking each other to sleep when the foster dogs downstairs started singing the song of their people and we were both extremely confused until I heard the sirens go by on the street nearby.  So that was a fun good night ode from the beasts.

SUNDAY

The worst day of Bestie Weekend, my go home day.  We had a slow start and Teh Running Bestie made pancakes for breakfast and she learned about my pancake batter addiction.  I did more watch research and got absolutely no where.  I let Olive help clean the breakfast dishes because I'm a good Momma Megan and I don't often get to spoil my Golum-Girl.

Around 1:45, I headed back to DC.  I was happy/sad when my good audiobook ended.  In preparation for this situation, I already had another audiobook ready to go.  Traffic wasn't as annoying as when I arrived.. Apparently, DC Sunday drivers = my level of aggressive driving now.  So there's that...  I stopped by and filled up the tank when I got into Arlington, then returned the rental car at the airport.  I learned there was a walkway to the terminals from the garage, which post-annoyed me for Friday.  Oh well.

Thank Allah for TSA Pre-Check, because, again, I walked right through security without having to wait or take off my flip flops and walk barefoot through security (which I wouldn't have worn if I didn't have Pre-Check to be honest).  Personally, I believe that Pre-Check is better for those individuals who live at major airports, like DCA/IAD/BWI+, rather than smaller airports, like CHS, but I'm not sad that I paid for it, as I hate waiting and it's like every time I go through "peon" security, the persons in front of me have no idea what they have to take out of their bag or which shoe they need to remove and never empty their pockets.. and just... no.

Left: Sad I'm leaving.
Right: Glad I'm going home.

At my gate, I checked out the eating options and ended up at Wow Bao for some delicious (airport) bao.  I noticed a Five Guys in the corner, but the milkshake menu appeared to be covered up, so I figured their machine was broken.  Butttt, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to go over and ask if it was working.  Of course it was.  So I picked up a strawberry oreo milkshake and if it hadn't been $6, Five Guys would be my new go-to milkshake place... but I'll stick with the $4 Cookout thick-ass milkshakes because I'm cheap AF.

In the area where I was sitting was a Mom and her 3 older teenage boys.  She was the hovering type of mom that really grates on my nerves and just couldn't seem to settle and was always asking the boys, who were fully immersed in their screens, things that weren't important or making comments.  At some point, a phone started ringing and she kept asking Christopher if that was his phone ringing.  I finally pointed at the desk and said, "It's the desk."  She didn't hear me and more insistantly asked CHristopher if it was his phone ringing.  BTW, CHristopher had earbuds in...  Again, I repeated, "It's the desk."  At which point she said, "Wow, ok, you didn't have to be short!"

BITCH PLEASE.  I get "proper" southern women, and she was one of those.  Not giving a fuck, I instantly responded, "You didn't hear me the first time."  At which point, she purposely turned herself away from facing me, which was hilarious since I was directly in front of her, and she started viciously whispering at the son beside her, "Did you hear the way she talked to me?"  I almost felt bad for the boys who were travelling with her, who wouldn't hear the end of it until someone else pissed her off.

Thankfully, they boarded within 5 minutes of the situation and I wasn't sad.  A mom and her son took their places and a teenage girl with blue hair came over and sat near me.  The girl complimented my blue hair and I complemented hers back.  We started chatting and she told me about herself and her (lofty, yet admirable) plans for college.  Then we went back to our screens.

When it was almost time to board, the little boy across from me with his mom was excited about the planes outside and I started chattering with him.  At first he was shy, but he quickly came out of his shell as I asked him if our plane was leaving us or if the planes were going to crash.  Then he saw our place under the walkway and showed me where it was.  It was cute, there I said it.

Finally, it was our time to board, and the mom and son were behind me in line to go through the gate.  He kept saying, "Fucker, fucker, fucker..." and I'm dying laughing and apologized for laughing since it only encourages them.  Also, I was worried I had said fucker and he had heard it from me....  But I had purposely not cussed since I was sitting across from the WASP and didn't need that in my life... and then I spoke with a teenage girl and I was trying to be good.  It was difficult, but I was pretty sure I hadn't said anything he had picked up on.  The mom asked if I had kids and I said no.  She responded that she was surprised since I was so good with them.  I laughed and said, nope.

They ended up sitting right behind me on the plane.  I, luckily, was assigned a window seat, in a row with pretty cool dudes.  While we waited to push off, I chatted with the men in the row.  They were impressed I'd been able to fit my backpack in the overhead storage area (#likeaboss) and the man beside me and I ended up chatting and I found out that he was a professional wakeboarder who had actually made a trip to GTMO with the USO as a morale trip.  Not at the same time as I was there, but he perked up when I said Cuba after I listed out my duty stations.  For some reason, being in the Navy had come up, and he asked where I'd been stationed.  Then the guy on the other side of the aisle ended up being from Eastern Tennessee and knew where Home, Home was.  #SmallWorld

Once we pushed off, my rowmate put in his earbuds to watch his phone.  I put in mine and attempted to take a nap.   Because the part of the day that I haven't mentioned yet is that I woke up fighting a headache.  I had medicated at Teh Running Bestie's house, but it progressively got worse and worse throughout the day.

I realized while I was sitting at the airport that I hadn't had any caffeine the entire day, which is not normal.  I figured that was the cause.  I also had lunch a bit late.  Anddd it's summer time which means a 50% chance of rain/storms on any given day at any given time. 

By the time we landed in Charleston, my head was really hurting and I had to try to power through it.  When Teh German picked me up with his radio at a normal level, the first thing I did was turn it down and changed the channel to something with less screaming.  And when he started whistling?  There was death in my glare, that he didn't see.  I was trying to be strong, so I didn't complain and just hoped he'd stop whistling.  He did.. eventually.

When we got home, we had to make dinner, which was thankfully quick.  After eating, we sat down to watch an episode of The Americans before bed.  A few minutes into it, Teh German had to go fetch something from Teh PT Husband, so he paused the show.  While he was gone, the throbbing in my head progressively got worse and worse the longer I sit-laid on the couch.  I noticed when I stood up, the nausea from the pain lessened.  At which point, I decided to have a Lindt chocolate ball for some caffeine with 3 aleve and then went upstairs to bed.  I knew I couldn't endure an hour of bright screen time.

Thankfully, Teh German was understanding.  He didn't come to bed right away, but that was fine.  I managed to bring my backpack upstairs, leaving it to unpack Monday morning, and brushed my teeth and washed my face and gently placed myself in the bed and turned off the lights.  I laid in the bed groaning and feeling nauseous every time my heart pumped.  I finally realized that if I laid completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) still, I wouldn't feel as nauseous and my head wouldn't throb so bad.

Teh German came to bed within 10 minutes of me laying in bed dying/groaning.  I was glad because I didn't want to be woken up later and have to deal with going back to sleep.  At some point in the middle of the night, I woke myself up when I rolled over and realized I could move again and that I wasn't going to vomit when I moved, so that meant that I was recovered enough to not dread the next day.

______________________________________________

Thankfully, when I woke up this morning, my headache was completely gone and it didn't come back.  We got our tests back from last week and I made a 79.  I'll take it.  I prefer 80s+, but almost all the questions I missed were questions that I'd marked that I hadn't understood how to answer, so I didn't feel bad about this score.

UNfortunately, in true Monday form, driving to school this morning, a rock popped up from the road and (finally) cracked my windshield.  I've been waiting on this to happen for a while now, just because I-26 is a disaster waiting to happen.  I've got so many chips in the paint on the hood of my car and chinks in the windshield from rocks that I try not to even notice anymore.

Bottom: The initial crack when I got to school.
Middle: The crack when I left school to go to work.
Top: The crack when I left work to go home.

Probably one of the reasons SC insurance is so expensive, but our insurance covers 1 free windshield replacement per year at $0 deductible, so that's a positive.  But, it means I have to go through the hassle of getting a new car wash sticker after the windshield is replaced, so that's annoying.

I did drop off my laptop at Best Buy tonight and because I was late for my appointment, they tried to tell me I had to make another appointment and I was very clear about the fact that I'd be dropping off my computer tonight and not making an appointment.  I learned after the Agent came out that the store had lost power because of the storms that were rolling through the area, so even if I had been on time, they might not have been able to help me.  That said, anyone who has lived in the area for more than 5 minutes knows that if it's raining ANYWHERE, rush hour traffic will be fucked up, so my being late shouldn't have been a surprise or a hassle.  /EndRant

Anyways, my laptop is on it's way BACK to the repair place and hopefully I'll see it again soon... I say soon, knowing that it will be 3 weeks.  /RAGE

This week is a quiet week.
Just operations as normal.


PS.  It was Prime Day today.  Kind thoughts are requested for my poor credit card.

Weekend Review {4/13}

FRIDAY

Since I rode Mike to work, I decided to take a small detour on the way home and went on a solo ride which included riding by the place that I normally run in the afternoons.. and man it's much faster to drive than run.  On my way back home, I hit traffic which was horrible since it was so hot outside and I was wearing all the clothes.  I definitely could have ran that length of road faster than I was able to drive it...

Eventually, I made it home and warned Mr. Scrooge not to come home that way (because I'm a good person, if you had forgotten) and laid down.  The dogs (Meri and Xero) to be exact weren't having any of that.  They insisted on playing in the bedroom with all the toys that still squeak and with each other, and all the growling and pawing, and noise, oh my.

Eventually, Mr. Scrooge came home.  I wasn't really in the mood to make dinner (because it was so hot and I was going to have to use the oven) so I suggested we go out.  Mr. Scrooge suggested we ride out, so I agreed.  We ended up going to Early Bird Diner, which we've been to before with Teh Architect and Teh SC House Finder.  My criteria for dinner was that it be somewhere absolutely delicious.  We had went to a super crappy Mexican place for dinner on Thursday night and then I had left my lunch at home on Friday (faiiiiiilllll) so I went to Sesame and was super disappointed by my Turkey Club.

Side note: when we went to the brewery meet and greet last month, they had art hanging on the walls and I had meant to purchase one but ended up forgetting before we left.  I had been thinking about going back and picking it up off and on and when we went to Early Bird, they had the artist on display too!  It was fate, so I bought 2.  I didn't take a picture but it's a critter drawn with a monocle and mustache and it's so adorable I HAD TO HAVVZZZZ ITS..

In other sweet finds at Early Bird, I found some Disney books for Teh Sister's bouquet for the wedding.  I might have stole these books and I only feel moderately guilty since these books are GOLD.

Country fried chicken and collard greens for Mr. Scrooge and chicken and waffles for me.  NOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Oatmeal Cream Pie ice cream, which I had to message Teh SC House Finder to make sure this was the most delicious flavor over Cheerwine.

Teh Architect got a photo of Mike and Clifford in action!

It was a rough drive home because Mike's displays don't light up.  It's difficult when you can't HEAR the engine (earplugs+helmet) and you can't see the RPMs to change gears at the right times, so getting out of first gear was the worst.  Getting out of the parking lot was worse than the entire motorcycle safety course I took last fall.

We did make it home though and then it was bedtime.

SATURDAY

Saturday it was supposed to rain, so we didn't plan on going on a ride.  Since I have the 10 miler next week, and I hadn't ran on Friday (since it was miserably hot), I vowed to run at least 8.5 miles Saturday morning.  It was a slow start getting out of the bed, but I did run.  I could have added the additional quarter mile to make it 10 miles even, but I forced myself to "save my legs."  Generally after 5 miles, I get in a groove and want to add additional distance because "it's not that bad" which is completely ridiculous. 

I knew it was supposed to rain, but I had anticipated it starting later than it did.  It didn't really matter much to me because running in the rain (when it isn't cold) is one of my favorite things.  I'm sure all the people that passed the crazy dripping wet girl who was smiling from ear to ear were a little freaked out, but seriously, running in the rain is one of my favorite things.  It might also have something to do with how much I hate running when it's hot out and that one year I got 3.5 days of rain in 402 days.  It's a thing.

After my run, I came home and stretched and gave the puppies lovins.  Mr. Scrooge had taken the dogs on a walk while I was out running, which was awesome.  I showered and got ready to head out since I needed to make a store run.  Mr. Scrooge confirmed that he was going with me and I set the ground rules.  I explained to him that I had to go to Walmart and it's a Saturday and that I was in NO rush and it was going to be busy and if he came with me, he wouldn't flip out about stupid people doing stupid shit and he'd be patient.  Then I had to go to the grocery store, then the butcher.

Mr. Scrooge agreed to my stipulations of him joining me and he did a very good job of being patient.  He got a little antsy towards the end of our Walmart visit and had he been able to make a decision about citronella candles we would have been able to leave about 15 minute sooner.  We ended up getting one of each to "test" to see which one was best since he couldn't decide.  I'm pretty sure we spent over $25 on bug be gone crap and I giggled when we set it up on the belt and the girl was scanning it and told her we obviously have a SERIOUS bug problem. 

Note: Really the problem is Mr. Scrooge wanting to spray everything with bug spray (like the kind for bodies) and by everything I mean the door frames and himself and the screened in porch (which he used the outside bug spray for).. he just can't accept that we live in SC and our yard is pretty much a breeding ground for bugs since it's so wet all the time.  Sometimes, the CA boy in him just seeps out and I don't know how to handle it so I just ignore it until it costs me too much money...  Because I'm not sure if you've purchased bug spray or not recently, but that shit ain't cheep yall.

After Walmart, we went to Bilo to get the food items on the list (I try to avoid the grocery side of Walmart as often as possible since it's the worst and we get gas rewards for shopping at Bilo).  Having Mr. Scrooge with me meant not going up and down the aisles, which was good and bad for me.  Bad because sometimes I think of things that I aren't on my list, good because saved dollas!  We then headed to the butcher because Mr. Scrooge informed me that me buying ribeyes when they are on sale and freezing them wasn't acceptable (not his exact words, but he insisted "they taste funny" and I didn't get it, but whatevs, the butcher is literally a mile down the road (in fact, I ran by it earlier) so it's not that big of a deal and they are cheaper than the grocery stores). 

After all of that, we headed home.  I had a headache brewing (probably from dehydration and the pressure change) so I laid down while Mr. Scrooge decided to make Mike and Clifford pretty.  Eventually, I got up and started meatloaf for dinner.  As it was finishing up, Mr. Scrooge called me out to look at the new and improved Mike.  He looked almost brand new!  Soooo shinyyyyyyy.

Also, why is it a thing to make herb/seasoning shakers without the little plastic grate thingy with the holes in it?  Ugh.  I added an exorbitant amount of thyme to the water to steam the broccoli because the grate thingy was missing.. and by missing I mean it was never there.  WTF?  Fortunately, it was just the water, but the broccoli definitely had that thyme taste to it.  Subtle it was not.

After dinner I spent some time snuggling the puppers and getting selfies with Xero and taking photos of my one true love, Phil because he was just so handsome and cute.

I was exhausted, so it was bedtime soon after.

SUNDAY

Mr. Scrooge and I had agreed to ride to Edisto beach on Sunday since it wasn't supposed to rain.  We semi-struggled getting out of the bed, but eventually we got up and were out the door.  The trip there is about an hour.  We stopped at a gas station to fill up before getting on the back roads since Mr. Scrooge said that gas was going to be expensive at our destination.

The back roads were curvy and Mr. Scrooge had warned me that I should probably go the suggested speeds.  At one curve though, there was no suggested speed.  Additionally, Mr. Scrooge was behind me and I couldn't tell how far behind me he was.  I ended up going into the curve too fast and I didn't lean far enough to get the bike to turn.  Since Mr. Scrooge was behind me, I didn't want to go down on the road and ended up going off road.  The side of the road was covered in leaves and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to stop or keep Mike upright to slow down enough to just not crash.  Since I knew Mike was going down, I made it a point to NOT be under Mike when he stopped.  We went sliding and ended up twisting around before finally stopping.  The only part of me under Mike when we stopped was my calf and my first thought was, "I HAVE A 10 MILER TO RUN NEXT WEEK!" 

It seemed like it took Mr. Scrooge forever to get off his bike.  He had managed to stop in the curve.  It took me 2 times of screaming at him, "GET IT OFF MY LEG!" before he realized I was stuck.  It didn't really hurt, but I couldn't lift it off to slide out from underneath due to the way I was sitting.  He lifted Mike enough for me to slide out and as I stood up, 2 people on Harleys and 1 person on a trike stopped to see if everything was ok.  I was ready to get back on Mike and keep going, but then Mr. Scrooge stood Mike up and I noticed that during our slip and slide one of Mike's handle bars had completely broken off.. in addition to his mirror and he was kinda bent..

While the ladies were chatting with me and making sure I was ok, Mr. Scrooge and the guy lead Mike off the side of the road behind the trees nearby.  The lady who owned the property had seen what happened and explained that this happened all the time since it was a tricky curve. 

Mr. Scrooge was then sent on a mission to go back home and get the truck and the brand new ramp I bought last week (which was delivered Friday, so I probably jinxed myself).  I ended up going to lunch with the Harley crew instead of sitting in a field by the side of the road reading for 2 hours.  I rode on the trike with the craziest lady, but it was a nice ride since I got to look around.  Additionally, riding a trike is boring. 

After a pretty horrible lunch, based on food quality, not company, Mr. Scrooge finally returned to fetch me from the strangers who hadn't killed me.  Not that I was worried, but you never know with people.  It turns out that the less crazy woman is a leader of women's motorcycle rides and also coordinates escorting veteran funerals.  She did tell some crazy stories about families who found out about their person's OTHER family.. and their mistress.. when they all showed up at the funeral.  Soap opera.

After getting Mike loaded up in Mr. Scrooge's truck, we headed back home.  We unloaded Mike and put him back in the garage, looking like a stroke victim.  Then Mr. Scrooge cleaned out the back of his truck since Mike had leaked gas since he was laying over (his tears). 

Since Mr. Scrooge hadn't eaten lunch, we immediately started dinner when we got settled inside.  Mr. Scrooge had marinaded the steaks after we got home on Saturday, so they were tasty and delicious.  He also grilled corn and I made baked microwaved potatoes.

While getting dinner ready, I called Teh Mom and Teh Dad to tell them about Mike and I potentially breaking up before I posted it on FB.  While we ate dinner, I checked my insurance coverage and yay for having signed up for comprehensive coverage with a $100 deductible!  The only issue I'm going to run into now is that Mike still isn't registered in my name, but I do have the title.  It needs to be assessed if Mike is totaled or not before I go register him because if he's totaled, there's no point in wasting the money.  I also kinda worry about what kind of hike my insurance is going to take if I claim Mike.  All the things, ugh.

Most importantly though, I wasn't hurt.  The Harley lady kept telling me how lucky I was that I wasn't hurt.  She said I was lucky I was wearing a full face helmet because of all the stick in the grass and that my jacket had good padding.  I finally just told her, "Wearing protective gear came with riding a motorcycle.  There was never an option.  I wear a helmet and a jacket and gloves because I want to keep as little of me off the road as possible in situations like this."  I was dirty, which was fine, I kept pulling dirt out of my pockets and from the folds of my shirts and my jacket for the rest of the day until I got home and changed. 

The evening was lazy and I finally got my ID photos together for a post that you can expect in the near future.  Mr. Scrooge and I were going to watch a movie, but I lost interest after I mentioned several that he passed up and when he asked me 20 minutes later what I wanted to watch I told him that I didn't care because it had taken him too long to make a decision.

Mr. Scrooge expressed several times how much it had scared him to see my accident happen.  He and I agreed that he was actually more shaken up about it than I was.  Some of that has to do with him feeling like he pressured me into going too fast and going on roads that were above my skill level.  I also know that I should have slowed down and not felt pressured.  So it's 2-fold and the lesson was learned. 

I'm not done riding a motorcycle, but this does put a hindrance on getting to ride together.  Now I get to start the process of doing the insurance claim, which is just going to royally suck hairy monkey balls (I get an image of 2 monkeys wearing crowns with SUPER hairy testicles when I say that, which makes me giggle).  Depending on the insurance claim, I will either be shopping again or getting Mike fixed and based on some initial assessments, we're leaning towards Mike being totaled since the front is twisted.

Completely unrelated, I picked up new shampoo and conditioner this weekend and I LOVE how good it smells.  I had been using Herbal Essences Naked and it was ok, but Organix Tsubaki Blossom might be my new love.  I just keep sniffing my hair and I may or may not have purposely worn it down today so I could sniff it at will.  Mmmmm..

 




Happy Monday, Gentle Readers!


Linking up with Weekending w/ B Loved Boston

Weekend Review {3/23}

Did anyone else notice that for the 2nd week in a row I didn't post on Friday?
No?  Excellent.
Yes?  My bad. Life between my confessions post and this post has taken over and I've kind of given up on writing forced posts... at least for the time being.  I did start a draft post on Thursday but work got busy and I had to abandon it until later.
Then just getting this post written has been overwhelming.  I opened blogger on Saturday and then other things happened and I had to restart my computer and then I never went back to blogger.  Sunday night I started to write this post and I just wasn't into it.  I told myself I'd do it this morning (Monday)...

So the abridged version of my weekend:

FRIDAY

-Due to having 2 meetings that kept me at work till 5 2 days in a row, I was over on hours, which meant Friday was a short day.  I got to work for my morning meetings and then left a little after 1.  WIN.

-I had ice cream for lunch since I had leftovers from Thursday when I had lunch with Teh Wisconsin Blond.

-I ran 5.5 miles, my last "long" run before the Bridge Run next weekend with Teh MD Adult Roomie.

-The afternoon/evening was boring and Mr. Scrooge and I sat around and watched the dogs play, ate dinner, watched Stand By Me (which gave me so much insight as to why boys are the way they are), and enjoyed general lethargy.  Mr. Scrooge made roasted cornish hens and veggies for dinner and it was delicious.

SATURDAY

-Mr. Scrooge fed the dogs which meant I got to lay in bed, which was delightful.  We slept in until 10ish, of course with Meri because she needs her snuggles.

-Meri killed a critter in the yard.  I have no idea what it was, but Mr. Scrooge tossed it over the back fence.

Instead of taking a photo, Mr. Scrooge brought it to the window to show me...

-Mr. Scrooge was going to some motorcycle gang thing and I had some serious shopping plans.

Next week I'll be running this!

-I went and got fitted for running shoes.  I bought my expensive shoes and some overpriced wicking socks and left. 

I shaved my legs for this.  No lie.

They are so ugly, but they feel so good.

-The guy that helped me at the shoe store suggested Graze for lunch when I mentioned getting food was my next stop.  I got in Yurtle and was driving away debating on my food situation and because I rarely go to Mt. Pleasant, I talked myself into going to this Graze place.  I  was super skeptical because this guy seemed to have the possibility of being a health nut and with a name like Graze I was thinking salads.. and meh to that.

So I tried it anyways, SOLID LIFE CHOICE.  OMG SO DELICIOUS.  ALL CAPS DELICIOUS.  I had the special, so I have no idea what it was called, but I did take a photo for you to be jealous of.  #sorrynotsorry

something something sweet basil and crab filled with kale.

Mr. Scrooge and I had discussed getting lunch together since he was around the same area, but he is a flake and I profited from this.  Had we went to lunch together, we probably wouldn't have picked this place.  I'll be going back.

-I went to Target and bought supplies for Easter baskets because I had a coupon for Starburst Jellybeans and if you don't agree with that solid reasoning, we shouldn't be friends.

-I went to the commissary and spent a retarded amount of money, then realized I hadn't really bought groceries in several weeks, so I let it go.

I told Teh MD Roomies I would have TOTALLY chased Teh MD Teenage Roomie around with this huge squash.

-We had a doggy play date with the lady who helped transport Xero to Charleston.  She adopted a galgo and has a greyhound, so she was excited to have other sighthounds in the area to be able to socialize her dogs with.  Both Xero and Desoto (her galgo) are kinda spook dogs, so they didn't really play much.  Neither did Phil, but that's because he just wanted to go inside and eat dinner or get pettins.

Tempe thoroughly enjoyed all the squeaky toys.

-We had pizza for dinner because Mr. Scrooge didn't really want to go out.

SUNDAY

-I got up with the dogs since Mr. Scrooge had taken care of them the day before.  Instead of going back to bed, I stayed up and messed around on the internet and got the motivation to do Easter Bag-skets.

-Since it was raining, it was a completely lazy day.

-I made chili (in the crockpot because see above) for dinner.

-I did laundry after Mr. Scrooge asked me if I needed help doing it.  Which translated to, "Are you planning on doing the laundry?"  I think OCS taught him transparent subtly.  I reassured him that even if I didn't do all the laundry the 2 things that would ALWAYS get washed, no matter what would be his uniform and my sports bras.  I hope this helped put his mind at ease and for him to realize that even if I'm unmotivated, I will get shit done.

-I read for a bit.  I'm loving Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me.  It's chatty like I would expect Mindy to be, but not overwhelmingly random and chatty like Jenny Lawson's book.

-I took a nap, which meant that I struggled to get to sleep when it was bedtime.

-I started watching Cosmos with Mr. Scrooge during dinner but quickly lost interest.  The anime and modern slang that the historical characters used did give me the giggles.

-I gave Meri and Xero half baths since they were running and splashing in huge puddles chasing the neighbor dog up and down the fence.  No one liked that less than me...

-I got an email from the sexist relator saying that the owner of the house was in town and he wanted to come by Tuesday evening.

MONDAY

-Woke up to 2 piles of dog poop in the floor

-Xero refused to let me wipe his muddy paws before he came back inside and I yelled at him, "GET ADOPTED!" and now I feel guilty about it.

-Traffic was backed up more than usual (probably because of a train if I had to guess)

-I got stopped by my nemesis train that takes 10-15 minute to do any kind of movement, which makes me rage since it happens during rush hour times.

-Coffee prep was late, but I had delicious oatmeal (without the berries that I brought in to add) for breakfast.

#firstworldproblems kind of day, aye.  Today also holds a run in my new shoes (which I'm sure will get muddy, grr) and ham for dinner (which is really mixin' it up for me).




Happy Monday, Gentle Readers!


Linking up with Weekending w/ B Loved Boston

Weekend Review {3/16}

FRIDAY

Mr. Voices and Mrs. Boomkin stayed with us on Thursday night, which made my week... which had been pretty difficult the first five days.  Since they were just staying for an overnight and I flexed my hours properly earlier in the week, I was able to go out with them to breakfast on Friday morning at Another Broken Egg Cafe, which has become our go-to place to bring people who are visiting Charleston (mostly because they have call ahead seating, which is very convenient for Sunday morning brunch and because I really love the huevos rancheros).  

They are prepping for the Bridge Run.  I totally send this photo to Teh MD Adult Roomie.

I had to be at work by 9 for my morning meetings and I was only 3 minutes late, which is pretty good considering how much I didn't want us to have to part ways, me to go to work, them to drive back to NJ.  Work was work, and that last hour before it was time to leave almost slayed me.  I didn't want to get caught up in blog comments because then I wouldn't leave on time.  Additionally, I was feeling generally blah, so I wasn't in the mood to write (which seems to be continuing, but I'm powering through it for the time being).

When I finally left at 2, I changed and went on a run.  What I had decided was only going to be a 2 mile run turned into 4.  Originally, I wasn't going to run at all, but then I self-guilted since it was only 65°F out and soon it's going to be 90 billion°F + 196% humidity and I'm going to want to die.  I knew when I didn't want to run that if I did run it was going to be one those surprisingly good runs.  I probably could have went for 5-6 miles, but I wasn't that committed and I went a different way this time, so I wasn't sure if the sidewalk would keep going... #runnerproblems  I hate when that happens though, seriously.  Those always make the hard runs extra hard because they sneak up on you.

This asshole couldn't wait 5 minutes, if that, for the train to pass and instead wanted to execute an unsafe traffic maneuver...  Working near the ship yard and paper mill is very scary sometimes.

After my run, I came home and showered and was generally lethargic and lazy for the evening.  Mr. Scrooge had prepared some hamburglers from the hamburger meat I had defrosted, so he cooked those for dinner after we both napped for a bit.  The problem with longer runs is that I'm famished, but when he fell asleep, I didn't want to rouse him, because I was feeling nice.  Instead I went and laid in the bed and read.  I finished Eleanor & Park and the book Teh BFF got me for Christmas and I worked through more of The Interestings.

#feetupfriday  Gettin' my rollin' on after my run.

#firstworldproblem alert: reading physical books (as in not Teh Flamin' Kindle) is difficult now.  Ok, not really, but because I was laying in bed and I was tired and needed sustenance, I kept trying to doze off and the book would slip and then I'd wake up and do it 4 more times and I finally gave up.  I wouldn't do this with Teh Flamin' Kindle because it was too expensive to fall to the floor so I would have just put it down before I started to nod off.

Mr. Scrooge finally woke up though, and I didn't die of hunger, and the hamburgers were delicious.  We had so many toppings I couldn't keep my burger together and bacon.  Bacon IN the burgers and bacon for the top and cheese and mushrooms and onions and tomato and avocado and spinach.. nooommmm.  We didn't do anything overly exciting while we ate dinner, besides fend off fuzzy beasties and channel surf.

Eventually we headed to bed, where I read some more and Mr. Scrooge FB surfed.

SATURDAY

Originally, we had intended on going to a St. Patrick's Day Parade thingy with Teh SC House Finder and her family, but I switched it up at the last minute and we went to the greyhound meet and greet thingy at Frothy Beard Brewery instead.  I was able to bring all 3 dogs since Mr. Scrooge opted to go with us.  It was raining so he wasn't going a ride.  Before we left, Mr. Scrooge made eggs to go on top of our leftover hamburglers for lunch.  It was a perfect lunch.  It was way better than going out anywhere.

I feel like I'm really struggling to make friends down here, besides the people that I was already friends with when I got here.  All of the folks with the greyhound group are older (one lady even has a rat tail, which I'm not judging, but whhhatttt?) and, as I've talked about before, they aren't GEGR by any means.  When the lady who does the coordinating was chatting with me she said that if the weather had been nicer, they could have brought a tent and put a table under it.  I asked if they had any xpens, then they could just put all the greyhounds in the pen.  She looked at me like I had 6 eyes and said they wouldn't all fit in 1 xpen and I explained that you link a few together to make room for all the dogs.  Sometimes I feel like I overwhelm people or come off like a snob.  I honestly didn't mean to in this situation.  It just makes more sense to me to have the dogs all penned off in a single area, rather than each dog leashed to a person (which only creates a logistical disaster when they get tangled or there's traffic congestion and you're trying to pull the dogs away from smellin' each other's asses, blah blah blah).

Whatever.  Between the Brewery dog with the incessant barking and all the people crammed into a small space it didn't take me very long to be ready to go.  After we left the Brewery, we went by the Old Fashioned Cafe for a hot fudge cake, nommm.  It made up for all the people and rain and begging dogs (mine).

Xero the Hero was ready too.  He was even gonna drive us home!

When we got home, I read while Mr. Scrooge played his stupid video game (that I was telling him what happened before it happened, since we're repeating the story line).  We decided on mexican for dinner since we'd seen something on food network about mexican food while we had been eating lunch/breakfast.  We went to a place I found on Yelp that wasn't really anything I'd write home about (if people still did that).  After we got home we watched Goldfinger (the first time I'd ever seen it) and then it was bedtime.

How Xero prefers to get on the couch when Mr. Scrooge is sitting in the floor playing his video games being scary.

Puppy snuggles!!

SUNDAY

I had planned for a lazy day on Sunday and we ended up being rather productive.  Mr. Scrooge went out to Lowes to pick up some things and when he came back he washed his truck and, with some bartering, Yurtle.  While he was doing those things, I finally got motivated and cleaned the house.  I vacuumed the floor and did laundry.  Then after the floor was clean, I let in the dogs and they tracked mud prints all over my house...... Grrr.  At which point, all 3 dogs received baths and no one liked it, especially me.  Later, I announced to Mr. Scrooge that I wanted a new shower head for the guest bathroom, one with the cord like Teh MD Adult Roomie installed at the MD townhouse, because my back was killing me after washing all 3.

Phil was extremely jealous of my apple with peanut butter.. and I'm an extreme sucker for my big boy.

After Mr. Scrooge was finished washing the vehicles, he decided to go on a ride, which I had expected to happen earlier in the day since the weather was so fabulous on Sunday.  While he was gone, I finished my cleaning and continued the laundry and showered and moved the vehicles back into the places and tried to start this post.  Mr. Scrooge returned sooner than I anticipated, but I was ok with that since he was grilling steaks for dinner.  They had been marinating since Friday so they were extra delicious.  While we ate dinner, we watched the original Star Trek 2: Wrath of Kahn.  Having never seen it, it wasn't so bad.  I did noticed some similarities between the original and the 2000's version, like when Jim runs down the gangway when Spock is in the radioactive room.

The best part of grilled pineapple is utilizing the juice in the best way possible.. with RUMSY-RUM (sadly, there was no coconut rum in the house, which would have been most delicious).

After the movie, it was much needed bedtime.  Cleaning really wore me out.

Overall, it was a much needed lazy, dog weekend.  Teh MD Roomies will be here at the end of the month and I'm pretty hyped up for that.  We'll be doing go-karts, running the Cooper Bridge run (woot! first race since my Diva's half marathon!) and hanging out and being silly and I can't.even.waiiiiittttttttt.  In fact, 12 days.  /dropmicrophone.





Happy Monday, Gentle Readers!


Linking up with Weekending w/ B Loved Boston