Weekend Review {06/17}

FRIDAY

Friday was THE day.  The end of the count down.  The official end of vacation day.  THE GO HOME DAY.  We started off slow, since we woke up early.

With dogs, of course.

By 0900, we were on the road.

Asshole dogs thwarted a good family selfie.

Unfortunately, we sat in traffic for over 45 minutes near Quantico, which had no alternative way around.  Of course.. and I would have went down the toll road had it been open for our direction when I passed the last exit, but of course, it wasn't.. and I didn't know that this situation was a thing at the time.

Thanks to Twitter for keeping me abreast of the situation.. That was much appreciated.

We picked up lunch at the dog park stop in NC.  Then we had to make another bathroom break for me.. and I requested we stop at a McDonalds so I could get an ice cream.  I did at least share with the dogs.  So, trade offs.

When we got home, since we didn't have luggage, there wasn't anything to do after we fed the dogs.  So, we went to Teh PT House to hang out for a bit and have pizza.  When we came home, we brought all our mail that Teh PT Wife had picked up for us and it was like Christmas in June.

YAY smartwatch!

We're HOME Selfie!

It was nice to be home with all my preferred smells and things.. but the best part of being home?  My toilet closet, aka favorite room in the house.  Especially after my struggles the last 2 weeks...

After getting all the packages open, sorting through the mail, and putting away all the stuff in the box we had shipped from Germany... it was bedtime.

SATURDAY

I woke up with the dogs on Saturday by 0730, thanks Meri.  I sat on the couch and uploaded photos to my computer from my camera and set up my new watch (Fossil Sport gen 4).  I had signed up for my local police department's first annual 5k and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go or not.  But, I ultimately decided to go, despite getting there too late to pick up my race bib, so I could test my new watch.  #SorryNotSorry

The run was quick, but it was a 5 minute drive from home, so it wasn't that big of a deal.  After, I went through the car wash to attempt to get some of the baked bugs and spider webs off of Willow.  I can't really tell that it helped, but I tried.

When I got home, Teh German was opening up his new Apple watch (which I still holds he got because he was jealous that now I had a smart watch and he didn't).  So ya know, we had to take a cool kids pic of our new toys...

Since he couldn't do anything with his uncharged watch, he finally gave up and put it on the charger and went outside to mow down the jungle in the backyard.  I stayed inside and made the menu for the week and grocery list since THIS was the situation of our fridge:

Teh German had asked me to weed the flower beds since they really looked like ass, and even thought I didn't want to, I did.  He also made some idea contributions to the weekly menu, so that helped.  We also agreed that we'd take care of outside things, come in, shower, and slowly get ready, then we'd go out to dinner, then take care of the shopping we needed to accomplish. 

We headed out to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and then to Sam's then Walmart for the items on the list.  While we were out, I called the airline and was informed that our luggage had arrived in DC on Friday evening's flight and they would be shipping the luggage via FedEx on Monday, since they aren't open on the weekend.  This means that our luggage should arrive to us by Thursday.  Does our luggage contain ALL of our shit?  No one knows.. but hopefully on Friday, I'll have good news to report.

Saw this gem in the Walmart parking lot.
This person is a real American hero.

After we got home, we put everything away and then it was screen time for the rest of the evening.  I worked on photos and Teh German played with his new tech.

Finally, it was bedtime.

Also, due to lost luggage and lost brain cells, I now have THREE packs of face cloths open (granted, one of those isn't currently in my possession), because I opened a new pack before checking to see if there was already an open pack in the cabinet.  🤦  When did this become my life?  Ugh.

SUNDAY

Sunday was a semi-lazy day.  We had taken care of almost all the adulty things on Saturday, purposefully. 

This fucking goof.
I missed him.

I told Teh German he was getting up with the dogs, since I got up with them on Saturday.  Happy father's day!  looool.

When I finally got up, I started the laundry, which was bittersweet.  On the one hand, I was super excited to get to use MY washer AND dryer and all MY laundry detergent with smells of my preference.  Butttt, laundry is also a drag and it's not my most favorite chore (yes, I have a favorite chore, it's vacuuming, thanks for asking).

I call this piece:
The Return of the Laundry Fairy.

When I came downstairs, we had coffee and breakfast and I got to try out my new smores creamer.  Everything I never knew I needed.

After breakfast, Teh German installed his new exhaust on Suzi (the white motorcycle) and I finally got Puzzle and Audiobook time.  It.was.glorious!  12/10, do recommend!

Around 12:30, I finally went upstairs to shower and make myself presentable to the world.  I was committed to cooking mac and cheese at Teh PT House for the father's day/birthday gathering since I wanted to coordinate cooking time with grilled items.  It worked like a charm and the mac and cheese was delicious.

We spent the evening at Teh PT House socializing with our SC parents until it was finally go home time.  Teh German suggested we walk the dogs, so we did that when we got home, then we had couch time and watched an episode of Vikings.. and then, the weekend was over... and vacation was over...

______________________________________________

EXACTLY the weekend I needed before returning to the grind.  Well, half my grind.  I don't currently have school, so it's just work for me for the next 2.5 weeks.  Chem 2 (Lawd, halp me) starts on July 5th.  We were able to get all of the chores out of the way on Saturday and had a super enjoyable Sunday.

Inshallah that our luggage arrives on Thursday (or sooner is ok with me).  Preferably with everything inside (specifically, bottles of wine) intact and nothing stolen.

This week will be an interesting week of catching up.  I also have a millionty packages that need to go out (Amazon returns, shirt for a friend, wedding RSVP) and more errands to run (to Walmart to pick up another soap dish... siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh).  I will also be bringing Teh PT Kid to my school for his summer camp thing and picking him up in the afternoon. 

But by far, my most important Monday task?
GOING TO THE CHIROPRACTOR.
🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

The other big event for the week will be dropping off my laptop at Best Buy for repairs.  I have to ensure that everything is set up on my work laptop beforehand though, so hopefully by Wednesday, my precious will finally get the doctor visit it needs.

Also, I will not be having ice cream every day anymore, so please keep me in your thoughts.  I know the struggle is going to be real.

Weekend Review {12/17}

FRIDAY

Just work on Friday.  I was the first one into the office, which meant I didn't feel guilty when I left before everyone.  My #BarometerHead started sending out alarm after lunch and I ended up skipping the gym and going home and taking a nap. 

Teh German came home and we got ready for his work holiday party.  There were no photos because I was busy socializing since I wasn't sick this year.  After the party we headed home rather than going out with his coworkers.  After the week, we were both done with everything.  We did go to Teh PT House for a little while, but eventually it was bedtime and we headed home.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning, I woke up and wanted to get some shit accomplished, so I got out of bed by 0830 (that no dog life).  First up was laundry, ugh.

Next thing on the agenda was straightening up the desk.  I am not ready to part with Fall 2018 semester's stuff yet, so I stored it away in case I need to reference it next semester (high possibility with some part 2 classes scheduled for Spring 19).

Fall 2018.

This is what immigration interview prep looks like.
This was Teh German's area, so I didn't touch anything except the photo album/pictures.

Final results!

After everything was cleaned up, I plopped down at my desk to do some Cricut things.  I've had several projects on hold, waiting for me to not have school things to do.  Personalized tumblers have been created.

Teh German and I set out to do errands around 1.  Our first stop was dropping off his snowboard to get waxed.  Then we stopped at Sesame since Mr. Hungover was hungry.  We made a stop at Dick's to look for snow goggles that weren't $140 (which is the price of goggles at the sports shop where Teh German's board is getting waxed) and because I live in SC, there are no snow goggles to be found.  So much for being prepared when we get to CO.

Next, we stopped at Sam's and Walmart for some stuffs, then Cookout for milkshakes on the way home.  When we got home, I set about the task of cleaning off the island where things had been landing when we arrived home.  I also packaged/wrapped several items that will be shipped off this week.

We spent the remainder of the evening watching The Ranch.  During this, Teh German was voluntold to sort half of the photos I'd gotten printed so they could be in order in the immigration interview photo album.  After we got the photos sorted, I worked on putting the photos into the album and labeling the photos.  Eventually, it was bed time.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning, I had originally wanted to go on a run, but my hamstrings were on the brink of being better, so I opted out.  My Sunday plans included: picking up the missing photos from the interview album, finishing a book, and doing whatever the fuck I wanted.

So when Teh German suggested that we ride the bikes to brunch, I agreed.  I explained that we had to pick up the photos then we could go wherever.  We agreed to go to the Jewish Deli for brunch.  Since we'd been to the Deli recently, we both ventured out of our comfort zones and ordered items we hadn't tried before.

When we got home, Teh German took the other motorcycle out for a spin and I talked to Teh Dad while finishing up the photo album with the missing 45 photos from 2015.  After finishing the album, I moved on to finishing up the laundry, got off the phone with Teh Dad, and decided it was time to get warm in the bath.

I had a book and a milkshake to finish, so I did just that..  I also had a bath bomb to use.  #WIN
The not win part was that bath bombs and shaving = needing to clean the tub/jets.  After rinsing the tub, I filled it past the jets and poured in some clorox and let it run for 10 minutes.  After this, I drained the tub, filled the tub over the jets again, but with cold water this time and let it run for 15 minutes.

Shortly after 5, our across the street neighbors came over to discuss a Disney strategy since they knew that I/we've gone to Disney World several times.  I gave them all my helpful hints, and then still had to text them after they'd gone as I'd think of things I should have told them.

I threw together something for dinner so we wouldn't starve and didn't have to go out (again).  After dinner, I moved to the couch to finish my book.  Shortly after 9, I finished it.  Then it was time to go to bed, since the weekend was over.  Despite going to bed on time, we didn't get to sleep until late because we were both not sleeping since the interview was the following day.  Teh German and I quizzed each other on life details an agent may ask us and eventually we fell asleep.

______________________________________________

This morning was our interview, but due to a series of unfortunate events, it was not the joyous occasion I wanted it to be.  We are still on hold due to a missing form, but as soon as the agent receives that form, Husband's application will be approved.  If none of that means anything (which I get), it means that Teh German's green card will be approved after we send in a form.

Unfortunately, there was a rough start this morning due to Teh German's Company's CEO who I'd like to fly to Germany and viciously throttle.  The particulars involve this individual trying to schedule a mandatory meeting on Wednesday morning including Teh German, which happens to also be the first day of our vacation, when I was looking forward to not having to worry about either of our works.  This individual doesn't realize just how miserable he's making MYYYY life by making my husband miserable, but I'm ready to let him know about it, even if it won't help the situation. 

The weekend was busy.  I don't know how to not do things anymore.  I'm so trained to always be doing something productive that when I sit down to relax, I can't because my brain is going a millionty mph thinking of things that I should/could be doing.  It's difficult to adjust, but I'm sure that not being at home will help.  Fingers crossed.

I imagine that my posts will become sporadic throughout the rest of the month due to Snowcation, so ya know, be prepared for that. 

I have no great parting wisdom today.  So, instead, just don't kill people in a holiday rage.  Especially those fuckers who don't use signal lights when they are going to spend hundreds of dollars on gifts for people they care about, which obviously isn't you since they didn't bother to use turn indicators for you.

Vacation Recap (part 3)

The primary reason for stopping at home, home was to pick up a washer and dryer... which we did, Wednesday afternoon.  Wednesday, we slept in super late, which was awesome because there was no stress of having to wake up to get on the road.  We made a trip into town for lunch and supplies from Walmart (and so Mr. Mystery could get to observe all the folks at Walmart, which always cracks him up).  We also got Cookout shakes, which was a mandatory to-do item.  We had dinner with Teh BFF and then we headed over to Teh Granny's house for a little bit before heading over to pick up the washer and dryer.

I borrowed a puzzle from Teh Granny for Teh Roomies and I to do now that we have a dining room table again and Meri can't eat any of the pieces (she definitely ate a significant portion of puzzle pieces from the last puzzle we tried to do when we were tableless).

We met Miss Piggy when we were loading up the washer and dryer...

On Wednesday night, we to go hang out and watch tv and melt off our skin in the hot tub and enjoy adult beverages.  We went to bed super late, but it was ok since we only have to drive 4.5 hours to Charleston the next day rather than having to be on the road for 10+ hours.  Bleh.

We were on the road by 1100 so we could make it by the afternoon.  The worst realtor ever informed me that the keys would be waiting on us at the house and she gave us the code to the door lockbox.  The only reason we had been on a time schedule was because we thought we were going to finally meet this lady in person.  It wasn't to be.  Which was probably more for her benefit than ours.

Woooo!!!! FINAL DESTINATION STATE!!

Saw this at a gas station, thought it was pretty awesome.

When we finally arrived in Charleston, we had some issues with the lockbox, primarily the inability to open it since we hadn't been educated on HOW to actually open the stupid box.  Did I mention worst realtor ever?  I was not joking.  We got everything unloaded from the truck and then we looked at each other and decided to go out since sitting in an empty house was boring.

Home sweet home!

Required selfie

Since Mr. Mystery had been stationed in Charleston before, he was knowledgeable on the area and was able to give me a driving tour of downtown.  He also was able to pick a place for dinner with very little debate.

French Quarter

the bridge!

The tavern preserves the memory of Edgar Allan Poe,
who was stationed near Sullivan Island when he enlisted in the Army.

Burgerssss, nomnomnom

Bathroom wallpaper

Bathroom wallpaper

Bathroom wallpaper

Bathroom wallpaper

The men's restroom was more impressive because the raven.

We had relatively minimal difficulty parking and we walked in the door right on time as we were seated within 5 minutes and we watched people start to line up at the door after we were seated.  Whew!  The food was delicious, and they had a burger with egg, which is always a winner in my book.

After dinner, we made a Walmart run for necessities like an air mattress (aka Mr. Mystery's sleeping trampoline) and laundry detergent and things.

Charleston sunsets seem to be rather gorgeous.
Prepare for a lot of these!

Cranes!

Mr. Mystery had to be at work on Friday, which meant that Thursday's adventures were the last of his vacation.  Fortunately, it wasn't the end of my vacation!!!

CA to SC adventure!

Part 1 - California

Part 2 - CA to TN

Part 3 - NC to SC

Part 4 - South Carolina

It's Ok Thursday #6

It's Ok....

...to have a "weird" week.
...to cry because someone else's mom died.
...to tell Teh Mom you're glad she's not dead.
...to get anxious after hearing so many people have died this week...  seriously.
...to be stupid excited that the cancelled Pioneer Day from last week got pushed to this week.
...to be relieved to get to have "date day" with Teh Bear on Friday, ferrr shizzle.
...to be ready for a visit home.
...to smile every time I see Rudy "roaching".
...to have the TV on as background noise, even if you're missing most of the episodes of The West Wing that you are trying to actually watch.
...to be sad that there is no 30 Second Thursday prompt today.
...to be irritated with those "on the band wagon" about certain issues.
...to get ENRAGED when people can't: spell your name correctly or address you properly when it is displayed right.in.front.of.them.  WTF?
...to focus on the things you know about a topic instead of trying to learn new things.
...to be annoyed at listening to the neighbor's TV anytime I'm home (because my couch is on the same wall as their TV).
...to hate cooking for one person.
...to wish that Teh Bear would hear back on the job he applied for in MD so that I could tell people who as me about it, something besides, we still don't know.
...to feel sore after a not hardcore workout.
...to do pushups and situps right before bed because you told yourself you should do them every day from the beginning of March till the PRT.
...to NOT have done the pushups and situps you vowed to do every day...
...to have only done the pushups and situps more like once a week.
...to feel relief at $1200 being NOT missing from my bank account anymore.
...to have went on a shopping spree this week (new dog bed, new carpet cleaner, new toothbrush holder, new sheet set, new dog food, more pills for Phil)... 
...to have went on a DOG shopping spree this week, with the exception of the cute octopus toothbrush holder and the sheets
...to realize that it's been since November that I've used my DSLR.
...to be excited about the month of May (Color Me Rad 5k, GEGR picnic, The Color Run 5k)
...to be excited about being a Godmother..  I feel like it's adulthood initiation.
...for this list to be incredibly long.
...to go through all your favorite radio/Sirius channels and see if there is anything good on, despite starting on a channel that had something acceptable playing...
...to go back to the original channel after you scan all the other channels.
...to be sad that my $25 for 6 months Sirius subscription runs out in April.  Anyone wanna pay for my 1st World Problem Satellite Radio Subscription?  :)
...to really, really want to adopt a small, black, female Greyhound who roaches and is a puppyhead.
...to refuse to foster any black female Greyhounds because at the first sign of a "roach" I'd have my first foster failure.
...to refuse to adopt another dog at this time so I can continue to foster more Greyhounds.


Who can resist this level of cuteness?

I throw my (paws) up in the air sometimes..
Saying AYO!!!  Gotta let go!

All moved!

I'm not sure if you picked up on the fact that I was planning on moving/packing to move/moving/unpacking/no longer moving...  I know that sometimes I don't always share all the pertinent information with everyone, but.. I moved.

I went from a 850ish square foot apartment to an almost 1300 square foot townhome... for the same amount of rent per month.
Did you hear that?  That, my Dear Gentle Readers, was a sweet, sweet sigh of relief of no longer feeling "pent up" from me and Phil (and that dog is seriously a sigh-er, he probably learned from his Mom.  /shrug).

It.is.marvelous!

Often I have described my decorating style as cozy and a few blogs ago someone asked to see photos of the new place.  I was waiting to get stuff unpacked and mostly settled, but YOU WILL HAVE PICTURES AND YOU WILL HAVE THEM NOW!!!

See, sometimes I let you down (November recaps), but sometimes, I'm all over this shiznit, yo!

Ok first some "how to properly wear a Greyhound scarf" photos.
Donner really wanted to snuggle the other day.  I sat down in the floor to snuggle with him and he decided that he just wanted to hug my neck... with his body.

He might be looking away from me, but he was leaning on me so hard he almost knocked me over.

Ok, ok on to the tour!

Living room..

The dog crate wasn't up to begin with, but now that I have Donner (my first foster Greyhound), it's safer the crate is up... Even if it takes up 1/4 of my living room.
The really awesome "rug" at the door is because it's been raining a few days a week recently which makes my "fenced in grass spot" reallllllly muddy and Phil doesn't really seem to like to walk around the edges where it's NOT muddy.  Jerk dog.  So there's a towel for standing on and a towel for wiping off paws.

 Other side of the living room.
That bottle on the back of the couch is fabric softener mixed with water to try to help eliminate the static electricity build up.  I've been shocked so much and usually I get shocked touching a light switch, which makes it even worse!

 The final angle of the living room.

If you were involved in the FB voting for canvases back in December, you can see some of the winners displayed here!  The rest are in the tree dining room.

Moving onto the right side of the kitchen.. 

PS.  That is the cutest Valentine's doggy hand towel on the fridge door.  Seriously.

And the left side of the kitchen (this is starting to feel like the Cupid Shuffle (not because all the Valentine's stuff!))

PPS.  We fit FOUR people and 2 Greyhounds in here Monday night.  No JK.  My last kitchen could barely contain one person and a Phil.  So.much.more.spaces!?!?  I even have unused cabinet space.  

No jk.  LUUUUBBBB.

The dining room from the kitchen.

The table is fully expanded all the time now that I have the room.

   The dining room from the front door.

 Oh, hai Phil!

 Hall where the washer/dryer/HVAC/water heater/coat closet/downstairs bathroom are all located.

And we are now upstairs.

That's the StoryPeople print that Teh Sister got for me for Christmas this year.  :)

Master bedroom to the right.  You can't see the half bath past the closet doors.

And yes, those are Christmas lights.  I surprised Teh Bear with them (its special to us).

The other end of the master.  Phil used to barely have room for his one bed.  Now I could fit like 8 of his beds in the bedroom.  LUUUUUBBBBB.
Also, where my uniform is hanging is a walk-in closet that is the size of the outside storage room, which is really big for just clothes.  So much room for activities!!!

The only full bathroom (which some would consider a bad thing, but I didn't care about extra showers, only extra toilets).

And Donner, hai!

The monsters are seriously awesome.  I'm sad they no longer make this set... because that means I'm stuck with only 4 towels and 1 of each hand towel and only 2 of the wash cloths.

   

The storage room.  This is where a lot of work needs to happen.

Most of this stuff could be consolidated and put into the closet of this room and the spare bedroom and the rest could go outside in the outside storage room or under the stairs.  

SO MUCH MORE SPACES!!!!!

The other side of the storage room.

Teh Bear keeps telling me to get rid of the Cessna Engine (the fan) but I think I'm attached to it.  

I'm like a Hoarder almost.

The spare bedroom.  My first spare bedroom ever.  Also known as the "Clearance Room" because all the bedding (at least) was purchased on clearance and the bed was purchased off Craigslist.  

The light is on because I was waiting on Teh Sister to arrive for her first MD visit when I took these photos!

Casa de Teh Megan, we leave the light on for ya...

A final gratuitous shot of the hounds, because I just can't get enough of them. 

It's ok, you can admit you love them too... even if you think they are too skinny (they aren't!)

So that is the official tour of Casa de Teh Megan.  My lease here is for 2 years, which kinda makes my heart pound a little bit harder because that's a LONG time to be locked into a single place.. especially for ME, Queen of Moving Every Single Year Since 2004 (no jk).  Honestly though, when I walked in the door of this place when I was just looking for a place to live, I relaxed.  It felt like home before it was even my home.  

Sometimes, you just know when things are right and this place was right.  And I was right, this place is a sigh of relief every time I come home.  My landlords are unbelievably awesome.  Seriously.  They sent me a "congrats on your new place" card and a $25 gift card to Target when I moved in.  My landlord!  The people I will be giving money to spent money on ME.  I was shocked.  I wanted to hug their necks.  My landlords who met me halfway the Saturday night after I moved in because I locked us out.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Proof they really sent me a card.

Yes, I live across from a potentially shady gas station, but it means that I can walk to the ATM if I need cash.  Yes, I live across from a red light where I have to listen to some "thumper cars" (the cars with the obnoxiously loud bass), but I'm 15 minutes from work in bumper to bumper, all the way there, traffic.  AND... FOUR HUMANS AND TWO LARGE DOGS can fit in my kitchen AT THE SAME TIME.

I looooooooove my new place and I'm super glad I have a place to call home... and hopefully soon Teh Bear will be here with me!!  Fingers crossed, we're waiting to hear back on a job in the area...