Racing through April...

April has proven to be quite a busy month so far.  May is looking equally busy.  YAY for activities!

Weekend before last started off with a Passion Party.  Everyone got a dirty name... and most of us (myself included) got drunk.   There was a Call Me Maybe sing-along session on the way home.  I'm sure the passengers in the car will NEVER forget it.

I went to my very first Passion Party.. also known as a gathering of women to buy sex toys.
The only thing I came home with was drunkness and my free gift.

Saturday held a meet and greet at Petco, which I didn't take pics of because I accidentally left my camera at home! :(  I was lazy for the rest of the evening because I had watch the next day. 

Sunday, I went to church and came home and watched the final episode of Downton Abbey season 3 and WTF!?!  I'm crushed and I want to talk to someone about it to express my outrage but no one seems to be caught up and I don't wanna give away spoilers.

Watch was so uneventful that I didn't even bother to make a "Thoughts of a Dutiful Watchstander" post.

This is what I do on watch....
Paint my spare keys with fingernail polish so that way when I give them to people they know they are to my house.

This past week was pretty busy as well since I knew I was going out of town this weekend, I got in my friendz time with my peeps last week.

I hung out with Teh Jewish Greyhound Family and Teh (former) Neighbors.

Mochi is apparently delicious.
I really just couldn't get past the "skin" that I was eating.

You don't properly love your dogs if you aren't willing to pick their noses.

We had dinner at Teh Jewish Greyhound Family's house one night, then the next night we went to Texas Roadhouse (TRH) to support the Habitat for Humanity charity night with Teh Humanitarian and Teh Coast Guardian and Teh Cousin.  There were some snafus at TRH, which is always disappointing to me since the food is usually so delicious (if you order the steak).

We all enjoyed socializing.

First flip flops of '13!
One of the very few things I miss about Bahrain/GTMO is wearing flip flops year round.

Cherry blossoms!

S.MD sunset

This past week with Teh Dogs in my house was very..... challenging.  Rudy turned out to be an extreme counter surfer. 

Day 1:  The bread (I've quit taking pics of this since I'm used to it)
Day 2:  Sweet potatoes
Day 3:  Mr. Goodbar
Day 4:  Snacks container (7+ honey buns, crackers, graham crackers)

Rudy and Phil decided to help me make dinner by peeling the sweet potato for me.....

This spot is the remains of where Rudy helped me diet..
He ate (at least) SEVEN honey buns, 4 packs of crackers, and 1 sleeve of graham crackers.
I have now used my carpet cleaner.

Day 3 (Wednesday) is when I almost had a break down.  There was a fight over a Mr. Goodbar and Phil got the brunt of the damages.  I'm pretty sure I had a "Mom" moment because I was really upset that Phil was hurt.  I tried to love on Rudy as much as Phil, but it was very obvious that the scales had shifted.

Day 4 (Thursday) is when the breakdown finally occurred   Coming home to such a mess (the crumbs were also strewn all through the kitchen and dining room) set me off.  There were tears and phone calls.  I hadn't even been home long enough to take off my uniform, which is usually the first thing I do after letting the dogs out. 

When I left for NC, Rudy was taken to a different place than Phil and despite not getting adopted this weekend :(, he was placed in another foster home.  I had originally agreed to take him back if he wasn't adopted, but it wasn't meant to be.

Phil teefs!

Thursday, I called the vet to see if there were any appointments available on Friday for Phil because his wounds were large and I knew I would feel better having taken him.  Thankfully, there was an appointment with our normal vet (who is awesome) so we took that.

Phil is my VERY stoic boy.  He barely even flinched when they were cleaning out his wounds.  The only time he whined was when they were clipping a piece of dangly skin and it wasn't numbed all the way (I would have been doing more than whining!).  They shaved down the areas where there are wounds so that way the openings could properly scab over without being irritated by the fur.  He got lots of treats for being awesome. 

Phil got up on the vet table on his own!
Usually we have to coax him up.

Phil's first hair cut... :(

With some neon vet wrap and antibiotics, I brought Phil home and returned to work for a few hours before finally calling it a day.  I really wanted to get on the road and I knew I had at least an hour's worth of errands to run before I got to leave, including dropping Rudy off at GHC which is the opposite direction of NC.

I dropped Phil off with Teh Cedar Cove Neighbors and then it was Rudy's turn.  Finally, I was on the road to NC... which proved just as adventurous as the week had been living up to.  As I was crossing the NC/VA line, a HUGE TREE FELL ON THE INTERSTATE!!!  It felt like it happened in slow motion since I watched the tree go from standing like normal to being in the middle of the road.  Thankfully it didn't hit any cars and the cars that were in front of me were able to slow down enough to miss it by doing some minimal off-roading.  One truck did take the very tip top of the tree off because they didn't get over far enough, but they were able to keep driving and pull over after passing the tree.  I immediately called 911 because that was scary shit yo!  It was my first real 911 call ever.  I felt so adult!

After the tree, I got lost in Durham trying to find Danny's BBQ.  I went where the address said it was, but there was no Danny's to be found.  I was very irritated because I had been looking forward to deliciousness in my belly.  Having given up on BBQ, I decided on Bojangles and after placing my order and driving up to the window, I was informed that my sandwich was going to take an extra 5 minutes because it had to be cooked.  Hangry and defeated, I finally decided on Wendy's, where I waited in line long enough to have probably gotten my grilled chicken from Bojangles, which only irritated me more.  I consumed the most mayo ever put on a burger in the next 5 minutes and felt like I wanted to vomit for the remaining 3 hours of the drive.

I finally made it to Teh Dad's house by 1130.  I snuck in the driveway, head-lights turned off (holy mother of dangerous) and the only reason they even knew I was there was because they heard my door shut.  I had also put on a fabulous light show trying to turn my lights OFF, OFF, which is apparently practically impossible with the daylamps.  Whatevs.

Teh Dad opened the door for me and I went downstairs to greet Teh Sister and put my stuff down.  She didn't really show it, but she was surprised.  Teh Dad tried to say he knew, which he didn't.  They both might have suspected, but neither of them KNEW, without doubt that I'd be there.  I did know that Teh Sister would have been very disappointed if I didn't make it, so I made it happen.

Teh Bear said he'd love me more if I wore this shirt.
Fortunately, it is Teh Sister's.

I've had this belt since... 2005?
I told Teh Sister to give it a proper burial becuase I couldn't watch.
She tried to toss it in the trash while I was standing there!  I saved it.

Yurtle got her insides cleaned!
I got to ride around for THREE DAYS with NO dog hair on my dash! 
It was lonely.

Welcome to NC.
Check out all the different TYPES of tobacco (not the brands, the TYPES).

What?  I can't hear you.

On Saturday, Yurtle got a much needed detailing, I got to eat lunch with Teh BFF, I went to hang out at Fort Defiance to see Ms. Historic for a few hours, and then I headed to Teh Mom's to hang out with Teh Mom and Teh Sister for the evening.  After much debate over evening activities, I finally helped Teh Sister figure out what she wanted to do for her last night of at home freedom.

We decided on making dinner, which she said she didn't want to have to cook it and since she turned down my suggestions, she ended up cooking.  We rented The Perks of Being a Wallflower from Redbox (because she knows all the promo codes, evar, so it was free).

We wanted to do swordfish, but home, home isn't that fancy.  We settled for tuna steaks instead, which were equally delicious.  While Teh Sister and Teh Mom worked on dinner, I worked on dessert:  Strawberry pie.  NOMNOMNOM.  It was my first time ever making a strawberry pie and with instructions from Teh Mom and Teh Sister, I think I successfully managed a pretty good pie.  White it wasn't completely set up for dessert time, it tasted pretty delightful.  There were was no photographic evidence of this...  Actually there was but Teh Sister didn't message the photo of me licking the filling bowl clean, and since she's now in bootcamp, we prob won't see that picture.

Ingles, I'm not sure "crusty rolls" was the best description you could have used.

Teh Sister's "last supper" before bootcamp.
Homemade sweet potato fries, brussel sprouts, ahi tuna with kiwi avocado salsa

I was impressed with The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  I had it on my very long list of "movies to see", so I was pleased that it turned out good considering most movie I want to see are usually crap (it's a very unfortunate curse).  After the movie was over, we cleaned up and headed back to Teh Dad's for last minute packing and beauty sleeps.

Sunday Funday was very busy.  Teh Sister was out of the house by 1015 and I was on my way to church with Teh BFF since she was getting baptized.  After being yelled at, we switched churches for her "dunkin'", then we all continued on to her Mamaw's house for a cookout.  At 3, I was on the road, headed towards Charlotte to start the "seeing Teh Sister off" festivities.

We started at Beans Vegan Cuisine  which is exactly what the name says, vegan.  Since Teh Sister is a vegetarian, she decided to spice up our lives... and she did.  She also gifted me "The Devil" which is a tool used to pull hot items out of the oven.  I found it hilarious and used it as a "buddy" to enforce everything I was saying at dinner.  "I think this, and THE DEVIL AGREES!"  Everyone else agreed that I'm pretty crazy.

Teh Sister gave me THE DEVIL!
It's used for pulling hot dishes out of the oven, but I used it as a friend while we were eating dinner in Charlotte.
While we were praying before dinner, Teh Sister happened to glace up at me and I waved THE DEVIL at her.
:D

After dinner, Teh Mom headed back to home, home since she is now in charge of feeding Teh Sister's doggies.  Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom headed to their hotel and Teh Sister and I struck out for earplugs at Wal-Mart and dessert.  I'm pretty sure we found the most ghetto Wal-Mart in/around Charlotte.  I have a  knack for finding the ghetto areas of places, what can I say?  We went to 2 different places for dessert (one that wasn't open and one that was inside the Ritz that was gonna cost more dollas than I had) and we finally ended up going to The Cheesecake Factory, which rarely disappoints.  We got a crazy waiter named Blu (like from Old School, he informed us), drizzled on by the sky, and extremely full bellies.

With nothing else left to do, and having already "toured" Charlotte via driving around trying to find places, we agreed to call it a night.  I dropped Teh Sister off at her hotel an I learned that there are 2 Extended Stay hotels in the zipcode that Teh Dad had reserved our room in.  After figuring out that my key didn't work, I went back to Suzy (my cell phone) and called her some bad names (even though this time was kinda my fault) and navigated to the correct hotel.  Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom didn't mind finishing our Cheesecake Factory leftovers. 

The BIG day finally arrived.  After stopping at a less ghetto Wal-Mart to pick up a working shaving cream for Teh Sister, Teh Stepmom and I headed to MEPS for her swearing in.  Teh Dad and Teh Mom were already there.  The Major gave a super speech about being on the defense in bootcamp so that no one could push you around.  Which sounds kinda silly, but with her visual aid, it really worked. 

I learned that I had gotten the wrong size shaving cream and had to return to Wal-Mart to get a travel size.  My phone was on silent so I didn't get the message from Teh Mom saying that Teh Sister was told to tell family good-bye so she had left.  When I got back to MEPS with the correct shaving cream, Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom were the only family members left in the waiting area.  Apparently, they had been outside when the goodbyes were said so they missed the memo.  I asked the PO1 at the front desk how long the brief would last and he said 20-30 minutes.  Teh Dad had to be on the road before Teh Sister got out of her brief, so they didn't get to say bye and they were pretty upset. 

I waited on Teh Sister, since my 2 jobs for the day were to see her off and drive back to MD.  Finally, she came out of her brief.  She was very hangry because she was the only person who hadn't gotten to eat lunch.  Fortunately, Teh Stepmom had given me a blueberry muffin that morning that I was able to give her.  She explained it was time to head to the airport, so I rushed to CLT and parked and waited with them while they checked into their airline.  I escorted them to security telling them to go get free food at the USO (because the USO ROCKS!). 

Teh Sister going through security at CLT to catch her flight to MO.

She didn't even see me standing there waving at her like an idiot.

With Teh Sister on her way, it was time for me to head back to MD.  I started the drive by stopping at Bojangles for the grilled chicken sammich I wasn't able to get on Friday night.  Instead of driving and eating, I decided to just watch the planes land and text Teh Sister and Teh Bear while I enjoyed my lunch.  That was probably the most relaxing point of my entire weekend.

Yurtle reached another milestone!
Uggghhh, that means the next service session isn't gonna be cheap...

There were no trees or ladders on the drive back, which was much appreciated.  Unfortunately, I did run into some idiots who refused to use cruise control who were travelling together.  They also had a transfer truck riding with them, which didn't help.  I tried riding with them since they were going fairly fast, but then I realized that they were slowing down at every possible hidden area where a cop could be sitting.  It was impossible to use my cruise control because they were riding in the fast lane and refused to get over, even when I'd pass them on the right when I was trying to use cruise control.  It was a small blessing that the transfer truck had to stop at a weigh point.  Then it was only the 2 idiots.  About 20 minutes after we lost the truck, the 2 drivers decided to take an exit.. from the left lane!  Fortunately, there were no cars in the way of their crazy lane cutting.  Unfortunately for me, they had taken up most of the 70 mph zone at the NC/VA line, which is where I make the most of my time.

They were so frustrating that I even posted a /rage FB status.  I made pretty good time getting home.  Once I finally made it, it was time for laundry and unpacking and general weekend-catch-up activities.  It was very difficult to get to sleep since there was no Phil-boy to keep me company.

Tuesday started my work week and what a delight it has been!!!  This weekend is jam-packed with activities and I'm excited!!! :)

Summer modesty...

***PSA***PSA****PSA***PSA***

NO ONE LIKES SEEING YOUR EXPOSED PARTS.

NO ONE CARES HOW "HOT" YOU ARE (in any sense of the word).

***PSA***PSA****PSA***PSA***

It's really nothing personal, or maybe it is, but still, put some damn clothes on!  I have talked before about how modest I am.  It's almost a curse.  I blame Teh Dad mostly, but I probably give Teh Mom some credit as well.  Teh Dad was always like (and still is) like, "You're wearing that?  Out in public?"  Thanks for that body-shaming, Pops, 'ppreciate that.

As for Teh Mom, I don't think I've ever seen her in a state of "exposed" while out in public.  Or maybe I just never noticed if she wore booty shorts and low cut shirts, but I'm pretty sure she didn't.  Either I'm wrong and just gave her a lot of credit or I'm right, either way, we both win.  I think the most risque it got was sleeveless shirts and tank tops.  Although there was that one time that she started wearing biking shorts out in public.  That was probably almost as bad as wearing tights as pants, but Teh Sister and I talked to her about that.

Also, tights as pants.  Congrats on having the best ass and legs in a 5 mile radius, but I'd appreciate it if you'd cover some of that up with like a long shirt or something.  At least pretend that you're not purposely showing off all your goods.  Leave some freakin' mystery for someone that wants to see that... who wants to see that in private, preferably.

These things said, I'm back in America and I don't foresee my modesty changing too much.  Maybe Bahrain raised my clothing standards?  Maybe I feel like if I can contain all *this* (pointing at self), then other people can contain all *that* (pointing at not me).  Also, having survived the Caribbean and the Persian Gulf in the summer and almost-not-summer (that time of year when the temps got as low as 80° before going back up to 100°+) while being required to wear a full uniform, usually with sleeves down..  I have no sympathy for "but it's hot."  None.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Having swamp ass for over 2 years straight eliminates any empathy I could have for you.

If you're NOT in a swimming status and you're in a swim suit, you're wrong.  Oh, you wanna wear a bikini top as a bra?  That's fine, put a shirt on over that.  Also, for those who like to post pics of themselves in bra and undies... that's NOT like a swim suit.  It might cover the same parts, but if you're not going swimming, you just look desperate.  Just stop.  Leave some freakin' mystery for someone that wants to see that... who wants to see that in private, preferably. 

I'm sure there are way more things to list, but I don't do them, so they are hard for me to come up with on the spot unless I've seen them recently.  I'm sure that with spring finally having arrived (achoo! ick allergies), summer is well on the way and fall/winter just can't come fast enough so these people will cover that shit back up.

So yeah.... put some clothes on.  Mkkkkthx.

Sirius business..

Hahah, see what I did there?

Anyways.  For the 2nd time now, I have been able to update my Sirius radio for $25 for 6 months.  I'm writing this post to share my good fortune with the masses because saving money makes me happy.  When I can help other people save money, that also makes me happy.  See what I did there?

Apparently, it depends on your specific radio for which promos are available to you, so keep that in mind.

I called 1-888-601-6302 and said that I wanted to cancel my subscription because I didn't want it to automatically renew at the current rates.

The customer service rep (CSR) offered me 1 year for $77, which I considered..  until I did the math.

$25 for 6 months = $50 a year + tax = $65ish = calling 2x a year
$77 for 1 year = $77 a year + tax = $100+ish = calling 1x a year

I told her that I'd prefer to cancel unless I could keep my current promo for $25 for 6 months.  She then explained (or stated to maybe deter me?) that it was dependent on my equipment on what promos were available.  I just held strong.

The CSR came back on the line and said the promo was still available, and she applied it to my account.  She made me agree to all the stuff I had to agree to the last time, name, car, first born child, right arm, etc.. and after 10 minutes on the phone I had saved myself some dollas!

As the goblins in Warcraft say, "Time is money, Friend!"

Fill in the Blank Friday #40

(image)

1.   One thing that is completely superfluous, but that I could never give up is   Starbuck's Peppermint Mochas...  I know lots of people claim their coffee isn't that good, but I haven't found a place that makes a better peppermint mocha.  Just sayin.'

2.  Conversations where people are having arguments and I'm the 3rd party  make me feel awkward.

3.  I can't  shower  without having an inner monologue going, which is usually a running list of things I need to do/get at the store/etc.  

4.    Jelly Beans (currently)  is my favorite snack.

5.  Lately I've been   feeling unmotivated with a random dash of motivation... sometimes sprinkled with motivation based on guilt.  

6.  If at first you don't succeed   try one more time, because they might not have heard the phone ring.  

7.  Fall is    the most awesome season of the year because of pretty leaves and SNOW!!!  

It's Ok Thursday #10

It's Ok....

...to have an It's Ok Thursday post as your only post in a week.
...to have mostly given up on FitBF.
...to have the desire to go to bed at 8pm, but know that you wouldn't go to sleep till late anyways, so instead you stay up and then go to bed late.
...to feel proud of your knowledge from reading the Bible.
...to not tell people your goals, not because you think they will judge you or it's a secret, but because you know that if there is encouragement from the outside, you'd feel disappointed if you didn't succeed and your own disappointment is enough.
...to feel like the frustration is just too overwhelming to continue being involved in something.
...to send your friends text messages saying "I miss your face and your name being at the top of my text message list."
...to eat jelly beans every day for a month after Easter.
...to worry that jelly beans are making you gain weight.
...to go on a guilt run due to feeling like you're gaining weight.
...to be excited about the warmer weather, even though you really prefer fall/winter.
...to dread summer because it means 90°+ temps and no taking Phil out for runs because the pavement will be too hot for his paws (sorry I never realized that ZepZep).
...to walk into Physical Therapy and not be hurting for once.
...to just enjoy the heating pad time during Physical Therapy
...to use chicken stock in your beef pot roast.
...to buy OJ just for the container it's in....
...to be extremely disappointed about the season finale of Downton Abbey (season 3).  I just want to shout it from the rooftops, but I don't want to give away any spoilers and its.killing.me.
...to be kinda excited the people that rank above me aren't in the office this week.
...to be excited over getting our new inventory system to work.
...to enjoy repetitive acts like putting all 1500+ items into the inventory.

The best intentions...

I often have the best intentions when it comes to things.  Seriously.  I have learned, to my own chagrin, that I'm a people pleaser.  It's the worst, seriously.  It's permanently setting yourself up for disappointment.

When I fail, I get disappointed and depressed.  And then I get annoyed that I'm disappointed and depressed for some "stupid" reason, blah blah blah.  It's really a vicious cycle because I always feel like the answer is moving on to some other good idea, which usually involves some aspect of making someone else happy in one way or another.

Let me list some examples of my best intentions..  so then this isn't just some vague post about feelz.
-My Cara Box recipient didn't like what I sent her.. so much so, she complained to the exchange coordinator.  I was unbearably upset about this.  Rude to people at work, snappy with Teh Bear, just in a super state of emotional distress... until I told Teh Bear what had transpired, and then I magically felt better.  Not only because he was on my side, but because he reinforced what I had told the coordinator.  Gift exchanges aren't about meeting certain "criteria", they are about being kind and generous and sending someone something because you can.  If my partner had said, this is exactly what I want, I would have gotten that, but that's not what happened so she got what I gave her.  I've had better luck with actual strangers on Reddit Gift Exchanges than with someone that I had tried to get to know.  My way to make it better was to participate in a Reddit Exchange.  Which I kinda came out on top of this one since my match appreciated and liked what I got her even though I haven't received my gift yet.

-Teh Bear always gives me crap for never meeting him in the airport when he lands.  Usually I'm late arriving so he ends up having to search for me in the baggage claim area.  There was that one time that I was actually right that DCA doesn't actually have a receiving area for people to really wait at, although that's where I've waited 2x now for him to land.  I think we I finally decided that this last time of me going in the airport was the last time since they raised the parking fee to $5.  That's just a really expensive 30 minutes when I can just park in cell phone parking and deal with him giving me shit for not properly loving him since I didn't come in the airport and people watch wait vs sitting in Yurtle till he lets me know he's got his bags.

-Dog fostering.  I love doing it.  I love having extra dogs around.  I love being able to help out.  I love the progress of seeing a greyhound settle into retired life, or in the case of Joey, a potentially abused dog realize that there is nothing to be afraid of anymore.  I'm struggling with this right now because despite my best intentions it doesn't feel like I can do anything right.  It's almost like I've not drank enough of the koolaid to properly foster.  I understand that these folks care about the dogs, but its frustrating for me to feel like I'm being "handled" because of circumstances beyond my control (this time).  It's becoming frustrating to the point that I'm ready to just say, you know what, never mind and drop off the map like all the non-koolaid drinking greyhound owners.  But I wouldn't do that since I love volunteering with the group and attending meet and greets and I've made several friends through the group.

-Blogging.  I've wanted to blog for the past 2 weeks, but after the Cara Box incident, I was too enraged to put words that were appropriate in a public forum.  Then Teh Bear came to MD for step 6 of 8 of a job hiring process (YAY!).  Then I got busy with foster dogs and work kept screwing me over.  Then the weekend was filled with a meet and greet and duty.  Life is busy and the words I had for life weren't the ones I really meant.  I wanted to say the rage-filled, hateful, Teh Megan is extremely upset with the world and wants to rant but knows better words...  So I chose silence.  That whole, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?  I'm getting better at it.  I didn't used to be so good at that one, but I've shown considerable progress in the past 10 years.

-Work.  I want to do what is right and I want to help out and I want things to be fair.. But life isn't fair and sometimes, you're the person that gets screwed over even when you're not really getting screwed over by technicality, but you actually are (this probably didn't make any sense to anyone but me).  Like when my boss tells me "you're the one that is always taking vacation!" 2 days before her week long vacation when she points out that I put in for 3 day weekends to attend things, which means that I get one day off of work.  Doing the math would show that we actually take the same amount of time, but that isn't what matters in the heat of the moment.  It shouldn't even matter now... yet I'm still struggling with it.

So yeah, I have the best intentions... but a lot of the time it feels like I fall short.  Maybe that is just my own self-reflection or maybe it's true or maybe I'm just taking that whole Cara Box incident to heart way too much.


Unrelated, I learned that blogger labels are a waste of time other than to show categories for readers if you actually show the labels.  Here I thought those were used for search terms.  See, I had the best intentions of getting my blog out there and then Google was like, "NO BITCH YOU'RE WRONG!"  Point made, Google, point made, you hate everyone AND you're closing down Reader.  Die in a freakin' fire, jerkfaces.

PS.  Please don't kill Blogger because having to move to WordPress might make me need to kill a baby.

It's Ok Thursday #9

It's Ok....

...to stop blogging when Teh Bear comes to town.
...to do all your work at the beginning of the day so you can be lazy and/or deal with additional tasking for the rest of the day.
...to do all your required stuff at the beginning the week so the rest of the week is easy peasy.
...to not have much to complain about this week
...to not commit to things because you feel like you're getting screwed over.
...to feel like your Non-Disclosure Agreement that you signed for the Navy applies to your entire life.
...to not drink enough water because I'm too lazy to get up and walk to the water fountain.
...to fail at making posts for the actual day they should be posted.
...to tell people who have side-effects from not eating that they are being silly by NOT eating.
...to have no sympathy for those who get headaches, shakes, etc from not eating "because I was busy".
...to maintain 2 calendars to keep up with work and home.
...to feel anxious about busy months.
...to feel excited about busy months.
...to want to leave a few minute early than the "early time" I get to leave.
...to do personal stuff at work all day when there is no tasking.
...to refer to non-military things with military names.
...to be angry when Google Reader doesn't UNsubscribe me from stuff.
...to feel the need to have more websites to check because the 4 that I have just aren't enough and the world wide web is wider than Facebook, email, GEGR forums, and blogger.
...to wish that Reddit was more interesting to me.
...to be excited about my Reddit T-shirt exchange.. apparently my match got me more than 1 shirt, or several pieces of shirt that I will have to put together...
...to get angry at foster dog for pooping on the hallway runner, but immediately tell yourself that it's part of having dogs to simmer the anger.
...to still not have used the carpet cleaner, which took me a month to get.
...to get annoyed at calls from Amazon Customer Service since they weren't able to solve my carpet cleaner condrunum.

A long weekend with Teh Bear

On Thursday before Easter, Teh Bear arrived for a visit and for a potential MD job thing.  YAY!

We were going to go on a Harbor cruise to see the cherry blossoms, but there were no cherry blossoms.  /sadface.  Instead we decided to head into DC, grab lunch and hit up a museum.

We were going to park at Union Station Metro stop, but I got frustrated and we ended up in a parking garage under Kaiser Internationale where we ended up doing valet parking and the people that worked there weren't liable for any valuables left in my car if they were stolen.  That gave me a strong sense of security, since I knew that there were definitely valuables being left in my car.

We checked Urbanspoon to see where lunch was going to be.  We ended up agreeing on We, The Pizza.  It was about a mile away and we got to cross Capital Hill and pass the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.  Last time I was in the vicinity of these buildings (that I can recall), I was in the 8th grade.  Truth.  I miss Mrs. A my AG teacher, so, so, so, so much.

Oh, hai!

Proof that we were there.

Supreme Court
This is the point in Teh Bear's life when he stopped trusting the Supreme Court's rulings.
I mean, they faked the front of their building!

Library of Congress
Seriously, these are beautiful buildings.

The very vulgar fountains in front of the Library of Congress.
...where Teh Bear wanted to go in and ask if he could borrow the Declaration of Independence...

It was a nice walk to We, The Pizza.  I was impressed with them because:

1.  They had a mushroom pizza with different varieties of mushrooms.  2.  They served pizza by the slice.  3. There were lots of options.  4.  We should have tried the sodas, but we got waters because they are cheap and easy.

I was a predator catching prey when it came to getting a table inside, in DC, on a Thursday during lunch hours.  Before a group had even picked up their trays off the table people were decending on them, breaking their grouped up table apart to sit 3 different parties.  I snatched one without remorse for anyone else.  I will cut a bitch when I'm hangry and someone is trying to impeed with my feeding.

There were no pics of pizza, sorry.  I was distracted by hunger.  It was good.  My belly didn't appreciate it the deliciousness later, but it was good at the time.

We I decided our next stop was the International Spy Museum.  Teh Bear wanted to go a while back and I've heard good things about it, so I was also interested, so we started the hike to the museum.

We made some pitstops along the way.

We hung out with the Big UG (Ulysses Grant) for long enough to take pics before the wind encouraged me to get a move on.

Washington Memorial from the Grant Statue

DC.  Like a boss.

Bahah, that's funny.  

The Canadian Embassy.
I always manage to find this place, it's kinda crazy how that happens.
I even found the Canadian Embassy in Australia, if you member.

The Print Museum had the front page of a news paper from all 50 states out front.
NC represent!
Yes, I was disappointed it wasn't the N&O.

The Navy Memorial, which Teh Bear pointed out to me.

Just a JFK quote about how serving in the Navy was the best part of his life or whatever.  NBD.

Hey, look, I live there!

Peekin out from behind the Lone Sailor

I tried to help him with his seabag, but I think he filled it with concrete.

We also stopped by the Navy Museum where they were celebrating the year of the Chief.
The coolest part was seeing where some of the presidents served and when.

Finally, we made it to our destination... the International Spy Museum (as a reminder)...  to see a line wrapped around the building.  Ugh.  We quickly decided that it was good exercise, but we weren't waiting in line, in the cold wind to get in.  We did stop in the gift shop though.

I was practicing my spyin' skillz.

Apparently, spies wear fedoras?

"Is this mustache too large?" -Teh Bear

We decided to just head back home since the pups were waiting on us for dinner and it was almost 3.  On our walk back to Union Station, I dragged Teh Bear into a random cupcake shop for a sweet dessert and then we continued our march to Yurtle.

We walked a long time in DC so I had to get a photo of us arriving at our almost-final-destination.

We've been to Union Station!  We even went inside when we arrived to find a bathroom.

We made it back to Yurtle, who hadn't been gutted of any valuables (thank Allah).  I was surprised to learn that our valet parking for 3 hours was only $15, which I thought was impressively cheap for valet parking IN DC.

Despite being exhausted when we got home, we still took the beasts for a walk and made an impromptu stop by the dog park, which resulted in an emergency trip to the vet because the dog-sit dog snapped at foster dog and caught him in the eye while I was going to get the muzzles.  Fail.  So that was a $150 lesson on if you have more than 1 greyhound being let out, MUZZLE THEM because they are unpredictable.  Mmmkthx.

Friday, we ran errands that I've been putting off and putting off, so I was relieved to get some stuff taken care of (looking at you dry cleaning).  Dog-sit-Dog was picked up by his mommy and there was a sigh of relief at being back down to 2 dogs (I learned last week that the max number of dogs at Casa de Rascoe = 2, unless it's for a single overnight stay or extenuating circumstances)  We were supposed to have dinner with Teh Humanitarian and Teh Coast Guardian, but they got food poisoning and stood us up.  We enjoyed the night in with Game of Thrones season 2 and dinner.

This is devotion, not boredom.
The purples are icky and the greens aren't my favorites.
So what you see here is Teh Bear's bag and my bag!  :)

Phil kept hitting his head on the wall.  He's a silly puppy.

Saturday, Teh Bear had his potential job shadowing thingy so we woke up at a delightful 0430 to get ready. He had to be there at 6 and after a failed attempt to get Starbucks (which didn't open till 6, /sadface), he made it early.  I headed back home for a nap (which was delightful), woke up to receive an overnight puppy visitor, Miley, and went back to sleep, then woke up again and worked on my North Korea brief for work.  I had agreed to a walk on Solomon's Island with the dogs when I got a message from Teh Bear saying he was being released early and to come pick him up, so I had to take a rain check on the dog walk.  I showered and headed out to get him.

Miley couldn't get close enough.
(She's in a no-bite cone because she has a spot on her leg she keeps trying to chew at..
and because I like to shame dogs)

He wasn't really hungry for dinner yet, so we stopped by the Verizon store to see why my phone wasn't making noises when I received text messages.  The tech asked if my phone was an iPhone and made me doubt his ability to work for Verizon.. then got me back when he turned up the notification sounds, showing me that I'm the idiot.  He also showed me a place to download free noises for cell phones that I have already forgotten sadly.  It had lots of good noises.

Unfortunately for Teh Bear, the Verizon stop didn't take long which meant that we were almost back to the point of getting food.  We made a stop at Wal-Mart for smores goodies and then it was definitely my dinner time.  Fortunately for me, Teh Bear is a good sport and agreed to dinner at Texas Roadhouse despite not really being hungry.

After dinner, we went home to feed the beasts and arrived to a disaster.  Phil decided to be impatient and eat Miley's next day's food from her bag off the table making a huge mess and Miley had dumped her food all over her crate and might have peed (or heavily drooled) in the corner.  I had agreed prior to picking up Teh Bear that we'd make up for our lost date with Teh Humanitarian and Teh Coast Guardian by attending a campfire on the beach.  After the disasters were cleaned up and Rudy was fed (since Miley was obviously not interested in dinner and Phil had helped himself) we headed over to my old apartment complex.

It was a beautiful, although slightly chilly, night for a fire.  I came up with the best way of transporting all the required burning materials, stealing borrowing a neighbor's bike that had a basket.  We informed our neighbor, who is awesome, so it wasn't technically stealing.

It took a few hours to get the fire going at a perfect level, but once we did, it was great.  I masterfully toasted some marshmallows for the troops and built smores.  Despite being tired, we stayed till 10:30 and finally decided (after our party was crashed by some random dude who wanted to throw his papers on our perfect fire) it was time for bed.  We delivered a friend home and then it was time for Teh Bear and Teh Megan to crash.

Sunday morning was Easter and I went to church while Teh Bear caught up on his beauty sleeps.  I was disappointed, and I didn't really get over it till Monday, but oh well.  In addition to my disappointment, Teh Bear was also leaving on Sunday, which never makes for a good day.  I started laundry, made lunch, and we watched Game of Thrones until it was time for Teh Bear to start gathering his stuff to leave.

Princess Miley claimed the futon mattress bed since she wasn't allowed on the bed while there were 2 humans occupying all the spaces.

Princess Miley and Creeper Rudy in the background.
This pic make me lol cause the laser eyes.

Easter flowers I ordered from church.
One is in honor of my Granny.
The other is in memory of my Gram.

Before getting to the airport, we stopped at Krispy Kreme for a delicious, most delightful treat, then it was time to drop off Teh Bear and head back home to feed the beasts and prepare for work on Monday.

Miley's almost-Mom and Dad came to pick her up after I got back from DC.  They rejoiced that her green toenail polish was gone.. only to be replaced by purple glitter polish.  Spa de Rascoe is the premium resort for greyhound ladies... and gentleman (of course, sans the nail polish).

I'm sunbathin'.

We groom the boys by pulling things they've eaten (like my under wear) out of their butts.
Cleans their glands or something.
EWWWWWW.

After a lonely, lazy evening, Teh Bear finally made it back to FL and we skyped for a little bit before I decided it was time for bed after finishing the 2nd season of Game of Thrones.


YAY 4 day weekend with Teh Bear!!!!!!!