Doggy Porn

As promised.. sooo much Meri and Pax photos!
Thanks to Teh Running Bestie for ensuring that we had enough cuteness to survive a furless month!


These photos are in no particular order.
Obviously, our dogs had it rough while they were separated from us. LOOOOL.

FYI for easier detection in pics with multiple dogs:
Pax is the black dog in a red collar.
Meri is the fuzzy dark brown dog in a light blue collar.
Olive is the one that looks like a deer with a dark blue collar.
Secret is the small dark brindle dog, but bigger than Meri.
Zoey is the smallest, light brown, fuzzy dog.

She was pouting about something.

Sometimes she sleeps like this.
She's our weirdo.

Helping his Other Momma do laundry.
Glad to know he doesn't just do this shit to me.

LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!
PAX CAN SIT!!!!!

Meri used to do this at Shitty House sometimes, but there was a return of the #CatDog while she was away.

Yin and yang

NYE snuggles

I will never NOT need this in my life.
My monkey soothes my soul.

Pax loves when he can stretch out....

Almost the whole pack.

Dem legs for days.
Meri and Olive.

Moose understands a good leg pillow.

Those wisdom hairs.  /swoooooooon

Our weirdo....

Just hanging with Uncle Smartass.

Pax and Zoey snuggles.

Did you hear that?
That was the sound of my heart exploding from so much fucking cuteness.

Weekend Review {01/07}

FRIDAY

Friday was the last Friday of just work and it made me sad.  I am NOT excited about going back to school, nope nope nope.  It's just 1.5 more years and I can do it, but fffaaacccckkkk that's just so mentally painful to consider right now. 

I had a massage scheduled at 11 and it was deeeeelightful.  I'm finally to the point in my life that my massages are about recovery more than relaxation, but when 90% of my body doesn't hurt, I CAN relax more, so this is a good thing.  She focused on my back and butt (dat squat ass) and I walked out feeling human again.  I wasn't able to see Teh Chiro because the waiting room was full at noon when my massage was finished and they closed at 12.  I was confused, but said I'd come back on Monday.  Ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

After my massage, I went to Sam's to get gas, then decided to take a trip into Sam's to pick up meats that I had been putting off, which would mean no errands to run over the weekend.  After completing these tasks, I headed home.  For the first time in years I ran out of every Bath and Body Works lotion I've been using since probably.. uhh.. 2012?  I wish that was a joke, but it probably isn't since I know I had this lotion from my Australia DET, which was in 2012.  Anyways, all of that to say that instead of going straight home, I stopped by the mall since BBW was having their semi-annual sale or quasi-annual sale or whatever sale and picked up 2 bottles of lotion and then really headed home.

$2.12 for premium?  Plskthx.

I got home and put all the things away and opened my computer up to discover more emails in my inbox than the entire time I'd been on vacation.  FML.  After putting out the fires, the rest of the work day was me ignoring problems that I couldn't fix and explaining to a PM that until he gets more information about a process we have to do, I'll continue hating it.. and will probably continue hating it even after we have more information.  Ya know, in true Megan fashion.

I hit up the gym around 3:45.  Since my massage had given me full range of motion again, it was a good time.  Teh German came in when I was almost finished.  It was a gross workout since it's practically summertime here with 100% humidity.  After my workout, I agreed to run the Rugged Maniac race with a school/gym-mate.  Teh German came home as I finally got into the shower.

For literal years, I've been hunting this pop-up ramen place called 2 Nixons.  They were rumored to have the.most.delicious ramen EVER.  Well, I almost always had a conflict and I gave up for a while and then recently on of my school friends who knows the owner of 2 Nixons invited us to go out to ramen with them.  And of course, I was always out of town or already had plans.  FINALLY.. FINALLLLYYYYYY, I was free when the friend posted about going on FB.  I immediately responded something like, "ME ME ME! PICK ME!  CHOOSE ME!  LOVE ME!" and so we agreed to meet for ramen on Friday night.

We left around 7 to head downtown to meet to-be-named-Friend at Proof (the hosting location of 2 Nixons for the time being).  After ordering drinks and noms, we waited.  We were served shrimps with the heads still on, Teh German managed to peel the shrimps on his own AND ate them without issue (I did offer to peel the shrimp for him since it still had the head on it and I know he definitely doesn't like his food served with eyes).  Next came our yakitori.  It was perfect.  Everything had a spicy type of sauce on it, but not so much I couldn't endure it, thankfully.

THEN... our ramen came.  It was like a little heaven beam was shining down over my bowl when it was placed in front of me.  It was heavenly to look at, but even more so to taste it.  It was worth the hunt/wait.

We chatted for a while after our food had vanished from our plates and then we finally headed out when we knew that our meters were definitely expired.  When we were paying, the chef had the bartender pour us go-to shots, on the house.  Thank you, yes please.  Why don't I know the owners of more delicious feeding places?  I think I need to make this a goal.

After getting home, we opted to have some screen time.  I enjoyed my puzzle and audiobook time laying in the bed, while Teh German sat on the couch and scrolled.  Eventually, he came upstairs and it was sleepy time.

SATURDAY

Saturday was facetime day.  We spent the morning talking to Teh German's dad, mom, and opa (grandfather), and we called Auntie P, but she had company, so we arranged to facetime Sunday morning.  As we were finishing up our chats, Teh PT Wife sent a snap about going day drinking.  While we had plans to do adulty things like yard work, we are easily swayed (some of us more than others, Teh German, by the mention of beer), so we agreed.  I offered to drive since I knew I wouldn't be enjoying beer. 

Teh German actually drove us to our first stop, Westbrook Brewing.  As we were leaving the neighborhood, Teh Dad called, so I chatted with him while we headed to Mt. Pleasant.  When we arrived to the brewery, it was fine, but as the earth turned, the sun blinded everyone and we left.  We did run into one of my coworkers, which was cool.

We (but especially me) were hungry, so we decided our next stop was 2 Blokes Brewing since they had a pop up food thing going on that served cheese steaks.  I did order a beer since they had sprite and tried to make it into a radler, but it wasn't overly enjoyable so I suffered through it.  It took an hour for the cheese steaks to come out, so I was glad I ordered the burger.  It was pretty good, but not for the price we paid and for the wait.  They said they had some grill issues because of the wind (they were outside), but we were disgruntled and the beer selection didn't really make the drinkers happy, so after we ate, we closed out and moved on.

We debated going to Ghost Monkey Brewery, but we ended up at Palmetto Brewing since the drinkers knew there were items on tap that they actually wanted to drink.  When we got there, a man was playing keyboard and singing jazzy types of songs about Charleston and New Orleans and it was loud and it didn't take me long to get annoyed.  Additionally, my company was pretty drunk by this point and it was hard to hear, so my patience was limited.  We did play a complete game of Phase 10, Teh PT Husband won, which is probably for the best since he's a super sore loser, we acknowledge these things and accept them for what they are, lol.

After the game ended, we headed home to wait on the pre-ordered pizza that Teh PT Wife had ordered as the day drinking had started.  Teh German and I went inside and changed into comfy clothes and then headed over to Teh PT House.  They were watching Hell's Kitchen, which I tried very hard not to overly snark, but didn't really succeed.  After pizza arrived, we headed outside for the dudes to have cigar time. 

Around 10, the day drinkers were tired and it was time for bed.

SUNDAY

Sunday was make up day for all the chores we didn't accomplish on Saturday.  We were out of the bed by 9, breakfast was accomplished, and I did some flight hunting for my Pittsburgh trip.  At 11, I headed outside to scoop a million years worth of poop (2ish months).  While scooping, I was listening to my audiobook, then I talked with Teh Running Bestie about my flight situation, and then Teh Sister to ask her about her Pittsburgh plans and discuss life things.

My poop funnel backed up and I wasn't able to get all the poop down the drain.. ugghhh.. which meant the situation had to be monitored until I could dump the rest of it down the drain.  While I waited on... movement (ha!), I started working on cutting down all the death in the flower beds.

THIS is the stem? stalk? from the passionflower vine at our front door.
It's a MONSTER.  At least 2 thumbs thick.
See also, I will never NOT have passionflower vine in the front garden.

Teh German mowed the backyard weeds and picked up all my cuttings.  I checked on the poop, no movement, and went inside to shower.  Eventually, we both ended up chilling in the living room and we watched a few episodes of Gracie and Frankie (I was watching, then Teh German ended up also watching).  I turned the TV off so Teh German would focus and do some computer work, which didn't end up happening, grrrr.  I tried explaining to Teh German that I have a very limited amount of time to help him with this undertaking/project but he didn't seem to care.  So I said fuck it and went about my business of entertaining myself.  When Teh German suggested watching The Office, I agreed.  Teh NY Chef delivered some post-Christmas goodies, which was perfect timing since it's fat week and I lurveee her chocolate covered peanut butter balls.

We did pause to make dinner (currywurst and fries and green beans), and by we, I mean, Teh German made dinner.  After dinner was consumed and cleaned up, it was back to the couch.  I gave Teh German one more opportunity to work on his stuff together and he preferred to watch The Office.  When he comes at me after school starts to work on his stuff and I don't have time, I'm not sorry.  I'm not going to stress myself out about HIS problems if he can't be bothered to worry about MY problems when the time comes.

We watched The Office for the rest of the evening and then the weekend was over and it was bedtime and sadness.

______________________________________________

Overall, a very good weekend.  It was our first weekend back from vacation so we had to catch up on some house things, and our last dog free weekend, so we also had to catch up on sleeping in.  We accomplished almost everything that I had put on our to do list.

In bad news, my Adobe subscription expired before I finished editing Snowcation pics, which is a real progress cockblock.  I'm either going to have to commit to paying for Adobe again (which isn't really high on my list of desires since you have to commit to 6 months minimum (6x$20/month)) or find another program to edit with (higher on my list, but more tedious).  So ya know, Snowcation pics are forthcoming... probably.

School starts back Wednesday.  As with the fall semester, she wasn't ready.  I did order my textbooks except one.  I can return them for a full refund if some sneaky students find electronic copies for me, which wouldn't hurt my feelings.  This semester holds:
-Data Algorithms (the class I failed over the summer at College of Charleston)
-Computer Networks and Organization
-Circuits part 2
-Cybersecurity part 2
-German (my last required German class, I could prob take more German classes, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time in my class schedule)

Teh Running Bestie arrives with the beasties on Thursday!  While we enjoyed not having the responsibility (and mom guilt of leaving the dogs home all day long without us) of the dogs, we are both excited for the family to be reunited. 

Next weekend is Charleston Marathon weekend, and we'll be running the half.  I don't feel prepared since I haven't really been able to run since Kiawah.  I do count all the stairs at Red Rocks Amphitheater as training since we were at altitude and I could barely breathe.  Also, at the gym on Friday we did this weird hopping obstacle course and my ankles were pretty disgruntled about that through the weekend, so I didn't get a long run in.  This week will include at least one run and maybe a few days at the gym where I take it easy.

If you follow me on Tweeters and saw my live-tweets of my Cyber Awareness Challenge, you are welcome.  I shared that to FB and not a single person commented on it.  Either my friends have hidden me or FB was like, "You've posted too much today, this is not going in news feeds, STFU."  Either way.  Entertained me.

Teh Running Bestie did an awesome job at keeping us entertained with pictures of the fur-kids.  Expect a heart-exploding from cuteness post in the near future of all these photos that had to suffice while I was missing my Meri snuggles.

It's really January now, yall.  First full week.  We got this.
PS.  I don't write the date often, but I haven't lapsed into 2018 yet.  #Likeaboss

Five on Friday #177

EINS - Random Shit

-So what happens when I have zero fucks to give about anything (aka Snowcation) is that I forget to show you cool shit that I've done... liiiiiiiiikkkkeeee... dye my hairs.  I give you:

HAIR COLOR ADVENTURES:

When it's lunchtime and you're foiled, but you still walk your happy ass across the parking lot to Sonic for foods.

A cool 90's hair trend that never took off, I'm confident.

Wellllllllll.. ok then.

No more goo!

More goo!

#CrazyHairDontCare

Salon visitor!

Salon visitor!

ALMOST DONE.
(aka, I've been here for 4 hours and I'm ready to go home now.)

there's a green "oil slick" at the roots,
to create the full on peacock/galaxy hairs.

Tada!

-Being at work on Wednesday challenged my ability to focus in every possible way.  For real.  I couldn't focus on one task for an extended period of time before I'd squirrel to something else.  I did manage to handle all my work tasks without problems, but it was the killing of time that was so challenging.  Edit photos?  Refresh FB every 5 minutes?  Blog?  Organize the laptop?  Plan meals for the week?  Grocery shop online?  ALL.THE.THINGS.

-When I meal plan for the week, I try not to repeat the same shit over and over.. mostly out of consideration for Teh German.  I'm over that shit.  I'm over all the mental effort of trying to mix it up and keep it interesting so he doesn't get tired of a certain meal.  I think my new year's resolution is to be more selfish as a means of self-care.  I know that sounds pretty asshole-ish, but simple things like meal planning shouldn't stress and frustrate me as much as they do.  I feel unappreciated because I put forth a LOT of mental effort into planning meals that are delicious, pretty simple, and not the same thing all the time, in addition to making the grocery list and doing the shopping for the items (be it online or in the store).  Yes, Teh German often picks up the groceries when I do online orders, but that is minimal effort compared to all the time/effort that goes into making it possible for him to pick up the order...

This means if I feel like making ramen 2 weeks in a row, I'll make ramen 2 weeks in a row with no fucks to give since Teh German rarely makes any dinner suggestions, while I spend 30 minutes to an hour (at least) planning for the week.  This also applies to going out.  I'm tired of trying to read his damn mind and anticipating his wants/needs when I don't feel like the mental effort is reciprocated.

-Part of this resolution is because of being unappreciated.  Part of the resolution is because I realized that I often do things preemptively to make Teh German's life more convenient, but the same consideration is not returned.  This became glaringly obvious when we had to share a small bathroom during our Snowcation.  He was doing getting ready things while I was blow drying my hair.  Rather than wait on him to ask me to please step aside, I'd just move out of the way, then he'd take his time doing whatever, all the while I was waiting on him to finish whatever he was doing before I could finish drying my hair.  When I didn't move in time at one point, he tisked (my absolute least favorite thing ever that he does) and grunted at me.  I lost my shit and finally said, "USE YOUR WORDS!  I shouldn't have to read your mind."

-Have you ever been SNOWMOBILING?  If not, DO IT.  If so, isn't it awesoooommmeeee?????!!!  Snowmobiling was, by far, my favorite part of our Snowcation.  I decided to make reservations on a whim, despite how expensive it was, because #YOLO #Snowcation.

-If your vacation doesn't include dogs, it's probably less satisfying than if it did.  Just sayin'.  Not only did we stay we 11/12 greyhounds in Denver, we stopped in Baltimore to visit our dogs (and Teh Running Bestie) for NYE.  #WORTHIT

-Summarized email thread:
Coworker: blah blah blah, I need an email address associated with my CAC card*.
Me: Your email acct has not been created yet.  When it gets created, I will let you know, but I checked some places to double check and I'm right about that.
Coworker: How do I get my email account?
Me: It is part of the process. I checked the box that you needed an email account.
Coworker: How do we do the request?  Do we need to start over?
Me: It is part of the existing process.  I told you this was a long process.  Plus the holidays, plus you not doing shit because you put a contact email address you don't have access to.  As I stated, I will let you know when the account gets created, as soon as I know.
Coworker: I'm not complaining, I just don't understand how the process works.  So there's nothing else you need from me, correct?  Thanks for your help.
Me: Correct, there is nothing else I need from you at this time.  If that changes, I'll let you know.
Coworker: Ok, thanks again.
Me: 🤦🤦🤦
Me out loud: Is it a full moon?  Mercury retrograde?  Do I communicate ineffectively?  Am I even speaking English right now?  WTF?

*CAC stands for common access card.  To say CAC card is redundant.

-I placed THREE Sam's orders between Wednesday morning and Thursday morning, knowing that Teh German would be fetching all 3 orders on Thursday afternoon before he came home from work.  #NotSorry #IKeptForgettingShit

-Dear Society,
Dumping shit (like literal human waste) in public places is a health hazard.  It was a contributing factor to the plague that wiped out a large portion of the European population in the 14th century.  So stop shitting in the National Parks and being generally shitty people.  Ugh.

-WOOOOT!!!  Yelp Elite 2019!  AND I got my gold badge for 5 years of being elite.  #LIKEABOSS

-I'm just going to be honest with you, Gentle Readers.  I can see why Iliza Shlesinger is so popular, I.get.it.  But while she makes me do that nose snort laugh thing, she does not make me LOL as much as I'd want a "like super funny comedian" to.  And the worst part is, after watching all her standups on Netflix, I am now super aware when I make those raptor sounds... and I can't stop.  I probably did it prior to watching, but now it's obvious when I do it because I'm aware it's a thing.  🤦

-Shit we're doing this weekend:
FINALLY getting ramen from 2 Nixons.
Skyping with (almost) ALL the Germans. 
Much needed yard maintenance.
Professional development things.
Sleeping the fuck in (it's our last dogfree weekend, I need to take advantage of this time).

-We finally started watching The Office (US version, kthx) and Teh German has actually lol-ed a few times.  I've been wanting to rewatch it for years, so I'm glad we're sharing this experience, lol.  We already caught up on The Ranch and Teh German will wait for all the episodes of Vikings to be posted before we start watching this season because he doesn't like having to wait.  You should have seen his face when we finished the new episodes for The Ranch and it ended with a cliffhanger.  He was NOT pleased. 

-I read books.  Specifically I read these books in 2018:

ZWEI - Money Shit

Non-vacation related expenses...
-Cards Against Humanity's newest expansion.. again.  since my Black Friday order didn't actually go through because their servers were fucked up.
-Target 70% off Christmas candy.
-Amazon Prime membership
-Poopourri for our future travels.
-Drawer organizer containers for the desk.  The top drawer in my our desk is a catch all for shit that just slides around and by the end of last semester it was really grating on my nerves.  I'm glad to be fixing this.
-Oh Yuk (jetted tub cleaner), another mental sigh.
-Exterminators
-Gym membership (I really wish there was a way to pause a membership when you're going out of town for half the month.  #firstworldproblems, I know.)
-Car insurance
-Grocery/house stuffs from Sam's (veggies, laundry stuffs, etc)

DREI - From My Phone Shit

Irrationally, it really bothers me that Teh German uses toe nail clippers exclusively for everything.
I found these hilarious, but knew he wouldn't use them, since his "old faithfuls" are fine, so I didn't purchase.

Lawd, if there was ever a cup that described me better, I'd be damned.
"I try to act nonchalant but inside I'm actually chalant AF."

"I hope you are up and running again soon!
Just kidding.
We hate running."
This made me think of Teh Running Bestie and I forgot to show her, so now she gets to finally see it, LOOL

A Coors hoodie with an insulated beer coozie behind the lint ball pocket.
Teh German admitted that if it hadn't said Coors, he would have purchased it.

When did Beanie Baby eyes get so obnoxiously large?
These are NOT REAL Beanie Babies.

BRUSSEL SPROUT STALKS FTW!!!
Alas, I did not purchase this as it was $7 for those dinky brussel sprouts,
but the novelty was cool.

ramen-pho
I lurrrrvveeee ramen-pho

While getting the ingredients for ramen-pho, I happened upon SEAWEED.
I lurrrrvveee seaweed.  I cannot explain why.
Now I want to find it in bulk and eat it always.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. TEH CLOUD.  Bed sweet bed.
2. No school.
3. Getting back into my workout thangs.
4. ALL THE RAMEN!
5. Finding cheap textbooks (although finding free digital copies wouldn't hurt my feelings)
6. Watching The Ranch.
7. Light work week.  Hooyah holiday return.
8. Vegetables.  I'm old.  I need fiber.  I don't tend to get enough fiber on vacation.  You're welcome for that TMI.
9. Restaurant week reservations.
10. The smell of my clean laundry.

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Bok Choy and Chicken Soup

Teh German and I tend to eat the same meals over and over and over.  This is generally because I'm the one picking the meals and I base it on how much effort I want to put forth or how much time I will have for a particular day.

I expected this soup preparation to be kinda tedious, but turns out.. it was not.
I kinda went with the recipe, but kinda didn't after reading the reviews.

Ingredients:

1 onion
garlic
6-ish cups water+soup base/chicken broth/broth of your choice
4-6 small potatoes
some carrots (julienned is best, then no chopping required!)
some bok choy
some celery
"3" chicken breasts/some chicken thighs/whatever meat you do/don't choose
 seasonings of your choice (suggestions: soy sauce, ginger, rice vinegar, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce, etc)

Optional:

Ramen noodles (after buying the expensive fancy box of ramen noodles, I learned that you can just buy a few packs of the $0.20 ramen and it's exactly the same.  Just don't use the seasoning packets.)
egg(s)
cilantro

Directions:

-Cut up/dice onion, celery, carrots, potatoes.
-Cut up chicken into "1/2 inch" cubes (the smaller you dice up the chicken, the less time you have to cook it)
-Saute celery, onion, and garlic until onion is translucent.
-Add water+soup base, potatoes, carrots, bok choy, and seasonings.
-When vegetables start to become tender (as in, the potatoes "need a few more minutes"), add the diced chicken.
-Cook until the chicken is cooked through (no pink in the center of the chicken bits).
-Enjoy!

Megan Directions (because this is why you're really here):

-Put onion, celery, and carrots in the food processor to "dice".  "Dice" carrots after celery and onion goes into the pot, or just be smarter than me and buy julienned carrots.
-Chop up bok choy and potatoes and chicken into "small" chunks.
-Saute onion and celery with a heaping spoonful of garlic in olive oil.
-Add water and Better Than Bouillon and some ginger and soy sauce and rice vinegar and whatever else I feel is "Asian-y" when I look in the pantry/fridge.
-Add remaining veggies into pot without splashing water all over myself (this was not a success).
-After about 5 minutes, maybe 10, or whenever you're tired of being patient, add the chicken.
-Start cooking ramen in separate pot.  You could probably do it in the soup, but you don't want to over cook the soup or steal all the water, so I cooked the ramen in a separate pot.
-Cook until potatoes are soft and the chicken is cooked all the way through.
-Serve soup and ramen in the same bowl.  If you want true (Megan) ramen, make some medium/hard boiled eggs to toss in, one egg per bowl or half an egg per bowl would probably be sufficient (this is when the egg cooker comes in handy!)
-Top with cilantro
-Enjoy!

Shit Teh German Said #27

Teh German (tG) to Meri, who hadn't gone business the entire day before because it was raining all day: Do you have a big poop brick in you?



Discussing the end of greyhound racing in FL.
Teh Running Bestie: Oooo, you can get another dog!
tG: We're getting fish.



Teh Megan (tM): Would you wear carpenter pants?
tG: Yeah, to work in.
tM: I love carpenter pants.  I'd wear them all the time.
tG:  You probably shouldn't.  Because when you get in your car.....
(Willow is my hippie-lesbian car, I've embraced this fact).




tG: It's a meme with the cat with the hat.
Teh SC Teacher, tM (at the same time): You mean the cat IN the hat.
tM: I LOVE ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE!  SO FUN!



Teh PT Husband: When I go to Germany, I'm going to eat a pretzel every day.
tG: And you can.



tG: What was that banana drink?
Teh PT Husband: The Dirty Banana.
tG: Yeah that one.
Teh PT Husband: You'll be getting those in Barbados.
tG:  I ain't gonna wait that long.  2020 is so far away!



Teh German was looking at the clock over the garage door with a confused look.
tG: Is it 8:45?
tM: No, it's 6:45.
tG: Ohhhhh, I must have turned the clock the wrong way!



Discussing McDonald's having a window sign to indicate if the ice cream machine was working or not.
tG: That would be a lot of money wasted by McDonald's for lights that are never on...




Discussing laundry woes.
tM to Teh Running Bestie: Husband's wraps have bled and ruined other things two times and it pisses me off.
tG: Well, they do say "DANGER".

Shit Teh German Said Edition 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27