Two Seconds

One More Thing

2011-10-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

One more thing to add. The counters on the left have obviously not been updated. And I really need to get a new picture of “The Fam” on the right side. I’ll have to work on those two things in the near future.

Heather

Thanks for Checking In

2011-10-12T10:03:00.001-04:00

Marathon Training Week No. Who the Hell Knows Day Wednesday

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know. I want to start off by saying that I AM still training for the Marathon and have not quit. Unfortunately, that is one of my negative traits...once I commit to something I need to follow it through (most of the time). So I've been very religious in doing all of my long runs on the weekends and have been really good about getting my three days in during the week. I did not, however, do the 9 and 10 mile runs midweek as my training plan stated. It was not and will never be possible for me to fit in a run of that length during the week. I work and have a family. On those days I went as far as I could, which was usually 7 miles. All-in-all I think I did really well with my training. There are a few things I would have done differently, but for the most part I'm pretty happy with myself. I even surprised myself quite a few times at what I was able to do. Even when I ran my 20 miler and wanted to just stop between 18 and 19 miles, I kept going. Yes, I called myself a lot of names and used a couple of adjectives that only come out of my mouth when someone really, really pisses me off (you know the words, one starts with a C and the other starts with a P, just in case you're not following). But I kept going and that's the point. I did not quit.

So the marathon is this Sunday, October 16. I got my bib number on Monday, so it's official. I have one more run tomorrow and then that's it before the big day. It's a little 2 miler on tap for tomorrow. That means I get to sleep in a little bit and I don't have to get up at 4:30 a.m. I'm probably more excited about that than anything else right now. I'm still not entirely sure when we're heading down to the Expo. It will be either Friday evening or Saturday afternoon. Maybe Saturday late afternoon would be better and then we could go out for a nice pasta dinner afterwards. We'll see.

I've noticed that I've been doing a lot of reflecting this past week. I've read that some people go through a sort of depression after they run a marathon and I can totally see how that happens. I've been thinking of all these months of training and how supportive Mr. Jeep has been. He really is the best. I don't know what I'd do without him. LC is super excited about me running a marathon. I don't know that she really truly grasps exactly how far that is, she just knows it's a really long way.

My parents are going to go down to the marathon with LC and E so they can be at the finish line when I cross. I know it's probably going to be a really emotional moment for me. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time and it's finally here. It's so hard to believe.

So I guess that's enough sappy talk and ramblings. I'm planning on taking lots of pictures at the Expo and before the race. Mr. Jeep has been given strict instructions to take lots of pictures while I'm running and, of course, after I'm done (and crawling on the ground). I can't wait to get this beauty, either:

Because let's be honest, isn't this why I'm really doing it?!

Heather

Back to Reality

2011-07-18T09:37:00.000-04:00

**I actually created this post last week and never posted it. It was a busy week.

Marathon Training Week 5 Day 2 or 3

I’m baaaack!!! The Two Seconds family was on vacation for a lovely 13 days. I didn’t get in all of my runs, but I was able to stick to my long run days. I know how important it is to do those, so I made a special point to do them. It was definitely nice to have a change of scenery on my runs. The first part of our vacation we were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with an initial stop in Mackinaw City. I had a 3 mile run scheduled for that morning and luckily the Gaylord to Mackinaw trail was right outside the hotel where we stayed. I would definitely like to go back and bike that trail. It was gorgeous. Plus I saw two deer on my run.

We then headed to the UP (as we call the Upper Peninsula here in Michigan). Let me start off by saying that the UP is Mr. Jeep and my absolute favorite place to go. It is a totally different way of living up there. There are no expressways, just two lane roads with an occasional passing lane. The speed limit on these roads is also only 55 mph, which makes for a very restless lady. Mr. Jeep and I try to stick to the speed limit, too, after getting a speeding ticket one time when we were up there. Everything is laid back up there. It’s great!

We were very excited to take LC up there because we always tell her stories about our travels there. She had been counting down the days until we left. Of course, we’ll have to go back in a few years, if not before, so that E can experience the beauty of the Porcupine Mountains (that’s where we went in the UP). I have to also add that even though I didn’t complete all of my training days, we did do a lot of hiking. And I mean a lot of hiking. The hiking also involved carrying E in the Baby Bjorn because there was no way a stroller could go where we went. (E earned the nickname Carlos, a la The Hangover, during the trip…I don’t think he appreciated it) LC loved seeing all of the waterfalls. She was super excited the day we let her actually walk out to the edge of the waterfall and touch the water. Don’t worry, it was totally safe (or at least that’s what I told myself).

The most exciting part of the entire trip was the deer that visited our campsite every morning and every evening. We adopted her while we were there and named her Caroline. She was a very brave and bold deer. I have a picture of Caroline on one side of a tree and LC on the other side of the tree. LC could have reached out and touched the deer she was that close to it. I’m assuming that several people have fed the deer and that’s why it wasn’t scared of us. We also saw a black bear, which was very exciting. Exciting because we were in the car at the time and it wasn’t at our campsite.

It was a great vacation and maybe I’ll post some pictures when I get a chance.

So, on to the training log.

I ran 9 miles on Monday. It was scheduled for Sunday, but since we were traveling home on Sunday there was no running for me. I decided I didn’t want to run my same boring route around my house and decided to go to a nearby park that has a pretty good trail system. I didn’t actually map out how many miles long it was before I went and decided to rely on Big G to get me through it. I figured the trail was at least 4.5 miles in one direction and therefore would get me my 9 that I needed. Let’s just say that I underestimated a little bit. When I hit the end of the trail I was only at 3.5 miles, so I had to scramble to figure out where I was going to make up the remaining 2. I ended up doing one of the loops twice and took the trail in the opposite direction to make up the rest. Big G told me 9.00 as I got back to the car. It was great to have a change of scenery and I ran next to a river most of the way. I even saw a deer. It was a great way to start the 4^th of July.

Tuesday was a rest day and I ran 5 miles yesterday. For some reason I developed a huge blister on my big toe after my run yesterday. I’m not quite sure why, but I popped that thing as soon as I had the chance. It was not in a good spot. I almost had a deer/pedestrian collision, too. Some of you may think, big deal she saw a deer. It’s not normal to see a deer around my house. The deer must have been grazing in someone’s front yard and I startled it. It ran out in front of me on the sidewalk and then circled back. It scared the crap out of me! And then another one popped out of these people’s flower bed and ran with it.

This morning I ran 3.2 miles and I felt really good.

Keep on keeping on…

Heather

Looking Good

2011-06-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

Marathon Training Week 2 Day 4

Ugh, what a weekend! We leave for vacation Wednesday and Mr. Jeep and I spent the entire weekend trying to get all of our ~~crap~~ ~~worldly possessions~~ gear together. Plus, you have to add in there that we celebrated Father’s Day Saturday evening at my parents’ house and then yesterday was Father’s Day. It was BUSY and I am pooped. Oh, and let’s not forget I had to run 7 miles yesterday. I forgot that little thing.

My intention was to get up around 5:30 am yesterday to get my run out of the way. I had hoped that by getting it out of the way early, I could be back home by the time the troops started waking up. Then I would shower and go on a bagel run for Mr. Jeep for Father’s Day. As all of my plans normally go, I did not get up at 5:30 am. I think by the time I got ready, ate a Larabar, drank some water and got out of the house, it was about 6:15 am; so not too terribly bad. The weather was absolutely perfect yesterday morning. It was about 62° when I left the house with a slight breeze and the sun was shining. As usual, the first 2.5 miles were hell. I’m not sure what it is, but I always have a hard time with those first couple of miles. I don’t know if my body is still waking up or getting adjusted to the activity at hand, but it’s a struggle. The good thing is that once I’m past that point, I’m fine.

The run was great and I have decided Sunday morning runs are even better than weekday morning runs. The difference being that on Sunday mornings it’s light outside for my entire run and I get to feel the sun on my face. Good ‘ol vitamin D! There was hardly any traffic out and I passed a total of four people and a dog the entire way. Plus, because it’s light outside, I get to listen to my music. During the week I run without music, mainly because it’s dark outside and I want to be able to hear if someone is coming up behind me. Not that someone couldn’t still come up behind me when it’s light out, but it’s still different. And my iPod is at a comfortable volume where I can still hear things around me.

I felt really good when I got back home. In fact, I could have kept running and not stopped at 7 miles. I figured I really need to stick to the training plan and not get over zealous. My time was awesome, too. Big G (that’s the name I’ve given my Garmin) told me I averaged a 10:08 pace. I was thrilled and even gave a “Yahoo” when I checked in with Big G at the end. I’ll be running a sub-10 before I know it. I’m totally not expecting that my marathon time will be even close to that, but a girl can hope right?

Today is a rest day (as much as a Momma to a 5 year old and a 9 month old can rest). Tomorrow I have a 3 miler scheduled, which will probably be a 3.5 miler because that’s how I roll.

I’m going to steal an idea from a blog that I read, The Bitchy Runners. (you should really check them out, they’re hilarious) They post pictures of themselves before their runs in the morning and usually post-run pictures as well. I just need to remember to take the pictures when I get up at the butt-crack of dawn. I’ll try to remember tomorrow morning.

I’m really looking forward to running while on vacation. It will be a different location, different scenery, the possibility of a bear sighting or some other wild animal…I can’t wait! Mr. Jeep told me that I absolutely have to carry my pepper spray with me (the explanation for what made me start carrying the pepper spray is best left for another post). I’m hoping that I won’t get that close to a bear to have to implement the pepper spray.

Other big news over the weekend…Clarence Clemons passed away. So sad and such a great musician. The news had one of the local DJs on this morning giving his editorial of Clarence Clemons’ passing and it was very annoying, as expected. The DJ was rambling that he feels that this is the end of the E Street Band and Bruce Springsteen will now be done performing. Blah, blah, blah…we’ll see on that one!

Happy Monday and tomorrow is the first day of summer! Yahoo!

Heather

Check it out...two days in a row!

2011-06-16T09:49:00.000-04:00

This post is combining two days into one (I wasn’t on the computer yesterday,*gasp*)…

Marathon Training Week 2 Day 2

So there’s a pattern that has developed in the mornings for me and I don’t particularly care for it. Here’s the low down…I run in the mornings. It’s the only time of the day that works for me, it’s quiet, it’s my me time, and I just plain prefer to do it then. My alarm goes off at 4:30 am (and yes, the birds haven’t started chirping yet). I usually hit snooze once, especially since I’m at my low mileage training at this point. Since I get up so early, every little bit of sleep counts in my book. Here’s the problem, Clifford. For the past two weeks he will come to the bedroom door and whine until I tell him it’s okay to get up on the bed. And what time does he do this? 4:20 am! So I’m getting robbed of 10 minutes of sleep every day because the damn dog wants to get in bed with us. I’ve tried to ignore him, but he’ll just stand there and continue to whine. I have to give him credit; at least he waits for the invitation. He’s polite like that. But come on dude! Let momma sleep 10 more minutes and then you can do whatever the heck you want to do. Maybe he’s trying to help me by making sure that I get up to run, that’s what I’d like to think. It’s working if that’s the case, but really? I have an alarm clock and it doesn’t have 4 legs and howls.

Yesterday as I was lacing up my running shoes at the back door, Marley came up behind me and was staring at me. I could feel her eyes burning a hole in the back of my head. I turned around and looked at her and she hooked me. I had to take her running with me. She used to go running with me all the time. She was a great running partner and definitely forced me to run faster than what I would normally run. She had knee surgery almost two years ago and I’ve been afraid to take her running any long distances. Plus, she has a little bit of arthritis in her back hips. Although, watching Marley you would never know any of this or think that she’s going to be 12 in a few weeks. So I looked into those dark brown eyes and I couldn’t resist, I took her running. I knew this would royally piss off Clifford, but oh well, he’ll get his shot. We ran 3.52 miles and she did awesome. I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be able to walk later in the day, but I knew she was having a great time and so was I. It was just like old times. She tried going after several rabbits, but with a gentle tug on the leash she would get right back on track. And, she made me take 10 seconds off my pace time, just like old times.

The weather was about 52° when I left the house. I wore my Flying Pig shirt and running skirt. It was the perfect amount of clothing. I was neither too hot nor too cold. I need to find another running skirt, one where the shorts don’t ride up. That’s about the only thing I don’t like with the one I have. All-in-all, it was a great run…and then I walked in the back door.

E was crying uncontrollably and Mr. Jeep was just coming out of the bathroom. The little guy decided to wake up before 5:30 am yesterday. He hasn’t been feeling good, so I kind of figured he would wake up early. I didn’t get a chance to stretch or really drink much because I was trying to console him and feed him. I make my sacrifices where I have to.

Marathon Training Week 2 Day 3

Again, woke up 10 minutes before the alarm went off, not because of the dog, but because I think my body is now trained to wake up at that time. Another 3 miler was scheduled for today and this time I stuck pretty close to 3 miles. I ran 3.2 and shaved off another 10 seconds. My pace was 10:06 this morning. I’m pretty proud of that number. This morning when I left the house it was 64° and it felt pretty humid, so I wasn’t quite sure how I’d do. But obviously, it didn’t bother me too much. I ran alone this morning. I really wanted to take Marley again, but Clifford was standing with her and I’m very hesitant about taking him with me in the mornings. Unlike Marley, who sees a squirrel or rabbit and is silent and keeps running, Clifford will howl. And by howl, I mean loud enough for people in the next county to hear him. I really love running with him, too. I told Mr. Jeep last night that I’m just going to have to deal with it and take him, but not today. I wore the running skirt again and a short sleeved shirt. I probably should have worn a tank top. I was a big sweaty mess when I got home. And today when I walked in the back door it was silent. Everyone was still sleeping. Just the way I like it!

I have cross training scheduled for Saturday and a 7 miler for Sunday. We leave for vacation next Wednesday evening, so it’s going to be a busy weekend.

Happy Running All!

Heather

Checking In...with the morning report

2011-06-14T12:23:00.000-04:00

Marathon Training – Week 2 Day 1

I know, I know…it’s been like forever since I’ve had a post. And I know, I know…I said that I was going to be regular in posting. And I know, I know…I haven’t. So here I am and I’m going to…oh screw it – I’ll post when I post dammit.

My new adventure that I am currently preparing for is the Detroit Free Press Marathon to be held October 16^th. And yes, you read that right, the full marathon. (I may have already posted that I signed up for the marathon, but I’m too lazy to log into the blog right now and read over my past posts). I’m following Hal Higdon’s marathon training plan. I’ll most likely tweak it here and there to accommodate my schedule. Since I just ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon in May, I think this training plan is pretty doable. I have all of my long runs scheduled for Sundays, with the option to do it on a Saturday if need be. I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to get in the 9 and 10 mile runs during the week later on in the training. Hal’s advice is kind of a joke: “on the weeks that you run 9 or 10 miles on Wednesday, think about either taking half day at work or taking the whole day off.” Sure, my boss won’t have a problem with that one. WTH? I guess I’ll cross those bridges when I get there.

(not a real picture of my boss - but this is what he'd look like telling me I couldn't take the day off to RUN)

Today I ran 3.52. The plan said to run 3 miles, but for some reason I can’t run just 3 miles. I know when I get to the tapering part of the plan I’ll love the fact that I only have to run 3 miles. At that point it will probably feel like I’m sitting on the couch – well, maybe not exactly like sitting on the couch, but you know what I mean. I didn’t get much sleep last night. LC had her second day of dance recitals last night and we didn’t get home until after 10 pm and I don’t think I actually went to bed until 11:30 pm and who knows when I finally fell asleep. My alarm went off at 4:30 am bright and early. I was actually awake before the alarm went off because I was listening to E on the baby monitor. He came home with a 102° fever yesterday and I’m pretty sure he may finally be getting some teeth. So I don’t think he slept very well last night. Anyway, hearing him was my queue to get the heck out of bed and out of the house before he woke up completely. The weather was perfect. It was 54° when I stepped out the door. My mind was clear, legs felt good, the groin problem I’ve been dealing with for the past two days was gone and I was ready to go. My time was a little slower than my 6 mile run on Sunday. I ran at a 10:25 pace today compared to 10:21 on Sunday. I think it was the rabbit that scared the crap out of me this morning. He made me jump back a few feet, so I’m attributing the time difference to him. Thanks, you rascally rabbit!

And the best part of the whole run…I walked in the door at 5:22 am and it was silent! Mr. Jeep, LC, E and Clifford were all asleep. Marley, of course, came charging to the back door so she could get in a little early morning hunt in the backyard.

I’m also currently doing some research to find the perfect pair of shorts or skirt to run in for the marathon. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and just buy a pair or two that I’ve read reviews on and try them out. I’m the first to admit that I’m cheap. I like quality items, but at a cheap price. So paying a lot on running clothes absolutely kills me. I’m trying to tell myself, as is Mr. Jeep, that this is a pretty big deal that I’m training for and I need to spend the money. Time will tell what I end up with. I’ll keep you posted.

(Do you know what types of images come up in a Google search for "cheap" or "cheap lady"?)

I also wanted to add that I’m currently in the process of revamping the blog. I’m testing out some different stuff, so it may go through some changes. Don’t be surprised if it looks different from day to day (this is for those two people that actually follow me).

Have an awesome Tuesday.

Heather

Hello 2011!

2011-02-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

Ahhh…2011. We’re already into February. Where oh where does the time go? Between kids, work, family, friends, side business and, did I mention kids, I barely have a moment to think. I swear most days I’m on auto-pilot. I get in my car and it just knows where I have to go. I was going to say that I have a plan to be committed to my blog, but we all know how that goes. I’ve said it before and POOF, five months have gone by without a post. Oh well, I do my best.

I was just commenting to Mr. Jeep yesterday that this is the first winter in a long time that it’s actually felt like a true winter. We have had continuous snowfall for a while now. Some days it’s only a dusting, but it still counts in my book. Last week I had my first snow day in a long time. We were warned for two days in advance that we were going to get The Storm of the Century (that’s how the forecasters sensationalize the weather in these parts). We ended up getting about 8” of snow last Wednesday. Then this past Saturday we got an additional 4-6”. I’m a snow lover, so I think it’s awesome.

In running news…I signed up for a half-marathon the first weekend in May. My thinking, at the time, was that it would motivate me to get back into my normal running routine and provide something to work towards. I’ve been having difficulties with sticking to my running schedule due to a little man that goes by the name of E. He started waking up at 5:00 a.m. to nurse and that throws out my working out schedule. I have to work out in the mornings before I go to work. I’ve tried doing it in the evenings and it just doesn’t work for me. For the past couple of weeks he’s started waking up around 4:30 a.m. This works out great for me because I’ll nurse him and then go running. It sucks waking up at 4:30 a.m., but if that’s what I have to do, that’s what I have to do. I was able to get in 3.5 miles this morning, so I’m pretty excited about that.

Speaking of my run this morning… I’ve mentioned before that I had wanted to get a pair of YakTrax for winter running. They’re supposed to help you from slipping on snow and ice. I finally got a pair for Christmas and used them for the first time today. I have to say they are fantastic! Last night we got about a ½” of snow and the YakTrax worked superbly. I highly recommend making sure you take them off before you walk on your hardwood or linoleum floors. I could see where they might scratch the floor. They go on the bottom of your shoes and then Velcro across the top. Here’s a picture:

I love them!

Holy Crap!

2010-11-05T14:46:00.002-04:00

I cannot believe I haven't left a post since June! I think I have a pretty good excuse, however...a new baby! The little one decided to arrive ten days early, September 4 at 10:32 p.m. Mr. Jeep and I welcomed a handsome little man into the world. We will call him E here (and we call him that in real life, too). He just turned two months yesterday, it's hard to believe.

Mr. Jeep and I had to get used to having a little boy in the house, since our only experience has been with little girls. To say LC loves her little bro is putting it mildly...she cannot get enough of him. I am not complaining, because it could be the other way and she could hate him, but at times I find it very annoying how loving she is toward him. At times I think it is suffocating, but it's also very sweet and like I said, it could be worse...much worse. LC is also very helpful, which is also very nice.

Unfortunately, I had to go back to ~~hell~~ work this week. I took eight weeks off for maternity leave. Let me tell you, it is not enough. Even the twelve weeks that a lot of women get is not enough. This is one area that the US majorly fails at. Some friends of ours have relatives that live in Prague and they get a whole year off. And I'm pretty sure it's Sweden that gives women three years off and they're guaranteed their job back. That would be heaven!

So anyway, I went back to work on Monday and it sucked, as expected. E is in daycare on Monday and Wednesday. My MIL watches LC and E on Tuesday and my parents watch them on Thursday. Friday E is home with me and LC is in school. I think I cried the entire way to work on Monday after dropping E off at daycare. I almost went back in, grabbed him and went home. Believe me, I thought long and hard about it. No one can love him or take care of him like I can, plus he's so little. But, not working is not an option at this point. So, I'm suffering through it and I know it will get better.

LC goes to preschool three days a week. She loves it and is looking forward to kindergarten next year. It's hard to believe she'll be five in March. Seriously, where does the time go?

The doctor gave me the go ahead to get back to running almost four weeks after E was born. So, of course, I went out and ran three miles. Nothing like easing back into it. (do you hear the sarcasm?) Up until this week I was doing pretty good with my running. But this work thing is really getting in the way. I've been so tired this week that I haven't been able to get any runs in. I've registered to run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. It will be interesting to see how that goes. I figure I'll just push through it.

Hopefully this will become a more regular thing for me and I won't be away for four months.

Three Months and Counting...

2010-06-17T08:35:00.000-04:00

My due date is was officially three months from Monday. I’ll never understand why doctors, books, and others always say that pregnancy lasts nine months. People, it’s ten. A normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks and last time I checked, 40 weeks was ten months. So whenever I hear someone say nine months, I always correct them. Why have false senses of hope?

It was pretty hot and humid here all weekend. Our air-conditioning is still on. As far as I’m concerned, this year it can stay on all summer. Usually we only turn it on when it’s really hot and/or humid, but this year there is an exception.

We had a pretty busy weekend. It started Thursday evening with the big dress rehearsal. LC was great. I have to admit I was a little nervous for her, especially since it was her first time on a stage. But, she did great. Yesterday was the first night of the recital (it’s a two night deal). She was the second act to go on (after a long and agonizing tribute to Michael Jackson). We were told that the kids couldn’t leave until the recital was over and I think I was more stressed out over that fact than anything else. Some of the mom’s volunteered to be backstage helpers (God help them) to keep the girls entertained. The recital ended up being three hours long…yes three hours long (and not a three hour tour)! There was an intermission halfway through and Mr. Jeep and I noticed that parents were signing out their kids. We kept going back and forth as to whether or not we wanted to leave. In the end we decided to stay. At the very end all of the dancers come onto the stage for a final bow. LC was great! She loves the stage. When I went backstage to get her she was lying on the floor watching a movie that one of the mom’s had brought. She said her favorite thing was dancing…of course!

We had to do it all over again on Monday night. We didn’t get out of there until almost 10:00 p.m. That is late night for me, let alone LC! All of the girls did really well again and it was very entertaining. Now we have the summer off from dance class. We’ll see if LC wants to do it all over again come September.

LC before the big dress rehearsal

Dancing Queen

2010-06-08T15:41:00.001-04:00

LC has been taking ballet since September. They’ve been working toward the big recital for the past nine months and now the time has come! This is some serious stuff folks. I guess I didn’t know exactly how serious some of these ~~psycho~~ caring parents are. LC’s ballet class is one night a week on Thursday. I can’t complain because it is only one night a week. In the nine months of observing the behavior patterns of the other parents, you learn some interesting stuff. Mr. Jeep and I trade off on taking her and due to the pregnancy, I’m not always up for going, so Mr. Jeep is kind enough to do the deed for me. He’s wonderful! As usual, the two of us have come up with nicknames for most of the parents (this is what we do when we don’t know someone’s name…doesn’t everyone?). Here’s a rundown of some of the ~~whackos~~ parents:

Angry Mom: She has two daughters, one in LC’s class and one in the class after LC’s. The daughter in LC’s class is probably 3 years old and she is super cute. But, man, does she give Angry Mom a run for her money. That 3 year old has figured out which buttons to push on Angry Mom to make her head spin. Angry Mom is also a teacher, which makes the whole situation that much more scary.

Never on Time Mom: (she could also be labeled “Needs to Be Counseled on Birth Control Mom) She has three daughters, one of whom is in LC’s class. The class is only a ½ hour long. This woman regularly arrives 15 minutes late to class. At that point, why bother? Not to mention that her kid has been there maybe a total of 4-5 months out of the 9 months, if that. She doesn’t work, and proudly states that fact to anyone within ear shot, so why can’t you get your kid there on time? Plus, she’ll go next door to the pizza place and get herself a slice of pizza and eat it by herself while the other two kids are complaining they’re hungry. Great parenting. She’s pregnant with her 4^th (hence the needs to be counseled on birth control).

Stinky Mom: This is a doozy. Her kid’s not even in LC’s class, she’s in the following class. Stinky Mom wore a leather Scooby-Doo jacket all through winter. Awesome! I won’t give it justice by attempting to describe it. It as black with purple and orange and the entire back of it was covered with a giant image of Scooby-Doo. She’s very scary looking also. So much so, that I can’t look at her. It makes me very uncomfortable. During my first trimester, when every smell or sight of food made me want to hurl, she came in and sat right next to me. She reeked of cigarette smoke and something else so bad that I thought for sure I was going to blow chow right there. If there had been more than 5 minutes left of class I would have moved.

Delinquent Mom/Grandma: This child is in the class right before LC. This event happened a couple months ago and I wanted to smack the shit out of Delinquent Mom/Grandma. I label it Mom/Grandma because I’m not sure which person is the mom and which person is the grandma. They’re both A1 assholes. Anyway, the little girl’s class got over and she came out looking for her mom/grandma. They were nowhere to be found. The little girl then made her way outside and was standing in the parking lot screaming and crying for her mom/grandma. Other parents rushed to help her, but the girl was so distraught because no one was there. Finally Delinquent Mom/Grandma showed up and took her home. Mr. Jeep told me that apparently the same thing happened last week. Only this time, Asshole Dad (I’ll get to him in a minute) came to the rescue. From what Mr. Jeep gathered, Asshole Dad is a neighbor of Delinquent Mom/Grandma (wouldn’t you love to live in their neighborhood?) and called Delinquent Mom/Grandma saying that her daughter was crying uncontrollably because no one was there. These morons couldn’t wait a ½ hour for their daughter’s class to get over and had to go home. Someone needs to call Child Protective Services. As a side note: Two weeks ago, Delinquent Mom/Grandma had a t-shirt on that said “Good Girls Go To Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere”. She’s a gem.

Asshole Dad: His daughter is in LC’s class. I’ve never seen the mother. I’m guessing she’s probably at work when class is going on. His daughter refuses to stay in the room while class is going on. She’ll open the door and keep coming out of class, which disrupts the whole class. He will sit there yelling at her to get back in the room or else. I’ve never once heard Asshole Dad talk nice to the daughter.

Disorganized Mom: Her daughter is in LC’s class. Most of the time her significant other brings the daughter to class. This is the only mom whose name I actually know and I have her phone number. She lives in our neighborhood somewhere. She’s a very nice person, but just a little odd. Mr. Jeep and I can’t figure out the relationship between her and the guy that brings the daughter to class. We have learned recently that he’s not the girl’s dad. And it appears that there is a significant age difference between Disorganized Mom and her man. He looks about 15 years younger than her. I call her Disorganized Mom because she never seems to have her stuff together. For example, the ballet recital is a two day event – Sunday and Monday. She never bought tickets! The parents have to be there and you have to buy a ticket. The Sunday event sold out, so I’m not quite sure what’s happening there. Very strange.

The Rest: The rest of the moms seem like nice enough women. I have discovered that they’re very cliquey. I think because I don’t go every week I’m not allowed to be part of the group. This is fine by me since the closer we get to the recital, the more like stage moms they have become.

Dress rehearsal is this Thursday. This is another area that irritates me. LC has to be at her dress rehearsal at 4:00 p.m. – fully dressed, hair done and all her make-up on. I get off work at 4:00 p.m. So I will be leaving work two hours early so that I can pick up LC from my parents’ house, get her dressed, do her hair and make-up. Apparently it’s no big deal if you’re a working parent.

Throughout this whole adventure I keep reminding myself why we’re here…LC loves ballet. It is the closest she will get to being a princess and in her world this is the best thing ever. We will continue to do ballet until LC decides she no longer wants to do it. I try not to complain in front of her because I don’t want to ruin it for her. The things we do for our children.

Is This Nesting?

2010-06-07T15:35:00.000-04:00

I’ve always thought of myself as being a somewhat crafty person. I love to make things. I guess my outlook is that why buy something when I can make it for probably less than what it costs and have fun at the same time. My grandma taught me how to sew when I was really little. We would cross-stitch, do latch hook projects, needlepoint, embroider (we did a lot of embroidering), crochet, general sewing…you name it, she taught me how to do it. As a side note, my grandma used to always quilt and this is one thing I never tried. She made the most beautiful quilts I’ve ever seen, even to this day. I would sit and watch her quilt, but never tried it myself and for some reason never had her show me how to do it. I still kick myself to this day that I never had her teach me.

In addition to sewing, I also make birdhouses. Let me rephrase that, I used to make birdhouses. I haven’t made one in quite some time. The area that I had in the basement to make the birdhouses was relocated when we started our basement finishing project and I haven’t made one since. Plus, with LC I just don’t have the time. Although I always tell her that when she gets a little older I will teach her how to make a birdhouse and we can make them together. Something she is looking forward to very much. I’ll have to post some pictures of the birdhouses I’ve made. I used to think about selling them, but never acted upon it. Someday I will.

I do a lot of ~~wasting time~~ reading on the Internet about different craft projects and always bookmark them or save them for later. I’ve wanted to make a purse for a long time and finally came across a great looking project that appeared to be very easy, especially for my first one. I found it at Made by Rae and it’s called the Buttercup Bag. I made it several months ago and instantly loved it. I made a few alterations to the original (which I will post at another time) and decided that I wanted to make an enlarged version because the first one was very small, as most people had mentioned. Ever since I made the first bag all I’ve been thinking about is what is going to be my next project? LC and I have made so many trips to JoAnn’s in the past month that it’s crazy. The only drawback to my creativity is that I’m cheap. I won’t pay full price for fabric. So I usually wait until fabric goes on sale or wait until I have a really awesome coupon.

I’m currently in the process of making the Buttercup Bag in an enlarged version. I’m really stepping outside the box on this one with the alterations I’m making. I started it yesterday and I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of the week. I only have so much time in the evenings to work on things, so that’s the reason this one will take a little longer.

In my never-ending research I’ve come across a ton of ideas for baby things. The drawback being that I don’t know if this baby is going to be a boy or a girl. So I guess I’ll have to wait it out until the baby is here and then decide which projects I want to tackle. I know one of them is going to be a super cute baby bath towel. I came across the idea at Grace Violet. I’m really excited to make one, so I think I’m going to go with neutral colors and try it out. Plus, someone in my office just had a baby and I’m thinking about making her one.

The really fun part about all this creativity is that LC is very interested in everything that I’m doing. I’m hoping I can pass onto her what my grandma passed onto me.

Ahhh, the weekend

2010-05-27T10:38:00.002-04:00

I have six hours left until my weekend begins. I am so excited! We're going camping this weekend at one of our favorite state parks. It's a recreation area and there is so much to do there. I'm hoping the weather will be great and not incredibly hot like it has been for the past few days. Even so, it will still be nice to get away for a few days. Normally we go up to Mr. Jeep's family cottage for Memorial weekend, but due to some family "issues" that occurred during hunting season in the fall, we will not be going up there. It's a very long story, so I will not bore you with the details. Memorial Day weekend at the cottage is never fun for me anyway. It's not just immediate family that goes, it's also extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.). It's way too chaotic for me and I usually end up being in a bad mood. So the "issues" that happened at hunting season are fine with me, and Mr. Jeep.

We finally broke down yesterday and turned our air-conditioning on. It was so humid and hot that we couldn't stand it any longer. I really don't like turning the air on because I feel so cut off from the rest of the world. We spend from about October - beginning of May with the windows and doors closed, why would we do that in the summer months, too? I have to admit that it made for some nice sleeping temperatures, though.

LC came down with Strep throat last weekend. I took her to the doctor on Monday and found out that's what she has. Luckily she's not running the super high fever she was running. I just feel so bad because her cough is horrible. The doctor's appointment wasn't so great. She was fine until the doctor wanted to look in her mouth. I finally had to hold her down while he looked in there and he immediately said, "Well, that's why she didn't want me to look!" It took two of us to hold her down while the third did the throat culture. It was very traumatic for both LC and me. So now she's on Amoxicillin and hopefully on the road to recovery.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Random Thoughts and Ramblings

2010-05-27T10:06:00.001-04:00

I know, I know…I said I was going to be more diligent in my posting and it looks like it’s been almost a month since I’ve posted anything. What can I say? Life…that’s what I say. Anywho, my post today is going to be random thoughts that I’ve been thinking about and general ramblings of things that I find ~~annoying~~ interesting.

1.     There is a woman that works in my building that drives an early 2000 Dodge Stratus and everyday she puts “The Club” on her steering wheel. Let me paint a picture of said vehicle: faded gold in color, rusted and appears to have been in several accidents. I seriously want to stop this woman one morning and let her know that I don’t think anyone is going to try and steal her ride. This is especially true since there are brand new Mercedes, Cadillacs, Range Rovers and various other high-end vehicles that park in the lot. Maybe I’ll take a picture one of these days of her vehicle and post it on here.

2.     Speaking of work (which I try very hard not to do), I work in a very small office. We moved at the end of November and in this office you can hear everything that goes on and everything that is said. Having said that, I really don’t care to hear about someone’s pap smear while she is talking on the phone. Seriously…take your cell phone and go in the hallway or into a conference room and shut the door. Or better yet, save that conversation for when you’re not at work. So annoying!

3.     Last Thursday evening I almost called the cops on some creepy guy that was standing across the street from our house. Mr. Jeep had left to go to the store for something and I had been in the basement working on something, LC was in bed. I went into the living room to start watching my Thursday night shows and noticed that there was a guy pacing back and forth at the bottom of my neighbors’ driveway across the street. There weren’t any lights on in our living room so he couldn’t see me, so I sat down in the chair and started watching him. He kept walking up and down the sidewalk and would stop directly in front of our house and just stand there staring. Needless-to-say, I got a little creeped out. I called Mr. Jeep on his cell phone and told him what was going on and he said that he had seen the neighbor talking to two guys before he left. I still was on high alert that something suspicious was going on so I got out my camera and proceeded to snap a couple shots of the “creepy” guy. Just as Mr. Jeep pulled into our driveway, the neighbor returned with another guy and the “creepy” guy joined them. Mystery solved, but I was ready to take action.

4.     I swear I should start building an ark. I think we’ve had three sunny/dry days in the past ten days. I thought April showers were supposed to bring May flowers. April around here was pretty dry in comparison to how May has been. Plus, it’s been so damn windy. I’m starting to feel like Dorothy.

Get Out of My House

2010-04-28T11:12:00.006-04:00

We have a birdfeeder and birdhouse hanging in our flower bed and under a tree outside of our living room window. LC and I filled the feeder two weeks ago. Since then, I haven't noticed any birds eating the seed. LC noticed when we filled the feeder that the birdhouse had a nest in it. I told her not to touch it because there might be birds inside. I've seen birds flying in and out of the birdhouse and I figure they've got a cozy little home going on. They're sparrows, by-the-way. Yesterday I was sitting in the living room and I could hear birds chirping, so I went to the window and looked out to see a female cardinal on the feeder eating the seed. I then noticed a sparrow poking her head out of the birdhouse. She seemed a wee bit uptight that the cardinal was that close to her home. Next thing I know, I'm assuming her hubby swooped down and was flying around the cardinal. Mr. bad-ass hubby kept himself between the cardinal and the birdhouse. He was seriously stressed out! I think the cardinal could have cared less. All she wanted was her food. I thought for sure I was going to see a bird brawl right then and there.

Back off buddy!

Spring Has Arrived!

2010-03-31T09:06:00.009-04:00

Spring has finally arrived here in Southeast MI!! It is supposed to be a wonderful 68° today! Tomorrow 73°, then 75° for the two days after that. We're headed to Northern MI tomorrow evening and it's even supposed to be that warm up there. I cannot wait! I am so ready for the dreary, cold winter we've had to be over. I may have to pull out some capri pants (if they fit) for this wonderful weather.

I noticed yesterday that I've started to regain some of my energy. Thank God! I'm thinking that I'm going to have to rework my workout routine and switch it to the evenings. I'm not so sure how that's going to go, but really I have no other choice. I cannot get my butt out of bed in the mornings to go running or do yoga. So I'm going to make the ultimate sacrifice and switch to an evening workout girl. We'll see how that goes.

The weekend recap...as a reminder, some friends and I went on a scrapbooking weekend this past weekend. It was wonderful! This was our first time at this particular place and it was set-up pretty much the same as the other place we've been to. All meals, snacks and beverages (non-alcoholic) were included. The food was delicious! One difference that we all noted was that at the other place we were never hungry and never needed to snack in between meals/appetizers. At this place I was looking for a snack in between breakfast and lunch and then again in between lunch and dinner. I think one of the reasons was that they spaced out the meals to far apart. The other think I found interesting, they didn't make our beds in the morning. So all day Saturday our beds went unmade. I found that very strange. The other disappointment, the massage therapist wasn't available this past weekend...so no massage! I was so looking forward to one, too. But, other than those couple of things, it was a great weekend. It was only 40 minutes from my house, so that was very convenient.

As I mentioned, Mr. Jeep, LC, the hounds and I are headed up north for Easter weekend. Mr. Jeep and I have been going up north for Easter weekend for as long as I can remember. It takes the pressure off what I like to call "an obligatory holiday". My parents will also be up there at their house, so they're coming over on Saturday for Easter dinner. Nothing fancy, real low-key. We'll probably color Easter eggs on Friday. I'm looking forward to the Easter egg hunt on Sunday. We go to Mr. Jeep's mom's place and it is in the middle of the woods. The next closest house is three miles away. There's no electricity or plumbing (yes, we call it roughing it, but not really). We use propane for the stove, heat and lights and yes, we have to use an outhouse. The outhouse really isn't that bad. I freaked out the first time Mr. Jeep took me up there because before this I refused to ever use an outhouse. But when you have no other option, you do what you have to do. The outhouse is so clean and you don't feel like you're in an outhouse when you're in there. Hard to explain without actually experiencing it, but trust me. So being in the middle of the woods, we can hide Easter eggs everywhere. It should be a lot of fun. LC will love it!

I'm planning on getting a couple of runs this weekend. It's so peaceful running up there because no one else is around. Although, I do tend to freak myself out when I'm out running. Long story, but I always feel like someone is watching me. Kind of freaky, but I don't let it stop me.

March 26th Friday Follow!!

2010-03-26T13:48:00.030-04:00

Welcome to another edition of Friday Follow! Hosted by Hearts Make Families, Midday Escapades and One 2 Try. Check them all out!

We're very excited to announce this week's Friday Follow Sponsor and a GIVEAWAY exclusively for our Friday Followers! Please grab both buttons after linking up. By grabbing our sponsor button you help us to promote this new venture and keep Friday Follow going strong for everyone.

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Cut & Paste

2010-03-25T15:51:00.002-04:00

So, this weekend I am going away with some friends for a scrapbooking weekend. I know, it sounds kind of corny, but it is SO awesome. Last year, around this time, we went to this place called Cropping Daze in the middle part of Michigan. There were just three of us that went. I was a little skeptical of going at first. I didn’t know if I’d like being there with a bunch of other people I didn’t know, but it was great. It’s along the lines of a bed and breakfast, but you also get to scrapbook for the entire weekend. The place was like heaven and they treated us like queens. All of the meals are included in the price, along with snacks. And these meals aren’t just ordinary meals…they are GOURMET. I was never hungry the entire weekend. In addition to the meals and the snacks, they also keep out dishes of candy and other goodies all day. It’s definitely not a Weight Watchers friendly menu, but it is so delicious. They also made our beds every morning and leave candy on our pillows. Every night they would turn down our beds. On Saturday, a massage therapist came in and, for an additional charge, offered massages. I definitely acted upon that. The scrapbooking area itself was incredible. Each person had an 8 foot table that included outlets, a task lamp, cup holder, garbage can and a great office chair. The best part is that you were able to keep your stuff out all weekend and didn’t have to worry about packing everything up at the end of the day.

This weekend we’re trying out a new place. This place is called Memories Manor and it’s a little closer to home. I’m very interested to see how this place compares to Cropping Daze. Memories Manor’s website states that they have a bellhop that takes all of our bags to your room and scrapbook supplies to the scrapbooking area. It’s the same sort of deal, all the food is included and they will also offer massages on Saturday. I’m really hoping that the massage therapist knows how to do pregnancy massage, because I will be all over that!

Of course, the other interesting part of the whole process are the other people. There was a super annoying bunch that was with us at Cropping Daze last year. They insisted on having the TV on in the scrapping area, along with the stereo. They never once watched the TV. Then Saturday night they insisted on watching Saturday Night Live, turned off the stereo and never once watched it! Thankfully I had my back to them the entire weekend and didn’t have to witness anything that was going on. We found out on a couple of occasions that must not like swearing very much. The three of us were carrying on a conversation and someone *gasp* cursed and apparently, every single one of them bore their eyes into us. It wasn’t like we were a bunch of cussing sailors, we were just having a conversation. There was one woman with them that didn’t scrapbook the entire weekend, she didn’t even bring anything to scrapbook with. She did bring her laptop and was on it all weekend. I don’t know why you’d pay that much money to be on your laptop all weekend, but so be it.

This time there will be five us. I’m going to try and remember my camera so I can capture some good shots. I hope the food is just as good. I’m all about the food these days!

Running...like they do on Baywatch

2010-03-23T14:28:00.012-04:00

Of course my first question to my doctor was if I could still run, due to the pregnancy. She told me that I could keep running, but (and this is a big one) I have to keep my heartrate below 140 bpm. Seriously? So, I said okay I can live with that. I can still run, no big deal. Mr. Jeep wanted to know for how long I could keep running. I think he was a little worried that the crazies that are usually kept away by my running would start creeping back into our lives, as was I. The doctor told me that I can keep running until it is no longer comfortable. GREAT! was the response from both of us. Great, until you actually get out there.

So the day after she gave me the go ahead, I headed out for my run. I set my Garmin up so that it would beep at me when I got above 140 bpm. I soon realized a few things on that run. One, I don't know my Garmin as well as I should. I won't bore you with all the technical details, but I didn't have the right thing set and it beeped at me the entire time I was on my run. I thought I was going to lose my f--ing mind. The other thing I realized is that I have to run really slow to keep my heartrate at 140 bpm or below. I really felt like people who were watching me thought this was the first time I ever ran. It took me about 10 minutes longer to do the route that I ran. I kept reminding myself that this is not just for me anymore and that I have to think of the other person inside of me and do what's best for him/her.

I haven't been running as much as I would like. I haven't been sleeping well and can't get up at 5 am to do my normal run. And by the time I get home from work, there's way too many other things to take care of and worry about. Plus, I've been exhausted. This week I have felt like I've gotten some of my energy back, a little. So my goal is to get back on track, or at least the track I should be on right now. It's very hard for a competitive person to change her thinking, but I'm trying.

(This is what I say over and over to myself)

We've Found Her!

2010-03-23T13:32:00.018-04:00

Yes, I'm still here and around. I know, I know...it's been since August that I last posted anything. Shame on me. I've been busy reading everyone else's blogs and keeping current with all of them, that I haven't taken the time for myself. So I've decided that now is as good a time as any to get back in the swing of things and continue my rambling and rants. So watch out, because I'm sure they'll be good from here on out.

So, what's new? you ask...I guess the biggest news is that Mr. Jeep and I are expecting a baby in September. September 14th to be exact (and let's hope it's exact). I'm 15 weeks along, so I have a long way to go. We're very excited in the Two Seconds household, to say the least. There will be lots of changes and hopefully all of them good. First of all, the baby, that's a big change. Second of all, LC will be changing bedrooms and along with that comes all new furniture for her and a total room makeover. At first she wasn't thrilled with the idea that she'd be getting a new bedroom, until we told her that she'd get new furniture and she'd get to help pick out the paint color. Then she was VERY excited. We're even on the ball with already having bought the furniture. I found a great bedroom set on craigslist for a very reasonable price.

Of course, I will be the most pregnant in the hottest month of the year...August, but oh well. What can you do, right? I told Mr. Jeep I better not hear one complaint about the electric bill this summer. I'm sure I'll have the air-conditioning on everyday that it even thinks about going over 78 degrees. Between being parked over an air vent in the house or camped out in LC's pool in the backyard, I don't think I'll get a lot accomplished this summer.

That's really the big news. I'm sure I'll be posting a lot of my complaints and frustrations over the next few months. It seems that I get very easily irritated with everything and everyone, so I'll try to find the humor.

We went to the Florida Keys at the end of February. We went with a group of friends and it was very nice. I'm still trying to think of a way to quit my job, Mr. Jeep to quit his job and move down there permanently. Although, I don't think I'd enjoy the hurricanes very much. We rented a really nice house on a canal in Marathon and it was only a five minute walk to the beach. Here's a picture of the tree we camped under at the beach:

We also went to the Dolphin Research Center, which was very cool. LC and Mr. Jeep got to pet the dolphins and shake "hands" with them. LC is still talking about it. Here's a picture:

I opted to be the photographer and not participate. Plus, it was really expensive. It was more for her anyway. If you ever get the chance to go down there, I highly recommend it. We went to Key West one day and stayed for the evening entertainment. In Mallory Square the street performers come out and put on little shows. It was a lot of fun. We also wanted to catch the sunset from there, which we kind of did. I say kind of because there was a big cruise ship docked and it decided to take off two minutes before the sun actually set. Needless-to-say, there were quite a few boos and curse words from the crowd for that cruise ship. Here's the picture we were able to get:

Yes, that's a pirate ship in the picture! Arghh!

Enter to Win

2009-08-27T12:58:00.002-04:00

Hop on over to Chic Runner. She has a super cool giveaway for an iBelt. I may have to purchase one if I don't win.

6 hours 45 minutes

2009-07-09T09:29:00.002-04:00

That’s all I have left until I’m officially on vacation mode for the next 2 weeks! And I have a feeling it’s going to be a long 6 hours and 45 minutes!

No morning run report today. I forgot Mr. Jeep has an appointment this afternoon and has to leave work early. This meant he had to go into work early to make up the time (isn’t he a great employee?). Most likely I won’t be able to get a run in this evening because an old friend of Mr. Jeep is in town and he’s stopping by so we can finally give him his wedding present. I ran 5.6 miles yesterday morning. The first half of my run I wasn’t feeling all that great. Pretty sluggish actually. So I knew I wasn’t going to have a great time. My time was something like 10:15, still not bad, but not where I wanted to be. Everyday can’t be a great day, so I’m over it.

I’m going to do my best to continue my running while on vacation. We’re also taking the bikes, so we should be able to get a lot of that in as well. I don’t know if I mentioned that the place we’re going to for the first week is the town that Mr. Jeep and I got married in. We haven’t been there since then. We’re both really excited to go back and to show LC where mommy and daddy got married. It’s a beautiful part of Michigan and a place that all people should enjoy once. It’s a town called Charlevoix and it’s in the northwest part of the lower peninsula.

Hopefully I’ll have some awesome pictures to post. I bought a Nikon d40 camera right after Memorial Day and I absolutely love the picture quality. Now I just need to learn how to properly use it!

If I don’t post tomorrow or Saturday morning, have a great 2 weeks! I’m sure I’ll have loads of stories.

Back to the Grindstone

2009-07-06T09:05:00.002-04:00

Happy Belated 4^th of July! The weekend was very uneventful and I am really happy about it. I did not go for a run Thursday evening, but I did go Friday morning. I ran 4 miles and my time was 9:01! I am very pleased with the time. I’ll get under 9 minutes one of these days. I was hoping it would happen this morning and it probably would have had I not gotten stopped at a light and by some idiot that refused to yield to a pedestrian. I ran 3.6 miles this morning and my time was 9:05. Still not bad and very happy about it!

Speaking of the idiot that wouldn’t yield to me, this has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves while out running/walking. It irritates me when I’m in a residential area and people are so impatient that they can’t bother to wait the 5 seconds (not even) it will take me to get across the street. Seriously! Is that teensy bit of time really going to make or break you getting to where you need to go? I’ll never forget the one time I was walking our old dog Buddy. I used to take him on the monster long walks and we were walking on a busy road, but we were on the sidewalk. We came to a light and it was red for us, so I stopped of course. When the light turned green I hesitated a couple of seconds to make sure everyone was stopping and then started to go. As soon as Buddy and I took two steps, the jackass that was turning right decided we had hesitated a little too long and decided to go. I had to yank Buddy back as hard as I could, otherwise he would have gotten hit by that asshole! I was so angry! I couldn’t believe how close that car came to hitting Buddy. I’ve even had that happen while I’ve been running with LC in the jogger. My jogging stroller is this bright lime green color and there is no way you can’t see it. I really think people just don’t care. It’s as if once they’re behind the wheel they are the only thing that matters. The ones that irritate me more than anything are the people that go in front of you and then stare at you like you, as the pedestrian, are in the wrong for being out there in the first place. Frustrating!

So anyway, now that I’m off my little rant, it was a really good run this morning. I definitely think I needed the break and it seems to have helped.

We leave for vacation this Saturday. We’re going camping for a week and then the following week we’re going to be at the property up north. Neither Mr. Jeep nor myself like taking vacation in July, but we are. Originally Mr. Jeep was told by his lovely employer that Chrysler would be taking a mandatory two week shutdown in July. Ford and GM have always done this, but Chrysler never has. And they would have to use two weeks of vacation during that time. So we decided on our trip and I made the camping reservations. About two weeks ago Mr. Jeep found out that now they’ll be working during those two weeks…WTF! At first we thought about only going camping the first week and then using the other week sometime in the fall. But after thinking it over and discussing it, we decided that we had already accepted the fact that we were taking a two week vacation and anything less than that would be a let down. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun and LC is really geeked about it!

And today it’s back to work after the holiday weekend!

Another sweet giveaway

2009-07-02T09:35:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post that Chic Runner is having another sweet giveaway. This time it’s for a Zensah $75 Prize Pack. You get to choose whatever you want for $75. Chic Runner has talked a lot about the arm warmers and sports bra that she bought from them.

Also, as you may have noticed, there hasn’t been a morning run report all week. What’s going on???? Well, Mr. Jeep has been out of town since last Thursday and I didn’t even consider the fact that I wouldn’t be able to run in the mornings while he was gone. I can’t very well leave LC home by herself and put the doggies in charge! Can you even imagine? It would be another Good Dog Carl book all over again (if you’ve never seen this book, you must. Someone should call Child Protective Services on that mother!). I’m looking at the bright side of things of not having run all week that maybe this is the break I needed. I’m planning on going for a run maybe this evening and definitely tomorrow morning. Although the run this evening most likely won’t happen. Mr. Jeep came home 10 minutes before I left this morning, so I’ll want to spend time with him.

He's down and not out

2009-06-24T09:58:00.001-04:00

Mr. Jeep went fishing Saturday morning on our friends’ boat with the guys. This is something new for Mr. Jeep, he never fishes. But he wants to get into it more and secretly I think he has mini-man crush on our friend Bill that owns the boat. Bill is a cop/fireman/paramedic and is big into hunting and fishing. He also has guns and great toys. All things Mr. Jeep also loves. Anyway, Mr. Jeep ended up hurting his back while fishing Saturday morning. I think the thing that really made it worse was that he didn’t take it easy the rest of the day Saturday, Sunday or Monday. He got up to get ready for work yesterday morning and could barely walk to the bathroom. He’s had this happen before and it was a bulging disc that was causing the problem. So he stayed home yesterday and ended up taking a Vicodin, which he hates doing. He’s still not better today. He’s supposed to be leaving tomorrow night for Vegas for work, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening. He stayed home again today and is going to try and get in to see the doctor. Hopefully they can do something.

Not so great morning run report

I ran this morning and that’s about all that I can say. I ran 3 miles…just 3 miles. It was very humid and I was extremely sweaty when I got home. And no I don’t perspire, I sweat (very easily I might add). It’s supposed to be 95^o or something crazy like that today. There’s a heat advisory for today here.

We set up LC’s new pool on Monday and when I got back home from my run I walked over to it and for one brief moment considered jumping in. In hindsight I should have; it would have felt great! Instead, I reached in and splashed water all over my face. It felt good, but not as good as jumping in would have been.

Morning Run Report

2009-06-23T08:56:00.002-04:00

I’ve decided I’m going to start doing a morning run report. I think this is going to help me in a couple of ways: 1) It will provide a pseudo run log and 2) hopefully help with I think it considered “hitting the wall”. Let’s talk about #2 for a moment. For the last couple of weeks whenever I go running I have had one hell of a time finishing. Usually the first mile is the hardest for me and then I’m fine. But lately every single mile is the hardest for me and I even struggle with *gasp* walking. I never do but I think about it really hard. I went running Sunday morning and did 4.6 miles. I planned on doing at least 6, but I got to the point where I could turn to go home and I honestly felt like I couldn’t run anymore and turned to go home. I didn’t run yesterday, but I went this morning. I ran 4.4 miles this morning (9:07/mile) and I felt good. I ran a different route than one of my normal ones that I choose from, so I’m thinking maybe this helped. I’m going to try and map out some different routes than what I normally do and see if maybe it’s just boredom with the same routine that’s making me dread running.

So the report for this morning was very good. Like I said, I ran 4.4 miles and I felt great. It was starting to get light out when I left. I love the fact that the sun starts rising so early now. I leave for my runs around 5:00 – 5:15 am, so it’s kind of nice that’s it not dark outside. And by the time I get back home it’s really light out. I wish I could carry my camera some mornings because the sunrises are so beautiful. It was about 65^o when I left the house this morning and already was starting to feel humid. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s tomorrow and I think high humidity…summer is here in Michigan! I only passed one other person this morning and saw one rabbit. Oh and I ran through every cobweb in the area. I probably look like a crazy person some mornings because when I have to run where I think there may be cobwebs, I flail my arms out in front of me to clear the cobwebs before I have to run through them. It works, but I don’t always remember until it’s too late.

So that’s my first morning run report. Hopefully it helps me!

Awesome Giveaway

2009-06-22T13:23:00.003-04:00

Felice over at The Happy Runner has a great giveaway going on. She's hosting a giveaway for some pretty awesome running gear. The contest ends 6/25, so hurry on over!

Torture

2009-06-15T11:31:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we surprised my mother-in-law with a spa day during the day on Saturday and then dinner in the evening. That is a long ass day to spend with my in-laws. The reason for the surprise is that my mother-in-law turned 70 on May 28^th. My sister-in-law and niece came in from Illinois to surprise her as well. It was a very nice thought and gesture for my mother-in-law and I know she really enjoyed herself. Can’t you just sense that there is a “but” coming?

Let me give a shortened version of my husband’s family situation. You may want to take notes because it’s a little complicated. Soap operas are written about this stuff. In fact there was a little show called the Brady Bunch that it was loosely based off of. My father-in-law was married before and had two daughters from that marriage. His first wife passed away when the girls were really young. She had tuberculosis. My mother-in-law was also married before and had three daughters from that marriage. Her first husband was a Detroit cop and was hit and killed by a Detroit City bus while on pursuit of another vehicle. The girls were also very young, in fact the youngest was only about 5 months old. Both very tragic stories. My in-laws met, married and had my husband the following year. He is the youngest and the only boy with five (yes 5!) sisters.

I can only imagine what the house was like growing up. The oldest daughter from each of my in-laws are the same age and the next two from each are only a few months apart. When my husband was born, the oldest daughter was about 9 years old. So my in-laws had six children under the age of 9 when my husband was born. Can you even imagine? It explains some things in that family. I mean you have to be a little crazy to be able to handle all those kids, right?

My husband really only gets along with three of his sisters. The oldest from my mother-in-law and my husband do not speak to each other at all. I also do not speak to her. She is an A-1 bitch. And we are all certain that she has some mental disorder or something, possibly a little bipolar. We’re not sure, but she is super nice one minute and then just a total bitch the next. Most of the time she learns more towards total bitch. She didn’t even go to her own sister’s wedding two years ago. The wedding was on the other side of the state and it was her second marriage, but everyone else made the trip. Even the sister from Illinois made it. Funny enough, she came to our wedding and our wedding was in Charlevoix which is in the very northwest part of Michigan. The other sister, ironically the oldest from my father-in-law, we used to get along with. In fact, she’s the one that introduced Mr. Jeep and I. She used to be my favorite of the sisters. I still don’t know what happened, but she never really acknowledged when LC was born. She came to my baby shower and was her normal self. She sent a card the day after LC was born, but that was it. She never came to the house to see LC. She never called. She ignored us the next time we saw her. It was all very bizarre.

They all pretty much drive me crazy. They are very LOUD people. More so, two of the sisters that Mr. Jeep gets along with are very loud. The one regularly states that she is the smartest in the family. No joke. I have heard her say this on several occasions. Actually she says that she and the other loud one are the smartest in the family. And it’s the entire family, not just the immediate that they are above. Who the hell says this? She’s also the one that last Memorial Day when we were up north, emerges from the house in full on make-up and some outfit that looked like it came straight out of Orvis! We have no running water or electricity at the property up north. Everyone pretty much looks gross all weekend. That’s how it is, accept it. I could go on and on with the stories, but you probably get the idea. They are a couple of high maintenance chicks. I like to think that I am not.

So when the idea of spending pretty much the entire day with the five of them came up, I shuddered. Instantly I began thinking of ways to get out of the spa part of it. Finally I told myself that it was for my mother-in-law and not me and to suck it up and do it. So that’s what I did. All-in-all it went pretty well. The first appointments were supposed to be at 10 am and we were to get there before 10 am to surprise my MIL. My niece was bringing her to the spa. 10 am came and went and there was still no sign of the niece and MIL. Finally it was around 10:20 or so and the massage therapist that was going to be working with me asked if I wanted to get started or keep waiting. I felt horrible making her wait because this then meant that all of her appointments were now pushed back for the rest of the day. I finally told her let’s get started; I can always say hi after my massage. I ended up leaving around 2:30 pm and they were still there. Apparently they didn’t leave until almost 4 pm! Thank God I made an early exit.

We were supposed to be at the restaurant at 6:00 pm for dinner. Mr. Jeep, LC and I were actually early. I was very proud. Everyone else trickled in after that. We probably didn’t sit down to start ordering until 6:45. There were about 20 people total in our group. The restaurant had 1 waitress waiting on 20 people. They had us split up into two long tables and 1 waitress! WTF! We never left the restaurant until after 9:30. LC was crashing big time at the end. She kept saying “Momma, I’m so tired.” I felt really bad and I also wanted to leave. My brother-in-law came up to me to see how I was doing and so we had a little bit of a bitch session between the two of us.

It was one day/night and my MIL had a great time. That’s all that matters. And the saying “you can choose your spouse but not your in-laws” is oh so true in my case. They’re all headed to Frankenmuth (a German touristy town north of Detroit known for its chicken) together today. Mr. Jeep and I were not jumping on that train.

Go Wings!

2009-06-09T14:45:00.002-04:00

Tonight is Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals and I can’t wait! Hopefully it will be a total repeat of last year and the Red Wings will win tonight. If they win that means a late night for Mr. Jeep and I. Of course we’ll have to stay up for all of the celebratory stuff after the game. I love hockey!

Good luck boys!

Keep your mouth closed

2009-06-09T09:27:00.003-04:00

I was almost home from my run yesterday morning and this bug flew right in my mouth and went back in my throat. I started gagging for a few seconds and was in total disbelief that he flew right back into my throat. I’m pretty sure the damn thing hit my uvula on the way in. That bug must have been flying pretty fast with the force I felt at the back of my mouth. He was too far in to try and spit him out, so I must have swallowed him (I don’t know why she swallowed the fly….).

So I decide on the way to dropping LC off at school to tell her about it…that was a mistake and I should have known it would be. I couldn’t really see her face as I was telling her the story, but she asked me why he flew in my mouth. I had to explain that sometimes those things happen.

LC: “Did he come out?”

Me: “No, I swallowed him because he was back in my throat.”

LC: “I don’t like that very much.”

Me: “Well I didn’t really like it either, it made me gag.”

LC: “Are you o.k.? Where is the bug right now?”

Me: “In my tummy most likely. He’s not coming out my mouth that’s for sure.”

So we get to her school and I go to unbuckle her from the car seat and she has this pained expression on her face and she’s staring at my mouth. I really think she thought the damn bug was going to fly out of my mouth! I had to laugh. She looked at me and she said “Momma, I don’t want you to kiss me today.” I said “why not?” She said, “I don’t want the bug to fly in my mouth when you kiss me!” I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s amazing how her mind works.

She brought it up again at dinner and then before bed and then this morning. Maybe next year she will have stopped asking me about it!

Crazy Talk

2009-06-08T10:43:00.003-04:00

I’ve been thinking about running a marathon for a long time. I’ve always told myself that I will do one before I am no longer part of this Earth. There are two marathons that I would consider doing as my first one. One is the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar marathon and the other is the Chicago Marathon. Obviously the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar would make more sense. Last year I thought about doing it for a long time and then I just didn’t feel quite ready. Plus I figured I should probably do a half before I attempted a full. Well now that I have the half under my belt, I really have no excuses.

Last Thursday I received an email from the Free Press marathon stating that the race fee is cheaper until June 30^th. After I finished the Martian ½ Marathon I had made up my mind to run the ½ for the Free Press. Now I’m considering doing the whole thing. In my head I know I could do it, but there’s also a little voice that is telling me that is a long ass way to run! I emailed my friend Elena, which was a ~~mistake~~ blessing, to hear her thoughts on the subject. Of course she says that she would also like to do the full marathon. Of course. She has a book with a training program that only requires you to run three days a week to avoid burnout and injury. Ugh, I think I’m running a marathon. I have until June 30^th to make up my mind for the cheaper rate.

What's Been Going On?

2009-06-08T09:14:00.003-04:00

Not a whole heck of a lot is what’s been going on. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that. I have been crazy busy at work, I mean crazy! I work for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee (yes, I’m still at that same j-o-b) which explains the reason why I’ve been so busy.

Since my last post I’ve run one race. I ran the Oak Apple Run two weekends ago. It’s a 10K and usually has a pretty small turnout, which is nice for me. My time was 56:32 and I am still very happy with it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do a 10K under an hour. I know it’s not fast by any means, but it was fast for me. And in all honesty it probably would have been better if I wasn’t stuck in a crowd for the first mile or so. I was one of those people at one point where I ran up on the sidewalk to go around a group of people. Mr. Jeep and LC went with me because LC was running the Kid’s ¼ Mile Fun Run. So while I was running my 10K they were at the Coney Island in downtown Royal Oak having breakfast. LC got a kick out of seeing me at mile 4. She enjoyed herself because she got to pet a ton of dogs. I did the ¼ mile run with her. We didn’t actually run. She had been practicing for the entire week before by having me count 1-2-3…GO! Sure enough we get to the start line and we start going and she doesn’t want to run. So we walked and then she wanted me to carry her. Mr. Jeep met up with us at the 1/8 mile point and “ran” the rest of the way with us. We told LC that she had to either walk or run through the finish line. She did and she was really excited. She cleaned up at the end of the run! First she got a trophy (I did not) and a backpack full of stuff! And good stuff, not crappy stuff that would end up in the garbage as soon as we got home. Needless-to-say, for the next week she carried that trophy with her everywhere. It was very cute! All momma got was a banana, some Gatorade and water.

Stop Whining!

2009-04-14T21:28:00.006-04:00

Since last Wednesday it has been less than great in my house. Mr. Jeep came home sick from work last Wednesday. He went to the doctor and found out that he has a really bad sinus infection. He gets a couple of them a year, but this is definitely the worst one. I feel really bad for him. Well, I did feel really bad for him. I know this is a totally horrible thing to say, but I have no sympathy left. The doctor put him on an antibiotic (Augmentin) and a steroid. I'm putting the blame on the steroid for his moody behavior. At least, that's what I tell myself to try and keep my sanity. He called the doctor yesterday and a new prescription was called in. Thank God he's getting better. I don't think I would have been able to stand another day of the complaining. But now he's moved on to complain about all the stuff he hasn't been able to get done due to his illness. It's always something!

Camel Toe Begone

2009-04-09T12:06:00.013-04:00

Apparently this is the latest thing to be circulating around to help the possibility of the camel toe. The product is called Kamelflage. It is a small eco-friendly insert designed to fit into the liner of your undies to hide any lines that may appear. This is what it's supposed to hide/stop:

I guess two local women came up with the concept. A local store in Birmingham carries them. If anyone is interested, here's the website.

I have an even better idea: don't wear clothing that is too small for you and wear underpants! There I just saved you $10. You're welcome!

Martian Half-Marathon Report

2009-04-07T17:30:00.011-04:00

I can officially say that I have run a half-marathon! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! (can you tell by the exclamation points?) Sunday I ran the Martian Half-Marathon and it was great. I totally see why people say that once you run one, you want to do more. In my crazy warped sense of thinking I was already thinking of the next one while I was still running my first one. Crazy, right? So here's the report.

When I first signed up for the race it said that it started at 8:30 am. Awesome I thought. I run in the morning before work, so this is perfect. I don't like those late start races. About a month ago I get an email saying that they've moved the race start up to 8:00 am. Again I thought awesome. I guess I should back track and say that the race was a little ways away from my house. About a 40 minute drive, so you have to factor that into the equation here. Anyway, two weeks ago I get an email that says "Due to unforseen circumstances the race time is being moved up to 7:00 am." Excuse me? 7:00 am and I have to drive 40 minutes to get there? WTF?!? Of course I immediately go into panic mode with how I am supposed to eat something and have enough time for it digest enough before the race. On my daily runs I don't eat anything before because they're not so long that I need something. But for 13.1 miles I need something. Luckily my friend Elena ran a half in the fall and she was my go to person for advice on everything. We got the food situation figured out.

A few days before the race I found out that one of my sister and brother-in-law's friends was also going to do the half. So he and I ended up going to get our race packets together and he rode with us to the race. I told Brian (the friend) Saturday that Mr. Jeep, LC and I would pick him up around 5:30 - 5:45 am on Sunday. He said perfect. My alarm went off at 4:30 am on Sunday (who gets up that early on the weekend) and I ate half a bagel and some yogurt. I also drank water and put a little bit of coffee in my mug to drink on our way there. By the time Mr. Jeep and LC were ready to leave it was 5:30 am when we pulled out of our driveway. So already I'm upset because we're leaving late to pick up Brian. Really there was no need to get upset about it. We pull into Brian's driveway and I get out to go to the front door and Brian opens it and tells me that he didn't hear his alarm and he just got up at 5:30 am! He kept apologizing and finally we were on our way.

Mr. Jeep drove us. Brian and I were telling him how to go since he didn't go on Saturday to pick up the race packet. Well we're riding along and all of a sudden Brian says "I think we missed the exit." And I agreed because I was just about to say the same thing. So we had to get off the expressway and go back. We hadn't gone too far out of our way. So it wasn't that big of a deal. We made sure to razz Mr. Jeep about it though.

Finally we parked and made our way to the starting area. I had to go pee really bad, but when I saw the line for the lovel porta-johns I figured I didn't have enough time. The race was going to start in about 5 minutes. After a minute or so I told Brian I had to use the bathroom. So I got in a line of all men thinking that it would move faster and it did. I came out of the porta-john and Brian said the race had already started. I said, "What?!?" and then realized that we were surrounded by everyone else waiting to start. I had a chip on my shoe so I wasn't that worried. So as we're standing there I go to put my headphones on and start my musice and my damn mp3 player wouldn't turn on. I was getting really frustrated and the start was getting closer. I even took the battery out and put it back in and it still didn't work. So I ran 13.1 miles without any music. I had the headphones on because I had no other place to put them, but no music. I later determined that after I put the new battery in it on Saturday night, LC and I were listening to it and I must have not turned it off all the way. I was so pissed! Live and learn right?

As soon as we hit the start line Brian and I wished each other good luck and he was off. Starting back further, I later determined, was actually a blessing for me. For the first 2-3 miles I was passing a lot of people and it wasn't because I was running incredibly fast, it was due to us starting further back. Usually for me, the first 2 miles are the hardest part for me. But that wasn't the case this time. I think because of the adrenaline of the race and the people it really helped. The course had some hills that I'm not used to by my house. Around me it's pretty flat. I think I did pretty good on the hills though. I seemed to pass a lot of people on the uphills and feel that I kept a pretty even pace.

I didn't take anything at the first water station. I don't think it was until mile 4 that I took some water. Then after that I'd take water at all the stations except for the last one. I was doing pretty good overall until about mile 9 or 10. I started getting a cramp in my left hamstring. As soon as it would start feeling better I'd come to a hill and then it would get worse. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't run, but it hurt. I worked through it and I was fine.

As is the case at most races, there was an interesting mix of people. I spotted one woman that made me laugh and there's usually always one or two at a race. She looked to be in her early 50's and she had her face completely done up. She had mascara, eye shadow, lipstick, blush. You could totally tell that she had got up that morning and washed and dried her hair and curled it. She was done up! Apparently she must follow the line of women don't sweat, they perspire. This other woman every time I saw her all I could think was "Farrah Fawcett is running this race." This woman was straight out of the 70's. She had frosted blond hair with the wings and the harsh rouge lines on her cheeks. And the best part was that her eyes reminded me of Tammy Faye Baker! Ugh, can you even imagine? I also saw an older man, probably in his late 60's wearing a garbage bag (it was not raining, the sun was out) and he had on the Karate Kid headband. Whenever I saw him I thought "Aw, Danielson." This is what kept me entertained.

After about the 6-7 mile mark I ran with pretty much the same group of people the rest of the way. It was kind of nice. Even though nobody was talking to each other, it was comforting knowing that I was with the same people.

When there was about 2 miles left in the race, the route went through U of M Dearborn's campus on this road. It was nice, until the jackass in the car came up behind me and laid on his horn! I have no idea how this guy got his car on the race route or where he came from, but I was with this group of people and I thought I heard a vehicle behind me. I turned to look and sure enough there's a car coming behind me. I heard him honk his horn at some people farther back from me and then next thing I know he's about 2 feet behind me. I am not lying, he was that close. So I moved over and he went past me and made others move, too. He ended up zipping in this parking lot, only to realize there was no way out. So here comes Mr. Jackass back onto the race route. I was the lucky one he came to first. He was even closer to me this time and he laid on his fucking horn! The girl next to me and I turned and looked at him like are you kidding me? We both moved over and then he did the same thing to 2 other women in front of me. The one woman turned around and yelled "What the hell are you doing?" and moved over. Her friend wasn't quite so nice. She gave the car a huge smack on the roof. Eventually the asshole made his way through everyone. I still have no idea where he came from and why he thought he was so important.

I also have to admit that when I had about 2 miles left, I actually started getting choked up. I started thinking about the fact that I was about to finish my first half. All my training had come to this point. Then I reminded myself that Mr. Jeep and Brian would be at the finish line and I'd have to hear about it if I finished with tears in my eyes. There's nothing that irritates me more than being called a girl in those situations.

I was almost to the finish line and there was Mr. Jeep with LC on his shoulders and Brian standing with them. Mr. Jeep was taking pictures and LC was cheering and eating a bagel. I hit the finish line, got a water and was given a medal by some hot looking guy (I almost went back for a second just to have him hand me another medal). Mr. Jeep and LC met me after I got through all that and kept telling me how proud they were. It was awesome! I couldn't stop smiling. And other than my hamstring hurting, I felt great. I wasn't tired. I wasn't out of breath. I felt great. I knew it was still the adrenaline that was making me feel that way, but I didn't care.

Unfortunately, in addition to my technical problems with my radio, we were also experiencing technical problems with the camera. I think because it was cold outside it wasn't working properly. Mr. Jeep couldn't get it to focus. So I think we got one good picture. (this is now making me want to get the better camera I wanted to get when we got this one)

I really didn't start getting tired until a couple hours later, which I expected. That's what happened to me when I would do my long runs on the weekend.

I checked my official time yesterday at it was 2 hours 13 minutes. I think that's pretty respectable for my first half. Now I have something to beat. I'm really glad I did it and I can't wait for the next one!

Entertaining

2009-04-01T14:20:00.007-04:00

Be sure to check out The Chic Runner today. She has an awesome giveaway of a $100 gift certificate to onlineshoes.com.

I absolutely love reading her blog. I love all of her race stories and bargain tips for clothing and running gear. She has also inspired me ask for a Garmin Forerunner for Mother's Day. I really want one. I may also need to steal her idea of naming it (hers is Chuck).

Thanks again for the opportunity to win the gift certificate! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Facecrack

2009-03-14T00:00:00.006-04:00

So as I stated previously, I've been obsessed with Facebook. It hasn't been as bad as it was a few months ago. I'm amazed by how many people have found me and the people that I have found. It is crazy! Pretty much all of my friends use it and the new phrase I keep hearing amongst people is "Either send me an email or Facebook me and let me know". As of today, the look of Facebook has changed and I don't really care for it. Some of the status updates that people put on there are just plain stupid! I mean really, do I care that so-and-so is cleaning or cooking dinner. No, not really. Do I care that someone is going to work, bed, movies, shop, blah, blah, blah? No, not really. I guess they've changed the status portion so that it's more general. So you can put any random thought or whatever. I like this idea better, so maybe the new isn't so bad.

I have quite a few people that I went to high school with as "friends" on Facebook. I was very hesitant at first about accepting these people. Truthfully, I have one friend that I went to junior high and high school with that I still talk to. She is my female best friend (Mr. Jeep being the male). I do not talk or keep in touch with anyone else. So my thought was, if I haven't spoken to them in 19 years, why start now? But, alas, I gave in and friended a couple and then that led to more. The thing that kills me is that this one person that I was best friends with throughout junior high and high school, I just don't get. My friend Elena (the one I still keep in touch with) and I used to be best friends with the other one that I don't get (Julia). After I graduated from college I realized I needed to not have Julia in my life anymore. She was a real negative in my life. I could never count on her for anything. We'd make plans and she'd always cancel. I was the one who did all the work in the relationship and it was exhausting. The straw that broke the camel's back was at her wedding. I had been friends with her since 7-8th grade. She invited Elena and I to her wedding and we went. She didn't even say hello to either one of us at the reception. She and her creepy husband came up to our table and she talked to this other couple at our table, but said nothing to the two people she had been close friends with for about 11 years. So as soon as dinner was over, I left. Anyway, I saw that she was on Facebook. But I decided that since I hadn't spoken to her in about 12 years and didn't want her drama that I was not going to start now. I guess she sent Elena a message and wanted to know why I hadn't requested her as a friend. I was like "How old are we?" It was exactly like being back in high school. She eventually sent me a friend request and I accepted just to look at her profile. (which, side note, is why I have friended most people) The thing I don't get is that she has all of these people that we went to school with as friends and I know she didn't talk to them in high school. But now she leaves them all these messages on Facebook like she's long lost friends with them. I don't get it and never will.

I heard on the radio about this whole new category of people that are popping up that is related to Facebook. Apparently there are people that are now having these huge self-esteem issues because they don't have a lot of friends on Facebook. Or they'll get rejected as a friend and it opens up a whole new issue. I just think the whole thing is bizarre. However, even though I say it's bizarre, I still check it everyday!

I'm Still Alive

2009-03-13T16:26:00.009-04:00

I cannot believe it's been since January that I've posted anything. How lame am I? Actually I've got my damn Facebook obsession going on and the whole training thing going on. Those things alone have kept me busy enough. Plus, I'm stuck behind an f--ing computer all day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is be stuck behind a computer again. I really need to start posting at work...why not?

Mr. Jeep and I just got back on Tuesday from a mini-vacay. We went to Cancun for a few days. I told him about a month or so ago that I needed to go somewhere and it needed to be warm. So I started looking around and Cancun seemed to be the best deal. We actually ended up using a travel agent (yes, they still exist. I couldn't believe it either!). We stayed at all all-inclusive resort and it was fantastic! The two biggest decisions I had to make were 1) beach or pool and 2) cerveza or margarita. It was such a stress on my brain! :) The break was incredible and very much needed. I'm now trying to figure out what I need to do to live that life permanently. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Some observations from Cancun...way too many old men wear banana hammocks and older women aren't afraid to be topless or change into a new bikini right on the beach! There was one guy that we saw everyday that wore the banana hammock. That man was not afraid to flaunt it. But I really don't need to know how low he's hanging or which direction it's pointing. The last day we were there I saw him in a black thong Speedo! Yikes! Of course, Mr. Jeep made me take a picture and I did. It's pretty funny!

Onto the older topless women...I made a comment about an older women that walked past us and her hat. I said that when I got that age I was going to also get the same sort of hat. The hat is pretty hard to describe, but it was white with a black band around it and wide brim all the way around. I also think you need to be of a certain age to wear that type of hat. Anyway, the woman was wearing a strapless pink bikini. She had to be in her late 60's, early 70's. Mr. Jeep and I went into the water and I was looking up at the beach and I saw the man of the couple standing up and I was about to say to Mr. Jeep that the husband had on a Speedo, when I realized that it was not the husband I was looking at, but the wife topless! So I point her out to Mr. Jeep and he kind of laughs. So I look away for a few minutes and look back up to where she was standing and now she has on a yellow bikini. She totally changed right there on the beach, in front of everyone! On one hand I say good for her that she's so confident and comfortable in her skin and on the other hand I say Ewww!

Am I Crazy?

2009-01-22T13:50:00.008-05:00

Tomorrow I am going to sign up for my first ever half-marathon. Yes, I will be running 13.1 miles in one day, at one time. I think I've gone mad. The race is April 5th. I started my training last week and so far it's going pretty well. I have decided that I am ditching my brand new trail running shoes. I bought them because I thought it would be better to run in them in the snow and ice than regular running shoes. The shoes are great for traction, but they keep giving me blisters in the arches of my feet. I think the arch support is too much or something.

I've always wanted to do a marathon and so I figure this will set me on my way. We'll see how I feel about the marathon after I finish the half-marathon. My goal for this half-marathon...not to be last. I think that's pretty reasonable.

Who's Next?

2009-01-16T17:21:00.004-05:00

The news today is that Circuit City is closing and going out of business. It's only a matter of time before other stores have to start doing the same thing. Just my random thought. It's just really sad and scary the way things are going. At what point are we going to hit rock bottom? I don't think it's that far away.

Sorry for the downer for the day. That's what I get for watching the news.

I just want a book

2009-01-16T11:53:00.004-05:00

I had put some books on hold at the library and had to pick them up yesterday. I love putting books on hold because I can run in and out. It's fantastic! So anyway, I go to the library, grab my books that were on hold and decide to go into the children's section to get LC some CDs. At our library the children's section is off in it's own area, so as not to disturb the rest of the library. It's a great set-up. There were only two other people in the children's section when I went in there and the librarian at the children's circulation desk. I walk over to start looking at the CDs and my phone starts vibrating (yes, I am always nice enough to put my phone on vibrate in the library). By the time I found it in my purse, it had stopped vibrating. I look and it was Mr. Jeep calling me. So I stepped into the far corner of the children's section so that I was far away from the now one other person in the children's section. This one other person was on the complete opposite side of the room. I called Mr. Jeep back to see what he needed. So I'm talking to him (he wanted to know what we were doing for dinner) and all of a sudden I hear whispering in my other ear. So I turn and it's the librarian and she whispers "There's no cell phones allowed in the library." (as she's making the universal phone gesture with her hand) I said, "What?" (I have never seen a sign) And she repeats herself and walks away. So I say to Mr. Jeep, "I've got to go because apparently cell phones aren't allowed in the library." So I hang up. As I'm walking past the children's circulation desk, their phone rings. The librarian (who I forgot to mention looks like the kindergarten teacher from Billy Madison...you know, the one that eats paste when the kids are napping?) answers the phone and is practically yelling she's talking so loudly. I'm sorry that my 2 second phone call to my husband about dinner disturbed her. I almost said something to her, but I decided to be the bigger person and just let it go.

As I was checking out my books I looked around for a sign about cell phone usage. There wasn't one. Don't get me wrong, had I of been in the regular part of the library, I wouldn't have used it and would have been irritated had someone been near me while I was working on something. But it was the simple fact that I was in a section where there was only one other person. Did I mention the other person had an infant with her?

These library bitches always irritate me.

I love buttons

2008-12-30T09:14:00.008-05:00

Last night five friends and I went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". It has Brad Pitt in it. Do I need to say more?

It was a really good movie. It's based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald book and now I really want to read the book. I may have to go to the library today after work. I would definitely recommend the movie to everyone.

Christmas Card Winner

2008-12-27T23:23:00.005-05:00

This year was also the first year that we did a photo card for our Christmas card. Here was the winner:

I should also add a disclaimer that this is the only time the dogs wear a costume. And technically it's just head gear.

New Shoes

2008-12-27T23:08:00.003-05:00

We had a bit of a warm up today. I think the temperature got up to about 55 degrees. And in one day, we lost all of the snow that we had. There was probably a foot of snow in our yard and now it's almost all gone. That is very depressing to me.

I went running this morning and fully expected that I would be running in the road due to ignorant people that never bothered to clear their sidewalks after the last snow. Because the snow was melting, the stuff that was on the sidewalks had turned to ice. Solid ice. At one point I couldn't stop sliding. I thought for sure I was going to seriously hurt myself. At that point I said "F it" and went into the street.

Needless-to-say, I did not get my Yak Trax that I asked for. (I will be ordering them this week) When I got back home from my run I told Mr. Jeep I needed new shoes. He came up with a brilliant idea that never occurred to me...trail running shoes for winter! Genius! So we made a trip to the store today and I bought a new pair of running shoes. I'm very excited to wear them tomorrow.

Merry Belated Christmas

2008-12-27T22:42:00.009-05:00

Wow! I didn't realize that it has been almost a month since I've posted anything. How horrible of me! I think the Christmas preparations have been keeping me busy. Christmas this year was a blast with LC. This is the first year that she actually understood what was going on and got the whole Santa thing. It was so much fun. She wanted two things from Santa: a doll/baby and a princess bear. A princess bear?? What?? That's what I said when she told me that's what she wanted. Being the good, I mean great, mom that I am, I googled "princess bear". And do you know how many flippin' princess bear hits came up? More than I could have imagined! I clicked on the Toys R Us link and they sell teddy bears dressed in Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Belle dresses. They were only $14.99 so I thought that wasn't too bad. What was too bad was that because I'm cheap I didn't want to pay the shipping, so Mr. Jeep and I went to the actual store. Luckily we went on a Thursday evening two weeks before Christmas. It wasn't that busy, but still too busy for me. As far as I'm concerned, LC never needs to know that Toys R Us exists.

The doll that Santa brought LC was also a major hit. I bought her a Chou Chou doll. If you don't know what they are, they are about the size of a newborn. There are several different types of dolls. The one Santa brought is called an interactive one. When you put the bottle to her mouth she makes drinking sounds, put her teddy bear on her belly and she says a couple different things, put her bib on and she says something about being hungry and a couple other things. Plus she randomly says several other phrases. Here's a picture:

She's a pretty cute doll. She was also the least freaky looking doll that I came across. LC loves her and has been taking her everywhere. Santa scored big time on this one. The other cool thing is that newborn clothes fit her. So when Mom to Mom sales (may be known as simply a rummage sale in other areas) start up again, I'll be buying newborn clothes for LC's doll.

She got a ton of stuff, way more than she needs. She also got a camera for Christmas. By 2:00 p.m. Christmas day LC already had 90 pictures on the camera. She has quite a few of my butt. And it wasn't like the pictures were an accident, whe was deliberately walking up behind me and snapping the pictures. She would say, "Ha, ha momma! I'm taking a picture of your bottom!" Whatever makes her happy!

Finally some snow

2008-11-30T15:12:00.006-05:00

I turned on the news this morning to catch the weather and get caught up on what's been happening around here since we've been gone. Of course, the weather team is freaking out because we're expected to get 4-5" of snow between this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon. You would swear we lived in the South and never got snow. Every year it kills me. And it's not just with the first snowfall, we have to hear it every time we get snow. It's crazy.

Mr. Jeep and I were trying to get some last minute yard work done today before it's supposed to snow. We managed to get quite a bit done and then it started to rain. We headed inside and then it started pouring. Now that I'm looking outside, the rain has turned to a wintry mix and as time goes on it's turning into just snow. The drive to work in the morning should be wonderful.

In addition to the weather people freaking every time it snows, as a Michigan driver you also have to deal with the other morons on the road who drive like they've never driven in snow. It's crazy. We'll get a light dusting of snow and people will drive 15 miles below the speed limit! Driving in the snow is kind of like riding a bike, you never forget! Do you hear me? YOU NEVER FORGET! And if you do forget, then maybe you should move to a state that doesn't get snow.

In case you haven't figured it out, I love snow. We used to own snowmobiles and that was a blast. I also cross-country ski and have since I was about 10 years old. I can't wait until we can buy LC some skis. I'm sure she'll love it. I'm asking for a pair of Yak-Traks for Christmas. In case you don't know what they are, they're for your shoes. You put them on the bottoms of your shoes or boots in the winter and it gives you traction so you don't slip. Here's a picture:

I've been wanting them for a few years now and just haven't purchased them. They're only about $30. They'll be perfect for running in the snow and ice. I hope Santa brings them. And I hope they work as well as they say they're supposed to.

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

2008-11-30T14:59:00.008-05:00

The fam and I just got home last night from up north (that's what we Michiganders say when we head to northern MI, for those that don't know). We all left last Friday (before Thanksgiving). The first weekend LC, the dogs and I stayed at my parents' cottage. Mr. Jeep went to his mom's cottage with a couple of friends to go hunting. Way to manly for LC and I! Then Monday we all met up together and spent the remainder of the week at my MIL's cottage. It was very nice to take the week off of work and have a little vacation. There is a lot of snow up there.

Wednesday we bought two sleds, the traditional orange plastic kind that can sit 2-3 people and the good 'ol saucer sled. There's this area by the cottage that we refer to as blueberry valley. Apparently it used to have all these blueberries plants all over and Mr. Jeep's family would pick tons of blueberries. In the 12+ years that I've been going there I have never seen a blueberry. But whatever. And it is a valley of sorts. You have to drive down into it or walk down into it. So needless-to-say there are some excellent sledding hills. After several times of me pushing Mr. Jeep on the sled or vice versa down the hill to get a path worn, we finally had a great run. LC didn't want to ride down with either one of us, she wanted to go by herself. And she wanted to go down on the saucer sled! That's my girl! I should also mention that it was later in the day and so it was getting colder outside. This translates into a very icy sledding run. Very nice!! At one point all three of us were standing at the top of the hill and LC wanted to go down by herself on the saucer sled. We said okay, put her on the sled and gave her a little push. She went flying down the hill, spinning round and round the entire time! She got to the end and hit the soft snow bank and tumbled over backward. She popped up cracking up! She loved it.

I'll have to post pictures later. Mr. Jeep got a really good shot of me going over ass over apple cart down the hill. I'm not quite sure who actually had more fun: LC or us!

Run Like the Wind

2008-11-10T21:01:00.007-05:00

So Sunday was my 10K run. My friend Elena and her sister Ro ran with me. They're my usual race running partners. I say that we run together, but in actuality we don't. We go to the race together, or meet there. And we all line up together, but as soon as we hit the start line we're all on our own. Elena usually weaves her way through all the people and goes off in the lead. Ro and I usually stick together for most of the race. Yesterday was a little different though. Elena still took off and started weaving through people to get ahead. I even weaved my way through quite a few people. I was doing pretty good and I thought I had lost Ro. She later told me that I was in her sight until about mile 4 and then I took off and she lost me. It was fun and I did pretty good.

Here's the problem from Sunday (isn't there always an issue?). I think it was somewhere around the 1.5 mile mark. I had my headphones on and was rockin' out to my music. Suddenly I started hearing some other music. I assumed it was coming from a nearby car or out of someone's house. I then looked to my right and this woman was pushing a double jogging stroller. She had an ipod music dock on top of the canopy of the jogger and the music was blasting away! I understand that you want to be able to hear your children and be able to talk to them, but other people do not want to hear your music. It was so loud. My next thought was that her kids ears must have been ringing. The music was right on top of their heads! After the race my friend Ro was also complaining about the woman and her music. I guess every race has to have one menace and double jogger lady was it!

At Home

2008-10-28T09:22:00.010-04:00

Well, there was no running this morning and no work. I decided, with much urging and encouragement from Mr. Jeep, to stay home today. I took LC to school and came back home. That's the worst part of it, I feel extremely guilty with me at home and LC at daycare. It doesn't seem right. I know I wouldn't get any rest if she was home, but I still feel guilty. She likes going to school, so I guess it's not that bad.

Hopefully I'll be feeling better tomorrow. Today will be spent on the couch reading my stack of magazines and surfing the Internet.

Will Work For Wine

2008-10-27T21:09:00.004-04:00

My household is most likely going to be going through a major life-changing event in the near future. Mr. Jeep works for one of the big three. For the sake of anonymity I will not mention which one, but I'm sure if you're familiar with the Detroit auto industry, you'll figure it out quickly. The one he works for is most likely going to be sold/bought out by one of the other two. This means that Mr. Jeep will more than likely, check that, for sure lose his job. I'm trying not to get stressed out about it because truthfully there is nothing that we can do. It's just that it's such a crappy time for anyone to lose a job. (Not that any time is good) There are only two months until Christmas. And the way it looks we will either:

Be making all of our gifts
Not buying much
Begging

It will probably end up being a combination of #1 and #2.

This also means that in my job search I need to find a position that provides good healthcare. That is ultimately our concern, the healthcare. I know we'll some how make everything work, but the healthcare aspect is a little tough. I can probably go to my current employer and ask to be under their healthcare and this is probably what will happen.

It's a tough, tough world and it's only getting tougher!

No Running?

2008-10-27T20:58:00.003-04:00

So I started feeling like I was coming down with something on Thursday. You know, the achy joint feeling and something's just not right feeling? Well I had it. Friday, my throat started hurting and I was still achy off and on. Saturday and Sunday I was really achy and I had the chills. We ended up taking LC to the Zoo Boo Saturday night with friends and by the time we got back to the car, I was spent. Sunday I didn't leave the house and I felt like absolute doo-doo. I finally took my temperature and sure enough it was 100.9. And I really couldn't swallow. Every time I tried, it felt like I was swallowing razor blades.

This morning I couldn't even get my butt out of bed at 5:00 am to go running. I was still achy and my throat felt like it was sewed shut. Finally I got out of bed (I didn't go running) and grabbed the flashlight to look into my mouth. I saw the most bizarre thing...it appeared on the right side of my throat that my tonsils were swollen and then on the left side, the only way I can describe it is, it looked like a polyp and my uvula was swollen! WTF?!? Mr. Jeep looked at it and said "You need to go to the doctor immediately today." I ended up going to work (stupid me) and went to the doctor in the afternoon. It turns out I have tonsillitis and fluid in both ears. It's not an ear infection, just fluid which apparently is common when there is an infection. She put me on Augmentin tablets and told me to rest.

Rest? Did you hear that? Rest? Um, excuse me, how am I supposed to go running if I'm resting? I'm running a 10K on November 9th and I really don't need to be resting. I know I'll do fine even if I take a few days off to "rest", but what about my therapy (which is how I often view running)? I guess I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning. I really hate being sick.

Hire me, please

2008-10-23T09:11:00.005-04:00

I have been looking for a new job for a long time and I desperately need to find something fast. I'm trying to get back into the healthcare field and there is nothing out there that is appealing to me. However, I am now at the point where I am willing to accept anything. My background is corporate wellness and fitness and also massage therapy. I would really like to find a wellness coordinator position, but they are so few and far between. Of course I'm also always open to accepting new massage clients. The economy is really putting a damper on the job outlook thing. I just keep telling myself that one of these days something is going to pop up and it's going to be fabulous!

Somewhat back to normal

2008-10-23T09:09:00.002-04:00

I am happy to report that I think LC is back to being her normal self. The crankiness appears to be going away! Yay us!

Proper Etiquette Please

2008-10-23T08:59:00.005-04:00

So I took LC to the zoo on Sunday. It was a total last minute decision, but I figured that since she had been sick and was pretty much in the house for the entire week, that it would be great to get outside. It was a nice sunny day, a little chilly, but still nice. A great fall day.

Anyway, here's the issue...in a crowded area at the zoo, or any event, where there is a perfect photo-op, make sure to look so that you're not stepping in front of someone else taking a picture. How rude! Our zoo has an exhibit called the Arctic Ring of Life (or something like that) and the big deal of it is that there is a clear tunnel to walk through or sit in and watch the polar bears swim around you. It is very awesome and often times rare to see the bears swimming in there. Every time I went to snap a picture of the polar bears, this woman would step directly in front of me. And she was coming from an angle where she had to see me attempting to take a picture. So instead I have about 3 pictures of this woman's fat head!

Como esta?

2008-10-18T16:09:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning I had to go to the bathroom and as usual I wasn't allowed to do it alone. LC was in there with me. Our shower curtain is a white shower curtain with flowers that I embroidered on the bottom with buttons for the center of the flowers. Very cute, if I do say so myself. LC has always been obsessed with the buttons. She doesn't try to pull them off, she just likes to touch them. So I got done in the bathroom and she was sitting on the floor in the bathroom and she says, "I'm going to stay here and look at the buttons." I said, "Knock yourself out." As I was walking out of the bathroom I hear, "uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, nueve, ocho, siete..." I know she got out of order at the end, but she.was.counting.in.spanish! I have never taught her how to count in Spanish. I stopped turned around and she started again. Of course I started praising her and telling her that was fantastic. I asked her if they're teaching her that at school and she said no. I asked if she learned it by watching Dora and she said no. The only I can figure is that she has picked it up from Dora.

I'm pretty impressed! That's my girl!

Too Long

2008-10-18T15:48:00.009-04:00

Wow! I can't believe it has been since August that I've posted. I guess I've been a little busy. Also nothing major has happened. Just the usual, work, fun with LC, trips up north, LC falling off the playground equipment at the park. Oh wait...that was major.

Monday I picked LC up from school and she mentioned that her head hurt. I asked if she had a headache and she said yes. On the way home, she mentioned a few more times. So when we got home I gave her some Motrin and we ate dinner. Mr. Jeep has a class on Monday nights, so it's just LC and I for the evening. We've also started meeting my GF Christa and her daughter Talia for a playdate (I hate that word and that hopefully will be the last time I use it) at the park. So after dinner I asked LC how her head was and she said great. So we went to the park. We went to their park this week and the play structure has a bridge that moves slightly for the kids to walk across. LC had walked across it a couple of times. I'm standing there talking to Christa and next thing I know, I'm watching LC fall off the bridge at the highest point. She landed on the sand on her back. She started crying and was just lying there. Instantly I notice that her lips are bleeding. She must have bit them on her way down. Christa and I both started to pick her up and then backed off because we didn't know if she had broken anything. So I did a quick assessment of her and she seemed to be o.k. I picked her up and she was crying. I checked her out for any bruising or bumps and I didn't see any. Finally she was better and was back to playing.

We went home and she went to bed. Around 10 pm she woke up fussing. Mr. Jeep went in there and LC was burning up. We took her temperature and sure enough, she had a fever. We had to wait until 11 pm to give her Motrin. We gave it to her and she finally went back to bed, only to wake up one more time during the night.

Unfortunately, I had to go to work on Tuesday. Mr. Jeep stayed home with her and took her to the doctor. This is the doctor's official diagnosis (it's a good thing doctor's have such a lengthy education):

"She has an ear infection in her left ear and some sort of germ in her throat."

WTF?!? A "germ" in her throat. Apparently the doctor did a throat culture and ruled out Strep, but could only come up with a "germ" for the diagnosis. I don't get it. Anyway, she put her on Amoxicillin and gave us drops for her ears. Up until yesterday (Friday) she was running a fever everyday. She seems to better, although today she is crabby as all get out.

It's a good thing she mentioned the headache when I had picked her up from school on Monday. Otherwise I would have been freaking out that the fall caused her to have the fever and something else was going on. It makes more sense now as to why she fell, her balance was probably off due to the ear infection.

Vacay

2008-08-29T21:33:00.006-04:00

I'm on vacation. It doesn't feel like I'm on vacation yet, but I'm on vacation. The original plan was that Mr. Jeep was taking Thursday off and we were going to go up north. We would be staying at my MIL's cottage until Tuesday am. Then we would be heading to the Platte River Campground for 2-3 days of camping. Then we would be going back to MIL's cottage until Sunday. Well, some of that is still going to happen. I found out on Tuesday that my mom's uncle passed away. He was basically like a grandfather to me since both of mine passed away when I was 4-6 years old. Visitation was yesterday and today and the funeral is tomorrow. So we'll be leaving after the funeral and luncheon tomorrow.

I don't want to sound disrespectful, because I am deeply and truly saddened by the loss of my uncle. However, having said that, why do people insist on dragging funerals out? I know that nobody likes going to a funeral or having to go to visitation. But I really really hate funerals. I have made it crystal clear to everyone and anyone that may be involved in the planning of my funeral that I want to be cremated. I have also told Mr. Jeep that I would be perfectly happy and eternally grateful if there was no visitation for me. Have the service or whatever and that's it. I think it is just weird to sit in a room with a dead person for 1-2 days. And truthfully when I look at the person in the casket, I don't think of it as being them. Not to get all religious or anything, but their soul has move don. They are someplace else. That was just their shell and now they're gone.

Anyway, we won't be home until Sunday. So hopefully the week will be fine. No Internet for a week! What interesting things will we come home to?

Something's Wrong With Her

2008-08-29T21:08:00.006-04:00

I haven't had a chance to write about our lovely emergency situation last Saturday. It was fucking wonderful. LC woke up a little earlier than normal. But wait, let me back the bus up a little bit. Mr. Jeep came home from his road trip that Friday evening. Long story short, his flight was delayed and he didn't end up getting home until a little before 10 pm. I let LC stay up since she was really looking forward to her daddy coming home. So she went to bed late Friday night and then was up early Saturday. Not a good combo.

Now to Saturday morning. Mr. Jeep and LC ate breakfast while I was doing something. After eating breakfast, LC wanted to go downstairs to color. So Mr. Jeep took LC downstairs and the dogs followed. I was sitting at the kitchen table eating my breakfast and attempting to read the sale ads in the newspaper. I could hear LC playing with Clifford downstairs. After several minutes of listening to her play with Clifford, I heard a crash and LC started crying. Then the crying stopped. I heard Mr. Jeep say something to her and then I heard him start coming up the basement stairs. So I got up to see what was going on. As I stood up Mr. Jeep yells, "Something's wrong with her! Call 911!" At this point he's in the kitchen holding LC and she's kind of limp in his arms staring at him. Apparently when Mr. Jeep went to pick her up she passed out for a couple of seconds. She was conscious by the time he got to the top of the stairs. So I called 911 and let Mr. Jeep do the talking since he was the one that witnessed the whole thing. Apparently what happened is that LC was chasing Clifford around the basement. Clifford decided to change direction and he came around the chair one way and LC came around the other way and well, I'm sure you're picturing what happened. They collided, head on. LC bounced off Clifford and fell to the floor, hitting her head on the concrete floor.

Now before everyone starts thinking that Mr. Jeep and I jumped the gun by calling 911, let me explain. LC has fallen on that same basement floor and hit her head so many times I can't even count. It's the simple fact that she passed out that had us concerned. She has never passed out before.

So a fire truck pulls up in front of our house and the fireman come in. LC had her face buried in my neck and wouldn't look at the men. Obviously I need to teach this girl a thing or two...a man in uniform (or in this case 4 men in uniform) come to your house, you take notice. They asked us what happened and basically said they couldn't tell us why she passed out. LC wouldn't even let them look in her eyes. So our options were: 1) let them take her in the ambulance; 2) we take her to the hospital; or 3) we call the pediatrician. I opted for #3. Mr. Jeep had to sign some waiver because we were declining medical care by not letting them take her to the hospital.

Did I mention it wasn't even 8 am yet?

We called the pediatrician and she did a full neurological exam on LC. LC passed with flying colors. In fact, LC was fine with everything until the doctor wanted to look into her ears and mouth. We basically had to hold her down while the doctor looked in her ears and mouth. The doctor was amazed at LC's strength, as most people are. She has been strong since before birth. That girl kicked the crap out of my insides and now occasionally kicks the crap out of my outsides.

The doctor sent LC for a CT scan. She was pretty positive that LC was okay, but since it was Saturday and they weren't open on Sunday, she didn't want to chance it. Let me go on the record right here and now, if you are ever given the option of either having your toddler have a CT scan or not having one, go with not having one. I would take the option of not having the CT scan and observing her for any abnormalities, rather than go through the hell of the CT scan. I won't go into all of the details, but I had to remind myself that we wanted to make sure LC was fine. Otherwise I would have snatched her up out of the CT scan room and went home. They had to restrain her and I was so angry that I almost started crying. Nobody but me is allowed to restrain her!

So anyway, she was fine. I'm sure she probably had a really bad headache. The CT scan came back great and there were no problems. It was a long ass day.

I'm Cute

2008-08-19T08:50:00.006-04:00

Apparently I'm cute. At least according to LC I am. We were eating dinner on the patio last night and she pointed at me and said, "You're cute mom." I said, "Thanks LC. You're pretty cute too." Enough said.

Meltdown - Big Time

2008-08-18T21:14:00.008-04:00

I pick LC up from school today and she's in a fantastic mood. She even gave her friend Brooklynn a hug and kiss before we left. We got in the car and I said we had to stop at Meijer on our way home to get diapers and some cheese. LC and I walk into Meijer and she's still in an awesome mood. She's joking with me and telling me about her day. We go straight to the diapers and get what we need. Thus leading into the beginning of the end. Stupid-ass me decides to go down the next aisle and look at the bibs. I forgot that is also the aisle with the sippy cups. I think sippy cups are to LC what purses/shoes are to me. She sees Princess sippy cups and says, "Oooh, Princess cups Mom." So I decide to be nice and let her get them. Her Daddy is out of town, she's in a great mood and I'm feeling hopeful. I hand them to her. Then I decide to look for popsicle molds. I wanted to see how much they were. I couldn't find them, so I decide to go get the cheese and get the heck out of there. All of a sudden LC says, "Lunch box Mom!" So here's where my stupidity really kicks in...I stopped and went back to where the lunch boxes were.

Yesterday morning while I was looking at the sale ads in the paper, LC started looking at them and spotted lunch boxes. She asked if she could get one. And I stupidly said that she could get one someday. Well apparently today was someday, at least in her mind.

They weren't on sale and there was no way in hell that I was going to pay full price for a lunch box. So I told her no that we couldn't get one, but she could get the Princess cups. You would have seriously thought that I just cut off her arm and leg. She started screaming and thrashing in the cart. I made a beeline for the cheese. Then I made a beeline for the checkout. The whole while LC is screaming, crying and thrashing. I went to the self-checkout, scanned the diapers, scanned the cheese and grabbed the Princess cups and put them on the shelf. There was no way in hell that LC was getting anything and being rewarded for her tantrum. This set off a whole new round of screeching. We left and got into the parking lot (still screeching). I had to put a WWE move on her to get her into the carseat. She screamed the whole way home, screamed getting out of the car and screamed coming in the house. And all she was screaming was "LUNCHBOX. LUNCHBOX. I WANT MY LUNCHBOX." I decided to try and be nice and say that I have a lunchbox she can have and we can put Dora or Princess stickers on it. "NO STICKERS. NO STICKERS."

It is moments like these that make me say I do not want any more children. I began making dinner and she kept coming into the kitchen (screaming) all the while I'm calmly talking to her. I was so proud of myself with how calm I was. You would have seriously thought I was back on the Lexapro. Finally I asked her if she wanted to see my lunchbox. She said, "Yeah. I want to see it mom." So I showed it to her and showed her that she could put her sippy cup in there and she was happy. It was as if I flipped a switch and Crabby Patty left. (Crabby Patty is LC's alter ego. She's been with us since birth) And then the rest of the evening she was an angel.

This is where I go back to thinking that having another one wouldn't be so bad. It's a fucking viscious cycle I tell you!

It's Coffee Bitches

2008-08-18T20:41:00.006-04:00

I know this has been discussed a million times over in a million different ways, but I still need to say something. Mr. Jeep and I went to the Tigers game Friday night and then used some Marriott Rewards points to stay downtown. We stayed at the Marriott in the RenCen. In the morning we decided to go to the Starbucks in the RenCen for coffee and bagels. Let me stop this story right here momentarily. I don't frequent Starbucks. It's too fucking expensive. And frankly, I think their regular coffee is disgusting. I love strong coffee, I'm a black girl all the way when it comes to coffee. But their coffee is bitter. I do however enjoy their Cafe Mochas. Having said that, the only time I really go to Starbucks is when I have a gift card. As I previously said, it's fucking expensive and I'm cheap. End of story. (at least that part of the story)

Okay, now back to my original story. Tigers game, stayed at Marriott, decided to go to the Starbucks in the RenCen...we get in line, there was one person in line in front of us. I had a gift card and I also had a coupon for a free drink. The coupon is good for any kind of drink, any size. So it comes to our turn. There's a worker on the right and a worker on the left. Left girl asks if she can take our order. Mr. Jeep and I were still in the process of deciding what pastries or bagels we wanted. So I order my coffee...a Venti Cafe Mocha with skim milk and no whipped cream (don't forget I'm doing the Weight Watchers thing). Mr. Jeep says he'll have the same. So Left Girl walks away and gets our cups ready. So we're standing there and she says (very rudely pointing at Right Girl), "You pay her." Meanwhile, we still hadn't ordered the fucking food. So Mr. Jeep tells Right Girl, "I'll have a cheese danish and cinnamon chip scone." (he has abandoned Weight Watchers for the time being) Right Girls looks at Left Girl and says, "they're not done. They want food. I need a cinnamon chip scone and a cheese Danish." Left Girl gave Right Girl a look that basically said, "Are you fucking kidding me?" So I ask what type of bagels they have since it's not obvious exactly what flavors they are. You would have seriously thought I just asked Right Girl to recite the entire Declaration of Independence backwards! She rattles off the flavors and I order a blueberry bagel. She punches in the total on the register and it comes to $5.82. So I'm thinking this crazy bitch didn't charge us for the coffee. Well Left Girl immediately caught onto it and said, "they also have 2 Lattes." (and when doing Left Girl and Right Girl's voices be sure to use the voices that Adam Sandler, David Spade and Chris Farley used in the Gap skits on Saturday Night Live) Now our total is upto $13.85 or something ridiculous like that. I attempt to hand her the gift card and my coupon and she stares at me, drops her jaw and says, "We.do.not.take.those. We are an independent franchise and we don't accept them." So now I'm pissed. I said, "You don't take the gift cards either?" She says, "Yes. We take those" like I'm trying to pay her with a piece of shit or something. If Right Girl wasn't going to take the gift card, I was out.of.there. I could have gotten a decent meal for that price. Mr. Jeep and I got our food and our coffee and sat down at a table. Mr. Jeep was pissed, "I really didn't appreciate the attitude." I said, "Yes and the thing that kills me is that they make fucking coffee!!!"

Note to all Starbucks employees everywhere: Your title may be Barista. But what that translates to is Coffee Maker. You make coffee! That's it. So don't treat someone that has a higher education and far more important job than you like a piece of dog-shit. Some people save lives, some balance the national debt, some rule countries...you my dears make coffee. So stop acting so self-righteous and holier than thou. I can stay home and do the same fucking job you do for nothing!

And don't get me started on the whole size thing! God forbid you don't order a Talle, Grande or Venti. God forbid you order a small, medium or large. They look at you like you just ordered in Greek. And that brings me to the one shining moment of that whole Starbucks debacle. The man in line behind us ordered "2 large coffees." Genius!

Stop Talking Bob Costas

2008-08-17T21:22:00.005-04:00

I've been watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I love everything about the Olympics. I love swimming (go Michael Phelps, you are one bad-ass Mother Fucker!). I love beach volleyball. I love indoor volleyball. I love diving. I love track and field. I love gymnastics (the men are questionable). I love tennis. I hate Bob Costas. The guy annoys the piss out of me. I hate his little comments that he has to put in everywhere. I hate his voiceovers. I hate the way he pushes his voice. You're not funny Costas. You'll never be funny. The only reason people laugh at your dumbass comments is because you have been on NBC for.ever and you probably have some major pull at that network.

And it just occurred to me tonight that the other person almost equally annoying to Costas is Mary Carillo. She's not funny either. And what is with her voice? Watch the woman (I think she's a woman) when she talks. Be sure to look at her neck muscles. It is so obvious that she is also pushing her voice. What woman (again I think she's a woman) pushes her voice? If you haven't been watching the Olympics, she does these special interest clips about the Chinese culture. For instance, this evening she did one on acupuncture. The background information on the acupuncture was interesting. It would have been better if I didn't have to listen to Mary Carillo. And to top things off, the segments start off with her sitting on one couch and Costas on the other. They have some not funny banter between them, do the segment and then return to the 2 of them on the couch. Costas, of course, attempts to be funny and Mary Carillo laughs like a hyena. Just give me the damn events and leave the banter out of it. That's all I ask.

I'm Back

2008-08-17T21:09:00.007-04:00

It has been a while since I've been here, but I'm back. I've been busy with work, home, LC and looking for a new job. If only I could find a new job. I would be so happy. No, make that ecstatic! I keep getting my hopes up for nothing. I keep telling myself that one of these days a new job is going to turn up and hopefully it will.

Mr. Jeep left this evening for the entire week. He'll be back on Friday. He's going out of town for work. So I'm single parenting it this week. Here's the sucky part about this...Mr. Jeep will never know how it feels to be a single parent for an extended period of time. Right after LC was born (about June, she was born in March), he had to go out of town for work. He struggled with whether or not he should go and I told him it was fine. Usually when he goes out of town for work it involves quite a bit of overtime which = a lot of extra money. So here I was a new mom trying to figure everything out with this new baby and the daddy leaves. I am not exaggerating when I say that as soon as I dropped him off at the airport and he walked away, I started panicking. And to top things off, LC cried the entire way home from the airport. I seriously considered pulling over several times just to breastfeed her so she'd quiet down. I think he was gone for 2 weeks that time. It was the longest two weeks of my life. Everytime I talked to him I wanted to cry. Actually, every time I talked to anyone I wanted to cry during those 2 weeks. But I made it. And when I picked him up from the airport, he had the nerve to tell me that it was super hard on him being away from LC and I for 2 weeks! Whatever dude, you weren't stuck with a newborn.

So anyway, LC and I will be sticking it out alone with Marley and Clifford this week. Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well. I'm thinking of stopping tomorrow and picking up a case of wine. I know a few people that go to Trader Joes to purchase cases of wine. I may have to do that.

The Dress

2008-08-04T09:03:00.007-04:00

Mr. Jeep and I have a wedding dinner thing to go to this Saturday evening. This meant that I had to go buy a new dress for the occasion. I really don't enjoy dress shopping. I like to buy clothes with color and somehow whenever I have to buy a dress, I usually end up with something black. There have been exceptions, but the majority are black. I went to Lakeside Mall Sunday morning and I thought I was doing great by getting there before 10:30 am. I figured I would be done before noon and the day wouldn't have been wasted. I get to the mall only to find out that the stores don't open until 11:00 am. WTF?!? The only store that was open was Sears. I ended up taking my time looking at clothes at Sears until it was almost time for everyone else to open.

When it got to be about 10:50 am, I decided to head over to Macy's. Apparently I didn't walk slow enough because I still had about 8 minutes to go when I got there. So I sat outside the store and decided to wait. I don't know if anyone else has ever been a witness to the opening of a Macy's store, but it's something. A little before 11 am, a guy makes an announcement to the store employees that the store will be open for business in about 1 minute. This was the announcement by the over-zealous announcer guy:

"Okay everybody the store will be open for business in 1 minute. Place everyone, places. Get into position. Is everyone in position? I'll be opening up the upper level gate first. Do not let anyone in until I have completely opened the gate. Lower level - don't open the gate until I have given you instruction to do so. Is everyone smiling? Is everyone ready for a great day? O.k., I'm opening up the upper level gate. Here we go...3, 2, 1 and Macy's is open for business! Yay! Welcome everyone to Macy's! The lower level will be opening in a few seconds!"

So I'm sitting there waiting for the lower level to open. I can see 2 employees on the other side of the gate, but they're not budging. (apparently announcer guy means business when he says not to open until he has given the instruction) About 2 minutes or so go by and this other customer who had also been waiting, decides she's not going to wait any longer and walks under the gate and goes in the store. A few minutes goes by and the gate is still not opening. I'm not a patient person, so this is killing me! I almost walked up the stairs to the upper level and went in the open gate on the upper level. Just as I'm contemplating this, I see what I now know is announcer guy come running through the store toward the gate. He says to the 2 employees, "Good morning! Are we ready?" As he's opening the gate, he peers out of the gate and has the big-ass stupid grin on his face. By this time the other 2 employees have joined him at the gate. When the gate was open he says, "Good morning everyone! Welcome to Macy's! Have a great day!" The other 2 also say the same thing. With this kind of a welcome I was expecting champagne, strawberries, something. But no, that was it. It was the strangest thing. Although, I shouldn't complain because at least it was nice customer service.

I wonder what announcer guys real title is...Macy's emcee? Macy's greeter?

Anyway, I didn't find a dress at Macy's. By-the-way, their map is totally wrong! The dresses are not where the dresses are supposed to be. In fact, I never found them. I left Macy's and headed to Jacques Pennay. And this is where I found the dress. I'll have to take a picture of it because the one on the website doesn't do it justice. I'll post that either later this evening or tomorrow. I also had to go buy a new bra because the dress is pretty low-cut. When I got home and told Mr. Jeep this fact he was extremely excited about that aspect of the dress. LC's response was, "Oooooh, so pretty momma! Pretty tutu!"

Back from the Woods

2008-07-27T21:51:00.003-04:00

So we ventured up north this weekend. We went to Mr. Jeep's family's place in northern MI. It was just Mr. Jeep, LC, Marley, Clifford and myself. It was very nice! That is the first time we've been up there alone in about 4 years. (a very long drawn out story that will be reserved for a future post when I need something to write about) The weather was fantastic. Saturday we went to the beach at Higgins Lake. LC had a blast playing in the water. She was a little hesitant at first about going in the water. After we put her in her inflatable jet ski and took her out in the water, she was fine. As soon as we got back to shore she wanted to go back in. So Mr. Jeep and I walked her in the water and then she didn't want to get out. It was a great day!

In fact LC was great all weekend. I think she had one minor meltdown all weekend and it was really nothing and was resolved quickly. She was polite, loving and had a great time. I was beginning to think we took the wrong kid. And then of course as soon as we get home, the real LC came back out. She was tired, so she was cranky.

Speaking of which, she probably wouldn't have been so tired if Mr. Jeep hadn't decided that he had to have munchies and had to have something to drink. This of course required him to pull off at a rest area, while LC was zonked out in the backseat. Of course as soon as he stops the car, gets out, slams the door and opens the hatch on the back of the car, LC wakes up. I immediately was pissed off, to say the least. After he finally gets back in the car and we're on our way down the road he looks at me and says, "Why are you so pissed off all of a sudden?" I said, "Did you not think she'd wake up as soon as you stopped and started making all that noise?" His response, "No, I didn't think." UGH!

Total D-Bags

2008-07-23T13:07:00.009-04:00

Yesterday on the radio they were talking to a guy that created this douchebag site. It is totally hilarious. It is definitely being added to my frequent reads. He calls himself Douchebag1 or DB1 for short. I shared it with Mr. Jeep last night and he was cracking up. DB1 also has a book out that is available on Amazon. I wonder if they'll ever have it at the library?

Miss You

2008-07-17T14:53:00.004-04:00

LC has been doing this new thing whenever she gets home from school, grandparents, etc. She'll come up to me and say, (in the cutest voice possible) "I miss you today Mommy. I miss you." Then she'll go up to the dogs and say, "I miss you today Marley. I miss you." And then she'll repeat it with Clifford and Mr. Jeep. Yesterday it was followed by several hugs and kisses.

Identity Change

2008-07-14T09:08:00.007-04:00

Hey, I haven't been here in a while. Work has been crazy busy and when I get home the last thing I want to do is sit at the computer. We've also been having wireless issues at home and so I haven't been able to use the laptop. I'll probably be chatting a lot in the next couple of weeks. Yahoo!

I've decided to now call Little L, LC. Those are actually her initials and for ease of blogging it's better that it's shortened.

Back to Normal (almost)

2008-07-03T08:59:00.007-04:00

I've been busy and haven't been able to give an update on Little L's scab on her nose. It fell off on Tuesday while she was at school (that's what we call daycare). That was the first thing she told me when she saw me Tuesday. And that's pretty much what she told everyone that she saw.

Here's a picture of the scab before:

This was from last Friday, 3 days after it happened.

I Wear It Well

2008-07-03T08:43:00.003-04:00

Last night for dinner I made burritos. This is a staple in our house. We decided to eat on the patio. Little L ate about 1/4 of hers and then decided to pick at the burrito (like she normally does). She opened it up and stuck her finger in the bean/hamburger mixture and started eating it that way. Next thing I know she's getting out of her chair and walks up to me and smears something on my arm and then starts smearing it on my shoulder. I looked at her and asked her what she was doing and she just smiled. Mr. Jeep says, "that would be bean that you're wearing". Little L then proceeded to do it 2 more times. Each time sneaking up on me and me not realizing what was happening until it was too late.

Who Needs Clothes?

2008-06-30T09:17:00.003-04:00

I ran to the grocery store Saturday afternoon and while I was gone, Mr. Jeep and Little L decided to pull out the kiddie pool. When I got home they were having a blast playing in the pool. I started cooking dinner and told Little L that we would eat on the patio since she was in her bathing suit. We all sat down to eat and Little L got done eating and decided to start running around the yard. She finally walks up to me and says, "No bathing suit momma" and proceeds to strip off her bathing suit and swim diaper. I asked her if she wanted to put clothes on and she politely told me no. She then decided it would be fun to ride around the patio on her bike completely nude. Mr. Jeep and I basically had the attitude of "whatever". We have a 4 foot privacy fence on our patio, so none of the neighbors could really see her and she was having fun. I'm pretty sure if she had it her way, she would be nude all the time. Ahh, to be 2 and not have a care in the world!

Bad Momma

2008-06-26T18:17:00.003-04:00

Call child protective services...I'm a bad mom! This morning as I was getting ready for work, I put 3 tampons on the kitchen table next to my purse to take with me. Little L came walking into the kitchen. I turned my back for a second and I heard, "Ooh, what's this?" So I turned to see what she was talking about. And there she stood with a tampon in her hand, biting down on it like it was something delicious. I said, "No, Little L. Those are for mommy only" and grabbed it out of her hands. At this point she began wailing and throwing the biggest tantrum. I put them in my purse and went to put our dogs downstairs so we could leave. When I came back upstairs, she was standing on the chair trying to get into my purse. I picked my purse up and she began throwing another tantrum. It wasn't until we were finally in the car and pulling out of the driveway that she calmed down. All over a tampon...go figure.

How Do They Not Notice?

2008-06-26T12:40:00.005-04:00

Since about the middle of March I have lost approximately 25#. It's not like I was huge or anything. I have put on a little extra weight over the past few years and wanted to lose it. Plus I wanted to use it as a motivator to get back into my regular running routine. And I found out with my health insurance I could join Weight Watchers at a very reduced cost. Mr. Jeep has been wanting to lose weight for a while and I figured if I joined he would be more likely to stick with it. So we started WW on April 1, 2008. Depending on the clothes, I'm down about 2-3 sizes. All of my family has noticed and made comments and all of my friends have noticed and made comments. But have any of the boneheads at work said anything? No, not one word. Not that I'm expecting them to be falling all over me, but you'd think they'd say something. Our maintenance guy has complimented me on it.

I suppose it goes along with my theory that I'm invisible at work. I never get told anything or asked anything. This is one reason why I'm looking for a new job (not to mention I'd rather be working in the healthcare field). Truthfully, I really only have a problem with 2 people in the office. But those 2 people really annoy the crap out of me. I could go on for days about them and most likely will at some point. The one has been out on maternity leave for a few weeks and comes back on Tuesday. The other one I ignore as much as possible, which isn't hard considering how she also ignores me. It's wonderful!

A Few Confessions

2008-06-25T11:25:00.007-04:00

I have a few guilty pleasures that I try to keep hidden, but most of my friends probably already know about them. I love to read about celebrity gossip. In fact I check the gossip and photos on People.com almost daily. I enjoy watching TMZ, although I don't always get to watch it. And obviously I read the tabbies when I'm in line at the grocery store. I look at it as giving me a break from reality. Mr. Jeep used to always give me grief for reading Star or People, but now he's the one that's turning on TMZ. And on occasion, he'll know some celebrity gossip before me. Funny how the times have changed!

I guess I'll save some of the other guilty pleasures for other posts.

Huge Tumble

2008-06-25T10:56:00.011-04:00

Little L has these flip-flop type sandals that have straps on the back. When she's playing outside she is not allowed to wear them because she always falls. Last night we went to a store and I decided to take her outside while I was waiting for Mr. Jeep to get done. Little L decided to start running back and forth in front of the stores on the sidewalk. I told her to be careful and sure enough two seconds later, she fell right on her face. I thought for sure the kid's teeth were knocked out. She started screaming and holding her mouth/nose area. She wouldn't let me look at her teeth. Finally she allowed me to examine her nose and it was not good. She has a huge scrape from the bridge of her nose to the tip and another scrape under her nose. The teeth are in tact. The funny, or not-so-funny thing, is that after she calmed down and was talking, I couldn't figure out why she sounded funny. So then I started wondering if she had chipped a tooth and I just didn't see it (we were in the car at this point). Then I turned and looked at her in the backseat and sure enough her lip was huge! It's hard to tell with her because she has really full lips anyway. Mr. Jeep said it looked like she had collagen injections.

So we went home, cleaned her up and put Neosporin on it and she seemed to be fine. This morning it looked about the same and her lips were back to normal. I'm freaking out that she's going to have a permanent scar on her nose from this, but I think she'll be o.k. (at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

Public Restroom Pet Peeves

2008-06-23T15:14:00.005-04:00

Hello lady that came into the bathroom and had to use the stall right next to me. Why? Why did you have to use that stall and couldn't use one of the four other ones that were open? I will never understand this. I've had this discussion with my husband about the men's room. He said it's a big no-no for a guy to use the urinal directly next to someone else when there are others that are open. It's kind of the same thing with the women's room. I know there's a wall between us, but come on!

While we're on the subject of restroom pet peeves, my other one is people who use their cell phones while going pee or otherwise in the restroom. I think this is really disturbing. I can't tell you how many times I'm at work and in the bathroom and I hear someone come in the bathroom on their phone, go into a stall, grab an ass-gasket and proceed to have a full blown conversation while taking a piss or shitting. How nice for the person on the other end of the phone to hear you and how nice for everyone else in the restroom to hear your entire conversation. The logistics of balancing the phone, wiping your ass and pulling up your pants is beyond me. And majority of the time, they're the ones that don't wash their hands. I don't get it.

Let Me Introduce Myself

2008-06-21T22:35:00.015-04:00

I am 35 (almost 36) years old. I live in a suburb of Detroit. I'm married to a wonderful man that both frustrates me and excites me at the same time. We've been married since June 2002 and have been together since April 1996 (yes it was a long engagement. A girl has to be sure, right?). We have one beautiful daughter who turned 2 in March. And we have 2 crazy dogs: Marley - a German Shorthaired Pointer and Clifford - a Redbone Coonhound (he is Clifford the Big Red Dog). My daughter, I'll call her Little L (or her alter-ego, Crabby Patty), my husband and the dogs will provide many hours of entertainment on this blog.

I work full-time. I'm currently working as a legal assistant in a law firm. Although, this is not my background and not where I want to be. I have a degree in exercise physiology, but got burned out on it and decided to seek other options. When nothing came up, I took the first job I could find. It was supposed to be temporary, it's been 5 years. Three years ago I went back to school and became a massage therapist. I absolutely love it, but am not quite sure I want to do it full-time.

I'm fairly new to the whole blogging thing. Yeah, I know, get with the times chick! A friend of mine got me turned on to Ashley's Closet and I've been hooked ever since. I've been telling my husband that I need a blog. In order for me to keep my sanity, I think I need a blog! So this will give me the opportunity to vent my daily frustrations: mommyhood, wifedom, work, dogs, stupid people, observations and whatever else might come my way.

I want to keep the anonymity for now since I don't know where this will take me. Names will be changed to protect the innocent or if you're not so innocent, you'll be given a lovely nickname.