you need a what?!

Funniest thing a man said today.

A woman dropped off her cat this morning for treatment. We're talking a 16 year old, sick, cat. He's cranky, old, grouchy, ugly.. but clearly loved.

Or at least by the woman.

This afternoon she sends her husband to pick him up. This was after she called multiple times to check on "Stormy". He gets there, checks out, our receptionist brings him the cat and asks,

"Is there anything else I can get for you or Stormy today?"

Man looks right back at her and says,

"I'm good. But he could use a coffin."

I cracked up. I don't even know why that's so funny to me. Goes to show you what a man will do for his wife though!!

PS- The dresses in the below post can be found at Nordstroms. We of course don't have a store in 'ol Sav, but I have a mighty full shopping cart online....

Also- Thank you Dancing with the Stars for finally getting rid of the "Woz". While endearing he was just getting harder and harder to watch. Let's keep up with the good eliminations by getting rid of Megan tomorrow!!

Oh, I Lust...

I feel like one of these should be my Easter dress...





Oh my heart.

Now back to the land of possibility... Mrs. Newlywed has this book up for grabs that I simply need. Apparently it's giveaway time in blogland and I would love to do my part by receiving this book. Cross your fingers!

Baltimore- The Rest of the Time

So back to my trip to Baltimore and then I'm done, because I can't even really remember now what we did.

We got up the 2nd day and headed to a few antique shops. We were told they would be open. Most were not. Plus it was raining. Not cool Baltimore tour guide.

My parents on Antique Row. Check out my Dad's cool new "Samuel L. Jackson" hat. Yea.. he's rocking it.



Mr. Perfect in the ridiculously uncomfortable, over priced, antique chair..


We then walked down to an older section of Baltimore that was supposed to be pretty trendy and cool. Maybe we didn't find it...? We did happen upon some pretty obnoxious drunks. At 2 in the afternoon. On a Sunday. Hmmmm... But I did find a pretty cool consignment shop. I do love anything old!! I can't help it. I find some of the coolest pieces.

Today wasn't one of those days. Oh well.

Lunch was delish. It was in an old house on the Harbor. I had oysters. Shocker.

The whole day was just rainy and gross so we headed back to my parents house and ordered in Chinese. Then cuddled up and watched Desperate Housewives and my fave Brothers and Sisters.

The next day I actually felt like boo. The cold and rain had caught up to me. Blah. We still managed to meet my Dad when he got off work and headed to Annapolis. So glad we did. I wasn't a huge fan of Baltimore (hope no one gets mad!!), but I loved Annapolis. It was such a cute, quaint, little town. We walked around the downtown area but as is usual with my family, we had to head to the military attraction in the city; the Naval Academy. Just in case you don't know, both my grandfathers and both my parents have served in the Air Force, and the little brother is in the Marines, so I'm a sucker for anything military.




For the Marine who's actually stationed at Camp Lejeune


Gorgeous..

The Tomb of John Paul Jones, basically the father of the modern US Navy.


We got to tour the chapel and crypt and all. We were one of like 10 people there and unfortunately the Seamen were on Spring Break! Oh well...

Us. And one of the last pictures of those diamonds.. =( One fell out at my last soccer game when I got knocked in the head. So of course I took out the other one and then left them. I didn't even get to say good bye...



It was a great trip. We crammed a lot in just a few days. I hate that it was so cold because I just don't do cold well (aka: I complained a lot!). But it was fun and oh so good to see the parental units!

your little tennis wiiman can shove it. =)

We've been looking at this little beauty for a while. Friday nite after the movie we tried to go see was sold out (boo), we headed on over to Best Buy and bought it. Because we needed it.

How come no body that knows me tried to talk me out of this?!?

I am so competitive. To a fault. And those little Wii men are kicking my arse at some tennis. So is Mr. Perfect.

I now completely understand the remote through the tv thing you hear about so often. They only try to tell you it's an accident....

I will not let them defeat me. I will be practicing when Mr. Perfect is at work.

5k..

Welp.. I'm still alive to write this, which means I survived my first 5k. Technically, Lacy (the pup) and I both survived since she got to run it with me.

So what did I learn....

Regardless of what the scale tells me, I've clearly lost a bit of weight. Why else would I have had to hold my pants up half the race?

My MP3 player does not fit into an Ipod sport case. And even if you manage to squeeze it in, it will most likely not work correctly.

I cannot run without an ipod.

My dog is a bit of a snob.

Here's how it all went down. Nite before the race, I decide that I need to head to the gym just to run. I was freaking out that I wouldn't be able to do the 5k. And I do mean freaking out. So I climb on the dreadmill and do 3.6 miles in about 40 minutes. Stupid.

I've been nursing a sore hamstring since last Sundays soccer game. Well it woke up Saturday morning in a rip roaring mood. I stretched out pretty good before I left the house, ate a quick breakfast, and got Lacy ready to go.



Forgive me for the scary picture but I had only been awake about 30 minutes.

We got there, got registered, let Lacy make her mark in the yard.. ahem... Got stretched out, and got ready to go. I managed to get my MP3 player into an Ipod sports case to wear on my arm. It was working out pretty well before the race. They let all the people running without their dogs start first, then us running with dogs started 5 minutes after, then those walking started five minutes after us. My friend, TW, was running her two dogs with Lacy and I, and another friend, LS, was running without a pup ahead of us.

Of course you had your typical can't act right dogs trying to cause trouble. Here we are all jumbled into a group waiting to start, and this dumb old Pomeranian is going up to rando dogs nipping at them. That's right little one.. bite the Pitbull. Then there's this other dog with a Hannibal Lecter type muzzle on literally dragging the kid trying to hold him all over the place. Come on kids dad! Can you spell liability?!

Whatevs.

So the race starts. I find out quickly that my Ipod is not working. You've got to be kidding me. Somehow, stuffing it into a too tight case made it get stuck on FM radio. And not even a legitimate station! I was irate. I finally managed to pull it out and stick it into my tank top.

It took us a good half a mile for Lacy to realize she wasn't going to be able to pull me the whole way. She finally got her pace and settled right in. I however, never found my pace. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say how dumb it was to run the nite before. My legs were killing me. I seriously felt like I head dead legs. They felt like they each weighed about 30 pounds. Never got my stride. Add to that my falling down pants and I was dying.

We stopped for about 5 milliseconds at the halfway point for Lacy to grab a sip of water. We went maybe another 1/8th of a mile and disaster struck.

My Ipod broke. Absolutely just quit working.

Freakin' awesome. I cannot run without my Ipod. I can't find my rhythm and I just hate not having it. It pumps me up. So we finished half the race with no Ipod.

All honesty on this blog right? We stopped once. I was so frustrated with how things were going that I had to have a quick collect myself moment.

Then we picked it back up and brought it on home.



I was so disappointed in myself. I had two goals for this race; 1) to not stop and 2) to finish in under 35:00.

Well, we stopped and we finished in 35:23.

Boo.

But then I got over myself. Plus, my pup did so good!! She didn't stop once to go to the bathroom (she usually always stops on any run!) and she kept right beside me the whole time. One other runner even remarked on how disciplined she was. Of course the minute he spoke to her she went all A.D.D on him and I'm sure he wished he could take it back.

So not exactly what I would've hoped for, but most def a learning experience. Plus, I've got the racing bug now. I can't wait for the next one!!

Afterwards they had this huge pool or all the dogs to drink out of. Do you think my dog would drink out of the same one as all the others? Uh no. I had to go get her a bottle of water and let her drink out of my hand. She's also clearly not a "dog" dog. She doesn't really care for other ones. She's not mean, but she's not very social. There was this group of dogs, including my friend TW's two, and then there's Lace. Off laying by herself watching the kids on the playground.



But she's just so cute. =)

LS, TW, the pups, and I after the race.



Lace & I


KJ, A, the pups and I



On the way home, I took Lacy to PetSmart to pick out a treat for doing so good. We pick out this $6 bone. She gets in the car and won't touch it. We went through the ChickFila line where she received a free milk bone. Gone in 2 seconds. Along with half my chicken sandwich.

Even though she clearly wasn't interested in the nice bone, she's been laid up in the guest room with it for 2 days. She wouldn't even eat dinner.

My dogs a nut.

Tidbits

Today is Friday and tonite is..

Date Nite with the Hubs!!!

I am super excited. I do love a nite out with my man!

I told Mr. Perfect I had to sneak in a run before we hit the movies and he said, "Well that's cool but just make sure there's plenty of time for dinner."

Well, duh. We don't skip meals in this house.

Tomorrow morning is my first 5k. I might throw up. It doesn't help that I've been sick all week. Plus I'm running it with the pup and I haven't taken her out in months except for a mile the other nite. Eeek. Oh well, I'm sure we'll be fine.

Or not. Whatever.

Yesterday after work I was so tired I could barely form sentences. So I skipped the gym in leiu of laying on the couch watching DVR'd shows. But then I felt bad, so I grabbed the pup and took off running. I lost interest about 1 mile in. I told you I was tired!! But then I felt slack so I headed up to the gym. I ran another 2 miles and then did the stairmaster for a bit. I was then sufficiently sweaty so I headed on home.

Oh!! Last nite, I'm trucking along on the treadmill with the Ipod blaring when I hear this loud "thud". Heard it over the Ipod. So I turn and look and this guy like 5 treadmills over from me is picking himself up off the floor! His treadmill is still steady running. He flew off that joker!

I didn't laugh. Ok, I didn't laugh much. But it was hi-larious!! He's ok, don't worry. Oh dear gym.. you sure do keep me entertained.

Not impressed.

Seriously America?



Matt is in the bottom 3?!?



And this girl is still on the show?!?! Let alone, didn't make it to the bottom 3?!?!

You've got to be kidding me.

Not impressed with the inspirational shout outs from 'ol Stevie either. But I guess since he's shouting out to another "celebrity" it's all good.

I'm cranky because my DVR cut off the last 5 minutes of Idol. Cut off right as Simon was going to say whether or not they were saving Michael.

I heard Mr. Perfect laughing the whole time I was running for Facebook to find someone to tell me the news. Glad he thought it was funny.

Oh Idol. You sure do put my emotions through the ringer....

Baltimore: Day 1

A few weekends back, Mr. Perfect and I ventured on up to see my parents in Maryland. My parents moved up there a few years back for their jobs and are still currently up there. They moved after I'd already left for college and most of my family is still down here in the South, so honestly, I don't make it up there too often to visit. Which makes me a very bad daughter but...

Plus, if you think this girl in a car for 10 hours is a good idea then you are insane.

I cannot sit still for 10 minutes. 10 hours?!? Like having my fingernails pulled off.

But Mr. Perfect and I both managed to somehow score 4 day weekends over St. Patty's Day so we figured we would head on up there.

I almost changed my mind when I checked the weather from my nice 70 degree hometown and saw a chance of snow in the DC area. I don't think I even own a coat!!

So after work on Friday the 13th (cue scary music), Mr. Perfect and I loaded up the kids, took them to the kennel (no tears were shed this time!), and then hit the road.
I managed to keep myself entertained for the first 3 hours of the trip with a couple of books. I read my fertility book cover to cover (which is a story in itself in that in 3 hours time I managed to convince myself that I had everything wrong possible with my reproductive system!) and then some Nicholas Sparks book. By that time we had reached Florence, SC, home of Mr. Perfects parents, and place of our first break.

Yes. Mr. Perfect hates to stop so he tries to "schedule" breaks for us. I usually break this idea about an hour into the trip. I always seem to need want something!

We had a quick little visit with the inlaws then got back on the road.

At this point, Mr. Perfect decides he's too tired to drive.

Huh?!

Apparently I talked in my sleep all nite the nite before and he got no sleep. Blah. So I figure I'll be nice and let him nap a bit.

7 hours, bunches of coffee, and way too many Full Throttles later, Mr. Perfect is still asleep and we're pulling up in St. Leonard, MD. Are you kidding me?!?

We go straight to bed with plans to sleep in in the morning. This girl is up at 8.30 am. Sure... Can't get up for work to save my life, but let me drive all nite and I'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning! I loved it though because when I got up only my Dad was awake so far, so I got to spend some quality time with him. My Dad is the person most like me on the planet. Which is weird, because we're total opposites. But the important stuff; we're on the same page. I got to hang out with my Dad in the quiet, both drinking our black coffee (I swear I drink it this way just because he does!), reading (the news for him, y'alls blogs for me!), and occasionally making idle chit chat. My Dad is one of the only people in the world I feel truly comfortable with. He and I both understand our need for "me" time, we're both really bad at talking about our feelings, and we both have horrible tempers! I love my time with him!

About an hour later my Mom and the Hubs make their way downstairs. We piddle, talk, play with the dogs, consume another 5 cups of coffee... Wait. That was just me. We decided not to do DC this trip since we always visit there and we got on the road to Baltimore.

I We suggested we should eat first so we headed to some seafood restaurant right on Baltimore's inner harbor. Not bad food. I had the oyster poboy. Actually quite good, and the view was spectacular.

Mom and Dad at lunch:


Even though it was starting to rain and I felt like it was subarctic weather outside, we decided after lunch we should walk around the Harbor. So we did. We walked all the way to the shopping mall and then we stayed inside for awhile!

Mr. Perfect and I by the Harbor:


And no, that's not my coat. I wasn't lying when I told you I didn't have one! I had to borrow one from my Mom! Thankfully she's lived up North long enough that she seems to have a nice collection!!

My cutie little parents on the Harbor:



We didn't do too much else that day. We decided to head on back to St. Leonard and come back the next day and do some more things that we thought sounded interesting. When we got back home, I laced up for a quick little run and my Dad decided to go with me. My Dad is actually the runner in the family, but I managed to actually push him a bit this time! We did a 3 mile run with hills. Kudos to those of you who run hills. I almost died. Seriously, saw lights and everything. My version of a hill in Savannah is the slope of a ditch. Kid you not. My quads were on fire. But it was easier to breathe up there so I knocked out the 3 miles in less than 32 minutes. I thought that was pretty good. Oh yea.. it was in the rain too. Makes that 32 minutes a bit better, maybe?

We had another 2 days there, but I'll save that for another post. Don't want to bombard you with too much in one day!

Oh yea. I put this out on Twitter, but I spoke with my doctor about our next step in our journey to our family. As most of you know, we've had quite a time in the past with multiple miscarriages and we're doing some different therapy before we try to conceive again. At our last appointment, about 2 months ago, I was told to begin charting my temperatures. Basically he was looking to see if my uterus was healthy enough after the D&C on New Years to sustain another surgery. Apparently it is. So right after my next cycle (around the middle of April ), I will be having surgery to remove the septum in my uterus. It's supposed to be a day surgery and should be pretty "simple", but there's all kinds of thing that can complicate this surgery so.. Of course I'm a little freaked out. So just keep us in your prayers if you don't mind in this next month. Hopefully this will get the outcome he wants and maybe (hopefully!!) will make it possible to sustain a pregnancy. We shall see.

I can almost breathe again. Thank you ridiculously high pollen count for taking away my enjoyment of spring.

I can't watch Idol til the hubs gets home. He better hurry. I'm dying!!

Not Quite A Recap

American Idol just rocked my socks off.

I knew Matt would do good because this was right up his alley. I was so right.

Amazingly I really liked Adam tonite. A-M-A-Zing. Seriously. Did you see what he did?!?!

Liked Kris, but not as much as last week. However, I still think he is just adorable and I want to put him in my pocket so he can strum his guitar for me all day...

Ahem.. I digress.

Danny's always good. Little cheesy tonite, but always good.

I'm over the girls. They need to go. And if I have to watch Megan do her little "robot dance" one more time, I might throw away my tv.

But that would be stupid. So let's just vote her off for the sake of my flat screen. =)

Mr. Perfect had the day off today. I came home to completely painted furniture and a clean house. Oh! And dinner! I do love that man.

I have some bad allergy problems kicking my butt right now. I still managed to play soccer Sunday and today, and run on Monday and Tuesday. Not going to lie though.. Had 3.6 miles down for Monday. Did 3.1. If I'd had my cell on me I would have stopped and had Mr. Perfect come get me. I. Was. Exhausted. And sore. My soccer game on Sunday almost killed me. I'm still sore!

Oh age 26.. you are not being kind to me.

The new girl at work had almost the same scrubs on today as me. Not cool. We're going to have to talk about that.

I'm kidding. .::kinda::.

More American Idol tomorrow..... yay!

Before... And After (Well Middle!)

I mentioned that we were undertaking a little home improvement project. It's actually going amazingly well. Probably because my involvement in the tiling of the floor has been minimal at best.

Not my cup of tea. And apparently Mr. Perfect has this "system" that I don't work very well with.

Whatever.

Here's how our room looked before. Keep in mind that we did not vacuum before ripping up the carpet and that this girl walked around dragging up the hair on the carpet to make a really disgusting looking ball. I took a picture of that ball but Mr. Perfect made me delete it. I think he called it something really disgusting first though. =)

This is the room before:


Hi there Mr. Nasty Hairball of Dog/Cat Hair.

A view of my closet from in the room:

I was supposed to move all of my clothes out of there. I lost interest in that chore about halfway through.

The pups checking out the process:


And then after we got the tile down (but before the grout):



I am in love!

It is so nice! My little tile layer did such a great job! I need to get a photo now. We replaced the blinds. You may have noticed that nice cat sized hole; it now ceases to exist. We stripped down the furniture and painted it and got a new bedspread. We are almost done doing the dressers. As soon as that comes I'll put it on here. I am so excited! It honestly exceeded my expectations by far.

My only complaint: It is so cold on my feet.

Oh well. I guess I can go buy socks.

Sick Day.

Yup. I'm playing hooky and I love it. =)

I couldn't do it. I could barely get out of bed this morning. I've got hay fever ridiculous style and am so sore I can barely walk. So no work for this girl this am.

I have been super productive though.

Remember this comforter? Well it survived said skirmish with just a small stain. Like so small you can barely see it. Now it's been thrown up on. What?!? I don't understand how of all the easy to wipe up surfaces in our house, our dog gets sick on my white comforter!! And she's not even allowed on the bed!!

Needless to say I spent a good portion of the am at the cleaners. Grrr... Small stain, just got a bit bigger. I. Am. Not. Happy.

Then I headed over to WalMart. Oh help me.

Disclaimer: I HATE WalMart. If you are a fan, that is fine. I am not. I usually would rather drag myself through the pits of Hell than step into a WalMart. But I needed my oil changed and wanted to buy pillows so, multi purpose store was a must.

I had the best WalMart experience ever. No joke.

It started when I got to the Tire & Lube section. I pull in, turn my car off, and there's an attendant waiting to help me. Super friendly and quick and I was in the store in 5 minutes. Every customer was in a good mood, store clerks asked if I needed anything. Not going to lie, I seriously thought I was high off my allergy meds. I got my pillows and headed to the cashier. I got stuck in a line but it was still so quick. My cashier was uber-friendly. Greeter at the door said good-bye with a smile and got my cart for me. Got back to the oil counter and sat down. Was there for 2 minutes when one of the mechanics came and got me to tell me my car was done. Checked out. Another super friendly cashier. She did get onto me for drinking my Full Throttle (I know they're bad for me, but I don't care!) but at least she was nice about it. And mechanic guy even carried my bags to the car!!

Spring must be making everyone chipper. That lack of Vitamin D was starting to get to us, but.. looks like we pulled through! I was so pleasantly surprised I still am not sure it was a real WalMart!!

On another note.. Keep up your prayers for Stellan. As far as I can tell from Mckmamma's updates, he's still having a pretty hard time. Keep praying ladies!

I'm going to lay on the couch for a while and revel in my sick day. I promise you I really do feel bad!

Is this right?

There's a weird vibe in my house.

At work we firmly believe that animals are a reflection of their owners. We see so many neurotic pets that you just know were not like that in the wild. If they were I'm sure they would have been eaten. Because it's just plain annoying.

So what does this say about the "energy" Mr. Perfect and I are giving off?

Our 6 lb. cat runs our house. Over 3, 35 pound + pups. He can get them off their beds, food bowl, water bowl, anything. It's ridiculous.

Today I look over the fish tank. Ace (the cat) likes to drink out of there even though there is fresh "animal" water 2 feet away. Like I said; rules the house. But I notice while I'm watching this that the fish is pecking at the cats tongue as he drinks. And the cat allows this?!?

Mr. Perfect says we put off a super laid back, love everyone vibe and that's why they all coexist so well.

I think it might just be crazier than that...

PRAYERS NEEDED!!

I have seen the wonders of what prayer can do for anyone when we gather together and speak to God. And I'm asking that you take a moment to pray for this family... If you aren't familiar with Stellan or MckMamma then wander over to her blog and take a look. This little boy is a small miracle that survived a devastating diagnosis in utero. He's now battling the same thing and needs our prayers.... Please take a minute to pray for this family.

My Heart Melts..

Just found this picture...



A man and his dogs.

My heart melts.

I love my Dad and his pups....

Random Man...

I am still watching my DVR'd Idol so I can't recap yet, but... I am in love with Kris Allen!!! How awesome was his perfomance on Tuesday nite?!?

I loved Brad Paisley's song he just sang.

I ran 3.2 miles today. After I ate half a tub of cookie dough. Counterproductive much?!? Of course my stomach was killing me but.. I do love my cookie dough! I did it in 39:30. Yay! I'm steady getting that time down. My dream is to do the race at the end of the month in under 35 minutes. I'm not trying to win, just make a good time.

My babies are home! Our house is complete again!! And Cash got his summer cut. =) He loves it!

If my house doesn't get back in order soon, I might freak out. Or start throwing things. Sharp pointy things.

We had a puppy at the clinic that whined all day. From 8 am til 5 pm. No joke. I can still hear him. It's ringing in my head.

We are taking our church directory pictures tomorrow. Not going to lie. The only reason I'm doing it is because if you do, you get a free directory. Shut up! I have a secret love for church directories. I browse them like I do US magazine! When I was growing up I used to compare the new one to all the past ones I could fine to see how people changed. I'm a secret nerd.

I am almost crying watching Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis sing. And is it just me or is he an incredibly humble gentleman? And I love her. She's such a class act.

I have got to get to my computer so I can download some pictures. I'm suffering withdrawals.

I'm going to lay down now and curl up with my Lacy.. She sure did miss her Mama..

We're Back!

We're in the house with the windows open.

We must be back in the South!

My mom called us and let us know that the sun started shining in Maryland today. Haha Mother Nature, haha. That's fine that you let it rain the whole time we were there!

So we made it back home. I am exhausted. And Mr. Perfect drove the whole way home so imagine how he feels! We didn't get back in time to pick up the kids from the kennel. Boo.. =(

It's so quiet in our house right now. What do people that don't have pets do to entertain themselves?!?

Great Weekend

Well this Southern girl and her Mr. Perfect are headed back to the South tomorrow. We had such a great weekend! Yes, its ridiculous cold up here in Maryland, but I love it up here! This visit we tried to see some things we don't usually see. Obviously we always tour around D.C., but we kind of wanted to switch it up this visit. So we headed up to Baltimore on Saturday and Sunday, and today we ventured out to Annapolis.

I have a huge crush on Annapolis.

Baltimore was nice, don't get me wrong. It hit my love for big cities with tons of stuff to do perfectly. It was kind of quiet because of the rain (that was here the whole daggum weekend!), but it was nice. Love the harbor.

But Annapolis.. oh be still my heart! I love big cities. I love the energy, the people watching, the shopping, the culture. But at the same time, there is nothing quite like a quaint city. And Annapolis fit the bill. It was kind of like a Northern Charleston. Although nothing will ever be Charleston because Charleston can't be touched!! But same feel. Loved it.

We're headed back down to the SAV tomorrow morning. Wish us luck for this 10 hour drive we have ahead of us tomorrow. Like I've said before, I have the attention span of a flea so sitting in the car that long about kills me!! Once we get home I'll put up some pics. I'm using mi padre's comp right now (which I've kidnapped while I've been here to keep up with all you fine ladies!!). Hope you all have a safe and happy Saint Patricks Day tomorrow! I'm kind of sad I won't be in my lovely Irish hometown to celebrate tomorrow. It might be a good thing though, because the Irish in this girl tends to get her in trouble... =)

Hope you had a great weekend!!

P.S- I just voted 3 times by text message and 11 times on the computer for Dancing with the Stars. The reality addiction is getting out of control.

Cracked out on Full Throttle....

After 11 hours, a stop for dinner with Mr. Perfect's family, 5 bathroom stops, 4 cups of coffee, and 3 Full Throttles (hence the bathroom stops), we made it to the parents abode in Maryland.

I did some serious concert perfoming of some Ashlee Simpson last nite. A sold out show I'm sure.

I had to keep myself awake since Mr. Perfect slept the whole way!! Boo. He said it was my fault since I kept him up the nite before talking in my sleep. Touche touche.

My throat hurts this morning and I still feel like my heart is about to beat out of chest. I think I'm cracked out on energy drinks.

We're off to tour the Baltimore area today. Wish us luck since it's about 30 degrees colder here than back home, and this girl didn't pack accordingly. =( 'Course not.

A Venture Into Kroger....

Last nite after leaving the gym, I decided it would be nice of me to make dinner for Mr. Perfect. He had been out of town for work all day so I knew he would be tired and hungry when he got home. A + wife that I am headed on over to Kroger.

I think I may have mentioned it once before, but I HATE cooking. Everything about it makes me stressed out, bored, and almost crazy. I can't stand grocery stores either. They're always cold and the lines are always too long. Not to mention the at least 3 screaming children you will encounter.

Not my cup of tea.

But I had this recipe for low calorie beef strogonoff that I'd gotten off of d.a.r's blog that I was dying to try and I needed ingredients. So I'm strolling along looking for what I need when I got to the soup aisle. I was looking for beef consumme but could not find it anywhere. I saw beef broth and wanted to ask someone if it was the same thing. However, the only lady around had 2 screaming toddlers (only needed to find one more!) and I was not delaying her process of getting out of the store! So I picked up the beef broth and headed to the meat counter. I'm standing there looking for a package that says "hamburger". Could not find it. So I walk over to the meat counter and ask the guy working there if ground beef chuck is the same thing as hamburger. He stares blankly at me.

Meat Head: "It's all beef."
Me: "K. I know that. That's not my question. Is beef chuck the same as hamburger?"
Meat Head: "It's all beef!"

Dude!! I get that! (You may be thinking I am a moron right about now, but when I sa I don't cook, I can't stress to you enough how little I know about the kitchen, food, etc. It's sad really.)

Finally Meat Head and I pick out some lean ground beef and I head on out the store.
Fast forward about 20 minutes; I cannot figure out why my sauce is not thickening! I've put in flour, I let the juices boil off (I thought) it just wasn't thickening. Mr. Perfect calls and says he's on the way home and he's picking up seafood.

Me: "Uh uh Mister! I made dinner."
Mr. Perfect: "M, I'm really hungry...."
Me: "I knew you would be that's why I'm cooking."
Mr. Perfect: "I know... It's just, I'm really hungry.."

Loud and clear Mr. Perfect, loud and clear.

Nice way of showing his doubt in my cooking prowress huh?!?

Well my sauce never thickened up. Turns out beef broth and beef consumme are NOT the same things. Oh well. What are you going to do? It still turned out really good. Even Mr. Perfect had two helpings! I did get bored while cooking and ended up burning the squash. I have the attention span of a flea.

But it wasn't all bad. And the positive reaction I got from Mr. Perfect makes me want to try again. Just not anytime soon. Thank goodness for my Mr. Perfect! I mean, since he loves to cook, should I really take that joy away from him?!?

Blisters on my Toes...

When I was in college all my toe nails fell off. No joke. Too much time either running or being in cleats on the soccer field killed them all. They turned black and fell off.

Now they are raised up off the skin and break if they get too long. And with this new running kick, they daggum hurt. Did I mention I am getting huge blisters on my 2nd toe on each foot. My freakishly long 2nd toe.

I have ugly feet. It's g-ross.

Monday after work I drove to the gym, got out of my car, walked into the gym, then turned around and walked out. It was such a beautiful day I just couldn't make myself get on that treadmill. But when I got home I laced up my Nikes and went for a run.

Yay!!

I ran 3.3 miles in 50 minutes. Not great. But I'm okay with it. I didn't stop at all. I ran the last 3/10 of the mile holding my side because of the worst cramp ever to show it's face. I think I need to eat better. Four cookies all day does not a well balanced meal make!! Wednesday I hit the gym for a quick 30 minutes on the elliptical before I headed out to dinner with the besties. Tonite I hit up the gym for 20 minutes on the elliptical followed by 20 minutes on the treadmill and some upper body weight lifting.

Awkward moment of the day: the ex best friend was at the gym today. I have not run into her in public since I saw her last June. We didn't speak. I was booking it on the treadmill and she was in and out so quick. I know she saw me. It's kind of sad we're like that. I don't want to talk about it because it's sad... Oh well.

The scale is not budging. But I will not let this get me down!!

I need to do a weekend update with some pics, but I can't get to my computer!! I'm using Norm's netbook right now so I don't have to do any mountain climbing.

Headed to DC this weekend to see the parents. Super excited!!

I'm Living With Norm Abram.

Not really.

But Mr. Perfect is in renovation mode something serious! Hence the reason I have not been blogging.

I literally had to climb over a king mattress, 2 box springs, and a huge mirror to get to the computer. I kid you not. The other day, a beautiful, sunny, southern day, I had the windows in our room opened while I switched out the closet from winter to summer. And I smelled it.

Our rug reeked. The owners before us used to lock their dogs in our room. Do you know what happens when you lock dogs up for a number of hours? I do. So I gave in to what Mr. Perfect has wanted to do for a while; rip up the carpet and put down tile.

I did NOT want tile in our bedroom. At this moment I'm for whatever gets that nasty carpet out of my house. Do any of you have tiled houses? Do you like them? I've seen it before and it always looks nice, I'm just still hesitant... Oh well. Pictures will follow!

On another note, I got tagged by Southern Bride to do this picture tag. I might have done this one before, but I'm already mentioned my love of being tagged, so I'm doing it again. =)

1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious peoples to do the same thing and leave a comment on their bloggy tellin’ about it.

That's our cat Ace deciding he needed to go along on our little weekend vacation.

Don't worry. I didn't let him go.

I'm tagging anyone who wants to play to play because I'm officially about to be late to work!

Have a great day!!

Standards

So I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that our church is doing this amazing marriage study at the moment. I am loving it. One of the things that I think has caused Mr. Perfect and I so much trouble in our marriage is that we didn't really get good pre-marital counseling. We had some, but no where near what I would recommend to an engaged couple. We were pretty much left in the dark with so much so these sermons have been a definite wake up call in our marriage.

Our preacher spoke to us today on the roles of parents, husbands, and wives in a marriage. I'm not going to give you the whole sermon, because frankly I don't remember it all. Good memory- I do not have.

What stuck out to both Mr. Perfect and myself was the section on setting standards in our marriage. Our Sunday School teacher actually did an excellent job preaching on this. I set a lot of standards for myself and people I surround myself with daily. I expect a ton from my co-workers because I have such a high standard for what I produce. And I usually do just what I set out to do. I definitely got my parents hardworking gene. Thanks! Mr. Perfect is the same. He sets very high standards for his employees. I always joke that there is no way I could work for him because he expects so much! However, it gets him the respect he deserves as their boss.

Where we both lack is the same; we don't set standards for ourselves in our home.

Huh?

We're very chill at our house. It works for us right now, but what we got to thinking about was setting a standard for our family. Example: I have told him time and again that when we procreate (love that word) the TV is gone. I kid you not. We will not have a family television. Mr. Perfect used to just dismiss this as one of my many passing fancies. But I'm serious. Have you seen what's on television today? I'm guilty of encouraging it by what I watch but come on. Saturday morning at work we were watching cartoons and a condom commercial came on. Are you kidding me?!? I don't want my children seeing that. My other thing with the tv is the materialism it breeds. I don't want my children "wanting" things that the tv shows them over and over and tells them they "need". I don't judge people that do allow their children tv time, it's just not what I think I want at this time. We will keep our small tv in our room for DVD's and such though.. I do need my FRIENDS!

I want my children to see Mr. Perfect and I set standards for relationships. I want them to see that he always opens my door for me and that we hug, and touch, and are affectionate. I want them to know that their parents love each other, therefore making it easier to love them. I want God first in our house. I want us in church when the doors are open. Our SS teacher said if you raise the standards so high, your children will more than likely set theirs just a bit below that. Well by golly, I'll set mine so high that their lower standards are still high!

We felt such a conviction on this today. We were disappointed in ourselves that we do set such high standards everywhere else but our home. That the second most important relationship we have in this world is the one we expect the least from. That's not how it's supposed to be. So we'll be setting up our standards for our family. I'm sure it's going to be a process but oh how worth it it will be. By the time God decides to bless us with our little one, I want the strongest foundation we can possibly have on which they will grow.

I love sermons like today when it's just what I needed to hear...