Our Trip to Washington, D.C.

We just got home last night from an extended weekend in Washington, D.C. While it was nice to get away and escape the day to day life, the trip wasn't exactly one that topped our list as one of favorites. 1. AR was sick so we spent majority of Friday and Saturday in the hotel 2. Walking long distances and history isn't really a four-year-old's idea of fun. Either way, we made the best of it and still had a pretty good time. Here's our trip in pictures...

AR got her Elsa suitcase for her birthday last year. This was her first trip flying with it. It mainly housed extra snacks and our pajamas on the way there. On the way home, it was our dirty clothes. She did pretty well taking care of it all by herself.

We got there late Thursday night and it was a little chilly. Other than Friday night, this was the only day that we needed our coats. By Sunday, I was wishing I'd brought some shorts or at least short sleeve shirts for AR.

Like I mentioned above, AR wasn't feeling great on Friday. She and I skipped the Capitol tour and stayed in the hotel. Thank goodness my sister brought her Firestick! The hotel had a shuttle that drove us to the grocery store where we stocked up on oranges, water, bananas, and of course, AR's favorites cucumbers.

Friday afternoon we decided to venture out for dinner. You can see in her eyes that she doesn't feel good but she was going as stir crazy as I was in the hotel.

And when we found Sprinkles, she was a VERY happy girl!

Candace, the owner of Sprinkles, is the judge on Cupcake Wars! They even had little dog cupcakes that AR wanted to get for Shadow but I told her I didn't think they'd make it home in one piece so we didn't get any.

Friday night we did a Monuments by Moonlight tour. The first stop was Lincoln Memorial.

Right after Matt and I got engaged in 2007, we went to visit his friends on the East Coast and did a little day trip to D.C. I tried to recreate some of the photos the two of us had taken together with AR.

H took this pic and I think it turned out pretty fantastic!

I love this picture of the side of the Lincoln Memorial, very cool! Oh, while we were at the top of the stairs, this group of teenage boys came up. They had our back to us and were taking pictures of the Washington Monument. I looked over and they were all dressed in red, white, and blue patriotic clothes. I walked over to one of the boys and was like, "Hey, let me see your phone." He turned and looked at me like I was crazy. I assured him I wasn't stealing his phone but capturing an awesome pic. He finally gave it to me and yeah, the pic was awesome. I thought it might be a little too creepy if I asked him to send it to me so you'll just have to take my word.

Washington Monument and the reflection pond.

Battle of Iwo Jima which always reminds me of Mr. Reutzel. If any CHS Spanish alumni are out there, you'll know what I'm talking about.

The last stop on the monuments tour was the MLK Memorial. We also saw the Korean Memorial but there were seriously rats running through the bushes and across the sidewalk so I took two pics and ran the opposite direction.

Now, the whole reason we went to D.C. was because I had a signing for Lyssa Layne. It was Saturday afternoon in the hotel that we were staying in. AR took this pic and I have to say that she did a fantastic job! It may or may not be my LL profile pic...

My baby girl stayed with me all day because she still wasn't feeling too great. She did an excellent job handing out swag and we found an awesome book that I can't wait to read with her. If you're a mom to a little girl, teenager, or daughter in general, go check out Adjust Your Crown.

My biggest fan that I love sharing all of this with!

Saturday night, we stood in line for over 30 minutes for some Georgetown Cupcakes. It was worth it! I had milk chocolate buttercream frosting and it was AMAZING!!! The locals said if they had to rank the cupcake stores, it would be Baked & Wired, Sprinkles, then Georgetown Cupcakes. My sis and H had Baked & Wired and said they were good but OMG, I'm still dreaming of the GC frosting!

Sunday was our big day out because AR was finally feeling better! We checked out the White House, not that you can see it all that well.

She told a secret serviceman "thank you for your service" and he gave her this candy "straight from the President's desk." Don't mind her middle finger, it's not a political message!

This is the front of the White House in the distance. When I was there last, a decade ago, you could get a LOT closer, but I think a lot of the fencing and other construction was leftover from the inauguration.

We found a Shack Shake and had to indulge!!! Yes, I'm doing a weight loss challenge at work. Yes, I indulged in 2 cupcakes and split a milkshake plus more. But when you walk 2-3 miles per day, majority of that carrying a 45 lb child, well, then I'm not too worried about gaining. In fact, I weighed today and I lost a little so I'll happily take that!

AR wanted to do ONE thing and in the process of doing that. We passed through Chinatown where AR also sampled a green smoothie which she loved... and got pretty much all over!

AHA! The highlight of AR's trip!!! We found a playground! This was all that she wanted to do. So we walked a mile to the JFK Recreation Center and played on the playground. She was one happy little girl!

We also went to the Spy Museum. We did a game called "Spy in the City" which for older kids is really awesome. We each got a tablet with GPS on it. We had to go to different places and find clues. AR was NOT digging this at all so we only made it halfway through then later in the day, we walked through the museum some.

After all that walking, playing, and spying, it was time for dinner. Where would us STL girls pick? PI Pizza of course! I've never been to the one in STL so this was a first for us. For those of you that don't know, PI Pizza has all their specialty pizzas named after towns in STL. AR was starving and chowed down on this yummy Italian feast!

Monday, we visited Arlington Cemetery before we headed to the airport. Holy hills and even more walking! It's such a sombering place and makes you reflect on life in general. Here is the eternal flame for JFK.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Changing of the Guards

Then it was time to head home! D.C. is a great place to visit but I would definitely recommend waiting until your kids are old enough to understand/appreciate everything it has to offer.

My Sick Baby...

...My poor AR was one sick baby the weekend after Christmas. It was the exact same thing she had at Thanksgiving so at least we knew what to expect. The only good thing about it was that I got lots and lots of snuggles...oh and I got the nastiness myself. I guess that's what happens when my girl and I share everything from drinks to ice cream, huh?

Doesn't she look so pitiful???

Despite feeling bad, she still helped me put away the Christmas tree (which I was worried there'd be tears but luckily, she was very helpful!).

On Christmas morning she woke up coughing. Friday we ran errands, the cough got worse, but she was still in good spirits, riding her scooter, playing in the yard with her dogs, etc... Now that I have my new smartphone, I can document EVERYTHING. Here she is on Friday night.

Saturday she was definitely feeling even WORSE and we did nothing other than lay around, watch TV and snuggle.

By Sunday, it was the all time WORST! She was miserable, running fever, and slept pretty much ALL day. I finally broke down and gave her some Children's Advil in addition to the Vick's on feet, honey, and marshmallows plus of course TLC.

Monday she was supposed to go to the zoo with her babysitter but I had to cancel. Come Monday morning, she was in rare form, bouncing off the walls. She was majorly bummed the zoo but I took her to Barnes & Noble instead (her favorite hangout).

She's still got the cough and her poor eyes looks bad, but for the most part I think she's feeling better. Eating again, no fever, etc... This week we get back into the swing of things so hopefully that'll help her feel better too. #lovemyAR #byebyesickies

Oh my Aching Ear!!!

...is what AR's thinking. I had a major mom fail. My sweet baby girl has her first ear infection and who knows, she's probably had it for the past couple weeks! The week before the Color Run, she woke up two mornings in a row with a snot crusted nose. We did all the usual...quilt under mattress, humidifier, etc...It seemed to get better.

We stayed the weekend at my sister's and she was spitting up some and seemed to have lost her appetite. She'd only eat purees, not "real" food, so I thought maybe her throat hurt. By Sunday though, she was a gobbling fool so I didn't worry about it. I'd check her every day for fever and she never had one.

Then last week, she was still snotty and started touching her ear. She wasn't tugging at it, nothing was leaking out of it and when I'd swab it with a Q-tip, nothing but really ear wax came out. Still no fever and this little girl was as happy as can be!

She was down to taking 2 naps which I figured was transition but then this weekend, OMG-naps from HELL! Saturday I think she took like one 30 minute nap in the car then another cat nap for about 15 minutes. She went to bed early so therefore on Sunday, she woke up early...as in 4am. I laid her down for a nap at 7:30am and she slept for 1.5 hours. I thought we were back on track-FAKEOUT! She then took a 20 minute nap after 20 minutes of screaming and then a 30 minute nap in which she woke up hysterical and only nursing would soothe her. Sunday night, she was up at midnight, 2am, 3:15am and 4:30am. Not up screaming but just fussing and enough to wake me up. Monday she only took 1 one hour nap so I knew something was up. But again, she was happy and busy and playing all day long.

When I picked her up, I figured I'd go ahead and call the doctor's office. I guess a part of me thought she was fine because she was so happy and I knew she had her check-up in a couple weeks. Anyways, I call and turns out AR's doc was out sick so we had to go to the guy who covered for him. A doctor that Matt and I spent an hour with interviewing while I was still pregnant...awkward. I called about 3:45pm and they told me if I could get there by 4:30 they'd see me. LAGIT!

We get there and barely had to wait before they took us back. We did have to wait about 10-15 minutes for the doctor after the nurse saw us but I wasn't going to complain since we got in right away and I didn't have to take any time off work. As I was waiting, I was thinking this place is way closer to home, way newer and the patient rooms are HUGE then the doctor came in and I remembered why we didn't pick him...aside from the fact that he's a Cubs fan.

Apparently, her left ear was clogged with tons of ear wax. This is the opposite ear she had been playing with. He cleaned it out which pissed her off and it was so gross. Then he wrote us a prescription for amoxicillian, gave me 2 free bottles of Advil and sent us on our way. Matt filled the script while I did bathtime. When he got home, Dr. Matt as he wanted to be called, gave her the meds and she sucked it down! So she gets it 3x/day for 10 days and hopefully my sweet little girl will feel better. Ugh...I feel like a bad mommy but at least I know she's on the mend now.

My Saturday...

...Saturday was a BUSY day but a much accomplished day too. First off, I've been fighting major cold/sinus for almost 2 weeks now. I was doing everything in my power to NOT take medicine because so far aside from my fertility meds, I've only taken my prenatals. Last Thursday, I broke down and started taking Sudafed. Did you know a doctor has to call you in a prescription? Yeah, so my OB did and even though it says you can take 1-2 every 4-6 hours, I'm only taking one a day. Friday night was my last night shift at work until after Labor Day-woohoo!!! But being manager on duty with no voice is a bit difficult. I got home Friday night, slept AWFUL for many reasons but mainly because all the drainage was my throat SUPER sore!!! So on to Saturday...

I woke up Saturday morning and decided to bite the bullet and call my primary care doctor. We're so close to the end of this pregnancy and I don't want to risk anything. I ended up getting an appointment at 9:30 but having to cancel my alterations appointment for the bridesmaid dress I need to wear on April 28. Surprisingly, I got right in at the doctor's office right away, apparently everyone was out of town for the holiday. When the nurse took me back, she asked when my last period was to which I replied, "August." She gave me an uh-oh look and then I said, "I'll be 35 weeks pregnant tomorrow" OOOHH!! Then the light went off. Anyways, basically I paid $20 to find out that I DON'T have strep (and in a couple weeks, I'll have a strep test in the other end), keep taking the Sudafed, they couldn't prescribe anything else, drink cold fluids and keep doing the home remedies I'd been trying (gargling with salt water, drinking hot water with honey, standing over boiling pot of water).

I ran home for about 20 minutes trying not to fall asleep because I had an appointment at the fire station at 11 to have the carseat installed. I got there and I was SWARMED by 4 firemen-not that I'm complaining :) I'd barely gotten out of the car when they had the doors open and inspecting the carseat, looking at the manuals, giving me information, etc...I'm so glad I went there because I'd always assumed I'd put the carseat in the middle in the back. Turns out according to my car owner's manual, my car only has anchors for carseats on the outside in the back. The firemen told me it didn't matter but I went with behind the drivers seat for a couple reasons. 1. I thought I'd read somewhere that the second best place after the middle is behind the driver because the driver would take more of the impact before getting to the baby and the driver has the airbag. 2. If the baby was behind the passenger side, it would be easier to reach back to the baby and mess with him/her which is fine at stop lights but it's also more of a temptation to do that while driving which is not such a great idea. So my carseat is installed, it was a great experience and the firemen told me to bring the little one by after s/he arrives and they could help with any carseat situations in the future. I might add they were all pretty cute and participated in Master the Met so double thumbs up on that for me! :)

After that I came home for a bit then met my sister for lunch. Then we made a trip to Target. She's so awesome at coupons so it's fun to go with her to see what all she can get. We got 4 GE light bulbs for 15 cents!!! I also scored some Huggie wipes for 2 cents a wipe, not a great deal but pretty average. I went to Costco a few weeks ago to price their diapers and wipes so now I have a gauge as to what's a good price and what's not. I'm so glad I did this because I almost bought size 1 Huggies for 20 cents/diaper which is ridonkulous! As my sister was driving me back to my house, she commented, "This is probably the last time it'll just be the two of us to run errands unless we leave H and the baby with dad when you're in Cape."

I then got home and started this creation:

Not our best handy work (you can't tell but we ran out of icing so there's none on the bottom of the tie) but you get the idea. This is such an easy cake to make, I just hate icing it but luckily, Matt did that for me. Unfortunately, we missed church Sunday morning so therefore so did his sister and brother. We also skipped lunch at Grandma G's because I was still feeling not the best and I knew there'd by lots of baby questions and the doc told me to try to save my voice. His sis took the cake for us and his mom called to tell me they were using it as the center piece.

I spent Sunday sleeping in, not talking too much and putting away baby stuff. I started packing my labor bag and laid out things in the crib that I'm going to pack for Baby G. We have 2 potential boy outfits for going home but no girl outfits!!! Hope you all had a good Easter. 

Happy Half-Birthday to Me!!!

...yes, today is my half-birthday. What's that mean? Nothing really, just needed a title for this post BUT 13 years ago it meant that I could get my driver's permit! Now on to my random ramblings...

*I am volunteering at a local elementary school with their Girls on the Run program. Last Thursday was my first day and as it turns out, I'm the only coach that's not a teacher at the school. There's a TON of coaches so I'm not sure that they necessarily need me. I'm going to make the best of it and at least stick it out through the season.

*The author of the book I did a review on last week, Playing with Matches, left a comment on the post. That's the second author that's commented on a book review I've done. That's pretty awesome in my book!

*I know I did a whole blog post about how I was going to still be blogging and then I feel like I haven't blogged much in the past few weeks. Well, here's my excuses: 1. I don't really have much to write about so there's no point in doing random postings, right? and 2. the MIA Conference I'm helping with in November is taking up a TON of my time and all my blogging time has been dedicated to that blog. I'm in no way complaining because I'm REALLY excited about this organization and conference. But now you know why my blogging here has been slacking. I do apologize for my lack of comments though, please forgive me!

*For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my tweets but yes, once again, I have poison. Geez, I hate that stuff and I hate it even MORE when I can't take any medicine for it! Matt took Shad dove hunting and Shad must have brought it home because it's all on my legs. On top of the poison, I also had some major sinus drainage going on and again, couldn't take any meds so I was a hot mess that was in bed by 8pm for most of last week. Happy to report that now, most of the poison is drying up and the drainage is to a minimum.

*Remember this post where I smuggled a treadmill into the man cave without telling Matt? Just wanted to update you on that he STILL hasn't said anything. I know that he's noticed but he's not mentioned a word to me. I'm not sure whether to take that as a good or bad sign.

*Now that camp is over, things are slower at work which makes the days drag out REALLY long! I'm starting to study for my CPRP (Certified Park & Recreation Professional) in hopes of taking (and passing!) the test by my wedding anniversary (10-11). It's only 3 chapters to study and has a practice test so I'm hoping it's not too bad. Also, if it's approved in the budget then next year, I'll be studying to get my First Aid/CPR/AED Instructor licenses. So bottom line, I have a lot of studying to do in the next year!

*If I ran Top Chef then if the Challenger beat the Top Chef, he would become the new Top Chef. So in theory, the Top Chefs could constantly be rotating. That drives me nuts about this show! The Top Chef can loose but is still the Top Chef...that doesn't even make sense!!!

Okay, enough ramblings for one day!

Half Training Week 3/11...

...are you all tired of these posts yet? Because I'm REALLY tired of training. Don't worry...only one more after today!

Friday, May 20-Ran 10.5 miles with my co-worker Holly. I was NOT wanting to do this at all and you can tell in my pace (12:21/mile). Around mile 7, I finally got warmed up, or realized there was no turning back, and I settled into a good time. Mmmm...Mattie took me to the Hibatchi restaurant for dinner, now THIS is why I love running. :)

Saturday, May 21-Walked Shad 1.25 miles then did like 10 minutes of P90X yoga. All I have to say is that I'm sooo not flexible!

Sunday, May 22-Woke up bright and early to run with the running group at work. THOUGHT I was only running three but it ended up being 4 miles. I was very unprepared for this run...dressed in all black, no water, no water belt to hold my keys BUT I still managed an 11:17 pace! From Monday, May 16-Sunday, May 22, I logged 38 miles...it was a busy week for me!

Monday, May 23-First day of camp training and I thought that working 9am-9pm, I'd for sure be able to squeeze in a run. I was wrong. So unplanned rest day but I was a busy bee running around all day so I'm pretty sure I burnt plenty of calories.

Tuesday, May 24-Ran a 5k on the t-mill. Really not following a training plan this week just trying to get in what I can since its camp training and I'm busy, busy, busy!

Wednesday, May 25-Stress, storms and responsibility kept me from working out this day! :(

Thursday, May 26-Swam a mile and officially hit 15 miles so I'm in the swim club!!!

So this week was camp training, the start of my busy season. I only got to work out 2x which sucks with Hospital Hill right around the corner. I treated my body very poorly this week....I did eat within my calories but on Wednesday, I didn't have a single drop of liquid...no water, no Gatorade, no soda. That's horrible!?!

To top it all off, Matt had a renal scan yesterday and we're waiting to hear from the doc what to do. He called us around 9 last night and asked Matt some questions and then said he was waiting for his CT scan for a few years ago to compare. Looks like there's no blockage, his right kidney is draining slowly but it's hard to tell without putting a tube in there to check it out. So now we just wait...enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!

Getting to the Starting Line...

UGH! This was supposed to post at 6:01AM-new blogger is killing me!

...this was the hardest part because I didn't even know if I'd be able to go! Let's rewind back to Thursday afternoon, about 4pm Matt gets home from work and starts complaining his back is hurting. By 10pm, he can barely move and is doubled over in pain. About 3 weeks ago, he'd had a double-bacteria kidney infection so we had an idea where this was going. Without going into much detail, Matt has a history with his kidneys so we take this sort of thing VERY seriously at our house.

At 10pm, he calls his primary doc who says go to the local hospital. We have one hospital about 2 minutes from us and another, newer one about 15 minutes. I talked him into going to the one 15 minutes away and we were VERY happy with this decision. I dropped him off at the door, parked, came in, went to the bathroom and by the time I got out, we were heading back into a room. After 18 minutes, the doctor was already seeing us. The doc, well, he was like a baby and we weren't 100% impressed by him but the RN that was treating Matt was awesome.

They started Mattie on some pain meds then took him for a CT scan. The RN came back and said, yes, there was an infection but we'd have to wait for the CT scan to come back and he started Matt on some antibiotics. Then, the doc came in and surprised us. He said that Matt needed to be admitted to the hospital and because of his history, he needed to be at the main hospital downtown. Both of our jaws dropped-WHAT!?! Then the doc goes on to tell us that the ambulance is on the way and we're like-hold up! We denied the ambulance, they finished the antibiotic med and we headed home. He said Matt's kidneys were enlarged and they saw a couple stones in his bladder.

We got discharged at 2am, went home to pack a bag for him because we had no idea how long he was going to be staying. He told me to put my Indy bags in the car so I could leave from the hospital. I did but there was NO WAY I was going to Indy if my husband was still in the hospital. At this point though, it was easier to do it than to argue. We went ahead and fed the dogs at 2:30 because we didn't know when we'd be home again. Then headed downtown. Matt was so precious because he could tell I was getting tired as I was driving (both of us were going on almost 24 hours of no sleep) so he made a point to rub my back and start talking to me about random stuff just to help me stay awake.

We got to the second ER a little after 3am and I dropped him off at the front door. Now this hospital...let me tell you, it's in downtown STL and any place downtown anywhere is SCARY at 3am. There were like 10 people milling around outside the hospital and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a bit scared. I pulled forward to go into the parking garage and you have to hit a button. The security guard comes on and I really couldn't hear anything he was saying except that he was asking me if I was there to visit. In my mind, I'm thinking, "Who in the hell comes to visit people at 3am? Isn't that against visiting hours?" Eventually he lets me in and I park although I wasn't so sure the car would be there when we left.

I go inside and have to go through a metal detector (I told you-scary!) but I was so tired I kept forgetting about my phone in my pocket, my watch and duh-my belt! I finally got through and didn't see Matt any where then the nurse told me he was in the first room. Since the other hospital had already called, we got back right away. We passed a really nice old man in the hallway but he smelt like urine sooo bad. They got Matt in a room and hooked him up to the IV again, the nurses and doctors came in but we were waiting for a uriologist which took about an hour or so to see him. As we waited we heard someone yelling about someone's effing "cat" (if you get my drift) and I looked at Matt giving him the "Where in the hell have you taken me?" look. Our room had curtains but also glass sliding doors (hopefully they were bulletproof!) and about 4:30am, Matt and I both drifted off to sleep. Umm...2 chairs to sleep and stretch out in is NOT comfy AT ALL.

The uriologist finally comes in and tells us that he was able to pull all of Matt's medical records and from the CT scan they did in 2006 (when he had this happen last), they looked similiar so the kidneys weren't enlarged, that's just how they are from all his surgeries and everything. Basically, the doctor at the first hospital, who wasn't familiar with Matt's history, freaked out. The uriologist says he's going to give us a couple prescriptions and send him home. Thank goodness!

As we're waiting to be discharged, Matt's says, "Okay, we'll go home, sleep a few hours and be on the road by noon." Seriously? Do I not have the best husband? Despite 7 hours in the hospital and feeling like crap, he was still coming to support me in my race. I love that man!

We get home and I drop him off then head to Wags to fill his prescriptions. I called him mom and updated her about everything as I waited. Luckily, I had wifi at both hospitals so I was able to email our fams to keep them posted and you all had a live-Twit feed of the action! When I went to pay for the prescriptions, I just stood there until it dawned on me and I said, "I bet you want some money for this, huh?" The pharmacist was a bit worried that I was driving but I assured him it was just around the corner. Around 7:30, I finally made it home and my Mattie and I took a nice long 4 hour nap and we're up and on the road by 11am.

He was feeling 100x better than just 12 hours earlier. It really sucks to see someone you love in so much pain and not be able to do anything about it. He's a trooper though and already back to his old self. So there my friends, is how I almost didn't make it to the starting line of the Indy Mini Marathon but my husband did everything he could to make sure I did. Don't you just love him?

Thursday Tidbits...

...just some randomness...

*My eyelid is so sore! I think it's a little puffy but nothing obvious. When I rub it though it's like ouchie!!! I've been putting a cold washcloth on it and it's helping a little.

*Headed to the Cape G tomorrow, more on that tomorrow...

*I am peeling like CRAZY from this past weekend. When I got to work yesterday, my boss was like oh your forehead is peeling and by the end of the day she was saying, every time I see you, there's less and less of your forehead. I'd been putting lotion and aloe on all week so I don't know how its peeling...any ideas or suggestions for the future?

*17 days left, I'm in survival mode, they can't go by fast enough!

*Since getting back on track with my training, I've felt good and haven't missed a run. Of course, I'm doing almost of the running inside since it's so flippin' hot out. I figured it out and I've put over 270 miles on my running shoes that I bought mid-April. I'm going to try to hold out until the end of August before I buy another pair. Blogger Stephany has decided to run a half marathon so I'm sure she'd appreciate some support and you girls (and guy) are definitely supporters!!!

I guess that's all for now, please feel free to send me some tidbits about you, your summer or anything random!

Thursday Tidbits...

Haven't done one of these in awhile and I've got the time...

*My sister gave me one of those automatic Air Wick timer room fresheners...can I just say that this thing scares the bejeezus out of Emma and I not to mention it sounds like someone farting!? It smells really good but when you're home alone with just the puppies and you don't expect it...FREAKY! Emma runs out of the room when it goes off and hides in the basement.

*Monday I had a small headache at work, I ran and it felt better then as I left work OMG!!! THE PAIN! I don't normally get headaches and if I do get them I try not to take medicine, not against it just only want to use it when I absolutely HAVE to...Matt gets home and I'm in my red chair in the fetal position, he walks in the room and I say, "Drugs, give me drugs..." He brings me some ibuprofen, I head to bed with a ice pack on my head around 6pm and am asleep by 8pm. Tuesday I had the same headache off and on, I thought maybe it was from looking at the computer screen but I didn't look at it any longer than normal. I pushed my screen back at work and took breaks from it on Tuesday but we'll see....ugh, I hope that sucker doesn't come back for a long time!

*The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend I have to work and I also have an 11 mile run. I was figuring I would just run to work because it was probably 11 miles or longer...I tracked it today and it's only like 7 or 8 miles...well, crap, going to have to find another route and this is the LONG way to work! I didn't realize I lived so close! Actually I think I'm going to do a loop around my neighborhood THEN head to work.

*I have an 8 mile run tomorrow, let's hope the rain holds off because I plan on running to Matt's work and back, weird his work is only 4 miles from home. If it rains, I'll be running all 8 on the treadmill.

*This Saturday, my mom is taking me, my stepsister and her two daughters to the Scholastic Warehouse sale for basically a shopping spree! I'm sooo excited! We only have 4 hours...not sure I'll be able to get through that fast enough. Hmm...maybe I'll also grab something for a giveaway too...now I just have to find a reason to have one.

*We're making dinner two nights next week for our friends that just had the twins. Matt is super excited about grilling for them. I'm super excited to see the girls! I bet they're so big now!

Okay, that's enough randomness from the life of Alyssa for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

A Friday Post...

...just some random Friday thoughts.

*I think the White House Crashers/other DC party crashers/Redskin Alum Cheerleader crashers did all that in hopes that they would be more interesting and make it on the "Real Housewives."
*I went to the grand opening at Aldi's today and can I just tell you that it was CRAZY TOWN!?! Seriously, people came out of every single nook and cranny where all the loonies hide to come today. It was ridiculous. When I got home and told Matt about it, he asked did I get anything good? I gave him this weird crazy look, Good? It's the grocery store dear but I did use a coupon.
*I hate low rise jeans. I don't want my butt crack hanging out and I'm pretty sure no one else does either.
*Started getting Christmas cards in the mail yesterday-LOVE IT!!!
*Super busy crazy weekend ahead of me and I can't wait!!!
*Last night, there was a fly buzzing around the house and randomly when it goes by one of the dogs they would try to catch it.
*Thursday was my last day of antibiotics so I'm expecting to be 100% cured today, three weeks with a cough and clogged nose is getting old.
*Wrapped Christmas presents last night to make room for our house guest this weekend.
*Branching out on the blogs I read and I'm finding some really good ones!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll see some of you this weekend!

Second Degree Burn and my Old Navy Trip...

...wow! What a day off it's been and it's not even 5pm yet. I finally decided to go get my cough/cold looked at. Doc says its a sinus infection and I'm pretty sure I heard him right when he told me that I'd done the "college treatment" and tried to ride it out since I didn't come in for almost two weeks! Anyways, after the doctor's appointment, I went and picked up the tv so Matt didn't have to. I figured if I was making the trip there then I'd stop at Old Navy because I had a $20 Rewards Card for using my Old Navy Visa outside of Old Navy twice and they basically sent me $20 so I got 2 pairs of jeans and a lightweight hoodie made out of t-shirt material that will totally be cute for our trip to Florida. Total it was $34.01 subtract my $20 rewards and I only paid $14.01 for all three items-sweet!

I headed back into St. Peters and got my eyebrows waxed and my medicine from my doctor. The doc had called it in and it was the first time I'd been to this pharmacy since I'd gotten married so they asked if I had insurance. I said yes, gave her my new card, etc...then I looked at the prescription "$123." I was like uh...I hope that's not how much it costs or I was going to be cruising the cold/cough aisle and trying to self-medicate (even more than I already had been doing). She told me no that was what it would be without insurance-whew! So I head home to start my dosage and make some lasagna...

I was using two burners, one to boil noodles and one to brown burger. The noodles were done so I put them in a strainer and turned the burner off. I started mixing the cheese mixture and the sauce and not thinking so I went to set a pan down on the burner that was still warm and then my fingers touched it. Ow-chee-wawa!!!! Did it hurt!?! I run my hand under cold water but my right ring finger kept throbbing all day. As of right now, it has a nasty red, blistery welt and my pinkie finger has just a red mark. I finished up the lasagnas and I can't wait to taste them. I tried a new recipe this time. I always make them and freeze them for night's when we don't have time to make dinner.

So five more things that I am thankful for:

1. Emma keeping my feet warm this morning.
2. Being able to put food on the table and try new recipes with that food.
3. Living so close to my sister and niece so that we can coupon together.
4. Shadow giving me big puppy dog kisses.
5. Matt kissing my burnt finger trying to make it feel better.

No Dead Deer Weekend...

...yep, my first weekend of hunting was a bust but I felt a little bit better because no one else got anything either. Saturday was a gorgeous day out which means not great hunting then Sunday morning as soon as I got into the stand, the rain turned on. Here is a picture of my attempt to keep my gun dry, you'll notice the muzzle sticking out at the right side of the picture.

So let's see, where to start with this weekend....well, Friday before we left town, I decided I just really wasn't into this Nick Sparks' book I was reading so I took Meredith's advice and stopped by the library to pick up "Sleep Toward Heaven" (I'll post about that later this week). I tried a different approach with packing and heading out this weekend, instead of asking Matt 500 questions and if he got this and got that, I took my bag to the truck, along with the sleep stuff and groceries I'd bought the other day and waited. When Matt told me he was ready, I put the pups in the back and we headed out.

So we get to Troy and decide to stop at Wal-Mart. We both took a potty break and as Matt came out, I asked, "Did you get the porksteaks?" His face dropped which I could tell was a no. (He'd planned this big grandious idea of a pork steak dinner for Saturday and he'd bought them the week before but then left town without them). So we grabbed some porksteaks, milk, cough drops, Chapstick and charcoal and were on the road again.

As soon as we get to the house and start to unpack, we realized that the pork steaks weren't the only thing we had forgotten-an extra blanket, long underwear and ice were also left back at home. So Matt started the grill and I took the doggies for a long walk because they would be spending the rest of the weekend in their cages (don't want people shooting at them thinking they are deer especially Emma). Did I mention that I'd started the book after the Wal-Mart trip at Troy?

After a debate of who was hunting where on Friday evening, we all called it a night and went to bed. Saturday morning came very early but since my MIL wasn't coming out until later in the morning, I didn't even get out of bed. I slept for about another hour then at 6:45am, I got up and fed the puppies and continued my book. By 9am, I had finished it (it was great!) and whereas I usually bring way too much stuff to do, I'd only brought that one book and now I was just twiddling my thumbs until Matthew came in to take me hunting. Surprisingly, his sister and brother came in very early but neither had gotten anything.

So after a quick lunch, Matthew and I get all suited up to head out to hunt. This would be a great picture except for the fact that Matthew's eyes are shut.
We went out about 1pm and after being told to be quiet about 10 times, Matthew fell asleep and I watched the field and wrote a novel in my head (it's going to be great!). When he woke up, I'd say look a deer and when he'd look, I'd say, "Monkeys always look!" He'd roll his eyes and tell me to quit moving. Finally about 4pm, I really did see a deer and I told him, he rolled his eyes and I whispered with big eyes, "No...seriously!" He saw it and told me to get my gun ready. The only problem was that it was BEHIND us which is the neighbor's property so I wasn't able to shoot it until it came onto ours and, of course, the silly deer went the opposite direction.

So we head back in and eat a delicious dinner of pork steaks. Matt grilled them on Friday night and then put them in the crockpot all day Saturday, they just fell off the bone and melted in your mouth-yum! Then we had a heated game of Mexican Dominoes where I didn't win but I did beat Matt!

I've had this nasty cough since Wednesday. It's like I can feel and hear it in my chest but it won't come out! So about 1am, I wake up in a coughing fit where I hit the bed against the nightstand and the tempermental lamp turns on (I'd been trying to turn this light on all weekend and it was not working!) then I couldn't get it turned off. I finally just unplugged it and headed back to sleep or tried to at least...

I never got back into a deep sleep but I was woken to the smell of sausage cooking. Yum! We headed out to hunt again about 5:30am. Matt put me in a stand by myself this time, giving me all kinds of rules and what to do if I shot a deer, I just nodded and got comfy. I only stayed out about 3 hours (headed in about 8:30am), but I was getting wet, wasn't seeing anything and was ready to call it a day. Matt would've stayed out in the rain hunting but no one else was hunting, I desperately wanted a shower and I'd already read the Reader's Digest on the coffee table 4 times!?! So he finally agreed and we headed home about 1pm, I'm now home and I'm warm and showered and I guess I'm ready to start the week. My deer season has ended for this year because I have to work next weekend but at least I've got one under my belt!