Short day

We got out at 3pm today which was nice. I'm not sure I could have waited until 5PM, not that I have any hot plans. I got home early and opened a bottle of wine. It was a favorite that I have not had in a while. I also started in on the appetizers, Olives from Wegmans and sharp cheddar cheese. Over dinner we decided to spend Friday Skiing instead of Saturday, we were hoping that everyone else would be hungover and Belleyare would be quiet with decent snow as they had about 5 inches of snow today and yesterday.

We watched Angels and Demons (which I liked but the Divinci Code is better). I was shooed off to bed (by myself) around 10:30 as we were getting up at 6 and leaving shortly after to get to Belleyare. It's a heck of a day trip.

Understanding

I think I know why Angela has hated swimming all this time. She visits Lifetime fitness, not exclusively but for a lot of her swimming. I joined this club today and have lots to say about it.

The club itself is nice and big. It includes a spa that even does haircuts, manicures and pedicures. The cafe it is big, I didn't bother to see what food they sell. They do sell lots of gym related things. After checking in which went surprisingly smooth considering I had just signed up 5 minutes prior online (what can I say). I sat down waiting on my tour-guide.

They did loose me because I took off my bright blue puffy jacket, so it did take a little longer then I wanted to get the show on the road. Unfortunately they did have to take my photo on a day my leave in conditioner was skipped, my hair was a wreck. Fortunately my card will not actually have a photo on it so the only people that have to look at my bad hair day are the desk employees.

The tour was fairly short, the building is big but everything is pretty much open and easy to find. I noticed they sell water at the fitness Center. This surprised me as my office as well as the FREE gym at my apartment complex provide bottled water complementary, Even the JCC has bottled water in the cardio room (I think). The guy nicely showed me how to use the locker which was interesting to say the least.

I let him know that I was joining primarily for the pool. He commented on the 2 pools and the fact that they are kept at 78 and 82 degrees. This is why Angela hated swimming. You just can't get a good workout and improve your swim at such a high temperature! For years I refused to swim at the JCC because of the pool temperature. At least I could understand they only had one pool and had to keep it warm for the elderly and aerobics classes. This place has 2 pools (well 3 in the summer). They can't keep the (tiny) lap pool a little cooler (or a lot). the kids play in the other pool so if i got stuck swimming in the other pool i would not like it but understand. I'm going to give it a week or two swimming then make my choice before the 2 weeks are up. It's to expensive to keep the membership if I'm not using the pool.

I enjoyed my workout but had one other less then stellar observations. If TV while working out is your thing you have to work out near one wall, not sure if you can change channels. This place was built about a year ago and they did not get the fancy machines with individual TVs. This is good as it would cause me to stay longer and endanger my marriage, pat would no longer recognise me. but for a new gym that is as expensive as it is, it seems silly to not get the machines with TVs.

The Jacket

Pat has always HATED my skiing jacket. It has been my winter jacket since Purdue. My father purchased it before I left because it apparently got lots colder there then in Rochester, as a good father he didn't want me to freeze to death on the way to class, or more likely he did not want me skipping class because it was too cold. It is a very warm jacket with tons of pockets.

It is mostly shapeless and very long. Pat insists that his dislike is not so much a fashion statement but a practicality issue. The jacket is not designed for skiing and is hindering my movement according to Pat. This year I have committed to purchasing a new jacket for skiing. I finally found 2 that I like (3 actually), they are by Obermeyer. The first 2 are the same design but I'm, trying to choose between blue and black the third is almost 100 more then the others and is blue but would match both brown and black which would be nice.

My current mission is to find either on sale. Conveniently leaving me one last season with my black jacket.

Maiden Voyage

Today was my first trip with my new GPS. Today was the day we could pick up the girls from the breeder. I came home first to grab the holiday card then went on my way. Unfortunately the way we normally go was closed due to flooding. I did not have my GPS with me, pat did not answer the million calls for directions. This left me running home for the GPS (and kicking myself for not bringing it in the first place).

Setting up a new GPS requires standing outside, the GPS must have a clear view of the sky. It says it takes a few minutes. It took at least 10 and started over at least 3 times, with twice as many steps backwards. At least it was a one time thing.

I took an educated guess that I could take a right at the blockade (something i would not have risked without a GPS). I hit the detour button when I approached the turn and it took me around the creek to another bridge. The road was small and slippery, even on a dry day it should be avoided and I will not go on it again unless I absolutely have to.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. The girls are back home and unaware of the adventure I went through to get them.

Kids Playground

Today I went with Zach to the Jump Club. http://www.jump-club.com/. OK I met them there. It is a play place for kids complete with a few jump playgrounds. It was AWESOME! They have a little toddler area for little tykes such as Zach. Aunt Sarah wanted to try out the jump part so Zach had to come with. (David had already taken him on the slides and such). they had tunnels and things to climb over and under and around and slide down. the hardest part was carrying him up some of the steep slides, i think as I allowed David to do this for me, I'm not going to drop him even on a surface he would just bounce back from.

After that I did some returns and gift card shopping. When we were at the cabin I decided I needed warm boots to snow mobile and well just in general for skiing, you know the before and after parts. I found some the other day that were 25% off but I was not sure how water proof they will be. I suppose I am still not but with the snow pants covering most of the cloth parts I think they will work out. Because they were brown I HAD to get a pair of brown snow pants (the were on sale for 20$) yes I'm a sucker but I will be a very warm sucker.

Then Rachael came over with Jim and Ryan to Mom's house. Chris and Bruce came over and we had a Play date. as much for us adults as for the children who were playing together but a little too young to truly care. I think most babies get along at 1ish as long as the parents referee. I took TONS of photo's with my fathers camera and am waiting on them to be mailed to me.

2 for 1

No we didn't go shopping. Mom and I got up and went swimming this morning.

I went to get her and she had the nerve to say it was too cold and that we should wait and go swimming at the JCC. Knowing that if you put off a workout you will not actually get it done, I told her to suck it up. (also the JCC's pool is notoriously HOT, not bad warming up but killer when you are actually working out).

We had another little argument about warming up the car. Mom's side was that we were going to freeze at the pool warming up in the car would just make it worse. My side is the pool is going to be cold but that does not mean we should freeze on the way over, besides it is freezing from the car to the building so we can be warm until we leave the car.

I did a 2500 yard workout which was great for my first real workout in years. Mom realized she was doing 1 laps for every 2 of mine. Mom attributes this to her age which is twice as many years as me. It was still fun though we didn't goof off as much as we did the last time we went to Brighton's pool.

After the swim we dove off of the diving board and I noticed a brick on a display case and fondly remembered treading water with the brick lifted out of the water. I had to give it a try. Mom timed me I lasted 30 seconds and mom was very surprised that I didn't last very long and had to try it to prove how easy it really is. She didn't last very long but had to try it again. trying to show me up by doing 2 sets of 5 seconds sounded better then one for 30. This is when the trouble started, she didn't last long (again) but had to drop the brick. The deep end is 13 feet, even in my prime 13 feet was pushing it. The brick landed on the ramp leading to shallow water so I'd say it landed 11-12 feet down.

It was my idea and Mom couldn't go get it so I had to give it a try. I could feel the pressure but it wasn't too bad then 2 feet of so from the brick I felt a pop. Leaving the brick behind I came back up and was strangely dizy. We felt bad but had to leave the brick for the lifeguard or swim team to fetch it. my hearing is a little muted but I'll take a few days and hopefully it will get better.

Karma

I used to be a decent tipper. I'm not sure what happened but this has changed. It is something I would like to change back. I vow to thoroughly think through the tip before I leave the restaurant from now on. As it stands the bad tips I leave are more to do with my stupidity along with a little cheapness.


Today I went out with an old friend we each ordered a non alcoholic beverage so it is very cheap for the restaurant. The server said to not worry about it which was the beginning of my issues. Normally for dinner I double or triple the tax to end at a decent tip for the hour it takes to eat. I had not idea what to tip so I left the cost of my beverage.

The problem is that we were there for 2 hours. 2$ is very crappy. add in that it was for 2 hours and I'm a horrible person. Seriously waitresses do not get paid that much and i'm thinking if i had left her $10 it would have been nice, the cheapest i should have gone is $5. I'm not sure what my friend left her but it should not be left for someone else because that is even worse. making someone else make up for your bad tipping is wrong on soo many levels.

Anyway the karma kicked in on the way home. A deer came running out of the woods as I was driving my parents car. I hit the breaks luckily it did not pause long as I came to a stop not far from where it was. I have no idea if i would have hit it but i'm sure it was karma biting me in the ass for being thoughtless.

What a difference a day makes

Last night was the first night with the humidifier. I filled it up and turned it on (along with the space heater). I noticed that it not get nearly as worm in the room as it does with out the humidifier, it stayed comfortable. Also the moisture made a much bigger difference then even I would have guessed. My skin is normally very dry, one night with the humidifier later it looks pretty good. Still a little dry but not nearly as bad as it was. Hopefully this is not an anomaly and will continue to be true.

Today was a long and sick day, I will enjoy going to bed early and hopefully feel better in the morning. Thinking about it I definitely will as I have 2 Dr appointments tomorrow ensuring that I will awake spontaneously cured!

Up and Running

After many months and a little help from my brother in law my laptop is up and working again. The problem was a charger (Apparently I can not purchase a charger for my own computer). Hopefully this will get me blogging again as Lillie has made it clear I need to get back to the computer.

Today the most exciting thing I did was shop for humidifiers. It didn't take long to go from picking one out from bed bath and beyond's website to reading reviews. It is amazing how fast the time goes when shopping on line, even for something as boring as a humidifier. The best part is after all that time, I went after work to pick it up.

Doctor kerfofel

I have been sick for 2 1/2 weeks now. Today I was determined to go to the Dr to see what could be done to speed up the process. I took an early lunch to go over to an urgent care center. A few years ago I went there and it was quick and easy.

Today it was missing. Replaced actually by a medical supply company or some other non doctor medical office.

Hitting up the insurance providers website, A minute clinic near the apartment was the best option at this point. I looked it up and called to see what the coverage and copayment is. I was ready to try office # 2.

I drove strait to the CVS that housed the clinic, the nurse practitioner had just left and apparently wasn't to be back the rest of the week. Apparently they are mostly for flu shots and not as much for the minor illnesses listed on the webpage. My coworker had the same issue when going to a different clinic near her house. she showed up to find that the NP was not in and the nurse left behind could give the flue shot and not much more.

The nurse gave me directions to a different cvs about 10 miles away saying a NP was there. I took the directions, picked up a sinous cleaning contraption that my mother has been praising for ages and went home. I'll make it to a doctor eventually.

Lazy Weekend

Aside from the car inspection and brief shopping trip yesterday I have done nothing. no workouts, walks or much else. I have no energy for anything, this cold is getting the better of me and is sure sticking around for a while.

The good news is my car passed inspection. Pat's unfortunately did not so we will be replacing the catalytic (?) converter. Hopefully then he can pass and we can get on with our lives. If not it's his car and his headache (I would have fixed it over thanksgiving).

Back to my resting, hopefully this cold will go away soon!

Small Explosions

A few years ago our DVD player started going funny. This was just before my birthday, when I got the DVDs I wanted for my birthday (and had the day off) I had to get a new DVD player. Because I didn't want to spend the time researching players I wend to Walmart and chose the cheapest one ($30) . I figured it would last a few months to a year then we could replace it.

Today Pat was watching soccer and I was surfing the internet when we heard a little pop. we looked at each other wondering what that noise was. When it happened again shortly after the first pop I walked over to see what was causing the noise. In the short walk that it took to get to the entertainment center smoke started coming from the shelf under the TV. We pulled the TV out to unplug the power strip hoping to avoid a fire or bigger explosion.

Upon inspection the DVD player went out in a spectacular show, I'm just glad we were home for it. Pat unfortunately pulled a muscle as we were pulling the TV out (or maybe when we were putting it back). That put a damper on our plans.

Doctor Dramma

I had the mole removed Monday. They ask I call Friday for the results of the mole (they test every mole removed regardless of how suspicious it is). So I gave a call around noon today just to make sure and they tried to give me results for a blood test. I let them know that it was results for a mole removal and they put me on hold just to come back with the same blood results.

After arguing with the nurse a little (and giving them my name more then once) they asked if I was Mrs. X. suppressing my frustration I provided my name yet again, spelling it for good measure.

My results were not in yet so Monday, I will call back. Hopefully with better results.

Correction

The gym opened late last week and was not closed at all. I had a very nice and relaxing week off of the gym though would have preferred to not take the time off as today's workout was much less fun then it could have been.

Perplexing

After one week of Halloween candy binges and the gym being closed, It was time to weigh myself. Surprisingly enough I lost 4 Pounds. It is not a diet I plan on continuing though I may not feel so guilty going out and buying some 50% off candy.

Today I went to the dermatologist to get a mole checked. Unfortunately for Pat I forgot until the last minute and he had to drive me and pick me up after. We have adjusted to having one car fairly well and tonight was the first issue. It went surprisingly well. I got my mole shaved off. She said it looked ok but because it was fairly new, (I have no idea when it showed up), she removed it. The Novocaine was more painful then I remember it ever being, thankfully my experiences with it are limited. The whole procedure was over with quickly.

Mountains

No, not a vacation. Laundry.

Come to think of it that also describes the candy purchased (by me) for the office. It is my word of the day. The candy bowl is full and likely will remain so until Halloween (or after, last year people added to the stash the leftovers from their houses). It is a great time of year.

It could be worse doing laundry on a week day but because I skipped the Gym (it looked closed) we had plenty of time (for one round). All but one basket (Pat's responsibility) was put away. We even made a dent in the kitchen.

I also picked up the duplicate title for my car which the MVC printed for me on the spot! I swear it took less then 30 minutes to turn in my plates and get the duplicate printed. The only reason it took that long was they had to remove the lien before giving it to me. Luck was on my side today!

GPS

I can't wait to get a GPS.

Grandma, mom and I spent some time at the puzzle table while waiting on Grandpa to wake up. It is really coming together. It may be worse leaving it barley done but leaving it with so little left is hard! Grandma had to practically drag me upstairs!

Brunch was yummy as usual and hard to leave but by 1 pm I need to hit the road.

I printed directions out last night and did not look them over. They had always taken me the same way so I felt no need to look them over. Just before the Delaware Memorial Bridge I looked to see what exit off of the turnpike I needed to get off. In the interest of full disclosure my cell phone was nearly out of juice, one could say I was not happy. I called Pat for directions, no answer. I waited another 30 minutes hoping he would call me back thus not wasting power on unanswered calls. I ended up calling him 3 more times before he answered. by then I had gotten off of the through way and taken another turn hoping I could better find my way in Princeton. It was a lucky turn it took me right to Rt 1, which Pat informed me when he finally answered the phone.

At least I made it home.

Beautiful day!

Driving down to DC I realized that I really missed my EZ Pass. The lines were not as long as they could have been for a Friday night but it could have added an additional hour to my drive. When I get home I'll have to look into switching the current pass to the car we are to buy. I suppose it says something that I am more dedicated to switching over my EZ Pass then I am replacing my car, I am really ready to replace my car now it just seems EZ Pass should be ready to move in to the new car ready to work.

Today we visited the new site of the Awakening. It was a neat location with limited parking, lucky for us it was empty at the time we arrived. Grandpa was a little stiff from the long ride so Dad and I walked over to a sculpture to take some photos. It was a neat abstract piece with lots of bright colors. As we were walking back we got some photo's of the harbor. I'll try to post some when dad sends them my way.

The Awakening was a short walk from the car where Grandma, Grandpa and Mom were waiting. We all walked over and I couldn't resist climbing all over the poor guy. Lucky he is made of metal. I was highly successful in climbing the foot, face and one of the hands. The knee/leg gave me lots of issues and I was not successful in the end. (the final arm would be great to dangle from but their is not a good way to climb it). Dad got lots of photo's of me climbing the statue, mom even got involved for a photo op. Then we went for a delicious lunch (Pat would be jealous as it was a seafood joint).

After lunch Dad and I took a look at Grandma's car as the dash lights were not working. We knew a fuse had blown so we consulted the owners manual. We checked the fuse and it was fine. My poor FIL gets a call whenever I run across a broken car in my life (the last time I didn't call I got screwed). While he gave some great advise regarding the fuse, once the fuse was ruled out it looked like the car would have to go to the dealer (BJ stopped over later and showed us the fuse we should have checked, apparently 2 fuses control that panel and we checked the wrong one).

Grandpa fell asleep just before dinner. We tried to wake him but he was so tired from all the walking and fun today we could not even wake him with an alarm! It was quite a sight with all of us yelling and shaking his good arm. Unfortunately had to eat with out him leaving him lots of notes as to where we were and of course coming up and trying to wake him once or twice. When we were finally successful he was still not up for dinner which was fine because were were pretty much done, though we could have given him something to go if he wanted to eat.

As you can see it was a great day here in DC!

Beetle Poop

I have never before seen a bug poop. I would live a happy life if it were never seen again. A beetle was crawling up the passenger side rear window in Pat's car. I of course was obsessing over it rolling the window down hoping it would crawl outside. as I glanced back I saw it take a poo. EWWW, I left it for Pat to clean up. (the bug was mostly out of the car when it disappeared, hopefully it is not back in the car).

Today was a rare day that we could go out to lunch together. We went to a Pizza place near his office and it was delicious! I had a slice of white pizza with fresh tomato slices, broccoli, spinach and ricotta cheese. It may be a good thing it is not near my office.

Anyway the rental is all taken care of and I leave for DC after work.

It's not you it's the vinegar

My toes are still infected.

They are still soaked in vinegar twice a day. Tonight I was scanning the computer for viruses and sick of watching the scanner work (it is not very amusing). I chose to rectify this by scooting in the computer chair to try to get to the couch. About half way Pat discouraged this idea.

He wanted me nowhere near him. Trying to make me feel better he says it's not you, it is the vinegar.

At least he has a weekend free of the vinegar smell. I must say i was hoping my toes would be fully grown out by now, alas part of my nail is growing fast and grown out the other half still has a ways to go.

The end of the Scam

The scam is over does this mean I have to actually look for a real car to buy? It actually amused me while it lasted but now Pat is ready to purchase a new car and I am ready to stall further. Car shopping is not much fun in my book. I have a few leads on legitimate looking cars.

At least this weekend I do not have to think about it as I will be in DC hanging out with friends and family.

Next weekend is another story.

Car Sales

As We have been shopping for a car I have realized how many shady practices are employed by used car dealerships. I found a dealership that did not include a down payment in the advertised price. Interestingly even in the fine print the down payment was not specified. How many people ended up leaving because the decent deal (it was by no means a steal) was ruined by a down payment that was not specified in the ad.

Pat found another dealership that had great prices (fairly under priced). Luckily after my "shady car dealer find he read the fine print (ok he likely would have anyway). The car was priced did not include the down payment. Who knows what they were charging for that.

Another of Pat's finds was dealers underpricing cars then when you click on the ad the price was to lease the car for a year. The full purchase price was 7-8,000 more then the least cost. Who in their right mind would lease a car for a year for 10000$?

Then their are the 2 under priced cars advertised on NJ.com. only one got back to me with the story of why she was selling so cheap. completely ignoring the fact that I asked for the VIN #. Turns out she is selling it because she moved to Scotland. She would be happy to come back and show us the car if we were serious. BTW the car is in Newark. The e-mail is from Romania (as far as I could that was the originating IP Address). Even my coworker who lives in Newark said it looked like a scam and she hates anyone saying anything bad about Newark (including assuming the people of Newark are scamming).

No wonder people hate shopping for cars. (myself included).

Frost

Today I awoke to semi frozen water on Pats car today. Winter is fast approaching. The chill that had settled in NJ has turned very cold.

I realized that one thing I don't like about fall is that running outside after work is pretty much out. It is dark too early. That is one thing that makes spring awesome the temperatures are great for running outside and it stays light out later, perfect for an after work run. It is good to have a treadmill for the 75% of the year it is not nice enough to run outside. even better to have an elliptical for days that running is just not in the cards.

I'll be looking forward to my workout all day as the gym was closed the last 2 days.

Columbus day

The day that 1/2 of the population is off and the others are left at their desks pondering a holiday they do not have off. Actually the only real inconvenience the Holiday caused is that the gym was closed. And I forgot. Walking in the cold (very short walk mind you) to a closed gym was not fun. Though I should have spent the time working on getting a car, I did not. I had a relaxing evening not even thinking about cars a little.

Car Drama

The mechanic said the car was fixable.

It was not. Now he wants the full price of the useless tuneup.

This will not end well.

And I have to purchase a new car (sigh)

Splish Splash

I was pleasantly surprised with my swim tonight. It wasn't a planned out practice but how do you plan out a practice when you have not swam in over 7 years?

Unfortunately I lost count very early in the swim. I have to give an educated guess that it was around 1000 yards, maybe even 1500. Nothing near what used to be swam in a typical day but it felt great. Mom and I did take some chatting breaks which also made it much more fun. In all we swam for an hour (chatting included). We even took a few dives off of the diving boards.

I would normally consider this a reward for the workout well done. Mom was a little afraid of the boards and did not actually dive (which was not a requirement) on her first try. I'll give her credit she gave a good dive the 2nd go.

Another note worthy event of the day was the long ride to Rochester. We got in around 11 and got to see Mr Dylan right away. What a treat.

In case you didn't know how big of a softie I am I caved to a dog. I was saying Hi to Lexie when she looked like she needed to go out. I took her out thinking it would be a brief break for her but when she got outside she just looked at me then the gate leading to the outside world. She knows I normally take her on long walks or sometimes runs. Today it was raining (lightly) and it had been taken out of the plans as swimming was on the table for exorcise for the day. The way she looked at the gate wondering why in the world i was being so lazy when all she wanted was to walk with me.

It worked I ran a quick 2 miles (does that even count in Angela's world as a run?) and took a HOT shower.

It was a great day.

RIP Prisim

Saturday Pat borrowed my car. He went to a rock show in Franklyn. My car started acting a little funny on the way up and very bad on the way home. For the record this is the 2nd car Pat has blown on me (only the first was truly his fault). We are taking it to a shop recommended by a friend to have them check it out (hoping it may be fixable).

fingers crossed.

More Football

My Team (the Saints) took on Pat's team (the Bills). We have been talking trash all week. It has been a very interesting week in our apartment.

But today it all came to an end.

Poor Pat. But he must have been a little delusional thinking that the Bills could beat the Saints. The did tie the game at one point. I was never worried. It was a great game and not just because my team won (I swear).

Completely off topic;

Pat borrowed my car yesterday and when he brought it back it was really acting up. I didn't drive it yesterday, maybe I was hoping it would miraculously recover from what ever Pat did to it. Today I was going to take it to the drugstore to see how bad it is acting up and if it goes away after driving a little while. It does not. So tomorrow I need to find a good place to take it to get it fixed as we can not drive it up to Rochester (really unfortunate).

Hopefully it will not cost allot as I do not want to buy a new (to me) car.

Purdue

Twice this season I have been able to watch Purdue play football. Twice they have lost. Heartbreaking games where the first quarter they seemed to out match the other team and for some reason they lost the edge they had. The games were heart-breakingly close.

Against Oregon they missed a touchdown pass by being pushed out of bounds. This was with seconds left in the game. To rub salt in my wounds they lost really late at night.

Today they lost when Notre Dame achieved a touchdown with 28 seconds left in the game. Lucky for me I was unable to stay up for the whole game. I found out the next day.

I hope we have some winning games on TV. It may be that I just watched the only games of the season and we lost.

Tattoo Part II

Pat and I awoke early today (6:30). I was still waking up when he pulled up my sleeve and asked if the tattoo was real (I'm shocked so many people fell for it, you should try it some time). I said it was.

He asked me how much it was.

I asked if it mattered.

He asked when I got it.

I said Thursday.

He said 'it's fake isn't it'

We got a good laugh. then he said that he should have known earlier because I said if I did get a tattoo it would be a teddy bear. I'm shocked he remembered. (which he took pride in).

Don't worry dad the whole tattoo process skives me out it is very unlikely to happen.

Tatoo

I impressed all of my gym friends with my new tattoo. It is a pretty rose on my shoulder. Coach was the first to notice and comment on it. Then the other regular who apparently did not hear my rather loud conversation with coach. (who rents from Enterprise and gave me a hard time for 'raising the prices').

You see it is customer service week at Palisades. This means LOTS of food and some random fun. This year every department decorated their area as a county in NJ. One of the coastal counties went today and part of their decoration was a tattoo parlor. (If you have not guessed already the tattoo was fake).

Everyone seemed impressed with my new skin art. On the way out M noticed it and commented once again that she had not noticed it before. Then we got into a conversation about tattoos. Apparently her mother had always wanted to get one but refused because of the old stigma. Turns out they bought her a gift certificate to a parlor because she would not stop talking about the tattoo that she wanted but refused to get. So at 60 she got the tattoo that she always wanted.

We came upon a conversation about the meaning of tattoos when I was telling them about Pat's tattoo. Coach asked what my new tattoo meant. So I will tell you all. I got this tattoo to represent. . . . .

A great day at work. (really it is FAKE).

A Good Pair

This week is customer service week at work. This means their are lots of distractions and even more food.

One of my co workers is my partner in crime when it comes to enjoying the festivities. Whenever new food comes out she tells me, if she misses something and I find it I immediately go get her. It is sad that it only lasts one week as I could eat like this everyday (though I would gain lots of weight, so I will refrain).

It is a good way to open up the eating season, next up Haloween!

Speed work

Yesterday I was reading on Active.com that speed work was the best way to get faster. They mentioned short 15 second, 30 second, and 1 minute intervals. It seemed like a worthy idea.

As luck would have it my MP3 player was left on and I did not have the long run distraction of music. This made it the perfect day to try out something new that would make it bearable to run for an hour with out music (the radio at the gym does not count). Anyway sub one minute intervals don't work for me and probably would not work on the treadmill anyway. I divided my time into 5 minute intervals. 5 minute warm up, 5 minute hard, 5 minute walk, 2.5 minute insanely hard (it was not fun) 2.5 hard minute jog repeated 2x. Then to finish up the hour I started at the hard pace and decreased the effort .5 mph every 5 minutes. I have never enjoyed a cool down so much.

After a shower I relaxed with dinner and Monk. The hardest part of Pat being away is figuring out the shower & dinner timing. I have been eating late because I am compelled to shower before cooking and refuse to leave the oven on unattended.

Discovery

Pat is gone for the week. I am thrilled to have a week to veg on all of my favorite TV shows (which also happen to be his least favorite). I get to stretch my workout a little longer and watch junk TV.

Tonight is night one. The workout went well but was not as long as I wanted. Coach was talking to me so much doing weights that I missed the treadmill by 2 minutes! ( I told him that too, he laughed at me). Still 30 minutes of cardio and close to that in weights is good enough.

Upon returning home I went to see what TV shows were on and was very disappointed. Not one of Pat's least favorite shows. A few that on a normal night I may have watched but not tonight. So I switched over to on demand to see what shows were listed. To my surprise both Monk and Psych were available. Pats least favorite shows. They are so silly and off beat. I had missed a few episodes when we were in the mountains as well as me not wanting to stay up for them (they are on late). It is so exciting to get caught up and have a few days of Monk (and psych).

Hope Pat's trip is going as well.

Cabin Day 2

I slept in until 8:30!!! This is an accomplishment. It is very hard to sleep much past 7am. I credit the relaxing quiet nature of the cabin. It seems when we go out there I have

Flipped off

Today I was flipped off by an Amish kid.

I went to the store today while pat and his siblings were off to John's friends house. (I wanted to rest for the day). On the way back I had to pass a horse pulled buggy, the country is fun! anyway I really like horses I think they are pretty but because we were on main street I passed them and went on my way. I did not want to cause a traffic jam in this small town.

I turned off of the main road only to see another horse and buggy. I slowed a little to get a good look at the horse (not too much though) and glanced a the girl (pre-teen to young teen) that was sitting in the buggy waiting on someone at the garage sale. I glanced back after i was a little distance away and noticed her hand out of the buggy. I could not see the hand well enough but she held it long enough that she was not signaling that she was pulling into traffic. I realized that I was flipped off by an Amish girl in the country.

What tops that?

New Plan

We always drove the same way to get to the cabin as we did to get to Rochester. The traffic going into PA was always atrocious. This time we took 287 to the through way (through Albany). Smooth sailing the whole way, it was lovely.

If only the rental went as smooth. Pat tried to pick it up early but they had no cars. Finally just after 5 they were to come out and pick him up. 6:00 I get home and he is still waiting. We had just given up when she pulled into the complex. I jumped out of pats car and into the car they were supposed to pick him up in.

At the branch they offered me the corolla, unfortunately it's check engine light was on. Normally this does not matter today it did and she wouldn't rent it to me. So the Accent I got. A nice free downgrade for me.

It got us to where we were going but I was pretty uncomfortable.

Interesting and Exciting

When pat told me his day would be interesting and exciting I had no Idea how exciting it would be.

Pat's coworker picked him up around 6AM. Normally I would still be cocooned in bed and sleeping but not today. I was awake to give him a second kiss good-bye. (wow that sounds silly) anyway. He left with out a problem and I got ready for work. As I was finishing up some cleaning (of which their is always plenty to do around here) I get an urgent call from Pat. It seems that he and his coworker were too busy talking and missed a turn, they called me for directions.

After I finished laughing at Pat for calling me for directions (i can get anyone lost), I went over to good ol' google. they gave me a town name and I looked up where they were. It took a long time for me to find them. Poor Pat was having a heart attack as he hates to be lost. When I finally found them I told them where to turn.

But Pat was not satisfied. Here is a shortened snippet of the rest of the conversation, it did not go well.

How long are they on 42 (or whatever the highway is)? asks Pat
I'm not sure you have to drive all the way across the state. - Me
I know but how far to the ac express way? says Pat
I don't see it but 42 goes all the way to ac. - Me
Is 42 the ac express way? continues Pat
I have no idea the only label is 42 and i do not see the ac express way. - Me

He called back as I was on my way to work to let me know that he finally reached his destination. I told him he was a jerk for getting frustrated with me and that he gets what he deserves when asking me for directions. He at least had the grace to laugh and agree with me.

Maybe the rest of his day will be more interesting then exciting.

When you can't beat them. . .

Run from them.

Pat and I have been playing my favorite video game lately. their is a board that we were stuck on. Pat being the better fighter was getting frustrated and I was not helping much. After a few rounds when he was ready to go to bed for the night I asked that he get me past the big bad guy in the beginning so I could try.

He laughed and agreed.

I ran through all of the bad guys instead of fighting. It worked and got us to the 2nd big bad guy.

He was ecstatic that we got through but mad that I had made it through with out fighting. It was great.

Disappointed

The new house came today. It was tiny! the chins could both fit but it does not actually clip together. so when my very active chins take off or try to jump on it, it will fall apart and potentially hurt one of my babies! I will have to see about the return policy.

I was so excited when I ordered it. even it being small wouldn't have been much of a deterrent to keeping it. the fact that it can not stay together makes me wonder what idiot came up with the design.

At least I had a long stress relieving run (jog by Angela's standards). It was great to be back outside!

Fasting

I really don't have any right to complain. I had to stop eating at 7pm, I even had enough time for an early dinner. Unfortunately I awoke at 3:30 very hungry. Fortunately for the girls, as they were more then happy to distract me.

Gizmo jumped on my shoulder and got comfortable. Pinkey jumped into my hands and was looking to escape. We went over to the couches and Pinkey went exploring while Gizzy sat quietly on my shoulder. Other then occasionally having to discourage Pinkey from jumping it was a relaxing 20 minutes with the pets. Then Gizmo decided that she too needed to explore the couches. Pinkey was put back in the cage so that Gizmo could run.

It was nice to see our more serious chin bouncing around the couches. once she was done she sat looking at the cage and tried to jump off of the couch. Then I brought Pinkey back out to continue her bounding about. They were a good distraction.

At least the blood was drawn early and I had an appointment so my wait was short. I spent much of the rest of the day doing what I do best, Eating.

(with a very short and easy workout)

More Pluming

The self repairing leak has relapsed. It is not as bad as it was but there is fresh water in the bucket. So much for easy home repairs, Lucky for us we are in an apartment and all we have to do is call maintenance.

How long they take to come and make the repair is a mystery. Our furnace took 3 days to repair, the oven I think took at least 2 days. They may not have parts to order which makes it possible to do the repairs in a shorter time. However they did not show up today to look at the problem (though I did call it in at lunch). Hopefully tomorrow the cabinet and sink will be fixed!

Poor Pinkey

Yesterday I noticed a strange spot in the girls cage it was small so I was not sure what exactly I was dealing with though I gave them a very quick once over to make sure nothing major was wrong. After arriving home this afternoon I went to see how they were doing and saw a few good size spots. They were definitely blood.

Gizmo was my first inspection victim. She checked out ok and was placed back in the cage just a little more annoyed then normal. Then it was Pinkey's turn. Her face was fine, her rear end was fine but her foot was covered in blood. Both feet were bloody one way worse then the other. We cleaned them up the best we could and it appeared as if the blood mostly came from her one foot.

I of course had to call the breeder to see what we could do to prevent infection. Keeping her and the cage clean seemed to be the most we could do. (putting gauze on it seemed an exercise in futility). After arriving home I did another inspection and was pleasantly surprised to see that one or both of them had cleaned the wound and it was not nearly as large as I thought it would be. In fact it was so small that my reaction was a major over reaction.

At least my girls are safe.

(the offending toy was removed and replaced with something they can chew but not hurt themselcves on)

messing with the chinchillas

The girls have been steadily turning one of the shelves in the cage to swiss cheese. One of the holes they very much appreciate, they used it to slip through to the bottom shelf as an interesting alternative to jumping down over the side. I was sure they would miss that hole but It was overdue. We finally ordered replacements.

They came in today. It was great to toss out the other shelf (I only wish a photo was taken first). After installing the new shelf Gizmo was the first to come down and investigate. She thoroughly sniffed each of the places where they had made very good progress. It was very cute she was looking for the holes they had painstakingly made.

Pinkey had a similar yet less severe reaction. She made a note that the holes were gone, thought about it shortly then moved on. Don't tell Gizzy but we think Pinkey is the smarter chin.

Self Repairing Leaks

Friday night as Pat was brushing his teeth before bed he noticed an odd sound. He opened the cabinet under the sink to check it out. Water was gushing from under the sink. I cleaned up the water and placed a bucket under the piping to catch any water and made a note to call maintenance in the morning.

It was forgotten until Sunday. (not sure how as we were using the kitchen sink for everything). Anyway Sunday I washed my hands in the bathroom with out thinking. I realized what I had done and looked under the sink. The bucket was dry as was the rest of the cabinet floor. So to tempt fate I turned on the water again, still no leak.

I have yet to replace all of the stuff that belongs under the sink, as soon as that is done it will start to leak again.

What is the chance that all maintenance issues will magically repair themselves? Pat is not a handy guy and well I can't do everything, just the basics. It would be very handy.

More Food

Today was great! I got the kitchen sparkling after breakfast and went to the bank before my workout. This timed my workout with a soccer game that Pat was watching. This gave me extra motivation to stay at the gym and work out harder.

It was a great workout! The best part is that the soccer game was over by the time I was showered and ready to relax.

The only errand we did today was to go get chin food from the new/closest supplier. It is much more convenient then the other places we were going. As a bonus they have some very friendly outdoor kittens. They saw me coming a mile away and one was literally screaming for attention. That little guy got lots of attention!

The rest of the day was all about relaxing and avoiding the thunderstorms.

Great day for eating

The lab work was rescheduled as they now make appointments! Last year I had to sit and wait for my name to be called, despite getting there 10 minutes before it opened, the wait was long. I was not looking forward to an afternoon of fasting and a morning of waiting. I found out when I went to the website (to find out when they opened) that appointments were now available. 7:30 was available and perfect for me.

That means that food is all of a sudden back in the plan for the evening. We had a simple meal but I enjoyed every bite!

The Rule

We have a rule in this house. When I have to fast Pat is not to eat or bring food into the apartment. My annual blood work is scheduled for tomorrow and I asked Pat what the rule for tomorrow was.

Looking Very confused he replied, "Chinese Friday"

What?

Pat says ' I'm not sure Chinese Friday'

LOL, Well tomorrow is Chinese Friday but I'm asking you for the rule for tomorrow night.

Once I reminded him we were all good and we both had a good laugh.

Simple things

Today for lunch I took a rare trip to Taco Bell. It lucky for me is just far enough away that it makes me think twice about going. It had been a while and because I did not pack a lunch and the cafeteria food was not enticing me, the taco bell lour could not be fought off.

I'm glad it didn't.

The guy that took my order must have been one of the happiest/outgoing people to work a fast food restaurant. Something about him, he REALLY was happy to take my order! And when I asked for lots of sauce he actually gave me an abundance of sauce. He did laugh as he did this, perhaps thinking that it was WAY overkill. HA, I will drown everything in Taco bell sauce for the next month. Including perhaps another trip (to the one that is fairly close to home).

Part 2:

On the way to the gym Coach was talking to a guy about a motorbike. The guy was holding a very cute baby. I couldn't help but chime in asking if the baby had a helmet. I asked the kid if he drove the bike yet (not expecting an answer as he did not appear to be old enough to talk). Instead Coach points out that one does not DRIVE a motorcycle, one RIDES a motorcycle.

I laughed and went inside to work out.

Fair point I must say.

Now I must go and eat the delicious dinner my husband has cooked for us!

Hot or Cold

I never know what the gym is going to be like. They normally leave the AC off during the day. This is problematic when the temperatures reach 90+, or even anything over 80. I have been sticking to shorter elliptical workouts but I miss my long treadmill runs.

Today the AC was not on during the day. Tomorrow the temperatures will reach over 90, I really want the Gym to be cool when I get there. It is seriously squashing my motivation.

Hazardous Waste Site

No I did not go to work with Pat today. I'm referring to the trunk of my car.

Apparently the motor oil caps need to be checked to make sure they are actually closed. 2 of the 5 Liter jars that I purchased spilled in the trunk. I had maybe 5 Liters total in the trunk. Today I set out on the adventure of cleaning the trunk.

The first step was to dump out the Kitty litter spread out to absorb the original (small) oil spill. This actually required 2 people. Pat had to help me carry the liner over to the dumpster. As the kitty litter was being scraped off we noticed Oil pouring off of the liner. It was that saturated. Gross.

We then set it aside and worked on cleaning the standing oil from the spare indent. Yes there was standing oil there too. We got as much of the kitty litter out of the as we could then put down super absorbed cloths to get the rest of the oil out.

I then leaned the liner against the wall atop a layer of plastic then a layer of newspaper beneath it. Lots of Oil leaked off. Enough that refreshed the newspaper to make sure it was not leaking and to give the new oil a place to go. In all it was a fairly successful day of work. After another day standing upright I should have it to a point that washing the liner will be the only way to get the rest of it out.

I have no Idea how that will work.

I should have taken photo's, what a missed opportunity.

Product tip

If you have to ask what complaints someone would have about your product it is not fair to exclude anything. Comcast called with a survey today. The question was, Other then price what would you change/improve about our product?

Um the Price.

Thanks for asking.

Ice Cream Thief

Ben and Jerry's ice cream was on sale last week. I purchased tons, and quite a bit of it has disappeared. I have been doing well just eating little bits here and there, despite that it keeps disappearing.

I got home tonight to Pat working on a pint. It was not until I tried to restrict him to other flavors that it hit me how much has gone missing. At least the culprit was caught red handed. It is unbelievable how much he had eaten over the weekend (especially because we were gone Saturday).

Easy fix Pat is no longer allowed to eat any Ben and Jerry's.

Who's playing

Enevitably the week after traveling to a rock show I end up talking about it at work. I get asked the same question.

"who did you go see"

Then I have to back track and explain it is not a rock concert but a rock and mineral show. A place one goes to look at rocks and minerals. The stuff that is pulled out of the ground. Many confused looks follow.

Cleaning day

Yesterday was spent in the car. Today is cleaning day. At least it is rainy.

We started out fairly early with the laundry. We skipped last week so we had tons this week! After I got that put away I washed the floors and the girls cage.

Next week I am de-cluttering the apartment again. I don't know where all this stuff comes from!

Rock Show

Today was the Rock show. It was 3.5 hours away according to Mapquest, which proved to be pretty much correct on the way to the show. We pulled in just before lunch and chose to walk around instead of stopping somewhere for a decent lunch.

The food they served at the show was pretty much on par with what you would expect. Hamburgers, Hot dogs, Pizza and Chicken tenders. Salads were available but with the other fair offered it was most likely ice burg lettuce. I hate that you can't find a healthy meal at these things. Most of the time we don't do lunch at the shows because they are not that far away. Next time (if their is one) we will pack a lunch and eat better.

We both made purchases at the show. This is a VERY rare occurrence. Having rocks in the house is annoying to me but sometimes the have other interesting stuff. Pat of course purchased some minerals for his collection. His collection is growing pretty fast despite the fact that I encourage him to go through it and sell any duplicates or not so nice minerals. it's a good thing I'm not holding my breath!

The way home was disastrous. Right off the bat we missed a highway exit and (luckily) found another way to go. This added a few miles to an already LONG trip. The worst mistake driving home was missing the THRUWAY. yes you read that correct we missed the thruway. Apparently the ramp we needed was closed, this was not why we missed the exit mind you. We missed any signs that were up advertising it. We had no idea that it had been missed for a good 10 miles. On the way back Pat pointed out the numerous large signs letting us know the through way was coming up. He is convinced that the signs were not there going the other way.

We were talking so I could see missing one or two but their were allot and missing all of them is pretty hard to believe, still I think we must have missed at least one. It is a major road to not have at least 1-2 signs. By the time we made it home I was exhausted and after a yummy (and fairly healthy) dinner I went to bed fairly early.

Mean People

Pat and I must be really mean people. The other day in the gym a kid that is notorious for disrespecting his mother/ running amuck came into the gym for a drink of water. The guy working at the gym was talking to his kids about something thus was not paying attention. The terror locks his mother out of the gym.

I yelled at him to unlock the gym door. He ignored me the first time (like I was yelling at someone else), so I yelled again. He unlocked the door and left with his mother. Obviously the yelling did not go unnoticed. I think the gym guy was surprised that I would yell at him. (BTW the mother said nothing).

Fast forward to tonight Pat and I were walking after dinner and the terror was riding his bike with his mom at his side. I told Pat that that was the kid that I had yelled at in the gym the other day. Pat replied with,

I yelled at him a few weeks ago.

Apparently he had wondered over to our HOT grill and was about to start playing with it. Pat watches the grill from the back porch and yelled at him.

Apparently we are both mean (not that the kid said so but that is what he must think).

Cooking

Pat has been doing allot of cooking lately. This allows me to shower right when I get home and still eat at a decent hour. Most of it involves pre-made sauces, so it did not occur to me to question Pat's cooking skills.

Today I did.

We were going to do a pork tenderloin rub that we had tried before. It was great I put the rub together and Pat did the rest (which was a good amount of work for this recipe). I asked him to make it again. He looked at the recipe and let me know what we needed. Then we went Grocery shopping.

You know how they have the multi packs of garlic in the netting? Pat picked one of them up as I was getting lettuce. I looked at him and let him know we did not need that much garlic. He looks at me and says the recipe calls for 5 Garlics.

Um, that's 5 CLOVES of garlic dear. I can only imagine what the rub would have tasted like. Mom would have loved it!

sedrttjk;iujia

That about sums up my typing skills today. Lillie apparently had the same issues as we were chatting online. It only hit every few words so we could figure out what was meant, but what was up with us. Even as I messaged Jason the same thing happened.

I'll leave it at that as retyping every fifth word is sort of annoying.

New Shoes

I have a pair of flip flops that I wear around the apartment. They help muffle the sounds of footsteps and air out my vinegar soaked feet. They are actually very comfortable which surprised me. They were purchased at Walmart because they were cheap.

Sporadically I caught myself ready to leave with them still on my feet and no other shoes in my hands. Once Pat caught me. I have yet to make it to my car with the flip flops on my feet with out 'real' work shoes to change into.

Today 15 minutes into my hour long commute I realized I had left the house with my flip flops on and no real shoes to change into. Turning around would cost 45 minutes, not an option.

I stopped at Walmart on the way into work and purchased shoes for me to wear.

Sigh.

Back to normal

Sunday night Pat and I went for a walk. I think it was the walk that helped me feel more normal and less headache. I'm still not sure if it was Pat's fussing that made me wimpy and not workout yesterday or if I was just still in a pity party kind of mood.

Today was back to the gym with my new MP3 player. Unfortunately the songs that I downloaded that I love were not workout songs for the most part (think Pink Floyd). It worked for the current workout as I was still taking it easy. Tomorrow I'm going to need to purchase some great upbeat songs! The only other thing that was missing was the case. I ordered an armband case (hopefully it will come Tuesday or Wednesday) because it was not in the player sat on a shelf next to the machine for the workout. It didn't get knocked around much but I was nervous.

Lastly an Excuse,

one of my gym friends has been trying to get me over to the weights side (as well I should from all I read). I had done a few pull ups the other day as I posted, of course he challenged me to do more today. I just wasn't sure hanging or doing pull ups (with a leg tuck at the same time) would benefit my stomach. Tomorrow I must do at least 2 full good form pull ups. (don't laugh that is hard!).

dodging bugs

Today was laundry day. Because we could not go to the building that we prefur we went to the laundry mat again. Unfortunitly the roach infestation was not taken care of. Last week we did not see any bugs and were happy that they had cleaned the place up. This week one crawled out in the middle of the wash Pat smooshed it after I refused (seriously it is not my job, way too gross). Aparently he saw another 3 mid sized ones as well as a large amount of babies, Gross.



We inspected everything as we took it out to the car waiting for the dryer to be done. (would you want to sit and wait inside). The cloths in the dryer are theoetically safe as it is so hot so once we put them in the clean laundry baskets we took them immediately outside to the car again. Hopefully this will not turn into another saga on how to get rid of roaches, I can't handle that again.

Spectacular

Today could not have been any better. Following Thursday and Friday anything would have been nice, but today was spectacular! It started out with a shopping trip. I went to Walmart to get a lounge chair (the kind that folds up really small). Of course the work out cloths called out to me. I found some shorts for 5$ and a few cute tee shirts (not work out just lounging). Pat even got a few more pairs as his old ones are shot, It's an addiction I know.

Then Petsmart for some necessities for the girls. Pet stores are always fun for me, no matter what goodies I am shopping for Pet stores make me happy.

I ended up walking into the workout section of Kohl's, funny enough I did not buy anything. I was getting hungry so I didn't stay long. Wegmans was my last stop. I did very well considering that I was hungry. But the highlight of my shopping trip happened as I was walking out the door. I saw the reusable black shopping bags that I wanted. I have plenty of the cute fruit ones but The black ones i though were not going to be sold any longer. I was wrong and today I purchased my fill of them.

Then just after arriving home My door bell rings. I didn't see anyone so I opened the door to find a package waiting for me. It was the MP3 player that was purchased Thursday afternoon. I shipped it regular shipping. The rest of the afternoon was spent downloading songs from Rhapsody, I have a free 30 days and the songs didn't cost anything for now. I think though I will switch to another program before the trial is up they are definitely missing artists and I don't like the way the program is set up.

Relaxing in the afternoon on my lounge chair with my new and working mp3 player was awesome!

Now I just need some good running songs to keep me entertained on the treadmill.

C- Day

Last night went less then well, and I didn't even sleep all that well (imagine that). By the time we left for the center I was ready to have it done with.

They filled out all of the insurance paperwork and Pat waited until I got called to the back. He gave me a hug and kiss and said he would be back around 9. I got changed and they started an IV as I had to pee for another Pregnancy Test. The prep is very dehydrating and well I'll tell the story about last time another time.

They took the beginning statistics and I have to say I was stunned my blood pressure was 145ish/95ish. It has never been so high. The nurse tried to tell me that I may not feel nervous but I was. I told her I FELT nervous, terrified even. The Prep is the worst part but the sedation is no fun either.

I have to say this clinic was great not only do they give out blankets if you are cold (standard) they heat them! Because it was so cold in the procedure room they gave me another blanket strait out of the dryer or heater. How many blankets do they go through in one day? I think I used 4-5. They had teams of nurses to help out and one stayed through most of the waiting even though nothing was going on.

The only negative was having to sign paperwork with an iv in my right hand (I'm right handed). But they had to put the IV in the right hand and for some reason that paper work was not given right as I walked in. It's too bad as it hurt and my signature was sloppy and my hand hurt.

The procedure was apparently quick but really the important part is I do not remember a thing.

Resoulve

Last night I went from stressed out and terrified to resolved. I was planning on drinking the prep and keep it down. It's funny how I went back an forth between the two feelings. From being terrified to confident in the matter of minutes. The resolve stuck for today. I had my liquids all set for the day but did not drink nearly as much as I thought I would. (and for those of you on a liquid diet Apple juice has way more calories then Poweraid, I wish I had realized that sooner)

I stopped drinking (food) around noon as I went to my general practitioners office. I needed my blood work done for the year (it had actually been 1.5 years).

I won't discuss what happened when I got home, it's just too traumatizing and disgusting. It was not a good night.

Marketing

I am a mindless drone when it comes to Advertising.

That is how it felt at lunch. While sitting at a red light, wondering what to eat for lunch, A big box truck caught my attention. Plastered to the side of the truck was an advertisement for Wendy's sweet and spicy asian chicken. An advertisement, advertising a product I have seen once before and made a note to try it when possible. The answer to my lunchtime bemusement was an advertisement plastered on the side of a truck. 3.99 of that advertisement is now paid for by me. (arguably part of that should go to the original ad that caught my attention, but it did not call me to action so it gets no credit).

Target was my first stop as we desperately need paper towels. Unfortunately they did not have all the 'clear liquids' needed for the dreaded Thursday. So STARVING I went to Stop and Shop (grocery store). I managed to get away with planned purchases only. Poweraid and Snyder's Buttermilk ranch pretzel pieces), not being able to eat tomorrow probably played a big part in that. Temptation with reguards to food is not my strong point, if it is there I will eat it.

Back to the chicken, It was ok. The chicken itself was good but the sauce wasn't so great. It wasn't the spicy or sweet, maybe it was the ginger but it was not as good as I wanted it to be. The Frosty on the other hand was out of this world!

All that junk food made me feel fat slow and out of shape. Hopefully a healthy dinner and a very short elliptical (or run) workout will take care of that.

Be Specific

Tonight I was laying out the rules for Thursday. It is very easy, no food in the apartment. I told pat to stop elsewhere for dinner. Though I forgot to tell him to eat it elsewhere. It came up a few minutes later.

So I had to reprise my rule. No Food or Eating in the apartment Thursday.

Apparently rules need to be very specific in this house.

Anxious

Friday is my colonoscopy. To say that it is dreaded would be an understatement. Some day I will learn to let go and not worry so much ahead of time, but Thursday will not be fun.

I did an easy run today to blow off steam. It felt great and worked wonders though I had lots of energy left afterwords.

Coach was doing pull ups as I was cooling down and he was not putting his chin over the bar. Of course I had to tell him that they were horrible form and did not count. This did not go unpunished as I then had to show him how it was done.

Because I was still cooling down Molly gave it a try first. she gave it a valiant effort. I was pleasantly surprised by my Pull up it was smooth and complete. (though boy am I heavy). I was only able to complete one or two but it was fun to be able to do better then I thought I would.

Relatively Clean

Yesterday was a cleaning day. Both of us cleaned up and it looks pretty good. Leaving to do laundry I couldn't find the dryer sheets anywhere. As I was obsessing Pat wanted me to give up and start the laundry. He said the apartment was relatively clean so if it was not found by now it would not be found.

This is coming from a guy that suffers from a very severe case of dirt blindness. I was floored, not because it was not relatively clean but because that means he can see the clutter left after our cleaning spree. This leads me to believe that it is not so much dirt blind-ness as ignoring the dirt, until perhaps someone else cleans it up?.

This will have to be solved (either way really) because I like having a 'relatively ' or 'move out' clean apartment. (Pat's levels of cleanliness, the other one is 'lived in' that one I'm not so fond of).

Anticipation

Harry Potter # 6 came out and i waited very (im) patiently. Tonight we went to see it. After the disappointment of the 5th one I was very anxious. I wasn't sure what to expect, more of the 1/2 story mush or a movie more like the originals. This was more like the originals.

The movie lost some of the story which was to be expected. It was a very long book. What it did right was tell the stories that needed to be told as well as some of the others. What they didn't do was tell half of the stories and hope that you read the book to make sense of it all.

The beginning could have been skipped (only because it made me dizzy). They added a few things to the movie that worked for me. It made the movie stand on it's own a little, to tell a different take on the story. The only part that bothered me was the end. Harry was not frozen by Dumbledore, that to me was important because it was the only way that Harry would have let the end happen the way it needed to.

Anyway it was worth the wait and hopefully the next 2 will be even better.

As a review of the theater that we saw the move, It was 20 BELOW as I was trying to enjoy the movie. That may be one of the reasons I shy away from the theater, even with pants and a sweatshirt I was freezing.

Long Awaited

The 6th Harry Potter movie came out at midnight last night. I am waiting until Thursday or Friday, Friday being my preference. It will be a very long and hard wait.

Tomorrow I will go pick up the tickets for Harry as I am afraid they may sell out on a Friday night at the time we want to go. It would be heartbreaking to wait until Saturday.

Working on patience sucks!

Harry Potter Weekend

Harry potter is coming out shortly so the earlier movies were playing all weekend. I watched them all weekend. I own all of the DVD's but for some reason chose to watch the TV commercial filled virsions. (More gets done?).

After a weekend of movies and outdoor fun I'm back to the gym.

How Proud?

Pat and I finally made it to the miniature gulf course that is down the street from us. It was a beautiful day and I had been wanting to go. We got our ball and club and started out pretty much on par. at about the 8th hole I bent over to set down my purse and almost flashed Rt 27. I turned around and asked Pat how proud he would be if I had flashed the road.

He replied, 'I would be much more proud if you had caused an accident'.

I suppose I should have expected that. Pat won by one hit, I'll get him next time.

We finished our date at a Thai restaurant that pat has been drooling over. I suppose it was good that neither of us loved it. The last one he really liked and I never wanted to go. Now neither of us will want to go, we will have to find a Thai restaurant that we both like (or go back to the one in Hawaii).

I set myself up.

The Gym was closed when I went by on the way home from work. And still looked closed when I walked out a few minutes later so I took the bike out. It felt better then the other day though still it feels a little off balance especially when turning. The route totaled about 8 miles which was a nice ride though I would like a better route (like the canal in Rochester). Anyway after the ride I went over to the gym because it was now open and I wanted to run a quick mile.

I parked the bike out front and walked in to claim my favorite treadmill (I'm not joking I do have a favorite). I hung my helmet it on one of the arms on the treadmill. Coach walked over and asked why I needed a helmet to walk around. It was pretty funny as I was running on the treadmill with out the helmet on. Next time I think I will leave it on my head, or out on the bike.

Smelly Feet

I am having issues with my toenails, specifically on the big toes. My brother mentioned that you could get Lamocil over the counter as he was picking on my disgusting feet. As I read about Lamocil on the internet it became a very unattractive option. It is VERY hard on the liver. It also takes a very long time to work.

On line I went to research home remedies. There are some interesting finds out there. The most effective seemed to be Cider Vinegar followed by Listerine and tea tree oil. the strangest was Vicks vapo rub it was on the list but listed as dubious (I purchased some anyway). Last night was my first night soaking my feet. Vinegar does not smell good, at least it was diluted a little. I did use the vapo rub as well (Pills are not my thing and my liver is nice as is).

The only thing that smells worse then vinegar is the combination of feet and vinegar. Lets hope this works because my coworkers will have to shoot me because their is no way they don't smell the vinegar. If i see no change I will have to bite the bullet and ask my Dr as I have an appointment anyway in 2 weeks.

Tour De France

As I have already said I finally have my bike in NJ. Today I took it out for a spin. I was a little unsteady (mostly on the turns) but did not fall down. I did have to stop once to keep from falling over but I do not count that as a fall. The hardest part was remembering how to make the gears harder. I was going pretty good but wanted to up the resistance, about half way around the loop I tried figuring that I had a 50/50 shot as their are only 2 levers.

I picked the wrong one and my feet started flying in every direction (ok just really fast circles). I fixed that problem then gave myself a little extra resistance to finish the last 2 miles or so. It was nice to ride again. Next time I will have to give the canal a try. It looks pretty and most importantly it is strait!

Pat says I'm ready for the Tour De France!

Lines

My theme for today is Lines. Lots of long ones.

I ran a few 'quick' errands at lunch today. I got a copy of the Corolla key made . That went smooth and was very quick, maybe too quick. (the key only works in the ignition and not the car door). I was hopeful that this would set the tone for the rest of the trips. Unfortunately the line at Walmart return was not as much long as exceedingly slow. I had only 3-4 people in front of me and still it took 25 minutes to get the return done. Even as they were returning my stuff it was very slow. I did try to find replacement shorts in Pat's size but they did not have the ones I wanted. (his taste is not taken into account)

The dealer did not have lots of time to cut my key and allow me to get to work on time but it was just a key. Home Depot did it in less then 5 minutes. I got to the dealer and found the parts department (apparently not as easy as it sounds). I was happy to see only 3 people in front of me and 2 of those were already in the process of being helped. Then one of them started to speak Spanish to a Representative that clearly could not understand her. she tried a little English to no avail. they had to call the service person down to translate. Lucky for me she just left with him leaving me next in line.

Unfortunately shopping for parts is not an easy task. even though one of the people had the parts numbers it still took a long time. The 2nd Representative opened up when the person left with the part numbers and the prices, couldn't you have done that over the internet or on the phone maybe? When they finally left they had to get another guy to help me who said 5 minutes for the key to be cut. 25 minutes later I hear cutting in the back room. At least he came out with 2 keys for the price of one.

Now I can drive my car, YEA!!!

Two Peas

We drove home today and were making good time with no incidents when I got a voicemail from my father. Nothing can go that smooth, I had left all of my keys in Rochester. Horrified I let out a gasp and Pat immediatey asked what was wrong. When I told him, he sort of looked at me dumbfounded.

He quickly got a plan together so we could both get to work until the keys came in the mail Tuesday.

After speaking to my parents and finding out where my keys were left I can understand why I did not find them on my last sweep of the house. They were in the baby seat in Dad's car. I had not ridden in dad's car but I did place some stuff in the car (my keys were not among that batch of stuff). If they were they would have been found when zach rode home in the car.

Upon returning home we got a call from Pats parents. Pat had accidentally left the house unlocked and one of the doors open. Lucky that was easier to correct.

We were quite a pair this weekend.

Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!

The day had an interesting start, We had to get up early to get to the 5k I was running so we set the alarm. This was an unneeded precaution that ended strangely. The alarm went off at the preset time and we turned it off (or so we thought). As I waited in the car Pat ran upstairs to get a pair of jeans (it was cold) to find the cat looking rather angrily at the noisy alarm clock. Pat ended up unplugging the clock to get it off (sorry mom and dad).

Anyway the ride in was fairly uneventful and we got to the race with plenty of time to spare. Pat and I were the first to arrive. The parking lot looked full so I told the rest of the family to park behind the middle school (as I had done earlier). Apparently their was plenty of parking at the High school, Sorry.

I got my bib and chip and when the time came lined up behind the starting line (we did not get a photo of the start line or finish line). As I was impatiently waiting with Lillie I noticed that the stoplight we were standing at was green. It is very annoying to be standing in front of a green light and not able to go. It must be a deeply ingrained driving thing. I kept telling Lillie they need to turn it red then back to green when we were actually starting. Poor Lillie had to listen to me go on and on about this for a few minutes before I got distracted and we started planning our finish, we were going to skip down the 'runway' together holding hands.

Very quickly in the run did I discover that we were not going to bring out the best in each other, not in this race anyway. We took turns being the negative ninny and the motivator. It was pretty funny and I would feel better about it if I had done allot better. I have never chatted so much during a run but it was fun to 'house shop' while racing. Their were some nice houses for sale on the route. We took turns pointing out the houses we liked in the neighborhood, at least we got out minds out of the negative mindset! I was feeling ok for most of the race but the last .1 mile did me in and I started dry-heaving again. I was definitely not running any faster then I practice so I would love to figure out why this happens. I ran all but the few steps that I was trying not to throw up. Lillie was nice enough to slow down but I waved her on as I didn't want to slow her down even more. She finished a full 30 seconds ahead of me.

We then enjoyed a breakfast at the Bagel Bin (the 2nd best in town). I did not partake as my stomach could not handle anything but the watermelon that I grabbed after the race and did not want anything more complicated at the time. I had a great time as I got to hold Ryan (whom I met before the race) and take lots of photo's of him.

The rest of the day was spent trying to take a nap as I didn't feel my best.

I must have rested enough because after a Tylenol I was ready for the fire works. We walked over to the office park and discovered that their was plenty of parking and as Anne said that was twice for them that day that they could have parked closer (or in this case driven).

Anne Packed nice picnic of snacks to eat while waiting for the show. That ended up being a good thing as it did not start for a good 45 minutes after we thought it would. We were far enough away that the fireworks were not that loud (this was a good thing as Madison does not like the loud noises). but the lights from the carnival rides were left on, I think it would have been nicer if they had turned them off. The city fireworks were off to our right and barely viable but greater in quantity and frequency from the ones we were watching. Maybe next time we are in Rochester we will go to the city fireworks, at least if the Illinois cousins come out to visit.

The walk back was made longer by my brilliant idea to go another way that I originally thought shorter. It was much longer. I definitely got my exercise in today!

Echo

Having so many people in my family blog when we do something together it is a bit like an Echo. It is the topic for everyone's blog to varying degrees.

Today we went to Stonybrook State Park. It was a nice Picnic with the Kidd/Elliott cousins, my Parents, brothers, sisters and the baby's. We took the baby's to the playground and had much more fun then they did (they were a little young). I took lots of photo's with my dad's camera. He will be so happy when i finally purchase my own.

David and Michael started off the hike with a swim in the pool, it was 56 degrees. I thought better of it and stayed nice and dry for the hike. They then went in to all of the other larger waterfalls. It was a nice day for a hike. Both babies did very well and will grow up to enjoy Stonybrook weather they like it or not.

The end of the hike brought another opportunity for a swim. This time I went in with David and Michael. The water was not nearly as bad as it should have been. Once you were wet it was only a little shocking. Jason and Dad got some shots of us jumping into the water.

After some downtime we ended the day at the go carts. I like the go-carts, they just make me nervous. With David on the track it is even worse. He drives fast and hits everyone. it is surprising he still has a licence and drives real car. At least we had a big group so the only ones that were in danger for the most part was our own group.

Vacation

I left work early today so we could get an early start on the road. The Rodman's will be home tonight so we wanted to get to see them before they left for the weekend.

Pat's car needed an oil change and 2 tires so that is what I spent my extra time doing (we were going to take my car but it was acting funny). Unfortunately for me it took them 1.5 hours to fix the three things I asked for. I hate waiting, especially on a nice day. The good part of that was Pat got home just before I did so we got to hit the road at around 3PM.

The traffic was as bad as expected in the beginning of the drive but the 80 was a mess. Luckily we saw this before we got on and were able to get around it. Unlucky for us the traffic after Scranton was not avoidable. We did not have a map or a GPS. We were stuck. In the end the drive took us 7 1/2 hours and we did not get lots of extra time to chat with the Rodmans. At least we did not get in after midnight, if we had left at 7, well I don't want to think about the time we would have gotten in.

And no fireworks this year. Bummer.

Running

I have never wanted to do a half marathon (let alone a full one). But this caught my attention.

http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1694733&assetId=f3c06dca-0d0d-4bca-ba72-fa15930f32c5

Ok I just saw that they have a 5K as well (much more my speed). I wonder how warm/cold it is there in October? Around here it would be perfect running weather. our anniversary trip may be a camping trip to the red woods (which both of us want to see again anyway). maybe a road trip to some vineyards. That sounds awesome to me.

Now to convince Pat.

I'm Giving in

Alwyn Studio's called a few weeks ago to extort more money from me. They are distroying my wedding negatives at teh end of this month if they are not purchased. Initally I was very resistant to the Idea of giving them more of my money, espically if they are going to distroy the negatives anyway.

It Continues

This morning started out crazy for my co worker who went home sick yesterday. A rental that I finished setting up had called and when she followed up with the branch they said they had not been told about the rental delivery. I put all of the facts in the reservation and even called to confirm (the phone # was still on my phone from yesterday). The delivery was done 15 minutes late but the branch is still maintaining that they were not warned.

Then in the afternoon I got a surprise call from Alwyn Studios (the photographer that shot my wedding). They are retiring, or getting purchased by the Greece photographers, at any rate they are destroying all the negatives. They called to give me a chance to purchase them. Great, so the original contract of you keeping them safe unless I purchase them is out the window. now if I do not purchase them they will be destroyed and if anything happens to my wedding album (which I looked at so much that I gave it to my mother) I have no formal portraits of my wedding (Jason didn't get many formal photo's because the photographer was threatened by his camera).

I never liked them or the photo's all that much but to let them distry the photos just because they want to extort more cash from me. I really want to tell them to stuff it but then if something happins I won't have the photos at all. I HATE THEM.

Great Start!

it took quite a bit of effort to get out of bed. Though once out of bed I felt pretty organised. I went through my normal morning routine and felt good about the day. After kissing Pat farewell I checked my oil and off I went.

About 1/2 way to the office I realised that my purse was still sitting on the little couch. It had been forgotten. Thankfully I had packed lunch and had plenty of gas in my car. It should not cause any more problems (other then not having my cell phone).

Anyway after arriving at work Pat called to let me know that I had left it at home. He realised it a few minutes after I left. Nothing could be done as my phone is left in my purse. Hopefully that will be the only excitment in my day.

Fog

Today was a bit of a fog. I woke up feeling a little stuffy but otherwise ok. As the day wore on I got sicker. And though I was a little disappointed that i was unable to go to the picnic this year, It was probably a good thing. By the time I got home I was in a giant fog. Needless to say I didn't do much at all.

Leg Two

The second part of my vacation started today with a 6-7 Hour drive to Longwood Gardens (well a town near there anyway). Lucky for me Dad did all of the driving. I listened to Harry Potter and relaxed as Dad drove.

We had a great dinner at On The Border, which Mom was not as fond of as she does not do spicy food. Apparently all of the food was way too spicy. I thought the salsa was hot but thought everything else would be good, I guess I have been with Pat too long. Sorry Mom.

Baking with Dad

Today I got a big treat. I got to bake with my father. He makes great bread and today we made my favorite today. Rustic country wheat bread. It turned out great and he will e-mail the recipe to me so I can try it on my own.

I had a fairly quiet day but got to see lots of people as Lillie and Evelyn came over for dinner and after dinner I went to see Mom R and Dylan. I did not get lots of time with Dylan but did get to spend time with Mom R, which was nice.

And of course I did have to finish packing for the 2nd leg of my vacation.

Birthday Party Part 2

I am not a Party person. but this year I had 2 parties for my birthday.

I awake to birthday wishes from Pat and set off on my birthday run with the dog. She gave me some issues, the heat wasn't around to help wear her out! but in all it was a good run. 2 miles in about 18 minuets 15 seconds. I have no idea if she helps or hinders my running process as she pulls and stops so often it is hard to tell.

Pat got on the road early. I had breakfast with Mom R (leftover PF Changs)! Then set off to mom and dad's house wondering if I was relatively early. (Dad told me to come over nice and early to which I replied, 'who are you talking to?' then he revised his statement, 'please come over relatively early'). I made it with time to help them pack up and visit my facebook pet! I even started a bracelet I'm going to make.

Stony brook was chilly, cold really. I had on my winter jacket. once I wormed up walking the workout jacket was enough but it was so cold to start I couldn't leave it behind.

The hike was beautiful as always, lots of great photo's were taken. I will post some when I get home in a few days.

Happy Memorial Day

Today, after breakfast I headed out for the Rodman's. Pat and I ended up driving separately which allowed me a few distractions, er, Errands. I was happy that it was still chilly out when I got there as I was planning on taking Lexus for a run.

She enjoyed the run and behaved fairly well. She did get caught up in staring at a person as we ran past. Normally she would let it go after a fairly short while looking for a bird or squirrel, today she kept looking back. Nothing I did could dissuade her from this person. Finally after enough distance she went back to the task at hand.

At the one mile mark we ran by a house with a strange dog (she had never met it before). It took a while for it to see us but came out barking and carrying on, the most miraculous thing happened. She didn't even look at the other dog!

Another 1/4 to 1/2 mile later she made like she was going to go for some lady gardening and I corrected her, this time she let it go. I guess she was very tired.

Now if I could only figure out how to keep her from pulling.

After the run I went out to Becky's (yes, smelly and all). I had some plants that mom gave me to plant in Becky's garden, she approved the watched me do the planting. I'm lucky she didn't mind though she probably thinks she is lucky because her sister in law planted most of her garden for her (I left her one row).

Then I ran back to the Rodman's house for a shower apparently missing Sarah as she was driving to Becky's house. Mom R thought it was strange that i didn't stay to hang out with them until I explained that after running and playing in the dirt I was in dire need of a shower. She is very understanding.

After the shower I had time to relax and read. The rest of my day involves food which is just the way I like it.

Pat came home and we ran out to PF Changs for lunch. The car needed Gas, a fact we would have been better off noticing as we were leaving Palmyra Instead we were a good way towards the mall and because we have to take back roads we have nowhere to stop for gas. Pat wanted to turn back to Palmyra. I would not let him (brave of me considering I had no Idea where gas stations were near the mall). We made it to the mall and I wanted to go Right, Pat left.

I let him win in case we actually ran out of gas. his wrong turn was the last thus negating my refusal to turn around. It would be his fault.

The gas station was further down then he remembered. I spotted it first and let him know their was one on the right. He almost took a right hand turn off of the road. You can imagine how loud my scream was, 'NO! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?'

he stopped in the right hand lane (instead of the turn lane) and awaited my explanation. He laughed when I restated clearer, 'it is on the right hand side of THIS street.'

We did make it to the gas station then to lunch. The lunch was pretty strait forward. The only thing worth mentioning is the fact that the waiter was very impressed with my dish. I actually ordered off of the menu but added carrots to the sweet and sour chicken. He said it made it look even better with the extra color.

We got back to lunch and I put my leftovers in the Fridge at the Rodman's only to be greeted by their dog. This is unusual because the dog does not get full run of the house. she stays in the back room unless she is outside or on a leash. I escorted her out of the house after noting cupcake tins on the floor of the house and many cupcakes missing from the molds.

I went out to let her outside and I heard the rest of them talking. I let them know what happened. The let Mom R know what happened and she was not happy! I felt bad, but that didn't stop me from agreeing with those who thought the whole thing humorous. I am a horrible daughter in law! I'll have to do something extra nice to make up for it.

Besides the rest of dinner was great and we all had the brownies that the dog had not helped herself to (though she should have they were Yummy!).

Celebration

Today was the official celebration of my birthday. (Lillie's too!). We started out with a quick shopping trip followed by some gardening. Ok Lots of gardening.

We mulched part of the back Garden. Just enough to get the many inpatients in. I love taking this week off and gardening with Mom. Last year she finished all of the mulching and left the fun task of planting the flowers to me (with her) while I visited. Unfortunately this year the weather has not been nearly as friendly. the mulching process has just started. Though we did get some planting in to offset the mulching. The weather though Sunny is particularly chilly, but once you get working you warm right up.

I spent a little time with the neighbors that just purchased the Kulps house. They are very nice, I followed the tour my mother was taking them on of the gardens at their new house. She was telling them what was planted where and giving some suggestions. They seemed to like the help and will likely be back for more gardening advise from their retired neighbors (my parents).

Anyway after a shower and quick lunch Pat came by and picked me up for a visit with his Grandpa (which had nothing to do with my Birthday). We got a little lost on the way over but I think it was worth it as his grandpa has not seen Pat in a while. it was a short visit though as we needed to get back to my birthday celebration!

Unfortunitly the baby got sunburn at some point and to add to the trouble she missed a nap. Needless to say she was a very unhappy baby. Waking her up ever so often as Dad was cooking nd everyone else seemed to be unable to sit still didn't help either.

We had a delishous dinner cooked by my father. Birthday cake for desert of course.

The parents made a b line for the door as soon as desert was over trying to get evelyn home and hopefully to bed for a good nights sleep. Every one but Pat was sleepy and went to bed fairly early. Pat went to his sisters house, he still had some party left in him.

Vacation

It is officially the first day of my relaxing week off. Unfortunately for Pat the promise of a long drive woke me up at 3am and would not allow me to go back to sleep. I first spent the time playing with my facebook pet. Then I moved onto Harry Potter. Around 4:45 I figured I'd pack as Pat said we could leave early but no earlier then 5, I wanted to be ready!

I had many trips to do. 3 cases of wine, 2 dufflebags, 2 smaller miscellanious bags and 2 donation boxes (I like to offer the stuff to family first if I can). This ment 8 trips up and down the ver loud stairs in the apartment. I tried to be quiet and still think it was much quieter then if pat had tried to accomplish the same task. People (my mom) has said that I walk like an elephant, I married a man that surpasses any noise I make while walking.

Anyway I had one trip left when a very grumpy Pat came out to let me know my attempt to be quiet was not working. He tried to go back to sleep with no success.

This was good for me as we left for Rochester by 5:30!!!

We got in and off the bat went to Becky & Doug's, I got a very cute photo of Dylan on the motorcycle. Apparently he normally wouldn't sit still but I got lucky and he even waited for me to get the camera out.

I also got to spend time with Mom, Dad, Lillie and Ms. Evelyn. It was a packed day!

Friday is here

After what seems like an eternal wait, Friday has arrived. It went fairly quickly until the Palisades employees (whom have a half day) started leaving. Then time slowed significantly. At least we are not leaving today as I would start pacing. I do not look forward to long drives weather I am driving or not.

Pat Finished packing today (a minor miracle). He would normally wait until the day we left.

Finally!

Up to this point I was not sure when we would leave for vacation. When I asked Pat yesterday he said Friday. Then i had to ask him if he was sure because the traffic would be awful. To this he replies 'oh ya, I'll have to think about that'

We are leaving Saturday. To add to the traffic mess 81 always seems to have a few spots where the road is closed down to one lane. This makes holiday travel messy at best. I think the correct call was made.

I Packed anyway in case our plans changed. Pat on the other hand will try to pack at the last possible second.