Don't Mind Me

Don't mind me.  I'm fiddling with the blog background.  Unfortunately, I know nothing about this stuff, but I've been wanting something a little cleaner.  I wish I had a header.  I wish I knew how to make a header.  I wish I knew what kind of header I'd like.

Anyway, until I resolve my current identity crisis, we shall all see white and blue green and brown.

:)

Odds and Ends

I've had a busy day today (I know, I'm as surprised as you!) and don't have a whole lot of time to blog before it's time to pick Caroline up from school.  I just have a few quick things to share with you today; all of which begin with the letter C. 

How alliterative of me.


Coconut



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Starbucks has introduced a line of coconut flavored beverages.  Coconut is a love it or hate it type of ingredient and I happen to adore it.  I've had three coconut flavored mistos in the past two weeks and I'm falling more and more in love with them each time.  Today's coconut misto was the best yet.  The barista put toasted coconut on the top, which was a nice addition.  Well, it was nice once I figured out why my coffee was chunky.  Chunky coffee is generally a huge turnoff, but when the chunks are discovered to be bits of toasted coconut, it's all good.

Corn

Fresh corn is back in season.  To celebrate, I've been making skillet corn.  You should give it a try, too.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

This picture is my laptop's wallpaper background.  I've been tempted to lick the screen because it looks so good.

Computer

GreatOdd news!

My computer, the one with the wonky virus, mysteriously started working again this morning.  Craig tried to help me fix it over the phone but we weren't successful.  Or so we thought.  Or perhaps spewing profanities, kicking lightly tapping  your computer and referring to it as a 'good for nothing hunk of junk' works better than all that technical mumbo jumbo.  Maybe I shamed it into working again?

Whatever the case, it's working.  For now. 

It's a good thing I bought a new one.  Or, whatever. 

Eh, if you can't spend all of your hard working husband's money, what good is life?  ;)


Clothes


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I want this shirt.

There's another one that says "Peace, Love, Broccoli."  I can't decide which one I like better. 

(C)Flowers  (so much for my alliterative theme)

So, my azaleas may be droopy and lifeless,

but look what popped up!

Believe it or not, this is a weed.  Or so I'm told.

At least it's a pretty weed.

Okay, time to get Caroline!

Wilted

Remember my beautiful, fully bloomed azaleas?

They're not so beautiful anymore.  I guess the saying about beauty being fleeting is spot on where azaleas are concerned.

 

Dried out.

Droopy.

Wilted.

Dessicated.

Shriveled.

If that's not a metaphor for life then I don't know what is.

;)


In other news (I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I use that phrase way too much) I spent a good portion of the afternoon organizing my pantry and it is still a mess.  Someone should slap me, or at least try to stop me, the next time I say I need to go grocery shopping.  We have entirely too much food.

I can't help it; I'm weak in the presence of a good deal.  Speaking of which, I got a steal of a deal on Quaker instant oatmeal and am now the proud owner of four boxes, all of which cost a total of $2.88.  I told you it was a good deal!  They were at a closeout price of $1.72 each, plus each box had a $1/1 coupon affixed to it.  It would be a sin to pass up .72 oatmeal.

Because I eat odd things, I mix the package of oatmeal with a carton of plain greek yogurt to make overnight oats.  Overnight oats look and sound gross, but they're really quite tasty.  I keep it simple and top with sliced banana and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  The protein from the yogurt plus the carbs from the oatmeal really works well to fuel my workouts.

In more other news (!) Craig couldn't get his money back from his airline purchase.  I guess travel insurance isn't always helpful?  He even pulled the deployment card and they wouldn't budge.  So now he has a $400 airplane credit to use up within the next 12 months.  Unfortunately, he won't be doing a whole lot of US domestic air travel in the next 12 months. 

Eh.  That's life.

How zen of me.

I can't fault the guy.  Besides I had my own money oopsie last week which resulted in a nearly doubled cell phone bill.  Given the amount of mistakes I've made lately and how forgetful I've been, I'm beginning to think my brain is on an extended spring break.

Or perhaps it's as wilted and shriveled as my azaleas?

Surprise

Do you like surprises?

I don't.  But that probably shouldn't surprise you much.

I'm a type A, neurotic, control freak and I can honestly say I don't like them.  I like the idea of a surprise.  And, most definitely, the thought behind the surprise.  But as far as actually being surprised?  Not so much.

Last night Craig called. 

He likes surprises. 

Anyway, he had planned to surprise us with a visit during Memorial Day weekend.  One last time before shipping off to a far away land.  He double checked his plans, thought he had clearance on all accounts and booked tickets.  Unfortunately, he should have triple, no, quadruple checked, because as it turns out, he cannot go anywhere that weekend.

Oops.

Thankfully he purchased trip insurance.  Hopefully he'll get his money back.  If not...well, that's life. 

Anyway, as he was telling me all of this on the phone, I interrupted him and said,, "You realize I don't like surprises, right?"

"What?" he said.  "You mean to tell me you wouldn't be happy to see me, your husband of almost 15 years, if I showed up at the door unannounced?"

"Yes."  I told him.

Well, not exactly.  I obviously would be happy to see him and I certainly wouldn't send him away, but because I don't respond to surprises like the surpriser would hope, it's really just not a good idea to surprise me.  There's nothing worse than a shell shocked, type A, surprise hating surprisee reacting poorly to the well intentioned plans of a surprise loving surpriser.

Next time, I told him, you can surprise Caroline.  I'll even help plan it.

I think I just broke some sort of record for the amount of times I wrote 'surprise' in the above paragraphs.

Anyway, despite my distaste for surprises, it's a bummer that Craig cannot come for a visit.  I appreciate the effort, though. 

He gets points for trying.

Especially because just yesterday afternoon I was thinking to myself that on most days I'm perfectly okay with Craig being away for so long, but every so often, yesterday specifically, I miss having him around.

Sigh.

Spring Slump

I'm as backwards as they come.  True story.

Most people can't wait for spring and summer.  Most people look forward to warmer weather and sunny skies. 

Like most people, I enjoy an occasional sunny day.  I like to open my windows to feel the breeze.  I understand why people like spring.  But for me?  Well, when spring comes around, I feel like hiding.  Perhaps it's because I was reminded this morning that school ends in 5 weeks.  The very thought of the long hot summer ahead of us makes me want to cry endless buckets of tears.

I'm planning a few camps/activities for Caroline to break up the monotony.  But then I wonder if it's too much?  Or not enough?  Should she spend time just playing in the neighborhood, or will hours spent at camp be more beneficial?  What happens when the neighborhood kids hit their mid summer slump and grow tired of the pool and of each other?

It all just stresses me out.

And then I think, 'if I had just had more kids, I wouldn't have to worry about filling Caroline's days with so many activities because she'd always have someone to play with.'  But then I remember that siblings bicker, which makes a seemingly endless summer feel even longer and more painful.  My sister and I fought like cats and dogs.  It's a wonder my mom made it through each summer without checking herself into the looney bin.

And then I get terribly self centered and think about how the frequency and length of my gym visits decline in the summer. I feel guilty bringing Caroline to the gym with me every day, because she sort of hates it, so  I concede a workout or two per week.  But working out is stress relief.  It makes me happy.

Me, me, me.

Hello, guilt.

Blah.

In other news, I bought a new desktop computer.  I still can't figure out how to fix my other computer; I didn't even turn it on yesterday because I didn't want to even think about it.  Thankfully everything is backed up on an external hard drive, so we won't lose any important pictures and documents. Or music.  Craig is supposed to give me instructions on how to fix the problem on the dinosaur computer, but he doesn't have reliable Internet access right now and, not to mention, he's busy working.  Or whatever.  So, I shall wait.

The new computer, one of those all-in-one dealies, should arrive this week sometime.

I'm kind of excited about it.  Considering the fact that I was waiting for the other one to explode at any moment, it was time to upgrade.

And Craig, of course, is beside himself with glee, because he loves it when we make major purchases.

Guess I'm not the only backwards person in this family.

Rooster Runner

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Guess who was up at 4 am this morning?  That would be me.

Today (at 12:01 am) marked the first (and likely only) day of open registration for the Army Ten Miler.  I was fast asleep at midnight, but I purposefully set my alarm for 4 am so that I could get a spot before the race sells out.

Runners are strange.

And sleep deprived.

Never fear, I had another reason to wake early this morning....although not THAT early.  We had our Girls on the Run 5k this morning!

Last spring, when I ran with our neighbor, we left our house at 6am for this race and got stuck in horrific traffic trying to get into George Mason University, where the race is located.  This morning we left 15 minutes earlier and arrived without any traffic issues at all.  Of course, that means we were the first of our group to arrive, at 6:15, which left us with an hour and 45 minute wait until the race began.  Thankfully the rain held off, so standing outside was really quite pleasant.

As a bonus, the early birds get the clean port-o-potties.  Amen.

My camera battery was on the verge of dying this morning so I didn't bring it with me.  I did get a few pictures of Caroline before we left for the race, but they're not the greatest.  She's not a huge camera lover and most of the pictures I get of her look like mug shots.  I have better luck with extreme candid shots, but this morning, with the bad lighting and a dying camera battery, I just didn't have the time.

The obligatory running pose shot.

Clearly, she wasn't in the mood for pictures.

Anyway, the race was fun. 

Sort of.

As I said to Craig in a text:  'there were cramps and complaints of hills galore.'

This course is pretty hilly, but I tried to tell Caroline that hills make our legs stronger.  She wasn't entirely convinced.  The race was a mental struggle for her, but in the end, she sprinted to the finish with tons of energy to spare, like she always does.

The whole ordeal mentally exhausts me.

Physically, I'm exhausted, as well.  Because of the whole getting up at 4 am thing.  Oh and the tossing and turning all night doesn't help much, either.

After the race we stopped by Starbucks for caffeination and now were home; I'm all cleaned up and ready to be a lump.

Tech Woes

My desktop computer, which is an archaic dinosaur that probably needs to be put out of its misery, has a virus.  One of those 'WARNING:  Your computer is unprotected, please order our anti-virus software NOW" kind of things.  Ugh, what a pain.

My computer is protected.  Or at least it WAS protected.  I don't know.  All I know is that I cannot connect to the Internet, which is a huge bummer.

And now let us say a prayer of thanksgiving for my laptop, which shall sustain me and my unhealthy Internet addiction until my desktop's virus ceases to exist.

In case you didn't know, I'm not a tech person. I can turn it on,surf the web and pen this tragic blog, but as far as understanding anything in the computer vernacular is, well, like a foreign language to me.  And as luck would have it, computer issues ONLY arise when Craig is gone.

Just why is that? Really?

Does anyone know the answer because I'm dying to know why?

Anyhow, until Craig can help me figure out what to do, over the phone from 1000+ miles away,  our desktop is out of commission.  We've been talking a lot about replacing it, because it's an archaic dinosaur, but I've been holding on. I have faith in our old, but trustworthy computer.  It just takes a certain amount of patience and finesse to coax it into firing up every morning.  Despite my best efforts, it looks like I won't be holding out for much longer.  I can feel my grip slowly releasing and I'm warming to the idea of a brand spankin' new computer.

I do like shiny things.

Craig happens to adore spending money, so the idea of a new computer purchase makes him downright giddy. 

In other news, I thought I misplaced my ipod.  It was nowhere to be found in the house, in my gym bag or in either car.  So, I drove to my gym because I was SURE I'd left it in the locker room.  The ipod was nowhere to be seen in the locker room, nor in the lost and found, so I drove home, only to remember halfway home that I put my ipod in MY SHOE.  Seriously.  In my SHOE!

I even said out loud (to no one, because I was driving alone), "It's in my shoe!" 

I quit.