Back!

Hey everyone!!! I hope you're all doing great and feeling better. It's crazy how many people out there in blogland are sick. I still felt bad all weekend and then BOOM! on Monday it's like it was just gone. I still have a little crap in my throat, but I haven't had middle of the night coughing fits and thankfully haven't had to suck on any nasty cough drops at work all week. SCORE.

So, feeling good meant it was time to get back to running again this week!! Monday I absolutely tore up my 4 mile run, it felt insane to be running again after 2 weeks of feeling like crap and sticking with the elliptical. I obviously pushed it nicely because I am STILL sore! But I wouldn't trade that for anything, it feels great! I've gotten every workout in this week, and got another (slower) run in today that absolutely hurt because my legs are so sore from Monday's run and Wednesday's tough toning session. Good times!!! I'm looking at the upcoming race schedule to see what's coming up here. I'd like to do a May half, so hopefully I can find something online to sign up for soon. My workouts were going great in Feb until I was sick for 2 weeks, and I still got about half my workouts in when I felt I could without losing my lungs, so I can't be too disappointed in my February.

In other news, we've been wanting to go on a little spring break for a while and we finally booked a short trip to Dallas for late next week. YAY!!! I can't wait to eat some Tex-Mex (or a LOT of TexMex), do some shopping, visit some museums and most importantly TOUR SOUTHFORK!!! I freakin' can't wait!!! I have always wanted to go there. This time next week our plane will be touching down in Texas! YEEHAW!!! It's going to be so nice to get away for a little while, we haven't done much traveling over the last year and a half, but it's time for that to change this year so here we GO! Last year we only saw 1 new state together, which is just not enough! We've got about 13 more of the 50 to see, so it's time to start knocking a few more out.

Happy Thursday and Happy Lost night everybody!!!!!! AND, Happy Leap Day! My boss informed me that since we only get paid on the middle and last of the month that we're working for "Free" tomorrow and that we should certainly leave early, so I am ALL about that!

Why Camera Phones are a Good Thing

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had a great weekend! This one has been ok for us, we're (mostly me) still trying to get over this stupid lingering cold that has absolutely plagued the entire country. I hope this isn't some wretched "I-Am-Legend"-ish disease and we're both going to go crazy and attack poor, innocent Pippin. I would love to have one night where I'm not up for an hour in the middle of the night trying not to lose a lung. Last night I was up from 1:30-2:30 and then from 6:00-6:30 this morning. My middle of the night 'Net surfing options are really starting to get worn out...And as a hacking, couching nasty working out just isn't happening which makes me feel like a fat, old slug.

One of the total lows of the weekend was my Memphis Tigers losing to stupid Tennessee. I can't stand Tennesee football or anything else about them and Tennessee orange makes me dry heave. I dug out my extremely old Memphis State "Welcome to the Tomb of Doom" T-Shirt from their first season in the Pyramid (blast from the past) and even though it's all crinkly and some strange shades of blue I proudly wore it. It was a terrible game, and so close. Maybe this just means they'll play for the championship even harder.

A good bit of additional framing and drywalling got done this weekend, and new electrical run for to the new walls. We have 4 brand new plugs (yay!!!!) and the light switch is all moved over to its new spot by the door. I'll have to post some pics of that later this week.

But for now, here are some fun pics Brent has taken from his camera phone. He's got about a million pics on there and was cleaning through them this week and sent me some of his classics. A good deal of them are taken at our neighborhood unfriendly, wretched Kroger - which just so happens to be a major item of current discussion on our local neighborhood Google boards. It's disgusting, they're rude and hateful, half the produce we buy is spoiled and we just shouldn't have to put up with it. It always reminds me of that Cosby episode where the "lesser" neighborhoods got all the dented cans. We're the dented can neighborhood, which is stupid considering the price of most of the homes in this zip now. The housing market has transitioned, but not our grocery stores. Or the fast food restaurants - we hardly eat at any of them due to terrible service. Tonight we went to KFC, asked to sub a thigh for breasts - were told "NO" even though there's a price for doing that on the menu and the coupon says you can, then were told rudely they didn't have Crispy Chicken. So we just left. But anyway, rant aside here are some classic Brent photos from our neighborhood (and one from my former workplace, his current workplace):

Everything you need for the perfect date night, all in one shelf:
Diet pills, Tooth Whitening Kits & Condoms









Truly, everything you need for Christmas:









Personally, I would skip their meat selection and go for the gift card









Nothing makes me feel more secure than having Nashville's finest bagging my half rotten produce:









This was last winter in front of a small business in our neighborhood. Personally, I prefer my carts to have only been owned once.










I've always complained about sharing my b-day with my older brother. I guess if you share with Jesus you really can't complain TOO much.

15 mins

15 minutes is my max "talk time" before I erupt into explosive coughing fits today. I had to leave THREE meetings today because of my massively embarrassing coughing situation. I just start coughing and absolutely can not stop. A coworker brought me over his only cough drop today, I guess I sounded that terrible. And annoying. So yeah, it hasn't been the greatest of days. I try to basically just rest once I get home, but it doesn't seem to do much good. All around me today I could constantly hear coughs, so I think the whole state of TN just needs a week off. Or some sun and warmth. But we're supposed to have ice tonight, so it doesn't seem like that's going to happen.

Anyway, here's some new pics of the current wall under construction, when we're not too busy hacking, coughing and blowing.

Here's the opening with all the trim removed before framing:








A couple of studs are up and the door we pulled from between our bedroom and this room is in place:








More studs in place:








And now drywall is up! In this pic, we were actually one stud short on the right side but Brent was able to go ahead and cut the drywall, and we went the following day to get the rest of the lumber we needed so that stud is now in place and the drywall is actually hung.









What a difference it makes, right??!! Pippin is so confused by the new door. That's "his room" where he suns himself on the abundance of couches, so we have to be sure to leave the door open for him in the mornings so his routine isn't disrupted. Here's a pic with Pippin and his new doggie Pez dispenser. It's really not something he cares about, it's just cute. It dispenses dog treats, so of course he likes that.









Ok, time to get some more rest and hopefully beat this dumb cold. I'm sick of it disrupting my sleep, work, workouts and general breathing!!!! Take care!!

Not Like the Other

When some people talk, I listen. And when Shore Turtle recommends a book, I log into the Metro-Nash library system and request the book. And when I see a movie with the same title, I get super excited!! And thanks to the modern technologies we have, a few hours later they're waiting in my alphabetically reserved spot in the library.....But maybe I should pay a bit more attention.....it seems "Duel in the Sun" is a bit common....













Um, yeah. A Western and a book about Golf. Yuk. It's really not a rare thing for me to end up requesting something way off base, but going 0-2 was a bit depressing. Anyway, it was so hilarious I ended up checking them out so I could bring them home and give Brent a massive chuckle. And one of my running coworkers. And maybe you, too!!

So anyway, Snotfest '08 is still going on in our house. The weekend was mostly a bust, but we were a little productive and got the framing done for the new room and most of the drywall hung. We rarely left the house, and when we went to get more Mucinex I sort of forgot how early in the morning it was and that the pharmacy wasn't open yet at Kroger to get it. Here in the grand state of TN anything with the "pseudophedrine" in it is kept behind the counter and requires a drivers license to get since it's used in making some drug. We're still hacking things up like cats and just generally feeling icky, but better. This winter is too much. Sunday it was gorgeous (after an early morning hurricane) and 72, then cold fronts came in and it's been icy cold (low 40's) and there may be some freezing rain on the way. I skipped working out Friday because I felt so bad, but I've done light workouts yesterday and today just to keep everything moving, even though I really haven't felt like it.

Did anyone else waste 2 hours of their life Sunday night and watch Knight Rider? BLAH!! I wish I could sue and get that part of my life back, it was terrible!! My only consolation is that we weren't feeling great and needed the rest.

Happy Wednesday everyone!!!

Sniffles

How do you know you're comfy in your relationship?? When you're both home sick on a Friday night, a billion blankets on the couch, a box of Kleenex, a cute pup in the middle and Celine Dion playing on the widescreen in HD, and you're perfectly happy with that. Ok, the Kleenex and complete inability to breathe I could do without.

Practically everyone around us has been sick for the past two weeks and we held strong until this week. Starting late Monday I had a sore throat, but I felt fine other than not having much of a voice all week. We were both pretty puny all week, and then last night the noses started running and general aches started, and here we are enjoying Celine Dion. We had an awesome Valentines dinner last night at Margot's. Brent made reservations weeks ago for this fab place and it was awesome as always!! We started with some bread and oil, then I had duck with polenta and greens, in some sort of AMAZING cherry sauce and Brent had some insane Short Ribs. And since we skipped a first course we ordered two desserts, because we're worth it. We some profiteroles in a chocolate sauce and fondue with fruits and cookies. Then we promptly came home put on our PJs, watched Lost and snored loudly all night with our colds.

So, if anyone wants to bring us some soup we're pitiful and would love it. The can of chicken noodle I had for dinner was the best-thing-ever.

Ok, back to Celine. Happy Weekend everyone!

Walls & Walks & Pippin Overload

Hello!!!! I haven't posted many pics lately, so here's what we've been up to:

Here's the new wall in our living room:

We basically took a weird opening from the living room to the dining room and sealed it up. Why you would need two entrances to the dining room is beyond us....

Here it is framed up:












Here it is with the drywall and mud:













And here's the finished wall with the new furniture. Really not the best pic of the new furniture and greatly improved living room, but it works for now! We're shopping for new furniture to put the TV on/in, a new rug and fabric for curtains. AND, we need new baseboard but we haven't found anything "grand" enough yet. Soooo, the living room really isn't done, but we are loving the new furniture and wall!!









This is ALL the snow we've had all winter. That's it. And that was Jan 1. We've had plenty of cold, lots of back and forth temps where it's 70 and tornadoes one day and then crappy cold the next. And we've had loads of rain. Rain all day today - today it started out in the upper 50's and our high tomorrow is going to be 32. Which likely explains why Brent and I both feel under the weather this week with sore throats. Tonight we're pitiful and watching American Idol, which is now boring since the horrible auditions are over.








We've had loads of gorgeous weekends where we haven't needed a jacket at all, and have had some fun walks/jogs with Pippin.












And Pippin has helped me pay some bills....









And here's our current project: we're working on turning our front room from just a den to a den/bedroom. So, we're taking the door out that for some strange reason connects our bedroom to it. We're moving that door to be the new door for the den/bedroom and framing up the large entrance. So far the door is pulled out, drywall is hung, and the door is positioned where we want it. Now it has to be framed and drywalled as well.

Old door from the front room to our room:













Door is gone and the drywall hung: We're going to build a closet here in the corner of the room that is going to be AWESOME! So, this will be the back wall of the new closet.













And the door will go right about here (just straight/plum/level, Pippin was a little in the way) Don't you just love how Pips manages to get in every picture????












We are loving the changes and so excited about them!!!

Workouts this week have been blah. This sore throat thing has me feeling groggy and just generally off, so I haven't pushed the workouts hard, but I have gotten them in and I guess that's what counts.

Happy Early Valentines!!!!!!!!

Winded But Not Blown Away

Hey everyone!!! Sorry to leave on such a "cliff hanger" last night but the weather was getting pretty nasty. No less than 10 minutes after I signed off "the beast" was here and the winds were crazy, we had a little hail and I pretty much thought that lightning was going to crack our house apart. It's never a good feeling when they zoom in on possible rotation and it's literally 3 blocks from your house. There was some girly screaming (from me) but all in all we were very lucky and had no damage. Especially considering all the kids that got hurt at Union Univ in West Tennessee. My parents live near there, so when the bulk of the storm was passed I called them around 10 but they were fine. Our tornado sirens went off constantly from 9:15 until waaaay into the night. The next rounds came through from 12:15 or so until maybe around 1:30. No one in Mid TN got a lot of sleep last night. We had the TV on and around 1 the anchor said "Are we just about through here? Should we talk about the election?" and then they mentioned who won the state here yesterday. And literally, that's all I have heard about the election. The news this morning was 100% storm damage as quite a few people across TN died in the storm as a result of tornadoes, and there was also a massive fire due to a gas explosion.

Tornadoes are what I like least about the South. I have dozens of crazy memories of hunkering down in a million different places. Schools, dorms, restaurants, home. There was the Thanksgiving that my mom decided not to wake my grandma up because she figured she'd already had a good life and she wanted the room for all of us in the closet, the Senior Lunch where a twister was coming through and we were all ordered behind the bar as patio tables slammed against our cars, college days of being forced down in the dorm basement for hours and hours when we had SO much studying to do! A few years ago storms were coming through every stinking night the week leading up to the CPA exam and I slept with my exam pass next to the bed - without it you weren't allowed into the test sight and there was no stinking way I was going to miss that exam. If the house toppled on top of me I would have my admittance slip. There's no telling how many tornadoes this house has seen in the past 130 years, so I just have to remember that and know for a fact it's built strong - and we know it survived the worst one a few years ago with just a little damage, while most of our neighbors didn't fare as well.

Anyway, we don't observe Lent but I figured I should give up something for it because I do think it's a good thing to give up stuff. So, I am giving up laziness. I know, it's a little bit of a stretch since at minimum I work out 4 days a week, and usually more than that. BUT, over the holidays and new year I've really gotten out of pushing myself to get to the pool and also toning/strength training. SO, the goal is to do a little of that every day in addition to the miles I already log 4 days a week. We made our first trip back to the pool last Saturday and I was so happy we went. We didn't swim that far but we got a great workout in and my arms were BURNING and my legs ended up doing so much work that they were absolutely spent when we got out. It was GREAT! And wow, lung capacity decreases when you go from swimming 4 times a week to once or twice a month! We made it back to the pool after work tonight, and it was much easier than Saturday. We've still lost speed and strength over the last 6 weeks or so, but it's coming back. I want to make it to the pool 2-3 times a week going forward, and keep working on speed and endurance.

Alrighty, I guess that's it from around here!! I don't miss the storms from yesterday but I do miss the 72 degrees we had! (Although it was crazy humid and my hair has been a FRIZZ BOMB for 2 days!) Now it's cold (41 degrees) and so windy.

Happy Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fat Tuesday No More

It seems like "the forces" aka excuses have conspired against me constantly lately to keep me from getting my evening toning exercises in, and now many of my pants are conspiring against me to keep me out of them. The holidays and early year home projects have taken up so many of our evening, but now that the fab new wall in the living room is done the plan was for me to get back on toning this week. But once again forces yesterday worked against. The crap recession has all sorts of mess flying at work, which kept me an hour late yesterday, then Monday nights are laundry night so that hour took away all my "discretionary" time for working out. So Fat Tuesday it would be.

We made our DELICIOUS jambalaya recipe for Fat Tuesday, then right as we were wrapping up a friend called to talk about a bad situation at her work. Obviously that takes priority over my booty-licious situation, but when we got off the phone at 8:30 it was time to get things done. Of course Pippin had to be in the mix, so I started out doing my moves while gingerly avoiding him. (However since he ate a bowl of chocolate yesterday I would say that boy is made of steel.) Then Brent started sawing away at the trim on the den, which I am not complaining about because I am so excited about our den becoming a guest room. But still, distraction #2. And then - the tornado sirens. Oh yeah, Pippin chewing + Brent sawing + tornado sirens makes for quite the workout but I got it done and now we're tuned into the weather report watching this nutso storm rapidly approach us. My parents live in West TN and it sounds like quite a few tornados touched down in their area. Supposedly 40-something twisters have already been spotted. Lightning is racing outside right now like crazy.

Well, according to the bleeps it's going to be full force on us in less than 3 minutes, so it's time to find the flashlights, log off before the network goes down and take cover somewhere. Gotta love living in the South and the results of today's 72 degree temps.

Cya!

YAY!

YAY Giants!!!! And now I am the winner of one meal cooked and cleaned by Brent. And that's a prize bigger than any SuperBowl ring.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!!

Only in Nashville...