Back to the Basics

This week and last week I feel I have gone back to the "basics" on a few things...

Him

The past week I have been working on a grocery list for him of his favorite beer, dinners, snacks, etc. And this might sound absurd for someone who supposedly knows him better than anyone, but I find myself trying a little too hard to remember what I use to buy for him.

My friend Leslie mentioned "everything" bagels the other day. I could not believe I forgot his FAVORITE breakfast. See I use to eat bagels all of the time, but stopped buying them once he left.

I hope more come to me in the next week.

My girls

If you follow me on FB, you noticed some of my updates reading "walking the girls" instead of rollerblading. While rollerblading tires them out super fast and we have rollerblading down to a science, they are acutally AWFUL walkers.

My poor mom. Whenever she puts them on the leash to walk, they think they are rollerblading and go darting down the driveway. This past week I rollerblade them in the morning and walk them in the evening. I have seen quite a bit of progress.

I also realized my forearms are ridiculously strong as when I rollerblade and walk my two 60+ puppies, I have no problem controling each of them.

Anyone have any tips to get your big dogs to stop pulling?

Studying/Career

I came to the realization a few months back, I needed to find a "portable" career. While looking ahead at our future, I realized we are going to move 3 times in just the next 5 years. Lovely for someone who wants a perfect sports business related job.

After talking with my parents, his parents, and of course him, I decided to go ahead and get my personal trainer's license and start up my own business. I am actually quite excited about it. I already picked a name, blog, website, and started on my business plan. My family always told me I should go into it since I constantly train them whenever I get a chance. I also have to thank P90X for so many things including new workouts and noticing results after a certain amount of time.

We decided for me to not try and find another job since we were so close to R&R and for me to spend my time studying. I also plan on subbing in the fall for some kind of additional income for this household.

I take the test August 3rd, just a few short days before he is suppose to arrive. I figure it would distract me and I really wanted it all said and done before he gets here.

I am a little nervous and was hesitant to post it on my blog. Afterall, you are suppose to take 3 months to study and I am knocking it out in 1.5 months. I just finished outlining the book and now will take this week to review. So here goes nothing!

Screw you Mommy.

After a 12 hour day...I knew walking into our house, the girls were not going to be happy with me. Even after a 2.5 mile run this morning at 5:30am.

My normally sweet and obedient Dakota managed to break into the pantry and eat some of the paper plates. By the time I took Daisy out of her cage, they nearly knocked me over in excitement.

I let them calm down for about 10 minutes. Leashed them up and put on my rollerblades in the garage. I heard them jumping more than usual at the garage door to the house. When I reached to grab the handle. Locked.

I definitely did not lock it. With all their jumping, one of their paws must have hit the lock.

I rollerbladed a mile to my life savior, Destiny's. Not home. Headed to my friend Laurie's house to use her phone to call Destiny. No answer. A few minutes passed and I saw her car pull into her street. I chased her down (still in my rollerblades) and she of course laughed at me. Mostly because I was laughing at myself, saying, "My life is a mess sometimes".

I hate locking myself out. Which reminds me, I still need to get my lawn mower out of the shed.

P.S. My girls, currently wrestling outside on the deck. Their bodies just banged into my kitchen window.

P.S.S. I still rollerbladed with them for another 2.5 miles tonight.

Anyone looking for two very calm and obedient puppies? Going for a good price...

Week Twenty

side note: No I am not crazy, in Indiana, its the BMV standing for Bureau of Motor Vehicles :)


I honestly sat down for the first time in five days last night and even questioned myself if I should really be sitting down and not be doing something else.

In addition to my first week of work my schedule consisted of Pot Luck with the girls on Tuesday, Book Club on Wednesday, Choir Church Concert on Thursday, not to mention my whole Driver's License issue.

I am forever thankful for my boss. She fought the issue with our HR department in California and I sucked it up, paid $50 more dollars, stayed up until 2am on Wednesday completing the online course, and finishing yet another online Driver's Safety course. I just wanted my license reinstated. In seven more days I should be legal once again. I describe the whole situation as just lame, very lame actually.

I am falling into a nice routine which both I and the dogs need and appreciate. I racked up over 25 miles on the rollerblades this week with the puppies. Since the weather reached the 60s all week with sunny skies, I rollerbladed not only at 6:45 every morning, but everyday after work.

I finally started running again and felt pretty good after two short runs. I am going to attempt a long run this weekend and even try my first kickboxing class since bruising my tailbone.

Some more deployment goals:

• Sent my third care package to him full of Gator Golf, my delicious Black Forest cookies, a Spiderman kite, People & US Weekly magazines, baseball gloves + baseball, and two old school DS games (Space Invaders + Command & Destroy).
• Cooking and baking well over three new recipes this month. Besides my Tofu Fried Rice, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and cookies, I am planning to make homemade Salsa, Orange Roughy, bowtie pasta receipe, and and a new chicken recipe all on Sunday for my upcoming work week.

With all the warm weather and rain, I now need to go cut my front and backyard. Wish me luck!

Week Eleven

Well where do I start...

I truly believe I am suffering from blogger's block. And I know exactly why.

About 10 days ago, I decided to "forgo" my newest job opportunity. Its an incredibly long story that I promise to share eventually. I will say I absolutely made the right decision and have no regrets whatsoever. For awhile I found it difficult to blog.

I am back in the interview/resume/application saddle and found some luck. I am on interview #3 with a company, but not sure what will happen next. While I continue my job search related to my major, I am subbing. And let me say, God Bless teachers. I taught elementary all of last week. I never said "Keep your hands to yourself" or "Eyes and ears on me girls and boys" more in my entire life.

This week I am subbing 6th grade English at a local middle school, Monday-Friday. Its like a real job, ha, which I am still adjusting to this new schedule. They actually offered me a long term position to teach that class until the end of the school year. I have until the end of the week to decide.

And let me tell you, my dogs HATE my schedule. I truly believe I trained obedient dogs, but not as of late. Friday afternoon I came home to two very hyper dogs. I immediately changed my clothes and put on my rollerblades. The girls took off so fast that all of a sudden I witnessed both of my legs and rollerblades fly straight into the air and I landed square on my back. I self-diagnosed myself with a bruised tailbone.

Four days later I am still in a ton of pain. I did not go to kickboxing for the first time in 2 months. Instead I lifted and ran two miles at a very slow pace. My darling friend and neighbor brought over her heating pad and let's just say, its my new best friend, even replaced DVR in my life!

I promised myself to take it easy this week, but I am growing more and more frustrated as I realized I am 11 days away from my half-marathon. I do not know what to do.

Besides all the minor drama, I am still feeling good about a lot of things. As I approach the three month mark, I am:

• Still cooking three new meals a month
• Scrapbooking a lot more
• Already reading my second book, a trashy Hollywood novel this month
• Studying a little more for my personal training license
• Involving myself more at my church and still attending every week

Six out of the past seven weekends, my house was filled with visitors. Last weekend my sister and brother-in-law visited. This weekend is no different. His former teammate at WP's wife wants to come check out the area while her husband finishes Ranger School. They plan to move here in May which means another wonderful friend nearby.

Hopefully this ends my blogger's block!

Rollerblade Diaster Take 1

I knew it was only a matter of time.

Good ol' Newton once said that those in motion should stay in motion. This is how I describe my daily outings with my puppies on the roller blades.

Due to the weather, I am bundled up with my i-pod, gloves, hat, sweatshirt etc. so my athleticism (ha) is lacking.

We just started out and typically it takes awhile to get them going. I go about a block and Dakota becomes fixated on a Chihuahua. I know my subdivision like the back of my hand. I've seen every dog, car, kid, etc. And I have not seen this dog.

Here is a side note. One of my pet peeves involves electric fences in the front yard. I am slowly getting over this as we know the 3 dogs in the area who jump off the front porch and dart for the street after my puppies. Daisy and Dakota know to keep going or else.

Back to the Chihuahua.

I see it in the front yard and it begins chasing after us. Now, here I assume it is another front yard electric fence.

No dice.

The dog continues to chase after us (WHERE ARE HIS PARENTS?!). Daisy, my big baby, never goes after dogs, however, she realizes, "Hey, I am bigger than THIS dog". As my dogs continue to tangle me up, I stop (HUGE mistake) and am ready to put the smack down on them. The Chihuahua finally notices the fight is 2 v 1, scares a little and dashes in front of car. The car stops.

I worry about the Chihuahua and as I worry, I loose Daisy's leash! She takes off after the dog. Dakota wants to chase too pulls me SMACK into the stopped car. The poor driver hears a big ol' thud on the side of his car. Somehow, through all of this, I still manage to hold onto to Dakota.

But not for long.

Daisy chased the dog across the street. Dakota wants to help and when she has her mind set on something, by golly, she is going to get it. So my wonderful dog pulls me into a yard through a HUGE 5 foot bush, where a couple peacefully works on their landscape.

I finally let go and tumble right at the feet of the lady who so kindly offered her help. Thank goodness for all the padding I wore. Sweet Daisy notices mommy is down and comes to my rescue. Dakota is going in circles after this dog 5 houses down. The lady grabbed Daisy's leash and luckily when I call Dakota, she comes.

The couple told me that I impress them everyday with 2 puppies on roller blades. I said nothing like this has happened, but I knew it was only a matter of time.

Once we got going again, all was well.

Daisy and Dakota are both passed out on the kitchen floor.

Today's life lessons:

1) Listen to Newton's Law of Motion
2) Neighbors should REALLY know the location of their dogs


Also, my subject is Take 1 because let's face it, I am sure I will be sharing more stories like this in the near future.