Nailed It.

I got a call from the HR lady today, saying that they wanted to offer me the job!  Hooray!  She rattled off a ton of information, so there's a good chance that I missed something important about the job, like you must dress in Amish clothing everyday or you can't wear shoes on Wednesday, but I was too excited to worry about any of that.  I have to take a drug test tomorrow (fingers crossed!) and then my new employee orientation is December 13, so I've still got some time to live it up.  So far the only people who know I got the job are Jacob and Dana (the inner circle, you might say), so I guess I should probably call my parents. 

As promised, as soon as I got off the phone, I drove straight to Herbergers and bought myself the purse.  $100 off, you really can't beat that.  In my excitement, I forgot about the streaks of mascara on my face (see earlier post), so I'm sure the girl that checked me out at Herbergers thought I was mourning something terrible, but it was just my snowflake eyes.  I managed to make it to the mall and back in less than 10 minutes, because I was on a mission. 

As you can see, I'm quite satisfied with the purchase.  I wonder why it took me so long to get a job, because I'm really professional and totally act like an adult...

Technological Difficulties

Today has not been a great day for me, electronically.  While I was running today, my ipod died.  When I say died, I don't mean the battery died and it's charging now and works fine.  I mean RIP ipod, thanks for the memories.  And if that doesn't make you feel crappy enough, Apple programs the thing to give you this icon:

 Thanks so much, Apple.  Like I needed the sad face with X's for eyes to communicate to me that I'm about to be out $150.  What would Steve GOBS have to say about that?

After I walked the dogs this afternoon, I decided I wanted to watch some streaming Netflix, but NATURALLY my instant queue was messed up.  So for the second day in a row, I spent 20 minutes on the phone with Netflix, trying to get the situation sorted out.  The girl was basically no help and told me that the technicians were working on my account, and they would try to get my instant queue fixed soon, but it might erase all the movies I have stored in there, so I'll probably have to add all those back in.  When I realized she had no clue, I just asked how long I should expect until it's working.  Her response, "it should be fixed by today."  What does that mean.  Fixed by today?  Is that even a phrase?  If it was fixed by today, it would be working currently, right?  Ugh.  Currently it's still not working, but it's still today, so I guess I just have to wait.  Not long after I got off the phone with Netflix, Tom called me and quickly told me that I sounded like an underwater robot, so he hung up.  When he called back and I was still robotic, we realized it was my phone, so I had to turn my phone off and call him back.  So I guess the girl at Netflix thought she was talking to Small Wonder that whole time.  

  

I was telling Tom my electronic woes and how everything was going wrong, and twice during the conversation my cell phone dropped the call.  Perfect.  Thanks, irony!  I called him back and he said that he had full bars, so he didn't know why we kept losing each other, and I again told him it was because I was having such bad luck today.  His response: "Good thing you don't have a pacemaker."

It has been snowing the entire day today.  Like, since I woke up, I have not seen it stop, which really sucks.  Oscar seems a bit clueless about the whole thing, and Andy really loves eating snowballs and licking the snow off of our neighbor's doormat.  The cold weather in general makes Oscar really crazy, which you can see here:

  

I took some pictures of what it looks like outside, but these were all taken at like 3 pm, so everything got way more covered in snow.  I just can't take pictures after 4pm since the sun goes down then.

You can see here where Oscar and I walked to the mailbox.

Don't we have such a beautiful view out our front windows?  I still have no idea what that giant garage is for and what those iron things are, but it's not pretty.

 Again, this is early in the day.  The grass is totally covered now.  Perfect for making snowballs for the dogs to eat.

Despite the snow, Oscar still begged for a walk, so I bundled up (five layers on top) and took him.  The first half was not so bad because the snow was blowing into our backs, and since I was so puffed up, I wasn't even very cold.  The second half, we were walking into the wind and snow and it seemed like every flurry was landing directly on my eyeballs.  As we got close to home, it started to burn so bad that I felt like my eyes were getting boiled.  Great Zeus and Athena, it was painful.  I kept saying to the dogs "Help!  Mom's gone blind!"  After about three minutes of rubbing my eyes, I realized it wasn't just the frozen snow drops pelting my eyeballs that was hurting, it was the water washing all of my mascara into my eyes.  I went into the bathroom to try to get the mascara out of my eyes and was startled at the look of myself.  It looked like I had been trapped inside a coal mine explosion.  I wiped my eyes for several minutes and got 99% of it off, and then realized I should take a picture to show you how gross, grey, and raccoony I was:

It's fine, we're all thinking it.  I need a nose job.  That's just what happens when you mix Czech and German with a drop of Jewish (allegedly).  But yeah, this picture doesn't really do it justice.  It was solid black from my lash line to my eyebrows, and extending down to  my nose.  I still have a grey streak down the right side of my face that got smeared almost out to my ear.  Should I be worried that Jacob didn't notice that when he came home?

Bonus

I decided that since that last post was basically worthless, I'd give you a collection of fun videos to watch.  If you're like me, and your Cyber Monday shopping high has worn off, you probably need it.  Enjoy!

Andy Bernard lifts my spirits every time.  It's why I named my dog after him.  Couldn't love the guy anymore.  Now combine Andy with The Muppet Movie.  Throw in a little Pig Latin.  GENIUS.

Another fictional character that I would like to believe is real is Tom Haverford.  Everything he does is perfect, but I especially love when he sings.

Another comedic genius, Karl Pilkington.  Let me just say that Karl's relationship advice at the 4:00 mark is EXACTLY Jacob's stance on our relationship.  Mostly just the first year of dating.  He has admitted to me that he basically did whatever he wanted, didn't worry about how often we talked (during the long distance part) and hoped it would work out well.  I've always said he's a hopeless romantic.

I just realized that all of those videos are guys that I love, which is strange since I regularly go to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as pick-me-ups.  I'll throw one of those in here for bonus as well.  For those of you who don't watch Parks & Rec, obviously you're missing out.  In this clip, Leslie is covering for one of her fellow hunters who shoots her boss, and when the Park Ranger comes by to investigate the incident, he treats her like a dumb girl, which she has plenty to say about.  I plan on using each and every one of these excuses to Jacob at some point.

In other news, I've been having some communication problems with my doctor, my by-mail pharmacy, and my local pharmacy, and it's driving me crazy.  Between the three of them, it's like they are determined to force me off my birth control.  I only have two more days worth of pills, people.  FIGURE IT OUT.  I have never missed taking a pill by more than an hour, and the idea of missing it for potentially multiple days is FREAKING.ME.OUT.

Still No Word

Well today was pretty boring. I was really hoping for some news on the job, but alas I have nothing. Hopefully I will hear something tomorrow and it will be good news. At this point I don't even really care about the job I just want that purse... Just kidding.



Not really.

Shopping= Mood Booster

Well we are less than ONE WEEK away from the half marathon, and I'm getting pretty excited about it.  Not so much because I'm excited about the race, but I am super ready to be done with training.  Even though I had a great run Thanksgiving morning for the Turkey Trot 10k, when I ran today I felt serious pains in my legs.  The vice-grip on my left leg came back and I spent the entire four miles trying to shake off what felt like iron shackles around my shin.  Here's hoping that my runs the rest of the week go better and I don't feel like my leg is in a tourniquet during the run on Sunday.

Lately I've been consumed (semi-exaggeration) with finding a dress to wear for Jacob's office Christmas party.  Since all my nice dresses are in storage and I need something in two weeks, I needed to order something online.  I took advantage of the Cyber Monday sales, and I found a dress I really love, and only spent $49.  HI-YO!

Granted, I'm not a size 0 model with skinny arms, but I still think it will be cute.  If only I had set my cute green or red heels aside to wear with it for the party.  Oh well.  Black peep toes will have to do.

I was pretty successful in my online shopping today.  I managed to get several presents for Jacob, and one present for another individual who was a huge help in picking out the party dress.  I won't go into anymore detail than that since said individual is not good at waiting for presents and will probably want me to tell her what I bought.  Not gonna happen, friend.  Still, I've never been in such good shape for Christmas at this point.  Granted, I don't have much purchased, but I at least know what I'm going to get for most people, so that's a start. 

Poor little Oscie boy has still not gotten all of his winter coat in, and he gets so cold some days.  I decided to look for a dog sweater and found one that I LOVE, but they don't have it in an XL, which is what he would need.

Come on, Target, MAKE IT HAPPEN.  I can't even tell you how much Andy loves his toy dreidel, and I am confident that he would be crazy jealous of the swagger Oscar would have in this sweater.  I honestly don't think it's too much to ask.

This morning, when I was checking my email, I saw that I had one from Herbergers (yeah, I get daily emails) with a coupon for an additional 15%.  I considered this a sign from God that I would not only be getting the job at the hospital, but that I should also reward myself with that Fossil purse for doing so.  Unfortunately the rest of the day went by with no word about the job...bummer.  I'm really hoping to hear something tomorrow, since that will have been a week since they brought me in to eat lunch with them.  To be honest, I can't really wait much longer because that purse will be be gone, and I will be very annoyed.

Back Again. Whatever.

Well.  We're back.  I say that with little to no celebration, since I'm currently in the middle of a pity-party for myself about living here.  It will pass (in a couple of years), and I'll be fine, but for today, I'm kinda grumpy.  Jacob must have been feeling this way last night because he was just such a Debbie Downer.  Around 8pm, he was like "I'm sick of watching tv, let's do something."  I went through everything I could think of--"We could go to Applebee's and get half price appetizers!"  Jacob: "No."  "We could put a movie on Netflix and watch that!"  Jacob:  "No."  "I could put a Top Gear on and we could watch that!"  Jacob:  "No."  "We could play Scrabble or some other game together on the iPad!"  Jacob:  "No."  "We could hand wash all of our dishes, even the clean ones!"  Jacob: "No."  So as you can see, it wasn't really the funnest night for me.  We ended up watching an episode of Top Gear, even though Jacob had initially turned that down, and I popped a couple bags of popcorn.  The British humor combined with the buttery treat seemed to do the trick, as I saw him smile almost three times, so I guess that's good.  We were both pretty exhausted from the day of traveling, and ended up going to bed at 10pm.  It's totally fine if you're jealous of what sounds like the greatest Saturday night ever.  Unfortunately, once we were in bed, Jacob's irritation returned, and as I was reading, he was complaining about the clock in our kitchen that he could hear ticking.  I got up and took the battery out, only to have Jacob immediately complain about Andy's placement in our bed, because it was wrinkling the sheets.  He was also frustrated because Andy was curled up against him, which was making him warm.  I tried to adjust Andy so that we could straighten the sheets, but Andy decided he'd had enough of us, and got up out of the bed and left.  I don't think anyone will be surprised to hear that Jacob immediately complained about how cold he was without Andy's body heat.  I offered to turn the heat on, but he turned that down, I think just so he could continue to complain.  A bit later, he got up to go to the bathroom, and when he came back, all he said was "Man, I'm really grumpy."  I agreed, and he said "Sorry about that."

Yesterday, when we got back in town, I decided I wanted to see if Herbergers had any good sales still going.  I didn't get to do any Black Friday shopping since no one would take me (HUNTER), so I was really needing to scratch the shopping itch I had.  When I got to Herbergers, I realized that all their good deals were Friday only, which was a pretty big bummer, but I did stumble across a purse on clearance that I have had my eyes on for MONTHS. 

 

I had a coupon that took an additional 15% of the clearance price, and I told myself I needed to look for gifts for Jacob before I bought myself anything.  The minute I put it down, some hussy came over and picked it up and started looking at it.  At that moment, I was positive I'd made a huge mistake in putting it down.

I was so tempted to just walk over and take it out of her hands and tell her it's not the bag for her.  Honey, I think they make better bags to coordinate with your lilac Eeyore sweatshirt and seven year old Reebok's.  I know I sound judgemental, but guess what?  I DON'T CARE.  That purse was MEANT for me, dang it.  In the end, I hovered around her long enough to see that she dropped the Fossil bag for some disgusting monstrosity that was woven and had American flags on it.  After doing some shopping for Jacob, (and remembering that he'd already bought me a Coach purse for Christmas), I decided I shouldn't spend the money on the Fossil.  I have regretted that decision since the second I walked out that store.  I promise you this--if I get a call this week, saying I got that job at the hospital, the very first thing I'm doing is going to Herbergers and getting that purse.  The bummer is the 15% coupon won't be valid anymore, but it will still be worth it. 

Okay now that it's getting to be super cold, I am in desperate need of some good warm recipes.  I made chicken pot pie last week, and it was pretty good, but I need more.  More soups, more casseroles, anything that will be really warm and comforting.  This week I'm making a few baked pastas and shepherds pie, but I really don't want to make the same things all winter, because I get tired of stuff so quickly.  Suggestions???

Warning: if you don't want to read my tirade about a Pastor, then this paragraph probably isn't for you.  For the rest of you, let me just tell you how annoyed I was today during church.  Jacob and I both overslept this morning, so we couldn't go to the LCMS church, and would only be able to make it to the Bible church next door we go to most of the time.  Here's the deal with this place; we love the music, and the congregation seems really friendly and passionate, but neither Jacob nor I are crazy about either of the pastors.  You may recall several weeks ago, when the pastor made a comment about God creating the birds of the air, and then immediately making a hunting comment and me becoming enraged.  Today the other pastor gave the sermon, and as soon as I saw in the bulletin that he was the one preaching, I was a bit nervous.  This pastor tends to be a bit....verbose.  Now, that probably seems ironic coming from me, but this guy rambles unbelievably.  He will literally say the same thing 10 different times consecutively before moving on to his next point.  WE GET IT GUY, YOU'RE NOT SAYING ANYTHING NEW.  WRAP IT UP.  He also has an extremely annoying habit of telling WAY too many personal stories during the sermon.  Today he managed to incorporate about 12 stories about his daughters alone.  The problem with his stories is that as soon as he starts a story, he realizes he's got to tell like 10 others in order for his point to make sense, so every story splinters into a ton more, and he gives you so much useless knowledge.  For example, he rambled on like this for awhile: he gathered his family together on Friday evening to discuss how they would prepare for the Christmas holiday.  Did you know the word holiday means Holy Day?  Most of us don't treat them that way.  So anyway, he has his family gathered and his youngest daughter, who's 3, is the most talkative in their family.  Sometimes she just makes noises, because she's talking so fast.  She knows words, but she just can't keep up with her words sometimes when she's so excited.  And when you give her hot chocolate, it only gets worse!  But somehow, when they were discussing how to celebrate the Christmas season, and how they were going to slow down, even she was able to sit still and listen.  Now that's a Christmas miracle!  That was only a portion of the story he was telling.  Another obnoxious example of this is when he was telling some story, and he starts out by saying "Once, during a huge storm--I'm not one of those dads that goes by the rules.  During storms, I bring my kids outside to watch.  You can ask my wife, I'm always waking the kids up to bring them outside to see the storm.  Except one time during that terrible storm...where was it?  Anyway, the storm was so bad, and I told my wife 'get downstairs!' and she did, and I followed right behind her.  Normally, I'd be outside watching, but not this time.  And my oldest daughter, she was 4 at the time--actually, I remember before we had her.  My wife was with child-she does all the work, I just help in naming them!  I had bought a Bible for her.  You know, you're supposed to be able to tell the reading level based on the version of the Bible you buy.  I bought her New American Standard.  I guess I expected her to be reading at a young age!  That's actually about an 11th grade reading level.  She's not quite there yet.  No, really, she's a great reader now.  Loves to read.  She reads her Bible all the time.  So during this storm, we're downstairs, and she asks me if anyone lives in the town effected by the storm, and I said yes, so she asked to pray for those people.  Isn't that great?  Boy, does that humble you when you realize how good a job you're doing guiding and growing these children when a 4 year old thinks to pray for someone else in a time like that."  I mean, really.  How much of that information did we need to know to hear that at 4, your daughter thought to pray for someone else?  And, to be honest, I have no idea how it even applied to the sermon.  Another favorite trick of his is to spend 75% of the sermon, regardless of the topic, discussing how important it is for HIM PERSONALLY to be a good spiritual leader to his family.  He goes on and on about how he's a good example, and how his girls see that they need to look to the Bible for answers because that's what he does, and that, even though he's a workaholic, he can't bother to be away from his family.  Underneath all the bragging, he has a good point about how important it is for fathers to be spiritual leaders of a household and how families should be in the Word together.  I agree with all that, but it's the way he says it, like we should all be clapping through the sermon and giving him an "Amen" at the end of every sentence for how amazing he is as a father.  And to top it all off, after 20 STRAIGHT MINUTES of saying how awesome he is as a father and how good he is to his daughters, he said "I truly believe humility is one of the most important things."  I feel bad, but I actually laughed out loud.  I tried to cover it up with a cough, but I think the people around me knew.  To be honest, he lost me about 10 minutes into the sermon when he started bragging about how much time he spends with his daughters, because that's so important.  He even brought them out hunting with him because he couldn't bear to be away from them.  Then he spent about five minutes talking about how deer season was one of his favorite times of the year, but it's hard because he wants to be with his family, so he wishes the state of North Dakota would extend the season so he could get out there some more.  I'm tempted to paint my face and hide in the bushes outside the church playground and shoot his precious daughters with tranquilizers.  If he gets offended, I'll just tell him I like the challenge of it!  Clearly this guy is not my favorite, and since he pissed me off with the hunting comment, I sat stewing the rest of the sermon, growing more irritated with every story he told that was of no spiritual significance.  Unfortunately for me, the sermon lasted over an hour... 

Yippee!

Tomorrow morning we're headed to Bismarck to start the journey home, and I am SO EXCITED.  I am really really really looking forward to seeing my family and I can't believe I'm going to be seeing them so soon.  We'll be traveling all day tomorrow and we get in late that night, so I probably won't get to see anyone except for my brother, who's picking us up from the airport.  But that's okay, because I love sweet Huntie!

Today I had my 2nd interview/lunch with the people I met yesterday.  It went well, it was just completely not what I expected.  When the HR lady called to say they wanted me to come eat lunch with the whole department and meet everyone, I assumed I would basically get quizzed all during lunch and it would be just like the interview yesterday.  I was wrong.  It was just lunch.  I met the people in the department that weren't in the interview yesterday, and they were super nice (bonus-and dog people!), and I really liked everyone.  I kept waiting for the interview questions to come during lunch, but we just talked.  They talked about people in their office that I was clueless about, and they'd ask me questions about Texas and stuff, but that was really it.   All in all, it was actually a really enjoyable lunch.  They said they'd make a decision within the next week, so hopefully I'll know something soon.  I guess the only negative about lunch was that the cafeteria food was not the best.  I just had a sandwich because I was too scared to try the cream of asparagus soup, but it was still dicey.  I looked everywhere for the hospital bar, but just couldn't find one, which of course, was a let down.

Every time I watch that, it surprises me when Lucille is out of the shot, but you can hear her laughing.  Makes me laugh every single time.  Lucille Bluth is truly an inspiration.

Baller Dude

This morning I had my interview for the Marketing Assistant position, and I think it went pretty well.  I thought I was going to be interviewed by a lady in HR that I had spoken with, but instead was interviewed by 4 other people from different departments, one of whom was the CEO.  That's a little intimidating.  Overall, it went pretty well, though.  It's probably the least awkward I've ever felt in an interview, but I think that's because the people were so nice.  Every time I stuttered through an answer, or found myself talking for several minutes, realizing I was supposed to be answering a question but didn't know where I was going with what I was saying, they just seemed to smile at me like "it's okay, we all make mistakes."  The interview lasted about an hour, and afterwards, I got a call saying they want me to come in tomorrow to eat lunch with the whole department to meet everyone, so I'm assuming that's good.  At this point in the day, I'll be honest, I was feelin pretty dang good about myself.

Unfortunately I was karate-chopped off my high-horse when I got a call from the company I was supposed to interview with at 5:15, saying that they had already hired someone, so my interview was cancelled.  Ouch.  So maybe I shouldn't have called in sick to that interview on Thursday.  Oh well, their loss.


Yesterday, I was so tired from the trip and so consumed with my upcoming interviews, that I didn't even get a chance to give a shout out to Michael & Daniel, who turned 22!  Thankfully, I got to see them about 1 1/2 hours before their birthday, so I got to be a part of a group Happy Birthday serenade to them, but I do feel bad about blowing them off yesterday.  So Happy Birthday (a day late) Michael & Daniel!!  They are my favorite twins, behind the Olsen twins, of course, but way ahead of Tia and Tamara Mowry, and in my book, that's pretty dang good.

And We're Back

We got back today after our quick trip to Colorado this weekend, and were greeted by some miserable weather.  Those Colorado people are so spoiled because when it was 30 degrees there it felt like 45, but when it's 30 here, it feels like 10.  We were watching the thermometer on the car as we drove home, and the lowest we ever got was -4.  The highest we got was 27.  Oy.  Not great.  BUT we got home safe and sound, despite lots of snow and ice on the road, so I guess I should shut up and stop complaining.  When we got to Ft. Collins on Friday, Jacob and I were thrilled with how quickly the trip had gone and kept saying "this is such an easy drive, we should come back again soon."  What we did not take into account was  how miserable the return trip would be with only North Dakota to look forward to and only each other as company.  Jacob was super grouchy because I tried to get him to listen to an audiobook (the horror!), and I was grouchy because I started my period right before we got into the car.  That's right, I'm on my period again, even though my last one was only 12 days ago.  Just another reason why Jacob's the luckiest man in the whole universe.

Tomorrow I have both of my interviews, one at 11 and the other at 5:15.  I'm pretty nervous, but I'm also just ready for them to be done, so that I can dwell on all the awkward things I say and the faces I make.  I find that the best way to feel terrible about myself is to go over an awkward conversation no less than 25 times in my head, so that I can realize how uncomfortable I really am.  For many reasons, I'm really hoping that one of these jobs works out--no more interviews, making some money, putting something on my resume, etc.  Most of all, I'm ready for an actual answer to the question "So what do you do all day while Jacob's at work?  Don't you get so bored?!"  If you knew me, you'd know that my one true love is television, with whom I never tire of spending time.  But if you're going to make me feel guilty about it, I guess I'll try to get a real job.  My goal is to be employed, so that days like this, when my cramps are insane and I'm a total sourpuss, I can just say:

When we picked up the dogs on the way into town today, they gave me exactly the reaction that I was hoping for.  There were two VERY happy tails, and some serious whines in the time it took to get the kennel door open.  Both dogs brought me a toy, Oscar because he always brings his Kong out of his kennel, and Andy because he was showing off that he hadn't destroyed his monkey.  As I was gathering the things out of the kennel, Andy was strutting back and forth in front of the only other cage that had a dog in it.  If I spoke dog, I know I would have heard Andy say "Oh yeah, my Mom and Dad are here, so I get to go home and lay wherever I want.  Sucks that no one's picking you up."  Sometimes he is such a jerk.  Poor Oscie is still recovering from being away from us this weekend, and spending so much time outside in the snow.  He has slept since the moment we walked in the door, most of that time wrapped in blankets.  Poor guy doesn't know he's going to be boarded the next two weekends also, and I don't have the heart to tell him that...

Well I probably need to go take a shower so I don't smell like Burger King in this interview tomorrow.  Pray for me that I'm able to form real sentences,and that I ask good questions.  Also. that my cramps go away so I'm not clutching my gut in pain the whole time. 

Tales From Colorado

I didn't get to write anything last night because we were crazy busy trying to get ready for our trip to Colorado, so let's see if I can remember what I wanted to say yesterday....

So Thursday I did my long run, and I'm VERY excited to say I was able to run 11 miles!!!!!!  The first three were pretty miserable because it felt like my left leg had been stuck in cement and I was dragging shackles around, but after that I was able to lose the pain in my legs and go pretty easily until about mile 9.  Unfortunately, after my run I started to feel really, really sick.  I'm not sure what caused it, but I could barely move, because I wanted to barf all over everything.  At about 3:30, I started to get really nervous because I couldn't get out of bed (unless I was putting the hurt on the bathroom), and I had my interview at 5:15.  At about 4:30, when I realized I was not capable of sitting up or answering questions, I realized I needed to reschedule my interview.   I felt really crappy about doing that, but I'd rather reschedule, rather than suck it up and go in and toss my cookies all over the interviewer.  Interviewer:  "Tell me about a time when you had a difficulty in the workplace."  Me:  "I'd probably say a couple minutes ago when I farted so bad you started gagging and then I accidentally threw up on your notepad."  So now my interview is for Monday at 5:15, so both of my interviews are on Monday, so at least I can just get it all over with in one day.

After dinner, Jacob and I had to take the boys to the kennel to be boarded this weekend.  I don't think anyone will be surprised to hear that I broke down and sobbed like I was giving up my child.  It really felt like my own Sophie's Choice when I had to drive away with Jacob, leaving Andy and Oscar behind. 

 

 When we came home from the kennel, my whole heart felt like it was broken.  Also, I was making snacks for our roadtrip (white chocolate popcorn), and every time I dropped a piece of popcorn (one of Andy's favorite snacks), I would melodramatically crinkle up my face and be like "If only he were around to eat that."  It was pretty pathetic.  Lazy too, because I got so sick of picking up those popcorn kernels.  I'll admit, I kicked a fair number of them underneath the oven.


Today, (Saturday) Jacob and I got up and left Dickinson by about 6:45 a.m., and headed out to Colorado.  I think it was supposed to be about a 10 hour drive, but somehow we did it in less than 9.  It was not that bad of a drive, really, and even though we drove through a little bit of snow, it was actually pretty great weather (besides some 40 mph winds).  It was so great tonight to see all of the family and the aunts, uncles and cousins and just get to hang out and talk to people.  It's gonna be a bummer when we have to go home and just hang out together.  Not that Jacob and I don't enjoy our time together, but I think sometimes Jacob could use a break from my pooping and/or animal stories.

Tomorrow is the memorial service for Maca, and I think it's going to be pretty emotional.  Thanks for all the prayers, and please continue for the family as they process their grief, and get closure.  I look forward to celebrating the life Maca had and the relationships and families that have come about from her and Grampi's marriage, and I am so thankful for that.  Keep the prayers coming, folks.

Like A Boss

Guess who got called for another interview today!  I'm pretty excited about it, myself.  Normally when I submit my resume, I'm pretty sure people just put it straight into the paper shredder because I never even get a call to interview.  I happened to be in the dressing room at Herbergers with no pants on when the guy called me today, so that was a little awkward because I had terrible reception, but I couldn't be like "oh hey, guy, I can't hear you too well, so lemme pull some pants on and call you right back."  So somehow I've only spoken to this guy twice, once with a mouthful of retainer, and the other time, pantless and robotic sounding, but he still wants to meet me.  Maybe he just wants to see how nerdy and awkward I am in real life?  At least I won't disappoint him there....

So when he called me it was probably about 1:30, and we were trying to set up a time for the interview and he was like "well 4:30 should work for us."  Say what now, Charles?  No, I'm going to need a little time to prepare for this.  So my interview is tomorrow at 5:15, and I'm pretty nervous, but that's also partly because tomorrow I have to drop the dogs off to be boarded and I'm really stressing out about that.  I'm hoping they don't ask me something like "describe a time when you had what seemed to be an insurmountable problem, and you worked through it" because I'm pretty sure I'll start weeping and say "This moment right now is one of the worst of my life because I should be with my dogs because they have to be at the kennel in like an hour and I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M WASTING IT ON YOU PEOPLE."  Note to self: don't act like a crazy animal person in the interview; wait until you're hired to unleash that facet of your personality.

Also while I was pantless in the dressing room, I got a phone call from our builder.  Not sure why I got so much done while trying on jeans, but obviously I should be doing this more often.  Anyways, it was kind of awkward because he was just calling to ask a question about the paint we selected, and he made some snide comment about how "someday soon we'll get the painters in there.  I don't want to say when because if they aren't there, I don't want to get a phone call."  Seriously guy?  I let it slide, because there's no point in picking a fight, but then Jacob told me tonight that before the builder got ahold of me, he had called Jacob and made an even more annoying comment.  He asked Jacob the same question about the paint, but Jacob said he didn't know, and he'd ask me, so the builder said "well talk to Hayley and have her call me when she decides.  If she's calling to tell me about the paint, that's great, but if she's calling to tell me there's no work being done, I'm not going to call back."  What the hell, dude?  OBVIOUSLY you're annoyed with me calling you, but there is a VERY simple solution.  The first time I called, you should have called me back.  You would have avoided so many annoying voicemails from me.  I don't know why his comments bother me so much, because I really feel like I didn't do anything wrong, it just bothers me to think he's talking about me to our realtor and saying how annoying I"m being.  I really and truly don't think it's too much to call and ask for an update on whether our house will be completed on time when we're trying to schedule the movers and our closing.  Maybe I shouldn't have called him everyday, but I don't want anyone to feel like they can just blow off my phone call and decide it's not worth their time to call me back.  Anyways, it's just irritating me.  So much so that I'm really afraid that the next time I see them, I'm going to overcompensate and be too friendly and be like "oh hey girl, LOVE your feather extension!! I totally want one LOL" to my realtor, and "this is the greatest house I've ever seen in my whole life.  I feel like we should pay you DOUBLE!" to the builder. 

Today I prepared myself much better for my walk with the dogs, and I'm happy to report there were ZERO tears! Huzzah!  I wore four layers up top and had my face so covered up, I looked like a serial killer, but we were able to even take a long walk, and after forty minutes, I realized my chin was sweating from my breath inside my face mask.  Delightful, huh?  Seriously, I was quite the sight on this walk  You know how in movies with bad writing, they'll have a bad guy and it's like the writers don't know how to prove he's bad, so they just cover everything but his eyes, and tell him to look really shifty?

Minus the sword (and the assumed Asian nationality) this is exactly what I looked like.  Head to toe black, shifty, sneaky eyes, and a couple of dogs who were out to pee in every yard.  Even though it was only 20 something degrees, we made it through just fine, so hopefully things go just as well tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a long run in the morning.  Pray that my legs feel good and strong and for my will power.  I think the hardest part about trying a long run after last week will be the mental aspect, because I know I'll just want to quit again.  Here's hoping I make it through.

The Gloves Are Coming Off

You might recall my frustration last week when there was no one working on our house, despite our builder promising us that there would be people there Thursday.  I have driven by everyday since last Wednesday, and I have yet to see any workers. Everyday there are no workers, I call our builder to get an update, since we're exactly one month from the date he said the house would be completed.  Naturally, being the good businessman he is, I have received NO phone call in return.  My voicemail today was pretty exasperated and very clearly stated how irritated I was that he had yet to return my calls.  When that got me nowhere, I called our realtor, who also screened my call, and I left her a voicemail, asking for an update.  When I got no response from her, Jacob called, and actually got ahold of her.  Now, I wasn't there when he talked to her, so all my information of the conversation comes from Jacob, but he doesn't exaggerate like I do, so I tend to think the conversation went just as he says.  Basically, Jacob started the conversation saying that he had been trying to get a hold of our builder, and the realtor cut him off and was "Don't call him!  Stop bothering him!  Leave him alone!!!" 

Excuse me!?  We have been dealing with the builder since this whole process started, and it's never been an issue.  You must be outside your mind if you think I can't call him and ask questions about MY FREAKING HOUSE.  ALSO, Sweetie, last time I checked, YOU WORK FOR ME,  Jacob said our realtor was really rude about the whole thing, and basically shut him down when he asked if she would just follow up with the builder to make sure we're still on schedule.  She said that unless we hear otherwise, we should just assume everything is on schedule. 

 

CONSIDERING THEY GOT STARTED ON CONSTRUCTION 2 MONTHS LATER THAN THEY TOLD US THEY WOULD, THAT DOESN'T FREAKING WORK, IDIOT.  I'm not really sure why we should be expected to assume everything is going as scheduled when no one's been working for a WEEK.  Jacob said he made it very clear that we would stop calling the builder as long as the house is completed on the day that was promised, and if it can't be, we need to be told right away.  She didn't seem to care, and just kept insisting that we leave the builder alone.  Here's the thing.  She's working for both of us, so she's basically getting double commission on this whole thing, which pisses me off more than you'll ever know, but still SHE'S WORKING FOR US TOO.  I told Jacob that if that house is not ready come December 15th, he's going to have to hold me back, because the angry black woman inside me is gonna LOSE HER FREAKING MIND on that realtor.  I already have a speech prepared for her, where I ask her to amend the paperwork, showing she only represents the builder, seeing as how she cares so little for our interests, and obviously only cares about maintaining her relationship (which may or may not be sexual) with the builder.  Let's just say, I'm not happy about the whole thing, and the next time I see her, I might be ripping that little feather extension right out of her hair. 

Today when I took the dogs for a walk, I was so miserable, I can't even describe it.  I think the temperature was right around 30, maybe just below, but the windchill was insane, and it was like 30+mph winds.  I had lots of layers on, but the whole first half of the walk was into the wind, and I was getting so frustrated at how awful it was, I just started crying.  Not even just a little pathetic pity-party cry,.  I was full-on sobbing on the streets of Dickinson.  I could just feel the wind cutting through all 4 of my layers and going through my gloves and hat so that it felt like my ears were being cut with a million razorblades and I just wanted to go home.  All I could think about was how long the winter is, and my attitude just got worse and worse.  I'm hoping it was just a bad day and I was emotional from all the frustrations, but it was really so miserable.  I made the mistake of checking the weather right now, and it says it's 16, but feels like 3.  THREE FREAKING DEGREES, YOU GUYS.  I think I'm going to have to be heavily medicated for these next several months.

Tonight for Bunco, I ended up making these Cherry Blossoms with puff pastry, and they were GOOD.  Super easy, too, so I'll for sure make them again.  I'm not sure how many people had some, but one lady asked me for the recipe, and my neighbor took some home, so that's a good sign, right?  If you need a tasty baked treat, I would recommend them.  Bunco was really fun again tonight, and I made $10, so I can't complain.  One of the other ladies there was having a very good time, as I think she had 6 glasses of Sangria.  At one point she spanked the wife of the boss of Jacob's whole office....not really sure she's the kind of lady that goes for those kinds of shenanigans.  She also seemed to slip into another world when Rolling in the Deep came on, and put more heart and soul into it than 99% of the contestants on American Idol.  I really believe she lost track of where she was, because it was a much more seductive version of the song than the way Adele sings it.  I'll say it was interesting and leave it at that.

I finished watching The Next Three Days last night, and ended up liking it.  I still hate Russell Crowe, but it was a decent movie.  The movie is about this man whose wife is convicted of murder, and since he can't prove her innocence, he decides to come up with a way to break her out of jail.  It was tense and I found myself more stressed than I should admit to see how things played out.  I guess I expected a different ending, but you don't always get what you want.  I liked the movie, but wouldn't watch it again, so I gave it 3 stars on Netflix.

OH!  I just remembered!  I have good news--one of those jobs I really wanted wants me to come in for an interview next week!  It'd be a super baller job because it's a part time Marketing Assistant for the hospital, so I'd still get to do my own thing in the morning, and then go into work in the afternoon.  So pray for me that I prepare for the interview well and don't act completely awkward.  The interview is next Monday, so I'll let you know how it goes.....

Andy & Oscar's 1st Snow

It snowed a few times here today.  It didn't stick or anything, it would just start snowing out of nowhere, and then 15 minutes later it would stop.  This afternoon I was about to take the boys for a walk, when I noticed it was snowing like crazy.  I let them outside with me so they could see the snow.  The snowflakes were HUGE and I figured there was no way they could miss it.  It looked like packing peanuts were falling out of the sky.  Oscar was clueless--I kept trying to get him to notice, but he thought I was pointing out a nearby animal, so he had his head on a swivel while the snow accumulated on his back.  Andy, on the other hand, figured out right away it was not worth getting wet, so he stood in the doorway with his head sticking out far enough that he could eat the snow off the ground, but not get any on him.  Say what you will about his diva attitude, the guy is smart.

I got a phone call this morning from a guy I had submitted my resume to.  Nothing says "I'm professional and reliable" like getting woken up out of a deep sleep and scrambling to take your retainers out when speaking to someone for the first time.  He called to say that he had accidentally deleted the email with my resume, and asked if I would send it again.  It's not an interview, but at least he wanted the resume!  I'm going to call him tomorrow (after I've taken my retainers out) and make sure he got the email and see if I can weasel my way into an interview.

Tomorrow's going to be a pretty busy day for me.  I need to do a three mile run, go to yoga, walk the dogs, check on the progress at the house, go to Herbergers to get a shirt for Jacob, do my grocery shopping, make dinner for Jacob, and make some sort of baked treat for Bunco ALL before 6:30.  I realize the mothers out there are probably like "is this chick for real?" but that's a lot for me, okay?  You're talking about a lady who usually goes to the gym and walks the dogs. PERIOD. END OF DAY. 

Last night I started the movie The Next Three Days with Russell Crowe (ehh) and Elizabeth Banks.  I'm planning on finishing it tonight, so I'll let you know what I think about it, but so far I'm having a VERY hard time not seeing Elizabeth Banks as Avery Jessup on 30 Rock. 

Weekend Bits & Pieces

Friday was supposed to be my long run, and it didn't go as planned.  As some of you (Dana, Aimee) know, I had to quit at three miles because of the nausea and the crazy pain in my legs.  I was supposed to run eleven miles, and I can't even tell you how disappointed I was in myself that I didn't even make it a third of the way through.  I think ultimately I did the right thing in stopping and forcing myself to come home and rest through the weekend, but I really have just never been so frustrated with myself.  The problem is that I had really bad side cramps, which would have been tough to push through on their own, but then my shins, which have been hurting for months now, were so painful, it was making me more nauseous and bringing tears to my eyes.  My legs were simultaneously shooting with sharp pains and so heavy I could barely lift my feet to take each step.  I'm not sure what causes that, but it felt like I had unbelievably heavy ankle weights on, which was basically gluing my feet to the floor.  After doing a little bit of research, I'm fairly certain that rather than the shin splints I thought I had, I actually have stress fractures in both my legs.  It's not a great situation, since the races is less than a month away.  Oh well.  I've been resting since I bombed on Friday, so hopefully I can run easily tomorrow.  Will all the sisters just do me a favor and not tell Mom about this?  I don't want her lecture about how I need to let myself heal and sit out the race if I'm injured.

Saturday I was extremely bored and frustrated about our football game, so I decided to go to the mall.  Herbergers was having a huge sale, and I found a few purses that I really wanted, but I just ended up buying a pair of MukLuks that I've had my eye on for awhile:

Honestly, I don't even care if anyone thinks they're ugly. They are so amazingly warm, and I really thought about wearing them to bed last night.  I'm 100% expecting a sarcastic comment from Dana about me buying something with a big bold print, but you know what?  I DON'T CARE.  I was feeling really guilty all last night and this morning about spending the $20 on myself for the slippers, and I debated for like 2 hours yesterday about whether I should return them, but ultimately my cold feet decided it was totally worth the money to keep them.  And then today when Jacob and I went to Walmart, he found a Ripstick on clearance and decided to buy it for himself for no particular reason.  So now I feel much less guilty about the MukLuks.

I'm not happy to report there has been basically no progress on the house.  The drywall was finished, and we were told that once the heater got going and warmed up the house, the tape and texture guys could come in and get started on the walls.  Jacob talked to our builder on Tuesday, and he promised us that the guys would be there on Thursday, and that he'd offered to pay them double to work through the weekend.  When I drove by three times on Thursday and never saw workers, I had Jacob call our builder.  Surprise, surprise, he never called Jacob back.  Friday came along and again there was no one at the house, so I called the builder.  SURPRISE FREAKING SURPRISE he hasn't called me back.  If I go by tomorrow and there's no one there, I'm pulling out all the stops in my voicemail.  I'll probably do some sort of rhetorical question that passive-aggressively asks why he won't ever return the phone call of a female customer.  I might even break out the tears.  I mean, seriously, this guy has NEVER returned my phone calls.  Not even one.  That's so annoying, I can't even begin to tell you.  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to play it, but now that everything is resolved with Samsung, I need someone to call and be rude to everyday, and I'm totally fine with that being our builder.  It's probably more advantageous if I go the "being nice" route to get our builder to work, but I'm not good at faking being friendly.  Maybe, much like Liz Lemon, I just need to summon my inner Julia Roberts to charm my way into getting some work done.

Tuesday night is Bunco, and I need to figure out what I'm going to bring as a snack.  I've been trying different baked goods lately, and what I'm learning is that I don't have great baking abilities.  I tried making some homemade Thin Mints, and they were so terrible, it almost makes me never want Thin Mints again.  But not quite.  Thankfully Jacob is a sweet guy (with obviously low standards), and he's been eating the cookies so I didn't have to throw them out.  Tonight I made cinnamon & sugar pretzel bites because when I passed the pretzel stand at the mall yesterday I was so hungry I almost said "Give me everything I can get for $200."  Instead I used this recipe to make my own, and they were pretty good.  The problem is that they were SO sugary, and I made the glaze (of course), and the whole thing was just a little too much.  Don't get me wrong, I'd make them again, but I can only have like 4 bites before I start to worry about if I'll puke when I stand up afterwards. 

This morning Jacob and I went back to the LCMS Lutheran Church here in town.  I'm not really sure what we're going to do about our church in town.  Jacob seems to really like this Lutheran church, but I don't know if I'm sold on it yet.  The Pastor seems nice enough, but he has a very unique way of speaking--he sounds VERY similar to the Rabbi from Seinfeld:

Needless to say, I find myself getting very distracted during the sermon, and I'm not sure how much I'm getting out of it.  I realize that's totally my own issues, but still, it makes it very hard for me to follow. 

RIP Maca

Jacob and I found out today that Maca passed away, and we are equally sad and happy about it.  She was in pain towards the end, and we are so glad that she doesn't have to suffer anymore.  I'm so thankful that Jacob was able to go see her before the pain really set in and they were able to spend time together, just as he likes to remember her.  My heart breaks for the whole family because I know she will be so missed.  I only got to be around her a handful of times, but Maca was there for some of the most amazing days of my life, and that's really special to me.  She was a funny lady with a sharp tongue who kept everybody on their toes, and she will not be forgotten.  Please continue to keep the family in your prayers as we all prepare to get together in Colorado to celebrate her life and enjoy the blessing she was to so many people.  Please pray for strength as the family grieves, but also the ability to be joyful of her salvation and her peace in Heaven.

Shout Out to Dana

Big time shout out to Dana for a baller recipe I got from her.  Tonight I made her Chicken Enchilada Spaghetti, and it was really good.  Like Dana, I was apprehensive because Mexican food and pasta don't typically go together in my book, but this was really good.  Creamy and delicious.  Plus, I needed the pasta tonight for my long run tomorrow, so that's a total bonus.  Major props to you, Dana.  If you're interested (or just intrigued), go here for the recipe from her blog.  Totally worth it. 

At the end of my yoga class today, my instructor said that there were a couple pregnant ladies in the class, and she was going to start adding some prenatal yoga moves.  There are only three people in this yoga class that are under 55--one is me, another is the adorable girl I tried to kill with my shank eyes the other day, and the last is some mousy lady who seems like she's always just put down her needlepoint in time for class.  My instructor continued, saying that since there were two pregnant people, she wanted to include things specifically for them, and we would probably notice the changes to our normal routine.  Cue the baby fever going into overdrive.  Since the cute pregnant girl wasn't in class today, the only ones in the class that were of child-bearing age were myself and Mindy McNeedlepoint.  As soon as my instructor finished talking, I noticed like 5 of the women giving me sweet smiles and understanding faces, obviously assuming I'm one of the pregnant ladies.  Nope.  Sorry everybody, I'm just retaining water.  But thanks for rubbing it in. 

This time tomorrow I'm hoping to be two Mike's Hard Lemonades into my movie, because we got Fast Five through Netflix and I can't wait to watch it.  I saw the movie opening night with my brother, and ended up with a crazy case of church giggles because there was one scene especially that was completely ludicrous (Ludacris pun NOT intended, but awesome nonetheless).  Not to mention the crazy sexual tension between Vin Diesel and The Rock.

 I am really hoping Jacob loves it as much as I did, and I have to admit, I've basically been counting down the days until we could watch it.  Maybe some people think that's sad.  I think it's admirable to find joy in something so pathetic.

Andy & Oscar in 2012

As many of you know, I hate politics.  I guess it's not really fair that I say I hate politics, I hate when people discuss politics.  I just can't handle how people think politics are so black and white.  No matter which side they're on, they feel like the other side is wrong and stupid.  For some reason, politics make people self-righteous, pompous, and closed-minded.  Liberals always think conservatives are ignorant and hypocritical, and conservatives always think liberals are stupid and uneducated.  It's just too much for me.  I have already deleted four Facebook friends because of their overly political statues stating that the other side is "Beyond Stupid", and we still have a year until the election.  By this time next year, I'll probably be left with like six Facebook friends, and they'll be the fake ones like Jem and Kyle Field.  So all of that to say I didn't watch the Republican debate tonight.  Politicians irritate me, no matter which side they land on, because they're never held accountable to all the crap they say, so it's just worthless for me to listen to their promises.  So imagine the unadulterated joy and glee I felt when I came across this.  I could look at it every single day and it would make me laugh each and every time.

I had a crazy craving for chocolate chip cookies tonight, but realized I needed more butter in order to make them, so I ran to Walmart to get butter and vanilla pudding (secret ingredient to my cookies).  As I was checking out at the UScan, I was disgusted by the family checking out beside me.  The mother and father were morbidly obese.  No judgement there, I could care less about the size of their bodies.  Both mother and father were wearing shorts and tshirts with NO JACKETS.  FYI, it was 30 degrees and windy at the time.  Here's what really set me off.  They had their young baby in just pants and a short sleeve shirt.  I came so very close to lecturing them.  Here's the thing, you're an adult, and you're a large lady, so if you want to wear shorts to show off your Eeyore ankle tattoo when it's 30 degrees, that's your prerogative.  But your FOUR MONTH OLD daughter is not equipped to handle below freezing temperatures with so little clothing. NOT OKAY.  Seriously, what makes people so terrible?

I took Andy to the vet today for his rabies shot, and the vet informed be that he had "lost his waist", so he was getting close to being overweight.  I know it's stupid and irrational, but I took this very personally.  What the vet said was "he just needs to lose a little weight" but what I heard was "You are a worse dog owner than you are woman and you should never be allowed to take care of another life."  It hurt.  It's no big deal, and it's an easy fix, but it's been bothering me more than I should admit.  I'm going to blame it on my period, but I have a feeling I'd be this bummed no matter what stage of my cycle I'm in. 

How Long Until It Gets Warm?

Another super boring day here.  Potentially even more so than yesterday, which says a lot.  At one point I got really excited because Jacob called and said he had talked to our builder and that our cabinets were in.  I quickly dropped what I was doing (drinking juice) and headed over to our house.  Unfortunately, I think what our builder meant was that the cabinets were finished and in his shop, NOT in our house, ready to be installed.  Major bummer.  But hopefully those should be getting installed in the next couple of weeks.  

Tomorrow I have to take Andy to the vet to get him updated on his shots for when we board the dogs this month.  I am already dreading that, since I know I'll be crying for a solid three hours after we drop them off.  The vet I go to his out in the boonies, and it takes over 30 minutes to get there, but it's totally worth it because the boys like the people that work there, and there is usually a horse outside in the field next door.  The horse alone normally makes Andy's week.  Also, sometimes if I'm lucky, I'll see some bison on the drive up there.  Look at this face and try not to tell me it's just a giant Oscar:

I know they are really fast and "dangerous" but I want to pet one SO BAD.  That furry face!  I love it so much.

We're taking a Riemer family picture over Thanksgiving weekend, and the attire is white shirts and jeans.  Since I didn't put any of my white shirts into temporary living (not sure I had any to put into temporary living), looks like I need to do a little shopping. Lucky for me, I'm on Herberger's email list now, so I get sent coupons.  Pretty baller, I know.  Also, I really need some new jeans.  For awhile I had lost some weight and none of my jeans were fitting me.  It was pretty awesome, but that phase is over now, and I'm back to filling out my jeans and then some.  I have a hard time finding a pair that fits me without being too tight, but is also comfortable enough without basically being jncos.  What I need is a pair of jeans that give me Michael Scott-style confidence:

Okay I have a confession to make--I've had a touch of baby fever lately.  I can almost hear Ashley calling me right now.  Anyways, I started my period today, and for those of you keeping track (at least 95% of you), you probably realize it's only been like 2 1/2 weeks since my last period.  Thanks, erratic hormones! Irregular cycles are so fun.  Anyways, I went to my yoga class today, and saw that this girl who just started coming to our class is pregnant.  Adorably pregnant too.  It's very unfortunate to her that I started my period this morning, because I gave her every dirty look in my repertoire- crook eye, stink eye, side eye, evil eye.  Every last one.  I was thisclose to yelling at her while we were mid-Downward Dog, saying "SHE STOLE MY BABY!"  I felt very much like crazy Claire on LOST.

Hopefully the baby craziness will pass, and rather than paranoid baby-obsessed Claire, I can go back to being nappy-headed angry Claire,.

I Continue to Be Awkward

Not much to say about today, it was pretty boring.  I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot this winter, since there's only like six hours of daylight, and I want to spend the entire day under covers.  I even went to Walmart today, and it was pretty unexciting.  Although the cold has not quite driven away the gypsies like I was expecting it to yet--there were 9 RVs in the parking lot when I went. 

I had to do a five mile run today at the gym, which kinda sucked.  For some reason , my legs were just so tight, and I had a hard time with the run.  I was motivated to run fast, though, because there was this PYT running on the track, and she was really proud of herself.  I made it my goal that she would not pass me, so I ran faster than I would normally.  AND SHE NEVER PASSED ME.  Suck it, pretty girl.  After about a mile, the pretty girl quit, and I was back to running slow and not being motivated by bitterness.  So I began to look down, and watch the people lifting weights as I ran--the track is on the second floor of the gym, and goes around the whole width of it, so you can see everything on the first floor as you run.  I saw my yoga instructor and another lady in my yoga class lifting weights together, and as I saw them, they looked up and saw me.  Now normally I avoid eye contact with people because running makes me turn cherry red and I make pooping faces, but unfortunately they already spotted me looking at them, so I had to wave.  They waved back, but in my attempt to play it cool with my wave, I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I was coming up on a corner, and I rammed my hip bone into the railing.  It.Hurt.  Honestly, it gave me crazy goosebumps from the sharp pain and felt like I broke off part of my hip, but it's just bruised.  I'd like to think the women didn't see me run into the railing, but I'm sure they totally did.  I'm just so sick of looking awkward and stupid, you know?  Like good ol Leo, here, I always look like I'm just waltzing into my Special Ed class:

What I would give to have the confidence, attitude and swagger of Tina Fey's daughter, Alice. 

Tonight for dinner I made a recipe I got from my brother, and since I don't know what it's called I've just been calling it Huntie Pizza.  It was really good; it had olive oil, garlic, spinach, 3 cheeses (mozzarella, colby jack, feta), sliced red onions, and spicy smoked sausage.  So shout out to Huntie for the great recipe!

I'm watching reruns of The Office right now, and I just saw when Andy Bernard goes roller skating, and it brings such a pure joy to my heart.

It almost makes me take back everything I said about Blayne yesterday.  ALMOST.

Jacob's Back!!

Yay!  Jacob's home!!  The boys and I were thrilled to see Jacob pull in the driveway today, and the excitement has totally worn out the dogs.  So much so that they've forgotten that they haven't gotten a walk today.  It could also be that the time change has effected them, or maybe it's how crazy cold it is, and they want to hibernate.  I want to believe it's just relief that their home is back to being complete.  It's snowing a little bit here, but not too much.  For the first time all day, I see that it's starting to show on my car a little bit.

I know that's probably kind of hard to see since my car is white, but you can see it a little bit on the windshield.  There have been flurries all day, but they just seem like they blow around through the air, and just melt when they get to the ground.  Driving back from the store, Jacob and I did see a bunch of snow getting blow across the road like Dementors, but other than that, it's pretty nonexistent snow.  It did seem to confuse Oscar when we went outside though, because it was all landing on his face, and he was just blinking a ton.

Like I said, it's been super cold here the last couple of days, and even our apartment has just been feeling really chilly, despite having the heater on.  According to Weather.com, currently is 30, but feels like 16.  SIXTEEN.  Oh, you guys, this is going to be a long winter.  Also, it's 4:40, and the sun set like 20 minutes ago.....Anyways, Jacob hadn't been home long when both boys decided they needed to snuggle with him on the couch.  Naturally I covered up Andy because he loves it, and before I knew it, he was burying his face in the blanket to be totally snuggled up.

Is it wrong that every time I see that, I think he looks like Mother Teresa (God rest her soul)?  He stayed like that for quite some time, but when he finally pulled himself off the couch, he took the blanket with him, and was not even interested in shaking it off.  To top off the look, I put a scarf on him, and he was totally into it.  The boy loves to accessorize, and loves to be warm. 

 

Jacob and I were talking about how skinny, tiny girls can't handle very much alcohol.  I jokingly said "people say that about me all the time.  I'm too tiny to hold any liquor."  Jacob's response was "Yeah, you are tiny."  I really wasn't fishing for a compliment, I was being sarcastic, so I said "no I'm not.  I'm definitely not SMALL."  Jacob's response "Yeah you are!  Compared to a guy, you're small."  Which, honestly, is so sweet, because obviously I'd much rather be compared to a guy rather than other girls.... Eyeroll.  I don't even think he realized how ridiculous that sentence was.  From  now on, I'm going to point out guys to see how I compare.  While watching football, "Oh my gosh, look at that running back's thighs!  Tell me mine are smaller than that!"  While dealing with the workers at our house "did you see how calloused his hands were?!  Tell me mine aren't that bad!"  Watching a Tom Selleck movie "Do you think my mustache will ever be better than his?"

Yesterday I had to do my cool down run, which should go without saying at this point that I did not want to do it.  Before my run, I was in the stretching area of the gym, as were two other people-one girl, who was pretty by North Dakota standards (average to bland by Texas standards), and a guy, who wanted to get familiar with said girl.  I really wasn't trying to eavesdrop, honestly I wasn't, but this guy was the type of guy who was so proud of what he was saying, he spoke loud enough for anybody nearby to benefit from his genius.  I'm not sure if these two came to the gym together, or if he just figured he would charm his way into her heart, but he was cheesin pretty hard for her.  I have no clue what they were talking about when I started stretching-the girl spoke at a normal conversational volume, so I couldn't hear her.  What I did hear, as the guy (we'll call him...Blayne) was mid-groin stretch said was "It's just crazy how you can be really in shape, but you do some other workout, and it's so hard."  Now, I have no problem with what he's saying.  I run four days a week, but put me on a stairstepper and I'm out of breath in less than three minutes.  Here's where Blayne starts to lose me "I mean, I could run 10 miles a day everyday-" Now, let me interrupt Blayne here.  Let me describe him to you; he has the exact same body I had in 6th grade-pudgy face, puny woman arms, belly fat, and zero muscle tone in the legs.  No offense Blayne, but you can't run 10 miles.  I'm looking at you, and I know it for a fact.  Unless the tanning salon is 10 miles from your house, closes in an hour, and your car is broken, you will never run that kind of distance.  Okay, let's get back to what he was saying.  Where was he?  Ah yes- "I mean, I could run 10 miles a day everyday, but put me in my roller skates, and it is such a workout!  Running is all about your quads and hamstrings.  Those are easy muscles to strengthen.  Skating's all about your butt and lower back.".......You guys.  He's seriously trying to pick up this girl talking about how he roller skates.  If I had to guess what my face was like, I'd say it was probably pretty equal to the OMG on the Jersey Shore faces. (click if it doesn't automatically play)

 

But you know what they say...

A few minutes later, after Blayne had done a couple sets of 5 crunches (you don't need abs to skate), he had decided to copy the ab exercises the girl was doing.  Here's what she was doing-it was essentially the Mason Twist from P90x-sitting on the floor, feet off the ground, knees bent, hands clasped together, turning your upper body side to side, touching the floor on each side.  Okay, so she's doing that with a 6 pound medicine ball.  Now, I'm not saying this to be obnoxious, but to illustrate; I normally do the same exercise with a ten pound medicine ball, and I do sets of 50.  It's really not that hard.  So Blayne sees the girl doing these and decides to try.  He grabs the FOUR pound medicine ball, and does TEN reps.  I know this because he was grunting and counting out loud.  When he got to ten, he collapsed on his back and was like "Oh my gosh!  I totally feel that.  I'm gonna be SORE tomorrow!"  Really?!  That's not great, Blayne.  Perhaps your core could use a little more attention.  Ultimately I think Blayne was trying to pick this girl up for show, since I think he was lady-fabulous (evidence: the roller skates), but it seemed to be working on this girl, so Good on Ya, Blayne!

When I went to take my shower Friday night, I realize that during my long run that day, my sports bra had rubbed off some of the skin on my chest.  It's not too bad now, it mostly just looks like bad razor burn, but it hurt like a mother during my run yesterday because I could feel the sweat getting into the burn.  Not a great feeling....

I can't even tell you how much this time change is messing with me.  It's not even 5:30, and it's pitch black and I am exhausted.  Maybe Oscie and I can both just hibernate this winter.