Who Let The Dog Out?

I know I haven’t written much lately but tonight I need to vent.   Tonight, like most nights, DH and I went for a walk around the neighborhood.  And, we usually have a set route we venture on.   On our route, there is one particular house close to our street whose owner frequently leaves her front door open and lets her small Pomerianian run wild in the yard, in the street even – without a leash.  Her dog runs up to and barks at anyone walking on the sidewalk within sight.  It has happened on several occasions and I’ve found it to be annoying and frankly, just not safe for the dog running into the street where a car could easily not see and hit it.  Several weeks ago I had to place a call to the local police because her front door was wide open for over 10 minutes and this dog was running in and out of the house chasing people and cars.   Besides, why would you leave your front door wide open?  Maybe someone was in trouble.  A repeat of the OJ murders and the dog running around frantically played in my mind….I couldn’t not do something.  Plus, I already knew how the dog behaved.  There was no way I was going near it if I had to!

Tonight we had another encounter with her dog.  We rounded the corner and as usual, the dog came chasing at us and barking.  I typically just stand still (isn’t that what we were taught to do in like, 1st grade?) until the owner comes to get her dog.  This time, her dog actually jumped up and bit me in the leg!  It all happened so quick; I just kind of stood there for a second (said Ow! of course) and thought:  did this really just happen?  Really??

All I got out of the deal was a pretty lame “I’m sorry” from the woman and when we got home, realized the dog bit down hard enough to bruise and break the skin.  I think I’m ok really but it’s the principle of the matter that has me so ticked off.  I’ve put in a call to Animal Control because really – if the dog bit me just standing there who is to say it won’t bite a child?  There are so many kids playing outside in our neighborhood.

I know it is not the dog’s fault and I place 100% of the blame with it’s owner.  Does she not care about the safety of her dog?  Of her neighbors?  Can she not afford to put a leash on it?  Lady, I’ll give you the five bucks. 

Which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves (no pun intended).  Why do people own pets if they cannot be responsible and properly take care of them? 

Oh well, now DH is not the only one with “when animals attack” stories. 

Mugshot of the suspect — guilty as charged.

And by “No Show” I Really Mean “No Show”!

Last night gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “singing in the rain.” 

Hubby and I had pretty decent tickets to last night’s showing of Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, and Miranda Lambert.  I cannot tell you how excited I was and how much I was looking forward to this concert.  Although I’ve strayed away from most country music in the last couple years, I am still a huge fan of Sugarland or anything sung by Jennifer Nettles.   She is an amazing vocalist and this was the first time I was getting to see her live.  Or so I thought. 

To my surprise, Sugarland was a “no show” for the concert last night.  We arrived early enough to catch Miranda Lambert perform and waited in a terrential downpour only to go straight to Kenny.  I couldn’t even enjoy the first few songs b/c I was so confused – what happened to Sugarland?  I am sure being completely soaked did not help.  Last time I saw a concert with this kind of weather was probably back in 1995 when seeing Hootie and the Blowfish!  It was like our own little mini-Woodstock; people were body sliding across the floor and dancing around with no shoes.  “No shoes, no shirt, no problems” was definitely the theme of the evening. 

Poor Kenny – he tried his best despite the weather raining on his parade.  Promising to “sing in the rain as long as we were willing to listen” he lasted about one more song before seeing lightning and bolting out of there himself.  

Maybe Sugarland had the right idea to stay undercover.  We had fun regardless though and laughed our soaking wet butts off all the way home.

High Society

I can officially know what it feels like to be “high society”.  And, what do you need to do that, you ask?  The key, my friends, is to have your very own personal assistant.  Yep.  You heard right – I so kicked butt in this morning’s weigh-in, losing 3 lbs compared to DH’s measely little 1 lb.  Granted, some of it may have been water weight, but the scale shalt not lie.  So, here are some of the ideas I have for my personal assistant to help out with this week.  Any other suggestions for my very own PA (personal assistant) are certainly welcome.

1. Mail out long overdue b-day and Christmas presents (sad, but true)
2. Drop off and pick up my dry cleaning
3. Buy me flowers for the kitchen
4. Grocery shopping
5. Cleaning out litter box daily
6. Filling up the gas tank
7. Scheduling various appointments
8. Paying my bills
9. Packing my lunch for work
10. Taking cats to the vet
11. Drawing me baths by request, complete with bubbles, candles, soft music and my bath robe laid out
12. Making me a smoothie after each workout (if we don’t have the ingredients, my PA can run and get them and then make me a smoothie
13. Be my personal trainer and counter when doing crunches and various reps at the gym
14. Moving the alarm clock to his side of the bed and then being gently woken up when it’s time to get ready for work!
15. Cook for me on Saturday (meal of choice) table set with candles and fresh flowers (see #3 above)

Yep.  I am going to get a lot done this week!

Last Chance Workout

I am so tired.  Actually, exhausted is more like it.  My fingers can barely do the typing!  I spent an hour and a half at the gym tonight, trying by best to get in my “last chance workout” for tomorrow’s dreaded weigh-in.  Between the treadmill and bike, I burned 750 calories!  And, I came home and did 100 crunches.  I wanted to do more but my body wouldn’t let me.  Pretty damn good I’d say for someone who is oh-so-out-of-shape! 

Keep your fingers crossed for me…I’ve been teasing DH all week about all the errands he is going to have to do for me…and, in the process, have inadvertently given him some good ideas if HE wins.  In retrospect, not a smart move!   Dare I say though, my workout tonight would have made Bob and Jillian proud.

I’m the Biggest Loser

Today marks the first official day of a little healthy competition between man and wife.  We’re launching our own version of The Biggest Loser in an effort to help us meet our goals right before summer.   The competition will last 8 weeks and be based off of losing body fat percentage just like on the show.  We’ve taken some of the basic premises of the show and tweaked them to  hopefully keep us motivated.  Since we can’t eliminate anyone (for obvious reasons) we’ve decided the winner of the weekly weigh-in gets a little extra incentive.  This week we’re playing for our very own “personal assistant” for a week- the loser has to run errands, do any chores, etc. the winner wants help with (and with no complaints).  If  I win you can bet DH will be doing the grocery shopping, making me dinner, dropping off dry cleaning, running to the bank and post office…and I have a bunch of other ideas brewing too. 

Somehow I have a feeling I’m going to get a lot of little loose ends tied up next week.  Maybe DH can finally help me mail off some Christmas presents I still have laying around the house. 

Game on!

35 and Feelin’ Fine

Yep.  I am officially “middle-aged”.  I survived my birthday weekend and turning 35 wasn’t as bad as I thought – in fact, I really feel no different than I did less than a week ago.  I dare say my birthday was even quite…pleasant.  Nothing will excite a girl more than waking up early to eat breakfast at Cafe Brazil and then head to the ol’ Floor & Decor for a little 1  hour+ free lesson on how to install wood flooring.  I am now a wealth of knowledge in various flooring installation tools – just ask me about using a trowel, underlayment, or extension gaps.   Lucky for my husband, I am generous with my birthday time and willing to do something he really was interested in (if you know me at all, you know that was not my idea)! 

For my birthday evening, we closed down The Rose Tattoo with some friends.   I know it sounds like a biker bar but it’s really a great restaurant close by that just opened this past summer.  The food is simply amazing and the owner/chef used to work at Bob’s Steakhouse as the Sous Chef.   For those of you coming soon to visit us in Dallas, you can bet we’ll be trying to convince you to try it!

I also have to share a picture of my favorite birthday present.  These Dick and Jane hand-made pot holders.  A must-have for every educator who loves reading.  I simply heart them – thanks mom! 

CSI: Miami Style

My new year’s resolution should have been to be better about keeping up with this blog! 

A few weeks back, I was sent to Miami to do a week’s worth of training.  Lucky for me, I had a partner in crime come to help facilitate the sessions and to hang out with after work hours.  It made life oh-so-much easier training over 250 people by the time it was all said and done and much more fun checking out what the city has to offer.  The first night in however was a beating. 

We flew in around 6pm only to check into the hotel and grab dinner with our sales rep.  Several hours and mojitos later, we headed back to the hotel only to discover our packets for the next morning’s training had never been delivered.  This sent us on a wild goose chase to find a Kinkos ending around 1:30 AM EST in Kendall (apparently a not-so-good area of Miami two young women definitely don’t want to be lost or stranded in).   AND, we had to be at the training by 7AM EST.  Looking back, it doesn’t even do it justice to write about it- it was one disaster after the next (and to no fault of our own; thank you very much Mr. Conceirge man at the Hilton and the Kinkos whose only color printer was on the fritz “And, of course! Why wouldn’t it be??”).  It was to the point that Jamie and I were laughing so hard we were actually crying! 

The rest of the trip was amazing.  The people we met and trained were wonderful, the food was amazing and the scenery…well, c’mon people, it is Miami, after all.  Here are a few photos of the trip:

It’s All Downhill From Here

As promised, here are a few more snapshots from our ski trip.  The first day, I ended up doing some cross country skiing. I could not have been more elated and I have the pictures to prove it:

Here I am, shortly after a successful ski on day #1 posing happily  in an igloo:

Day #2, we did a skiing lesson at Breckenridge, which also went really well.  I met someone who used to live in Lewisville and went to UNT.  At the end of the day, I felt really confident about my basic skiing skills.  But then came Day #3.

Day #3, we went back to Breckenridge to tackle some new slopes.  Feeling pretty good about Days 1 and 2, I was able to be persuaded pretty easily to go down an intermediate slope with DH and his brother.  The lift ride took 8 minutes to get to the top of the mountain and upon getting off the lift, I immediately started to second guess my decision.  My internal conversation went something like this: “What the %$#!&! are you thinking?!”

Starting off, it didn’t seem all too bad, but I was relying heavily on the wedge we learned the day before.  This really put a lot of pressure on my knees.  Then came the steeper hills.  In a flash, I totally lost any self confidence over my self control and skills and decided it would somehow be safer traversing down the slope instead.   That decision drained any energy and confidence I may have had left because it took twice as long to get down and it was probably twice as difficult to do.  After the first steep slope, it was all downhill from there. 

In an effort to retain what little pride I have left regarding the events that transpired, I’ll just say that I did, in the end, make it in one piece down the mountain and the snow patrol didn’t have to come get me.  What should have been a 20 minute run took 45 minutes to an hour by the time it was all said and done. I have not entirely crossed off downhill skiing from the list, but next time, I’ll stick with the bunny hill thank you very much.  

The rest of the trip included  much needed recovery time from the slopes as I could barely walk up and down the stairs of the condo.  It was a sad realization that I’m not 20 anymore and can’t bounce back like I used to.   However, part of the reason we went to Colorado was for some much needed R &  R so I can’t really complain.  Here is a picture taken the night of Day #3.  I was utterly exhausted but couldn’t resist posing with DH by the fire.  Being the good sport I am, I gladly limped over to the fireplace and put on a smile for the camera.       

This Holiday in Pictures

I’ve been so busy trying to keep up with life these last few weeks, my blog had been pushed to the wayside.  However, I want to continue where I left off on our ski trip.  To start with, I thought I’d share some amazing photos I took.  I cannot say enough about fresh mountain air, several inches of freshly fallen snow, and our cozy condo complete with hand made stockings hung on the chimney with care.

 

More pictures and ski stories coming soon…

Snow Bunny

We have safely made it to Frisco, CO., despite the last 20 mile drive up the mountain, watching the snow fall as quickly as the trucks pulling over the side of the road to put chains on their tires.  I am still trying to adjust to the altitude as we are up about 10,000 ft. and am still mesmerized by the scenery.  We are surrounded by mountains, pine trees, and crisp newly-fallen white, beautiful snow. 

Yesterday, we skied at Frisco ‘s Nordic Center and had a blast.  I tried classic cross country skiing for the first time and went on an intermediate trail called RJ’s Vista.  I am proud to report I only fell down once and it was not going downhill!   In a little while, we’ll be headed up to Breckenridge for a 1/2 day downhill skiing lesson.  I cannot wait! 

I could definitely get used to being up here in the mountains.