We are getting ready to leave for an eight day cruise this Friday. I can’t wait! It’s our second cruise but this time we’re going with two other couples who are our own age. I imagine it will be a bit different from hanging out with an older age bracket like we did on the first cruise.

I thought I was going to get my nails redone this Friday but I’ve had acrylics for nearly a month now and they were driving me bat shit crazy. So I spent most of this morning soaking them and taking them off. I’m just going to get a pedicure – my first, mind you. I’ve never gotten one because I hate feet. I don’t like people looking at or touching my feet so I usually do my own. This Friday I have decided to go ahead and get it done anyway. I think the whole reason I have a problem with people touching my feet is because when I was really little my mom would have to cut my nails and it seemed like she always went into the quick. It hurt like hell.

I’ve been cleaning the house in preparation for the trip. I can’t stand coming home to a mess. At least my sister is here to watch the animals and take care of things. It gives me peace of mind to know she’ll be here.

I’ve been working out mostly every day I’m off work since the beginning of January. I’ve really seen some improvement, but I’m nowhere near where I’d like to be. It won’t stop here though. I have my ten year highschool reunion coming up after the cruise and I want to look my best. I finally had to decide that working out at the gym is going to be a lifestyle change, but it helps to keep things in perspective when I give myself little goals.

 

Tentative pictures to follow!

Redneck Rampage

Those were the words my husband used to describe some of my cousins that showed up to our family Thanksgiving. It was great to see so much of my family. I think it was the largest gathering we’ve had in years. I do have to wonder sometimes where the gene pool split. My youngest cousin who’s 19 has already been arrested twice and put in jail for drunk driving and his older brother who’s barely 21 has already knocked up his girlfriend who looks like she just walked out of the trailer herself. They are all covered in homemade tatoos. You see, the 19 year old “got hisself one of ‘em tattoo guns and he lykes to practice on grapefruits ‘n shit. He don’t have ’nuff muney to git new needles so he jes washes em off wit alcohawl.”

God help us. AND THEY’RE PROCREATING!!!

In better news I paid $1.41 for regular gas today. It was barely $22 bucks to fill up my tank. What a nice change, eh?

After 8 years of marriage…

my husband finally agreed to go on a hike with me! We went on a two hour excursion to Cloudland Canyon, GA. It was a brisk 46 degrees and we took one of the dogs and our camera. After walking for about 15 minutes we both had warmed up so much so that we had to start shedding layers. It crossed my mind that we could take advantage of our primal urges out in the great outdoors, but as I said before, it was ass-cold and we had the dog.

When we made it out to the point I started taking pictures until the batteries died. That was, all of 3 pictures. That damned little digital contraption, the apex of our technology and intellegence neatly packed into a tiny box, went stone cold dead on me.

The walk back was consumed with talk of what was to be had for dinner and since neither of us could agree to the others’ requests, we unspokenly aggreed to trek in silence. There was something about walking in the woods with my husband, the feeling of assurance and completeness that I got from it all. The knowing that a giant bear could pop out on the trail at any moment and devour us all, but that my husband would do his damnedest to fight it off to save me and the dog.

We made it back in one peice, with a few pictures, and unscathed. And I would like to believe that we have a rejeuvenated confidence in each other as well.

Now I’m plannig our first camping trip…

It’s Mad E, Bitches!

Yeah, it’s me! I just had to move. I was sick of the old place and the “everything” attached to it. I’m glad you found me!

So I’m sitting on my couch watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta and drinking a half-bottle of wine. I really need to get my jealousy in check. These bitches are so self centered, it’s retarded. Part of me wishes I could live the life they have and the other part of me realizes what shallow lives they live. All they care about is money and how others perceive them. My promise to myself is that I will be a REAL fucking person. I won’t waste my time and energy trying to be something I’m not. Yeah, I’m drinking a glass of wine in my living room like these bitches but it’s two buck Chuck, and I’m not deliberating on which Dolce and Gabbanna purse I’m going to buy next. And to top it off, I’m going hiking tomorrow in the hills of TN where there are bears ‘n shit, and dirt and bugs!!! I’m living life on the wild side! SUCK IT, “HOTLANTA!”

True to form:

I didn’t take the first picture while on vacation. I could just smack myself!

I spent my days sleeping in until 10 am. The husband usually went to the paintball fields in the mornings and in the afternoons we all met up for shopping and dinner. The weather was amazing with high temps in the low 80’s. We only went out for a night on the town once to a place called the Firk and Keggler. It was basically an adult playground. You had to be 21 to enter and they had an arcade, a giant bowling alley with a bar closeby, and on the upper level they had another bar with pool tables and a club with a live dj. Before we knew it it was two am.

My most favorite day would have to have been Sunday when the guys all hung out and watched football. I spent the afternoon with the ladies playing Scrabble and drinking wine.

We came back on Monday and I worked Tues, Wed, Thurs (which almost killed me). Getting up a 5 am three days in a row and working 12 hour shifts is good punishment for taking 11 days off in a row. Thankfully I have six days off. I arranged that because we were supposed to go to Atlanta to meet up with our friends from Maryland. I thought I had it all worked out with my husbands boss but he is currently 3 hours late getting to the shop so my husband can leave. I’m a little irritated about the whole situation right now.

Vaca

Ahhh! It’s amazing the energy I somehow found once I clocked out today after what was one of the most hellish days of work in my LIFE. My job is emotionally draining. Yes, I’m sitting for most of my 12 hour day, but I am constantly typing orders into the computer, calling down to different departments for one reason or another. answering the effing telephone every five seconds or so and still managing to juggle the doctors calling out requests and the patients calling up on the “Nurse Call” light. Today I thought I would die. I was dragging by 5 o’clock. But once 6:55 rolled around I gleefully grabbed up my things and had to restrain myself from skipping to the elevator. I’m off for eleven straight days in a row, you see. My husband and I are going to Orlando to visit friends and family. And when we return I will only have to spend three days at work and then I’m off again for another four so we can go to Atlanta.

The only complaint I have is that my sweet precious little dog will have to stay at home. I’m debating on whether to take my new bike or not. I have been obsessed with riding it. Let me tell you, having a bike that was made in the last decade makes all the difference in the world. I’ve had to restrain myself from buying all the accesories possible for the thing. I. Love. It.

Now I’m just enjoying some “Me” time on the couch, playing on the computer and watching tv. I’m hogging it all for myself while everyone is out. Vacations are a wonderful thing, no?

Autumn

Today I woke up excited that my husband and I were going to walk the Biology Trail over at Southern. This was supposed to happen before football came on. Unfortunately, I ended up watching my favorite show, CBS’s Sunday Morning while preparing some homemade vegetable and beef soup. He cleaned his office.

Now here we are at nearly six in the evening in front of the tv. He’s still watching sports and I’m ready for a nap. So much for productivity.

I did make some fresh hotsauce from the jalepenos in my garden. It is hot as hell. I used tomato paste, peppers, salt, water, and lime juice. It wasn’t too bad at all.

I can tell it’s Autumn. I’ve got the urge to cook and bake ’til I drop!

(Ir)responsibility

I’m thisclose to hiring a ten year old boy to mow my lawn. Is that considered slave labor? He brought a flier by and it is so tempting to let him worry about my lawn on my behalf. Except I would feel guilty when he realizes he’s going to need cleats to keep from slipping down the hill like I’ve done so many times before pushing that dilapidated piece of crap of a lawn mower. And what if he chops off an arm? Am I liable?  Too many unanswered questions…I suppose I’ll suck it up tomorrow and do it myself. Again.

day 1: the move to wordpress

I’ve had a blog since August of ‘05. Things went stagnant and now I’ve decided to wipe my slate clean and take on a whole new persona over here at WordPress. Hopefully this can remain completely private from friends and family. Everyone needs a little escape from time to time. Honestly, I lost interest in blogging after word spread that I was writing. Spread like wildfire. It was time to go. Maybe I can remain true to myself this time.

On to more important matters. I just spent half of my two-weeks pay check on a brand new bike. It’s a Marin Muirwood and it’s gorgeous. I’ve never really made a “large” purchase like that before. It wasn’t necessarily a smart purchase either since now I have $20 to my name for the next two weeks. 

I’ve befriended someone who has one of everything. This summer he’s bought a bike that actually folds in half. I can’t wait to kick his ass on the road this Wednesday. I hike with hiim occasionally. I would also like to get a canoe sometime soon. Now that he’s a locum tenant a girlfriend and I get to use his pool at will while he’s gone. It’s out in the country next to the river and very peaceful.

I want to make it a goal in my life to live more fully. I want to ride my bike consistantly, get a canoe, hike more, camp more, spend more time with friends, drink more wine, take more pictures, dance more often, have more conversations with my husband, spend more time with him as well, get better at rock climbing, get my dogs outdoors more often, and learn to laugh more.

Resolutions, resolutions.

S0 I had all these great ideas on what to write about but the holidays came and went and I had company the first of the year and now I’m working a lot and babysitting dogs and kids alike and going to the gym and watching countless episodes of Will and Grace and the Office. So I’ve lost track of time and now I find myself apologizing on my new blog for not blogging, which is part of the reason I decided to come over here in the first place: so I could start afresh on a site where I could blog about anything and everything and be myself and not have to worry about friends or family lurking.  My goal was to blog on the regular with the newfound freedom. So much for that theory.

I’ll start with the babysitting of the dog for two weeks while the owner went out of town. He’s a travel doctor. Blah, blah, blah. The dog started to freak after a week and a half of doing nothing like the rest of us lard-asses. It’s a lab-mix puppy and is very used to a highly active lifestyle with it’s owner (and we are NOT that active). So it got the diarrhea shits on our already brown carpet [THANK YOU GOD it was already that color] . Seven different times over three days, mght I add. The third day I was almost reduced to tears and projectile vommiting while cleaning it up and I decided  the dog had to go. And I don’t even feel a bit sorry. I had managed to keep it the entire two week period we had agreed upon when he called me to tell me he was snowed in and his flight was cancelled. The tears almost started again when he told me it would be another week so I found a nice dog sitting company. Problem solved.

Then my best friend texted me at 7 am to tell me she was driving six hours to see me out of nowhere. We enjoyed almost an entire week of wine and cheese, hiking at Cloudland Canyon, and even tea and scones at a little English tea house. (Even the waiters are British. I think it’s family owned. Either that or they are good actors.) Delish.

Now I’m laying in bed after my first of a three-in-a-row shift at the hospital and my legs are aching from the workout I gave them at the gym yesterday. (There’s your new resolution for you.) I’m about to watch “Legend of the Seeker” on my computer before going to sleep. It’s a cheesy show that is doomed for cancellation, but I’m a die-hard fan of Terry Goodkind and I’ve read all his books of the Sword of Truth series.

Don’t laugh.

 

The falls at Cloudland Canyon, GA

Infant stages

I took a bike ride yesterday. It’s amazing how quickly a beer belly in its infant stages disappears when you stop drinking and actually exercise. I’m pushing 30 and am terrified of really letting myself go. I can feel myself getting lazy. These days there are 70 year olds in better health than me.

I’m lucky that I don’t have a child yet. At 28 my mother already had a seven year old and a one year old infant. I can’t imagine what that could be like. I’ve been married going on 8 years now so I think it’s about time. Yet when it comes down to brass tacks I think my husband and I are terrified of bring another human being into our relationship. At least it will be in our favor. We’ll be able to train it and teach it the rules of our relationship as a family. Poor little thing doesn’t have a chance!