5k Mud Run

Please note: This will not be the only post on this topic 

Yesterday morning I rolled out of bed and rolled with a friend down to Cedar Hill, TX for the Merrell Mud Run. It is a 5k run with 11 obstacles intermixed. My friend Jennifer is signed up for a bunch of similar races this year, but this was the first one either of us had done. It did motivate me to finally start working out again, after about a 2 month break. I never went so far as to actually run at all, but I at least felt like I had some arm muscles again and could survive the obstacles. We agreed that our goals were (1) to finish and (2) not to finish last.

I had a BLAST and definitely plan to train a little harder (ie. to actually run) to do another.

Future post will be coming with the dirty pictures. Jennifer had a water/mud-proof camera, but the pictures are not as instant as the ones from our phones (which only got used once we were clean!).

THANK YOU to everyone who donated money to support me and most importantly Operation Gratitude.

Boyz and Girls

Since this has become a dog blog (LOL... I need to get a life!), I will just throw out the one final thought from the weekend.

Last week the boyz and I had quite the battle on re-establishing the rules of the house, since they had lived without me and my girls for about 10 days. By the time the boyfriend got home on Friday, we were mostly readjusted (other than them destroying yet another Old Navy flip flop Sunday morning). And then the flirting began.

I can't really tell if Hans pursues Doogie, Hans pursues Princess, Gruber goes for Princess, or Princess gets everyone riled up (I feel like I know where the safe bet might be in all this), but there is definitely some flirting going on around here. Actually, it's more like 5th grade, pull the girl's hair kind of flirting.

Gruber had been very slow to eat lately, and I decided on Monday night that it was because he was waiting for Princess to join him. He even offered up some of his grub to her. He must know the way to these girls' hearts is through the stomach - we're pretty obvious!

Dogs, Walls, Weekends

Stuff was hung on the walls this weekend at the boyfriend's house, as well. One item was hanging a mirror over the fully-stocked wine buffet. I was admittedly not very much help because I was completely distracted by the photo opportunity of the dogs analyzing the mirror... and themselves.... and each other....

Hans discovers himself in the mirror

Gruber joins in the fun

Hans is still intrigued.... Gruber is fixated on his daddy

Doogie discovers the mirror, Gruber admires his pose, Hans is convinced there must be a good-looking dog hiding behind the mirror

Nails in da Walls (continued)

One of the weekend projects was hanging stuff on walls. My apartment was the beneficiary of my sky diving picture frame finally going up.... I had attempted to do this by myself recently but found it a difficult project to do alone (and without a step ladder).

It now faces off against the Pamplona pictures.... I still have an addition to make to that frame, but all in good time.

You might be wondering where my matchbook project is. I have a new concept on it, just need to get moving on it!

PS: hee hee... the pink hammer was used in the making of these pictures ;)

Duck Dynasty

Ok, so it was overall a very productive weekend, but the productivity was intermixed with getting completely sucked into Duck Dynasty.

I had gotten a mid-week, mid-afternoon phone call from the boyfriend while he was in Austin last week. This is a general rarity, so I was assuming there was something up. He was calling to ask me to series record Duck Dynasty on the DVR.

I was mostly expecting to file this off into the category of Ax Men, Bering Sea Gold, Pawn Stars, American Digger.... etc etc etc. But holy cow, this show is freaking hilarious! I immediately moved it into the 2 spot (behind Impractical Jokers) on being able to give me a 30 minute ab work out from laughter.

I do feel bad for them, though, because you can already see the cracks in the foundation of this sweet family. I predicted by season 5 that the mom has run off with the lawn guy.

Sigh.... my DVR list is now growing. We've added SYTYCD and The Bachelorette (double sigh).

BONUS: Deep Thoughts from ABBA
When I remarked to ABBA that it wasn't fair that these guys were millionaires, and I wasn't, she reminded me that I am too smart to be rich. Yes.... she blew my mind.

Honoring Memorial Day

I cannot remember how many times this weekend I remarked "I LOVE 3 day weekends." I really think every weekend should be 3 days. This is one of the things I would include in my platform when running for President.


(side note: my 2 others are stricter testing/certification for people to be allowed to drive and any form of testing for people to be able to use self-checkout lanes)


Today got off to a good start with watching the first 2 hours of Band of Brothers. I had never seen it, and it seemed like a great way to both celebrate Memorial Day and snuggle with my favorite Marine. It definitely brought back a million thoughts of the Europe 2009 trip and tour of Normandy.

Our pastor read this at church on Sunday, and I think it's a great summary of why I am so thankful to all those who have offered and given their lives to keep this the greatest nation.

It is the Soldier, not the minister 
Who has given us freedom of religion. 


It is the Soldier, not the reporter 
Who has given us freedom of the press. 


It is the Soldier, not the poet 
Who has given us freedom of speech. 


It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer 
Who has given us freedom to protest. 


It is the Soldier, not the lawyer 
Who has given us the right to a fair trial. 


It is the Soldier, not the politician 
Who has given us the right to vote. 


It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, 
Who serves beneath the flag, 
And whose coffin is draped by the flag, 
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

PS: more posts to come on all the activities from the weekend - it was a busy one!

Today's Target.... Toilet Paper

The dogs and I have been struggling a little bit to get back to normal after the weekend apart. My dogs spent the weekend at my parents' house, getting spoiled rotten. The boyz spent the weekend at their aunt's, getting stuffed with treats. I have had to break up more skirmishes between the boyz and girls this week than the past 3 weeks combined. I keep reminding them that it's not acceptable and that they are not only children anymore.

Another common theme has been finding the boyz with random things outside. Last night I had to have 2 rounds of yelling "NO" after discovering flip flops outside, soaking wet with dog drool.

This morning, in the amount of time it took me to take a few rolls of TP to the bathroom, they knocked the new bag off the barstool, took out 2 rolls, and shredded them outside. I, of course, had to grab the camera.

Gruber!

The tomatoes had kind of stopped progressing, so we took the advice of our local Master Gardener and picked the 2 bigger ones to try to let them ripen off the vine. When we got back from Little Rock, the boyfriend had set them on the table outside to get some sunlight.

It did not take long for me to spot Gruber chomping on one in the yard. He got a spankin', a stern talking to, and did his apologetic feet licking.

About an hour later, I notice that it's kind of quiet and call the boyz inside. Only one comes running in. I find Gruber -AGAIN- chomping on the 2nd tomato and being quite protective of it with the other dogs!

We are down to one now :(

PS: does it diminish your scolding if you start snapping pictures while you're doing it?

Little Rock (Take 3)

2011 saw me making 2 visits to Little Rock (January and February), after not having set foot in the state in probably 20 years. This weekend was a whirlwind trip back up there.

I left Saturday morning with the boyfriend and his mom. Overall purpose of the trip was to go visit his grandparents and also drop his mom off up there. She had been in Dallas all last week (separate post coming on that topic) and had her return flight to Atlanta booked out of Little Rock.

Sadly, no pics of the grandparents to post (yet), but I did have a great time meeting them. I always love meeting the family of people I care about.... it's amazing how much gets explained when you meet the people who have shaped their life.

It was also really neat to see a love story 65 years in the making playing out in front of me. One set of my grandparents divorced before I was born and my other grandmother passed away when I was young. It was really neat to see this couple so adoring of each other after all this time.

I also got dragged into an Arkansas Razorback fan shop. I proudly threw a Gig 'Em in to counteract, though!

Facebook --> Divorce

A few years ago, research showed that 1 in 5 divorces were caused by facebook (I actually really hesitate to say "caused by" as you gotta put blame on the actual participants). This was not totally shocking to me, but the related story I saw today did kind of seem odd.

Woman Seeks Divorce Over Husband's Facebook Status 
A woman in India is seeking a divorce from her husband of just two months after he failed to update his Facebook relationship status from "single" to "married." According to court documents, the man claimed he'd simply forgotten to make the change because he was busy with work, family commitments, and other things that combine to form a life. But, despite there being no evidence of any cheating, the woman claims he's not to be trusted and wants to have their arranged marriage annulled. The court in Aurangabad is not buying it, however, and sentenced the pair to six months' hard counseling.