Baby Girl

Well, the baby girl is in the animal hospital, we took her in, met the new surgeon and he took her back to the back. Her surgery will probably be around 2-3 today, so we'll hear after that. Now I just have to not think about it all day. I'm going to bring Fido in to work this afternoon. He's already clingy after we got back without Fifi. I believe in good energy so please think of my baby and send good thoughts.

I know some people say "Jeez, it's just a dog" but when it's all you have, as little children will never reside in this household, those four footed furry babies ARE the kids. MY babies, and I spoil them and worry about them. So, good thoughts...please send. Thanks.

The pups at 5 months, who can resist??

Retail Therapy

I believe in it, I do it, I love it. I can't afford it, but that's just a detail. Some days when I'm really down I'll just go into a store and feel the clothes or play with the gadgets. Even that helps. I haven't had to do it lately...thank goodness. Although I still love a day of shopping, even if it's window. I have a feeling that next Thursday, the 19th, I'm going to need some therapy.

My baby girl, Fifi, is having surgery to repair the tendon in her knee. I will drop her off on Thursday morning after I meet the new surgeon and she will be staying overnight at the hospital. So very sad...I don't think Fido has spent a night without her since they were 4 weeks old. I may have to bring him into work with me...for both of us. *sigh* They are the babies....

In other news...I am feeling better about my triathlon decisions for next year. Like I said, I just had to make the choice and move on. In some ways I thought I was letting someone down, which is again ridiculous, as the only person that I can let down is myself. Now I just have to decide if I will do the Olympic in March and April, March and May or April and May...more decisions.

My office mate has today and Monday off, and it's making my day really, really long, even though I'm slammed busy...which is perhaps why I'm goofing off a little and writing this "nothing" blog. :) Yep, I practice avoidance...I'm pretty close to mastering it!

This weekend I'll be in San Antonio cheering on Trainer as he attempts his PR 1/2 marathon time. I'm very excited. The only thing I'm nervous about is navigating the course so I can see him a couple of times and offer my support in the only way I can....yell like crazy and make him push it to the limit! Okay, I suppose I'll wrap this up and get back to work. Maybe I can even scoot out of here right at 5...we'll see.

Sleepless morning...

I woke up with a start at 3:50am. 'What the heck is going on??' is what I was thinking when I heard the sounds of paws and nails scurrying across our tile floor, across the house to the doggy door. Dear Lord...why do opossums have to come out twice a year? Why must they cross through our yard on the top of the fence, keeping my little buddy up ALL night long just staring out the window...waiting. Waiting to jump up on the fence and snag one down by the tail. (When Fido stands up he's just under six feet.) After snagging it he shakes it from side to side while Trainer and I are frantically putting on clothes and shoes trying to get out there before something really bad happens. As always our 'little buddy' stands guard over his catch and pretends like he can't hear or see us. Almost like a three year old....'if I pretend maybe they'll just go away!'

No such luck for our little bud. I blocked him from the opossum and Trainer was ready with the leash. We got him inside and closed the dog door. I went out this morning and the critter was gone, I didn't even have to chuck it over the fence. (Thank goodness because it's really, really, really gross.) I couldn't go back to sleep and of course Fido will sleep all day...

I've been cleared to exercise on the elliptical, maybe I'll go home at lunch and grab my gym bag, get in a workout before Trainer comes home tonight. OR maybe I'll go back to Sephora and buy that makeup kit that I've been adoring since Saturday...hmmm....choices.

Lumpy

That is how I'm feeling today. I'm fighting a sore throat/cold thing that my officemate's daughter keeps bringing into the office (irritating!!!) and I'm fighting my internal dilemma, you know...the usual what's "right and responsible" vs "what I want."

I just got back from a 30 min sucky bike ride. I haven't been on my bike in almost a month. How those muscles do forget....yeah, it sucks. I'm feeling super flabby, not helped by the illin' feelin'. I'm out of the boot, however this week I'm still not supposed to do much. I swam once, then was sick so decided it best not to push it, and then today I rode. I'm balancing on that edge of falling out of shape. I hate this place. I start craving crappy food and I start overeating. Luckily I've caught myself within days of the pattern developing. Eating because I'm bored and can't exercise...how stupid is that? But I know it's common (doesn't excuse it) and at least I am stopping the madness today.

So, besides feeling crappy I have this dilemma that I mentioned. I know the right answer, I know what I should do and then I should just STOP and relax as the real decision has already been made. My T3 (triathlon group) Coach and I sat down on Monday after practice and discussed my triathlon goals for the next season. I'm going to start the whole program in January (right now I'm just participating in the coached swim session.) That means that 6-7 days a week I will be in coached training session trying to improve my performance in the sport of triathlon. My idea was to do the Texas Tri-Series which is a 5 race series that starts in May (I think) and ends with a 70.3 (Half Ironman) in October. Here were his suggestions:

1. The Champions race in March (Olympic distance)
2. Either the Lonestar (Oly) or Cap Tex Tri (also Oly)
3. Do a half marathon after that
4. THEN do the Vineman 70.3 in July

I was super excited and nervous of course because I'm basically starting from scratch again (with the exception of swimming.) Well, the Vineman 70.3 is in Sonoma County, CA, it goes around four vineyards and is supposed to be an awesome event. Everyone that I mentioned it to said, "Oh, you'll love that race! Such a great course and you'll have a good time." I was pretty pumped. Then I looked it up and the race entry is $$, which I knew b/c all the 1/2 ironmans are the same price. Then I looked up bike transport and it is $$. Then I looked up hotels and B&Bs in the area...yep...$$. Add in airfare for both Trainer and I (I would HAVE to have him there, no question) and food...well, we're looking at over a grand. We could have possibly made it into a vacation...where I raced and was tired and spent most of our money before we got to the vacation part. Trainer and I talked about it and he said, "If you want to do it, then do it." But, I got the vibe that he wasn't really for it (or against it), and not as pumped as I was. Of course he would be spectating and not racing and that does make a difference.

Then I started having anxiety ridden dreams about the race. (Bad sign when I haven't even signed up yet.) And I started thinking about what else we could do with that money....like getting me a new bike, or painting the house, or a new TV (ours is about done), or...or...or...and the list goes on. Could I really be that selfish and do this race and spend that much money knowing that we have all these other things on the 'list'? Could I put myself above all of that??? The answer, as we all know (well, if you know me), is no. So, I'm going back to Coach and telling him that I'll have to stay in-state this year and maybe next year I can do something out of state. We can save up for it, plan for it. You know, I really hate being responsible and not having unlimited resources.

I always wanted to race out of state, both of us. Maybe this next year we can have Trainer do an out of state 1/2 marathon and next year I can do an out of state triathlon. Maybe...we'll see. Well, time to shower up and get ready for my massage. Then off to take YZB out for her b-day lunch/shopping trip/beer. :) That'll make me feel skinny...really...it will.

Rewind.....Vacation

I was going to do a day by day recap, but that would have made this post like three pages long and I'm sure your coffee breaks aren't that long. (Or my stories that interesting!) SO, I'm going to try my hand at picture blogging. Let's see if I can make this work.
The pups were very sad before we left. In fact Fido (not pictured) spent the night with his paw on our suitcase.Our flight was a little delayed getting in, but nothing too severe, everyone arrived eventually and by 7 we were eating dinner at the resort.
The next day we went into town, which has changed SO much in the 10 years since we've been gone. They have a Costco, a Home Depot...and yes people...a WalMart. We ate lunch in town and had those fabulous fish and shrimp tacos that I had been craving and yes Corona must be consumed while eating these tacos:
Tuesday night we had a nice dinner at the resort, celebrating MIL's husband's birthday, and then we went to sleep as we were exhausted. Wednesday we just hung out at the resort pool, had some lunch and beers.

Then that night we had dinner on-site, nothing spectacular. Thursday we spent another day by the pool (trying to get rid of my practice swimsuit lines) and then that night we went to dinner at the place where we were married 10 years prior. The restaurant had changed hands and was very different, but the view was just as beautiful. Two pics, the first a full look at the sexy sunset colored dress that YZB helped me pick out and the second of the view:

That was our "date night" since we were literally surrounded by parents. And I'm not kidding...my parents and grandma stayed right.next.door. Yeah. Nice. So Friday was the ceremony and it was also the day that we learned that a hurricane was headed our way and was supposed to be there by Monday. Trainer's mom and her husband didn't want to get stuck there so they were frantically trying to get a hold of the airline and get the heck out of there early. My parents were like "eh, let's see what happens" and we were just like, "seriously??" so this is what we did:

Until it was time to do this:

And then this:


And then we went to the restaurant and had dinner and cake:

Rockin cake!

And then Saturday through Monday we chilled at the resort. We had a great time, not really relaxing. In fact as we were waiting for the shuttle in Austin, the one that takes you to your car, we both sighed at the same time, hugged and then said, "I think this is the most relaxed I've been this entire trip!" Trainer agreed. We got home to new tile and a bit of a mess from the tile. So we spent two hours cleaning house when we got home. The tile does look good though. And the next morning I got to pick up these furry babies (can you see the smiles?):

To celebrate 10 years was awesome. I would climb every hill over again (well almost every hill) if I knew that I would end up here in this place, happy with my husband, life and most important...happy with myself.

I'm a slacker...I know, I know

However my vacation post will have to wait one more day. Let's just say that vacationing with your parents should be followed by a another vacation. :) Here are some highlights since we've been back:

-Work is annoyingly busy.

-Fifi the pup lost 7 pounds and needs to lose another 7 in the next month before surgery.

-I'm down to 155lbs, no idea how this happened, but I'll take it!

-I've been paranoid for no reason these past two weeks...ask Trainer, he's so not loving it.

-I swam for the first time in three weeks yesterday, I suck again (okay, not really, but I'm back to being slow!)

-I have one more week in the boot and then I start PT! Very exciting news.

-Did I mention that work is annoying?

That's it for now kids. I'll give a blow by blow, or at least the highlights of vacation soon. Here's a pic for y'all:

Almost....on vacation

I hate packing...LOVE vacation, but hate the stress that precedes the trip. Making all the arrangements for the pups, making sure everything at work is going to be okay, Dr's appts, waxing appts (VERY important), trying to get a workout or two in (yes, even when ill) and finally packing. I try to make lists, but then they are put to the wayside and I always end up forgetting something. Also, I take a crap load of clothes and usually end up in bathing suits for 90% of the trip. Oh well...

I'm thinking I need to go to Borders to get more books. I have two right now, although I do have a closet full of unread books upstairs that I should go through. We're trying not to spend money. Which means that I'll be giving myself a pedicure before the trip. $35 dollar savings. We are eating at home this weekend, spent $50 at the store for food plus airline food (Lara bars and such), but I figure it saved us at least $70 in lunch plus dinner expense.

While we're gone we are having our bathrooms re-tiled as well as the kitchen back splash. When I was cleaning on my "rest day" before the race I decided to do the bathrooms and ended up pushing in three or four of the tiles in the shower...I mean, we wanted to get it re-tiled eventually, just not at the same time as our Fifi's surgery. What else...oh yes, I had to spend over $300 on a new battery for the truck as it died on me at my Dr's office last week. I had let my AAA lapse and then of course I needed a tow. Cha-ching! So a one hundred dollar battery turned into a three hundred dollar battery. And then of course the expense of the renewal ceremony. Which if we knew that no one was going to be able to come (except for our parents) we wouldn't have spent so much money. BUT, it will be a nice deal and we'll have great pictures...right....really, it's going to be beautiful.

Bottom line - we are broke. Happy, but broke. Sad that all of my savings are gone and that I have to start re-building my emergency fund. Happy that we'll have newer looking bathrooms and a puppy that can stand on both of her back legs again and isn't in constant pain. That just means (for those that live here) that I'm not turning you down for HH or dinner because we're boring (although we can be) it's just that we really have no extra money. We will gladly entertain at our house and community dinners and drinks at a house always work. Don't worry Big Country (you know who you are) we are saving some for your b-day celebration.

Wow, sorry...when I started writing today I thought it would be all light and fluffy and funny. Ha, not so much huh? Well, I'm sure that I will have some great stories (that are bound to be funny) when I return from our vacation with Trainer, his mom and her husband, and my parents and grandma. Yeah, it has to be funny...or I'll be posting from a jail cell in Cabo San Lucas. Peace to y'all!