It's ALIVE!!!!

I know most of you were incredibly worried since I didn't write on Sunday after finishing my first Muddy Buddy, thinking the worst. Well, I'm alive and well with only some minor scratches on my knees from the mud pit. SIL and I finished (one of my goals) and we didn't come in last place (my other goal)!!! This thing was much harder than I first imagined, though. I chose to bike the first leg which I assumed would be a walk in the park. Not.Exactly. I managed to pass a few people in the beginning but soon realized that this task I had willingly (OK, somewhat dragging my feet) signed up for was going to much more daunting than previously believed. I was huffing and puffing by the time I made it to the first obstacle which was a wall that you had to climb over with a rope net on the other side. After the first obstacle, I proceeded to try and catch my breath while walking at a brisk pace...notice that I don't start running...you might see a trend here. After spotting a girl who looked exhausted while running but was, in fact, still running, I decided that I should pick up the pace and jogged for a few minutes. By this time, I start to notice that I'm being passed by the first set of runners now on bikes from the group behind us who started a full 7-8 minutes after we did. This, along with the huge hill that comes into my view, does not help with my motivation as I fully realize that I did not train near enough for this thing. I slow back down to the brisk walk and start sucking air with the long walk up the hill. The next obstacle was a balance beam which I must say I really excelled in. When I was in Junior High, I was picked to be on the balance beam for the gymnastics team but turned them down as I'm slightly scared of heights. Back on the bike. At this point, I'm telling myself that I'm a little over 1/3 of the way finished and this makes me slightly happier. I am almost to the next obstacle when I see SIL with a buddy that she has met...this makes me nervous b/c we're quite close to the obstacle and I know she'll probably end up waiting for me at the end. The obstacle (my favorite, by the way) was a blow-up slide that we had to climb up on the rope net and slide down...very fun. Start walk/running again. This is the last leg that I have to walk/run and it makes me very happy. I am speed walking at this point (swinging arms and everything) and see a skinny lady who is also walking. We are now friends. I could have passed her but she's interesting and we start to walk together. My new friend and I proceed to run on the downhill portions and rejoice when we see the next to last obstacle. I'm almost there. The last leg of biking about killed me b/c I had a cramp in my side but I managed to finally make it to the last bike drop. The man in camo kept telling me to take my bike farther over but finally shut up when I told him that I had no more energy and was leaving the bike where it was just dropped. We crawled through the mud pit and crossed the finish with a time of 1 hour, 17 minutes and 1 second (32nd out of 41 teams). The organization had a great system to wash off...we got in the lake. This goes against almost all of my principals of never getting in a lake (ask me about this sometime) but as I was covered in mud, I went ahead and joined the crowd.
All in all, I would suggest participating in the Muddy Buddy if it comes to your area but make sure you have a good training schedule before signing up!

Pretty Bird...

I can't believe I almost forgot to write about this odd experience that happened while Husband and I were running (OK...I'll be honest, light jogging mixed with a brisk walk). We were walk/jogging along the sidewalk on a suburban street near our house that has a lot of vegetation along the walkway and had noticed what seemed like an abnormally large quantity of mice that were scampering among the ornamental grasses (one actually ran across the sidewalk right in front of us...that put a little pep in my step!). When we were almost to the end of the road, we looked to our right and there was this huge hawk just looking at us. This hawk was sitting not even 10 feet away from us picking at what looked like remnants of a mouse. It was disgusting and very cool at the same time. Leroy (as I named him in my head) was a beautiful bird with these white legs and gorgeous feathers but the mouse innards that he was gulping down was appalling. Husband and I decided that we thought we could fight him off if he attacked and picked up the pace while not turning our backs on him for fear of assault from behind. I attached a picture of a red tail hawk but have no idea if this is the kind that Leroy is. If I see him again, I'll be sure to pay attention to his markings while keeping a close eye on those sharp talons.

Camping Adventures

So Husband and I decided to pack up last weekend and drive to Arkansas to go camping. We really had no idea where we were headed but printed off a few state park brochures and set out Friday afternoon. We decided to head towards Devil's Den near Fayetteville which was about 5 hours from our house. Let me tell you, Arkansas is a beautiful state, especially during this time of the year, but some of the people make Texans look high-society! We only stopped for a quick dinner at A&W/Long John Silver's (can I say yuck...that was quite possibly the worst meal I have eaten in a long time) and arrived to Devil's Den about 8:15. Much to our dismay, there was a "Campground Full" sign underneath the Welcome sign which we thought couldn't possibly be true so we pressed on around the winding roads. I mean, honestly, why would a campground be full on Friday night? Well...it was. We trucked on along some quasi-dirt road (apparently it had just been scraped or something like that so it was actually a somewhat smooth ride) and came across some random cars along the side of the road. What we didn't realize is that we had actually left the state park and entered a desolate and dark BFE. When we came across a flat area that had room for a tent and for the truck to pull off to the side without the worry that it would be hit, we mentally marked it down and kept on going just to make sure we didn't come across something even better. Should have known that we were pressing our luck and called it a night there. About a mile down the road, there was a little turnoff that Husband decided to check out. Have you ever had that feeling in the pit of your stomach that what comes next is not a good idea? Well, I did but I figured Husband can get through anything and only squeaked, "I hope we can get out of here" as the trail he was driving down was quite narrow. When we got down the trail a little further, we realized that it was an ATV trail and couldn't set up camp here. This is where the pit of my stomach was starting to yell "ABORT! ABORT". We tried to back up where we came from but there was a small stump on my side and we kept on hitting this, resulting in a loss of momentum leaving us spinning on the wet sand/dirt/rocks. We tried this several times, each one making Husband more and more frustrated. Finally, Husband made me jump out and proceeded to turn around (took about 18 turns) so that he could see where this blasted stump was and avoid it. We were finally out of the woods (no pun intended) and promptly went back to the flat site and set up camp. Keep in mind that we're in the middle of nowhere and there are not bathrooms/lights/people around us...kind of freaky if you let your mind wander. Skip forward a few hours. Husband has to take sleeping pills b/c he can't sleep at all & sometimes they make him do funny things. Point in case. He wakes up around 4:00, jumps up from the air mattress (yes, I know we're camping but there's no reason to forgo the simple amenities of sleep) which means that I am bouncing around, gets on all fours and peeks out of the top of the tent while telling me he hears voices. That.is.just.perfect. We are in the middle of the woods only protected by a thin piece of nylon, it's pitch black and Husband is hearing voices. Fantastic! I finally convince him that he must have been dreaming and to go back to sleep, which is intermittent as it has started to rain and it sounds like people are walking up to the tent. Around 6:00 am, we heard loud bangs going off around us and realized why the campground was full. This was the opening day for deer season for muzzle loaders and archery. Great...if we make it to the morning, we take the risk of being shot b/c this is public land.
Needless to say, we made it and actually found a terrific campground in the park for Saturday night and had a great time.

Obnoxious Fans

I, like every other Texas/Oklahoma fan, watched the UT vs OU game this weekend which I do have to say was a damn good game (especially since UT WON!!!!). From the recap I got from the 'rents, apparently the fans at the game were quite subdued and polite (except for a little incident discussed below). This was not the case at Lochrann's where the 2 OU fans there were quite loud and obnoxious (especially after a few pints!), at least until the 4th quarter. With about 2 minutes to go, the most obnoxious and boisterous of the 2 then proceeded to walk around, shake everyone's hand and tell them what a good game it was. This sentiment would have been nice had I not been thinking throughout almost the entire game "I want to kick you in the face if you scream "Boomer" one more time". The 'rents also had a funny story of a younger teen who was sitting in the UT section but was an OU fan. Apparently he kept on turning around with the horns sign facing down and was quite the little sh*t until a man 2 rows up yelled "F*CK YOU, F*CK YOU LITTLE KID". That amused me to no end and still keeps a smile on my face when I think of that little scenario.

Febreeze Fix-All

So tonight I went to the monthly wine night that I joined after meeting some seriously awesome gals at Lochrann's (http://lochranns.com/), the local Irish bar that I now call home. One of the people who attend (this lady works with and lives next door to one of the gals I have come to adore) is going on a sailing trip of some sort to I don't know where b/c I wasn't listening and needed a costume b/c she'll be gone during Halloween. Well, I happened to mention that I was a pirate last year and had the costume available if needed. That.was.stupid. She proceeded to tell me that since we're about the same size, my costume would fit and that she needed to know how to get it before tomorrow b/c she's leaving on Saturday. I work in Addison and she works in Plano so she mentioned that I can bring it by her work during lunch (since apparently I have a lot of free time during lunch...hello, Muddy Buddy training!!) and if she wasn't available to leave it with the receptionist. Thankfully, my Lochrann's bud came to the rescue pointing out that since Crazy Lady needed the costume and I might not be able to take off for lunch to make the trek up north, Crazy Lady should just come pick it up from our mailbox when she gets off work (take into consideration that she was acting like she was going to be working til 9:00 PM and I found out that she gets off around 4:00! Must be nice.) Anyway, I then am told (notice I don't say asked) to jot down my address, what she needs to buy before she leaves (as I have misplaced the petticoat/bloomers which go under the costume) and where to buy these items. Fast forward 2 hours...I call Husband to let him know the sequence of events from the evening and mention that I (stupidly) loaned out the pirate costume from last year. Husband proceeds to remind me that b/c of my antics (and the small amount of food but large amount of liquor consumed that evening), we had to leave the party early and I was quite ill on the way home...funny story better told in person. When I got home, I got the costume out of the plastic bin it was quarantined in and discover that it a) stinks like puke and b) has puke still embedded in it. (I secretly chuckle at the irony of this as Crazy Lady is much wealthier than I and acts like her sh*t don't stink) After washing the noticeable chunks off, I then proceed to drown the costume in Febreeze and will defend to my death that it was musty from being in the attic and I just wanted it to smell better for her. (you all know the truth!)

My other nephew!

Since I have posted pics below of my Dallas nephew, I think it only fair to also post pictures of my cute new Las Vegas nephew. This is Liam, SIL's baby and the first baby boy (we have 4 nieces...one was just born this week!). From the pictures I have seen so far (airfare to Vegas is CRAZY at the moment), he's quite the little ham and enjoys sleeping in the most awkward positions.

Have I mentioned that everyone I know is having babies!

Check out that red hair! (Some might say I have a "thing" for redheads)

Check out those dimples!

I'm not quite sure what he's doing here, but it looks funny.

This is SIL's first baby (the hairy one on the right) with the little prince...not sure how the first born is reacting to her brand new brother.

Pics of Aiden (Part 1)

As promised, here is the first round of pictures of Aiden.

Don't be alarmed, Chewbacca is not trying to eat the baby. This is April's dog, Leila (I like to call her bat sh*t crazy for short).

Just hangin out 8 days after meeting the world.

Snuggled up like a bug in a rug.

Say it ain't so...

Newsflash: The Drudge Report labeled last night's presidential debate boring. I won't even begin to comment on politics b/c I have no particular interest in them. (my MIL is going to flip if she reads this) but I want to know what part of a presidential debate they actually find interesting. All I really have a stance on regarding politics is that all Americans should support their President, whoever he or she is. Obviously I have never been in the President's place, but I imagine that it's harder than it looks. I would really like to see some of these fools who think they have all the answers try and run the country...ok, done now. This is me stepping down from my soapbox.
Happy hump day!

Speakerphone

Maybe it's because I thought that today was Wednesday when I woke up this morning and then 1/2 way through the day realized it's only Tuesday, but today really cemented the fact that I hate speakerphone. My co-worker, bless his little heart, loves to use speakerphone E.V.E.R.Y time he is on the phone (sits right next to me). It doesn't matter if I am on the same conference call or if I'm trying to work, he always uses speakerphone. He even uses speakerphone to talk to another person in the office 2 desks away (consequently, the person he calls also uses speakerphone so you hear this crazy echo a second after each have spoken. Both also have a penchant for swearing so it's "F*CK YOU, you don't know SH*T" and then a little of "You want to take this outside you little F*CKING monkey"...I promise that both parties do, in fact, like eachother). Besides using the dreaded speakerphone, he also has a tendency of yelling into the phone to make sure that he is heard, regardless of the fact that the person on the other end has most likely turned down their earpiece b/c he talks so freaking loud. (I just yelled at him to quit yelling into the phone which he has done; therefore, my blood pressure has also gone down)
Thankfully, this day is almost over.

Fall, Fairs and Babies

Although I live in Dallas where we don't have much in the way of seasons except really hot and kinda cool, I absolutely love fall and winter. Football season always gets me so excited for fall where tailgating and lightweight jackets prevail. I also love when the leaves turn everything into a plethora of green, orange and red (again, living in Dallas does have it's disadvantages b/c everything just seems to turn brown overnight). With fall and winter also come the seasonal coffee creamers which I take extra delight in adding to almost everything (coffee, of course, oatmeal, hot chocolate, etc). My absolute favorite is the Mocha Mint...especially delicious in hot chocolate with whipped cream on the top. Husband usually gives me disapproving looks every time I add that extra little squirt of whipped cream after I have slurped the first batch off the top (being diabetic and all, that extra squirt is probably not the healthiest choice) but it's just so delicious.

Another staple that comes with fall is the State Fair of Texas. My parent's first date was actually at the State Fair 38 years ago and they have gone almost every year since. Although we don't frequent the Midway as much as we did when I was younger, the Fletcher's corny dogs are still out of this world and it amazes me to see what they will come up with next in the fried food realm (http://www.bigtex.com/foodlocator/). Hopefully I'll be able to convince Husband to take me this weekend (Texas vs. OU - GO HORNS!!) b/c the high is supposed to be around 70!

On the babies portion of the title, I realized today that there are an overwhelming amount of people who I know who have recently given birth or are currently preggo. Not sure if it is just b/c I'm of the age where people stop going on all night benders and actually settle down to have a family or what, but I do have to say I love the way babies smell (well, maybe not every smell) but I liken it to the smell of puppies. This weekend I was especially fortunate to get to spend time with my favorite Dallas nephew, Aiden. He was born July 3rd and, while he isn't truly related to me by blood, I love him just the same. Aiden is currently learning the pleasure in rolling over and, with much coaching, will be able to say Mel in no time (I know the typical first word is Dada or Baba, but I have extreme confidence that for this particular genius, it will be Mel). I will post pictures shortly of this little Casanova for all the world to admire.

Muddy Buddy - Not just a delicious treat

So Husband recently proposed that we participate in an outdoor activity known as the Muddy Buddy while subsequently holding up a shiny object which I was, of course, fixated on resulting in me not paying any attention to what he was saying. This Muddy Buddy consists of a 6-7 mile course that you run/ride with a partner. From what I can understand, both members of the team start out at the same time, one running and one riding for 1 mile at a time. Then you go through an obstacle course and switch positions so that you're alternatively running and riding until the end where there is a huge mud pit that you have to crawl through. Somehow, I agreed to participate in this activity even though running to me is equivalent to what Dante describes as the second circle of Hell. Everyone I talk to about this has said, "Oh you can do that, it's only 3 miles of running." To me, that's like saying stripping is easy for a one-legged woman (although I have heard of this mythical creature at a certain "Gentleman's Club" in Waco). What I don't understand is how people actually like this thing called running but people have been swearing by it for years. So Husband and I started our new "training" program last week which I will say has been painful but bearable. Wish me luck.

New to blogging

So I am officially jumping on the bandwagon and have started a blog. Hopefully this won't turn into another myspace account where I got really excited, created my page and haven't logged in since January. I have spent the greater part of the day debating on the name of my blog, address, etc. like I was choosing a permanent tattoo (on a completely separate and random note, if anyone is looking new tattoo ideas, check out www.tattoobin.com) when I finally decided that I was stalling and to just bite the bullet and do it already. What gave me immense satisfaction is that I can a) spellcheck for those words that I know I always misspell but are automatically corrected for me, b) change things as my mood suits and most importantly c) delete old blogs if, when I re-read, I realize I sound like a complete and total moron. Thanks to my wonderful friend Paige, (who subsequently got me hooked on reading hers along with other random people's I've never met but but am equally hooked on...thank you Steece's Pieces) I will have a fabulous background shortly.
So lookout peeps and get ready for life as I know it.