Running on Empty

Hello world,

How much do I suck as a blogger? But I have an excuse(s)...

1) I tracked back in last Monday...busy from wakeup-5pm

2) I worked my part-time jobs Wednesday and Friday night. That's right people, 12 hour days.

3) We woke up before the sun Saturday morning, drove up and back to Blackburg for a Hokies win (yay) and got back around 1 am

4) Couldn't sleep in Sunday and had to miss NFL Sunday to work 2pm-1am at the Lady Gaga show at the RBC Center. More on that later but for now I'll just say there was a fake suicide, live masturbation, and Jesus himself appeared in the crowd.
5) Back to work this morning...

I had 2 Pepsi Maxes today and felt nothing...this girl needs some rest.

Proof that there is a God

There are many reasons I believe in the big man upstairs (yes, I realize it's 2010 but I still think he's a man). I often am affirmed of this belief through nature. Beautiful sunsets (like this one from Sunset Beach, NC), perfectly placed clouds, shooting stars, and more commonly: flowers. I mean, they are stunning, right!? In my perfect world, I'd have flowers in every room of the house...but someone else would tend to them.

You see, there's a few things I'm good at: teaching, bargain shopping, and killing plants (and fish, but that's another story). Whether they are fresh store-bought, delivered, or planted and grown in my own backyard; sooner than later my once beautiful plant dies.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Matt and I try to tag team the yard duty so our place doesn't turn into a s**thole and one day we can sell it. I walked out in the yard the other day and looked down in disbelief at our dead grass and brown spots throughout the yard. But then I looked up to see our tree and my spirits were lifted! That's right folks, Carrie planted a tree TWO years ago and it's still alive! Sure, we assumed it had been dead for the past 8 months, but that's beside the point. This thang is a trooper!

My relationship with the tree didn't start off so hot. I arrived home from work one day to see it sitting on our front porch. I read that it was a wedding gift and since we were leaving for our honeymoon the next day it had to be planted immediately. Fan-friggintastic! Instead of packing I'm going to be planting a tree, which I have never done before in my life. I thought it would take about 15 minutes. Well, I live in North Carolina and all we have under grass is clay; lots of it. It took 1 1/2 hours to dig, plant, and cover and by the end I was sweaty, exhausted and covered in clay.

A month later I was pretty sure the tree was a lost cause.

Matt- "Maybe you didn't dig a big enough..."

me- "SHUSH, it's friggin dead, whatever"

Thank you tree for restoring my faith:)

Gotta pen?

Do you ever feel like everytime you need a pen in a snap, the one you grab is a dud? So you put it back in the cup (instead of straight in the garbage since that would be logical) and sometimes repeat this process 3 times before finding a decent writing utensil.

No? Well, I'm happy for you but this was becoming a daily event for me and I decided to actually do something about it yesterday while cleaning...So, here we have all the pens I could find in our house. Desks, drawers, purses, etc produced this ridiculous amount of pens,pencils (all unsharpened of course), highlighters, and other random crap. Good gravy.

So long P90X

Well, I'm calling it a day (or 72 days) with P90x. Yes, I know it's a 90 day program and I have completed 3/4 of the program, but I am "over" it for many reasons.


1) I am SICK of that idiot Tony Horton's nonsense blabber (as mentioned in a previous post). I knew it had gotten out of control when I started hearing him in my head throughout the day. You know, like when you get a song stuck in your head, but it would him and therefore an instant headache.

Can you see why??

Ab Ripper X from Gonzague Philippe on Vimeo.

2) I missed running. It's a little shocking to hear myself declare that considering my ongoing battle with long distance running (thank you torn meniscus) but some days you just wanna ruuuuun! I felt like a caged up sweat machine during these cardio workouts because how much cardio are you really doing in front of a TV inside a little room?

3) Matt has turned my "workout room" into his office. I couldn't tell you that weeks ago as he was still preparing to announce his decision and all, but it's hard to do Plyometrics and Kenpo X when I keep bumping into his office chair. See where my treadmill once stood:

In some aspects, I feel like a failure. I only had 18 more days to go to be a P90X "graduate". On the other hand, I am beyond excited to join a gym again, particularly the friggin palace of gyms that is Lifetime Fitness in Cary. They have everything you could possibly want in a gym...group classes, personal training, full court gyms, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a full cafe, a hair salon (WTF?), unbelievable locker rooms, multiple tv lounges, over 100 treadmills...it's truly outta control. I went to my first group class there today: Cardio Kickboxing. I can honestly say I've never sweated so much at one time at my life. In other words- it was AWESOME.

Easily the highlight of my week

There were 4 coupon books in the paper today people, FOUR! It's like Christmas in...well, I guess it's August now, huh?C'mon Harris Teeter, when's your next Triple Coupon Week?? I'll have to check in with @sue_stock via twitter or her blog to find out. (If you don't know who she is, familiarize yourself immediately and thank the Lord she was born)

Oh, and look what I randomly found inside the coupons this week ----->

Did anyone else have one of these growing up??

The bear with the undersized hat who taught you how to snap, button, zip, tie your shoes, etc. Are they still manufacturing these guys or are they left from a 1987 shipment?

Hangover, no not the one with Mike Tyson

I didn't love the Hangover like seemingly everyone else in my generation did, but I can't pass up a reason to show Ed Helms performing his Grammy nominated crooning from the flick

Although Matt and I are determined not to become an old, boring married couple, the reality is that we rarely make it "out" as in going downtown and doing the whole shebang. There are many reasons for the rarity of our appearances. How about the cost, the 25 minute drive back to our house, the fact that neither of us are looking to score with anyone there, and quite frankly the bathrooms at any point after 11 at night. The supreme reason? The next day hangover.

I am convinced it is worse when you have been drinking outside your home. Even an $8 drink is made with the lowest of the bottom shelf liquors (Aristocrat anyone?) the peer pressure and (god forbid) dancing just increases the rate at which drinks are consumed. When I drink at home I usually get the munchies and eat something before bed which typically helps my next day state. When I go out, I don't even think about food until about 6 am when I wake up to pee and realize I haven't eaten in 12 hours.

No matter what poor choices were made the night before, there is a surefire cure that has worked for aiding hangover woes for 5 years now. It's name? The Bojangles chicken box. There have been times where it's taken me all day to actually eat the whole thing, but each greasy bite is one step closer to feeling like a functional human again. Gatorade is a good buddy as well, which is why it is always fully stocked in our fridge.

What is your hangover cure? Your sharing could benefit the millions of poor Americans who suffer from this ailment each weekend.

Green ankles, not green thumbs

We have had like, negative rain down this way lately so our grass is 95% dead. Our weeds however, are thriving and crabgrass is proving itself to be the cockroach of all growing things, in that it can survive pretty much anything. For the record- I had no idea what crabgrass was until we bought our 1st house- along with a yard and a necessary lawnmower. Matt and I braved the heat yesterday because, well, see for yourself...

So after 2 hours in a heat index of 100, Matt and I worked towards this...

And both of our feet looked like this...
When I win the lottery, I'm definitely hiring someone to take care of yard responsibilities.

Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

So, I realize it has been almost a week since I posted and I feel I owe you a reason, an apology, or something of that sort. And by you, I am referring to the possibly 12 people who read this regularly;) Ummmm...it's HOT, like incredibly hot. When I finally get to relax at home, the least desirable thing has been the thought of a warm machine running under my fingers as I search my brain for creative interpretations of life's events.

How hot has it been? I'm glad you asked...

• Green grass is a thing of the past. My neighborhood has been donning a new beige color.
• The paint of the trunk of my car started peeling in June and the hotter it gets, the quicker it sheds it's skin. I can almost hear the parents saying "wow, they really don't pay teachers enough" when they see me get in and out of this quirk-filled 10 year old necessity.
• My daily dedication to P90x is more like 4-6 days per week. I mean, I sweat on the way to work, at recess, on the way home from work, and anytime I go to the car, so that's burning calories, right??
• My husband told me at dinner this week that I smelled like "recess". Considering he hasn't had a recess since the 5th grade, I'm pretty sure that wasn't a compliment and he was recalling his fellow preteens starting puberty, yet not yet applying deodorant.

I love the summer, and am an outdoors girl through and through. However, College Gameday Saturday, jeans and a sweater, and a pumpkin flavored beer sounds glorious...

Go Shawty, it's yo birthday...

Saturday and Sunday, July 17th and 18th, 2010

My husband is definitely not the romantic type, but he is incredibly thoughtul and puts lots of purpose behind his plans for birthdays, holidays, etc. We knew we couldn't afford to go all out in celebrating my 26th (fine by me as I am still unable to drink dirty martinis over a year after the last time people celebrated me) but he managed to plan a fun evening in Chapel Hill

Rain put a damper on our "window shopping" on Franklin Street, but we did mange to pop in a few stores and replace my sunglasses which ended up on the bottom of Jordan Lake last weekend (Guess who thought it would be funny to push me off the boat?)

We then drove a mile down the road to Carrboro for a surprise dinner at Southern Rail Restaurant and Bar. It is literally comprised of the old train station and some restored train cars and is by far the most unique place I can remember eating. All the pictures, doorways, signs, and even hardware has the look of the olden days. We had a view of the actual traintracks on one side and the open courtyard between train cars on the other. The food was mediocre, but the Bloody Mary topped with pickled okra (how's that for southern living) made up for it. We grabbed another drink in the former train station where a bunch of old dudes rocked out, and we were by far the youngest spectators around. I give Southern Rail a B+

After dinner, we met up with some buddies at Milltown and finally headed to Cat's Cradle to see one of our favorite bands, The Love Language perform. The LL performed a great show, but the most memorable part of the evening was the opening band. Their band name? S#!tHorse. Yes, you read that correctly, except without the censoring. It was more like a circus act watching these guys between the seemingly homeless lead singer and the scantily clad woman wearing a horsehead mask on stage. I've been working hard to erase that image from my memory.

Today, I am looking forward to some pool time, but the reality is that the majority of my day will be spent rotating laundry, grading papers, cooking, and cleaning. Guess the birthday fun is over for this year. Cheers to 26!

Happy bday to me!

July, 16th, 2010

Another year older, although somedays it feels like I have aged many years since last July. It was great to spend the day being showered with gifts and cards at school, then get wined and dined by my inlaws and hubby last night.














Have you ever been to Tribeca Tavern? Well, you need to go! It's another great venture of Rocky Top Hospiltality which has satisfied my appetite for years through Twisted Fork at Triangle Town Center, Michael Dean's, Bogarts, Hi5 and many more. TT boasts a cleverly named burger and sandwich collection made primarily with local meats and cheeses. Matt enjoyed the Blue Devil (fried jalepenos, carolina feta cheese, etc), his Mom and Pop went for the Wolfpack (2 patties, bacon, bbq, etc), and I had Jimmy the Greek for the 2nd time (can't go wrong with a greek salad on a lamb patty). Honestly the only bad thing about this place is the wait. We were told 20 minutes and waited an hour to be seated. This never really bothers Matt and I since we just hit the bar and wait it out among rather laid-back company. However, people who aren't drinking or have kids to keep entertained would not be fans of this long wait.
I give Tribeca Tavern a: B+

After dinner we visited our favorite movie theatre, the Galaxy Cinemas in the Crossroads Cary area. It's cheaper than other theatres, waaaay less crowded, and serves booze! They show all the independent movies and oscar noms that you'd never see at your local Regal Cinema. We saw Cyrus, the newest Duplass brothers film which debuted actual movie stars in the leading roles for the first time. It is nice to see Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly and a more serious role that they surprisingly actually pull off. Marisa Tomei is as always, superb.

Reason #492 I love my parents...

Thursday, July 15th, 2010 (Happy birthday Uncle Davey)

My parents (well grandparents, but they raised me since I was 2 and yada yada yada), anyways- my parents sent me a gift package and card for my birthday today. I feel like the card alone expresses the amount of tact they have decided to use at their seasoned age.

Gotta love them. If you know me and especially if you have ever had the entertaining privilege of meeting the people who raised me, you understand this is normal. Hell, when I've raised 4 children and worked for over 50 years, I'll take "inappropriate" to a whole new level!

And my gift? A glorious triple set of People magazine puzzlers!

As I mentioned before, I am no scholarly reader. I have a short attention span and like to check things off my to-do list so novels don't really jive with all that. Crossword puzzles are my vice. I could do them for hours and a get a high off how "smart" I seem when doing them.

Am I wasting brain cells on useless pop culture knowledge? Yes, I certainly am
Will I suffer dementia or early Alzheimer’s? No, I certainly will not.

Dear P90X,

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

My motivation is waning here...

It has been 5 and a half weeks on your program and I'm losing focus. Tony (aka: the "inspiring leader") is better on silent which makes it even more boring. However, listening to that guy spout douche-tastic nonsense at me is not my idea of motivation. I want rock hard abs, crazy-toned arms and all that but much of me wants to never pop in one of your dvd's ever again.

The only thing I want to bring,
is my fist to his face -->

Told ya so...

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

I called this one:

Let's go American League! I'll definitely be tuning into Fox tonight.

"You no big Paaaaapi"

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Tonight is one of the most fantastic nights in baseball: The Home Run Derby. These are so much fun I can spend the afternoon watching retro derbies from the 60's on ESPN Classic. So many great hitters over past decades have appeared in this event and players claim it's what they most look forward to watching. It's not hard to see why...

Josh Hamilton and multiple others opted out of this years contest, but there is still reason to watch.

The best part of this years event? Watching the guy we named our dog after hit bombs for fun:) David "Big Papi" Ortiz will hit in his 4th Derby this year and although he's far from the favorite, you never know what Ortiz is capable of. He does have 18 homeruns already this year (pulling himself up from a miserable start) and boasts 335 in his career- not too shabby.

Big Papi is definitely the most likeable guy going up to bat this year, as evidenced below in one of his many commercial appearances.



If Ortiz does fall short, just please don't let Nick Swisher win...

Satisfy your tummy and your wallet

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Nothing says summer like these:

Lemon squares are beyond delicious. Here's the recipe for creating summer in yo mouth:)

Ingredients
Crust: 1/4 cup granulated sugar , 3 tbsp butter,(softened), 1 cup all-purpose flour
Topping: 3 large eggs , 3/4 cup granulated sugar , 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice , 3 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp salt, 2 tsp powdered sugar

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Crust: beat 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the butter at medium speed until creamy. Lightly spoon 1 cup flour into a dry measuring cup. Gradually add 1 cup flour to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Gently press mixture into bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes
Topping: While crust is baking- beat eggs at medium speed until foamy. Add 3/4 cup granulated sugar and next 5 ingredients, and beat until well-blended. Pour mixture over partially baked crust. Bake an additional 350° for 20 minutes or until set. Sift powdered sugar evenly over top. Cool in fridge to make cutting easier.

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Can you believe that it costs between $8-$10.50 to see a movie in the theatre now! Yea, me neither which is why we rarely drop that kinda cash seeing newer movies. Thank goodness for poor people like us there is the Blue Ridge Cinemas, aka the $1.50 theatre. It's not state of the art, and you'll want to bring some hand sanitizer, but it's only $3 for a movie date!

This weekend we decided to finally see Date Night. Not so into romcoms's, but Love Tina Fey, love Steve Carrell, so this was a sure thing. It's was good, not great, but pretty good. Maybe I'll appreciate it more when my life resembles their's a bit more and I have to pay a sitter to get away from my multiple children once a week. Great cameos, original idea, but overall very predictable. I give it a: B.

Surprisingly positive experiences

Friday, July 9th, 2010

First of all, happy 76th birthday to my Poppop!
Secondly, happy 5th 1st day of school to me! Any teacher you talk to doesn't sleep well the day before a new batch of darlings walk through the door. Personally, I am anxious, nervous and excited due to the uncertainty and unknown of what the next 12 months will be (yes, 12 rather than 9 due to year round).



I am happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised today though! I was only semi-successful with the whole "no smiling for 2 weeks" thing, and made sure to pour on the sarcasm to weed out any weaklings who can't handle it:) I will smile soon, once the whip cracking has taken it's toll and they can actually walk in a quiet straight line. It's funny to me that I have earned the reputation as a "strict" teacher when I see myself as ridiculously non professional and mostly a kid myself. Hey, whatever works...


Thursday, July 8th, 2010

So, I'm not a fan of the dentist chair but because I get free cleanings I am subjected to hearing terrible and expensive news bi-yearly. Our last dentist SUCKED. Didn't explain financial obligations, did filling for both Matt and I incorrectly, and in was rather unfriendly in general. After Matt's recent dental crisis, we began seeing a new dentist and LOVE her.

My first appointment at Renee Wall, DDS went perfectly. They are friendly, helpful, and honest. Also, I know it doesn't mean much, but the office itself is designed like TJMaxx Home Goods rolled through there! They were even nice enough to transport my husband to and from his crown appointment last week since I had to work and they advise against driving on Valium. Need a dentist or thinking of switching? I give Dr Wall and her crew an A+

I mean, look at this face....

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

In case you haven't already been introduced, meet Papi: the love of our lives. And yes, it's pronounced like the Spanish word for dad, naturally since he is named after Domincan native and Red Sox slugger David Ortiz.

I wish dogs could talk because mine would surely have a story to tell. You see, this guy didn't always have a 3 bedroom, 2 bed, 4 comfy couch/chair house to himself.

We adopted him from the Durham APS in September of 2008. We don't know his entire background, but he was one of many dogs who were mistreated, malnourished, and left outside. He had long gnarly yellow hair, fleas, and heartworm when we got him. Despite his condition, it took only minutes for him to cozy himself into our lives and become an equal

member in our family.

Here is a writeup I sent in a while back for the shelter's "Happy Endings" posts on their site. http://www.apsofdurham.org/papi/#more-11334.

We had no idea how much joy a pup could bring to our lives, and it helps to know we made a world of difference in his. I'm not condemning anyone who uses a breeder or prefers a purebred; all I know is that we will always adopt from here on out, and APS is a great place to do that.

Idiots Guide to reading quality books

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

So, I'm not exactly what you call a "reader".

Yes, I know that I teach kids how to read and comprehend and predict and infer and all that, but the truth is that I just don't really love longer books. This is why I teach 3rd graders how to read rather than say, 11th graders. I love short stories and magazines and newspapers, but it takes a special book to keep me hooked for 500 pages.

These are the types of things I typically read...

<-- Chelsea Handler's hilarious latest installment of an interesting childhood, mind blowing amounts of one night stands, and poor physical and moral choices

A son who lives with his dad and literally just writes down sh*t his dad says -->

(Check out his webpage and twitter feed for bites of this ridiculousness)

I feel like I should be a more respectable reader though so I am making an effort to branch out of my comfort zone, hopefully with your help. Here is my first attempt:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- By Stieg Larsson - 608 pages -

An international publishing sensation, it combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

So, I still have pretty much no idea what its about, but I'm going to give it a shot. At best, there are 2 other books in the series. At worst, at lease they are making a movie of it...

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Meet our co-pilot:

Family and friends along the NC coast

Friday through Sunday, July 2nd-4th, 2010

This was a BUSY holiday weekend for us, but it was also a great one! Rather than a long recount, here are a few snapshots of the awesome people we were able to catch up with.

< ----My cute grandparents

My BFF Kim --->

Matt's middle school buddy and his uber cute lady

BFF Sarah and hubby Jason (stolen from their recent trip)

Cutest 3 yr old on the planet and her parents who

fed and entertained us all weekend