I Have Doggies!

I need to make some more marshmallows. And chocolate mousse. And probably some salad.

Today’s Exploit:

I have adopted. (Really it should say "we" but I'm selfish today, and home alone.)

Twice.

First we got a boy.

He is energetic and lovey and pretty.

He is mostly a lab.

Klay named him Chuk.

Chuk has never ending energy.

Then we got a girl.

She is timid and affectionate and slightly irritated with Chuk, although who can blame her?

Klay also named her, he just doesn’t know it yet.

Her name is Stella.

Stella is a German Shepard and Hound mix.  

Chuk and Stella, the two crazies.

Here’s a picture of them fighting over my lap:

 

Stella likes to stay close. 

Chuk is too busy killing all the toys to take pictures.

I Won, With Help

This week’s recommended reading:

Reading it right now, Cover image found here.

Today’s Exploit:

I had my race this weekend.

At the start everyone is happy and excited.
And magically lined up in order of our race bib numbers (unintended).
And I stole these pictures from Catherine.

I did a half marathon in the mountains in Washington’s wine country. (Not that it makes much difference to me. I like the orchards, but my Mom would love it here.)

It took me years to finish because I was babying my legs to make sure I didn’t get cramps. Last time I ran here I got really bad cramps in my legs about half way through the race and had to hobble the second half of the race and hop across the finish line.

This time I walked up most of the hills and ran the level areas and declines. It was much nicer.

I had amazing views and many nice people and great volunteers at the aid stations and road crossings. 

And when I came to the end, I was getting some cramps and trying to keep my calves loose so they wouldn’t seize up.

Then Eli and Cavan ran up to meet me and told me I was being slow and to pick up the pace.

Eli ran with me for a second, but Cavan ran with me the last few turns into the finish. 

At the very end, with about 30 feet left he told me he was going to race me to the finish. And I tried, I really did, but my legs didn’t want to work for a sprint. 

At the end is more relief than excitement,
but having a finishing buddy helped.

I ended up getting 68/78 overall, and 1/3 in my age division. So that was pretty exciting.

Excited for a House

Working nights when I have a qualified person working days is SOOOO nice, and I don’t have to worry about paperwork!

Today’s Exploit:

So far, so good on the house. 

We had an inspection, and it went much, much better than the last one. The house had normal maintenance issues for a 15 year old house, instead of neglect problems from a 115 year old house after being ignored for 20 years.

We still have a couple of weeks before we close, but everything is looking promising and I am getting pretty excited. 

The house has 4 bedrooms and a media room, which looks like a bedroom. All of the bedrooms are big and bright, although one of them is hot pink. And, to my mother’s dismay, the second bathroom is blue. I am looking forward to so much space for storage, after packing everything for 3 people into a single bedroom apartment. Also, since we will have so many rooms, Cupcake says we have to have Christmas at our house now. 

The kitchen is nice and open, and has an island, and window that looks out on the back porch/yard/property.  It has so much counter space that even I won’t be able to fill it with all my kitchen stuff. Also, it has a gas stove, and I am ridiculously excited about that. I have big plans for taking the cupboards out to replace with shelves, and changing the countertops from it’s current green rock to butcher-block. 

The back porch is truly amazing, and gigantic, and will be perfect with some strings of party lights and an outdoor kitchen area. There’s even a fire pit already in place and an amazing view up into the little hills behind the house. I have plenty of space for gardens and maybe some fruit trees, and H. has space for a shop and is excited about getting to buy a tractor to mow the grass. We just need some marshmallow roasting sticks and some fresh marshmallows (This time I’ll make them thicker!). 

Trying Again

This week’s recommended reading:

Found here

Today’s Exploit:

So the first house didn’t workout, but that doesn’t mean we’re giving up.

Yesterday H. and I went and looked at some more houses. We found some good things and some bad. 

I touched a cat and it yelled at us when we locked it back in its room. We encountered an over-filled victorian with 5 doll houses. And some great views of the lake, as well as some fans that wouldn’t turn off. 

We found one that is just right and makes everyone happy. So we put in an offer. Please cross your fingers for us. Hopefully no one else will out bit us and we can finally move out of our cramped apartment. 

It’s Mine, All Mine!

This week’s recommended reading: 

Today’s Exploit:

I get my house! They said yes!

I am so excited I can’t even put it into words. 

I have so many plans.

First I’ll take out the carpet and some tile.

Then we’ll work on the master bathroom, while I decide what in the world to do with the weirdo downstairs bathroom and laundry area.

Then I’ll deal with the extra tall counter/sink in the kitchen and get a beautiful gas cooktop, and take out the cabinets to put shelves on the wall. 

All the little cubbies need cleaned out and re-finished. As does the mini cellar-thing.

And I get to bring my piano down without forcing myself out of the house to provide space!

At some point we’ll deal with the not so fun tasks, like getting the bee nest out of a wall, and making sure the house is level and not rotting away. And waterproof in the rain. 

I can’t wait to finish the paperwork stuff so the fun part can start!

I’M BUYING A HOUSE!

Have you ever had chocolate cherry frozen greek yogurt?  

It is amazing. I have been slightly obsessed lately.

Today’s Exploit:

I am buying a house.

Finally.

I have been looking for one for 8.4 months now. It took so long partly because I am NEVER home, even less at the same time as H. And I am slightly picky. I want space, and a KITCHEN and nice rooms and WINDOWS and all the things. 

I have looked at a gazillion houses online and about 50.2 houses around San Marcos and New Braunfels. But nothing was right, or if it was right it was sold by the time I got a chance to ask about it. 

After a slightly disappointing bout of home viewings with one feasible option I decided I wanted to build a house so it had what I want and H wen t back to searching the internet. 

And he found it.

The one.

The coolest house in the history of our house searching.

It is a monstrous Victorian with a HUGE kitchen, a bazillion windows and a very large yard.

I WANT IT SO MUCH!

So we put in an offer and started a contract and loan proceedings. And now we wait. 

Please cross your fingers that they accept the offer and things go smoothly. Because I think I might have to fall apart if they say no. 

It will require a lot of work to fix it up, but it will be the most perfect house ever when it is done. And I think part of the appeal is that I don’t have to live with the “new granite countertops and tile floors”. It will be the way I want and I won’t have to feel bad about ditching something that has just been modified.

This will be my new kitchen. 

12' ceilings. I didn't even dare to dream that it could be possible.

That window? It is so deep I need a step stool to reach the back.
Perfect for an herb garden.

It is so big, and bright. And it has 12’ ceilings. I jumped up and down like an excited 2 year old when I walked into that room. It is incredibly dated, and might need leveled, needs new countertops and requires some tile removal, but it is the right size and shape and has so many counters. Oh the excitement!

I’m hoping I’ll be home in time for the inspection so that I can take more pictures. 

I have so many plans and hopes and SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!

Wish me luck.

Racing Colors

I have been reading so many books lately. They are silly and not well written free books on my phone, but I can’t tear myself away. I don’t understand it. I have so many books for my Kindle that I consider it my own personal library, but I have been ignoring the good books available there for the silly ones I found. 

Today’s Exploit:

At the end of August I did a 5k with my sister. She chose it and signed up for it without my coercion, which is a minor miracle after the half marathon drama. But she wanted running motivation and to celebrate finishing her school. She’s now a real nurse, I don’t know if she’s taken her final test yet, but she’s looking for jobs. 

The race she chose was in San Antonio, in the hottest month of the year. I think she’s trying to get me back for that last race. But I agreed since I never thought she’d run with me again.

It was a color run, where they throw powdered paint at you to stain your clothes, underclothes, skin and hair. It was pretty fun, even though it was Texas hot. The people throwing paint though it was hilarious to throw it at my face and at Cupcake’s legs. 

Afterward we raced to New Braunfels to look at a house, covered in powder and sunscreen and sweat. The lady showing the house didn’t even blink when we got out of the car. However she did ask us several times if we were sure that we weren’t twins. 

We got many stares at IHOP, too, because Cupcake just HAD to have pancakes after the race. 

Also, I still have paint powder in my car from throwing water bottles in the back seat, and having to dig around for my money at the restaurant. 

Texas Style Adventure

My classes are feeling never-ending. I just want these last two weeks to be done. And then I’ll be finished, and no more worthless papers. 

Today’s Exploit:

I made a friend. 

And it wasn’t a tortoise or cow or fuzzy red ant, which, by the way, I have learned are actually wingless wasps and REALLY nasty. 

Ashley is from Florida. She is staying with the company man and she is going to run a marathon in November. 

We went walking because she forgot her running shoes.

On this walk we came across a bull in the road. On the other side of the fence was another, much younger bull. 

We slowed down and I yelled at them so that the one in the road would move. It did, about 10 feet further down the road.

After about 3.2 repeats of this process Ashley decided that the bull might charge us and wanted to be prepared. She found a large hunk of wood and carried it with her for the next half mile while we tried to convince the bull to leave the road long enough for us to walk by. I am not sure why this seemed like it would be a good idea. She claimed that her grandparents owned a ranch. But I didn’t think the bull was going to charge us, either. 

Eventually we made it to the gate and she thought it was safe to drop the hunk of wood. 

The bull decided to leave the road long enough for us to pass on the way back, but the cows on the other side of the fence thought it would be funny to run down the fence line just far enough ahead of us that we were in a dust cloud for half a mile. 

When we finally left the dust cloud behind, Ashley decided that her shoes hurt her feet and took them off. She walked 1.24 miles back to the rig in her socks. 

Thankfully she didn’t step on any of those nasty fuzzy red ants/wasps.

I Was Hit By Lightning

I think the rain might be never-ending. I don’t like it because it floods the road and I can’t run. It would be fine, but I didn’t bring an extra pair of shoes and putting on clammy shoes is gross. And blistery.

Today’s Exploit:

I WAS HIT BY LIGHTNING!

Ok, so maybe not so much me as the rig that I work on.

But it hit within 20.376 yards of me. And that's way too close for comfort.

During one of the, seemingly daily, storms we were expecting a light rain, with most of the violence of the storm passing on either side of us.

However, the storm had other plans and took us all off guard. 

I was standing by the DD’s desk and talking to Reed. 

Suddenly there was a blinding flash and dragon roaring outside.

The dragon made the electricity flicker and one of the computers go SNAP!

While I was watching the computer to see if I needed to hit the floor to avoid shrapnel the dragon flamed and roared again.

And then some rain started.  And by “some” I mean “a torrent”. 

Matt ran back inside and yelled that I needed to check my equipment because they lost the monitor and the rig computers were down.

I didn’t really want to go outside, because the dragon was probably hiding behind the door, but I did anyway.

The lightning killed one of my computers and confused my signal receiver.  I had to make the other computer pick up the slack (and now it is running extra slow). And we had to call for a backup signal receiver because the computer would crash every time we started the demodulation program. 

Then the truck bringing the backup parts wouldn’t drive down the rig road because he was afraid of getting stuck.

Eventually we got things patched together enough to finish the job, but it’s sketchy.

It Was a Bit Drafty, Just Didn’t Realize the Extent

We had a fire today. We had to stop working so that the roughnecks could put on their firefighter hats and save the day. 

PS A rig is not a good place for a fire, the whole thing can blow up. Especially if we have gas returns.

Today’s Exploit:

I’ve had another wardrobe malfunction. 

It was rather embarrassing.

I couldn’t even go hide afterward, they made me keep working.

Ok, I don’t know if anyone else actually noticed, but they could have!

Anyway...I was doing my job, getting the tool ready for the new run. I was all ready to go and had even moved it to the catwalk (it’s really called that) to be ready to pick it up.

*Side note* *My tool is about 30 feet long, weights about 180 pounds and requires the air-hoist, or hydraulic-hoist, or whatever-hoist to lift it to the rig floor.* 

Then they lowered down the old one, so that I could pull it down the catwalk (it’s really called that) and swap the lifting mechanism to the new tool.

Before the bottom of the tool reaches the catwalk (it’s really called that) it hits a ledge, where they can leave big collars and drill pipe that they might need soon. I put my foot up on the v-door for leverage and pulled the tool off the ledge. 

RRRRIIIIIPPPP!!!!!!!!!

My thoughts: Crap, my pants ripped, I hope no one notices. I didn’t think these ones were that old, and they don’t even look worn.

I pulled the tool down along the catwalk (it’s really called that) and set it down as gently as possible.

That was when I got a chance to look at the RRRRIIIIIPPPP.

No chance it was just a small one. Oh no. They ripped from the middle of my zipper down to the middle of my thigh. That’s a good 10 inches. 

So, there I was, parading up and down the catwalk (it’s really called that) with a brand new fashion statement going on. Not a particularly good one, either. 

Since everyone was waiting on me, I had the joy of picking up the other tool, going up to the rig floor to make sure it was sitting properly in the collar and putting a new o-ring on the flow sleeve.

It wasn’t until I went down to change into my backup pants that I realized how visible my electric pink and garish purple leopard print panties were.

Oh joy.

Mice Are No Longer Friends

I have less than 3 weeks until I kill myself in a most torturous manner. 26.2 miles of hopefully not exceptionally hot Texas weather. My goal is 4 hours, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to make it, but I plan on finishing anyway. Then I’ll fall over and twitch a bit before I expire.

Today’s Exploit:

I was okay with the mouse that ran around the kitchen, and not overly concerned about the mousetrap wars that followed.

I was also okay with the two that played under the table while I washed dishes, only running away when I had to cross their path to get to the bedroom. And I was a bit disgusted with the fact that they chewed through one of my headphones, but it was the replaceable part. 

I laughed at George the other day when one ran from the fridge to the recliner and he wouldn’t put his feet on the floor until he had to go outside. 

That all changed last night.

I was in bed trying to relax my brain enough to go to sleep, a nightly trial. Then I heard scratching. When I looked nothing moved and I attributed it to my imagination, which tends to go wild at bedtime. I heard it again, and was met with the same results when I looked for the source. I re-situated myself so that I could see off the bed if I heard another noise, and proceeded to fight the random flight of my thoughts.

Suddenly I felt a tickling on my head. One of those creepy feelings that moves along a line, and you’re sure it’s a bug, but it turns out to be your imagination when you try to brush it away.

I took a deep breath and made myself stay still and try to relax. 

That was when I felt something moving down my side.

I sat up as fast as I could.

The mouse ran the length of the bed and disappeared.

I made a noise something along the lines of “Gaaah-rrrraaaaawwwweeerrr” (which translates to something along the lines of: BLOODY HELL, THERE’S A MOUSE IN MY BED AND THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT SOME PLACE THAT A MOUSE SHOULD BE! GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF!) and jumped up.

Naturally by then the mouse had vanished completely, and did not appear to be in any of my bags or under the bed or hiding in the A/C closet. I searched each of these places at least 3 times before I retired to the living room.

I proceeded to sit on the couch, curled as small as I could get, and watch for the mouse for the next hour.  

I also spent this time trying to convince myself that I really needed to get some sleep, and the mouse only touched the outside of the sleeping bag. And maybe my pillow.

Probably my pillow.

I searched the room another 3 times, and my sheets 7 times.

I finally did make myself get back in bed, using a tiny corner of my pillow that I knew no mouse feet had touched.

I got an astounding 2.1 hours of sleep between trying to get comfortable, trying to make myself relax and feeling phantom mice feed EVERYWHERE.

Mice are no longer something I can see without thinking they were in my bed, and probably eating my food while I washed my hands. 

I was ok with traps before, but now I think we need about 17 in each crevice. 

Attack of the Spider

I have, surprisingly, not been harassed mercilessly by Matt about nearly killing George with my deadly pasta. I fully expect to meet a total stranger on my next trip to a big city that knows the story, though. I think he told everyone he knew.

Today’s Exploit:

I noticed some spider nests in the upper corners of my doorway a while ago, just before Cupcake came to visit. She was overjoyed by the fact that I had spiky egg-sacs living in both corners. She would stand about 3.2 feet away and eye them suspiciously before sprinting through the door as fast as she could while Arley held it open for her. I would have made her open the door herself. 

Anyway, I decided that I should probably move the nests to some place else, because I didn’t want spiders hatching all over my door and getting into my house. I have enough of them hanging out in there already. 

I prepared myself with a piece of cardboard and a piece of sand paper, because those are the required spider catching materials. Then I took a deep breath at tried to gently remove the egg-sacs from the corner.

It turns out that Widows (I now know that Widows can be identified by their spiky egg-sacs) do not make delicate webs and egg-sacs. They make something more along the lines of scratchy-sticky wool/kevlar nests that do not like to let go. So I scraped a little harder with my cardboard, the sand paper held up to catch anything I dislodged. 

Suddenly I did dislodge something, something that hit the sand paper, rolled down it and flew of with a trajectory to my exposed cleavage (this is Texas people, and Texas is HOT! I wear the smallest tanks I can find when I am not “really” in public and standing outside my front door does not count as public). Luckily it hit me and bounced off landing about a foot away from my foot. I squeaked and did a panic dance and then started to investigate. 

My attacker was not large, considering I had a pet Black Widow with a body about the size of a quarter living in my garage (that might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much). But she was brown, with dots and swirls on her back. AND SHE HAD AN ORANGE HOURGLASS! This beast is a Brown Widow, which the internet says are more poisonous but less aggressive than their black sisters. Naturally I had to go get my camera and take some nice photos to prove that I wasn’t making this story up.

After retrieving my camera I chased her around my breezeway trying to get not-blurry photos. Naturally she came to and was being quite feisty by the time I had my camera and would not cooperate with me when I tried to take a picture of her belly. 

After torturing her in this manner for about 5.7 minutes I carted her, on my sand paper, over to the dumpster and released her, shortly to be followed by her egg-sacs, which are not near as fragile as most of those I’ve seen. 

Then I went back to remove the second nest from the doorway. This removal went much smoother, and I discovered that it also housed a Brown Widow. Which I’m told is pretty rare, Matt couldn’t believe that I’d actually seen two together, and that they were both nesting in my doorway.

As soon as I finished moving the nests I went and requested that the pest removal guy come take care of my doorway, and spray for the ants on my porch while he’s at it. 

The Time I Almost Killed George

I have just over 2 months left to be ready to run 26 miles, in a row, all on the same day, and it might be really HOT because it’s in TEXAS.

I have to run the purple line and the red line.

Today’s Exploit:

Yesterday I made birthday pasta. That’s the pasta that I’ve had almost every year, ever, for my birthday. Except that one time, and I don’t remember what we had, but it wasn’t as good.

I made birthday pasta because I said “Happy Birthday” to my cousin, and we talked a little bit and he mentioned that one time I made it at his apartment. Or maybe it was two times? Whatever.

Anyway. I made birthday pasta, because it’s amazing and it’s my birthday month, so it still counts. 

So, there I was, cooking butter and garlic. Every time I do that George and Matt act like I’m cooking up some ambrosia, or something equally appetizing. Not that it ever is, but they sure act like it.

I cooked the butter and cooked the extra chopped garlic and chopped some parsley and chopped some clams. And then I Matt attacked me asking if I’d put the cork back into the wine yet, and when I said it wasn’t open yet he attacked the bottle and opened it right up. Then he couldn’t figure out which way the cork went to fit back in the bottle. 

So I cooked the butter and the garlic and the parsley and the clams, with one clam juice. And then I added the wine and had some awesome purple sauce. And it cooked and cooked and cooked while I waited for Matt to come back with the parmesan cheese. 

He got back and I added the cheese, did a quick heat up and dove in head first. 

When I came up for a breath George was hovering. I thought it was pretty much a given that when I cook everyone eats, unless I hide it within 23 seconds. But since he was hovering I asked if he wanted some pasta.

He jumped in head first, too, quickly followed by Matt. 

We were sitting there stuffing our faces when Matt asked what was in the pasta.

Matt: This is really good, what’s in it? And how difficult is it?

Me: It’s REALLY easy, it’s just Butter and Garlic and Parsley and Clams and...

Matt: WAIT! It has CLAMS?!?!