Bad things happen to good people.

I was a lazy shit this week.  I didn't run since last week, not once, until today.  My sister, who doesn't run, decided to come run along with me.  She had her best mile time in, well, since ever!  I had a nice shower and said my goodbyes to my mister and his son.  Went on my way to a Pampered Chef Party... I promised I would.  So off I went to have my shower; so my sister could take me with, to her house and then have her shower too.  The plan was we could go to the party from her house after her shower.

I waited at her house while I had a nice long chat with her room mate.  This is her first year teaching and she has a bit of a tough student.  Andy's teacher is also in her first year, having a tough student being none other than Andy.  After my sister had her shower we headed over to the glorified Tupperware Party.  By this time (11.30) I was famished.  A 5k run, only a smoothy in my belly; I was looking forward to the snacks these parties provide.  I was considering what to pile onto my second cake-slice sized plate of food when I heard my phone ring.

Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum

Pilfered from the chocolate museum's website.

There was a brief time in my adulthood that I had sworn off chocolate.  No, not for health reasons.  I no longer found the taste appealing.  People would marvel at the fact that I didn't like chocolate.  I would hear, "What woman in her right mind does not like chocolate?"  A little bit of a sexist comment but that rant is for another post, another time.  I finally had figured out what was wrong with me.  What was wrong was my taste buds had matured.  I no longer enjoyed chocolate that was of poor quality, stuff I had as a kid.  So my question now is, "What person in their right mind would like chocolate of poor quality?"  Turns out I do like chocolate, very much so.  I like it to be high quality and I don't over eat it.  I enjoy a small chocolate a small nibble at a time.  I enjoy the chocolate for it's texture, taste and even how quickly it melts in my mouth.  While in Germany I grew quite fond of their chocolate and we thought the Chocolate Museum would be a great place to visit.  **Hint: check hotel/hostel lobbies for a buy one get one coupon for admission.**

The end of an era...

Yesterday I got a phone call from my vets office.  They called to say that Dr. Martinucci is closing up shop and transferring his client files to Evergreen Animal Clinic.  If my primary care physician closed up shop I wouldn't have been so upset.  To me a doctor is a doctor; I go, they do their job and I am done.  With a vet, it's a bit different.  At least in my eyes it's different.  I have used Dr. Martinucci as my veterinarian for over 10 years.  It pains me to have to take my dogs to a new vet.  The mister says that Evergreen saved his dog's life once upon a time.  He feels that my babies records being transferred to Evergreen is the best choice.

Köln

Digging up more pictures from my trip to Germany last year (2012).  I am hoping to get these all posted before I head out to Hawaii in November.  Who knows if I will accomplish that.  Fair warning, while in Wiesbaden my camera malfunctioned and I thought I fixed it.  Then it malfunctioned again so the pictures taken in Köln may be slightly fuzzy and shitty looking.  At least my memory serves me properly.  Properly enough to remind me of a funny story that happened to my slightly beer buzzed brain in Köln. 

***Fair warning, lotsa pictures.***

Revenge of the Bathroom Nightmares

So last night during dinner, Andy told me I should pack my suitcase and move out.  Maybe he was joking, maybe he wasn't.  I can never tell with the kid because to him everything is a big joke.  Jokes on me!  Yay.  Earlier that day I advised the mister to have a chat with Andy because he was being wasteful, again.  I had already discussed proper use of toilet paper and not to be wasteful with it.  But he didn't listen and has been using toilet paper to wipe down the foggy mirrors after his shower.  The discussion I had asked the mister to have had slipped my mind and his.  So the discussion was not had before Andy had his shower last night.  I went to bed early so I could have a nice early morning run.

***Warning: Do not keep reading if you don't want to hear about tampons and periods.***

A period of reflection or thought.

She said:
"Introspection and Action
The first is easy the second comes hard to most. And far too easy for some. Easy like a snake sloughing off it's old skin to let the new one shine. Leaving the old shell behind gets harder with age/time. Connections have become fewer and slightly harder to make. People get comfortable in their niche.
Ignorance is bliss, which is why most people turn a blind eye to the inside. And the fear of change keeps that blind eye shut."

To which he responded:
"Introspection without action is fine as well. Now, if we come to the same conclusions over and over, decide a change must be made, and then promptly uncork a bottle of wine..."

Well isn't that a little bit crazy?

Cultural Exchange

I know I have mentioned having a Chinese exchange student.  He is now back in China, going to middle school.  You also heard some of the horror stories involving shitty shifty phone companies and my step-son taking things without asking.  This is actually the flip side; good stuff that we did while he was here.

Back home in China he is an only child without pets.  He warmed up to my little doggies pretty fast.  And for as much as my dogs hate kids, they warmed up to him too.  I laughed when I heard him say to the dogs for yapping, "Oh, you crazy!  Be quiet.  I think maybe you are crazy from Andy."  I laughed so hard, he finally started to catch our sense of humor and tried to make a joke too.