A couple months ago my friend Jamey asked me if I wanted to do a mud run. The rest of the conversation is hazy, but apparently at some point [...]]]> I know I owe you all a post about how awesome the house is and stuff, but I have to share this first. It’s worth it.

A couple months ago my friend Jamey asked me if I wanted to do a mud run. The rest of the conversation is hazy, but apparently at some point I said I would. The last time we’d decided to do the Warrior Dash, we eventually backed out of it. So when I agreed to do the Mach 1 Mud Run, I probably thought we wouldn’t go through with that one either. I was wrong.

Last Wednesday Jamey sends me a text asking if I want to get muddy on Saturday. Without thinking, I respond “Sure!” and immediately second guess myself. Next thing I know, it’s Saturday morning and we’re about to do a 5K+ through mud and over obstacles. I ask repeatedly “What the hell are we doing?” and Jamey just laughs. We got there entirely too early, so we had the chance to sit around and look at all the costumes people had created. There were tutus, and facepaint, and an entire group of guys and girls dressed as 80′s aerobic instructors. We were relatively boring in comparison:

But by the middle of the race, you couldn’t tell if we had tutu’s or face paint because we were COVERED in mud. Jamey had the forethought to bring a waterproof camera so we could have blackmail photos document this experience.

The course was crazy. Just over 5K (almost 4 miles) of mud pits to swim through, tires to jump through, walls to climb, ropes to swing from, hay bales to jump over, and nets to climb under (through mud of course). It was so much fun. I managed to fall off the top of the cargo net and bash up my arm, while also landing flat on my back. My middle name is Grace, clearly. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, we both managed to get through the entire course alive in 1 hour and 4 seconds. Not a great time by any stretch, but it gives us something to work for next year!

Thanks for forcing me to do this, Jamey. I had a great time! I can’t wait for next year!

We put offers on 347 different [...]]]> Looking for a house in this market sucks. Plain and simple. Everything is a short sale or foreclosure. The regular sales are gone before they’re even posted online. The short sales take MONTHS to go through, if you can even get a call back in the first place. It’s downright depressing.

We put offers on 347 different houses (or so). Some of them we STILL have not heard back on. Our first choice, however, finally approved us and we’re currently in escrow!

Holy cow, y’all! We bought a house!

The house is slightly larger than the one we have now, and has a nice sized backyard that we can (someday) put a pool in. There are 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and the master bedroom has a walk-in closet that is bigger than the bedroom I had as a kid (I’m not kidding. I actually measured.) It needs new paint and carpet, but is in otherwise good shape. We’re both really looking forward to making it exactly what we want it to be.

I’m excited and terrified all at the same time. The house was a foreclosure, so we’re dealing with a bank instead of a person. They asked for a speedy escrow, so we’ll close on Monday,April 18th (barring any obstacles, and assuming we don’t close early). That’s great, except we have to be out of our current house on Tuesday the 19th.  That doesn’t exactly make for a smooth move. Right now we have a POD in front of our house, that we’re filling with as much stuff as we can. Next week we’ll switch that out for another one, and put the rest of our stuff into it. The Pod people will store it for us until we get the keys to the house, and then they’ll deliver both to our new driveway for us to unpack at our leisure. I love that part!

My favorite part (aside from just owning a home for the first time in my life) is that we’ll be very close to both of Donald’s sisters. Both of them live less than 2 miles away, so we’ll get to spend a lot more time watching the kids in all of their sports and activities. (Plus, by the time we have kids, the older ones will be able to babysit for us). I’m very fortunate in that I don’t have to pretend to like his sisters or their husbands. I genuinely like all of them, and am glad we’re close!

Less than 3 weeks to go before we move in! Wow, I have a lot to do!

Written If you Give a Mouse a Cookie style (kind of)

If you have [...]]]> My sister is by far one of the funniest people I know (often unintentionally). When she sent me this e-mail, I immediately asked her if I could post it here so others could enjoy. Thankfully, she’s not shy. Ladies and gentlemen: The Jen.

Written If you Give a Mouse a Cookie style (kind of)

If you have a dog, it will shed.  You will have people coming over the next day, so you will need to clean up the house.  You will start by putting all of the dog toys away while she sadly watches you from outside the window.  You begin to vacuum the carpet and see how much dog hair is on the couch.  You decide to clean that too and an hour later the carpet and couch have been cleaned.  Your dog, seeing that everything is clean, runs in the house and jumps on the couch.  You kick her off and cover the couch with sheets to prevent more hair from getting on them.  She smells the sheets and goes back outside to watch you.  While you have the vacuum out, you decide to vacuum the tile as well.  All of this vacuuming makes you tired so you sit down for a few minutes to rest.  Your dog, seeing you resting, comes in and decides it is time to play.  You feel mean ignoring her, so you throw a few of the toys.  The next thing you know an hour has gone by and all of the toys are all over the house again.  Seeing all the toys on the floor will remind you that you were going to mop the tile.  You once again pick up all of the dog toys.  Being that close to the ground reveals how much dog hair is still on the tile.  You get out the swiffer sweeper vac and vacuum the tile for the second time.  After finishing vacuuming you remember that it is trash night and decide to take the trash out.  You don’t want the dog to track dirt in on your nicely swept floor so you leave her inside.  You move the trashcans out to the street and return to the house.  Upon walking into the house you see how excited your dog is to see you and notice she has been jumping up and down waiting for you.  Jumping up and down causes her to shed more getting more hair on the floor.  You decide that you will probably need to vacuum the floor again before you mop.  As you reach down to get her toy off the floor, you glance and see all the dirt on the baseboards.  Seeing all that dirt makes you decide you should clean those baseboards.  You get down on your hands and knees and begin to clean the baseboards with clorox wipes (It’s now about 10:30)  While cleaning the baseboards you see all the dirt and mud the dog has gotten on the walls.  You decide that while you are down there, you might as well get the dirt off the wall.  As you clean the baseboards where the carpet is, you see how much dog hair the vacuum did not pick up right next to the wall.  You decide that since you have already done this much cleaning, you may as well do it right.  You get out the vacuum and use the hose to get the edges by the baseboards.  You finish vacuuming and finally finish the baseboards.  As you are going to put the cleaning supplies away, you see more dirt on the doors, so you clean those as well.  By this time there is more dog hair on the tile, so it needs to be vacuumed once again before you can mop.  You finish vacuuming and as you are going to dump the filter of the vacuum the god damn dog hears something outside, runs to the door knocking over the vacuum and sending the filter flying across the floor.  You yell a few choice words at the stupid dog that caused this whole mess to begin with and vacuum up the mess she just made for the 4th time tonight.  After vacuuming you get out the mop.  You are exhausted but decide you should at least finish the job you started.  After mopping all of the tile, you stand in one place realizing you were so tired that you started mopping in the wrong place and now have to stand and wait until the floor dries.  Your lovely dog seeing that you are obviously alone and in need of attention brings you a toy.  When you don’t take it from her, she drops it and gets another one. You finally decide that you can see where this is going and decide it is worth walking on the wet floor.  You finally finish cleaning and start getting ready for bed.  You drop a pill bottle on the floor and as you bend down to pick it up, you realize you did not clean the baseboards in the bathroom and feel compelled to do it.  As you finally climb into bed and realize you have finished cleaning and your house looks great, you hear the dog lying on the tile scratching herself.  If she is scratching herself, that means she is shedding. If she is shedding, there will be hair on the floor.  This makes you realize that as long as you have a dog, you will need a Roomba.

Since my sister moved out in October, my mom has been turning her old room into a guest room, and the old guest room into an office. For Christmas, we all chipped in and got Mom 11×14 prints of all 5 of our dogs, past and present, and framed them so she’d have art [...]]]>

Since my sister moved out in October, my mom has been turning her old room into a guest room, and the old guest room into an office. For Christmas, we all chipped in and got Mom 11×14 prints of all 5 of our dogs, past and present, and framed them so she’d have art for her walls. This was the picture I used of Mia, and it’s by far my favorite of her. I loved it so much that I’m getting a print of it framed for our house as well.

Here is the complete set of dog pictures, for those of you who are curious:

I’ve been working for a little over two weeks now, and I feel like I haven’t slept in 3 months. I had no idea that I would be this tired once I started working again. Granted, it’s worth it. I really love the company I’m working for. The people are a little [...]]]> I am exhausted.

I’ve been working for a little over two weeks now, and I feel like I haven’t slept in 3 months. I had no idea that I would be this tired once I started working again. Granted, it’s worth it. I really love the company I’m working for. The people are a little crazy, but in a good way. I fit in completely. But at the end of the day I get home, and want to do nothing more than lie down and shut my eyes. Forever. I can barely scrape my body off the couch long enough to make dinner, or do laundry. I’ve mentally written 30 different blog posts, but just don’t have the energy to actually type them when I get home. My 5K training plans have completely collapsed. I’ll be walking the 5K this coming weekend, and I’ll be lucky if I make it the whole way through. I am a little disappointed in myself that I won’t be running, since I really wanted to do it, but honestly, I hardly have the energy to walk upstairs, let alone train for a 5K. Maybe next year.

(Speaking of this weekend, there’s still time to donate to the American Diabetes Association. I will still be participating and walking with all my people, and will happily accept any donation you can give. Thanks to those of you who have already donated!)

I spent all of today lying on the couch, trying to stay awake. I’ve not been feeling well lately, which I’m sure is more to do with being overly tired than me really being sick. And now, it’s time for me to finally succumb to my exhaustion. Good night!

Yes! I’m employed!

It took 13 months and 2 days for me to get back into the workforce, but I’m back with a vengeance and SO happy about it! I got the first call Tuesday morning, [...]]]> Do you know why it’s fantastic, ladies and gentlemen? Because it is my second day of my new job.

Yes! I’m employed!

It took 13 months and 2 days for me to get back into the workforce, but I’m back with a vengeance and SO happy about it! I got the first call Tuesday morning, had my first interview Tuesday afternoon, my second interview Wednesday afternoon, an offer within an hour of me leaving the building, and my first day was less than 48 hours after getting that first call. It all went so fast, I think my head is still spinning! Although it’s been a long time since it’s been an issue, I’m still not going to do a whole lot of talking about my workplace on my blog. Suffice to say that I’m working 15 to 90 minutes from my house (dependent on traffic), and I’m working as a customer service rep for a company that makes stuff and things. Good luck figuring that out.

So yesterday was my first day, and I wanted to make a good impression. It’s a casual dress office (yay jeans to work!) but I wanted to look nice for my first day. I got up early, showered, did fancy things to my hair, and set off for work an hour before I needed to be there. It’s roughly 11 miles or so away, so I figured an hour should cover it.

Boy, was I wrong.

I had gone less than 5 miles in the first 65 minutes of me being in the car. I had to call my brand new boss and tell her I’d be late on my very first day. There was a huge accident involving a bus and several cars that shut down the freeway. Awesome. That’s how you make a first impression, folks. Show up 30 minutes late on your first day of work. It took me an hour and a half to go 11 miles. Thankfully, I have the greatest boss in the world, and she was completely kick back about it. Turns out, she had a similar problem the very first day at her new job years ago. I still felt awful, but no one there was the slightest bit upset about it. Fantastic!

I’m so excited to be working again. I think it’ll be challenging and fun, and way better than staying home feeling sorry for myself. I’d been pretty depressed as of late, and it wasn’t getting better. This job came out of the blue, and sounds perfect for me. I’m very happy to start this new journey!