Our New Weedeater

David has been wanting a Russian Tortoise for over a year now.....so to celebrate his passing the boards and an early anniversary gift we went out and added a new member to our family. His name is Herbie. David named him for herbivore....I see it more as he looks like a VW bug. Either way, he's cool. He won't get big and should live for a long while. He likes to keep busy but he's still working on coming out of his shall. Ha! Ha! I never wanted to be considered an "animal house" but I think it's safe to say we are. Ah well. They bring joy to our lives and I hope we bring joy to them.

Welcome Herbie!

Mind Games

I went to bed with the mindset it was going to rain so I didn't prepare for a morning run. It didn't rain, my mindset wouldn't change, so no run. Eh. I'm sure it will rain tomorrow morning and I'll be running in the rain. Actually I like to run in the rain. I just made that excuse so I didn't have to run today. Oh the mind games we play with ourselves.

Proud Of The Boy

David received notification today that he passed his Boilers Licensing Examination.....meaning he can apply for a boilers license. I'm very proud of him! It's a huge weight off of his shoulders and a relief to both of us. He plans on staying with the school system, but we hope this opens doors for more opportunities. Way to go Boy!

Soak City Sun And Fun

Today started out as a gloomy day, but the weather soon took a turn for the better and the sun came out. We were able to take a ride on the scooter to meet up with Michelle and the kids at Soak City. I took some pictures. As always, check out Flickr account for more.

Post Race Update

Run For The Young at Crocker Park was a great run. I highly recommend it for any local runners. It was a flat course through Crocker Park and the surrounding residential area. David and I did well. David's time has slipped since last year, but considering he hasn't run in awhile, not to mention run on a regular basis, he'll take it. As for me, let's just say I'm consistent. =) We had a cheering section with us today....Mom, Dad, and Ande' was in town, so she joined in.

Cassidy was pumped for her race. Unfortunately she had a mishap. She's perfectly fine but with all of the kids at the beginning of the race she ended up taking a tumble. She was a real trooper. We were able to get her to the finish line tent, get all cleaned and bandaged up, and get her medal. Hopefully this won't be her last (and only) race experience. We've already offered to find another one to participate in if she's interested, and left that decision up to her. And even if she's decided this wasn't her thing, that's okay, we can always choose another fun activity.

I have more pictures/video on our Flickr account but here are a few. And as you can see in the video below, Cassidy's in good spirits!

Pre-Race Festivities

We picked Cass up today for some pre-race festivities. We started by hanging out at the 'rents house ti make sure we got to see Ande' while she was in town. Then headed back to our place for some carbo loading. We fixed spaghetti and garlic bread. Yum! While eating we jammed out to some Miley Cyrus.


After we let our tummies settle David took Cass out on her first scooter ride. David took her downtown for a bit and cruised around. Sounds like she really enjoyed the ride.



Then Cass wanted to make a dancing video, so she chose a couple songs while I videotaped them. She's a hoot. We have plans to choreograph a music video sometime this summer. I have a feeling she's going to dance me into the ground!


We took her back to the 'rents to settle in for the night. David surprised us with Cotton Candy Confetti ice cream (both Cass and my favorite!) and we watched some of the Princess Protection Program movie for a bit before calling it a night. We'll be starting out early tomorrow. Hopefully we'll all have a good time and get a few pics of the experience.

Stood Up

You know how I said that I would never have to worry about Viking standing me up for a run? Boy, was I wrong. This morning it took him forever to come to me to get his harness on. Then once I got it on I felt like I was trying to drag him out the door. He was too cute. He just wasn't up for it today. He must have known it was already 80 degrees outside and I'd be sweating the moment I walked outside. He's no dumb dog. I unhooked him and let him go about his morning nap and went on my run alone.

After my run I came back to the house to grab Lily and Spencer for their short jaunt. Viking was ready to go then. So all 4 of us took a nice quiet stroll down to the Sandusky Bay, got a good look at Cedar Point, then headed home.

So even though I started my morning out alone I was still able to spend a few moments with all of my puppers together. What an excellent way to start my day.

6 More Months Until....

I happened to be watching my videos on YouTube and came across this.....



I had to watch it. Disney and lights dancing to Christmas music....and done amazingly well. How can it not make you happy? Then I realized in just 6 short months (to the day) it will be Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing my life away. I'm enjoying the sun and fun while it's here.

Not A Fan

I'm not a fan of 1-800-Petmeds. There are a multitude of reasons why. I'm not going to go into it....too long and not worth it.

With that being said, they've been told multiple times that all communication with our office must be performed via fax. Even so, they sometimes call to authorize a prescription. I feel like a broken record, "All communication must be performed via fax...." Not a big deal, just annoying. However I do get a kick when they say, "I'm (insert name) a pharmacy technician with 1-800-Petmeds." Ha! I could be way wrong, but I'm guessing they surely are not pharmacy technicians. Basically they are customer service representatives at a call center, and have little, if any, contact with prescriptions. Once again, nothing big, just something that cracks me up.

Simple minds, simple pleasures? Eh, whatever.

Day O' Fun With Cassidy

David and I took advantage of the beautiful day to get out an about. We also got Cassidy to join in on the fun. We started with lunch at McDonalds, jammed in The Skate (my car) to some tunes that Cassidy said were "all of my favorites!" (Who knew I was so cool??) I can't believe that girl....she's got a set of lungs and knows lyrics to every song. Not to mention she's been to more concerts than I can count (Any song that came on she said, "I went and saw them.....")

After eating and jamming out we headed out for some fun in the sun at Soak City.
After enjoying the GORGEOUS weather (I think it was the first actual summery weather we had this year) we went into Cedar Point. I don't handle the rides as well as I once did, but it's nice to have someone to go on the round n' round rides with.....we hit MaxAir, Troika, and Chaos. We didn't even make a mark on Cedar Point, but we all had a blast. We'll have plenty of time this summer to cover more ground.

Cassidy has always wanted to play the Guessing Game so we allowed her to do so. They guessed her at 95 lbs and she weighed in at 90 lbs....she won! She was thrilled and was able to choose a prize...a turtle she named Waddles.

After Soak City and Cedar Point we went to the 'rents house to meet Elwood and to chill, then went to Chet And Matt's for some much needed grub. Yum!

It was a great day and I think everyone had a great time. We're all looking forward to the run Saturday. I'm also looking forward to spending more time with Cassidy this summer.

Want to see more pictures of our day? Check out this link.

One Check Or Two?

Not exactly sure how to respond to this.....

David and I out to eat and the waiter/waitress says, "Will this be one check or two?"

What??

Do we look too young to be married?

Do we look like we're dating?

Or do we look like brother and sister??

Either way, it's scary.

Adapt And Overcome

I walked into work today to a beeping computer and none of the computers "talking" with the server. Uh oh. Add to that the owner/office manager being on vacation in another country. I was able to make contact and notify our tech support. They sent someone out and it looks like the server's hard drive is kaput. Not good. So.....we have computers but no database program with all of our appointments, client info, or anything. In addition none of the computers will talk. At first you think it's going to be crazy. But we took a step back, grabbed a printed price list (thankfully we had one), our book of handwritten receipts, and made a handwritten appointment sheet. I was still able to get in contact with the office manager who had the most recent backup and she was able to give us the appointment list for the next day too. So, we're good to go. It's a little like stepping back in time with all of the paperwork, but at this point I'm thankful that we haven't gone totally paperless. It was a bit of a rough start to the day but it's all working out. We have no idea when we'll have a server again. Definitely not today....maybe tomorrow. Believe it or not I'm in a good mood and just going with the flow. Thinking positively, things can only get better.....I'm looking forward to the second half of the day.

Ah Wooooo Woo Woo Woo Woo Hm!

I'm thankful that none of our animal have separation anxiety....however Spencer can come close. He absolutely hates when I take Viking on a run and leave him at home. I can hear him for blocks while he howls. Even if I leave and David's still home, he howls. Hopefully someday he'll put two and two together and realize that he gets his turn too....he just has to wait until I get back with Vike. This video doesn't give him justice, but you'll get the gist. After I left, with Viking, for a run this morning, Spencer started to howl. This was after he had wound down a bit, so he wasn't going nonstop. Parts of it includes David howling too. Even so, it's quite cute. David thinks he's saying, "I want/love my mommy!" That or "Ah Wooooo Woo Woo Woo Woo Hm!" What do you think he's saying???

Meet Elwood

With Father's Day right around the corner David and I have been wracking our brains to figure out what to give my dad. No offense to him, but he's the hardest guy to buy for. I think I'll have an excellent idea, get all pumped to give it to him, and then it's a buzzkill. It's not like he doesn't like the item, it's just that he's not over flamboyant with his reactions and most times it's hard to surprise him.

We thought we had it narrowed down to an idea until David walked in and said, "I got an idea for your dad. Let's get him a frog." I have no idea why, but as long as I can remember my dad has had a fascination with frogs. He has statues, figurines, and even now his Twitter name, "Froggy." David wasn't even finished saying it when I forced a, "NO! No way!" That was until David worked on me for a bit. I kid you not, David needs to go on Survivor. Not only does he get along with EVERYONE, but he can get anyone to believe anything. No joke. I knew my mom would absolutely kill me, but I went ahead with David's plan. We made several trips to multiple stores (yeah, like 3 times to each store) and got it all planned out. We purchased everything, set up the little guy (or girl ??), and then headed to the 'rents. I think they were quite surprised, eh?


My mom says to dad, "Honey, I bet you're the only dad that got a frog for Father's Day." And dad replied, "You never know....." then sheepishly added, "I bet you're right." We won't leave them high and dry....we're planning on assisting with the care of the frog. If it's as exciting as trying to place him in the terrarium, it should be fun (He darn near hopped out, thankfully I had the lid as closed as possible for that reason.) So without further ado, I give you "Elwood" =)

Playing 'Possum

Is it sad that I can identify which dog vomited depending on how the vomit looks and where it's located in the house? Meh, maybe. But hey, it's ok, I'm a vet tech ;)

In other gross news. I let Spencer out this morning to do his business, went downstairs to do some laundry, then I heard David yelling, "Spencer! SPENCER!! DROP!!!!" I ran upstairs to find Spencer had dropped what he was holding on to and was coming in the back door. I asked, "What's going on?" only to look outside and see a dead opossum in our yard. Gah! Don't really care that we had a dead animal in the backyard, but my vet tech side went into drive to think, "what things can Spencer acquire from this exposure?" Thankfully he didn't chomp into the opossum. It looks like he was just carrying it, so more than likely if anything, it'd be tapeworms. Fun eh? I can deal with that. Easy diagnosis and easy treatment.

We watched the opussum for a bit, making sure he wasn't playing 'possum, but he wasn't moving. We went about feeding the kids, and 5 minutes later David says. "Well, either he was playing 'possum or a bird got him. He's gone." Ha! Dunno. Either way, he's no longer in our backyard.

Run For The Young

David and I have recently been making an attempt to be more involved in our nieces' and nephew's lives. David and I do not want to have children of our own (post on that later), however we would like to be a part of the children's' lives that are around us.

One of the ideas we pushed around was seeing if Cassidy would be interested in running a race with us. Of course we weren't expecting her to run a 5K but we were on the lookout for a race that also included a kids fun run. I was glad to find one and decided to see if she'd be interested. I presented the idea to her and she said, "ok." She didn't seem to waiver one way or the other. I didn't forget about the idea but the date of the race came closer and closer. Then this week Nana (my mom) brought her over so she could "ask a question." The first thing she said, "When's the marathon we're running?" Too cute. After explaining that it wasn't a marathon, I said, "You're really interested? It's next weekend. Let's sign up."

So we're all signed up and ready to run the Run For The Young next weekend. I know I'm excited and I'm sure she's too. According to the site she'll even get a shirt and trophy. That along with the sign Nana's making should make for a positive, fun, and entertaining experience. (It's been almost a year since our last official 5K).

We're looking forward to spending time with our nieces and nephew this summer. Hopefully, this is just a start.

My Motivator

I got up this morning and must admit I wanted to turn around, hop back into bed, bypass running today, and sleep for another hour. But thanks to Viking I didn't. I looked over to him, he stood on his back legs and gave me a "high five," as if saying, "Ready to run mama? Let's go!" He put a smile on my face and gave me enough motivation to run out the door. Morning runs are always so peaceful.....it's dark out and no one around. But today was even more special, we had a lightning and rumbling thunder storm going on around us, but no rain. I love it. Viking usually gets anxious with thunder but he didn't seem to be bothered and we went on our way.. Everyone got their run and walk in before it started to sprinkle, which lead to rain. I'm thankful I ran and even more thankful for Viking.

Take My Hand....Off To Never Never Land

I'd consider myself to be pretty well rounded when it comes to my music tastes. I basically listen to everything. And thankfully to those around me I've been introduced to many genres I wouldn't normally seek out.

Ever since hearing a Metallica song at Bike Week I've been interesting in uploading some of their tunes to my iPod. After searching for songs I couldn't believe how many of the songs I actually know. I found myself singing along. Me, singing along to Metallica? That just didn't seem right. That's when I realized it was some of their older stuff. Things started to fall into place. Back in the day, when I was in 5th grade, Justin would drive me to school in the morning. He'd be jamming out to Metallica. Of course I also remember him drumming on his drum set in his bedroom to these songs. At the time I was indifferent towards the music.

I'm sure Justin hated taking me to school, but I must admit I enjoyed that small amount of time we got together. Even if we never talked in the car. As with so much music, Metallica takes me back to a simpler time with fond memories.

Fire....Fire!....FIRE!!!

I got home from work today and wanted to make something for dinner, so I went with the simple spaghetti bit. I had everything ready on our gas stove, tried to get the burner to light, but no go. I could hear the gas and the clicking but it didn't light. Sometimes this will happen and I just use a torch flame thingy to light it. However, this time it wasn't working. I was thinking, "What the hell?" until a flame caught my eye and another burner was flaming. Most definitely, I had been trying the wrong knob. Not a big deal, eh? Well, it is when one of your kitchen towels is resting on the burner that's lit. Yeah, that flame I saw wasn't just the burner, but a towel going up in flame. Thankfully I didn't react like I did years ago when I put foil in the microwave.....just stared at the flame and said, "Fire....Fire!....FIRE!!!!" until mom came a comin'. This time I started with, "Shit....Shit!....SHIT!!!" along with grabbing the towel and throwing it into the sink soaking it with water. At the same time I could hear David saying, "I'm coming! I'm coming!" Now what the hell was he going to do?? Maybe grab our fire extinguisher or something? (yes, we have one of those) All is fine now. Dinner was made and served, and the house is aired out. But this just gave me another reason to stay out of the kitchen. For real. It definitely gave us a laugh.

Veg Out

Just the other day I realized my 1 year anniversary for becoming a lacto-ovo vegetarian passed. Believe it or not it's not something that I don't think about too often. It's become second nature, and thankfully from the get go I never really had issues with the transition. As always, I do wish I was more adventurous in the kitchen, so that I'd try different things. But given that I wasn't much of a chef before the transition, it most definitely isn't going to happen now. Maybe in time.

Surprisingly when we go out to eat it's not me that worries about what I'm going to eat, but the others in the group. I just remind them that there will always be something to eat. If they are really concerned I make sure to scope out the menu if available on the website. Got to love the Internet. The transition was also easier given that I have a pretty simple palate. Remember, I'm the girl that still loves spaghettios, and I'm just as content with a grilled cheese. Hey, give me a break.

One "downfall" is the small bit of weight gain. Previously I was able to cut out carbs and drop weight like nothing. Now cutting carbs is near impossible. However, I think I can also contribute weight gain to not running as many miles as last year. Meh, it's not a big deal. I'm content with where I am. If weight gain is the one downfall, it's worth it. I'm still thrilled with my choice.

I Am Runner, and I Am a

Check Out All the Celebrity 'Veggie Testimonials' at PETA.org

Simplify

I think it’s safe to say that our yard sale went quite well. We’ve done a good job these past few months, but having the yard sale has solidified even more that now is the time to simplify. I’m digging the transition and am enjoying the ride of life.

What We'll Be Doing This Weekend

1000 BLOCK 3RD ST 4 Yard Sales in 1 Block

Saturday June 13th

Baby Items, Bikes, Couch, Books, Movies, Clothes, Much Misc


Never done a yard sale before, but figured we'd join in on it. Should be fun. Hopefully we'll make a few dollars.

A Note From Viking

Hey guys! Viking here. Wanted to check in with you and tell you how I've been doing with this whole running thing. First off, what took mama so long to take me with her on her runs? She must have realized that she was missing out on a ton o' fun. I think having me helps to keep her mind occupied. It also keeps us in tune to each other. I can't complain one bit. I love the one on one time with mama. Not to mention, I like to get out and stretch my legs and strut myself around Sandusky. And when I'm done Lily and Spencer get their time with mama. I don't think they go as far as me since they're not gone long, but they seem to enjoy their time as much as I do.

I'm still coming along, but here's what I've learned so far.....

I keep finding these black holes in the ground (manhole covers/sewers) . I'm not sure exactly what they are, but boy do they scare me! I don't wanna fall in one, so I avoid those at all costs. Unfortunately this sometimes puts a glich in my stride and trips mama up.

I don't mind the dogs barking at me when I run by, but what's up with their humans just tying them up outside and leaving them alone? No running space, no humans or dogs to interact with. Sounds like a horrible life to me. I'm one lucky boy.

I've found mama saying words to me....right, left, easy, ok. I'm not 100% sure what these mean, but I'm starting to catch on that I think she's trying to tell me what way to go.

And guess what?! I'm running a solid 2.5 miles now. Not too shabby if I say so myself.

So all is well over here. I think it's safe to say I have a new hobby/sport and mama has a fresh new outlook on running.

Vike's 7!

My how time flies. It feels like just yesterday we brought Viking home. That was in late July 2002. He was 6 weeks old, and at only 2.9 pounds, he melted our hearts. Now he's a 15 pound guy that still melts our hearts on a daily basis. Today is his 7th birthday. Since it is on a weekday we celebrated early. Happy birthday boy.

Clip, Clip Here. Clip, Clip There.

I'd consider our yard an average looking yard. Not too fancy, just well kept. I think it's safe to say that I got the "lawn bug" at an early age. I attribute this to inheriting the gene from my father. I remember long ago being outside with my dad while he would mow the grass. Although I didn't have an actual mower, I'd stay next to him with my bubble mower.
Looking back, I was probably a pain in the ass to my dad, but I enjoyed it. (Thanks for putting up with me Dad!)

Upon acquiring a home of our own we started to add lawn gear. Thanks to my parents we soon had a shed full o' stuff. I was ready to go. I don't think the lawn bug ever went away, just subdued for a bit. I headed into my yard work with a vengeance. I mowed weekly and used the trimmer to edge weekly. If a weed presented itself you'd find me out with my Weed Hound. If the grass grew at all I could feel my anxiety rise. There were many of times where my parents would have to say, "Heidi....chill, if you keep cutting your lawn you'll burn it out." For those days I'd head out with my hedge/edging scissors, cutting here and there. And when my used lawnmower went kaput I almost had a nervous breakdown. It was safe to say that I was having some OCD issues.....as with so many things.

As stated in previous posts, over the past 6 months I've changed some. I'm not sure what's come over me, but I've found that some things just aren't worth worrying about. I'm not totally non-OCD, but I've had a "chill" come over me. The chill can range from how I dress, my cleaning, participating in functions....I could go on. I'm thankful for this and have found that my "chill" has even stretched itself to lawn tending.

There's no doubt that you'll still find me outside mowing weekly and weeding to keep things under control, but I'm not so obsessed. This is the first year I didn't lay fertilizer (gasp!). I attribute that to the fact that it's not real healthy for the Earth, it's expensive, and mostly that the dogs have run of the backyard. Having run of the backyard means fertilizer's not too healthy for them either and the yard is full of yellow spots or mud/dirt pits. This is also the first year I didn't plant any flowers and we haven't put our patio furniture out yet. Not sure if we will or not. It's still early.

So.....I'm still a lawn freak, just not to the extent I was before.

With that being said, I've still got this weird attachment to my trimmer. I use it a lot and needless to say it's beat up. It's literally on it's last leg. I can't believe it considering it's not that old. I must admit, this is my third one. Crazy, I know, but let me explain. The first one went after 1.5 years. It's started to arc and ceased. I went out, got another one. I was using it, a pertinent piece of hardware flung and it was worthless. Thankfully it wasn't that old, I still had the box and receipt, and it was replaced. So, that leads us to where I am now. It's guard has cracked, the tap n' feed no longer taps and feeds, and the cutting blade that cuts excess line went flying tonight. Gah! I spent the evening unplugging, unwinding, winding, and cutting the line to length...yeah, like 10 times. And it's not like it's a fast fix. Quite frustrating. So either it's time to get a new trimmer or you're going to be finding me out with my edging scissors doing the whole lawn. Maybe the next door neighbor will even say again, "Hey! You want to come over and cut my entire lawn that way?" Maybe I'll be able to think of a quick enough comeback this time....hopefully before I shove the scissors up his ass.

I know it will never happen but this is what I want. I haven't ever done research, so I don't know if this is the specific brand or model I'd get......but on those lines, I want one. How many women do you know that have a gas trimmer on their wish list. Ha! It's only a wish, but I can always dream. And hey, if we're dreaming, I might as well dream that my neighbors will cut their grass more often. I'm not asking them to edge or weed, just mow their grass before it hits a foot high. But considering the city doesn't abide by those rules, why should they? Once again, I can always dream.

(Side note: I'm not trying to paint David in a bad light.....I don't do all the yard work. He helps a TON. Fortunately for him he doesn't have the yard bug and is quite content with just a plain ol' mowed yard.)

Happy National Running Day

Happy National Running Day! Get out and run today!

Trade In

When looking at David and myself, I'd consider us in the category of decently healthy. We try our best to try to live healthy lives. We take vitamins, limit toxins if possible, exercise....got to admit I love some junk food, but still, for the most part I think we do pretty darn well. With that being said, for some reason once David and I hit our 20's and our bodies started to fall apart. What's the deal?

I'd like to believe I'm pretty healthy, physically that is. Mentally, well, we won't go there. But then that kidney stone popped up. I've felt fine since my surgery. I'm also anxiously awaiting my followup appointment this Wednesday. Any insight into the cause will be greatly appreciated. I think what it will come down to is not staying hydrated. But I'm already not too keen on urinating once an hour....add fluids to that and things aren't too pretty. Hopefully (knock on wood) I won't have any health issues in the near future.

As for David, he started falling apart much sooner than me and has a list that goes on and on..... depression, acid reflux, sleep disorder, carpal tunnel, torn ACL, and then some. I'd like to thank the Marine Corps for his accelerated decline. Thankfully after his enlistment things started to get better. In addition, we both started to take better care of ourselves after his enlistment. It is true, no one can force you into a lifestyle....it's all up to you.

Adding to this list, he's battled pain for the past years. It's hard for him to describe. It's a generalized constant pain. He's tried many things and finally gave in to allowing his mom to perform a massage on him. During the massage they were talking and a light bulb went off in their heads. David's mom has fibromyalgia, so does his sister.....could David have it too? His mom provided a book on the subject. It put into words what David's trying to describe for so long. He then pursued further information through our family doctor. Before diagnosing he went through a thorough workup. Everything turned up fine. So, according to the doctor, there's no definitive diagnosis for fibromyalgia, however, everything David states lines up with it. Although it's a relief to have an answer, it's still unsettling. This disease can be very frustrating and debilitating. In addition, we can't help but wonder if the Marine Corps misdiagnosed him years ago when he started to have the problems....meaning although he pursued diagnosis and treatment, his symptoms persisted with no relief. He is now on treatment in hopes of curbing the symptoms.

So here we are at the ages of 25 and 27 with health problems. In the scheme of things, it could be much worse. However, never did we think that at these ages would we have these problems. In addition, we never expected to have have bills totalling more than $3000 (in only 4 months) because of them (we're VERY thankful for insurance and also that we no longer have and HSA account....whew!) But it is what it is. Life will go on. And if anything, it will drive us to continue to be active in hopes of preventing future problems. If that doesn't work, we may just have to do what my mom and dad used to say.......we'll trade each other in for new models.