City Mouse, Country Mouse

Tropical Storm Hanna proved to me that I am still a city mouse and need to be more of a country mouse.  We lost power maybe twice in Chicago, and only once was it for more than a couple hours, so we don’t put much thought to power outages.  This morning we woke to a huge BOOM, Riley barking, and the A/C and everything else going off, due to us losing power.  It was about 6:00 AM, so it was still dark out and Alan and I fumbled through the dark looking for a flashlight.  We finally found one, then searched for another. 

We then pulled out some candles, but could not find a lighter or matches anywhere.  I looked in the kitchen, in the mail table drawer, in the linen closet, I don’t know where people (including myself) store matches.  We had some in Chicago, but got rid of them, not sure why.  I eventally found a book of matches from our wedding (how funny is that?).  We lit some candles and turned off the flashlights.

Then we realized we hadn’t charged our cell phones last night, but the charge didn’t seem too low.  Still, we really need to be better about charging our cell phones, especially since we don’t have a landline. 

Luckily the power was back on by 8:30 AM.  I went out this morning and bought some candle holders, matches, batteries, lantern, emergency light, and a box to put it all in.  “They” say you should have a week’s worth of food and water in your hurricane kit, but I don’t know what food I’m supposed to put in there.  We have an electric stove, so there’s no way to heat any food up.  I guess nuts and crackers?  But that stuff goes stale, even if you don’t open it. 

So, we are now more prepared for another power outage.  Hanna was just a lot of rain and some wind, but we still lost power.  The more interesting and concerning storm is Ike.  We’re waiting to see what path he settles on.  I’m excited to be becoming more of a country mouse.  

 

General Update

I know, I know, I’ve been a bad blogger. I haven’t really posted much recently, but there hasn’t been much to post. I don’t post about work, but even if I did, there’s nothing to post about. I haven’t been running, so there’s nothing to post about there.

Alan and I are slowly settling in to a routine, which is nice. We haven’t been in a routine for quite a while. Preparing for the move and having everything semi-packed for so long really screwed me up and then the move, unpacking, him finding a job, me getting into my job, it’s just been anything but normal, routine, or feeling like life.

My running buddies in Chicago are running 18 miles tomorrow! I can’t believe they are already up to their 18 mile run. I don’t know if I could run much more than a 5k right now, so 18 seems monstrous. As to my running, I just need to get back into it. Plain and simple. Not sure when that’s going to happen, soon I hope. I just hate running without Riley, but even if her brace comes off on Wednesday (fingers crossed!), she won’t be running for a while. She’ll require more rest and taking it easy, but she should be able to go on nice, longer walks again.

My in-laws are coming to visit this weekend which should be fun. Their exact arrival date and time are still up in the air due to Tropical Storm Hanna. They’ll be driving south on 95 while Hanna will be tracking north on 95. Could make for an unpleasant drive, so they’re thinking of waiting until Sunday morning.

I bought some plants yesterday and today which I hope to plant in front of our house to jazz the place up a bit. Honestly, right now it has no curb appeal. I don’t own the place, so I’m not going to go broke making it look nice, but I really don’t mind spending $40 on some mums and a couple perennials. I’ll have to see what Hanna has in store for us to determine when I’ll actually put the suckers in the ground.

Well kids, that’s about it.

 

Luna Moon Moth

Check out this awesome luna moon moth that’s been chilling on our front porch the past few days.

 

This blows

This blows.  The plumber we had on Friday sucked ass apparently.  The guy basically trashed my kitchen spilling, spreading, leaving glue damn near every where.  He used way too much glue to put the linoluem back, so much so that it is STILL squirting out from under the linoluem three days later.  So there is a layer of stickum all over my kitchen floor, even though I’ve cleaned it twice. 

Today we decided it should be safe to do some dishes and get the kitchen back in order.  Oh how wrong we were.  The dishwasher was not properly installed, so it almost fell out of the wall when we opened the door.  I am handy enough that I figured out where the brackets were to screw it into the cabinet so it didn’t fall out of the wall.  Then Alan started doing dishes by hand and the drain was very slow.  Ridiculously slow.  I was going to go buy and plunger, but upon further inspection, the jackass that was here on Friday was too lazy to custom cut the pipes to fit properly, so the pipe from the sink to the main line out of the house is slanted UP.  So, water has to effectively go UP hill to get out of the house.  That doesn’t work very well.

Then I noticed a wee little drop of water on the U-pipe on the right side of the sink, so I touched the washer on the pipe and the whole thing fell apart and all the water that was backup up in the sink gushed everywhere.  I was (still am) PISSED.  I called our landlord who called the plumber who called me.  The plumber asked what time would be good for me tomorrow and I said that I really need to go to work, so the earlier the better.  He said someone would call me at 8:00 and the job will probably take 30 - 45 minutes.  I doubt it will be that quick.  I am going to demand that the pipe out to the main sewer line is made level at the very least. 

This really sucks.  I want my kitchen back, I want my sink to work, I want my floor to be stickum free, and I hate being that new person at work who is constantly late or not coming in.  I am so not that type of employee, but my current employer doesn’t know that.  I’ve only been there three weeks.  If I had been there a year, or even a few months, this wouldn’t bother me, but I am too early in my tenure to have to miss days like this.  It can not help my image there.

Now I am starting to just going to have a pity party post for myself.  My headaches are not gone and right now my face hurts from it.  Yes, my face.  Plus the dog is still injured and her bandage was wrapped way too tight this week, so part of her leg has been rubbed raw and we had to cut the bandage back.  I’m trying to decide whether to take her to the vet tomorrow or to wait for the appointment we have scheduled on Wednesday. 

I am tired and I feel like shit.  This blows.

 

Leak free!

Today the plumber came to take care of our leak.  Everything went much better than anticipated.  Turns out the leak was not under the floor as we all feared; it was behind the wall behind the cabinets.  Not an ideal situation, but better than having to tear up the floor and foundation.  So that meant there was little jack-hammering necessary.  My landlord was kind enough to take me out to lunch since I was without a kitchen today.  I was more than happy to accept his generosity.  It was much better than the can of soup I was going to heat up in the microwave.

 

The joys of renting

Our kitchen has a leak.  It’s under the floor.  Not under the sink, under the floor.  I let our landlords know and they quickly called  a plumber who swung by today to have a look.  Guess what?  They have to rip up the floor and dig down to the pipes.  As much of a nuisance as this is, at least I don’t own the place. 

 

They’re baaaack!

Well it’s August, and that means (drum roll please!. . . . ) massive sinus headaches that radiate down into my jaw! Woo hoo! So much fun! I have no idea what exactly is the cause of it, but it happens every August and it only goes away with a course of Prednisone. Luckily, my doctor last year wrote me a prescription that would get me through last year and this year.

I thought when we moved down here that the headaches wouldn’t happen. I was thinking perhaps whatever the allergen is that brings the headaches on wouldn’t be here in North Carolina, plus I made it more than half-way through the month, so I got excited. And they started up last week. Ugh. I have two days left of the prednisone. Hopefully it nips it in the bud, otherwise, I get to find a new GP stat!

I may have to investigate this more. This has happened every August for the past eight or nine years. At least this round of headaches wasn’t precursured by an ocular migraine like in some of the years prior. Happy allergy season!

 

Widowed once again

Well I am a cook’s widow once again. Alan started his new gig on Tuesday, but didn’t work dinner until last night. Last night I was busy with my consulting gig, pretty much from the moment I got home. I logged out and about five minutes later, Alan was home. No, I didn’t work seven hours or anything, Alan was home a few minutes after nine. So early! So nice.

But today, he hit the road at 9:00 AM and will get home sometime after 9:00 PM, so this was my first full day alone. I headed out for a walk at 9:30, originally headed to the Carrboro farmer’s market, but got tired, and knew I had to probably walk home, so I turned around at the Weaver Street Market. I thought about stopping for lunch at a couple of the places near campus on Franklin Street, but didn’t. I’m not sure why. Probably because I was getting hungry, and when I get to a level of hunger, I get super picky. It is quite annoying. I grabbed lunch close to home, and then went home to eat and rest.

I ended up walking seven miles! Not really what I had planned, but I have yet to figure out the bus system here, and it does not run very often on the weekends. Heck, I’m not sure if it runs at all on Sundays. Maybe just the one route that goes to a church.

This evening was pretty fun. I headed to A Southern Season for a pizza and wine class. It was more of a wine tasting than a class. Very informal and cocktail party like. I knew no one and saw there were a lot of couples. I wasn’t nervous and went for my first wine and pizza. I noticed one lady standing by herself and decided to join her. She was nice and we ended up spening the evening together. It was nice to not do the whole thing alone, but she was probably in her seventies and not someone I see myself hanging out with on a Tuesday night. If I see her at another class at A Southern Season, I will definitely chat with her, but not my next BFF.

I did hear about there being people there from the Durham Wine Meetup and was curious about that. I saw one woman with a nametag on that read “Meetup” so I spoke with her to see what it is all about. Apparently there is a website out there called Meetup.com where you can find all sorts of groups all over the country. I am so going to check this out and find some groups to join, including the Durham Wine Meetup. I mentioned it to the woman I spent the evening with, thinking she would enjoy it. It would be nice to see her at some events, but I’m not sure how tech-savy she is, so that may not happen for her.

The whole wine/pizza thing did not last as long and I expected, so I had time to go check out the art exhibit opening at the Tyndall Gallery in the same mall as A Southern Season. I wandered through, checked out the art, had a bit of brie on a cracker, and left. I was in and out in about 20 minutes. I guess I’m just not arty. The place was hopping and if I had to guess, it appeared to be a successful opening. There were a few paintings with red dots which I assumed to mean they were already sold, so go artist! I liked some of her works and appreciated a few techniques she used (which I could appreciate because I read the info sheet).

There were a few pieces I really liked, but they weren’t by the artist for whom the opening was being help. (oops) I won’t be purchasing an originally piece of art anytime soon. That stuff started at $2,000, but most was closer to $5,000 or more! I think I’ll stick with posters and framed menus.

I had a lot of fun this evening. I am excited to checkout meetup.com and am proud of myself for checking out the art gallery on my own. On my way back to the car, I swung back through A Southern Season, grabbed some AWESOME Nueske’s smoked bacon for breakfast tomorrow, some pate de champagne, cornichons, and a baguette to enjoy with Alan when he gets home this evening.

I am now chilling at home watching the men’s marathon on the Olympics. They are at mile 12 now, and have been running for 57 minutes. Good lord, after 57 minutes, I am APPROACHING mile 6. Simply amazing. So, I estimate in an hour-and-a-half or so, I may be crying as the winner crosses the finish line. I know I was so moved and got teary-eyed when Constantina Tomescu won the women’s marathon the other day. I remember watching her have to drop out of the 2004 Olympics and felt for her then. It was so awesome to see her conquer the field this year.

They marathon will always have a special place in my heart and watching it may get that bug going in me again, but I promised Alan in May that I wouldn’t train for a year for another marathon, and I have to keep my word. So, I will watch, I will be moved, I will be inspired, and I will keep up my running of hills.

 

It may be my lucky day

I went to make myself breakfast and got a double-yolk egg!

I remember hearing somewhere that it is good luck to get a double-yolk egg. We’ll see what the day has in store for me. Maybe I’ll buy a lottery ticket to see if it really is my lucky day.

 

First hill run

Well, today I sucked it up and headed for the hills for my run. As I’ve stated earlier, we live at the bottom of a long hill. There is only one relatively flat course for me to run, and that’s just two miles. So, I decided enough is enough and it is time I conquer these hills. The only way to get acclimated is to do it.

So I headed out (alone, poor Riley) this morning and headed up the hill. It wasn’t bad. I did well. And I had the delightful surprise of a little down hill time on my way up the hill. I was winded at the top (well, closer to the top, I didn’t run all the way up, that’s about two miles one way) but ran the whole time. My legs weren’t on fire at all and it didn’t really hurt, so it is all very encouraging.

I did almost choke though. Damn gnat flew right into my mouth and down my wind pipe. I started coughing and really thought I might puke or pass out. It was quite ridiculous. Fear not, I was able to cough it up and survived without puking on the side of the road.

I’ll see how I feel tomorrow and decide then whether or not to run hills or wait a day to go out again.