You know you travel to a particular town too much when...

(Skip to the last paragraph for the examples that match the title.)

My alarm clock was set for 5 a.m., but our cat Tiger woke me up at 4:45, meowing loudly. I kept hoping she'd just jump up on the bed and settle back to sleep, but she kept meowing instead. Then it occurred to me that this was unusual unless she was trapped behind a closed door... I got up and discovered that she was in the office/spare bedroom, with the door closed. I let her out and thought about going back to sleep, but decided it probably would be a waste of time since I would have to get up in a few minutes anyway. I should have made sure everything was packed and in the car last night rather than waiting to finish this morning. I left the house 30 minutes later than I planned and therefore, took the bowl of left-over scrambled eggs with me in the car. Big mistake! I turned a corner too quickly leaving the neighborhood and the bowl of eggs spilled onto the floorboard. I was really mad at myself now. Not only was I leaving late, but I no longer had a breakfast and eggs in the floorboard would not be easy to clean-up. After being angry for a while, I forced myself to think about how great that long run was yesterday to put me in a better mood.

I went to the office and picked up the government vehicle and was happy to see that I got the brand new Durango! It only had 8 miles on it! Hopefully I won't spill anything in it... I made the drive to Wilmington and despite leaving later than planned, I was only 5 minutes late for the meeting. (I did drive-through lunch instead of a sit-down meal to make up the time.) We had a productive meeting, that unfortunately, was interupted several times by calls from our kennel and the vet. I normally would not answer my cell phone in a meeting, but when I looked at caller ID and saw it was from the kennel, I knew I needed to answer. They never call me, except for returning my calls, so I feared the worse. Kenya asked if I had noticed anything wrong with Tasha's eye recently or if she had a chronic eye issue. I said no... She said that Tasha and Riley had been playing hard all day, but she noticed after "nap time" that instead of playing with the other dogs, Tasha sat off to the side with one of her eyes shut. Kenya looked at her closer and noticed that it was goopy and she kept blinking it and keeping it shut. She knew it wasn't normal and was concerned that she may have an infection. She asked if it would be okay for her to take her to the vet and I said I trusted her judgement and if in doubt, take her. She was trying to decide about waiting a few hours to see if it cleared up, but by then, the vet's office would probably be closed. We agreed that it would be better to go now, than wait, considering the symptoms. It's not like Tasha to stop playing...

An hour or so later, the vet called me and said Tasha has a scratch on her cornea and that she was in pain. The vet prescribed antibiotic eye drops, wetting solution drops, and pain medication and said she would put a collar around her neck to keep her from rubbing her eyes. The vet wants her to come back in 2-3 days for a re-check, and sooner if things get worse. Kenya said they would take care of her and just keep her in her crate instead of all day play, letting her out alone when the other dogs are inside. Normally Tasha and Riley would stay in the same crate together at night, but I suggested that she separate them to keep Riley from accidentally making this worse (or chewing off the collar). Then an hour or so later, Kenya called again to say that Tasha seemed happy and playful again once they were back at Funnybones. Guess the pain medication (or simply leaving the vet office) helped. Kenya promised to call if Tasha was worse during the midnight potty break, and said she would call in the morning to give me an update either way. Poor girl!

And now to the topic of this blog... You know you travel too much when, you have to give directions to a great restaurant to a guy that has lived in the town for 20 years... When someone says they are staying at a certain hotel and you respond with, "you really don't want to stay there." When it's been two months since you've been here last, and you're staying at a major hotel that has lots of customers, and the hotel front desk clerk says as you're walking to the counter, "welcome back! I like your knew hair-do." When you're walking to the hotel front desk to check-in at another hotel (several months ago) and the clerk says, "I just made your room assignment and gave you a room with a refrigerator" and hands over your room keys without having to ask your name. When you've made friends and have a buddy you can call to go on an early morning run with. (Too bad she's in Texas at the moment.) When you overhear the desk clerk telling a guest about the Loop as a running path and you correct him about the mileage of the Loop. When you daughter suggests that you buy a condo or house here since you travel here so much. I love this town!

A basketball win! (and a long run)

Yippee! Team Dynamite won their basketball game today! I made it a point to remember the score this time. Kyra's team won 20 to 15. It was a close game, with fairly even scoring back and forth until the end of the 4th quarter when we shut them down. Kyra scored 7 of the 20 points and did an amazing pass, backwards, to a team-mate when she was surrounded and couldn't make a shot. Her team-mate immediately shot it into the hoop. Horray! She only had one injury this game. Someone elbowed her in the throat. She came out of the game to cry off the pain on the sideline, but then got back into the game. They seem to play rougher in this 4th-5th grade league than in the 1st-3rd grade league that we're used to.

Earlier this morning I went for a long run. My intention was to go about 5 miles, but I felt so good that I went 7.4 miles instead. I even considered going longer, but had to get back home to shower before going to the above mentioned game. I haven't done a long run in months. I felt so good during and after and realized how much I miss long-runs. I definitely want to reincorporate them into my running schedule.

Another basketball loss, but all A's on report card

It was a close basketball game today between Team Dynamite and Team Storm. But unfortunately, Kyra's Team Dynamite lost... You would think that since I was the official score book keeper (thanks Ty for teaching me this skill :( last year) that I would remember the score, but it escapes me as I type. Am I really that old? I think the final score was 15 to 12, but don't quote me. Kyra played well, scoring 3 points for her team (I think). I'd love to take photos of one of her games, but as official score book keeper for her team, I have to concentrate on the game and writing down who scored/fouled/timed out/etc., not photography. Well, maybe I'll have a chance to take photos during warm-ups next game... No major injuries this morning. She got hit in the face again. Only tears, no blood. The only blood that was shed was afterwards when she got her tongue suctioned into her water squeeze-bottle and her tongue tip began to bleed. That's my daughter!

She made all A's on her report card and her dad is treating her to a special surprise. He's taking her to see the Lipizzaner Stallions Horse Show at Gwinnett Arena this afternoon. How cool!

Finally, a new hairdo...

I finally got tired of my long, lifeless hair and decided to try to become cool again. I love the salon that I've gone to for almost a decade, but the mall that it is located in has gone downhill. So I made an appointment today at a new salon; same name but at a trendier mall. I found a photo of a shorter haircut and took it with me. I went in with brown and grey long hair, and came out with darker hair with red highlights, lots of layers and cut just above my shoulders. It's actually a little longer than what I thought I wanted, but it's a great change, nontheless. Now that big question is... will Kyra recognize me when I show up at her basketball game tomorrow. (She's with her dad this weekend.) I've been talking about getting it cut, but had talked about doing it near my birthday, which is still several months away. This photo doesn't really do it justice, but will have to suffice for posting tonight. I was worried about what trouble Riley may have gotten into since I didn't arrive home until almost 9 p.m., but thankfully, he hasn't expanded the hole in the drywall.

We should have named him Marley

So, how do you keep a dog from chewing through your drywall? I'd love some advice! My basement isn't finished so I let the dogs have access to the basement and backyard while we're away. I don't trust Riley in the main part of the house unsupervised. The basement is divided in half and I use the back half for storage and hope to eventually convert it to a playroom. The front half has minimal items and I didn't think there was much harm he could do down there. Boy was I wrong... I came home this evening to find this lovely sight. Guess he got bored with chewing on the bottom stair carpet and decided to chew through the drywall and pull out a bag of items that was just on the otherside of that wall.

Riley's smile

Well, Kyra's knee still hurts, but she managed to find a smile while posing with Riley. He sleeps flat on his back with his front paws up and back legs spread. He's actually asleep in this photo. Kyra called me in to take a photo of his "smile". Then we had fun playing with him while he was asleep. She crossed his front paws, I took photos of his upside down head, etc. It was fun laughing and playing with him while he slept.

Waffle knees

The things kids do to get out of something that they really don't want to do...

This morning I told Kyra that after her basketball game, we would return home and load the Christmas tree into the car and take it to the local Fire Station for recycling. She pleaded not to, begging me to do it by myself when she's at her dad's house next. I wasn't giving in. I wanted the tree out of the house before Riley shreds it, and I really needed her to help me; it's heavy.

Well, sadly, Team Dynamite lost their basketball game today. Kyra's team lost 16 to 24, but I thought that was respectable considering that we only had 4 players against their 5. Kyra got hit in the face pretty hard with the ball in the 2nd quarter. I worried she'd have a bloody nose since she gets them regularly, but thankfully no blood was spilled. She got back out there and then scored hoop after hoop. I thought to myself, "she plays better when injured..." But the biggest scare was in the 4th quarter. I was keeping the score book, so I was pinned to the score-keepers chair and couldn't be a mom. She fell hard onto the floor and I heard the loud smack of her impact from across the gym. She laid there in tears for a few seconds and then the coach helped her stand up. They called a time-out and he helped her to try to walk it off. She was crying loudly and holding her right knee. We didn't have any players to substitute for her. I was proud of her for getting back onto the court, but knew she was in pain. She hobbled up and down the court for the last few minutes of the game. Of course, afterwards, she came over to me in the scoring area and broke down in tears. We're home icing it now and hoping she didn't crack anything. Some of the girls on other teams wear knee pads. Guess we'll be going to Sports Authority tomorrow to buy a pair.

And as you probably guessed, the Christmas tree recyling will have to wait a few more days...

Wii

Santa brought Wii's to both of Kyra's homes this Christmas! But he sent more games to her dad's house than ours. I had a gift card for Best Buy so we went there today in search of Wii games. Guess the after-Christmas sale was a huge success there because all the "cool" games were sold out. She settled for "Disney Sing It" game and I promised to buy Mario Cart as soon as I could find it in stock. She spent hours singing this afternoon and Riley enjoyed watching.

Playing Dead

Well after catching Riley with yet another ornament in his mouth this morning at 5:30 a.m., I decided it was beyond time to undecorate the tree. That is, unless I want to have to buy all new ornaments next year... (Hint, hint, I'd like ornaments for birthday/christmas gifts). I packed away the remaining ornaments and removed what was left of the light strings. Now I just need to pack up the rest of the holiday decor and recycle the tree.

So here is Riley, playing dead, shortly after I was ready to kill him again. A few minutes earlier Kyra had caught him pulling up the carpet further and nibbling on the padding beneath. Argh!!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I hope the first day of 2009 started off better for you than it did for me... First of all, how could Georgia Tech lose in the Chick-fil-a Bowl last night? What a depressing way to end a great football season. My plan was to sleep until 9-ish, have a leisurely breakfast, and then drive for an hour to Kennesaw to participate in the Atlanta Track Club's Resolution Run 5K race (that's 3.1 miles for those of you non-runners), which started at noon. But guess what... that didn't exactly happen. The pups woke me at 5 a.m. to go outside to potty. I went ahead and fed them, then shut my bedroom door so they wouldn't wake me again until I was ready to get up. I didn't bother setting the alarm clock because I rarely sleep late. Big mistake... I guess I hadn't shut the bedroom door entirely because Riley came crashing in at 9:52 a.m. and plopped his arms up on the bed across my chest. Yikes, I overslept. But no worries, because I could still take a quick shower, dress, grab a Clif bar and make it to the race in time. I thought... So after I got dressed I headed to the kitchen to grab fresh bowls of water to take downstairs for the pups while I was gone (I don't trust them inside while I'm away). Well, I can't really trust Riley inside when I am here either. As I walked past the Christmas tree I was startled to see a string of lights strewn across the floor. And of course, Riley was in the process of eating yet another ornament...

Oh well, I'll be locking them outside so I can clean that up after the race. I grabbed fresh water bowls and head down to the basement. Bright white paper in the yard catches my attention. OH NO!!! Riley had taken a Christmas gift bag outside. It was a bag that I had consolidated a few of Kyra's gifts into. When I walked out into the yard, he had a green jewelry box in his mouth and I almost cried. After prompting, he dropped the box into my hand and I had a moment of panic when I opened it and the earrings from Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Wahkie and cousins Brianna and Reuben were missing. I glanced around the yard and saw gifts strewn about. Luckily, I found both pairs of earrings beside another shredded jewelry box. And a stuffed animal in another location. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to sort through poop in a few days, so I ran upstairs to grab the camera.

When I returned, he had resumed shredding the gift bag. I walked through the yard to see what else was out there, not remembering exactly what had been in that particular bag. And then I found the real damage. Kyra's favorite babysitter had given her a scarf, pens, and a Mad Libs. (Mad Libs is a notepad where you fill-in-the blanks to create funny stories.) Thankfully I had hung the scarf in the closet, knowing it would be something he would be interested in. But sadly, the Mad Libs were totally destroyed. In the next photo, I'm sure Tasha was just an innocent bystander. She's such a good puppy. She was just pointing out to me where the Mad Libs could be found. How sweet of her to start raking them up!

By this point, it was 11 a.m. I was fuming mad. I thought that if I sped, I could maybe make it to the race before the start. But of course I caught most traffic signals when the light was red. After driving for about 20 minutes, I realized there was no way I would get there in time. Should I turn around and go back home? Along the route from our house to Kennesaw is a wonderful place to walk/jog, the Cochran Shoals Park along the Chattahoochee River. I like running there but rarely do because of the distance away from home. Since I was near there when I realized I couldn't make it to the race in time, I decided to just run there instead. I wouldn't get a t-shirt, but I don't really need another t-shirt anyway. I enjoyed the 3.27 miles that I jogged near the river. Most other people there were walking or running with dogs. I wished that I had mine with me. I'll have to come back another day and bring Kyra and the pups.