Fun In Pensacola Beach

New Observation Wheel in Pensacola Beach, Florida

It's been a few months since we've been back to Pensacola Beach and when we arrived last Thursday, we discovered this huge new attraction that's been erected.  We haven't been up in it yet, but I'm sure we will someday.  Someday when it's less crowded.  It looks very impressive and festive though.  According to an article in the Travelhost mag you can see 16.6 miles away in every direction when at the top of the wheel.

We went to The Grand Marlin for drinks and appetizers the other night.  This is the view of the ferris wheel (Observation Wheel) from the restaurant.

  

Me with the Ferris Wheel in the background.  See how festive it looks from a distance.

 

The Murph looking very handsome.

 Us bugging the bartender to take our picture.  He's use to it and doesn't seem to mind too much.

 

Everything that I've had at this place is delicious.  

But I got one of my usual appetizers, the Maryland Lump Crab Cake.  It is so yummy I just want to lick the plate.  The vanilla infused lobster fingers are good too, but I need more than what they give you in one order.  I need 10 orders of that stuff.

I didn't lick the plate, but I did a pretty good job of finishing every last drop.

 

They have some fun drinks too.  This is the Strawberry Mango Mojito.  I also had the Chipotle Pineapple Mojita.  The Murph got his usual beer.  No pictures.

 

Then we went over to Shaggy's, a new restaurant that just opened up in Pensacola Beach, FL  in May.  We decided to try it out.  I got a banana daquiri.  The Murph got his usual. (beer)

Banana Daquiri at Shaggy's

 The cheese fries belonged to someone sitting at the bar next to us.  They smelled heavenly and were covered in cheese and bacon.  A deadly, yet delicious combination.  The Murph took a picture of the fries when their owner got up to go look for her family.  She lost her family.  (and she really didn't seem to care as she started to dig into those fries).  I may try the fries one day when I am feeling very brave.

Bacon Cheese Fries at Shaggy's

The Murph and I got the shrimp basket and the pulled pork sandwich to go.  The shrimp was good, but just average.  The pulled pork was delicious!   Shaggy's is a very casual, laid back kind of place.  We will definitely go there again.  This island needs more good restaurants.

Memory Lane

I was going through all the songs on my Ipod today and I came across this one called "Low" from Flo Rida.  You may or may not remember it from 2007/2008.  Talk about songs bringing back old memories!

The minute I heard this song, I immediately thought of all those times several years ago when I use to get up at 4 a.m and get to the YMCA as soon as they opened the doors so I could swim laps before work.  Getting up at dark to go swim mindless laps = not fun memories, but back then I was a machine and HAD to do it before getting the boy to school and myself to work.  This would free up my evening for running and biking.

Why this song brings back those long ago insane swim memories?  Because almost EVERY SINGLE MORNING without fail, when my alarm radio would go off, this song would be blasting.  Coincidence?  I don't know.   I think back then, this song was just so popular the radio stations played it every 20 minutes round the clock.

I thought the song was kind of fun, but I never really understood some of the lyrics.  Those lyrics about jean fashion. (and Reebok's with straps)

I mean 20 laps in the pool later and I'm still wondering what the heck are apple bottom jeans with the fur???  Apple???  Fur???  Is this a sexual reference?  A certain part of the anatomy?  Or some special kind of jean with apple bottoms and fur? 

Getting Back To "Normal"

Ed

Our life has been in a little bit of an upheaval since Boo died last Wednesday.  We are slowly starting to heal and get back to normal, but it's been rough.  For one thing, we have been giving Ed, Boo's brother, a lot of extra attention.  I mean A LOT!  Holding, petting, attention, making Phantom leave him alone and trying to encourage Cadence to be more accepting of him.  Phantom has been exiled to the Boys domain for most of this time.  Usually when he goes after Ed, we spray him with water.  This week we are being proactive instead of reactive in our protection of poor Ed.

This has Phantom confused and a little isolated since the Boy left to go over to his dad's Saturday, but he will be okay.  The Boy comes home tonight.

Our sleeping routine at night has been that Phantom gets locked down in the Boys bedroom, Cadence sleeps with me and Ed and Boo slept upstairs in their "bedroom", but still have free roam of the house.  All the cats have free roam except Phantom because he's too aggressive, mainly toward Ed.

 Since Ed is now all alone and Cadence is very territorial when it comes to our bedroom and me, the Murph has been sleeping upstairs with Ed.  What was only suppose to be one night (the night Boo died) has become four nights because Ed has been very lost and grieving.

While I totally understand and empathize with poor Ed, I am going to be glad to get the Murph back.  Sorry Ed!  I have been attempting to make Cadence more accepting of Ed and therefore we would have both of them in our bedroom. (this probably won't happen.)  Cadence only tolerated Phantom in my bedroom (before we started locking him downstairs) because Phantom is 3x bigger than Cadence and he didn't have much of a choice.   However, I have seen Phantom respectfully jump off the bed when Cadence goes after him in a frenzy.  Cadence is like, "How dare that bastard jump up on MY bed!"  Then Phantom is like, " Whatever!  The floor is good!"

Besides, Cadence sleeps all night and Ed demands petting and won't stay still.  Cadence has been sleeping on my legs since he was a kitten.  We are both trained and can make it through the night this way.  I told the Murph before I moved in that this was how it was with Cadence - he sleeps with me.  The Murph didn't like cats in the bedroom at first, but then saw that Cadence is usually not that bad at night.  We usually never know he's there unless I am restless and keep waking him up. That's when he wants to be petted.

Tonight we will be back to normal.  It will be the first time Ed's been alone so we will see how he adapts.  I have already started looking on pet adoption web sites for a new little sister kitty for Ed if he still seems to be lonely in a few weeks.  Hopefully not.  We already have 3 cats.  I would like a girl kitty if we get another one though because I am outnumbered around here with all these males both the human and feline varieties.

I never realize the cat dynamics that were in place here until we lost Boo.  I always thought Phantom and Ed were the dominant personalities and that's why they didn't get along.  They were both "fighting" over territory even though Phantom wins because of his size, youth,  not to mention CLAWS!  Ed backed down early on, but was still chased by Phantom and sometimes Cadence.

Boo on the other hand, seemed so laid back and non-territorial.  Preferring his toys and a good meal to anything else.  Phantom would go after Ed and he would run.  Phantom tried that with Boo and Boo just stood there.  Phantom lunged, got all the way in Boo's face and then slunk away when Boo just sat there and looked at him without budging.  Boo never ran away.  I use to think it was because he couldn't see or hear very well.  I should have known better.

Boo was brave.  Boo protected Ed, not the other way around.  Our schedule revolved around Boo.  Boo ruled this house in his own, non aggressive, dignified way.  And the other cats respected him.  He didn't have to get aggressive to earn that respect.  Because of this seemingly unaggressive, passive behavior, he was the last one that I thought was "in charge" around here.  

Funny, I didn't even realize he was the one in charge until he was gone.

Good-bye Sweet Boo

Today we buried Boo, our 14 year old cat.  When I first started this blog last August, some of my first posts was an introduction to all the cats.  Click Here to read the post about Boo.

Last night the emergency vet gave us this box to bury Boo.  They put flowers on the box and wrote his name on it.  He had already passed away by the time we got to the vet.  He was probably gone before we even got him in the car.  We did everything we could to save him, but it was his time to go.  Boo did give us one final laugh when he didn't fit inside the box.  That's just the way he was.

The vet told us they had to go up to a bigger size box because Boo just wouldn't fit in the normal kitty size one.  That's our Boo!  He never missed a meal, not even on his last day on earth.  He made sure he waited until after dinner to go.  He even made sure he ate Ed's dinner first.

I put his favorite stuffed Santa toy inside the box with him.  He carried that thing around everywhere with him after he finally gave up the doll torso.

RIP Boo.  The best cat in the world.

A POEM FOR THE GRIEVING...

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die...

-Anonymous

We Lost Boo Tonight

Tonight Boo suddenly started struggling to breathe.  He had been acting normal all day, even playful this afternoon.  I fed them before I went to take a shower and Boo ate his and was going after Ed's share as I was heading up the stairs.  Everything seemed normal.  No signs of anything wrong.

The Murph suddenly called me into the dining room where he had found Boo, laying on his side struggling to breathe.  At first we thought that he had a hair ball stuck in his throat and we tried to help him get it up, but it wasn't working.  Boo's brother, Ed and my cat Cadence, watched as we tried unsuccessfully to save Boo.

When nothing seemed to be working, I ran to call the vet, but they were already closed for the evening. The Murph put Boo in the card board box top (the cat trap) that Boo like to sleep in and we rushed him to the emergency vet.

The Murph tried to keep him alive while I tried to stay calm and drive.  But by the time we got to the vet, Boo had passed away.  The vet listened, but there was no heart beat.  The vet techs gave us a coffin for Boo and put his name on it and some flowers on the box.  We brought him home and are burying him tomorrow.

Boo loved this red toy Santa.  He actually loved all of the red toys.  Maybe that was because that was the only color he could still see since his vision was going in his old age.  He loved this stuffed puppy and carried it around every where for a while.  He would always bring me an assortment of toys and leave them at my feet.

We are very concerned about Boo's brother, Ed.  He's never in his entire 14 years been without his brother.  He seems to be waiting for him to come back.  Cadence seems to be looking too.  I wonder if they understand what happened tonight. 

 We feel like we lost a family member.

RIP Boo.  We love you very much.

Wedding Wednesday - Color Confusion and Bridesmaid Dresses

Who would have thought it would be so hard to choose bridesmaid dresses?  It's not like I have 16 bridesmaids in all shapes and sizes.  I just have two and both of them would look good in just about anything.  I did get one request from them  - no ruching.  Actually two requests, no THREE requests - no ruching, preferably not strapless, and not too short.

Easy, right?  Two bridesmaids that would look good in a burlap sac and only three easy requests from the two of them.  Since The Running Nazi is going to be one of my bridesmaid and she was a manager at Saks Fifth Avenue when I first got engaged, she was put in charge of choosing the dress.  It should have been easy since she was at Saks every day and they always get in new dresses that don't look really super bridesmaidy, but during the entire year, not one single acceptable dress came into the store.  We even looked online, but no luck.  

The RN doesn't work at Saks anymore so that opens us up to other places since she doesn't get that discount anymore.  We had been avoiding the typical bridesmaid dress designers, but now that may be our last hope.   I've been looking at such styles all afternoon online.  There really are a lot of beautiful dresses out there for bridesmaids that don't look like those dresses we were forced to wear back in the late 80's with those wonderful (sarcasm here) dyed to match shoes.  There may be hope after all.

 I never realized how many different versions of fuchsia there is out there depending on the designer.  Colors I've never heard of before that I threw out to the Murph, like I know what I'm talking about.  Honeysuckle, azalea, Caribbean.  When he finally got tired of pretending to be interested he said, "That color wasn't in my crayon box."  He also threatened to go hide in his man cave.

Wedding colors and bridesmaids dresses are things he could care less about.  Just "whatever I decide" is fine with him.  He's in charge of the beer and the band.

This disinterest in the dresses applied until he found out how much one of the bridesmaids dress that liked was going to cost.   He suddenly got more interested in the decision making process since he's the one paying for his daughter's dress.

She's one of the bridesmaids.

Actually I'm not really sure exactly how much the dress costs, I could only give an estimate but I do know that it doesn't have ruching, it's not strapless and it's not too short.  It would blend perfectly with my dresses.  And it's available in my colors of choice.  First choice being fuchsia.  Another one of those colors that wasn't in the Murph's crayon box.

Since the wedding is in October, I'm thinking about combining the shade of fuchsia I love with Pantone's honeysuckle or pink flambe with tangerine tango.  That's what I'm thinking today.  Tomorrow, who knows.

The dress is a Jim Hjelm Occasions design which I love.

Now all I have to do is get it to pass the bridesmaid test.  That's a tough test to pass.

Strength Training - A Triathlete's Best Friend

I've always included strength training in my training plan so it isn't exactly something new that I just started doing a couple of years ago.  What changed in my training in January 2011 is that I went from only doing strength training twice a week for 30 minutes to at least 5 or 6 times a week for 15 to 30 minutes.  I can't believe the difference it has made in my muscle strength and endurance.

I always thought in order to have endurance, I had to spend hours on the bike or in the pool or running for miles and miles.  I know I still need to do that if I am training for a half Ironman or Ironman triathlon or a half marathon or marathon.  You have to put the time in or it will hurt!  But for short distance, I am getting by with less time on my real bike and pool and more time in the gym doing weights.

And the difference is amazing.

One thing that helps is that I have been riding, running and swimming for years and years, probably 16 or 17 years now.  I can do transitions in my sleep.  I spent a lot of time on my bike, in the pool and on the road back in 2010 when I was training for Ironman Canada.  After the race, however, I was totally burned out.  This happened to me in 2004 after I did Ironman Florida as well.  I would love to be one of those triathletes that stay focused and motivated and can compete in one Ironman after another and several half Ironman triathlons in between, but I'm not.

Fifteen months is the amount of time it takes me to get over from burnout after I complete an Ironman. I've tried to trick myself into continuing on with training after an Ironman by signing up and committing to another one immediately, but it doesn't work.  I am so unmotivated that you would have to drag me to the pool and throw me in to get me swimming.  Biking for long distances too.

Running is about the only thing I can force myself to do and that's because it's easier, requires less planning and I love it. (besides there's the Running Nazi to contend with).    I love biking too, but it requires a little more planning and equipment.  And I am extremely lazy when I'm unmotivated.

After IM Canada in August of 2010, I had already signed up for Ironman Coeur d'alene for June 2011 and Hawaii 70.3, also in June of 2011.  I made it to Hawaii and was able to finish that race with very little training, but I knew better than to attempt to do a full Ironman with no training so I bowed out.

During that time after IM Canada, when I should have been biking and swimming in preparation for Hawaii half Iroman, I was in the gym doing weights and on the exercise bike.  I only rode my real bike three times during those months and I got in the pool a total of 5 times (okay maybe 4 times) to make sure I could swim the 1.2 mile swim without drowning.

One reason I was able to not only finish Hawaii 70.3 and not be so sore the next day I couldn't move, I blame entirely on the increase in weight training and core training, done every single day in the gym.  No 3 hour bike rides or 1 hour swim session.  I did 13 mile runs with the Nazi once a week and the rest of the time, I was in the gym.

I still haven't been on my tri bike much this summer or in the pool at all, but I did do a sprint triathlon last month and was only 1 minute slower than the last time I did that triathlon two years ago.   And my bike time was faster than ever.  It was my run time that was slower and it's the only thing I been doing consistently outside the gym.  I think that is because I haven't done speed work in a while and I've trained for and run two marathons which automatically slow me down.  Overall, I was very happy with the results and my first place age group finish.

I blame my increase in weight training on the Murph.  It's all he does and he's in great shape.  My job is to get him doing more cardio.  This hasn't worked.  He can be very stubborn and hates cardio.  It's amazing how he and the Boy can come up with a zillion excuses when they don't want to do something.

My new training schedule will more than likely have to change to include more time on my actual bike and certainly more time in the pool if I'm ever going to do an Ironman or half Ironman again (which I am),  but for now this plan is totally working for me.  I do 30 minutes on the exercise bike, elliptical or treadmill and then 30 more minutes on weights, stretching and core every single day.

I am loving not having to drag myself to the pool to swim mindless laps for an hour.  The sprint triathlon was a short 400 yard lake swim.  I wasn't fast, but I was the same as two years ago and my arms weren't tired at all.  They are very strong thanks to the weight training.  I love it!  Once I combine the two, swimming laps with the weight training, I should be a much stronger swimmer than ever.

Thanks Murph!

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Snarky

The Murph's new word of the week is snarky.

Snarky - an adjective used to describe me when I'm suffering from PMS.  

The Murph is either very brave or very, very, very foolish.  

For the moment, I am in control and except for shooting him a couple of stink eyes, there have been no casualties.  I prefer taking it out on the machines at the gym.  I just ignore him as much as possible and allow him to entertain himself with his own "cleverness" and "extensive" vocabulary.   He loves to amuse himself with his cleverness.

However, if he hisses at me one more time I just might lose it.

Or if he looks at me one more time and says, "I'mmm seeiiiingg thingggs." (those "things" would be what we jokingly call the snakes coming out of my head)

As I was gathering towels around the house to wash today, he came out of his man cave to find out what all the activity was about.  I couldn't gather all the towels because Cadence was napping on a pile of them in my closet.  I tried to gently pull them out from under him, but he wasn't budging and I am pushover when it comes to that little bast, uh, I mean precious kitty... 

Apparently, I had plenty of towels to wash anyway, without the ones that Cadence was napping on because the Murph pretended to gulp loudly when he saw how much I was stuffing into the washing machine.  Then when I turned around and gave him the stink eye, he said, "Snaaarrrkyyy!  Ooohhhh, somebody's a little crabby....!"  He was really enjoying himself today.  So witty!  Dangerously witty.

The Boy got a taste of my snarkiness yesterday when he didn't get out of bed until late afternoon.  Totally disregarding everything Dr. W told him to do to get back on track.  Insurance doesn't cover those visits and the Boy isn't even doing what Dr. W. told him to do.  One of the things he isn't suppose to do is to sleep over 9 hours.  Whenever the Boy goes to sleep, he was told to set his alarm and wake up 8 to 9 hours later.  No exceptions.  We paid good money for that advice so he better use it!  Money that the Running Nazi could use for our wedding budget! 

Phantom hanging out in the man cave

Now the Boy is back to sleeping way too much.  When I went down to check on him yesterday morning, he got mad at yelled at me for waking him up.  Then, when he finally got up after sleeping over 12 hours, he blamed me for not waking him up.  Whoa!  

This is really not a good time of the month for the Boy to do that!  Actually, no time of the month is a good time for him to do that.  So I did the only thing left to do.  I let him have it.  He made up a bunch of excuses.  Today, I've been down there twice to wake him up and he's still not cooperating.  

Looks like I'm going to have to resort to the cold glass of water poured on the head kind of wake up call.  The Boy use to really love that when he was younger and refused to wake up for school.   Not! 

I don't even begin to know how I am going to get him to exercise, which is another thing Dr. W. told the Boy to do.  You would think that since I exercise so much that it would be easy to drag him along.  Well, it wasn't easy when he was 12, but I managed it.  It got impossible when he was 16, so I finally gave up.  

Now he's 20.  Somehow I have to make exercise something he wants to do for himself, not something I make him do.  At 20, there's no way I can make him do it.

Snarky doesn't work with the Boy.  Snarkiness goes right over his head.

Crazy Fools Who Don't Know How To Budget

I am pretty sure that the Running Nazi is coming a little unglued.  I'm concerned.  It just isn't physically possible to work five days a week from 6 am until sometimes 3 am.  This only leaves 3 hours of sleep.  She is doing 17 to 18 mile runs on the weekend, as well.  Today we only ran 10 miles because I haven't run long in 3 weeks and didn't want to get injured.   I ran with the Running Nazi and our friend K, who I will call Morgan Freeman (MF for short, hehe) because that's exactly who he looks like.  I mean identical!

At first glance, the Nazi seemed fine.  Five miles into the run and she got a wee bit cranky.

But cranky, in a friendly way.  She's very friendly.

The state of our swimming pool was not the subject of choice today.

Subject of choice started with the Murph and my honeymoon location.  (which we haven't decided on yet).

This discussion led to our wedding budget, which we have a total amount we plan to spend, but that amount is not broken down into individual categories yet because we haven't interviewed any florist, photographers, etc and have only a general idea of how much each of those things will be.  The only thing that we have lined up and have an estimate for is the ceremony and reception site with food and alcohol expenditures.  Alcohol being the most important thing, of course.

The Running Nazi had some really good ideas for honeymoon spots such as Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Canary Islands, etc.  St. Lucia, she approved, but not Sandals Resort in St. Lucia.  Too mainstream she said.  Who wants to go where everybody goes?

MF stayed out of the conversation for the most part, but did suggest London and said he would come visit us and go to the Olympics.  I informed him that the Olympics would be over by the time we got to London. (if that's where we go, which isn't likely)

Somehow this entire conversation turned to where the money was going to be allotted for the wedding and how much was going to the honeymoon.  The Running Nazi decided that the Murph and I needed a better budget and we were about to spend way more money on things that we could get for less and therefore have more money left over for the honeymoon.  I told her we really had no idea yet how much each thing was going to cost because we haven't gotten any estimates yet, so I had no idea how much money would be left for the honeymoon.

The Running Nazi decided right then and there at mile 8 1/2 of the run that the Murph and I were damn fools and didn't know how to budget anything.  (or clean a pool)  She then reminded me that it's not our first go around.  I reminded her that the Murph has never had a wedding with friends and family and that it is important to him. Even if it means spending a little more money to get it the way we want.

When I got home I told the Murph what the Running Nazi had said.  We got a good laugh.  The Murph said, " You tell that little Nazi that we haven't even started blowing money on the wedding.  Just give us some time and we will more than likely screw up a good budget.  Not fair to be accused when we haven't even gotten started yet!"

She knows us too well!

I will be glad when the Running Nazi gets some rest and relaxation!  I am thinking about putting her in charge of our budget.  We actually would have a better chance of following it that way.

I'm glad she didn't mention the swimming pool.

Excuse Me, I'm On Brain Spin

I know I have been slacking a little this week on my blog posts.  It's been a rather busy, yet fantastic kind of week.  For starters, the Murph and I have FINALLY set a wedding date for October 6, 2012.  Autumn in Alabama is an absolutely perfect time to get married.  We lined up the place where we are going to have the ceremony and the reception and lucked out since it is available on such fairly short notice.

Also, I am finally recovered from my bronchitis coughing spell I was on for almost a month and now I have better medicine.  No more Advair!  I am back to normal on my triathlon training.

The Boy is still doing great on his meds and has met a new friend that he really likes and seems to have come out of some of the funk he's been in since coming home from college.  It's probably too late for him to get a summer job, but I'm just glad he's better.  I am not mentioning jobs again this summer.  There's always next summer!

All the excitement this week has put me on some kind of brain spin which makes it almost impossible for me to concentrate, write, work out, everything!

It's a good thing I'm not a brain surgeon or any kind of surgeon!

Now we are looking for places to go on our honeymoon.  We've already been to Hawaii, which was the most awesome vacation ever and would be a perfect honeymoon spot, but we are looking for somewhere different.  We are thinking about St. Lucia, but who knows!  We are open to suggestions.

Lots of decisions, but it's all good!!

Cat Traps

I learned about these great cat traps after somebody posted this picture on Facebook.

So we put one of those cat traps out and boy, do they work!  Even broken traps! We caught two in one!

It Was The Ice Cream And Pie

The blueberry pie and homemade ice cream are long gone, but the extra calories are still around in the form of extra padding in certain unmentionable spots.  Not to mention the Bar B Q ribs, corn, burgers, chips, hot dogs.   It was all delicious when we were pigging out on it, but now ugh!

The Murph and I are not going down without a fight.  We went to the gym and worked out twice today and The Murph only drank a smoothie all day.  No food until dinner and then only protein.  I had to eat more than that, but I did more cardio at the gym to burn it off.  And no adult beverages of any kind.

These guys are always hungry.  A couple of them could use some exercise and a little less pie.  You can see in Phantom's face that he wants food now, not pictures taken.   I can imagine he's saying, "Put that camera down now dammit and feed me!  I'm starving to death here!"

We finally set up a home gym of sorts in the bonus room upstairs.  My old tri bike is on the compu-trainer and we have the treadmill and there's an assortment of dumbbells.  Our goal is to use it for extra evening cardio sessions in addition to our regular morning workouts at the gym.  As always, no matter where in the house I start taking pictures, it seems I disturb one of the cats.  This time it was Ed.  All comfy on the settee.  Make no mistake, this is Ed and Boo's room.  We are just visiting.

Ed's getting a little nervous with this strange contraption set up near his napping spot.

Ed was glad when I finally left him alone to get back to his nap.  Naps are very important when you're a cat.  My cats are very good at napping all day while we are awake and then staying up making noises and playing all night while we are trying to get our naps.

Also, the Boy is doing so much better!  I called Dr. W and he is going to work us in sometime this week.  I can hardly believe the difference in him since he started on the new meds last week.

Fashion On The Porch

I usually have a running/training post at some point over the weekend, but since this is the second weekend I haven't done a long run and I haven't seen the Running Nazi since the swimming pool incident, I don't really have anything to write about. She was out of town this weekend and I didn't show up last weekend.   Going to the gym everyday is kind of a boring thing to write about. Nowhere near as exciting as running with the Running Nazi.   

I also usually try to have at least one fashion post a week and since I haven't done one of those this week,  I decided to do one now.  I spend most of the day these days in work out clothes or a swimsuit by the pool.  Boring.   I know.  The Boy tells me how very boring we are all the time.  Boring can be a good thing.  

Yesterday I wore this outfit to hang out on the porch with The Murph, drinking a glass of wine and watching the sunset.  Perfect evening.

I love the bright pink color in this top.  It matches my nails perfectly and my new MAC lipstick.   My favorite pink!  I got these Juicy Couture flip flops at Saks Fifth Avenue a couple of years ago.  I have been wearing them all the time ever since.  They are perfect for the beach.

Robbi & Nikki Top - old

Victoria Secret shorts (pj's!  I know.  I'm lazy like that.)

Juicy Couture flip flops - Old but find similar here  (no writing on the back.)

David Yurman bracelet - Find similar here.

MAC lipstick - Girl about town - Click here for some really great lipstick.  LOVE!

Top 10 Reasons I'm Glad My Son's An Aspie

Over the years I have often compared how my little brother and I were as  children with how different The Boy is.  Back before he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, I thought it was just a personality difference or even an only child difference.   When he was diagnosed with Asperger's everything suddenly made sense.

 I actually think it has been better having a child with Asperger's over a neurotypical child.  Even easier if it weren't for having to deal with a school system that favors neurotypical children and is very outdated.  Oh yes, and the finger pointing and blaming that went on with friends, family and school system before he was diagnosed.  Some actually thought he had a behavioral problem, but I knew better.  Some people thought I was the problem.  Self esteem = 0.  Some of those people may still think that I'm the problem, but I don't know because those people are no longer part of my life.

I created this top ten list of things that I feel have made it easier having an Aspie child compared to a neurotypical one.  I do not have a neurotypical child so I have to compare him to myself and my brother when we were children and my brother's kids.  This list might have been a little different if I had one of each, but The Boy is an only child.  So....

 Here's The Top 10 Reasons Why I'm glad the Boy Is An Aspie

10.  Obsessively saves his money and never would blow it on unnecessary things. (He has all the money he earned from his first summer job three summers ago.)

  (Me:  I had a list of things I was going to buy before I even have the paycheck in hand.)

9.  Always know what he wants to eat.  Mexican food, Pizza, Mexican food, Pizza

   (Me:  I rarely ate in college.  This caused problems.)

8.  I always have a computer professional on hand and could probably hack into the Pentagon if I wanted too, but our own firewall is backed up by another firewall which is backed up by another firewall which is backed up by....

   (Me:  I know where the on and off switch are.)

7.   Never got up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning because he was so excited about opening presents.  Never really wanted to open any of his presents.  Was more excited about the cookies Santa ate after I finally couldn't stand it anymore and woke him up at 10:30 a.m. Christmas morning.  Forget about the bright red Jeep Santa brought for him.

    (Me:  Christmas morning I was up at dawn, pouncing on mom, presents unwrapped before the sun   came up.)

6.   Still wants to sit in my lap even though he's 20 years old.  (The Murph asked if this was a good thing.  I said, "yes, once I get the feeling back in my legs.")

   (Me:  NEVER sat in a lap, ever.)

5.   Never cared about toys.  Just give him a screw driver and an old clock radio or appliance and he's good.  Once I "threw" his toys away as punishment for calling me the B word and he never missed them.  Why would he when he had paper clips and staples?  (this was his pre-computer obsessed days).

   (Me:  Drove mom crazy with "I want!  I want!  I want!")

4.  Never eats my stash of sweets.  I don't even have to hide anything.  He's even afraid to eat his own stash unless he asks first.

   (Me:  My mom's stash was never safe.  My little brother always knew where to find it!)

3.   I almost always know where he is because he's usually at home.

   (Me:  My mom knew where I was most of the time, but I was not necessarily at home.)

2.  Totally does not care about fashion or any of the latest styles.  Clothing just has to be "fruit of the loom" soft, comfortable, with no fancy seams.  Once I discovered his "brand," I just had to buy one in each color for 10 years straight.

   (Me:   In college I majored in Fashion Merchandising because I liked clothes.)

And the number one reason why I'm glad The Boy's an Aspie...

1.  Because he wouldn't be The Boy if he was anything else.

The Aspie Quiz

I found this quiz online one day while I was looking around for Asperger related information.  I took it just out of curiosity to see what my results would be.  Since Asperger's and Autism are known to have a genetic component, I wanted to know if I was an Aspie too.  It certainly seems like it some times when I have anxiety and trouble dealing with stress.  (although these things only happened after I was an adult - a parent to be exact)

Today I got the Boy to take the quiz.  He's been much more sociable and relaxed these past few days.  Not to mention awake during the day instead of only at night.  We were calling him the "vampire boy" for a while.  

If you want to take the Aspie Quiz just click here.  The scores are broken down into the different areas on the chart and it was very interesting to see all the results.

I took the quiz twice on different days.  This was my results the first time I took it.  The second time I took it, I deliberately tried to get a more "Aspie" score, but I still ended up neurotypical.  The Boy was quick to point out on my results how low my Intellectual score was.  He had a good laugh at at my low intellect!  I responded "Yes, but see how physical I am!"  If I were a cave man I could really hunt some buffalo.
                                      Results- Aspie score:  60 of 200

                                      neurotypical (non-autistic) score:  145 of 200

My Quiz Results =
Neurotypical

Here is the Boy's quiz results showing what we already know.  He's an Aspie.  He's also quite intellectual.  Maybe not such a good buffalo hunter though.

                                      Results- Aspie score 122 of 200
                                      neurotypical (non-autistic) score 83 of 200

The Boy's Results =
Aspie

It's a good thing we have Mexican restaurants nearby.  He and I consumed large quantities of this stuff the other day along with chips and salsa.  No buffalo.

Please share your scores in the comments if you decide to take the quiz.  Hopefully you will be more intellectual than I am.

Happy Murph Day!

Tomorrow is the Murph, my fiance's birthday.  You may think this is obvious, but I know exactly how old he's going to be and what year he was born because we had a little disagreement on how old he told me he was when we first met compared to how old he really was.  He insists he told me his true age when we first met and that I just heard him wrong and then when his birthday rolled around and I was wishing him a happy ___ birthday when really it was a happy ____ birthday, he just didn't bother to correct me.

When he finally corrected me, I didn't believe him.  Not only did I not believe him, but he had to whip out his driver's license to prove to me how old he really is.  Then I was left shaking my head and wondering how could I have gotten it so dang wrong!  Seven years wrong!

 We still haven't agreed on exactly how that happened.  He insists he told me his true age, but I'm still a little suspicious.  I guess it doesn't matter at this point since we've been engaged for over a year and I've seen his driver's license now so I know how old he is.  Name and social security number (not really ss#- I just like the way Angelina Jolie says that in Mr. and Mrs. Smith and then Brad Pitt says "no, your not going to kill her.")

We are celebrating the Murph's birthday today.  He's always celebrated it on the 4th of July since he was a kid.  He didn't want a birthday cake and told me if I wanted birthday cake I could get one for me to eat, but he wasn't going to eat it.  I love cake, but this is his birthday, not mine.  The month of May was pig out on cake month because The Boy and I both have May birthdays.

The Murph likes to eat healthier so I decided to make a blueberry pie and homemade ice cream.  Fruit plus calcium.  Healthy, right?  And he loves blueberries and ice cream.  It was the first time I've made blueberry pie so I hope it tastes okay.  The entire house smells delicious. Click for here for pie recipe.

The Murph thinks all those fireworks, bbq's and parties are in honor of his birthday.  I haven't broken the news to him that everyone does those things to celebrate the birthday of our nation, not just his birthday.  He would be absolutely crushed if he knew the truth.

So Happy Murph Day!