My Wife Just Left Me............Home Alone

Okay you guys are just sick. I know you were quickly clicking on the link just to find out the juicy scoop on my love life.  Well sorry to disappoint you on that front...love life fully intact.  My wife headed back to Oklahoma today to pick up my mother and bring her back here to Virginia. What a wife! To fly back (during the every impending Hurricane Sandy pounding at our ocean front), helping her mother-in-law pack up and few things (including two poodles named blackie and paws) and drive all the way back from Oklahoma (roughly 20-21 hours) to Virginia Beach.

So.....no juicy gossip but just home alone a few days with MAVRICK. Looks like the two of us dawgs will be living the bachelor life while my wife is away! Throwing parties, eating junk food, staying up all night playing video games.....what a great time!

Okay, so it has been a whopping ......4 1/2 hours since she flew out and I guess I am already lonely. Eating alone isn't so fun.  MAVRICK just stares and twists his head to the side when I talk to him giving me that look of, "What are you talking about Dad?." The bed is just too big by myself, (even if MAVRICK is lying in half of it....how can such a small dog stretch out across a bed so much?). You know I can't really watch all the recorded shows while she is gone either because we watch them together all the time, (unless I fall asleep early......Law and Order, CSI, Criminal Minds, Person of Interest,  Covert Affairs...you get the idea.)

Oh...I didn't even think about my MOM IS COMING TO VISIT.  I have got to clean the house before they get back....kitchen needs to be immaculate, floors all scrubbed, everything dusted, bathrooms spotless, lawn mowed and not to mention that I need to get her room all ready.

Oh Man! There goes the party time.....sorry guys....I need to get off here and get to cleaning, scrubbing, washing, wiping, scraping, dusting and organizing. No time to chat.....Got to get to work.  Talk to you later my friends!

PS......I think my picture just changed from this:

from this

to this

RUN FOREST RUN



10K WICKED - OCT '12

 Another installment of my running progress.  I haven't written about it in sometime.  There actually hasn't been much to tell.  Once I got down to the weight I wanted, I was able to focus a bit more on the exercise part. DROPPING 40 POUNDS HELPS A WHOLE LOT!

CHKD 8K - JUNE '12

Shortly after I started running, I was having problems with my knees. After an exhaustive search on what possibly could be the matter from, do I need new shoes again?, Are the ones I just bought causing me problems?, Maybe I should switch back to my older shoes? Am I running crooked on the edge of the street? Am I running straight?, Am I running crooked? Do I need a knee band?

WEW FARMHOUSE 6K - SEPT '12

After all that, I noticed my hip was hurting too. A little in my back as well. A bit of diagnostics and advise from my favorite chiropractor, we determined it was my "rubberband".  ???? I forgot was the official name was....ER band? anyway, it is the muscle, ligament.....stringy rubber band thing that attaches to my lower knee, runs up to my hip and basically I needed to stretch better. After all...I am more brittle these days instead of rubber. All better now.

RACE FOR A CURE 5K - OCT '12

My wife and I ran the Race for the Cure, a 5K at the beach. In the last few weeks I have been able to kick it in gear. Thursday I ran 8.5 miles and Saturday I ran 10. The longest run in years. Today was the 10K Wicked.  Fun run hosted by our friends at J&A Racing. My first time running it and this year we were facing the hurricane getting ready to hit our area. At first, I was a little disappointed because there were so many non-runners that prevented me from running a good stride.  Then I finally just took it "in good stride" and enjoyed the run. Not easy trying to get around superman trying to get out of a phone booth running down the boardwalk. Or how about the gerbil in his wheel? There was a shark eating a man (feet and legs sticking out of the shark's mouth), witch, zombies, fairies, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Killer, M&Ms, all sorts of superheros, all sorts of video game characters, nurses (not the real kind), doctors (not the real kind), patients (they needed a doctor of some sort), prisoners, policemen and women, army men, beer bottles (yes I said it, people dressed as beer bottles not to mention those dressed up as kegs), a disturbing banana man and his "high school" girlfriend, football players, baseball players and ever so more. 9,000 runners in all....okay again not all were runners...lol. A very fun event that we both enjoyed. I did a fair time considering the obstacles with around a hour for the completion. I am waiting for the official posted time.

Running does get a bit addictive but very fun a exciting.  I will never be a super fast runner but I enjoy it none the less.  We are looking forward to the next ones.  Turkey Trot around Thanksgiving and then of course the Surfing Santa by J&A Racing.

Get out there and run my friends.  Enjoy yourselves!

Awake at Night

No this isn't a haunted ghost story or zombie tale...just me not sleeping in the wee hours of the morning. I hate when I do this...wake up at 3:30AM and just toss and turn trying to fall back to sleep. It isn't anything that I am worrying about. My wife says, "Stop worrying about everything." and "You know what the bible says, 'You cannot add one measure to your day by worrying.'"

Well it isn't worrying....just stuff.  Stuff floating around in my head.....and the fact that I fell asleep at 8PM last night...on a Friday night no less! I am thinking about the storm coming in land tomorrow and running through the details of what we need to do to prepare for it. No biggie. We have prepared for many storms.  Just get food, water, batteries, gas for the grill and few candles.  you can almost call it a romantic event if it wasn't for the heavy rain that will be coming as well. Also, thinking about a mummy costume for the 10K Wicked Race tomorrow....and no I am not wearing a costume.....just thinking about how I would make one if I did decide to wear one. Such a waste of brain power!

Or here is a good one, I am running through the details of how to install the ceramic tile on my fireplace. First is contacting the supplier again that I met with last week to run through the samples. Second is examining the areas where the tile will actually be installed. I will need to calculate how much tile I need to buy. It will wrap around corners so I will need stainless steel sleuter strips. Outside corner ones that will go here and here. Also the standard edge sleuter strip for the bottom edge where the tile will meet the floor or edge of wood moulding. And how about the curvy section where the wood moulding runs into the existing brick hearth? Slueter strip or just chaulk the edge? If is was a strip then how would I cut and bend the stainless steel to fit the profile....ahhhhhh Stop it!

Okay lets shift to the kitchen. We can think about how I am going to redo the flooring and expand the kitchen area.....Don't do it! I already have plans prepared for this. No need to run over the specific step by step details unless I am planning on writing a book of "How To".

Okay, roll over on my other side for a while.....now it is thoughts of work and some of the design details for some projects we are currently working on.  Did we ever get that detail to the contractor? I forgot to write an email requesting the permit acceptance letter from the city. Or, we got a new project and the facade details are already running through my head. And of course, "Did that client pay us yet?" I already know that answer.....it is more like "When will that client pays us."

Time is up...counting sheep is out (really, you know that would never work....I will be thinking of exactly how those sheep are jumping over the fence, is there a number on their side, are they going to stay in single file or get mixed all up with the ones I have already counted, or are they all white, black or a little of both...if they are a little of both, what is the pattern on their wool....Wool? how do they actually shear the wool and how do you spin the wool).......you see my dilemma......ahhhh. Well that is enough about that...I think I will play Sim City so i wont wake up y wife clicking here on the keyboard writing about absolute nonsense.

And there you have it. Awake at Night.......I have changed my mind.....It is a story about a zombie....that is what I will be doing tomorrow as I stagger around everywhere! Have a good day my friends!

Quotes on Forgiveness

Sometimes it is always good to remember the great benefits to ourselves of forgiveness.  Being forgiven as well as forgiving others. How do we expect God to forgive us if we cannot forgive others.  Just a few quotes to ponder. No need to know who wrote them but just to dwell on the nessage itself.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that that situation is over, you cannot move forward.”

“Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat......Forgiveness does not create a relationship. Unless people speak the truth about what they have done and change their mind and behavior, a relationship of trust is not possible. When you forgive someone you certainly release them from judgment, but without true change, no real relationship can be established.........Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive. But should they finally confess and repent, you will discover a miracle in your own heart that allows you to reach out and begin to build between you a bridge of reconciliation.........Forgiveness does not excuse anything.........You may have to declare your forgiveness a hundred times the first day and the second day, but the third day will be less and each day after, until one day you will realize that you have forgiven completely. And then one day you will pray for his wholeness......”

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.”

“We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.”

“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.”

“The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either -- or both -- when needed?”