Brad's 32nd Birthday weekend

Its Brad and Josh the Handyman.  And several shots of tequila.

Willa got a new stuffed dog.  I named him Bacon.  She named him Donut.  We compromised and call him Bacon Flavored Donut.  Its probably a real thing.

Might I recommend the bloody mary? And the brussels sprouts?  And the truffle fries?  And will someone take me back here again so I can try the mushroom pizza?

Brad turned 32 a few weeks back and it was a great weekend.  We had dinner in York with his family on the evening of his birthday, and then had some drinks with friends downtown in Lincoln  Then on Sunday, we went to Omaha and stayed at the hotel that is home to CoCo Keys waterpark.  We had waaay more fun there than I had planned on!  What a fun place!  I think what made it the most fun was that Willa was totally game to try everything, even the really big waterslides.  For the first time around water, we saw her have no fear and completely let go and have a blast.  We left the waterpark totally exhausted!  That night, we had dinner at Pitch, which was so good, and then we got ice cream and ate it in bed in the hotel room while we took advantage of the cable tv:)  On Monday, we bummed around in the Old Market, had lunch at Blue, and did a little shopping.  How does anyone who lives in Omaha get anything done ever, besides eating and drinking?!?  I wouldn't!  So far, Brad is wearing 32 well.  I love this period where, for 4 months, we are the same age and I don't feel like such a cradle robber.

Favorites from Easter

I am slowly learning that as a mom, you have to let go of a little bit of control.  For instance, when you want to dye eggs like Martha Stewart does and your child just wants to use a jillion Hello Kitty stickers on them, SHE WINS.  You do not.

My mom made this scotcharoo bar cake.  In the shape of a bunny.  Which she would like me to inform you IS NOT the playboy bunny, no matter how much you insist that it is.  (It stopped looking like the playboy bunny after willa covered it in gum drops, but it still tasted, um, sinfully good.)

This may be in my top 5 favorite pictures of all time.

Bummered. Big time.

Willa started playing soccer and it is hilarious.  There is always at least one kid on the ground, one kid picking their nose, 4 kids running the wrong direction, someone crying, and 2 kids refusing to play.  So entertaining.  At home, she seems to understand the basic idea of soccer, and of competing with the other team, but as soon as she gets on the field, she kind of just runs around, kicking the ball when it has accidentally been placed right in front of her.  Oh, well.  At this point, I'm just glad she is willing to go!

The thing I am bummed about isn't related to soccer really.  Its just that I emailed the Lincoln Track Club to change my registration from the full marathon to the half.  I was doing pretty well with the training up until I needed to do an 18 and 20 mile run.  And I didn't do them.  I could give you a list of reasons why, but they would sound whiny and generic and make me feel more pathetic than I kind of do right now.  So I won't.  I AM very excited about the half, though.  I think I can shoot for a pretty decent time, maybe taking 10 minutes or so off of my half PR. which is 2:08:40.  I think I am making a smart decision.  I still plan to run the full marathon, for sure.  If I wait for Lincoln, maybe in 2 years.  I spent my night shift last night writing out a sort of "bucket list" for myself, and qualifying for Boston may or may not have been (but probably was) on it.  So I guess it would be best not to butcher my first marathon the way I did my 16 mile run:)  So, if you plan to be a spectator at the marathon on Sunday, look for me in the first 13 miles.  And then look for me later to be drinking margaritas, as Sunday is also Cinco de Mayo.  And, tequila does NOT contain gluten.  But that's a fun story for another day!

A fantastic helper

Our church serves dinner at the Matt Talbot Kitchen once a month, and we were finally able to help out last month.  What a fantastic place!  Even Willa got to help, by carefully placing a bun on each tray so we could make sloppy joes.  We are looking forward to helping again next time and are very grateful that our community has such a place.

We gave away Willa's best friend

Isn't this little guy just the cutest?  He was hanging around our house a few weeks ago, when we got all the snow and really cold weather.  And he looked pretty unloved, dirty and matted fur.  He was obviously some sort of cruel dump job.  I really wanted to bring him in the house and take care of him until we could relocate him to a shelter or a new home, but the cat of the house, Stickers, was not a fan of that idea.  Anytime he could hear the kitten, or anytime we opened the back door to let Bailey out, Stickers would hiss and puff up all his fur and seem so angry!  So, we made the kitten a box with old towels, and gave him food and water.  He/she really seemed to like it!  It was so tempting to keep the baby, but we had to remain loyal to Stickers and also the little guy really needed some veterinary attention, at least to make sure he didn't have any funky bugs or anything, so Brad put an ad on Craigslist for a free kitten to a good home.  In a matter of minutes, he had several takers and that evening he delivered the kitten to a nice family with another cat, a small dog, and a few kids.  We had not even touched the kitten yet, as I was a little freaked out about the possibility of (eek!) worms or something, and certainly hadn't named the thing, but when Brad left with the wandering friend, Willa lost it.  She cried soooo hard and for so long and was so mad at us.  She just kept saying over and over "I want my best friend Puffball back."  Apparently, she had grown very fond of the cat living on the back steps, and had named it.  It just broke my heart.  Every few days or so, she still tells me that she wants Puffball back.  And that the family that we gave him/her to is so mean.  Please, oh please.  Don't let anymore stray animals into our yard.  The meltdown over Puffball has been traumatic.

Sometimes I wonder where I go

And then I'm like, look!  Here I am!  A few months ago, Tosha and I took our better halves (cough, cough, choke. Hahahaha) out for a night on the town.  To include sushi, drinks and intelligent conversation.  When I was checking on the blogs tonight at work and realized how long it had been since I myself had updated my blog, I decided to share this picture and blame Tosha entirely for my lack of blogging.  Not Tosha so much as Purely Maid.  I love my business.  I love cleaning.  I love (nearly) all of our clients and (nearly) all of their kids and pets.  But seriously!  When we get extra, super-duper busy, it seems to come in spurts and right now...we are massively...um, spurting?  To the point that we have very little time for things like sushi, drinks, our other job, sleep, cleaning our own houses...I think you get it.  It will start slowing down now a little.  I think.  After this next week maybe.  At least enough to get in one last, good long run I hope!  (The marathon is less than a month away now.)

As for a marathon update, I did a little work on what I'm going to wear.  Isn't it nuts that I would stress about that?  But I do, and I wanted to be able to wear everything a few times before that day, to make sure I knew how it was going to perform.  I got some new shoes and shorts.  Kinda surprised myself on the shoes, as I've been loyal to the New Balance Minimus for a few years now, but these are waaaay comfortable.  And my choice of shorts was largely determined by cuteness, brand loyalty, and number/size of pockets.