What's Been Going On

I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I've been pretty busy around here. July is always a crazy month for us; Jennifer and Jazzy's birthday's are both in the first week of July. Toboso yard sales also take place in the first week of July, so there is a lot of preparation and planning that goes in to all of these events. This year, a new element was added with the wedding of a very good friend. So in the mix of all this chaos, I decided blogging wasn't a priority when I turned on the computer. :)

So what's been going on..

• Jen turned 30
• I got stranded in Cleveland
• Training for Fall races
• Jen gets injured while shopping
• Yard Sale!
• Jazzy turns 6 years old
  
• Mike and Kelsey get married
• Lizzie and Jazzy get a new swing set

Jen's Big Surprise
This year was Jennif'er's big "3-0". She turned 30 and I had to get her something cool. I had considered throwing a big surprise party for her a few weeks before. She warned me not to do it, and after considering all the hassle and work of it, I had to figure something else out. Therefore, I asked her best friend, Crystal, to take her out for a night on the town while I had my best friend, Tyler, come over and help me rip up the carpets in the living room. There was some beautiful hard wood floors underneath them, and Jennifer and I have been talking about doing it for years.

The day came for Crystal to take her out and get some drinks... I had kept my cool all day and pretended like I was going to be working all night while she was out. In reality, I had Tyler coming over around 7:30 - 8pm so we could get started on this EPIC project. We would have about 3 - 4 hours to get the carpet ripped up and move all the furniture back before she would walk in the door. Needless to say, she came home at 12 midnight totally unsuspecting anything and just fllllllipped out!! She saw the floors and just giggled and cried for about 5 minutes. It was priceless. I kicked ass this year, and she claims it's her best birthday ever! :) The next day, I invited all of her friends and our family over for cake and ice cream. I loved it! She was happy and I'll remember my feeling when she saw that floor for the rest of my life. I have NO idea how I'm gonna top this next year. :)


Bachelor Party in Cleveland
The next day, (ie. July 3rd) - I woke up and immediately headed up to Cleveland for my good friends' bachelor party at an Indians game. I had the entire weekend figured out: I was supposed to go up to the baseball game on Friday night, party down at the bars, sleep, then come home and enjoy fireworks with the family at my cousins for the 4th of July. As it turned out, I get up to Cleveland a full day early! The whole way up I wasn't able to get a hold of anybody in the party. I got to the hotel and there were no reservations... I got to the game, and still couldn't find anybody, so some super nice dude at the ticket desk gave me a free ticket to go in and find my party. He could clearly see that I was distressed because I was like 30 minutes late to the game and missing my buddy's party.

After getting into the game and finding the "help desk", some one was able to find that the tickets to my party weren't until "tomorrow night". It all made sense at that point (nobody answering their phones (ie. still at work), no reservations at the hotel, and no tickets to get into
the game. Therefore, I was forced to drink beer and eat hotdogs at the game, and then get a room in the Cleveland ghetto... by myself. The next day, I drove around Cleveland aimlessly waiting on "the crew" to show up, so I could do it all again. :) It turned out to be a pretty fun (but expensive) weekend. :)

Running??
I was pretty good with my running last week. I ran Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They were all short mileages (2 - 4 miles), but they were enough to get me back out and running agian. I need to start training for my fall race line up. I'm doing the Indian 60k Trail Run, Columbus Marathon, and a new Bobcat Trail marathon. I think I'm going to sign up for the Mohican 50 miler again next year if I don't find a fun 50 miler this fall / winter. I gotta figure out my stomach issues with this 50 miler so I can attempt the... No I'll save it for a later post. :)

Anyway, I've been trying to watch my diet as I prepare for these ones so I can actually lose some weight and run easier and with less effort. Jen hates my new diet! :) Typically when she gets too much food, she'll give me what she can't finish. Now she's forced to either finish it herself or throw it away. The other day she ordered a huge Angus Swiss burger meal from McDonalds and I got a friggen Fruit Parfait and a water. It goes without saying that I was pretty hungry later, but I'm learning to accept these pains and try to stay busy until they pass. :) We'll see what this week brings... It's harder to turn up junk food than I thought!!

Jen's Foot!
This last weekend, Jennifer had her first shopping injury. :) She was in Gabriel Brothers (her all time favorite store) shopping for some last minute items and the rest is history. It went like this, I took the girls to town with me to visit a buddy, then go get ice cream with my 3 girls. As we were wrapping up our adventure in town and heading back out here to the house, I get a call from Jennifer and she's very upset.

Here, she was shopping and a huge metal rack fell on her foot!! Not only that, but she was wearing flip flops and it was a direct hit on the bridge of her foot (yeah, the soft part). Ouch!! When the girls and I showed up, it looked pretty nasty and she was clearly in a lot of pain. We spent the remainder of the evening in the Zanesville hospital getting her foot taken care of. She now walks around with a cool limp and has a sexy, hospital-blue boot to show for it. :) She was even more upset because the next two days were both big days that we've been planning for all spring. :(

Yard Sale & Jazzy's Birthday Party
Friday morning, we all woke up early (after a 2 hour nap on my part) and setup our driveway for the annual Toboso yard sales. Jen was hobbling around, I took a personal day from work, and people were strolling in and out all morning / afternoon. Jennifer couldn't move fast, so she had me and her sister to help her.

As the yard sale was dying down I busted out my cousins' inflatable water slide because Jazzy was having her 6th birthday party tonight. It went great, we had so many people show up to celebrate it with her and it was so good to see her smiling and having a good time. The party died down around 10pm and we got them all ready for bed. Jen and I had an early morning...

Mike and Kelsey's Wedding
A good friend of ours (the bachelor from last weekend) was getting married in Cleveland the next day (Saturday). Jen and I had to get the girls to her moms, then drive to Cleveland before 3:30pm. We arrived around 2pm and was able to just relax for a while. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we had a great time. Mike and Kelsey are a damn cute couple and I wish them years and decades of pure happiness. It's free and we all deserve it, especially them!!

Jen and I partied like it was nineteen ninety nine. She hobbled around on her boot all night and I hobbled around on a slurred speach. :) We were able to meet up with some old-school friends and we just had a great time! We got about 6 hours of honest sleep then it was up and at'em with the alarm so we could head back home for one final project...

New Singset
Jen and I had a date to meet a guy in Hilliard to purchase a very nice swing set from a fella on Craigslist. It was an absolute steal at $100!!? Jen offered him $120, because it helped lock in our "bid" and also was still a hell of a steal. These things typically go for around $600 or more. Needless to say, the swingset is sitting out in our yard right now just waiting to be put back together. That sounds like a good Tuesday or Wednesday project. :)

Til next post.. I'll be relaxing....