Another new task that I decided to add to my list recently is coupon shopping. I'm sure you're thinking, "Okay, so what? Coupon shopping can't take up that much time." And you may be correct, normal coupon shopping where you clip coupons out of the Sunday paper and use them at your favorite store doesn't require much time and effort. But the kind of crazy, mega coupon shopping that I've gotten into where you match coupons to sales, stack coupons, use e-coupons, print online coupons, participate in rebate programs, and request rain checks and competitors price matches does take some time and effort. It's totally paying off though and I love seeing how much money I'm saving. I'll come home on a coupon shopping high, wild eyed and be all "LOOK HONEY! I BOUGHT THESE WAFFLES FOR 19 CENTS! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? 19 CENTS!! AND THIS MUSTARD, GUESS HOW MUCH IT WAS?? JUST GUESS!" And Rob is like, "I don't know, 18 cents?" and I'm like, "NO, IT WAS FREE!! FREE! CRAZY, HUH?" And then he just nods his head in agreement, and moves away from me slowly so that his shirt doesn't get all messy when I explode from excitement.
So, between putting a 13 to 14 song Zumba class together, working a full time job, trying to maintain a (somewhat) clean house, being a crazy coupon lady, nursing a 6 month old and chasing after a 3&1/2 year old (who I swear keeps a sugar stash somewhere, b/c OMG that kid has some crazy energy) I've been just a smidge preoccupied. Just the thought of writing a new blog post last week was too much for me to even entertain. My brain was like, "Oh, no you don't! There's not room in here for anything else, missy!" So, I had to wait until I was able to put together complete sentences again. And even now, I'm probably not entirely meeting that requirement.
But, I digress. I must update about our trip to Knoxville since it was our first night away since Avery was born. I was all worried about how she was going to do without me that night, and much to my surprise, she was awesome. She didn't go to sleep quite as early as normal, but once she did, she slept ALL NIGHT. I couldn't believe it. She was, for the most part, a pretty happy baby while we were away. It's a huge relief to know that I'm able to leave her and not feel guilty because she starts screaming as soon as we pull out of the driveway. (That's not an exaggeration either, that used to happen any time I'd try to go somewhere without her.)
Our hotel room was really nice and comfortable. I keep going back and forth on what my very favorite part of it was, and I just can't decide. It's a toss up between the warm chocolate chip walnut cookies they give you upon checking in (YUM!), or the king sized bed that I would rate among the nicest I've ever slept in. Both were fantastic! The bathroom wasn't too shabby either. I'm not hard to impress, however, when it comes to bathrooms, considering that I hate ours with every fiber of my being, and want to curse it straight to the recesses of hell each and every time I step foot in it. (If you can comfortably fit more than one person in your bathroom without elbowing them in the crotch, you've got me beat and I'm extremely jealous.) I stood in the shower for a good 35 minutes, and even dried my hair and got dressed in the bathroom! That's a luxury around our house.
Here are a few shots of my favorite things in the hotel.
And this was Rob's favorite part of our room. Men aren't too hard to please, and he was beyond happy to be able to crank the AC down as low as it would go and not have to foot the bill for it.
After checking out our room, we decided to venture out on the town and have some dinner. We set out with my Google Map directions, and were excited to go have a nice meal together. We got lost on the way there and I made Rob stop at a hole-in-the-wall pet store so that I could ask for directions. Here's how that conversation went.
Me: I was wondering if you could help me. I'm looking for this place. (points to map) Are you familiar with it, because we went west and didn't see this street anywhere.I jump back in the car, tell Rob that we need a GPS, and to just keep driving until we see a playground or pass by Pet Store Guy's house, since you know, it's right down the road from him! We go about 5 miles and realize that we're nowhere close to the place and are, in fact, headed out of town. I call the restaurant and asked for directions from them. After turning around and several more rights and lefts, we arrive at the restaurant (which is, in fact, across the street from a playground). I'm so hungry at this point, I want to chew my arm off, so I order a steak sandwich. I figured since I was going to be doing lots of physical exercise and cardio the next day, I might as well load up on protein. Apparently, I was more hungry than I even realized, because once my steak arrived, I proceed to take a bite of it and pretty much swallow it whole, thus lodging it in my throat. I tried several times to swallow it down. Nothing. I put my hand on my throat and tried to swallow really hard. Didn't budge. I took a drink of my beer in the hopes that some lubrication would slide it on down. But apparently, it hit a big ol' steak roadblock in my throat, because it came right back up out of my mouth. By this point, Rob has caught on to the fact that I'm choking. I'm not sure if it was the beer foaming out of my mouth or the crazy eyes I was giving him with the telepathic "OMG, GIVE ME THE HEMLICH!!" looks that he picked up on, but he told me to get up and come outside. Luckily, we were sitting right by the back door of the restaurant, and when I stood to rush outside so that he could help me, the steak went down. Gravity, I suppose? Either way, there I was with beer spit all over my outfit thankful to be alive. It freaked us both out pretty bad, but at least we came home with a story to tell. (I'm a glass half full kind of girl.)
22 year old pet store guy: Hmmmm....yeah. I do know where that place is. Let me see........Yeah, my dad plays there a lot. (looks back at me like this information is suppose to help)
Me: That's nice. So are we on the right street or....?
Pet store guy: Yeah, yeah. Uh, let me think.....hmmmmm.....when you go there from my house, it's just a straight shot right too it. (looks at me again like I know where he lives and can find it from his house)
Me: Okay. Hmmmm, well....So I just stay on this road, then?
Pet Store Guy: Yeah, just stay on this road until you see some warehouses. It's right after that. It's about 2 or 4 miles from here. If you see the mechanic shop, you've gone too far. The restaurant is right across from a playground.
Me: Okay, thanks a lot.
The next morning, I had to get up bright and early to get ready for my Zumba training. It was a long, but fun and exciting day. I learned a ton and did so much Zumba, I thought my legs might fall off. We headed to my folk's house as soon as the class was over, and I was anxious to see my babies. Will was at the rodeo with my dad, but our girl was there to greet us with smiles.
And as soon as I saw that face, I knew I was right back where I was suppose to be. I think I'll stay put for a while.
Don't forget to chew your food.
L
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