So... How Do I SAG This Race? - 11th Annual Celebration Half-Marathon 2024

You guys, buckle up for this one... I have a sad tale of woe to tell you. 

On Saturday, I slept in until about 9, then set about packing and relaxing. We grabbed lunch at McDonalds, around 11:30 and got to Celebration around 3. I walked over to Packet Pickup and got my bib, shirt, and swag, then we drove over to our hotel. We were staying at Melia Orlando again, via VRBO this time. Does it make a difference? Besides price, no, it made no difference. And this may be a two strikes and you're out scenario. 

When we got there the lobby was relatively empty, except for one irate woman who was pissed off about something. As I waited and waited, I overheard that their Key Card System was down. They couldn't issue keys, so employees were walking guests to their rooms individually, and telling them that staff will bring them their keys later. Oh boy. It took about 20 minutes for me to check in, and then another 20 for someone to realize that I was still waiting for my escort to our room. Even though our room was right around the corner from the lobby, the staff instructed me to go park our car first. Brainiacs that we are, we didn't think to bring our stupid luggage with us! And since we needed a key to get into the building and again at our door, we couldn't unload the car, because we wouldn't be able to get back in! Nor could I even go get ice, because that room needed a key as well. So we just sat around staring each other... got very boring. We got one phone call to check if we got into our room, and when I asked when keys would be ready, the clerk kind of just mumbled something and hung up! We gave up at 5:30 and decided to go to dinner. We checked with the front desk about keys, and thankfully, they were ready! So we moved our luggage up to the room, then came back down. As we drove by it, Hubby asked what Maple Street Biscuit Company was, and I told him it was an amazing restaurant full of love and biscuits. I pulled up the menu for him and he said we should go there... Unfortunately, they're more of a brunch place, and they'd closed at 3pm. Maybe we'll do this on Monday. 

We popped over to tried-and-true Cracker Barrel, but not the one we typically go to - Garmin pointed us to one that was closer to the hotel instead. It wasn't super busy, but our service was still pretty slow. I got my typical pancakes with bacon and scrambled eggs, and hubby ordered chicken fingers. I'd like to point out, that when our waitress came by, she told us all about a special they were having with pork chops. We kind of made an "ooh, that sounds good," kind of noncommittal noise, but I gotta say... his chicken fingers did NOT taste like chicken, nor did they look like chicken. They were breaded in panko instead of flour breading, and they were very... firm? Bless his heart, he was too nice of a guy to return them, so he just ate his fries and some of my pancakes. After this very mediocre dinner, we ended up getting in a discussion with one of the employees as we stood in the Bottled Beverage section of the gift area. We ended up purchasing two bottles of root beer to try later. 

We stopped at Publix for some post-run supplies: Chocolate milk, Gatorade, and cupcakes. Yeah, those are supplies! Back at the hotel I squeezed my fat ass into their tiny bathtub for a soak, then laid down on their hard-as-a-rock bed and tried to get my frazzled brain to shut up long enough to sleep. 

Up way too early on Sunday morning, I felt nauseated, but not able to poo (typical before races, honestly). I drank my OJ, woke Hubby up, and we were out the door, late as usual, around 6:30 (yes, for a 7am race). We parked at Celebration School and hoofed it over to the start line. My ear, which had stuffed up last night, was still stuffed up. I kissed Hubby goodbye, set up my LiveTrack, and chugged a bottle of water as I stuffed my pockets with all of my random run supplies (seriously, we got there really late!) I met Hubby past the start line, and we walked together to the corner, where he then headed over to meet me at Mile 2. 

Now, I need to be honest here... 2023, as much as it sucked, was simply the excuse I used - repeatedly - to ignore my training. Every time shit went south, I'd dramatically throw up my hands (mentally) and think, well, fuck, I can't go to the gym now! and I'd let it derail me for a week or so. There were sometimes weeks where I didn't do ANYTHING. No gym, no stretching, no parkrun, nothing. And so you can imagine how much I'm going to suck today... The longest I've even walked has been a 5k, and that was months ago... My ONLY goal was to finish, but I soon realized I was pacing these three older ladies, so I decided to follow them and make sure they were always within my line of sight (or right behind me). I'm happy to report that these three ladies all finished with a respectable time of 4:59! The lady in purple is over 80! Good for her!!!  

 

I was feeling okay as I made it to Mile 1, and I began to think that I was going to be fine... The first mile is always a warm up for me anyway, right? I met Hubby at the corner, finished my bottle of water as we walked, then left him at the entrance to the hotel. I was still feeling good as I heard peals of screams coming from the area of the hospital, around Mile 3. There was a group of volunteers there, and one of them seemed to think that blood-curdling screams of encouragement at 7:30 in the morning was a good idea. I felt so bad for the people IN the hospital who had to listen to this for hours. I was feeling okay at this point, and even made a little video about how I was going to have Hubby call me at Mile 9 (the Motherfucker Mile™) to cheer me on, or how I was going to call him at Mile 12 and brag about finishing. 

I ate a Quaker Granola Bar as I walked, to make up for no breakfast, and noticed that there were two runners in front of me; one looked to be a coach of some sort, who was encouraging a second guy, who seemed to be special in some way. The special guy was having a hard time and so the coach would encourage him to run a little, then walk a little. I'm happy to say that they finished with a time of 4:24. 

Something about a Quaker Chewy Granola Bar always works for me...

Around Mile 4, once we left the hospital, I noticed that my left foot was starting to hurt. I'd been dealing with Plantar Fasciitis over the past few months, so this wasn't a big surprise. It wasn't a lot of pain, so I kept going. By Mile 5, though, I started to realize there was no way I could keep going. My entire foot was in pain, to the point where I just knew that I was walking weirdly to accommodate the pain. I stopped near McDonald's to stretch my calves, which felt good, but then my legs began to immediately hurt again when I began walking again. I think about this point I started doing little video check ins on my phone. Of all the issues I thought I'd have to overcome, I didn't think it was PF that was going to be my biggest problem! 

Oh but wait... 

It's raining now. 

Well, at least it's warm rain (lookin' at you, 2019 Celebration)

At one point, a lady I'd been passing, and being passed by, passed me again; she said that she was hitting every single potty stop (no idea why) and that she didn't think she'd be able to finish (she didn't, unfortunately). Interestingly, when I look at that photo up there with the three older ladies, Potty Patty is right there!

So, at about Mile 5.5, I knew for sure that I had to stop, and decided that I could tough it out until Mile 6, because that's where the high school is, and there'd be a lot of people there who could probably assist me. I was getting emotional at this point, because I didn't want to quit, I was frustrated, and I hurt really bad. I passed a runner wearing a knee brace who said she was also in a lot of pain; I told her I was quitting and she said that she was going to try to finish (she did! Yay for her!) 

1451 finished, good for her! Oh look, there's me over there...

I texted Hubby that I was quitting, to allow him time to walk back over to the Finish Line (ugh, why did I do that? He could have stayed there, and I could have driven myself home... Run Brain at its best), and asked one of the volunteers how to sag, what I needed to do, and she didn't know. She called her coordinator, who told me that there was no actual Sag Wagon and that anyone who quit had to get a ride to the finish line. Her golf cart had a flat tire, and suggested that I get a ride from the EMTs over by the boardwalk (whom I'd passed 10 minutes earlier). I told her that was fine, I wasn't in BIG PAIN type pain, so I started walking (and crying), but then she caught up with me and told me that she found a volunteer (an amazing kid, Skylar, from the local church) who was going to give me a ride in his car. So I walked over to Skylar, having another pity-cry about how much of a loser I was.

I got out of the car right before the finish line so he didn't have to deal with traffic, and started walking toward the medal area. My hope was that I could tell them what happened, explain that I wanted to finish the other 7 miles at home (when my foot had healed) and get a medal. 

Instead, I did something I wasn't all that proud of. I slipped on to the sidewalk between the finish line and the businesses, and walked all the way up to where Bag Check was (i.e. where finish line people couldn't see me), and I slipped on to the course with everyone else who was finishing. Yeah, the healthy, pain-free, fast, deserving-to-get-their-medals people. I stayed over to the side as I attempted to at least jog, all the while everyone cheering me on looked distorted. They were cheering for everyone else, but they were all pointing and laughing at me.

I 'ran it in', and got my medal like I actually finished this, and got a food card. I plopped myself at a table in a little alcove near the DJ truck and waited for hubby to come get me. I cried more, trying not to look like a complete idiot.

 

At least the rain stopped...

Only got chowder this year; it's all I deserve

The face of an Unhappy Quitter

Feet, Y U Do Dis?

Again... why did I not just limp my way over to the car, instead of making Hubby walk almost 2 miles to come and get me?!? Bu as soon as I saw him, I was so glad he was there... I just freakin' lost it all over him. He saw it coming before I even knew it was coming. He curled me in his arms and just let me go. Once I got myself back together, we walked over and got some chowder, which I ate on the way back to the car. Back at the hotel, I soaked myself in a hot bubble bath, taking stock of where my pain was. It was my feet, my shins, and even the tops of my feet, along the metatarsals. 

I crawled back in bed after and snuggled him for a while, which - of course - let to naughty snuggling. Now, this is TMI, but after my first orgasm, I got in my own head and I just absolutely shut down... I felt like a loser, a quitter, I was fat, I was lazy, I took the easy way out... all of these horrid negative thoughts swirling around my brain, and I had to practically throw his hands off of me as I curled back into him and just freaking SOBBED all over him. It honestly felt like a bit of a mental breakdown... I've never felt this completely wrong before. 

Yes, I know that quitting was the smart thing to do. 

Yes, I know that I could have hurt myself if I'd kept goin. 

Yes, I know that I was smart for listening to my body instead of ignoring it. 

But it still sure feels like I just gave up. 

Me and my mental breakdown took a nap for a few hours then did an early dinner at Sickie's Garage. I had the Wild Hog burger, Rusty Bucket fries and some nacho cheese for dipping. Hubby got chicken fingers, fries, and cheese. We kicked around the idea of ice cream, but we were way too full, so after a side quest to get earwax removal supplies at CVS, we went back to the hotel. I took another bath to baby my muscles and feet (which were feeling a smidge better), then dealt with the ear wax blockage, then crawled into bed for more snuggling and well-needed sleep. 

Much better chicken than Cracker Barrel!

Terrible photo of a delicious burger

The next morning, he woke me up with more naughty-snuggling until I couldn't stand it anymore; he said that I needed it more than he did. (In my head, I want to call it a Pity Fuck, but I know that's not what it was... it truly is his way of taking care of me and making me feel better and getting me out of my own head.). 

Eventually, though, we had to put on clothes and vacate the room. We hit up Maple Street Biscuit Company for brunch. We each got the Maple Sticky Chicken, and I got a side of Smashbrowns to try. As we were sitting and waiting for our order, the manager brought over an iced cinnamon biscuit for us to try (woo hoo, free food!) Oh man, if you haven't had one of those, what are you waiting for? It was heavenly. But even more heavenly was the Sticky Chicken! Hubby's eyes about fell out of his head when he saw it - he wasn't expecting such a big sandwich. He tried a bite and fell in love (and he's not even a huge biscuit kinda guy). He said that the cinnamon biscuit was dangerous, it was so tasty. If you can get one fresh while you're at the store, do it... it's amazing. The Smashbrowns however, were disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting, but these weren't it. 

He was only able to eat about 2/3 of his while I ate about half of mine. I got a box, as well as two additional biscuits to go for eating at home tonight. We hit up Wawa for gas and soda, made our way up to Wildwood for a Russell Stover pitstop, and finally, that ice cream we kept thinking about. Hubby got some sort of peanut butter scoop; I got a single scoop sugar cone of Cookie Dough, which was roughly the size of my head! There was no way I could drive and eat this monstrosity, so we relaxed in the car instead, at least until it was a bit more manageable. 

Once it was safe to drive, we pointed the Garmin to a place called Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop in Ocala. We couldn't find it in the Garmin, but I knew it was downtown, so we just kind of drove around looking for it... We kept overlooking it, though it was in plain sight, right next to Harry's. Inside, it wasn't as "look at this amazing wall of candy" like I was expecting, but more of a "look at all of these packages of candy and toys and socks and stuff." The company brags about their $5 Candy Buffet, but (at least at this location) there were only about 30 options, and most of it was stuff you could find anywhere, so we skipped that. 

However, they also have a massive wall of bottled sodas! Probably 200 different flavors and brands, different types of sodas. Plus a cooler with some of the more popular ones pre-chilled so you can drink them immediately. We picked up a dozen to try next week (they were Buy 5, Get 1 Free, too!). You can find that video on YouTube, or watch it below. 

We also picked up some candy and two Chinese varieties of Doritos to try. Those bags were $6 each, so they better be good! 

Back on the road, we headed home, and my ass was in bed with snacks by 6pm. I just wanted to wallow and pity myself. I typed up this post, watched some of Bosch: Legacy, and then eventually fell asleep. 

On Tuesday, I emailed the Run Director and told them what I'd done (cutting the course, getting a medal anyway) because I didn't want to get credit for a 2:45 finish when I damn sure didn't do the work - I didn't want to take that slot away from someone who'd earned it. Luckily, the Results Processor had already removed me, due to lack of splits, and I wasn't in the final results at all. The Run Director replied back to me that he was sorry I'd had a rough day, there were no issues, and hoped that I'd be back in 2025. Also at this point, I realized... I lost my Streak. I'd run this every single year since its inception, in 2014. Even during Covid, I ran the virtual. I was so proud to be this slow, fat, old broad, who could say proudly, I've run this every single year since it began! And now that's gone. 

I looked over the rest of the results, because I'm a dork like that. There were 1,898 registered participants for the Half-Marathon, and 1,701 finishers. This means that there were 196 other people besides me who also DNF. It wasn't just me. Hell, the last Half-Marathon finisher came in at 6:00 hours, so even if I'd finished, in my hobbled state, I still wouldn't have been last, either. It didn't really make me feel any better, but it was nice to see the hard numbers anyway.  

 

So... now what? I have Gasparilla in less than a month, and Gate River Run just days after that. I can't just not go (okay, yeah, I know I CAN just not go, but then I would be wasting hundreds of dollars)... At this point, I am going to talk to my Massage Lady and see what she suggests for dealing with this. I'm going to 'cram' for Gasparilla by doing as much cardio as possible over the next 4 weeks, using the Elliptical to get a good calf stretch while not impacting my foot much more. And finally, I'll plan to KT Tape the hell out of my feet and wear calf sleeves while at Gasparilla. I guess we'll see what happens next month... 

Living Room Re-Do

We bought our home in 2005, after renting for 18 months, and when we moved in, we painted every single room. Most rooms were a light blue that skewed "baby blue," although it didn't look that way when we picked out the paint. My husband's home office (his Man Cave, if you choose to call it that) is a gorgeous Crown Royal Purple. My home office is a warm beige. The living room was a bold blue, like the blue on an American flag. The hallway was just a neutral warm off-white/ivory. 

Fast forward twenty years (to 2021), and all of the rooms are still the same color! You just get used to what you have, and making changes becomes harder and harder as you live in, and fill up, your spaces. But at some point last year, I decided that I wanted to paint the living room and buy a new couch, an honest-to-God Living Room Set so that the loveseat matched the couch and it looked like a magazine. A little Donna Reed? Maybe... but we got more than 15 years out of our slouchy Big Lots couch and I wanted a new one! 

So I started looking, narrowed it down to a few choices, then dragged Hubby to both Badcock and Ashley to sit on the finalists. As we sat on our choice, we began to talk logistics... when did we want to get them? How much would they cost? Should we paint first? And then... He suggested that since we were moving furniture anyway, we should get new carpet. 

And damn, he was right, but what a can of worms this became! See, a few years ago, we had to get a new AC system and new ducts, which meant that we had to drop the entire ceiling of the house in the hallway. We never really finished repairing it, just putting up the drywall and mudding the seams. A new AC vent had to be cut into the living room ceiling, and the old vent (in the living room wall) had to be closed up. We got as far as closing the old one, but the new one is still just a hole in the ceiling. 

So as I realized that, if we were going to paint, if we were going to get carpet, I needed to fix all the other little things in the main house! Just off the top of my head, we had to:

• Get rid of the old stinky loveseat (Clover had some recent incontinence issues) 
• Texturize and paint the hallway ceiling
• Patch over the old AC vent
• Remove crown molding in the living room
• Paint the hallway and trim
• Paint the living room and trim
• Paint the dining room and trim
• Paint the ceilings in living room, dining room, and hallway
• Mount the TV and install cable management
• New carpet in living room, dining room, and hallway
• New furniture (couch, loveseat, and ottoman)
• New window dressings
• New entertainment center / storage / tv area

Now, to do this, I needed the use of my daughter's old bedroom. The plan was to move a lot of the old accent furniture (like side tables and such) into her room, to reuse it as a Guest Bedroom. However, Hubby decided that he also wanted to re-do his home office (I did mine a few years ago), so he started moving stuff out of his room and into the guest bedroom - his idea was to move everything out, re-do his office, sort everything in the guest room and bring it back in. My idea (and how I did my re-do) was to sort as I moved so that when I was ready to put my office back together, everything I didn't want was already gone, either in the trash or donated. Basically, he created extra work for himself and completely blocked me from doing what I needed to do. After nagging him about it for months, he realized that my way was better, BUT DIDN'T MOVE HIS STUFF, le sigh. So now, I have a guest room that is full of my daughter's old furniture, and Hubby's office stuff, with no room for me to do what I need to do! I gave up on the original plan by June and just barreled ahead with getting done whatever I could get done. 

We took the stinky loveseat out to the curb, and repurposed the loveseat that was currently in my home office, moving it to the living room for extra seating.  I spent a day finishing and texturing the ceiling of the hallway. I spray painted the old, weirdly-sized AC return vent a nice bright white so that it looked clean and new. I used some spackling compound to texturize the classic 70s wood paneling on the AC closet (you can see where I over-texturized the grooves in the paneling, but it still looks better than before). 

AC Closet Wall and Repurposed Shelf

I spent way too much time trying to decide what wall color I wanted... It had to be the same color in all three rooms, to tie the areas together. I wanted it to be bright to make the interior look bigger. It had to match the gorgeous Pecky Cypress walls in the living and dining rooms. Eventually I settled on a color called "Online," by Valspar. I thought it was an apropos name, seeing as though both of us are computer nerds! 

Old Hallway w/Old Carpet, testing Paint Colors (we chose the 2nd one)
(Hubby's Office to the Left, Guest Room Center)

Once I got the paint, I spent the next day or so absolutely transforming this hallway. It was a small area, so it was easy to do, and the payoff was inspiring. I was able to camouflage a lot of dings and dents in the walls, and I used a tiny brush to paint straight lines where there was no crown molding, giving me a crisp delineation between ceiling and wall. I repainted an old shelf that I had in my bedroom with leftover tester paint (the top color in the photo, above), put on some Contact Paper to hide some damage, and it fit perfectly in the little nook by the AC closet. then I hung up a new coat rack, and two picture ledges from IKEA and filled it with photos. These shelves also do a good job of hiding the old doorbell chime box, which doesn't work any more. 

It already looks so much better, even with this nasty carpet!

The AC closet has a louvered bi-fold door, and I still need to paint that, as well as the two bedroom doors and the bathroom door; I plan to do the same color as the walls, with white trim, similar to the door you see a few photos above. 

That skinny bit of wall is just begging for some photos!

The hallway stayed as the only thing done, as summer turned into fall, and I was just running out of energy. I wanted it done, but life (and his stuff) was getting in the way. 

Around my birthday, I had some time - and some energy - so it was time to work on the Living Room. I decided to just completely remove the crown molding from the wall that used to have the AC vent in it. It was the only wall that had molding anyway, and when they installed the vent (back in the 19-whatevers), they cut into the molding, and there was no way I could fix it. So, I pulled it out and patched up the damage. I pulled down the 20-year old mini-blinds. And then I worked my magic with this gorgeous blue-grey paint. It just felt so refreshing and transformative! I spilled a bunch on the carpet, but fortunately, we would have new carpet soon, so who cared! Again, I went around the edges of the wall with a small brush to really cut in and create that clean separation between the wall and ceiling. (Update: Over the past few months I'm realizing that I never did a second coat of paint, lol! Some of the dark blue is starting to show through, and I'll probably have to run a roller over the walls again in a year or so... Lesson learned, don't be lazy!)

The following weekend, I did the dining room wall (only one wall is paint; the other three are wood panels) and all the baseboards and trim work in the whole space. That is what made me feel old... I'm not flexible enough to sit on the floor for hours painting baseboards, you guys! The weekend after that, I painted the ceilings, and WOW!! Either they previous owners never painted the ceilings, or it wasn't white to begin with, but the contrast between the old ceiling and the new ceiling was drastic! Between the new walls and new ceiling, I was beginning to get my "Magazine Cover" feeling. 

The difference in ceiling color is amazing (left is old, right is new)

At this point, I realized that if we wanted to have everything done by Christmas (which was the original plan), we had to get moving. I went out in the beginning of November to shop and settled on a local company. They guaranteed me that they'd be able to have it installed before Thanksgiving. That didn't quite happen, but we had finished just a few days after. So, I had to pack up everything in the Living and Dining rooms, including taking everything off shelves - and as many of you know, my dining room is basically an extension of my kitchen; it's a huge pantry, and place where we drop our stuff. So for a week, we just had boxes of dry food in our bedroom, lol! The installers were absolute beasts. They moved everything out of the living room first and put it in the dining room so that they could install the living room and hallway. Then they moved everything from the dining room back into the living room, putting it right where I told them to put it (I didn't have to move it again). When they finished the dining room, they put everything back where it belonged. I'd estimate they were there for about 6 hours. And you guys... the difference was ah-mah-zing. Going from 20+ year old Berber carpet to this thick and luscious carpet just made my whole body sigh. Why didn't we do this sooner? I just wanted to lay down and make snow angels. When hubby got home and felt it, we knew immediately that we need to save up to do the rest of the house! So that's a big project for 2023 or 2024... Maybe after he finishes his own DIY project! (Future Lazy Lady here, in June 2024, to report that nothing has changed, with regards to his project...)

For the three spaces (carpet & padding), including removal of old carpet, moving furniture, and installation of new carpet, we paid $3500. Good deal? I don't know. Am I happy with my carpet? Absolutely!

So, finally, FINALLY, after a year, I could finally order my new living room set! I got a couch, a loveseat, and an ottoman. I paid for the expensive delivery service, but it turns out that that didn't mean that the guys would take our old stuff! We still had to take out our old stuff. Pissed me off, because that was the whole damn reason we paid extra! I'm too old to be moving furniture, lol. But we got it out with no strained muscles or stubbed toes. Delivery and 'installation' of the new furniture was very easy, and we were chillin' on our new couches within an hour. They're less "schlumpy" than our older couches, but that's what I wanted. Nothing a throw pillow can't fix! I wanted a cleaner, modern line, and I think these fit the bill nicely. And they're a dark grey slate color, so if we spill food on them (and we will), it won't show. And when Clover scratches the hell out of (which she will), we also got the Protection Plan so we can get it fixed. 

But we're not done yet! Now it's time to address the windows. I ordered some custom-sized black-out roller blind shades, and picked up some sheers and valance curtains from Amazon. I originally bought some "mod" looking curtain rods, too, but I couldn't install them all the way to the ceiling like I wanted (not enough room to slide onto the mount), so I spent way too much at Home Depot for some curtain rods (in the end, though, these feel much sturdier, and they're much prettier). We did the blinds first, which was both easier and harder than expected. We kept getting the measurements wrong, and having to take the brackets down and fix the spacing. Then we realized we put one of them on upside down, so we had to take it down, flip it around, and put it back up. Doing this screwed something up and it didn't roll anymore! (We reached out to Blindster after Christmas and got a replacement). After that, we hung up the curtain rods, and put on the curtains, and damn if our living room didn't look GOOD! We plopped onto the new couch, put our feet on the new ottoman, and called it a night!

Even Clover agrees that everything looks good!

My big hope was to show off all my hard work to both the Kiddo and to my mom when they visited for Christmas. We ordered our new living room set and it was delivered just a few days before the holiday. Unfortunately, mom never came over (there was some DRAH-MA attached to that...), but the Kiddo loved all the changes! 

After the new year (now in 2023), we got the new blind from Blindster delivered and installed, and I picked up a few Kallax shelves from IKEA. I wanted to do a 1x4, a2x4, and a 1x4, but when I bought them I ended up with three 2x4s. 

Original plan - room for TV to wall-mount in the middle

I think it worked out, though, because it makes the TV area a little less symmetrical and interesting. The additional 2x4 (since it wouldn't fit on the LR wall, which was the whole reason I was using 1x4s to begin with!) now lives in our bedroom, holding random stuff. Back in the living room, I got some drawers for the Kallax, as well as some big bins, and (when they're back in stock), I'll pick up some shelf inserts. I have tons of storage that I honestly don't know what to do with! Two bins hold throw blankets, one bin holds DVDs, one for cat toys, one for a little carpet cleaner (a must!) Probably half of the drawers are still empty, which is great. 

There's a planter next to the hallway now, as well as some fake flowers on the shelf

I found a great round tray at Pop Shelf to hold some fake flowers, and to soften all of the angles of the living room, and I've discovered that I can keep plants alive! I have a handful right now that I'm keeping alive, despite being nibbled on repeatedly by Clover. 

At this point, it's just a matter of "floofing" the place... We need to hang up pictures and art, and put up a few more lights. I bought a big pendant lamp from IKEA but I need to call an electrician to fix the outlet that doesn't seem to work (it's always something around here...) Maybe a few more picture ledges from Ikea?

Until then, here's some Before and After photos! 

BEFORE: Dark, heavy, cave-like
AFTER: Bright, airy, calming (even with fewer lamps)

BEFORE: Bright blue, beat up, sad
AFTER: Serene blue, fresh, cheerful

The Results were Minteresting!!

I feel like I've been neglecting you, my tiny little blog! Hubs and I have started making YouTube videos, where we try new foods or drinks, and we've been having lots of fun. 

A few weeks ago, I'd picked up a few different containers of ice cream, to munch on while I recovered from Lasik. Then I got a wild hair that we should make a video where we compare tons of different mint (or mint-adjacent) ice cream flavors, so I picked up the following flavors to try, amassing 13 total flavors to try:

• Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip
• Prestige It's Mint to Be Creme de Menthe Ice Cream (Winn-Dixie store brand)
• Blue Bell Peppermint Bark
• Talenti Mediterranean Mint Gelato
• Great Value Mint Chip Ice Cream
• Van Leeuwen Artisan French Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
• Scoops Ahoy Mint Flare Ice Cream
• Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Mayfield Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Häagen Dazs Mint Chip
• Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark
• Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
• Publix Premium Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

So with a ton of ice cream, we sat down and stuffed ourselves silly with ice cream (and gelato). I had a few preconceived ideas going in to this tasting, some of which got blasted out of the water! Before trying anything, I stated that my favorite mint chocolate chip is Breyer's, and my favorite peppermint is Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream. 

So what were our findings? On first taste of each, we said: 

Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

No green food coloring, it's the best, it's so freakin' good

Scoops Ahoy Mint Flare Ice Cream

Tastes like a Baskin Robins flavor, fake but not bad, no chemical aftertaste, overall meh 

Van Leeuwen Artisan French Peppermint Stick Ice Cream

Real pink, not fake pink, unpleasant artificial aftertaste, I'd eat it if someone gave it to me

Mayfield Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Bright fake green, tastes weird, tasted like "freezer," both of us made faces when we tasted it, had a fluffy texture with little shards of chocolate (instead of chunks)

 

Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream

It's mellow and minty with little red and green mint candies, no weird aftertaste; fluffier than Breyer's, but not better than Breyer's 

Prestige It's Mint to Be Creme de Menthe Ice Cream

Tasty, not a lot of mint, but good texture with little mint chocolate cup pieces

Talenti Mediterranean Mint Gelato

Green, but not a fake green; bad aftertaste, didn't taste minty - did being gelato skew the flavor? I remember this being much tastier in the past, or does it taste bad now, in comparison to the other flavors? 

 

Häagen Dazs Mint Chip

Very tasty, with flat chunks of dark chocolate, good texture, very highly rated

Publix Premium Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Green, looks similar to Mayfield with shards of chocolate; not much flavor (like "Hint o' Mint"); you only know it's mint because it's green

Great Value Mint Chip Ice Cream

It's a pretty light green, not very minty, much lighter in weight when compared to Häagen Dazs Mint Chip, tastes like "buck & a half" ice cream

 

Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip

Big pieces of chocolate that feels soft, naturally minty (still faint), chocolate has weird aftertaste 

Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark 

Good, but different from all the others; Hubby liked this over the Peppermint Bark (I liked this more)

Blue Bell Peppermint Bark

There's no peppermint bark or chocolate at the top of the container, which made tasting the entire ice cream difficult, though when you do get a piece of bark, it's a nice substantial size; on second taste, we both liked Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark much better

And our final ratings, from worst to first:

• 

  Talenti Mediterranean Mint Gelato
  
• Great Value Mint Chip Ice Cream
• Scoops Ahoy Mint Flare Ice Cream
  
• Van Leeuwen Artisan French Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
• Mayfield Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Publix Premium Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip
• Blue Bell Peppermint Bark
• Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
  
• Häagen Dazs Peppermint Bark 
• Prestige It's Mint to Be Creme de Menthe Ice Cream
• Häagen Dazs Mint Chip

Which means that Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip is the winner and still the #1 Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in my world! 

 

Am I surprised by this ranking? A little, actually... Going into this, I thought that Talenti and Van Leeuwen would be much higher, and I expected the Prestige to be pretty bad. I was surprised that the Mayfield was as bad is it was, when I truly love their Vanilla recipe. But with Breyer's and Publix, I'm not shocked to see them rise so high to the top. 

(Hi there, Lazy Lady from June 2024... I still have so much ice cream in my freezer! Breyer's, both Publix, and HD Mint are all still there, staring at me. We've eaten everything else, even the Talenti and Van Leeuwen and Great Value. They were definitely bottom of the barrel, but I hate letting food go to waste!)

 

The Wetter, the Better - LASIK and the Following Days

I think something went wrong during my laser eye surgery… 

I can see just fine but I can’t figure out how to shoot the lasers

I kid, of course. Let's back up. 

On Tuesday, I scheduled a Lyft to take us to Eye Associates, as well as scheduling a pizza delivery for Wednesday night (I didn't know how I'd feel afterward and I certainly wasn't gonna cook!) I set my watch alarm for 5:30am, but didn't sleep well; I was too wound up. Both of us were fully awake and ready to go by 6:30am. I ate a little bit of breakfast, as instructed (so the Xanax didn't irritate my stomach), and dressed in a comfy outfit (leggings, oversized hoodie, and sneakers). Our Lyft driver showed up early and we arrived at Eye Associates before they were even officially open!

...but so ready!

What other socks would be as appropriate?

Once inside, I officially paid for my procedure, with a single credit-card swipe for $3,360 (oof, that hurt) then tried to sit calmly in the lobby. As painful as it was to make that payment, I had to remind myself that it covered the pre-op, procedure, and four follow-up visits, as well as amazing customer service by everyone involved). Oh, and because I used a credit card with rewards, I earned $33 in rewards (and I'll use my FSA to pay back the credit card). 

$2,880 paid via FSA (installments via paycheck)      $480 "Out of Pocket" Paid

I got called back around 7:15am, where a very calm and reassuring nurse covered my hair with a cap and put some paper booties on my feet. She washed my orbital/eye area (eyebrows to upper cheeks) and gave me to "magic pills" (which I assume was the Xanax, but I don't know the dose). I was left on a slightly uncomfortable stretcher for about a half-hour while I chilled out to let the Xanax kick in. 

No stray hairs allowed!

Booties over Keds - all the kids are wearing it this way

The nurses came back to check on me a few times. At one point, Dr. W came by and put some Naphcon-A drops in my eyes; it's not something that everyone needs, but he was worried about bleeding during the procedure, so better safe than sorry!). They also gave me the numbing drops at this point. He asked if I was nervous, and I said yeah, but I'm not trying to think about it, so they gave me another pill (uh... okay!) Weirdly, I never felt my eyes go numb. I guess because you don't feel your eyes to begin with, you wouldn't feel them go numb, either...

Maybe five minutes after this, they walked me into the Lasik room. I remember that it was big, but all I could focus on was the actual bed/machine. The room was large (seemed too large, really) and there were different pieces of furniture or tables in the room (like surgical stuff), but all I could focus on was this smaller than I was expecting but still huge bed. Flat as hell, with a C-shaped apparatus at the head of the table. I was instructed to lay on the bed with my head under the C-arm. I was given a bolster to put under my knees to help with back strain, and then they began to move the bed to get me centered under the lasers and lights. I kept wanting to tip my head back and raise my chin, but Dr. W kept telling me to tuck my chin down (yeah, double-chin!). Eventually with the help of an additional little pillow, they got me where I needed to be. 

There was one nurse to the right of me who was narrating the entire thing for me, telling me what to do, which was great - it eliminated any surprises that might startle me. As we began, all I had to do was just look at the green dot in the C-arm. They taped my left eye closed and then put a patch over it to keep it moist, and ensure that I wouldn't see anything or have the urge to blink. On my right eye, Dr. W had me look up toward my forehead so that he could use a super-secure sticker-type thing to hold my eyelid open. Then I looked down toward my chin so he could pull my bottom lid down. Once the two lids were open wide, he inserted a spreader that rested on the stickers and tightened it to keep my eye open wide (imagine A Clockwork Orange, but with less violence). As I sat there with my eyeball out to the world, they used ample amounts of irrigation solution (sterile water) to keep my eyeball moist. 

If you get squeamish about eyeball stuff, you might want to just scroll on down until you get to the funny Cat video down there... I'm going to be as detailed as possible! Ready? Ready. Let's keep going. 

Click for More Info

The C-arm above my head had eight bright white lights, two red dots (which I assumed were the actual lasers), and a green light. My entire job for the next 15 minutes was to stare at this green light, unless Dr. W told me to do otherwise. It was cool as hell, too... I was seeing lots of weird shapes and bad-ass fucking fractals (though to be fair... I may have been tripping out because of the Xanax). As I stared at the green light, I was told that I was going to feel some pressure. This was the part I was most worried about, because I didn't know how much pressure I'd feel, and I was worried that it would cause a migraine once this was all over (it didn't). And honestly, it wasn't much more pressure than what you'd feel when you rub your eyes after a long day. The pressure came from an instrument that I envisioned to look like a cup on a stick, with the cup... well, cupping my eye. This instrument is what was cutting a flap on the surface of my eyeball. As they put it on, they said that my vision would begin to disappear and yeah, it totally did! My field of vision started to shrink, from the outside in, like an old-school TV that was turning off, until there was just a super-tiny pinpoint left. I could see vague shadows for a minute, but eventually that disappeared too. It was weird as hell to see vague shadows in your vision when you know your eye is wide open, and kind of trippy, too. 

Once the flap was created, there was some quiet buzzing, which was the laser, then a burning smell! They may have told me, or I might have assumed, but I'm pretty sure the smell was the laser actually reshaping my cornea (I just googled it, and apparently it wasn't burning anything; the smell was the chemical reaction from the reshaping). With the cornea reshaped, my flap was put back, and I could begin to see the lights again, and went right back to staring at the green light. Dr. W shone a light sideways across the surface of my eye to ensure that the flap had seated correctly. When he was satisfied with the flap location, he started brushing my eye with something white. My brain imagined a tiny silicone spatula frosting a cake. The nurse didn't narrate this part, but I'm assuming that they're kind of smoothing the flap back down so it can begin to reattach and heal. The whole time that he was stroking my eyeball, he was squirting more drops into my eye and then timing it (I remember him asking a nurse for the time at one point). Then he'd repeat the process - wipe, drops, wipe, drops, wipe, drops. Once he finished the wiping and dropping, that eye was done! They proceeded to repeat the process on the left eye (spread it, cut the flap, laser the eye, wipe/drop/wipe, done). Seriously, that was soooo much easier than I was expecting! (I found out later, that in between eyes, someone was nice enough to go out to the lobby to let Hubby know that they'd finished one eye already and were moving on to the next). 

When both eyes were done, and released from the Clockwork Orange spreaders, they sat me up and walked me over to the Split Lamp machine (where you put your chin in it) so he could get a good close-up look at his handiwork. He said that everything looked great, then took me next door to a recovery room while a nurse when to get Hubby. Dr. W said that there were no issues, everything went well, and left us with the nurse, who gave us my post-op instructions. I was instructed to go home and sleep (yes, please) and wear a pair of goggles at all times for the next 24 hours, even when sleeping and around the house. Also, don't rub my eyes (hard to do in goggles), use the prescription drops every two hours, and just rest my eyes as much as possible. I was scheduled to come back the following morning for the first of four follow-up visits. 

I have never felt sexier than this moment

The entire event, from getting there that morning, to getting in the Lyft to go home, was under three hours. The surgery itself was probably ten minutes per eye. Maybe fifteen. 

Welcome back! Let's continue. 

When we got home, I crawled back into bed, as instructed, and at first, I didn't think I was going to be able to sleep; 1) because the goggles suck, and 2) my brain was going a mile a minute. But next thing I knew, it was noon, Hubby was waking me up to check on me, and encourage me to do my eye drops. I went back to sleep for another hour or so, but finally had to drag my ass out of bed at 2pm. Seriously... the BEST sleep I've had in YEARS... I totally understand why people like Xanax now! 

Anyway, out of bed, I just futzed around the rest of the day (still in my super-sexy goggles, of course!). I sat on my ass and watched stupid stuff on YouTube and surfed the internet. I ate pizza for dinner and cake for dessert, watched silly TV, and passed out HARD by 9:30. 

So, this cake is masterful...
Not only does it have the Googly Eyes and funny eye puns, but also...
the writing is pink, like Pink Eye!

The following morning, I was able to drive us over to the office. I was still seeing some stars and haloes around headlights, but was later assured that these should go away in a month or so. They tested my vision again and said it was 20/20-2 (this means that I missed 2 out of 5 letters on the 20/20 vision line). Dr. W checked my eyes again with the Slit Lamp machine and said that everything was looking exactly like it should. I will need to continue my eyedrops for the next week, wear the googles while I sleep for the next week, and refrain from anything that would strain my yes (like pooping too hard or weightlifting, but I was given the okay to participate in the Carry Forward 5k this weekend). I was given a paper to carry in my car, in case I have an encounter with law enforcement who inquires about the "corrective lenses" endorsement on my driver's license. Eventually, I'll need to change that with the DHSMV, but I'll do that when my license is due for renewal in a few years. On the way home, I picked up a bagel from a local bakery and a big ass soda from Circle K. I spent the rest of the day dropping my eyes, trying not to touch my eyes, and zoning out to YouTube (I'm so bored!) I got some laundry done too, taking advantage of the time away from work. On Saturday, I did the Carry Forward 5k in Jax, and besides one bout of dry eyes, I had no issues. 

During the week after the procedure, I've been putting drops in my eyes four times a day, plus using a preservative-free type of eye drop called iVizia to combat dryness, which is a major issue after Lasik. I've definitely noticed an increase in dryness as I get further away from the surgery. 

But... let's talk about these goggles. They suck. They SUCK. I know they're needed, and I understand why they're needed. But they put pressure on my face in a way that instantly triggers headaches for me. And in an attempt to avoid that pressure, I am apparently sleeping in weird positions that put strain on my neck, which - you guessed it - triggers headaches. I've been dealing with constant headaches for the last three days thanks to these things. Also, because my eyes are trying to get used to their new normal, they feel very tired. Imagine a camera that has auto-focus, how it goes in and out of focus constantly trying to get a clear picture... that's what I feel my eyes are doing, and it's tiring. And headache-inducing, lol. 

At my one-week follow up yesterday, we did all the testing again, and I was told that I was looking excellent. I stated that I felt like my vision got a little worse, and Dr. W stated that it might be because of dryness... If eyes feel dry, they've been dry. So I should increase my use of eye drops - the wetter, the better, he said! I don't have to use the prescription drops anymore, nor the goggles (thank God), and I can start wearing eye makeup again, like mascara. It's also safe to allow water near my eyes, such as washing my face or showering. No swimming for quite a while! 

I'll go back after Thanksgiving for my one-month follow up, and then in early March for my three-month (and final) follow up. I've been advised that whatever vision I have in March will be what I have forever. The stars and haloes should clear up, but may not go away completely. I'll still need readers, but I've been rocking those for years already anyway. 

So, the verdict? Am I happy that I did this? ABSOLUTELY. It's only been a few weeks and I have the same vision I had with my contacts, but none of the bullshit problems I had with those. Every day I feel like my vision is getting incrementally better. I'll see something and think, could I see that the day before? or was that sign always there? I'm hopeful that my night vision improves, but I've had stars and haloes for so long, I don't think I'd know what to do without them, lol!

And lastly, I'm wildly happy that I chose to stay local and go with Eye Associates of Gainesville! Everyone at EAoG knows my name and took care of both me AND Hubby while we were there. There were no coupons or sales, but for the price I paid, the service and quality cannot be beat. I'd recommend EAoG to anyone in the blink of an eye. #NotSponsored, I promise. They're just that good! 

I'll leave you with a few more jokes, including the one I told everyone at the doctor's office while I was loopy on Xanax!

 

Where do rabbits get their eyes checked?
--At the HOPtometrist! 

What do you call a clumsy ophthalmologist?
--An Eye Dropper!

Wounded Warrior Project Carry Forward 5k Race Report

This'll be a super tiny race report, mostly because I forgot all about it! I've been focusing so much on my Lasik surgery, I didn't even realize I'd registered for this until it popped up on my calendar a few weeks ago! Whoops! 

We Still Miss Each and Every One of You

Anyway, I got the okay from Dr. Sweeney that I could do it, so I headed to Jax and walked a 5k with almost two thousand other folks. Everything was fine except for one issue of severe dry eye... I'm still so new to this "good eyeball" thing that I didn't even think to tuck some eye drops into my pocket. Ever try to walk down the road with your eyes closed? I don't recommend it. 

Here's just some random photos from my morning. Finished in about 58 minutes. 

Masses of bodies all over

Ready to walk on this chilly November morning

So many people!

He pulled a TIRE and still beat me!

We all earned the same medal, though

Afterward, I had a thoroughly pathetic breakfast at Whataburger (the biscuit was good, the chicken was not), then I spent way too much time and money at Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree (it's Christmas DIY time!)

Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit & Hash Brown Sticks

Now, it's time for me to give my eyeballs some more time to get better!