Saturday, February 21st –
Today we woke up late – I mean late. We were so dog tired after a day’s travel and a week of fun that when our alarm started blaring at 6:30 a.m., we literally ignored it. We didn’t get on the road until 10 p.m. and we still had plans to stop by the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.
Needlessness to say when we finally arrive at the Mammoth Caves around 1:00 p.m. we weren’t on a great start to our journey. I was hopeful the caves would be a walking around tour so we could go In, take a picture and move on but we were not so lucky. First, let me describe the lovely weather we were having. Through all of Georgia and most of Tennessee the weather was sunny with a few clouds. By the top of Tennessee we started to have pouring rain. Overall it wasn’t that bad but it was certainly frustrating driving through it in the mountains. By the time Kentucky rolled around, we were approaching sleet. At our Mammoth Cave destination the weather was cold, wet and very dreary.
Despite the dismal weather, we actually lucked out because of it. Unfortunately the only way you can view Mammoth cave is with a tour guide. We had to pay for a 2-hour tour to view the caves and because of the weather we were lucky to find space right away. I didn’t realize the caves were such a hot spot for tourists. Anyways, the caves were pretty neat. I wouldn’t say phenomenal because I was kind of expecting lots of cave rocks like with spikes and everything but it was mostly open and just large. We learned the original purpose of the cave was mining during the War of 1812. They used the dirt for ammunition somehow. It was pretty amazing to see how the slaves managed to live in such dark, dank conditions and how they rigged up a pretty ingenious water pipe system with giant hollowed out trees. Once the war was over, the caves turned into a tourist spot for the wealthy and have been toured every since.
One pretty neat thing we got to see was this one area where some of the original visitors wrote their names with the heat from candles. It’s hard to describe so I’ll try to find a picture. Because we were a smaller tour we had time to see if but it’s pretty rare normal tourist can go up into that place. I felt special =) We also got to experience “total darkness” when they turned all the lights off in the cave. They said there are only two places you can experience total darkness: caves & the bottom of the ocean.
After the tour we pretty much ran out to get back on the road. The weather was still miserable but we made it through okay. I was able to stop in Muncie around 8:45 p.m. to get my Thai food! I’m thrilled to know it’s still as good now as it was back in college. Of course that means whenever I’m out there again, I’ll make Mike stop in again with me =)
The roads were pretty good up until the Marshall exit off I-69. Unfortunately we were heading right into a snow storm so for about 10 minutes I couldn’t see a thing. I worried we might end up either in a ditch or crashing into someone who panicked in the blinding snow. Luckily neither happened and besides a few very rude truck drivers who didn’t seem to notice smaller cars can’t see and zoomed by, we made good time and arrived at home around 1 a.m. on Sunday.
Sunday, February 22nd –
I imagine you can guess by now that on Sunday we were exhausted. We slept into until almost noon and spent the rest of the day in PJs watching TV. We caught up on American Idol, Big Love, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and my 17 & Counting show. By the evening Mike needed to start packing for his business trip on Monday. Luckily we didn’t need to do laundry since most of the clothes we took to Florida were warm-weather clothes. After packing we went to bed early.
Monday, February 23rd-
Early Monday morning I dropped Mike off at the highway car pool parking lot to meet up with the rest of his group for his business trip to Chicago. They were driving so the poor thing had to sit in a car for another long period of time once more. Oh, not to mention by this time Mike had a full-blown head cold that later on in the week turned into the flu. It was a rough trip for him.
As for me, I went to work and was happy to see nothing earth shattering happened while I was gone. After work I went grocery shopping, ran some errands and started laundry. It was a very uneventful night for me but I was happy to have some low-key moments!
Mike made it to his conference in Chicago and had a pretty busy day and night with the conference people. He said the trip is going well which is always a good sign!
Tuesday, February 24th –
Mike is still gone but I’m finding things to keep myself busy. I was very proud I made it to the gym that night and worked out very hard for an hour. My doctor says in order for me to lose weight I need to work out for at LEAST 50 minutes a day and at least 4 times a week. I didn’t think I could do it but so far so good. Exercising is not really my favorite thing.
Another exciting note, today our final pieces for the dining room set arrived! We have a beautiful china cabinet and two more chairs. Besides a slight cushion mix-up where we only received 1 of 2, everything arrived safely. The room is really coming together. If only I could find time to either paint the room myself or find someone I want to hire =P
I didn’t hear from Mike today because he had too many meetings and got in too late. I don’t like him to call when it’s really late because then I’m already sleeping and I’m not the best person to speak with when I am rudely awakened =) I did send him some nerdy pictures of the cats though to remind him of home. I’ll see if I can get them downloaded to the computer from my phone.
Oh! Did I mention today is Marti Grais and I didn’t have one paczki! After working out an hour and only burning 700 calories, I thought it was a bad idea to waste it all on one very high calorie treat =P I hope some of you experienced a few in my stead!
Wednesday, February 25th –
Today is Ash Wednesday but I could not drag myself out of bed to attend the 6:30 a.m. service. I feel guilty about it but I hope God will forgive me. They did have other services but I couldn’t make the times work with my schedule. As today is the start of lent, Mike and I exchange email promises about what we’ll give up. It’s always a negotiation. I decided this year to hit a little more home than just chocolate and I gave up caffeine. Mike could not do that drastic so he limited his pop intake to 3 a day and gave up fast food again. It’s rough giving up what you really love. I didn’t realize giving up caffeine would open my eyes to how much stuff actually HAS caffeine in it. I’m drinking herbal tea and water. That’s about it. I would love to drink Spite and Root Beer all day but the calories are overwhelming. I’m not really a fan of caffeine free pops so I’m kind of stuck.
Overall the day is a normal work day. I’m scheduled to babysit for a friend of mine so they can attend a reward dinner. I arrive at 5:30ish and they take off for downtown Kalamazoo. Their two girls – Haylee & Lexis are really sweet kids and we had a great time. We ate dinner, cleaned up the dishes and then had a very competitive match on Nintendo Wii. Don’t ask me what game it was because I have no clue. It was still fun though. The girls went to bed at 8 and my friends were back by 9:30ish.
By this time Mike was finally home from his trip. He was very ill at this point so he spent most of the night resting and watching TV until I came home. Since he wasn’t feeling well, we didn’t stay up long before heading to bed early.
Thursday, February 26th
Today I got to start my day off with a dentist appointment! Yeah… how exciting. Thankfully it was just a cleaning and everything turned out great. I have no cavities but I opted to come back next Friday to fix a worn down filling. Apparently I have a filling that’s naturally worn down over the years and it’s created this annoying gap between my teeth. I thought it was a cavity but apparently it’s not. My dentist said I could have it refilled and that would fix the problem so I’m going with that. Not that carrying around dental floss all the time is hard but it’s certainly annoying.
I don’t think we did anything else exciting except go to the gym and watch American Idol. Go Kzoo native Matt Giraud! He still has a chance in the wild card round…
Friday, February 27th –
Today was very uneventful. Mike and I went to work, worked kind of late, came home and made sure the couch didn’t grow legs and walk off. Very exciting Friday night.
Saturday, February 28th –
Today we slept in and when we got up we made a quick trip to the local greasy spoon for breakfast. After breakfast we came home to relax before our busy evening. Mike is still sick at this point so he sleeps through the afternoon on the couch while I catch up on the last few episodes from season 1 of “Rome”. I’m quite depressed I have to wait another month to see the final season. I wish they’d come out with a third season…
Anyways, after Mike’s nap and my TV time, we get ready to go to Bruco’s 30th birthday party at OP downtown. We’re slightly later than expected because I can’t find anything I want to wear out. I need to go clothes shopping. Anyways – when we finally arrive we meet up with Bruco, Melanie and friends. We had a really nice time with everyone but didn’t stay late. We were supposed to go to another party after theirs but Mike wasn’t completely well yet and I was kind of partied out. We’ve been on the go so much I just wanted to go home and veg =P
So, we did. We came home and once again made sure the couch didn’t grow legs and walk away while we watched more episodes of “The Wire” on demand. Then we went to bed.
Sunday, March 1st –
Sunday we got up on time to go to church but still ended up late anyways. We’re terrible at getting around quickly. After church we met up with Nolen & Krisha to play a few rounds of bowling. Mike and I kicked butt as a team but I have to say he was the one holding us up. I didn’t even break 100. I did pretty good for me though!
After bowling Mike took off to help Nolen with a project at work. He was gone about an hour. After he came home we went out to try to start up his car. It’s been sitting in our garage untouched since like October. We tried to start it a few weeks ago but the battery is completely dead. Now that the weather is less snow and more clear skies we hooked up the cables and jumped started his car. Luckily it works great so we don’t have to worry about towing it anywhere. It will be nice to have 2 cars again! Carpooling is only fun for so long =P
Once his car was working again Mike took off to get a haircut and run some errands. I needed to go grocery shopping again so I made a list and went shopping. By the time I got home it was time for dinner and we needed to clean the litters and pet houses for the garbage on Monday. Once those very exciting tasks were over we watched the newest Big Love episode. I swear that show gives me heartburn. Who can go through so much without keeling over!? Does anyone else watch the show??? =)
Monday, March 2nd –
Today Mike and I started a new strategy I hope sticks. We both want to go to the gym but in the evenings we always run out of time. We decided to try the morning thing again and actually made it up with little problem today. I wouldn’t say we weren’t tired but we at least made it up and dressed before 6:20. Our bigger shock was the blast of freezing cold weather. The radio said something about record lows for this time of year at like 7 degrees. Obviously Mike and I were not prepared for that when we came out of the house wearing workout sweatshirts. We’ll pay more attention to the news tonight for tomorrow’s forecast!
We’re both excited to have our evening to ourselves now that our exercise is done for the day. I’ll probably have to start some laundry though. No matter how much I do, I always feel like laundry never stops piling up. I know that’s a common theme for most but seriously, we’re only two people!
2 comments:
Deb,
There is no Season 3 of Rome. It was canceled. Season 2 is on Netflix.
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