MRSA and more.

So have you ever heard of MRSA. Well I hadn't till I had it in my ear. Apparently its a super bug that is hard to fight off. After 2 weeks of different antibiotics I feel much more like myself. My ear had been hurting for a while, but thought nothing of it till I went to the doctor. Upon examination of my ear the doctor said that nothing was wrong. I told her that I would not have made an appointment if I thought nothing was wrong. She said she would do a culture on my ear, but really didn't think she would find anything. She referred me to a Ear, Nose specialist just in case there was something she was not seeing. Made the appointment, the specialist told me the same thing, Nothing seemed wrong. A week later I get a call from my doctor telling me that I need to get on some antibiotics because I had MRSA! I am glad that I feel so much better.

We have started to paint our apartment. Things are coming together as we prepare for the big move. As of today we have officially one month to go. I am getting pretty excited. We were originally leaving on Monday 21, but the flight was moved to Sunday. We have a layover in Dublin. I was able to find some really cheap one way tickets. 256 from DC to London! Way good deal. If you want some cheap flight, try http://www.aerlingus.com/ . We got our housing, and we will be living in North Oxford, Summertown is the name of the area. It looks so cute, with all the shops, stores, and homes.

For those who have traveled to UK what are some musts that we must do?!

Blacklisted

I'm not one to blog too much, but I've had it. Do you keep a list of places you won't go due to bad service? Or maybe places you won't go eat because you got sick? Well, here is my short list with Macgruders being the latest entry (it's a grocery store)

1. On the Border in Tyson's Corner (waiter forgot my appetizer and did not refill my drink)
2. Ruby Tuesday's in Franconia-Kingstowne (was seated for 10 minutes and no one came to serve us so we left)
3. Overwood in Old Town Alexandria (Please see number 2)
4. Quizno's by my work in Washington, DC (Lack of effort and care in making my sandwiches-no passion)
5. Quizno's at L'enfant Plaza (Threw up after eating there)
6. Home Depot off of Duke Street (No customer service at all)
7. Macgruders (Waited 10 minutes for the Butcher, no one came and they still didn't call anyone until I was checking out)

I can't think of any others, but I'm not sure if customer service is getting worse or am I just crankier? Then I also think, if I was making $7/hour I probably would be the same way as well...
Do you have any blacklisted places? Let us know. Together, we can prevent bad service...or at least prevent going to places with bad service....

Bangs, Zumba, and Baseball

This month is almost over and it has gone by so fast. I cut my hair a couple of weeks ago and the lady cut my bangs too short! ugh! I had to pin it back, luckily they have grown and I can wear them down.

Me and My short bangs!

School is kickin' my butt, I am taking a six week course and it is intense. This is the second summer I do this to myself. Hopefully I will get a good grade. I started to work out! Yes I know I always start, and after a week I stop...but this time I have been going on strong for three weeks! I am doing Zumba dance classes at Fitness First on Mon, Wed, and Sat. I will say it is extremely intense, but you do burn 500 calories in about an hour. The first week had me on my knees, I was so sore, but I kept on. It is actually fun, well, now that I know most of the steps. I felt weird the first day. In some ways I thought it wouldn't be so hard, after all I am Latina and it is Latin music. WRONG! I am feeling the groove now, and loving this energy I have.

Earlier this month Mike and I hung out with our friends the Sterns! We went to a Nationals game, but cheered on the METs. I could careless, after all they my Astros were not here. It was tons of fun, we were in the Jefferson Suite right behind home plate. I got to meet a co owner of the Nats, and didn't know it. After the game we watched the fireworks.

Us at the game.

Luz and I watching the game!

The boys Mike and Rich.

In other news today we found out we got our housing for Oxford! Its a one bedroom flat, in the Summertown area. It is finally hitting me that we will be moving at the end of the summer! We are also in our third cycle for fertility treatment. We will take a break, and try an IUI before we move.

See You Later

Don, Kim, Mike and I @ the Cordell's going away party.

Our friends the Cordell's are moving to Africa, well actually Don is there already and Kim will be meeting up with him as soon as the school year is over. We are so happy for them, but sad that they will be so far away. We were able to spend much time with them this month. It is a high possibility that we will go visit them in Uganda, after all Mike has been there before. Maybe some of his research will take US to Africa. I will miss playing Settlers with them. All the fights, and anger of the game has only brought us closer. LOL.

The first weekend in May we went to the Mountain House and spent some quality time with them, the Simmons, and the Markham's.

Kim, Megan, and I @ the Apple House.

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with some great Mexican food, and invited the Linares over for dinner. I was able to use our cute little Paco and Pancha salt and pepper shakers I bought on our honeymoon. It was the first time I made flan, and was glad it turned out pretty good.

Memorial Day we went to a BBQ at our friend home. It was tons of fun hanging out with them and catching up. Mike played golf early in the morning, and then some Volleyball at the BBQ.

Other than that we are enjoying the summer weather and whenever we can we go out golfing. Mike is currently obsessed with the sport. He has yet to injure himself while playing softball.
I am taking summer classes in hopes to finish my AA before we move across the pond. It might not happen, but we'll see.

Tales of the Cheap

So today, I did 2 cheap things that I think would make my fellow Los Cheapos proud. I just got back from the driving range where I could either buy 45 balls or for double the price I could buy 105 balls. Doing a quick calculation in my head I figured that the cost per ball was cheaper if I bought the big bucket, so I did. Now that is a basic El Cheapo move that is easily executed by many, but as fellow alumni of Dr. Kearl or any other Economics class you probably learned about the law of diminishing returns...welll, that is what happened to me around ball 70. By that time I was tired and my swing was getting progressively worse and I was probably starting to do damage to my game. I then thought of a brilliant idea. I did the classic "pretend to tie my shoe move" as taught to me by my friend Dave, and placed the balls back in the bucket. I then went for the "Man I'm thirsty" move and took the balls to my bag to get some water. Finally, I pulled the "I'm looking through my bag" move and quickly placed all 30 or so balls in the bag while glancing around for security or any sign of hostility. I got away and was out in less than 5 minutes. Now this might sound like stealing but it isn't. I'm just saving the balls for next time I go, so I still maintain the "it was better to buy 105 balls then 45" theory.

The other El Cheapo moment was that I forced Janie to go to the junior college and pick up 2 tickets to DC United for Saturday. At first only students could by them, so we began scheming on how I could pretend to be a student. We thought that I could enroll in a summer class, get a school ID, and then get the ticket and drop the class. That seemed like a lot of work in a short time to execute. Luckily she got an e-mail (that I checked) that said it was now open to students and guests. I called her 20 times and she didn't pick up. She finally called me at the mall about 45 minutes from the school and was worried that it was an emergency...to me, it was. Well, she got the tickets, $10 tickets valued at $30 and she gets a free $10 food voucher, so we get two tickets for $10. You have to have a school ID to get the free food voucher...hmmmm.....maybe I will enroll in the class and then it will be like two free tickets...hmmmm...to be continued...

This Aint no Sports Bar!

Last night as I was watching TV in the living room, Mike called me to his "man cave". For those not aware, we have a two bedroom apartment and the second bedroom became our office/Mike's man cave. There is a small couch, TV, and our desk/computer.

At first I ignored him, but after the third time he called, I went into his man room. He had the biggest grin on his face. Seriously, like a little kid on Christmas. And what brought on this happiness??? He was watching two soccer games at the same time!!! For his birthday this past year I got him a pass to soccer MLS.com where he can watch any game he wants. That is right, he had a game going on the TV, and the other on our computer. The last time he had been this happy was when I was in the hospital, and had a double room all by myself. On Sunday when he was with me, he had both hospital TVs on different football games!

I looked at him, smiled and said,"This ain't no sports bar baby, but it's close enough."

Boys, Bats, & Balls

So it is that time of the year again

Mike races home because he has a double header that night.
The Smell of Icy Hot lingers in our home.
The dirty socks, shorts, and shirt from sliding into the base.
Cheering for my husband in the stands, when there is nothing good on TV that evening.
No dinner, because it would be too heavy for Mike before the game
The smell of the grass, and the clinking of bats and balls

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Yes, Softball Season is among us!!! Hopefully this will be a winning season for Mike. I am also hoping that he will stay healthy throughout the season....