It's that time again.

Apparently, I've been tagged. And not once, but twice, by these two lovely ladies, freckles chick and etxwife.

So here goes, my attempt to be somewhat witty, although I have the feeling I'll fail miserably, at 6 random tidbits about myself.

1. In 6th grade my Mom had to bribe me with $20 or A Little Princess to run our timed mile in under 10, because there was cause for concern based on my previous 16 minute times.
2. In 2nd grade I won a blue ribbon at a speech competition for my recital of the poem: Freckles. Complete with hand motions. In my mind, I can still hear the cadence to the poem, but googling the words I remember does not bring any results.

3. I've been listening to Heidi Newfield's Johhny and June on repeat for almost an hour now.

4. Tony and I will celebrate our 2 year anniverary on Tuesday, the 5th. It's insanity I tell you. Seriously, I'm just sitting here in disbelief that this time has been so short. Last year Tony purchased our present, so this year I decided and was blessed by someone out in the blogging world posting about Phunklab, another etsy seller! What he does is take your photo, include text and turns it into art!

I'm so freaking excited, because he will even use your vows or selected text! So fitting!
5. I think girls suck. Women are slightly better. I consider myself a good friend, but haven't been able to have a "best friend" or kept one, since I was 14. I think that's sad my friends. I honestly felt like I knew what Paris was getting at recently when she had her open audition for a best friend. Okay, that's stretching it, I hope to never have a similar thought to Paris, but at it's core, I understood, I think.

6. Tony and I bought this house:
With the thought to turn it into this house:
90% of the time I think we're crazy. In 5 years we'll find out, because I anticipate that in 5 years we will outgrow our 2 bedroom house and I'm not sure if we'll have the money for the necessary addition. But we're here, hopefully in our forever house.

You are my six: kg, andrea, julia, abby, and erin.

So here are the Tag rules (do with them what you will):

1. Link to the person who tagged you (i.e. me)

2. Post the rules on your blog

3. Write 6 random things about yourself

4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them

5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog

6. Let the tagger (me) know when your entry is posted

Shiny & Dull.

After being insulted at Warner's Stellian, not understanding a spoken word at ApplianceSmart, not seeing any LG's at Lowe's and not knowing where there was a Sear's with washers and dryers, Tony and I ended up at Best Buy Tuesday night.

Right off the bat, we saw that the 3.6 cu washer & 7.0 cu dryer LG's we'd agreed upon were $100 cheaper at BB than at WS. That made me a happy girl :).

Also making me a happy girl was that right next to the floor models of the LG Tromm's we wanted, was an "Open Item" of the next washer model up for only $20 more than the Tromm washer! Brilliant!

I was so excited, because I really wanted a washer with 4.0 c.u or more and here was a $999 washer, down to $720. Immediately, I'm congratulating myself on spending $20 more than what we'd agreed, but saving in the long run, by purchasing the LG Tromm dryer that was $100 less than at WS.

Win - Win.

Unfortunately, one factor that I forgot about was my husband. Because apparently, my ever practical hubby, decided that when it comes to washers & dryers, fashion trumps function! He would absolutely not budge on the fact that the washer and dryer should be a matched pair! He suddenly claimed that he had OCD and that he wouldn't do laundry if they were unmatched!

Win - Lose.

We honestly stood in Best Buy for an hour, debating back and forth about whether we should get the unmatched pair, or purchase the $720 washer with the $900 dryer! It actually was quite comical and at one point, Tony with exasperation and a smile said to me: "How does this relationship even work?!" It was quite funny I tell you, not something to be concerned about. :) I hope.

Tony: {in a whiny voice - which doesn't happen often} But Leah, one's shiny and one's dull! I don't want to deal with that!

Me: Yeah, well, people in our lives have to deal with it all the time . . . because I'm shiny and you're, Ow!

He pinched me! Lol, he didn't let me finish, even though I was joking!

I gave in repeatedly, Tony gave in repeatedly. Whenever he gave in, I asked him why. Whenever I gave in Tony kept talking lol. It finally came down to who was going to be annoyed by not getting their way, and it was agreed that Tony's a lot better at getting over being annoyed than I am - although just as valid an arguement would have been that Tony's alot more used to me being annoyed and coping with me, than I with him. Lol.

I won. Win - Win.

As we were leaving the store though, Tony couldn't help but say: "I want them both to be shiny." Of course you can imagine the pouting lip. :)

Was that a really scary glimpse into our relationship?

Ladies,

I really appreciate your willingness to go "there" with me yesterday and today. Given my childhood and approach to life, I naturally do not dwell or disect the happenings in my life. If I had begun to do that, I honestly don't think that I would be a semi-normally functioning human being.

I'm surprised, but shouldn't be to find out that three of my readers knew or knew of Andy. His life and faith were big, greater than this earth, and I'm praying for those left with to deal with his void now.

To only complicate further, Andy was also the youth pastor at the church that earlier this year suffered another tragedy, a school bus accident that killed 4 students, one of whom actively attended E Free. So just really, I would ask that prayers be said for Andy's friends, family and church community.

Thanks again ladies, it was great to receive comments affirming that my reflection was normal and you all had such great things to say.

*Next, I'll be posting about spending large quanitities of money, so don't worry, you guys helped pull me through this funk.

Not to be a debbie downer . . .

I'm not sure how I can turn this post into an encouraging one.

For the past two days, my mind has been occupied by death. Oh sure front load washers and manual Vue's are in there as well, but overwhelmingly I've been pondering a few what-if's.

A college classmate, fellow student-athlete, and strong man of God died Sunday in a 2 vehicle crash, there were 8 passengers and a few still definitely need prayer. While I can't say that I was "friends" with Andy, or that he was influential to my college career, I knew him and could see God working through him. After graduating he became the Marshall E Free Youth Pastor and just came home from a weeklong missions trip in Mexico. That community is reeling right now.

It's just such a tragedy, but as a friend put it, "God just couldn't wait to have him home."

Andy, you will be missed by the many who's lives you touched.

Please pray for the driver of the van he was a passenger of, as the van caused the accident and the 19 year old was treated and released for insignificant injuries. I'm sure she'll be living through a lot of grief and blame in the coming days and years.

Additionally, a lot closer to home, as if it even needs to be, August 1st will mark the anniversary of the 35W bridge collapse. I chronicled my reaction to the event, here, in just my 2nd blog post last year.

I know that I was barely even effected by this event, if anything, it causes a little hitch to my pschye, but as I sat down to read the StarTrib's anniversary article, allowing survivor's to recap their past year, I couldn't help but sob at the table. I'm not one to go into dramatics, and it was a so well travelled crossing, that almost the majority of minneapolis-st.paul and suburb dwellers could say "I crossed it just ____ before," but I was there, on that bridge. I missed it by less than 15 minutes. My husband very well could have been arranging a funeral on our 1 year anniversary.

An almost one mile stretch, 75 vehicles, one school bus, one semi, 18 construction workers: 13 dead.

The relief response was almost immediate.

In one of the most remembered stories of the bridge collapse, the driver of the burning semi waved and honked for the passengers of the school bus, seconds before pulling ahead and his immediate death as his truck hit a section of the bridge that protruded.

I'm sorry, I just couldn't turn these into encouraging. Just hug those close to you and be thankful for every second of this life that we live.

Pretty penny.

I think all of my posts should start with So. I just can't seem to begin them any other way!

So our needs: a washer & dryer and a new vehicle.

The washer & dryer because, well, our clothes aren't clean. I know that's gross, but it's the honest truth, and I'm sick of it.

The vehicle because as much as I like being with my hubby, sometimes I'm not with him and that involves two vehicles. You can explore my poll on the right to find out just where I'm heading on the vehicle front, but for the washer & dryer . . . please hear this tale.

Tony and I ran over to Warners Stellian on our lunch break today and succeeded in being insulted. I didn't like the salesman initially, but when he basically avoided answering our question concerning comparing two pairs of washer & dryers, I was annoyed. This annoyance prepared me well for the insulting. Tony asked the salesman, again between the two pairs, which was more user friendly. Now up until this time, the salesman was only speaking to Tony, but in answering this question, he honestly turned his body, so that he could address me. Specifically. Like giving Tony the cold shoulder. I was pissed! Um, excuse me, but do not put your stereotypes on me! To solidfy the fact that we were not going to give him any business, when we asked a question about the financing options . . . he grabbed a credit application and with a knowing tone, handed it to me and said, "And I'm going to assume that you'll be filling this out." Again, wrong buddy. He did not get a strike 3.

So we're thinking about this guy the LG WM2016CW, apparently consumer reports ranks it pretty high. We know one thing though, that guys not getting the sale.

Whoo hoo!

So if you haven't noticed on the right column, I included a running tally of how many miles I've run in 2008. I stole the idea from Kritta and well, I love it. I'm going to be completely truthful with it and it's already started to bug the crap out of me when it stays at the same number for too long!

Thankfully this week, I got to add a whopping 6 miles due to the Torchlight on Wednesday and the Lumberjack Days 5K this morning. Tony and I have decided that there is nothing more that we like to do on Saturday mornings than start with a run! I know, we're sick in the head. So here I am in all of my gloriousness at 6:05 am before trekking it Stillwater.
Let's just say that while Tony and I had fun at the Torchlight . . . we didn't feel the greatest about our run, especially not knowing for sure what our time was. It's great to be married and to communicate the unsaid, because we rocked our race today! We both knew we had something to prove to ourselves.


We finished in 26:00 (okay fine, my chip says :01, but we were side by side!), averaging out to a 8:30 min/mile and our fastest 5K so far. :) That made us happy people. Also, we finished 336&7 out of 1100 runners, and I grabbed 88/582 women! :)


Especially because that means we beat Nadia's fastest 5K time at the Torchlight (26:08) and I'm just a competitive biotch like that.

So . . .

My car is dead.

I had so many hopes for my Saturn SC2, but mainly 2: that is lived to see 130,000 miles and that it lasted until August. I got one out of the two.

I was on my way to soccer last night, with the radio up and the windows down, completely oblivious to the racket under my hood. I finally turned the tunes down a bit and caught an ear full of clickety clackety happening just a few feet forward of me. I tried slowing down to see if it helped any, I tried speeding up to see that effect as well, but all to no avail. Just as I was making my way over to the shoulder it happened, my engine seized. My Dad later questioned me as to how I knew that it seized, and there's just no other way of describing it. My car reacted like it had a heart attack. And then it completely died.

So there I am sitting on 35W, not more than 6 minutes away from home, my car shaking and swaying with every vehicle that passed. I sat with my eyes glued to the rear view mirror, praying continuously, as I watched nearly every other car bank into the turn of the road and dip unto the shoulder, straightening out just as they finally saw me. I was so upset with myself because just before I left Tony offered for me to drive his car, but I knew it was out of gas, so I chose mine instead. On top of that, I'd left Tony standing in the front yard with an electric drill, with his phone 100 feet away from him. Being bullheaded, I tried to call him several times, before missing my Mom and then finally getting a hold of my brother.

I called my brother, because both he and my Dad have AAA . . . unfortunately they had a dinner meeting and were not concerned with my 2 hour time limit that I was informed of by the nice state troooper who pulled up behind me. After about 15 minutes, Tony finally went to his phone and saw that I'd called 8 times :). He ran up to get me, of course after stopping to get gas, and we went home to wait until my Dad and brother finally decided to do something about it.

I may seem really annoyed with them for helping, because well, I was! Several times we told my Dad and Levi that we'd just call a tow truck, but they wouldn't hear of it! Leaving us frustrated up until the last minute, when at precisely 2 hours after leaving my car, they finally decided to call AAA. I was only able to relax at about 10:00 when the tow truck pulled my car safely from the shoulder the 4 miles to our driveway.

Now the even more not so fun part. My car is paid off. Completely. I'm pretty sure it is not fixable and if it is it will include a new engine and transmission {yeah, I'm a rockstar mechanic}, which leaves us with needing a new vehicle, but I don't want to pay for one. Does that work?

Randoms & Poll Results

1. Tony and I ran our first race since the 1/2 last night. We ran the Lifetime Fitness Torchlight 5K. What's funny and of significance is that just a year ago we ran this same race - and it was our first race ever. We actually trained for 2 months to run it! This time around . . . other than soccer and a few 3 mile runs, I haven't been running consistently and Tony hasn't run at all! We finished with a 27:40 clock time* (almost the same as last year!), but have no idea what our adjusted watch time would have been. *Clock time = race start not when we actually crossed the start line.

2. Before the race started we were sitting on the curb and a runner came up and asked if we knew what time it was. I replied that we didn't now, but Tony stood up and shook the man's hand! It took me about 5 seconds, just before he introduced himself, for me to realize that it was R. T. Ryback, the mayor of Minneapolis. I have to admit, I was kind of starstruck. He talked 5K's, triathlons and 1/2 marathons with us for a bit before moving on.

3. Only my husband can/would recognize a former Gopher hockey player, granted he played on the team who won two National Championships, from 5 years ago! Just as we were leaving downtown last night Tony goes to grab some guys hand, it took a few seconds, but Troy Riddle finally remembered Tony from playing summer hockey with him . . . almost 10 years ago!

4. On top of that I ran into 8 people that I knew either from school, Target or soccer. Craziness.

5. Tony finally snapped me into slightly less annoyance.

Poll Results:

With exactly half the participants as before at 18 responders . . . 3 voters were correct with answer (d). I've never been nicknamed Blondie!

(a) My high school soccer coach nicknamed me Sucky. I know confidence inspiring. I said it after every shanked shot and he finally started calling me it . . . what can I say? I was a defender, I didn't shoot that well then.

(b) Leum . . . the most Leah can be stretched into a nickname. My soccer girls were responsible. I'm still called by this by a few.

(c) Casper . . . because I was as white as the friendly ghost!

Fence Progress

This is for you Kristal. You and your one day fence install. :)

Merely 1 1/2 weeks after beginning our privacy fence install, we have almost 1/3 completed. It's freaking awesome!
Now we just need to do to the left of the house and the sides! :)

Augh. ::sigh:: SCREAM

I don't know what is freaking wrong with me.

The last 3 days I've definitely woken up on the wrong side of the bedroom, let alone bed.

I have been a complete witch to Tony, my bro . . . and well especially Tony.

What sucks is that looking back on this time last year . . . I was going through the exact same feelings. Kind of disturbing.

Tony is being a much better husband, than I a wife, even if he's annoying me by breathing right now.

Okay so after all of that nonsense.

I give you, my weekend in pictures.

First off, we had another family reunion.

The rain interupted a basketball game, so they did what was necessary to dry the court.
The sweetest most adorable girl ever, Josie.
My bro and step bro attempting to play basketball.
A neat view.
Saturday evening we came back for a dear friend's wedding reception. They got married June 7th in Ireland! Laura, Nancy and I have been friends since we started playing soccer at 9 years old.
Her husband Luke is an awesome guy and they are so happy together!
And well actually, my husband is such an awesome guy and we're so happy as well! :)

Dancing.

Sunday we went to a local vineyard with my Mom and Stepdad, for their Raspberry Festival. I never thought I would ever see the day I was getting free wine tastings with my Mom.

Recap.

Tony came home from the try-outs about 7:45 last night, which I thought was exceptionally early as he was 20 minutes away from home and they were only to start at 6:00!

Turns out they got started about 25 minutes early, due to the fact that everyone was already there! Do you think he was with a bunch of type-a's or what?

Overall, Tony was impressed with the group invited. There were roughly 40 guys, but at least 15 of whom Tony said did not stand a chance. The promised one hour of off-ice time was actually only about 35 minutes, so they were able to take to the ice pretty quickly. They were asked to perform a series of power turns, both forwards and backwards, in addition to a skate-off.

They broke into 4 lines, with the winner of each heat advancing on to the next round until they had the final 4 guys. As Tony put it, he came in 2nd of his heat, which is a nice way of saying he lost right away. Something to be considered though was that he lost to the guy who took 2nd in the final heat . . . so not too shabby to go out in the first round to him. Tony said it was extremely close as well - so hey.

He felt a little shaking on his first power turn. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, he ended up starting the line, so he had to go first. I remember the feeling too well, of being the first in a sprint or to try a new drill - yuck. I guess the ice was all chopped up as well, so after the forward power turns they resurfaced before the backwards power turns. Ton felt much better about the backwards ones.

Reviewing the skaters were 7 head officials, 3 on the ice and 4 in the stands. As for Tony's chances, regardless of how he performed? One of the on ice and 3 of the in stand officials took it upon themselves to refer Tony. :)

All of the hopefuls were informed that there had been a 15 person try-out up North, and that they would be taken into consideration, in addition to the guys in the Metro. Tony was told that he would be contacted within two weeks if they would be needing him.

So that's that.

Results

Apparently Tony and I have a rather kinky sex life, as it was a huge tear. My doc seemed really surprised it was only where it was at in the healing process . . . but other than that didn't seem concerned.

So there you have it, no cancer, no implantation bleeding.

My Mom didn't raise me to be a hypocondriac . . . just that co-payments are our friends. :)

On the downside . . . I got a parking ticket and a late tabs ticket. :( The posted sign said No Parking 9am - 2am. In my haste and effort to save a few bucks by not parking in the lot, I thought it read 2pm . . . because that would be LOGICAL! Bah, the tabs one is totally my fault though.

Also, since my appointment ended so early due to finding the direct reason for the bleeding extremely quickly (seriously like 5 seconds), I was able to run to the DMV to finally purchase my new tabs. While there I had a funny conversation with the help, as she repeatedly questioned whether or not the city I live in was two words or one. She kept saying it looked wrong. She honestly asked me four times if I KNEW for sure that it was two, I finally came up with that I'd lived in the city for 1 1/2 years . . . and she had the spunk to tell me that I'd probably been spelling it wrong the whole time! Lol.

Two things.

First of all. I have a doctors appointment this afternoon to follow up on this. I had to lol after I was asked the reason for my visit. After divulging my deats, the receptionist paused for a second before informing me that she'd just mark it as "personal." That was kind. :)

Secondly: My hubby has probably the 4th largest night of his life coming up tonight. I say 4th, because it comes up behind:
1). The night he met me
2). Proposing to me
3). Our wedding night.

What could be so monumental, so ultimately life changing that it just falls behind the aforementioned events in significance?

Tonight, Tony will be trying out at an invitation-only session for a position as an official of the Division I WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Association).

The WCHA is one of the premier DI conferences and continually produces Frozen Four and National Championship teams, with the participation of schools like the University of Minnesota, University of North Dakota, Denver University, Colorado College and University of Denver.

He currently has 3 years of MIAC (Division III) college level experience, has been selected for numerous regional training camps and was invited to a national high school tournament last summer . . . but this, this is the big time. Sure it's not comparable to the NHL, but that is not the route Tony wanted to pursue. Ever since I've met him though, it has been his aspiration to officiate in the WCHA.

I never thought I'd like a man in stripes.

I'm so excited for him I could scream. I'm so ecstatic in fact that I haven't even allowed myself to be nervous about the previously mentioned concerns (ie that 50% were cancerous).

Lord, you know the desires of my husband's heart and ultimately provide him the strength of his will and endurance. If it be your will that he enters the WCHA this year, I pray that you will bless him physically and mentally tonight. Allow him to flawlessly perform their physical demands and quickly deduce their officiating situations.

Have you heard of this nonsense?!

So either I'm really slow . . . or I'm breaking this to the blogging world because I've never heard of it. Apparently there is a website that allows you to "borrow" designer handbags! Yeah, Julia helped me out - I'm slow. Apparently Sex & the City broke the news.

http://www.bagborroworsteal.com/ui/welcome

I'm not sure if it's sketch or not, but this is crazy!

I didn't even know I liked/wanted a designer bag!

Hi ladies.

This post will cross the line.

And could be compared to Julia's boob check . . . but is a little more ah, revealing, you could say. No there are not pictures, but I've linked it back, because I want to give you the choice before you get TMI.

Just fair warning is all.

Your choice.

Poll Results

Thankfully the majority were in my favor!

I am 24.

Will be 25 in October.

My goodness though 27% for 26 & 27!

Depressing.

I got out the tape measurer last night to confirm a hunch I had - I have the same size calves as Tony at 4 3/4 inches.

Also my wonderful Onyx is not doing too hot. Every light on the dash is on and apparently she's touchy too, as my transmission slipped while I took these pictures. I guess she doesn't want the fact that she's old documented.
But above all! Tony and I did not get into the TC Ten Mile Race.

Dear Leah:Thank you for your interest in the Medtronic TC 10 Mile. Unfortunately, your entry was not selected in the lottery. Your credit card has not been charged.

For your information, there is not a waiting/cancellation list available. The buying/selling/transfer of race numbers is strictly prohibited. However, there are still opportunities to run the race. For $160!!!

Gah, don't they know that this race in Oct was going to be my inspiration for running the next two months? Didn't they know that I needed this?!

So annoyed!

Okay, so remember a bit back when I ordered this? Well it arrived earlier this week, and of course I was disappointed, as the body did not show up to accompany it. Oh well.

I tried it on and did not end up throwing things at the mirror or crumpled into a cellulite pile on the floor. It was, if I dare say it, actually pretty cute . . . save one thing, the excess of my booty spilling out the side. Tony of course said he did not mind at all, but I pleaded with him to remember the innocent onlookers who would not be prepared for the site of my white flesh, and he finally begrugingly agreed that it might not be suitable for small children or, let's be honest, 90% of the population.

So I hopped on VS to order the alternate pair of bottoms, the ones described as offering "full coverage." Obviously not as cute as the pair I opted for the first time! While there I spotted this fun number as well so . . . of course I bought it as well. At this point, returns are definitely going to be made, so what the heck.

So I got this print.
In this body.

My annoyance stems from the fact that when I purchased on Monday, all items were listed as instock . . . when I received my shipment confirmation today however, my blue dot top is now listed as BACKORDERED until OCTOBER!

So . . . now that it's shipped, I could care less if I get the bottoms! I dont' need a suit in Oct, I need a suit now! That's why I bought it now and took care to notice that it was INSTOCK! So I paid for shipping and handling for the bottom of this suit that won't arrive in time for MN summer, and will additionally have to pay for the shipping and handling of it's return!

Bah, rant over, I'm calling VS.

Oh my dearest Nads

For a loverly like Nadia, I have been waiting to buy a card from CarolLeeDesign's Etsy Shop. Her hatemail and junkmail cards are absolutely hilarious and in all honesty, exactly how Nadia and I talk to each other! I'm sure you're all appalled lol, we are sarcastic biotches.

To congratulate her on her engagement I bought this beaut:

Love is patient, Love is kind, Hurry up, Dumbass

To round out my Pick 5:

What can I say, sometimes I'm vulgar.

Another scary pic.

Another warning/easy identifier. This is my badonkadonk. I'm sorry, but I want to show my jeans and this was the easiest way.

It's about time #2!

I just got the phone call! "My person" is engaged!!!


Look how well she's sporting that left hand a year in advance! She's a natural! :)