cant have nothin' nice...not even a blog!

Hey Y'all

ok. I apologize. I'm sorry I'm such a blogslacker. I can't believe I havent posted anything in oh, about 8 months. 8 MONTHS ?! Have mercy (as my mom would say).

I have had lots of "Can't have nothing nice" moments over the last 8 months and sadly have not shared them....especially the ones that put me in my place and refresh my outlook on life/my own vanity/ materialism, etc....

Here's a good one that just happened this past Sunday:

Our church, Truth Bible Church (www.truthbiblechurch.com) is currently hosting an out-of-town Associate Pastor candidate and his family. The plan was to have an old fashioned church potluck after Sunday Service to welcome this family. (Think crockpots, casseroles and homemade pot holders) I signed up to bring a "main dish" and a "side dish".

Long story short, since we live so close to the church, I decided it would be better for me to run home between nursery duty and the service to pop the casseroles in the oven and go back right as the service was ending to get them and bring them piping hot to the potluck. The dietitian in me, trained in preventing food temperatures from falling into the "danger zone" (40-140 degrees F) was the one who came up with this genuis idea. The part I forgot to contingency plan for was how to physically get 2-350 degree casseroles from our house to the church- by myself.

So...here's where it happened. I ran home at 12:05- pulled the casseroles from the oven, snapped on the plastic travel lids (or so I thought), put them on baking sheets so I could carry them, one at a time, to the car. The first one I put in the floor board of the front passenger seat...then it started sprinkling. Remember, this is Sunday morning, and as a good Southern girl you better believe I was wearing a dress and heels. So I dash back inside, grab the second casserole/baking sheet/potholder combination and make a run for it. I slid it into the passenger seat, nestled it up next to my favorite leather Coach bag and was on my way.

Watching the clock, I turned Right, Left, Left out of our neighborhood. I mean, what would be more dissapointing than showing up with these cheesy-hashbrown-ham-asparagus-goodnesses and the potluck be over?!?!!? the horror. So, you could say that I sped up a little and made a sharp left onto Smoke Hill Rd. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! OOOOOOH DANG IT!! (it was Sunday, after all) ...the casserole in the passenger seat lid had popped off...and the gooey cheesy essence partially spilled out- onto my favorite, leather Coach bag. Yep, can't have nothin' nice.

I frantically wiped off said cheese goo, parked and ran with my casseroles into the church - much like Scarlett O'hara, I thought (paraphrased) "I'll think about that later". So, later Sunday night after much goings-on, I attempted to clean the grease imprint off my bag. No luck.

Can't have nothin' nice....

a day in DC

I guess you can have somethin' nice. This past Saturday, Mark and I took a day trip to Washington, DC.

Here was the deal: I had Thursday off due to a snow day. I spent the day feverishly cleaning, grocery planning, doing laundry and ironing (gag, cough, gag). The results? tired wife. bored weiner dog. happy husband...and a weekend on the horizon free of domestic duties !! AND since the new house that we now live in doesn't require regular maintenance or remodeling--we were FREE to do what we want to do on Saturday !

We did a little research and decided to take the metro into the city and wing it from there. The metro is cheap and the museums are free so it was up our alley--not to mention, I wouldn't describe Mark or I as particularly patient people (like that alliteration?) when it comes to traffic or driving in cities. Saturday AM we laced up our sneakers, dropped the wiener off with Uncle Seth and Aunt Katy and cousin Beagle Bailey, and headed to DC. The GPS took us to the Branch Ave station where we easily parked our park in the snowy parking lot (for free on the weekends!), bought $9/ea day passes for the metro and hopped on.

We decided that since we live near DC, we will come often enough to do the sites slowly. Not to mention it was FREEZING (literally, about 34 degrees and snow everywhere) so we wanted to do something inside. We hopped of the metro at Federal Station and popped up right by one of the buildings named for Ronald Reagan. What a great man...anyways...we decided to go see the Museum of American History. We are Americans and thought it would be personal and cool. After a half hearted purse search by a tired security guard, we made our way in.

What to see first? Mark was instantly drawn to huge steam engines and light bulbs made by Thomas Edison. I wanted to see Julia Childs kitchen and a whole display of American First Lady Inaugural dresses. So, we compromised. We saw both. For hours and hours, we looked around displays about 1950's bomb shelters, pop culture, the American President, the US military, the Civil War, and the list goes on. It was great! After a brief hiatus for lunch- at Potbelly Sandwich shop http://www.potbelly.com/Home/Default.aspx we made our way back to the same museum for more. We saw the actual:

• flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner
• Lincoln's top hat
• Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown and Jimmy Choo shoes
• the chairs that Grant and Lee sat in at Appomatox Court house
• Julia Childs kitchen
• Edisons journal
• the gold nugget found at Sutters Mill that started the gold rush
• George Washingtons a)hair, b) field telescope, c) general's coat

and more. Wouldn't want to tell you everything, Go SEE it for YOURSELF!!!

We got kicked out of the museum at 5:30--I was trying to steal the Jimmy Choo's--just kidding, the museum closed and we had to find somewhere to get out of the cold and grab something to eat. After a quick bit of research on Yelp! and Urbanspoon, we decided on Logan Circle. A quick Metro ride later we popped up on 14th. A cold, snowy, windy walk later we made our way to Logans Tavern (after a failed attempt at Churchkey http://www.churchkeydc.com/) ...it was good. We weren't too hungry after our potbelly sandwiches so we went for a light dinner. Appetizer was fried green tomatoes with peach relish *YUM* , then we shared a spinach salad with candied nuts and orange vinagrette, and each had a cup of soup- Clam Chowder for Mark and Crab Bisque for me.

A quick stop by KKD (Krispy Kreme Donuts) for Mark to get his fix and a half dozen donuts (they don't sell them here in MD), we were headed back to Branch Ave via the greenline train. About an hour and a half later we were home with Roscoe. Toured, Tired, Thrilled...it was definitely something nice.