Five on Friday #106

EINS

The Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness Concert was excellent.  We had dinner at Stella's (Greek) downtown before the show, which was at the Music Farm.  We were late for our dinner reservation, as I knew we would be, but when I informed them that we had plans at 7, they were fine with letting us take our seat since they had a reservation scheduled after us.  Had I known the bar would have been available, we would have just sat there and I wouldn't have stressed about reservations.

Oh well.  It was pretty good.  I had the lamb and beef meatballs and hummus and Teh Geman had the special that included brussel sprouts.  We then ordered dessert and it was the perfect amount of food.

Dessert.  I'd tell you what it was called, but it was some Greek name and I have no idea.
But it was tasty and that plate was empty when we left.

The concert line up was: Night Riots, Atlas Genius, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.  I actually knew of all the bands (this is rare) and I was super pumped.

Night Riots:

Selfie:

Atlas Genius:

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness:

Gandolf the White (since the stage was often so bright, I struggled to get a photo of this guy):

Andrew McMahon decided to come hang out in the crowd.
He was standing on the effects desks that we had been standing beside.
Teh German commented that artists must like to come visit us.

Parachute over the crowd.
This is a thing?  Ok.

Inflatable ducky:
So apparently Andrew McMahon likes to ride this inflatable duck/crowd surf.  The first time he tried it during his set, it only got halfway back and went back to the stage and didn't go all the way around the crowd.  He was pretty dismayed by this and requested a 2nd session during the encore where the duck got all the way around the effects desk (in the center of the venue).  This was a perfect job for Selfie Sticks Teh German.

The concert was awesome.  I'm so glad we went on impulse.  I liked Andrew McMahon the most, then Night Riots, then Atlas Genius.  I had heard all of the bands on Spotify before hand, but when I made the concert playlist (where I take all the songs for an artist that Spotify has and add them to a single playlist), it was happiness in my ears.  In fact, I listened to it for most of the day on Tuesday as well.  I imagine I'll be playing it for a long time to come.

ZWEI

Reading problems:

I had 4 credits just chillin' on Audible teasing me.  So I finally used them.
1. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
3. Small Great Things: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
4. The Fiery Cross: Outlander, Book 5 by Diana Gabaldon (55.5 hours)

After using those 4 credits, Audible was like, "Wait, give us more money and we'll give you more credits!"  (3 credits for $35)  I asked Teh WJL if she would split the $35 with me and I'd buy the last 3 Outlander books so we could listen to them.  She said yes.  So then I ordered:
1. A Breath of Snow and Ashes: Outlander, Book 6 by Diana Gabaldon (57.75 hours)
2. An Echo in the Bone: A Novel, Book 7 by Diana Gabaldon (46 hours)
3. Written in My Own Heart's Blood: Outlander, Book 8 by Diana Gabaldon (45 hours)*

In addition, I have 2 library books out right now.
Teh WJL said I should try a new genre.  None of the audiobooks or library books are WW2 books.. so that counts as effort, right?

*All together that is 204.25 hours of Davina Porter's voice I get to listen to.  #ALLTHEAUDIOBOOKS  I passed on downloading the Lord John audiobooks because they aren't that long, so my credit is "wasted".

New dilemma: Which book do I start first; Red Rising, Ready Player One, or Small Great Things?

DREI

Real life things:

Phil:

Baggins has an appointment or a sonogram (or ultrasound, whatever you want to call it) at 2:20 today.  He's really slowed down this week and he's has several accidents in his crate recently.  I started him on the blood pressure medication, so I'm wondering if that's causing the lethargy.  I did tell Teh German that even if Phil wasn't sick, he is getting older and that Teh German needed to stop yelling at Phil for regurgitating water on the floor or peeing in his crate.  It would also be nice if he would be a little more gentle when he's trying to relocate Phil to puke NOT on the carpets... but baby steps.

Hip:

Pre-op appointment is scheduled for May 16th.  Surgery is currently penciled in for June 1st.  Since we are going to MD for the greyhound picnic May 18-22, the PA didn't feel like I'd be recovered enough if they did the surgery in the beginning of May to go on our trip.  Then I realized that Memorial Day weekend was the following weekend and 1- I didn't want to miss out on whatever fun plans we may make for the long weekend and 2- I didn't want Teh German to have to sit around taking care of post-surgery Megan when he could be out having fun with friends over a long weekend.

I can't remember if I ever actually said what was wrong with my hip, ooops.  After a $1000 MRI, turns out, I have a labrum tear in my right hip.  This is a cartilage tear, which is shitty because cartilage doesn't repair itself.  I was doing physical therapy to see if building the muscles up around it would improve the pain and it didn't.  Then we tried a cortisone injection.

You might be a blogger wheeeennnnn:
You take photos during your cortisone injection.

The shot didn't help with the pain either and threw me out of my running groove (since I was told for 2 weeks not to run)... grrrr.  So, we are taking the next steps and the Ortho will surgically repair the tear.  Because we are on a timeline, I am trying to expedite the process.  If it wasn't for the already scheduled MD trip, surgery would be taking place at the beginning of May.  The sooner the better since no one wants me limping down the aisle on November 1st.

My to-do list:

-Envelopes are still being printed.  When this task is finished, I will move on to editing Asheville photos.  After photos are edited, I will work on the contract with the DJ and the website.  #prioritizing #likeaboss
-I've been trying to pay off the photographer and venue except I don't know where to send the check for the venue and my dream photographer happens to be a complete disaster when it comes to business management.  FML.
-I was able to renew my check out on my Girls & Sex book, which I will pause on to read my other library book since it expires in 6 days and there are other people on the waitlist for it.  #libraryproblems
-I drafted our email to the house builder to be sent.  I'm waiting to hear back from someone about doing a walk through of the house, but if she doesn't respond by Monday, I'm sending out the list as it is and considering it money saved.
-I will clean this weekend.  I will also not stay in bed until noon which will help facilitate productivity.  Accomplishing things will feel better than sleeping in.  I might need a reminder of this on Saturday morning.
-Dremeling dog nails is a MUST for this weekend.  Meri's clicking is making me crrrrrrraaaaayyyyyy.
-I told Teh German to start looking at the calendar for some good dates to go ride in NC.  I limited the options with my surgery, so I have a feeling we'll be going in early May.  I don't really want to go up for Memorial Day weekend since so many other people will be traveling.  Kthxnope.
-I will reorganize my office this weekend and clear out the cluster-fuck corner that tends to gather things when they could be in storage.  This will mean I can put Phil's crate in a place that isn't in the middle of the floor, so I can move the chairs back to where they were.  This only sucks because the displaced chair is currently a footrest for me and I don't mind.  Teh German helped me tackle this yesterday and it took 15 minutes WITH vacuuming.

From the phone:

New game from Awkward Yeti (if we're friends on FB, you've probably seen me like their comics).
We're gonna play it this weekend and I am pumped and Teh German heard me say, "OMG I'm so excited!" at least 20 times within the first 4 hours of the game being in my possession.

It's been stormy in the evenings, despite this we've still been going on our pack walks.
This was actually a double rainbow, but I took this from Dorothy while Meri was tugging on me. 
You get what you get.

We went to Roux's house and Phil finally settled in his chair and the dudes at the counter were more interesting than I was.. especially when I had that annoying camera out.

Roux using me as his chin rest.  He terrorized Meri for a while before finally settling.
He's such a sweet boy when he's not being a menace.

My confused face when Teh WJL told me I need to switch up my genres.
#doesnotcompute

Teh German putting Snapchat filters on Claire as we watched Modern Family.

Today's cutest coworkers.

Today's 3rd cutest coworker: Luna
(4mo German Shepherd)

Gahhhh!! You have to click this one and zoom in to see her crazy eyes.
She's so adorable!

Meri and her mousie.

Stinky office time = passed out dogs time.

VIER

This isn't the Waldorf you're looking for...

This teacher's aid made a list of all the shit that students were doing during class. 

If you've ever wondered why we waste precious life on grass lawns, this guy answers that question.

How art can change meanings..

FÜNF

10 things that made me happy this week:

1. Acknowledging that we/I was being a Drama Llama because of PMS.  Self-actualization really does make me a better, more understanding, patient person.
2. Teh German being involved in a community event (a bbq smoking competition) with some neighbors.  It gets him out of the house and gives him some time away from me that isn't work.
3. Super good deals on audiobooks and things in general.
4. Borrowing a coworker's "tall" chair so I can sit at my standing desk instead of having to move my laptop and sit at the short desk in my cube.
5. Snapchat filters: Unicorn, googly eyes, big teeth, egg carton
6. Bringing the dogs to work (which also did not make me happy since Meri pooped in the kitchen and Phil peed on the floor twice)...
7. Meeting new puppies at work.
8. Working on wedding envelopes and making progress.
9. A half gallon of sweet tea from Bojangles cost $.20 more and it lasts for 3-5 days instead of 2 hours.  #worthit
10. Fun fabrics for new tag collars for Meri.. because every dogs needs 10+ collars, right?

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.