March Recap

March recap
I feel like March was a busy month with something every weekend. Here's what happened:

The mess in my living room.

Plumbing repair
For years, we've had plumbing issues. The downstairs bathroom has flooded numerous times. We had water backup problems in the upstairs bathroom and generally had to be careful not to use too much water. Two years ago, plumbers came out and told us we had roots in our pipes.

We have a treeless yard, so I was surprised. The plumbers suggested that the land wasn't cleared correctly before the foundation was poured. They gave us a quote for thousands of dollars for tearing up the foundation to fix the problem, since it seemed to be right under the downstairs TV. For that much money, we decided we could live without using the master bath. We'd use the guest bath and be careful with water.

Still, the roots grew back and we had to call the plumbers earlier this year. Finally it was time to do this. Matt's dad contractors finally got around to us (they were contacted before Christmas and supposed to come in two weeks.)

They dug up the floor. They dug up the yard. And not only were there roots in the pipes, the pipe had become disconnected, which explains why we had water backup issues. The water was flowing out into the yard since the pipe wasn't connected.

Disconnected pipe.

tree roots

So they pulled the roots out of the pipes, put the pipes back together, and put the flooring back in our living room. It was a long week.

Fixing the hole they dug.

Gunnar guarding the hell mouth

And we used the insanity to go ahead an paint the kitchen and bathroom. Also, we tiled the bathroom (that had flooded so many times) since the floorboards were looking rough.

Ninja taping the bathroom. The mask was for all of the concrete dust in the air. 

Yellow kitchen.

The end. Now we have plumbing that works. I can live dangerously and run the dishwasher and washing machine at the same time. We can even use the master bath! Amazing.

Bad blood work
I am allergic to everything. And before I started allergy shots, I asked to be tested for food allergies. The doctor wouldn't agree until after the dreadful prick test. I did that. I'm still breaking out in hives all of the time from who knows what. So I got him to refer me for the blood test that Matt did. Only, it took a few times to get him to write for the tests I wanted.

The nurse tells me just to go across the street to get the blood work done. I can't find a phone number online so I go over there one day hoping to make an appointment. I've got my schedule for the month printed out. I walk in and she thinks I want the test today. That I walked in for it.
1) I didn't know that was possible
2) I'm a planner. I have a busy afternoon and can't possibly do that.
She said she can't make an appointment for me (!!) and gives me a card and tells me to make an appointment online. And of course I can't make the appointment online. It just has options of things like court ordered blood work. No allergy blood work. I take a Friday off of work (for the construction) and had some extra time so I went to get my blood work done.

The wait in the waiting room was insane. There were two seats left and a few men standing. I did not want to have to wait. I waited 10-20 minutes. Not too long. And they called me back and took four vials of blood. It wasn't bad. (There were six people waiting for a pregnant teenager to get her blood work done. That's what the crowd was about.)

Except, my arm looked like someone hit it with a baseball bat. It was black and blue and sore to the touch for a week. Even in Pure Barre, I had to modify exercises, because my arm was hurting. People that do blood work stopped to tell me what a bad job they did on my arm.

It healed eventually. I was a little worried.

And I finally got the results of my blood test. I am VERY allergic to shrimp and mildly allergic to crab. (And they can tell that I am a highly allergic person from my blood test.) Interestingly enough, I tested negative for a milk allergy. (Two teaspoons can break me out in hives). And I've been breaking out in hives and I think sunflower oil is the culprit. I tested negative for a sunflower allergy. So I'm not sure how accurate that test can be. Either way, I can stay away from shrimp-—touching them breaks my hands out in hives.

Bonus: My health insurance told me the test would be $500. I was billed $50. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but that's awesome.


Gym Dogs

We've had season gymnastics tickets for years. We spent three Saturdays at gymnastics in March: two home meets and we went to SEC's in Gwinnett. For the SEC meet, our seats were pretty horrible. We couldn't see, people kept standing in front of use, and the electronic signs with the scores kept having weird typos like a $ sign instead a 4 in the scores. They misspelled Georgia a few times. And then the Gym Dogs fell three times on the beam. It was one of the worst meets I've ever been to. Mostly because it was run so poorly.

Lululemon addiction

My obsession of the month might be Lululemon. Love it! I ordered another pullover (the first one is my favorite thing I own), some barre socks. Then, they had a massive markdown sale and I ordered a black and white striped sports bra (my favorite at the moment) and a black tank. Since apparently all I wear is black tanks to workout in. And I bought my first pair of Lulu pants. The herringbone crops that I've seen on girls at barre classes. They look amazing. I had them shortened to look right on me—they were too long and hit at a weird length. These clothes are so well made. And mostly I only buy stuff on the sale racks.

Food

I discovered chocolate almond milk. It's delicious.

I hate the taste of soy milk or almond milk but need calcium since I can't do dairy. Chocolate actually tastes good. And makes the best smoothies—add some ice, bananas, strawberries, maybe protein powder. It's awesome.

Also, I made a lot of quiona bowls. Until Matt got sick of them.

Restaurants tried
Tried La Parilla. It's a Mexican restaurant by my house. Matt went to poker so I texted the neighbor if she wanted to go. It was awesome, fast and cheap and I need to go again immediately.

Fitness
I did the March Madness challenge at Pure Barre: 20 classes in 31 days. I did that and ran once a week. I finally got up to 3 miles. Now I need to get it faster. I went to tumbling on Wednesday. I'm trying to get my front tuck higher, which means waiting and that timing is the hardest part. I did some cartwheel and roundoff drills and am working on my front limber, can't get it ever time but some time.

BIRTHDAY
I had an awesome 32nd birthday. I actually don't know how I could top it (Harry Potter world is my only idea). Friday night I went to Pure Barre and got birthday Moe's. Saturday morning, I went to Pure Barre. We went to La Parilla for lunch.  That afternoon I ran two miles. Matt played poker that night so I did work. Sunday was a super fun day.

10:30 a.m. Pure Barre Class
1 p.m. class at Leap
My sister brought me cupcakes
Tin Drum takeout
Concert at Performing Arts Center

FLYING TRAPEZE

My biggest adventure of the month. I'd heard about flying trapeze from all of my super athletic/fun friends (Juli, Megan, Laura). It was kind of pricey so I added it to my To-Do list. I decided a birthday was a good excuse to do it. I scrounged up some friends (not everyone wants to do flying trapeze 30 feet up in the air. Isn't that weird?)

The drama was that the weather had been warm but the day of my birthday there was a cold snap. So we rescheduled it for later in the day. (Leap is awesome like that!). We show up, and it's sunny and warm. And well, we just had a blast. It was scarier than I thought at first, but then it's just super fun. You're flying, getting caught. flipping into t he net.

Everyone had a great time and wanted to go back. I want to go back immediately.

The people were really nice. They were great teachers, knew exactly what to say to you.

I feel like I just got it. And I'm always so awkward and uncoordinated that it was amazing to find something that could make me feel that great about my abilities. It may have been just great coaching, but I will take that.

I'm obsessed. I'm pretty sure this is going to be my summer obsession. I loved it. Love. Love. Love.