Am I a bad wife?

The hubby is out of town this week. He is in Vegas with a pal (um, and the pal's mom and elderly friends, totally weird), and I am working hard every day and coming home to a cold empty house. The reason for this bizarre arrangement is that he has weeks of vacation to use or lose, and I have NONE. I thought this was a good solution since his friend has been begging him to go on the annual old-people-in-Vegas trip for years. Of course now I'm insanely jealous; not that I have any particular desire to go to Las Vegas (I still re-use my aluminum foil - it would kill me to gamble), but because I have to work!
So here's why I might be a bad wife. I'm a little jealous, but I don't really miss the hubby! In fact I'm sort of enjoying the free time! The best part is that the pressure is off at dinner: I always feel like I have to cook my picky husband something extravagant for dinner. But I'm happy with a little bowl of pinto beans (which is what I ate tonight). Skipping all the cooking and cleaning leaves me with so much extra time!
So, verdict... am I
a. The best wife in the world for letting him go to Vegas unsupervised
b. The worse wife in the world for not being lonely while he's gone?

My safety-net job

I was forced to make a trip to Wal-mart to buy building blocks for Christmas ornaments I am making (pictures to follow!). I also picked up a few other things while I was there...even though I hate buying food at that place. Weirdly, I got stopped by the store manager, who noted my efficient shopping and encouraged me to apply for a cashier position. What a comfort to know I've got what it takes to bag groceries at Wal-mart.

Ten new things to try for $10 and under

1. Still scared of skinny jeans? Try a pair from Forever 21 for less than $10. If they make you feel like a cow you didn't lose that much cash.
2. Instant coffee never really appealed to me until I started working strange hours in places without a coffee pot nearby. Starbucks Via is a new alternative you can try for free with the purchase of a regular drink (at most locations).
3. Have you ever made your own waffles? They're SO good. Go to a Walgreens that has a small appliances section and you can buy a waffle maker for $7.99!
4. Colored eyeliner is big this fall, but buy an inexpensive liner to see how you like the look. I love Revlon's color stay (about $7), and the colors are more subdued than bright.
5. Fedoras have always been my favorite winter hat. Try out the look while working some stylish plaid into your wardrobe. This hat will be on sale for $10 at Target this week (why does the add say "mens"? It's a girl hat, promise!).
6. Try a new restaurant this week. Restaurant.com has a standing offer of $25 coupons for $10. That's a great deal, but if you wait until they have a sale, they often sell certificates for just $2! Just be careful: after your purchase they offer all kinds of "special deals" like magazine subscriptions and memberships. Don't fall for it.
7. Want to change your hair shade slightly? I've been using John Frieda's color glazes - the dark brown makes medium brown hair slightly darker, and the blond layered over brown adds a sort of golden glaze after several uses. It's temporary, so you aren't committed, but it's a great way to experiment for just $10.
8. Now is a great time to try a new magazine subscription - many magazines offer holiday sales. Amazon has a large array of $10 subscriptions available.
9. Add a color to your decorating scheme without resorting to say, painting all your walls mustard. These World Market throw pillows are well-made and only $9.99.
10. Stuck in a wine rut? Try an incredibly drinkable, light and fruity - yet not at all sweet - valpolicella from Bolla. It's usually about $9 and is one of my favorite wines to drink by itself.

Worse than latte-tude

My last post about coffee, oddly enough, made me want coffee. So I hit the PJ's before work, hoping for a more pleasant experience. What I got instead was my server, back to me, volubly telling another employee how he went home sick early this a.m. because he couldn't stop throwing up...but he took a Zofran and felt better now, so he came back. Then he turned around, took my order, and smashed the lid onto the top with his bare hand directly over the mouth area. Fabulous.
This might be a sign that I should make coffee at home.
By the way I thought of changing my mind and skipping the coffee once I heard his story, but like I've said before, I'm sort of terrified of these kids so I didn't dare.

I'm so sick and tired of Latte-tude!

Latte-tude, n.: The attitude exhibited by your emo coffee-server which includes disdain for your order, inability to say thank you, and desire to ignore customers at the counter.

I know, I know. I said I don't like made-up words, and here I've just made one up myself. Sometimes I just feel like being a rule-breaker!
Have you ever noticed that some of the barristas out there are really disinclined to serve you? Make you feel like an inconvenience? Sigh audibly when you ask for an extra - or worse - a deletion? Ugh.
I've already mentioned the ugly characters at my local Pj's coffee house. Well, things have not improved. A recent example of latte-tude experienced at this joint? My server - whom we call the chair nazi, because he is persuaded that each chair in the store has one specific location and should not be moved from that spot - allowed me to stand at the counter for 5 minutes while he finished sending a lengthy text. Then he asked, "What do you want?" grumpily. I ordered, and he rolled his eyes and sighed because it was not just a plain cup of coffee. Then when he rung me up he just stood by the register, never telling me the total. He also expects you to tear off and sign your own credit card receipt when it prints - he's long gone back to his iphone!
What's your latte-tude experience? And am I a hypocrite for inventing a word?

Why running a race in a costume is SO SUPER DUPER FUN

I ran 13.1 miles in a cowgirl outfit last Saturday, complete with bedazzled denim shorts, holsters with squirt guns, plaid shirt, cowgirl hat, bandana, and even a commemorative belt buckle (made out of tin foil, decorated with the race symbol). It was crazy fun, and here's why:
1. It's New Orleans, so you can have fun without being totally weird. A lot of people dress up for races here...especially since it was Halloween.
2. It's sort of like taking 5 minutes off your time. When you tell people your finishing time, they look at you like, "IN THAT?!" and automatically assume you could have run faster in normal clothes...which might be true.
3. In the first mile a pedestrian hollered at me, "Hey Cowgirl! Ya want a biscuit to go with dem chicken legs?!"
4. Around mile 6 I challenged a gladiator to a duel. I won the duel, and I beat him to the finish!
5. The kids watching LOVE it. I actually gave a squirt gun away to a little kid wearing a cowboy suit!
6. Other runners love it, too. I was chatting with someone during the race about how awesome my little brother is and he said, "You know what else is awesome? Running in jean shorts!" Touche.
7. Whistles and catcalls are acceptable when you're running a race...it's all in fun then.
8. It's really, really, really fun to zip past the guy in all the fancy race gear: special non-chaffing shorts, aerodynamic ipod cuff, water tank strapped to his back.
9. It's inspiring to yourself and others. Basically others think "If she can finish wearing that get-up, I can too" and you yourself think "I will look so stupid wearing this silly hat puking on the side of the road so I better persevere".
10. The finish line is just more fun in costume, although this time a spectator near the finish encouraged the runners to speed up and "Go catch the cowgirl! You can't let her beat you, she's running in denim!" SOOO not fair.

Jazz half marathon: my brother is officially awesome!

I've said it before: strangers I will protect, family I will not. Therefore I give you my brother's real name: Abe. And he is amazing! We ran the Jazz half marathon this Saturday: 13.1 miles of cold New Orleans streets. I ran a good, solid 1:50:20, which beat my 8:30/mile goal (about 8:24's). And I did it in costume...hey, it was Halloween!
Abe, however, blew me away with a stunning 1:17:30, coming in fourth overall and first in his age group. He was actually the first non-professional to finish! Do the math: he ran 5:55 splits for 13 miles!
Now here is the TRULY amazing part: Abe trains himself and is his own coach. He doesn't run for a school and he never ran track. He started running last year because he was significantly overweight and he simply did not want to be a fat teenager. He lost the extra pounds - about 50! - and now he's a lean mean running machine. That's him above, easily holding fourth place near mile 9 in Audubon park. Look at the concentration! Look how no one is NEAR him! Go, Abe!