It's on

The Raftery-Horbal peace treaty has been lifted and all-out war has commenced at 1717 Cottenham Lane. The reason?

Enemy Number 1: Delicious Food

How could such a delicious looking omelet and sweet potato hash browns be an enemy, you ask? I'll tell you how....

Enemy Number 2: "Awl"

There was 1/4 cup of this vile liquid in said potatoes, which I discovered today is pretty typical in Kevin's cooking. I started tracking on Weight Watchers Online recently (my health insurance offers a discounted rate). I am allotted 23 points a day. That 1/4 cup of olive oil? 14 POINTS!!

So now I not only know why Raftery's food tastes so delicious (in my childhood, it was rare for me to see a food that didn't contain the word "lite" and I'm pretty sure I've only tasted real butter once or twice in my lifetime...) and why we've both gained weight despite a relatively active lifestyle. He tells me that I would kill myself if I knew what went into the chicken we had at Sandbridge the other night. Chalk this up to another reason why couples should live together before marriage: weight gain can be managed and maintained early.

Which leads me to my third and final enemy...

Enemy Number 3: Raftery

Sure, he cooperated while taking my measurements with a cable cord. Yes, he did convince me to go on a run with him (and by "convince" I mean he stretched in front of me with an arrogant look on his face until I couldn't let him exercise while I sat on the couch, despite my enduring cold). He did make me a wonderfully delicious breakfast. He does still weigh more than me and according to our BMI chart is less healthy than me.

But....

We have decided on a quest for 8%... reduction in our total body weight. This guy lost a half pound just talking about losing weight (true story!). We thrive on competition, particularly with one another, so this might just work. Bragging rights are the only thing on the table right now, but we welcome suggestions of tangible rewards. His status message on facebook right now says:

Kevin Raftery fatboy is taking fatty girlfriend down...or as a wiseman once said "no hubby 'til you lose the chubby"

Great. So it's on. I'm sure he'll drop weight with no problem and it'll take every ounce of willpower I have to even come close, but here's hoping this ends in two healthier people instead of two dead ones. Anyone care to wager?

The best thing about the beach in the fall...

We have been trying to spend as much time at the beach as possible in the evenings this month, but yesterday was our first chance to go during the day since Labor Day. It was glorious:


We brought Maddy, which is the greatest part about the beach in the fall. She loves to go, but is terrified of the water. We think it might be the sound, since she's so afraid of loud noises. (Yes, Kevin, I get it. Loud noises.) This is her typical stance when led too close to the water:


She loves it though, I promise. Look how happy she is here, with her Tater:


Haylie and Heard met us down there and brought their dog, Tetley for a beach play date. The dogs were kind of indifferent to each other, after the first few minutes of tussling. Tetley is much braver than Maddy, and actually got her paws wet:


We were hoping Maddy would succumb to peer pressure, but no such luck, despite much cajoling from Heard and Raftery:


All in all, it was a great day for some men and their dogs:


After all that resisting...:


Maddy sure was exhausted:


Leaving the rest of our Sunday to be free to just party and watch football.

It's been a long time coming...

It's amazing how much less time you have for blogging when you actually have a job and take classes again...

Mostly I've been working (which has been awesome), reading (constantly), and eating Raftery's fine meals.

Example:

Ricky liked it:

Difficult to trust a chef that looks like this:

Nothing too exciting has happened. We went to Mikey's wedding a few weeks ago, but I forgot my camera and had to use the Raftery's original dinosaur cam. The pictures have not been uploaded yet, but I will post them when we figure out if computers even had USB ports when this camera was created. I've been taking classes for my gifted endorsement, which have sucked up 2 Saturdays (from 8am-6pm) and Raftery went to Dodd's bachelor party in Atantic City. He got to visit all my family and friends...

However, we did have one important life event: Kevin's first U2 concert. We met Clark and his lovely lady friend at UVA:

Although we missed most of the opening act (Muse) we did get some pretty great stage pics that showcase our amazing seats:

By the time U2 came on, Raftery was in a daze:

This shot is the last evidence that Raftery even know I was along:

We tried our best with the stage pics. It was hard to capture the spectacle that was this concert, but here is our best attempt:

Some video footage:

The show ended sometime around midnight... that put us back in Virginia Beach around 3:30. That gave me about 2.5 hours of sleep before I had to get up for school. That was a little rough, but I only had one lesson (3rd grade), a one-on-one with my favorite twice exceptional student, and a collaboration with 4th grade before I got to leave for training for the rest of the afternoon.

So that's the life of Horbal and Raftery for the month of September in a nut shell.

Coming soon: Wedding Awards 2009

So long sweet summer...

This was a great Labor Day weekend, with a beach trip every afternoon and evening until it poured today. There was a concert series at the ocean front. We saw Sister Hazel Friday night and Kevin got this awesome shot of the Neptune statue in the background:

 

On Saturday, we went to the beach with Ricky during the day, then saw Marcy Playground and Tonic at night time. Because Ruby got towed and we were not exactly in the happiest mood (although a very nice lady from Yonkers gave us a ride to the impound lot), we took only one picture... of all the bikes on the boardwalk before the show:

We went to the beach for most of the day on Sunday, then went to see the Black Crows at night. This was the only show that wasn't free, but for some reason no one was checking tickets. We managed to get a seat in the sand at the back of the concert for most of the show, at no cost:

 

...but after they played for awhile we decided to try our luck and move a bit closer:

This would have been great, except they only played one more song and never played the big hits, like "She Talks to Angels". Kevin was raging, but I was kind of indifferent because as soon as the show was over there were fireworks. We experimented with the firework feature on my camera. Here were the best ones:

  

  

We were actually kind of happy that it rained all day today because cleaning was long overdue and the dog missed us. Good thing that she can now go to the beach legally no matter what time of day it is, since it's after Labor Day. We spent the evening at the Raftery's for Kev's mom's birthday dinner, which was a really nice way to end a good weekend. First day of school tomorrow!

A Word From Our Sponser

Credit where credit is due, providing the inspiration for my blog today allows Kevin some air time on one of his favorite topics... beer.



Raf has been busy preparing more delicious meals for yours truly. A couple of my top faves:


He says it looks like throw up. I say it looks like heaven.

I affectionately referred to this one as a love omelet until I realized that Kevin was just bribing me to go to the beach instead of cleaning first thing this morning. The house is filthy, but the beach was nice and the food was nicer.


He says, "Don't say I never got you flowers."

After the beach, we spent some time playing with Maddy. Here is one of her most famous moves, the Twist:




Here's how JP feels about such shenanigans:


In fact, he was relieved to be having a few minutes peace from getting attacked by Maddy and blamed for Kevin's sneezes. Notice the clinging for life.

Trailer Park and Ted the Monster 2

As promised, here are pictures of my humble school abode. The exterior view:



She's a looker, huh? Here is a panorama of my side. I have a roommate (ESL teacher) who gets the left side of our lovely double-wide:


My "office", carefully created to give myself the illusion of a cubicle so I go home instead of staying at school all day/night:



Here's a close up of my new awesome organizational strategy. I realize that this is exhilarating for me only, but I gotta say, there is something really great about having a space that no kid will touch/rearrange/break:


Here are my trailer animals, mostly gifts from previous students. They give me that cozy feeling when the seven air conditioners are whirring:


This is my one and only bulletin board. The plan is to leave it there and never change it for as long as I work at Centerville. Anyone from PA ever heard of Kaplan's differentiation by depth and complexity? Pretty cool stuff:


Lastly, here is my inspiration wall. This is a compilation of things I cut out, great quotes, and pictures of/from former students:


And when I come home (by 3:30, I might add), what is waiting for me? Maddy being attacked by Ted the Monster!

Levi and Julie's Wedding

As you will quickly realize from these pictures, Kevin was in charge of the camera for most of the evening. Therefore, this post comes with a disclaimer that I do not know the person featured here and submit that it possibly isn't me, as I have very little recollection of some of the events you will see. Enjoy!

Our table mates, David and Anne:


I love these boys, David and Derek:


Derek and Amber:



Jen and Matt:



Jen S. and Amber:


Miss Lexi, absentee flower girl:


Kevin, looking innocent:


Seth, after disrobing:


And here comes the Meghan's birthday fun photo gallery... Notice Kevin, pointing to the subject of ridicule:



Kevin calls this one "Sad at the ex-boyfriend's wedding", while I call it "Suddenly realizing what this will feel like tomorrow":


Attractive, eh?


Looking puzzled....


Am I sleeping in this one?


This must have been some kind of conversation... me and Ashley:


This one about sums it up:


Needless to say, it was a really good time. If I had been in charge, there would be at least one picture of Julie and Levi, but alas, you will have to check other peoples' posts for that. Congrats guys! Great way to end the first lap of wedding streak...