Mouse Catching!!!!

Tonight as we were getting the kids ready for bed, I went into the bathroom upstairs to pee really quick while Abby was getting her jammies on. As I was sitting on the toilet, I heard a rustling sound coming from a large package of toilet paper sitting in the corner in front of me. Right at that moment, Abby came in to ask me a question (yes, I was still sitting on the toilet, I'm a Mom and privacy means nothing most of the time!), and I said, "Abby, I think there might be a mouse in there." I wiggled the package and sure enough this little beady-eyed gray mouse came running out of it terrified. I screamed and picked up my feet. It was feeling a little cornered because I was sitting there and Abby was standing in the bathroom doorway so it couldn't just run out the door, so it turned around and ran back around the perimeter of the bathroom behind the toilet that I was sitting on. Well, as this was happening, I quickly finished my business and stood up (and pulled my pants up of course) so that I could see where this mouse was going to escape to. All this time, I was trying to figure out how to trap it or kill it. I was doubting that I would be brave enough to handle the situation if it came up, but not wanting the darn thing to be loose in my house! I HATE mice. Each winter we usually get a few inside when the weather turns cold. Anyway, back to the story. As I looked behind the toilet I watched it scurry into one of Walker's dirty socks (yes, there is dirty laundry on my bathroom floor) and so I decided to grab the sock and hold the top of it shut tight and run as fast as I could to Mark. So imagine me, tearing through our house, down the stairs and to our back room all the while squealing and shaking the sock so that it wouldn't crawl up and touch my hand. I don't handle mice well, have I mentioned that? Anyway, when I finally could communicate to him that the sock I was holding in my hand had mouse in it he, like a knight in shining armor, came to my rescue and took it. The kids were quite excited and wanted to touch the sock to feel it wiggle and then we decided to put it in a tupperware dish with a lid so the kids could see it. Walker insisted that it needed a piece of cheese and I obliged only because there was a half slice on the counter from our grilled cheese dinner. So, now we have a fat mouse(apparently it was eating well in our house) in a dish in our kitchen awaiting it's fate when Mark is done reading the kids to sleep. Poor little thing. Just kidding, I am very proud of myself for catching a live mouse in a sock, even if it only was because I was in the right place at the right time. Too funny.

New Post Alert!!!

Today as I was baking cakes for the wedding cake I am making for tomorrow, I took some time to pay attention to my blog. Just a heads up, there are 2 new posts below. More will be coming soon.

Half Marathon Woman!!!

OK, I don't know about all of you, but I think this is far too many posts in a row about the Mom. My kids are way more interesting! Unfortunately, I have been terribly busy and have put off updating this in so long that I don't have any other choice but to put another post about me on here. Don't worry, though. Next will be the darling children of mine enjoying all things Halloween. Then, I think we'll be caught up as far as pictures go. So, here it goes.

I HATE running. I have always hated running. It hurts my body and I think other than run/walking a couple of 5k's in the last few years (that's 3.2 miles), I had not actually run a mile since I think 7th grade. I had convinced myself that I was not built to run and was ok with that. Then, last year, I read a talk from Sis. Elaine S. Dalton of the General Young Women's Presidency where she talks about running and how she started after she had 5 kids and I was very inspired. So, I wanted to try it. This was actually the race I first signed up for, and then as Amberly and I trained for it, the Adventure Race conversation came up and so we ended up doing that the week before.

I trained with Amberly, my really amazing friend who I wish I was more like. She's really pretty cool, and I'm just kind of nerdy. Anyway, she was fun to train with and we had fun doing long runs on Saturdays and then shorter runs at the Y during the week. One weekend we knew we needed to do a 10 mile run, so we did a race with the Terre Haute Road Runners Club. It was really funny. The majority of the runners were old enough to be my parents and they all beat me! The two of us came in last, and didn't mind a bit! Also, I was very nauseous at the time and we were running on country roads and there was road kill. I thought that running in the country here would be beautiful, but it just was stinky and made me want to barf!

Anyway, lucky for me, the weekend of the race I was 13 weeks pregnant and feeling like the morning sickness was behind me. Hallelujah! I was hoping for that. Amberly and I drove to Indianapolis bright and early to pick up our race packets and get ready and our husbands drove over a little later with our fan club (aka kids). The race started off great. We ran nonstop for the first about 5 miles and then my foot started killing me. It felt like I got a flat tire. I really think my left arch collapsed and that's what was causing all the pain. I was really disappointed, but didn't want to quit, so we decided to run hard for 5 minutes and then walk for 2 to give my foot a break. It seemed to work really well and we made it through the whole race. We got to see Mark and the kids at about the 5 mile mark and then they were at the finish line. It was the most amazing feeling to run that last tenth of a mile with the street lined with people. I was bawling and the sense of accomplishment was incredible!

It's kind of fun to rediscover just what I'm capable of and just how far I can push myself if I jsut believe. I think it's a good lesson to remember not only physically, but emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I did decide though, that I will not continue to let my running mileage match my number of weeks pregnant. 13 miles at 13 weeks was my maximum!

I've had to take a little break to let my foot heal, but this week I got on the treadmill and was running, and guess what? I actually really enjoy running now. Who knew?

NSAAR 2008

I was starting to get tired of the nice fish face picture of myself that has been gracing this blog for the last month, so I decided I should play a little catch up for my memory's sake.

October 11, 2008 I participated in the No Skirts Allowed Adventure Race for Women in Norman, IN. It was about a 2 hour drive to the Maumee Boy Scout Camp on Friday afternoon and then my teammates and I spent the evening getting registered and attending "clinics" on changing flat tires, reading topographical maps, using an orienteering compass, wearing a harness, etc. I was a part of a 3 women team and we called ourselves the Haute (hot) Mamas. I have always dreamed of doing this kind of thing, and luckily I have a great friend here that made it happen. Amberly is one of those people that doesn't just talk about someday doing things, she just does them. I love it. Our other friend Melissa was such a good sport and was very excited to be our "costume designer." We were quite the force to be reckoned with! With the help of family, friends and local businesses, we were able to get the entire event paid for as far as registration went and were even able to get the gear we needed. One local camper place loaned us a tent trailer to camp in Friday night! It was awesome.

The actual event began at 7 am Saturday morning when race maps were passed out. Part of the "adventure" of an adventure race is that you don't get to find out anything about the course or distances until an hour before the start of the race. Very cool! We looked over our first two maps (one for canoeing, and one for mountain biking) and decided which route to take. Basically in an adventure race, you're given topographical maps of the land for each section of the race with checkpoints marked and a clue sheet and passport with a space for each numbered checkpoint. Everybody begins and ends at the same time and the goal is to punch your passport at as many checkpoints as you can make it to. Each checkpoint has a distinct punch tool. You can choose to spend as much or as little time on each section of the race as you wish. There are also surprise events involved at random points during the race. Also, each checkpoint has a point value. Most are 1 point, some are 2 or 3 or more depending on their difficulty to reach or find.

We started off with Amberly blind folded while we jogged carrying 3 oars to the first checkpoint and then down to the water's edge to board our canoe. Once there, Amberly was allowed to remove the blindfold. Melissa's awesome husband Clint happens to have a helmet cam, so we took turns wearing it at different sections of the race. We did one lap around the perimeter of the lake to hit all 7 water checkpoints and then headed back to climb on our mountain bikes. Before heading out to hit any biking checkpoints, we stopped by our campsite to say hi to our kids and so that nursing babies could be fed. (We were in this for the experience, not the intense competition.) I don't know that any other team had anywhere close to the same experience! Anyway, after feeding babies, we were off for some fun riding. We hit I think 5 of the the 11 checkpoints and covered a little over 10 miles on gravel roads and mountain bike trails. I was the only one to crash as I came down a hill. My lower pedal hit a tree root and I wiped out. I was laughing until I remembered that since I was 11 weeks pregnant I should probably be a little more careful. Nothing serious though. At the end of the biking section, we each got to do a zip line which was pretty awesome. I wish I had somebody take a picture of me doing it, because I think I was quite graceful gliding across the ravine like a ballerina! Our husbands and kids actually came and found us at that point and Mark even brought me a really yummy ham sandwich to eat while I waited for the other girls to do the zip line.

After that, it was time to hit the TA (transition area) to ditch our bikes and start the final section on foot. Our kids joined us as we took off our helmets and shed more layers of because it was hot. They also enjoyed findind our stash of Gatorades and jelly bellies, gummy bears and other necessary "energy snacks." We had just under 2 hours left to navigate as many checkpoints as we could and try our skills with the orienteering and topographical map. We had fun. We did a couple of bonus checkpoints. One was a team work experience where we were given 4 cinder blocks and 3 1 by 4 inch boards. There was a circle about 6 feet in diameter drawn in the dirt, with an x drawn right in the center. The goal was to suspend 1 block over the x without anything else being inside the circle. We really rocked that one and finished in about 2 minutes! I think it just goes to show how good moms are at solving any problem that can come up! We got a couple of other checkpoints as we headed around to the far side of the lake for the second bonus checkpoint. We had to put on our leather gloves and walk backward down the side of a very steep cliff/hill about 150 feet and ring a bell at the bottom, then we had to climb back up the side while hanging onto a narrow 6 inch wide seaman's ladder with our hands. It was surprisingly easy and fun. The whole side of this cliff was very soft dirt so it was easy to plant your feet and dig them in to get traction.

We headed back to the finish line after a couple of more checkpoints and finished with about 5 minutes to spare.

It truly was an adventure! How often do three busy moms with 3 even busier husbands get to canoe, mountain bike, mountain climb, zipline and orienteer? And all in one really fun morning! We finished with I think 27 points, which we felt really great about considering our laid back attitude about the competition of the whole event. I think the winning team finished with 45 points. Amazing! Well, it gives us something to work towards, and maybe next time we can improve that 27 for a new personal best.

Definitely a fun experience and worth doing again. Thanks to good friends and a great husband for making it possible! Also, all of our sponsors were really appreciated!