Its not the same for everyone

A while back, I was talking with my mom and some how our conversation turned to mice and mice traps. I told her I could never use the sticky pads because they are just mean and inhumane and make me feel bad for the mouse. This feeling is made worse by the fact that I had mice as pets when I was little.

At this point in the conversation, my mother looked at me confused. She had no recollection of it.

When I was younger, my mom worked at The University of Nebraska Medical Center in the research department. She worked with mice and rats on a daily basis.

*Side note: I went with her to work a couple times and during one trip she showed me how you humanely kill a mouse...you put a pen or object behind its head and pull its tail to break its neck. I was like 6. This may explain things about me...

Anyway, in one shipment of mice, there arrived a pregnant mouse. I guess they couldn't do testing on pregnant mice, so my mom brought her home. We created a cage for her and allowed her to have her babies. I remember there being 10 all together, but time could have created that number...regardless, there were many of them and my brother and I played with them just as you would a hamster. It was fun. My brother and I would sit in a straddle facing each other and play with the mice in the middle of us. We'd create obstacle courses and everything!

Eventually they grew up and my mom said we had to do something because they would soon start mating with one another.

We let them out in the forest of the park down the street. It was bitter sweet. I'm pretty sure I was over it rather quickly.

The point is, I have many distinct memories of this time. My mother has none. How odd.

Running in Circles

A lot of my friends have started running races. Like real ones. Where you actually run a rediculous amount of miles.

I'm guessing you know how I feel about that. I am not a runner. The thought makes my nose crinkle in dissatisfaction.

I don't know when or why I became so appalled to running. Its silly. Every once in a great while, I will try to convince myself that it is not that bad. That running would be good for me and would be a great stress reliever. But then I walk outside and think...naw, I'll just walk.

I'm not opposed to excercise in general. I did participate in the MS Bike Ride last summer...which was like 80 miles over two days. I like my eliptical.

Running just exhausts me. Even just watching.

But there's still something inside me that wants to be able to say..."Yeah, I just ran a 5K. No biggie."

A Return

I've felt a calling to return to blogging.

I've been on a hiatis due to many things, including a dead laptop and a monotonous feeling about my life (could be low B12 again...).

Anyway, I'm going to try to to get back on the blogging horse.

On a totally different note, I went to Myka's soccer game this morning at one of the local high schools and the band was there getting ready to go to a competition. I was so jealous. At that moment, I would have done just about anything to experience one more Saturday Band Competition. Those were the days. I had so much fun at those competitions! Hmmm...oh, the memories.

Maybe that's what I'll share in my next post. I'll be back soon. I promise.

Blast from the Past

I've been having a lot of weird dreams lately. They often involve people from my past. Its odd. They are people I haven't seen or even thought about in YEARS. Suddenly, they are popping up in my dreams. The other night I was at my childhood friend's house, even they weren't there. Um, I haven't been at that house in 15+ years, as he became too cool for me in 9th grade. Last night, I was hanging out with a bunch of the band nerds from high school (I was one too, so I don't say that in a judgmental way). We were our current ages and hanging out at the dunes on Lake Michigan. Very odd. I can't share details because its weird and awkward....HA!
I think it has to do with the fact that my 10 year reunion is coming up! Its not so much that I'm nervous/scared/excited about it, more that it has brought to mind people that I haven't thought about much in the last few years.
Its odd how our mind works.

Its Fine.

When my brother and I were younger, we'd come home from school and make a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. Then we'd eat half the dough...raw. Then we might cook the remainder for our parents. We LOVED this.

I also remember distinctly riding in the back of the pick up truck numerous times. We used to car pool to school on days we had choir or band or whatever and sometimes when it was my mom's turn to drive we would have to take the truck and pile in the back...there was a topper, but it was just wide open back there. We were always told to sit close to the front or on the sides though. I also very vividly remember getting sick one morning after going out to brunch and on the way home from Omaha I had to ride laying down in the back of the truck because I'd throw up if I was sitting up.

In the good old days, my friend Ali and I would get on our matching bikes and ride around the neighborhood for hours. If it was a hot summer day, we'd wiggle in our swim suits and stop at all the houses watering their lawn and run thru the sprinklers. It was the best. We also would stop at the ditch and swing into it on the branches of the willow tree that hung over it. (That is until someone new moved in and yelled at us!)

The point is, I did all this and more and am still alive to tell about it.

Parents today don't let their kids do that. They don't get to go out and just play. Everything is scheduled. Parents are too worried about their kids getting sick, or fat, or abducted to really let them do anything fun or spontaneous. It makes me wonder what this generation will grow up to be like... I hope I won't be like that as a parent. I hope I remember what its like to play in the backyard until it got dark, to ride bikes all afternoon and to just have time to be a kid.

The Crazy Girl

Inside every female lives a Crazy Girl (I considered calling her Psycho Girl, but that brings to mind a psychotic knife wielding character from an old horror movie and I wasn't going for violent). For most of us females, we can keep Crazy Girl at bay, but she inevitably peaks her head out randomly.

What am I talking about?

If you're female, you know. If you're male, I'll try to explain. Crazy Girl is the irrational part of every female. Most socially accepted females are able to keep her in check and hidden. Some women have a little more trouble with her. She tries her best to come to the forefront and take over all thoughts. She causes women to freak out over nothing. To over analyze notes, phone calls and the like. To read into comments and behaviors of those around them. Crazy Girl likes us to think that just because our friends don't call within a certain amount of time, they don't like us any more. That our boys have someone on the side because they don't want to see us every minute of every day. And maybe that we're going to get fired because she's sure the boss gave us a funny look today.

Crazy Girl is the ultimate Drama Queen. Stirring up shit where there's only a bit of dirt to be seen.

If you're good, Crazy Girl only comes around once in a while. Our rational mind can generally keep Crazy Girl in check and remind us that no, our friends are not mad at us, our boy does not have another girlfriend and our boss is not going to fire us tomorrow. Sometimes we can stop her before the thought even fully forms, but sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes we need help to keep Crazy Girl at bay. Friends, drugs, whatever...

But be warned, when Crazy Girl is in control, she does not easily give up. Sometimes a calm rational voice of reason can shrink her away, but sometimes it only fuels her fire. There are times when she gets on a roll and will turn every word, look and action into a negative. There's not much that can be done at this point. Chocolate. Wine. Sleep. They generally work.

Good luck. And may her visits to you be few and far between.

Evil On Earth

There are few things in this world that I actually hate. I may strongly dislike something or someone or I may abhor it, but hate is reserved for a very few select things.

Like this:

Poison Ivy

Last year, for the first time, I had a terrible run in with the stuff. There were these vines suffocating my trees, so I pulled them down.

Important note for everyone: Hairy vines = poison ivy.

I had it everywhere. It wasn't so bad at first, but then it just seemed to continue to multiply. I finally ended up at the doctors office where I got a shot of steroids. So not fun.

Needless to say, I quickly realized exactly what poison ivy looked like and where it was located in the yard and either stayed away from it or vowed to spray it everyday with weed killer until it was gone. That worked fairly well last year and most was cleared away.

But its back. Last weekend we tilled up some ground for a vegetable garden and another little spot that needed help by the barn-shed. I was out yesterday messing with the smaller spot and noticed some poison ivy near it. I did not want it mixing in with my new plants. I had my gardening gloves on, so I pulled up a couple sprigs. If you don't know about poison ivy, its all connected through a shallow root system, so when I pulled up the few small pieces, I ended up finding some larger roots which I also had to pull up (provides me with some sense of satisfaction when I can get the roots out). I messed with it for maybe five minutes then took the gloves off, went inside and was in the shower within minutes.

Yet some how it got me. The evil poison ivy got me. Today I have a few small spots on my arm. I knew what it was immediately! I'm just hoping it doesn't spread.

Stupid evil poison ivy. I hate it.