Mice and Spiders and Wasps OH MY!

     Recently we began sharing our home, not by choice, with two types of wasps, a variety of spiders and a mouse.  While we've had each of these at some point in the past, this is the first time they've all arrived at nearly the same time. 
     The wasps showed up first and for some reason were segregated.  I have no idea if that is usual wasp behavior.  Nevertheless, we had normal everyday wasps making their nest in the front of our house and some skinny kinda yellow looking wasps in the back yard.  We saw where the normal everyday wasps had nested.  As yet we haven't seen the actual home of the backyard wasps but first discovered them while covering the pool for the winter.  Suddenly three groups of about 100 each were RIGHT THERE!!!! Never saw the King of the Castle move quite so fast!  As soon as we discovered that the wasps appeared to be sleeping, he began taking pictures so he could brag about his adventure. 
     The spiders are something that usually appear every fall.  Personally I enjoy watching them as long as they don't get too close.  But when our middle son summoned me to the garage to show me a black widow spider, I wasn't so thrilled.  He began explaining the markings and identifications and I squished it.
     A second spider built a beautiful web right outside our kitchen window.  That spider was huge!  I enjoyed watching, in safety, from inside of the kitchen while washing dishes.  But our two youngest kids insisted it go away and they weren't going to be the ones to accomplish this.  So, the King of the Castle stepped in and saved the day.
     Now those pesky skinny yellow looking wasps were a different story.  The King and our fourth in line to the thrown devised a plan.  The King brought home two cans of wasp and hornet spray that had a jet stream of 27 feet.  His heir set up a bright light to shine where the wasps were known to be hanging out.  A second back door was unlocked so that the King/pest conqueror could run around to the other side of the house and quickly escape into our yellow garage should the wasps decide to fight back.  And yes, he did use that door!  The remainder of the great wasp hunt was carried out thru window screens and an occasional opened and quickly closed door. 
     That mouse.  Oh boy that mouse.  Unlike most mice, there were no little 'signs' left lying around.  Just an occasional glimpse of a quick little gray creature running from under one appliance to another.  The kids and I had tried sticky traps but the mouse was too smart for that.  So, again the King of the Castle came to the rescue.  After he baited the snapping traps with peanut butter, we waited.  Expecting to hear a snap and a scream any moment, we waited some more....until this morning.  As the King was getting ready to leave for work, he woke me to tell me he had sent me something on my phone. Two pictures of the trapped mouse and the caption "I'm stuck!" 
     Spiders gone.  Mouse gone.  And while there are still a few wasps to conquer, I am confident that our great wasp hunter and wasp hunter junior will make short work of those soon.

Think on These Things

Seems like I always write about happy things.  And I'm sure some of my readers (all 2 or 3 of you) wonder why.  While my life is far from perfect, I've learned that dwelling on the not-so-great things doesn't do me any good.  The Word tells us in Philippians 4:8 to think on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely or admirable. It says that if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, we are to dwell on these things.  Verse 9 goes on to say that if we dwell on these things, the peace of God will be with us.  Peace isn't the absence of conflict but it is the presence of God. We can all use more of God's peace so I choose to 'think on these things' whenever possible.
That being said, I have a new car!!!!!!!!!  It has just about every bell and whistle I could ever imagine on a car!  I ask it to make a call and it makes a call.  Unfortunately it doesn't always call who I ask it to call.  But still.  A car that talks to me and makes phone calls! So cool!  Also it has a backup camera that displays on a screen on the dash when I back up.  So I sit in the driveway with the car in reverse just so I can use the camera!  Just how cool is that!  (Ok, so maybe I'm just easily entertained!)
Yesterday I needed to make a short trip out of town.  I was traveling alone so I didn't have my human GPS with me like I normally do when I go out of town.  I set the car GPS and also my phone GPS just in case.  They gave me directions....different directions!  Between the two of them I got close to my destination but finally had my car call for better directions and my car and I arrived safely.  
The radio on this car is also a new experience for me.  One of the first things I learned was setting up the Bluetooth where my music plays from my phone.  If anyone has read my tweets, you know I LOVE the song "Overcomer" by Mandisa.  Somehow I got my phone set to repeat the song and my new car played "Overcomer" non-stop for quite some time!  Then I discovered Satellite radio.  While I'm sure the drivers behind me have become quite distraught at times as I slowed down to figure out my radio, I was thrilled to find I can listen to Elvis all day every day!  Well at least until the 90 day free trial is over.
Whatsoever things are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely or admirable.  I could get discouraged thinking my car has too much for me to learn.  Or I can look at it as something fun and a challenge.  But since I had my last car for 3 years and still wasn't sure how to turn on the headlights,  you might not want to follow me too closely.  Just smile and think on these things. 

'Grown' Kids

     Seventeen.  That's the age our youngest child and only daughter turned last week.  And tonight she came to me for help with an experiment for her psychology class.  She didn't seem very pleased with the results.  I kinda got the feeling I might now become a case study for the whole class!
     With her turning 17 that means that in just one year all of our kids will be considered adults.  With three in college, you'd think I would get used to that idea.  But somehow it still catches me off guard.  Like yesterday when our middle son was sick and I took him to the doctor.  I was sitting in the doctor's office looking at my 21 year old, 6 feet tall son and realizing I'm looking at a grown man.  The nurse asked the usual questions....like if he was allergic to any medications.  Somehow remembering all that was a lot easier when I was remembering it for five young children.  And I was never going to be one of those moms who forgot important things like that!
     While I may not remember anymore who is allergic to what (so we just all stay away from certain meds...it's easier that way) I do remember their birth dates, weights, lengths, time of day they were born and what the weather was like.  I can tell you the personalities of each child from before they were born.  Now why couldn't this information be a part of that psychology experiment?  I would have aced that test for sure!
     I also remember those little cherub faces.  Awwww....those sweet little faces.  Round little cheeks.  Happy, sometimes toothless, smiles.  Snot running down from their cute little noses, almost dripping into those heart melting little smiles.....Well that's the way it really was! 
       As a parent you try to do what's best for your kids.  You try to teach them right from wrong, protecting them from tv shows etc that you feel inappropriate.  Then, when they do grow up, they confess that they took turns being the lookout for mom to come down the hallway while their siblings watched that forbidden show! 
     Just yesterday our driveway was filled bikes and trikes.  Today, we own a fleet of vehicles that spill over the driveway onto the yard and into the street!  Kissing a scraped knee from a bicycle accident was easy although it broke mom's heart that one of those little ones was hurt.  Now it's new tires, dented fenders, and even a couple of totaled cars.
     Grown kids.  Well.....we're almost there.  Sad.  Glad.  Proud.  Thankful.

My First 5k YEA!!!!

Never thought I would ever be saying that I just ran in my first 5k but that's exactly what I did last night.  This time last year I had declared myself a sweat hater and said swimming was the only exercise I would do.  But because I was diagnosed as pre diabetic and pre hypertensive in January, I knew I had to make some changes and make them fast.
After my diagnosis, I called my oldest son, Kyle, who was in his senior year in college, majoring in nutrition.  He advised me on what to eat and suggested I start walking at least.  Now I not only hated sweating (and I don't even like using the word 'hate' so using it here shows just how much I disliked exercise etc) I also hated wearing tennis shoes.  Because Kyle had been a runner since junior high and had sold athletic shoes for several years, he took me shoe shopping.  He was very patient as I tried on pair after pair.  Kyle listened to each issue I had with each pair until he found the perfect pair.  And quite the shoes they are!  Lime green with hot pink shoe strings! 
Now I absolutely love those shoes except for the fact that my pedicure doesn't show.  Of course I have my open toed 5 inch heel platform shoes for that!  And yes, I do enjoy wearing my high heels best.  But when I put on those lime green and hot pink running shoes I'm revived, refreshed and sweating like crazy!
So anyway, a couple of months ago I decided to prepare to run a 5k but wasn't going to tell Kyle.  My plan was to run and then text him a picture to show him what I had done.  Somehow he caught on to my little scheme.  He texted me and told me he was running with me in my first 5k.  About a month later I got an email just as I finished running in my neighborhood.  It was from Christian Women's Job Corp (CWJC).  Since I had mentored with CWJC and felt like it was an organization very much worth supporting, their Rock and Glow run seemed the perfect 5k for me.  And Kyle was all set to run right by mom, encouraging.....like a drill sergeant!
Race day finally arrived!  As we talked about the race yesterday and I asked what to expect etc, Kyle began to feel that competitive urge and decided he might just race instead of running along with me.  As I didn't want to hold him back, I encouraged him to do just that.  So we showed up at the Rock and Glow 5k, he in his lime green shirt and shoes and me in my hot pink top and lime green and pink shoes, and ran!  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!  
At the end of the first mile I was surprised to have a time of 9:07!  Of course Kyle was way ahead of me and that was good.  When I looked at my running app at around 22 minutes I figured he had completed the course.  He had and finished with a time of 22:30, which he thought was terrible.  He came in 3rd over all (sorry I tweeted that he came in 2nd but that's what I get for tweeting right at the end of the race and before oxygen had starting reaching my brain again) and he started back to encourage mom.  With about 3/4 of a mile to go, I started hearing Kyle's voice.  He was cheering other runners on, encouraging them, telling them they were doing a good job.  As I rounded the curve I saw my son waiting for me.  When he saw me he started cheering for mom!  I got to where he was standing and he started running with me. That drill sergeant in him kicked in!  Every few steps Kyle would tell me I could do better and "faster mom, you can do this."  "Don't let these people beat you!"  "Look! I'm walking faster than you are running!".  I thought I was going to throw up and told him so.  Kyle's response....if you don't throw up while running, you aren't running hard enough!  He pointed out the big clock at the end of the race and told me to watch it.  My fastest time while practicing had been 33:49.  And yes, I know that's not 'burning it up' but when you are 52 years old and only started running that distance 2 months prior, I was pleased with that time.  Not Kyle though.  He wanted me to do even better.  So in 90+ degree weather and humidity heavy enough to choke somebody, I did my best to beat my fastest time and not throw up in the process.  And I did it thanks to Kyle!  My time was 32:45!  I didn't throw up.  I didn't fall. I didn't get lost.  And I finished the race with more people behind me than in front of me!
Let me now encourage everyone to exercise!  Sweating  is still not my favorite thing.  But after changing my diet and starting to get real exercise, I am no longer pre diabetic and no longer pre hypertensive.  I have lost a bunch of weight....new clothes yea!!!!!   I feel better than I have in years.  And while I believe I look a little younger too, being mistaken as my 22 year old son's wife instead of his mother last night, was a bit much but a real hoot! :)