Thanksgiving 2008

I have so many things to be thankful for this year. First, my wonderful husband, Greg! I'm also grateful for my stepsons, my family, my animals, my home, my town, having jobs, and many many more things.

A big thing to be grateful for... not having cancer. I had a mammogram last week, and they called me back the next day for more images. I went in on Wed for additional mammograms and saw what looked like a tumor on my first set of films. Well, when they do additional images, they squish you even more. So, they did and what looked like a potential tumor squished away, so NO tumor! Yeah! However, now I get to have annual mammograms. Not a bad deal.

So, what did you do today? I had 2 Thanksgiving meals to attend. Actually, we alternate dinner at one set of parents and dessert at the other. So, I had a Lufkin dinner and Emery pie. It was so much fun!

How do you avoid all the potential weight gain when trying to diet? You run in the morning! So, I did the Turkey Trot 5K in downtown Minneapolis today. It was in the 20s, but so much fun. I took a ton of pictures during the run and just relaxed. It was slow, but beautiful. I'm so glad I did it. Now, I'm ready for the Northfield Jingle Bell Run in 3 weeks! We get bells for our shoes during the 5K! I can't wait!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What have I been doing?

Why has it taken me so long to update my blog? Greg was home for a week and a half, and we got so much done around the house. We worked in our basement, finishing the walls of the family room. We completed mudding and taping the walls. Greg had the patience to teach me how to do the mudding and taping, and it was a blast! Now, the house is full of sheetrock dust.

We then set to paint. You can see what we've chosen to do on the right. As an homage to the Minnesota Wild hockey team, we painted the walls the team colors! OK, so we're not that psycho, we just liked the colors. Since the colors are so strong, each half took 4 coats of paint. We are then going to put up a 6 inch piece of pine for the chair rail. I was holding up this piece of wood to give you the effect. We're pretty happy so far. Now, we're working on the built in bookcase on the west wall.

Today, I went for a good run. I was only going to do 2 1/2 miles, but gutted it out and did a whole 5K. This is good, because I'm going to do the Lifetime Fitness Turkey Trot 5K Run on Thanksgiving morning. I still can't believe I signed up to run outside in the winter. What was I thinking? It should be a blast though. Everyone wears the same number, 2008. There is also a kids carnival. My brother's friend, Cheryl, will be running it too. So, Bill and Scout are going to come and cheer us on.

So, while I was working out, and sweating my butt off, what were the animals doing? Sleeping! This is what my evening with them has been like. Pretty exciting in the Lufkin house!

MICE!!!!!

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

I just got home from Mississippi today. I was happy and relaxed. I was relaxing on my couch, enjoying my day, when I heard my girl cat, Thunder, letting out a loud and low growl. Greg and Chris told me about this growl. That growl means MOUSE!

OK, I thought I'd try to ignore it. It may go away (the "mouse" sound). Then, I saw Boomer, my boy cat, head toward the growl. I looked towards the dinning room table and saw Boomer chase a little gray thing. MOUSE!!!!

Now, I had just talked to Greg 1/2 hour before this. He was headed to bed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and I couldn't talk to him. So, I ran upstairs to my room to call my mom. Isn't that what everyone does? My mom was very sympathetic to my misery. She gave me a pep talk and told me to call her when it was all over.

I headed down stairs with a plastic bag over my hand as protection. I stood in the living room for 5 minutes, getting up the courage to go near the mouse. The cats traded time with their prey, wearing it down. It was squeaking and exhausted. Thunder couldn't handle it much longer, she grabbed it in her mouth and took off. I got some cat treats to make a trade, I trade I wish I didn't have to make.

She dropped the tiny field mouse and I grabbed it with my bag-gloved hand. I ran for the door and flung it off the deck. Then, I started to breath again. I was sweating bullets. I was shaking. The terror was almost too much for me, but I conquered my fear and saved the house from the evil field mouse!

I HATE MICE!!!