HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Joseph was not a fan of his costume. It didn't help that it was 60 degrees. I thought he looked pretty darn cute though! He did not Trick or Treat but stole plenty of candy out of our candy dish and chewed the wrappers. :) He sat out front with me and helped give out candy to the neighborhood kids.

Black Cat Chase 5K 2010

The whole family ran the Black Cat Chase 5K last night in downtown Frankfort. It's the largest 5K in Frankfort by far. 1540 runners entered this year. It was a bit crazy. I don't like big runs and I learned that I REALLY don't like them while pushing a stroller! I started in the back like the strollers and people with dogs were supposed to, but it was a nightmare to try to get any open space to run! Michael and I had been doing training runs with some people from my gym every week for the past month to get used to the course. It's a tough one with a gradual hill all the way to the capitol building. Well, we had been doing our training runs around the capitol annex which has an even steeper hill to get around it. Someone had said that this was on the race route, so we trained that route. I got a little frustrated because even on my good runs, I still couldn't seem to get much below 40 minutes. My Ipod said I was going 3.5 miles, but it's not uncommon for my iPod + to be off. Anyway, I was feeling this run last night. All the sprinting and shuffling that I did to get out in the open had taken it's toll on me. By the time I got to the Capitol, I was already planning to walk around the Annex. Well, people started cutting behind the Capitol instead of going around the Annex. My first thought was "cheaters..." but then I realized that they wouldn't let people cheat. I wanted to cheer...I wanted to scream....I was so happy!!! It gave me the extra pep I needed to keep going. I didn't walk at all. However, I did have to stop a couple time to put Joseph's hat back on because he kept pulling it off! The clock said 37:55 when I crossed the finish line, but my official chip time was 36:10! I achieved my goal of running it in under 37! Michael and Shelby did great and finished in 28:15!! He had the same issues of trying to get around all the walkers with a dog. Not easy! Joseph did pretty good considering we ran through bedtime. He started crying some during the last mile, but it just made me want to finish faster so that I could pick him up and get him home. He REFUSES to sleep in a stroller!

Here are some pics from last night:Joseph was Darth Vader!

Cheesin'!
Shelby was not interested in taking pictures...he wanted to see people!


I was in the back so that's over 1500 people in front of me!


"Let's go!!" I took off the costume part of his hat before the race. It was already getting on his nerves. I was pretty impressed with my $20 stroller though...it did great! In other stroller news...there was a man with a double stroller with LITTLE twins in it running in like 5th place. He came looping back around before I even got to the mile marker. I wanted to yell, "GO STROLLER DUDE!!" I don't know where he finished since his name was not "Stroller Dude." He was moving on though!

I would like to do a race in November. I've never done a November race before. Michael has already told me that I am doing it alone. It was about to cool last night for him! It may just be Shelby and me...he doesn't mind the cold!!

Oh yeah...you can see the results for the Black Cat Chase here. I was 897th and Michael was 506th.

Cutie Patootie

Hard to believe he is 7 months old!!! This is a picture I snapped this past weekend while we were at my parents'. It was a bit chilly while feeding the animals in the morning!!

Another Year Older....

So, my birthday was Monday. 29. WOW. A lot has happened since I last posted. For one...I turned 29. I know...repetitive. The Munchkin has not been sleeping that great for about 6 weeks or more. I'm sorry...I guess I just got spoiled with him sleeping through the night since he was about 10 weeks old. It started with a growth spurt then hand foot & mouth, then teething, and more teething. He still acts like he is teething and I SOOOO hope that is what is causing all of this. Anyway, I decided to stop nursing him back to sleep when he wakes before 4 AM. Well, the Munchkin decided that if I don't feed him, he will just stay up. Since noise carries really well in our house, that means that I'm up rocking Joseph to keep him quiet so that Michael can sleep. Therefore trading one bad habit for another. It's been a battle. Don't tell him, but he's probably going to win.

Another thing...there is just too much stinkin information on the internet. It's a wonderful resource, but GEEZ! Naturally, I turned to Google to help find a solution to our sleep dillema. Everyone has a different answer and none of them see quite "right." The same goes for when I googled solutions to our solids issue. You see, Joseph ate GREAT from 4 to 6 months. Ate just about anything I put on a spoon. Suddenly...he clamped his mouth shut and it was no more. :( Still every day I sat him in his high chair twice a day and fruitlessly offered him fruit after fruit and veggie after veggie. Recently, he started grabbing the spoon and putting it in his mouth. So, I would load it up, give it to him and he would essentially feed himself (not very efficiently though). Most of the time he slings the spoon and the food goes flying. I decided yesterday to try finger foods. So, I baked some teething biscuits and boiled some carrots. He likes the teething biscuits but they are pretty hard so he doesn't really eat them. The carrots made his dad very nervous that he was going to choke. He did fine though and probably ate the equivalent of a half of one baby carrot. Today I baked some sweet potato fries for lunch and he probably got one down. Small victories, I guess. I just hope every time I sit him down that he is going to open wide for the spoon and eat good like he used to.

In other news, I took Joseph's 6 month pictures and got some ordered. I saved a boatload by doing it with my fancy new camera (well, not when you factor in the COST of the camera). I have been continuing with my bootcamp workouts but have lost no more weight. :( I really need to get back on track. Still feel good though...despite the sleep deprivation that I am still not acclimated to. I bumped up my Black Cat Chase training runs to twice a week and the race is a week from this Friday. I found a Baby Jogger for $20 at the Monterey Fair and after cleaning it up and Michael working on it to get it tracking straight, it works like a charm!! It is a pain to push up that hill to the Capitol though. UGH!

Anyway, hate to sound like a downer today. Just felt like I needed to post to say that I'm still here. I actually have some craftsy posts in the making. Stay tuned! I promise more good stuff is coming once Joseph gets over this patch he's going through or I get used to it!

Chloe aka Trollop, Big T, Paw Paw (July 2000 - October 2010)

I wrote a few blog posts a while back dedicated to notable animals in my life. I never got around to Chloe although I fully intended to do so. Well, I got an email from my mom yesterday telling me that Chloe had passed. So, today I am dedicating my blog post to this sweet, sweet dog.

Chloe as a puppy:I was working at a vet clinic in 2000 the summer after I graduated from high school. This clinic serves as a contracted shelter for surrounding counties which didn't have shelters of their own. However, this is an extremely small clinic with only 8 to 10 kennels and a few cages for smaller dogs/cats. So, the length of stay for these strays was short. Chloe came in with her mom, brothers and sisters from a county that contracted with the clinic to keep them for 4 days (if I remember correctly) to see if they would be claimed or find a new home. Chloe was the only one of her litter that looked like a Border Collie. I have a soft spot for Border Collies as my family has always had them. I made the comment to the vet that I thought she was really cute. Well, the 4 days passed with no takers. One by one, the mother and puppies were gone (I know it's hard to imagine, but this is not a perfect world we live in). Chloe remained....way past the 4 day mark. Every day she had a new sign on her cage saying "Julie- Please take me home." or "Julie- I'm so cute and I love you." Well, I finally talked my mom into letting me bring her home.

At first it was kinda rocky. Chloe loved all people and would constantly run off to other people's houses or follow walkers and runners home. I called her "Ungrateful" many times. Then when she was a year old, she developed allergies really bad and had to get monthly shots. The best we could figure she was allergic to fleas, grass, and I think she had a touch of a food allergy as well. I think it spawned from being kept in such a sterile environment when she was young. As she grew, she looked like a Border Collie only in color and markings. You'll see from the pics below.

Even though Chloe LOVED most all animals (including cats...especially cats), she was brutal to small wild animals. We called her a KOSA (killer of small animals). She would dig up moles and deafen them with her barks. She would go trail riding with me and it would never fail that she would end up killing and carrying around some sort of wild animal.

One thing that Chloe hated was a digital camera. I don't remember her being all scared of regular cameras, but you had to be real sneaky to get her on digital film (explaining why I only have about 10 pics of her on my computer) or you could hold on to her so she couldn't leave:

She loved to show her belly:
I think it stemmed from me checking her belly for redness (as this was the first sign of an allergy flare up) and then she would get her "fix." She loved getting shots. But maybe that was because she knew she would feel better.

Chloe hanging out with the sheep:
Me making her take a picture with me in the truck:
I think this is the first time I took a picture of her with my digital camera....After this picture, she ran every time she heard the *beep* of the camera coming on:
It won't be the same without you, Chloe. You were truly a kind and good soul (except to small animals). I will certainly miss you being our "Doggie Escort" when Joseph and I go for evening strolls. Best escort ever.

Secretariat Festival Big Red 5K

I ran in the Bourbon County Secretariat Festival Big Red 5K over the weekend. It was in Paris, KY which is almost an hour drive...that's a bit far for a morning 5K, but I really wanted to do it. Secretariat is my 2nd favorite race horse after all and Paris is a beautiful town. This was only the 3rd time this race has been held and the first time I've been able to run in it. In 2008, I was recovering from a broken ankle and in 2009 I was recovering from a strained hip flexor/pregnant. This year, I was perfectly well. It was a crisp cool morning. We had to bundle up the munchkin:Michael did not run this time and was able to watch Joseph so that I could run. I couldn't borrow a jogger this time. I took Shelby with me:
He was so excited. I really held him back though. He should have been with the winner!

The last hill was just mean! We started the race at the bottom of it, so we weren't even able to run down it!
Headed toward the finish line:
Joseph and I sharing a post-race banana:
My goal was to finish in less than 40 minutes. My ipod said I did it in 36:56, but my official time was 37:10. Either way I met my goal. I even shaved over 5 minutes off my previous 5K time. To those of you who saw my facebook post saying that I had taken 9 minutes off my time, I had thought my previous time was 46, but I was wrong...it was 42:20. You can see the results here. I placed 72nd out of 97. I was right though...the shirt is super cute and I also got a Secretariat movie poster, so I was pretty stoked! The next 5K is The Black Cat Chase on the 29th. The last time I ran it (2006), I did it in 37:02. I'm aiming to beat that this year!

Michael's Birthday

Yesterday was Michael's birthday. As always, I made a cake for him. I put a lot of thought into Michael's birthday cakes. I had an idea that I thought would be very easy and quick to decorate, but I was wrong! It would have been easier if I hadn't tried to rush and if I hadn't had a munchkin needing attention. But I'm getting ahead of myself....first I would like to share some of Michael's cakes from past years.

Here is last year's cake:So it wasn't a "cake" cake, but cupcakes instead. I decorated them with candy corn, m&ms, lifesavers, gummy worms, and laffy taffy. I thought they were pretty cute.

Cake from 2008:
Probably the easiest cake ever.

2007 Cake:
Most awesome cake EVER!!! If you know Michael, you know of his love of Mountain Dew.

So here is this year's cake:
If you can't figure it out, it's Legos. The cake and icing were from The Girl Who Ate Everything (Love her) and was SOOOO good. The cake was "The Best Chocolate Cake" and the icing was "Frosting that will get you hugs." I used Oreo Cakesters for the "prongs" I had intended to add a little milk to the icing and dip the cakesters so that they would be all nice and smooth, but the icing dissentigrated (sp?) when more milk was added. Then I tried to make a glaze, but that was just a big ol mess. I was going to make another 2 prong piece, but I ran out of icing and I was exhausted and my kitchen was a mess (imagine that!) and so I stuck with 2 Legos. Michael loved them, so I guess that's all that matters.

We got Michael's step mom to watch Joseph and we went out to eat steak. It was wonderful for just the two of us to go out. When we got home and got the munchkin in bed, we ate some cake. I guess the sugar got to us because shenanigans ensued:
Daysie was jealous that Shelby was wearing the ribbon and not her....


Shelby didn't want to wear the ribbon...he doesn't like "looking pretty."