Proof that I jog...

Today I ran a 5K with Ben and Buddy. I thought I'd take it easy and run with Buddy. Well, about half way through, he took off ahead of me, never to be seen again--until the finish line. He beat me by about 5 minutes. But, the good news is that I beat my own personal time by a good 5 minutes. Must have been the excitement and adrenaline of the race.

Ben's time was about 19:47, we think that Buddy was about 25 or 26 minutes, and I was 30:something. Usually I'm right at about 35 or 36 minutes for 3 miles.

Treehouse Museum

Lemur and Mister had a fieldtrip to the Treehouse Museum this week. They had a ton of fun...it is definitely something we'll have to do again. Above is Mister riding the zebra. Below is Lemur playing with the safari animals--he did this for the longest time.

Above: crawling through the mouse hole in one of the German house. Below: playing firemen on the firetruck.

Playing on the giant map of the United States.

My Quilt

A couple weeks ago I posted pictures of a quilt my grandmother had made that belongs to my sister. One of the comments asked about the quilt that I got. Here it is--the states' flowers quilt. This quilt belonged to my mom's oldest sister (who my middle name is after) and it is quite worn, but very beautifully detailed.

An interesting thing about this quilt: notice there are only 48 states...Hawaii and Alaska were not states when it was made.

Here are close ups of some of the states. The flowers and state names are all hand embroidered. It is also all hand quilted. Someday I hope to be as wonderful a quilter as my grandmother was.

Gonna try this:

Here is the deal: The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me. My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2. What I make will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be photography, I may sew or stitch or bake something. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do whatever I want!
   

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same deal to 5 of your own lucky blog readers.

So, the first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

Be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Thanks to my cousin Marcy for the fun idea!!!

What I've done today

I've decided to take a page out of my sis-in-law's book (or blog, as the case may be) and list all that I've done today. It rather pales in comparison to her latest, as it sounds like her little ones had the stomach flu! Anyway, it's my life today.

• Woke up at 7am hacking with laryngitis, so I sent Ben to get Buddy up and ready for his carpool.
• Got up to put Missy's hair in hot rollers.
• Woke Bug up for school.
• Cooked sausage and eggs for Bug, got him out the door just in time for the bus.
• Went back to bed for a short while.
• Filled out picture forms for Mister and Lemur.
• Got Mister and Lemur ready for preschool.
• Filled out picture forms for Missy and Bug over lunch.
• Picked up four 4-year-old boys from preschool, and paid for the Treehouse Museum fieldtrip they're taking next week, while Ben picked Buddy up from school.
• Got lunch for four 4-year-olds.
• Watched the 4-year-olds play in the back yard (thank heaven for warm weather!) sent 2 of them home.
• Packed up two screaming 4-year-olds and Buddy to go get Missy from school for an orthodontist appointment.
• Made a dinner of Bisquick biscuits and waffles.
• Left an hour early for Relief Society Enrichment...Missy called me "brain empty" for that mistake. Which is only funny because it's true.

So now I'm blogging while waiting for the real time.

Not happy about this:

Very happy about this:

I got a new rug for my entryway. I saw the perfect one in a JCPenney home sale magazine. It was 50% off, plus I had a coupon for $20 off a purchase of $100 or more. The rug was $99.00 but they applied the coupon anyway, and with shipping it was just about $99. I thought it was a great deal, and the best part is I have had zero buyer's regret. (Something that is, unfortunately, common for me.)

Something I discovered, though, that I just have to pass on here. While I looking on the website for the exact rug I had seen in the ad--they had two prices for it. When I searched for it under the style name and manufacturer, it came up with the original price--no sale price, even when I put it in my shopping cart. But when I searched for it with the item # from the catalog, it came up with the sale price. Pretty tricky of them, huh? I think it's a scam, myself, but that's just me. I'm glad I didn't fall for it, because it was the exact same item, with two very different prices.

March Exercise Log

3/3--3.5 miles
3/4--3.4 miles
3/5--40 minutes of spinning
3/7--3.14 miles
3/18--2.5 mile walk
3/26--3 miles

Quilt

My grandmother on my mom's side was a master quilter. On her granddaughter's 16th birthdays she would make them a beautiful quilt. Unfortunately, she passed away 2 weeks after my mom was married. And, then my mom went on to have 5 daughters! So, we didn't get quilts made specially for us. A few years ago, though, my mom got 5 quilts her mother had made, and we each got one for Christmas. My youngest sister got this coveted quilt. It is my favorite. The pattern is called The Drunkard's Path (for obvious reasons), and it was made out of the red fabric scraps that my mom's pep club dress was made out of in the 1950's. Isn't it stunning?

Just had to share.

Friend

Today Ben and I went for a jog and picked up a friend. About half way through our route, two dogs started following us. I guess this one was right on my heels, so it's a good thing I didn't turn around. I probably would have been scared to death and kicked him. He was a friendly, young chocolate lab, though--and very hungry. The other one was black, and had on a collar and tags, and ditched us when he found someone else to follow. This one stayed with us the whole way. After a while we ran into a man out walking his little dogand this dog (of course) ran over to check things out. The man scooped his little dog right up and yelled at us "Get a leash on this dog!" We held out our hands and said "He's not our dog!" Ben said that happens to him frequently when he runs--a dog will start following him and people will tell him to get his dog out of the road, leash it, etc.

The poor thing was eating cigarette butts and bread he found in the road, so when he followed us home, we gave him some cat food, which he inhaled. We called the county animal shelter and they came and picked him up. I hope they find his family--I'm sure someone's missing him. He was a beautiful dog.