5 birds looking for a new home

About 3 months ago, a bird built a nest on my front porch. This little bird built her home precariously on the small ledge of a column on the front porch. I wish I would have seen her building the nest so that I could have knocked it down before she put so much effort into the nest. Unfortunately, I did not notice it until she had laid her 4 little eggs.
Now, I do not like birds. I know this makes me weird, but they poop on you, and your clean car, fly at you, and are just very unpredictable little creatures. All this being said, I am not a monster and could not bring myself to remove the nest with the eggs still in it.

Let's fast forward a couple of months. The eggs have hatched and momma bird has taught the little ones how to fly. They are taking day trips and returning at night. One night, I needed to go outside after dark to water my flowers. I glanced out the window to see all 5 birds in the small nest. I carefully opened the front door and quickly shut the door so they wouldn't fly in the house. All birds were watching me. Then all of a sudden...... BIRDS WERE FLYING AT ME!!!
That night I decided to give the little ones 2 more weeks and then while they were out I would knock the nest down. Well, today marks 2 weeks. This morning while all the birds were out I knocked their home down and have cleaned up all the nasty bird poop left on the front porch. Although, I am happy they are gone, I still feel somewhat guilty that I destroyed their home.

Hoop Dancing

Tonight I tried a brand new class at my gym called Hoop Dance. I arrive a little early and find 3 women already practicing with pretty silver and red hoops. The instructor was giving individual tips to each. One lady was most likely mid 70's one in her 50's and the other in her 30's. The older two women seemed to have knack for this hooping business. After watching for a few minutes I had a friend encourage me to grab a hoop and try. Now, in my mind I was thinking: "you have got to be kidding me! This is so easy!" That was before I tried. I could not get that silly hoop to stay in place to save my life. But after 60 minutes of practicing I can now tell you my dear friends that I now can hula with the best of them (actually - I was THE WORST!).

It was so much fun having 12 people of all ages hula hooping at the gym. The hour flew by quickly, and there were only minor casualties when my hoop sailed across the gym twice. OOPS! :) I was actually surprised that I could work up a sweat "hooping" and SHOCKED to find that I had bruises on both hips. Oh well, a small price to pay for an hour of pure embarrassing fun!

If I can get better at this hoop dance stuff, I would love to purchase some hula hoops for my kiddos at school and we can hula together at recess! I encourage everyone to go out and buy you a hula hoop and start hula hooping. Happy Hooping!

Happy 4th!

For the 4th of July, I drove out to Abilene to visit my mom. All day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we spent by the pool swimming and grilling out. My puppy, Copper LOVES going swimming! I couldn't decide which video was cuter, so you can see them both! This was my first attempt to use the new video camera, so the quality isn't that great, BUT you can still see how much my dog loves swimming!

Sweet Animals

After reviewing my blog, I realized I didn't have any pictures up of my sweet animals. So here are some pictures for your enjoyment! As you can tell, the chair is a favorite of both Copper and Punkin. Copper is a 3 year old Pomeranian and is not a very well balanced dog. He seems to obsess over things like his ball. As you can see from the picture he even sleeps with it!

Punkin weighs 21 pounds (the vet says he is "big boned" and carries the weight well. He is very sensitive about his weight, and does not like for you to look at his belly, or try and touch it. Punkin has been on a prescription diet for about a month now, and we are going back to the vet for the big weigh in next week. Stay tuned for the Feline Biggest Looser!

No evidence of any mice!

YEA!!!!! The bug man came this morning. I told him to look VERY closely to see if he saw any evidence of mice. He checked the attic, the garage and every little spot a little creature may want to hide, and guess what?!?!?!?!?.......... DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!................ There is no evidence of any mice anywhere in my home or surrounding my home. WAHOOOOO!!!! Praise GOD!

Fear of Mice...... continued

Ok, so one more mouse blog to catch you up to speed on my very real fear of the tiny creatures, and my current problem.
College: I woke up after an afternoon nap to my roommate asking if I was ok. I had been crying in my sleep because I had a dream about a mouse in the dorm room that was trying to get me. When I ran from the mouse it would change colors. How SPOOKY!

2007 - I was in my school, and had just given my class over to my student teacher for one of her first times teaching a lesson. I thought I would grab my Diet Dr. Pepper from the freezer at the back of the room and settle in to complete an evaluation. When I reached in I noticed something brown and fury. So I quickly retrieved my hand. I went back for a 2nd look, and sure enough my fear was confirmed a FROZEN rat in my freezer. Apparently, my face turned white as a ghost, I gasped and ran from the room. My poor student teacher (Lauren) was left to continue teaching not knowing why I had fled the room.
I ran down to the office and ran into the custodian, Maria. I quickly told her what happened and she was off to take care of the problem. I must have been talking loudly because here comes my principal to see what was going on. We walked back to my classroom and he pulled the freezer into the hall. Down the hall, Maria is approaching with the flat bed dolly to haul the freezer away. (She had checked it out, and she saw what I had described to her) As my principal slowly opened the door, to see that terrible thing I had described he reached in and.................handed me an exploded Diet Dr. Pepper can. OOPS! All that ruckus for nothing.

All of this to say that I have known that when I bought my house I would more than likely run into a mouse or two. My house is in a very new neighborhood, and they are building things all around. My backyard also backs up to a big tree farm. Well, my neighbor has been very good at telling me what things to get to take care of certain issues that arise when you own your home. He noticed evidence of mice in his garage so he put out poison and I did the same. He called the other night to let me know that he is changing his mouse poison to traps because he keeps finding dead mice that are stinking up his garage. EWWWWWWW!!!!!! I am soooo terrified of finding a mouse alive or dead. YUCK! I am scared of traps because EW it kills them, and a sticky trap, even grosser because it is still alive. EW EW EW!!!! Needless to say, I have called my pest control people to come and check out my side. So far I have not noticed any evidence of mice in my garage, but I will keep you posted. You know how people have invisible fences for their pets? Well, I am praying that God has one around my side of the house and they all go to his side to die. Wanna be my neighbor?

The Fear of Mice...... The Beginings

Ok, if you even half way know me, you know that I am absolutely, deathly afraid of mice. To understand this fear let me take you back many years ago to a time when I was about 12. I happened to be sitting on my bed doing some kind of homework when I looked up and noticed that there was a big, black pile on the carpet. I got up and made sure I scolded my sweet, blind dog named Panda. I got a tissue and went to clean up the mess. Well, as I reached down to pick it up, the poop came alive and ran into my room!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! This alone is enough to scar a person FOREVER!!!! I continued screaming and ran to my mom's room only to have the little devil FOLLOW ME. So, then I ran screaming back to my bedroom only to have that monster follow me back!!!! That mouse was NOT normal and I believe was enjoying torturing me. So after all the screaming, yelling, dancing, and running I convinced my mom to take me to my Grandparents house to sleep. I am still grateful for her allowing us to give everything to the mouse and save ourselves.