The Monday Report

We are down for the count here at The Halverson home. A bunch of head-cold sickos, minus Blake who thus far has escaped the plague upon us, and if that's not enough, yesterday, after coming home from a funeral, I slammed my thumb in the car door and silently cried for 10 minutes while Russell gently rubbed my back and talked of poking a hole right through my thumbnail to relieve the blood pressure, and all I could think was... not that, God, please not that. Soooooo, it's a bit of a sad life right now. Womp, womp.

But! It's a new day! And I didn't have to endure thumb torture after all, and it's supposed to be beautiful all week, according to the weather report (in fact, Thursday's description is "delightful with some sun" HA) so we have that going for us.

(Although really, is there anything ruder than a head cold on an 80 degree day?!)

Anyway. How was YOUR weekend? Sunday notwithstanding, we actually had a pretty good one. Friday night I attended the women's bible study kick off night at our church and had a really great time. Cooper had a cross country race Saturday morning and came 13th out of something like 80 middle school boys, and that evening we went to our first college volleyball game to cheer on our niece, Miranda, who is a starter for Multnomah University. She rocked it! So Yeah Jesus and sports!

And that's pretty much it for the report. Chances of me finally finishing the last season of Gilmore Girls on Netflix today are almost at 100%, if that gives you a hint of my plans for the day ;)

The Maiming of the Shrew {A Monday Confessional}

Upside to country living: fewer visits from Jehovah Witnesses.
Downside to country living: more visits from pests and rodents.

Last week the kids reported several black mouse sightings in the house, and in odd places for a mouse, like in the boys' bedroom and the hallway closet. Usually we catch our mice under the kitchen sink. (Sadly, at least once every few months.)

I moved a mouse trap to under the boys bed, but no luck, it got set off but nothing was caught. I had horrible flashbacks of the time a rat got in our house and kept setting off the traps, so asked Russ to set a rat trap for me, but before he got to it, I finally had my own sighting. And while it wasn't a rat, it wasn't a mouse either, it was a little black shrew, and I'm afraid to say that the circumstances of our meeting were unfortunate.

I was sitting on the toilet.

VULNERABLE AND UNARMED.

It scuttled out of who-knows-where, made a beeline for the closed door, couldn't fit under, so turned and ran straight towards my feet. My feet, people! It's safe to say that I panicked.

As in, squealed, lifted up my sandaled foot, and stomped on it. 

(Does this make me a redneck? My biggest fear is that this makes me a redneck.)

The next step was calling for backup... because I was afraid to lift up my foot in case it wasn't dead, and also because I didn't really want to see the aftermath of what I'd done. Russ came to my rescue and laughed when I finally lifted my foot.

Flat as a pancake, guys. Poor thing. May it rest in peace.

And not have any family members left in my house.

P.S. feel free to virtually high-five me for the corny title ;)

Monday Confessional - potty stop

We're going to file this one under: "why do these things happen to me?"

Picture this.

You're camping over the weekend with a large group at a pretty full campground. One morning you wake up early and need to go to the bathroom, so you decide to take your dog on a leash so she can go potty too. Your husband, waking up from your movements, decides he also needs to use the restroom, so you walk together down the row of camping sites to the group bathrooms, you waiting outside with the dog while your husband goes first, so he can take the dog when he's done.

Do you have that picture in your mind?

Next, out comes your husband, and as you hand him the dog leash and walk towards the ladies end he stops you and says, "what's that hanging off your backside?" And you look behind you and in horror realize a long trail of toilet paper is sticking out of the waistband of your sweatpants.

Now remember, you haven't gone to the bathroom yet.

This means it accidentally got stuck there when you visited the loo before climbing into your sleeping bag the night before, when you were a good "public restroom user" and put toilet paper down on the seat first (doubling it because it's the stupid single ply kind, making it extra long), and it somehow managed to stay attached in it's entirety THE ENTIRE NIGHT.

SINGLE PLY, PEOPLE.

I don't even know how that is possible. But of course, it happened to me.

{actual distance from our site to the bathrooms. aka - way too far to possibly go completely unnoticed, is what I'm thinking.}

I lead a charmed life, I tell ya! 

Family Campers + Back to School

Our last hurrah of summer was a camping trip to Foster Lake over Labor Day weekend for our church "family camp".

It was loads of fun, so don't go by Miley's face... she's just pouting about being leashed all weekend.  

Instead, look at these faces! Nothing says family camp like multiple games of Smart A**! Seriously, SUCH a fun game.

Let's peruse some pics from the weekend, shall we? 

{the parentals. fun camp neighbors and generous french toast sharers :) }

And while we're sharing pictures, let's kill two birds with one stone and cover the return to school too. 

7th grade, 9th grade, and 2nd grade for these three. 

I always dread back-to-school and the end of my favorite season, but it has been kind of nice to get back to a more structured routine, because let's be honest, our structure and routine took a flying hike this summer. 

It was fun! But sending your kids away for the day is a little fun too ;)

Awkward & Awesome Thursday

Awkward:
- when your two boys, left home alone for a couple hours, tell you that they occupied their time by watching Rocky IV on Netflix, turning up the volume as loud as they could during Eye of the Tiger while jumping around the room, and then in a fit of pumped up macho-ness, both drank a raw egg from a glass.
Me: WHAT?! oh my gosh, gross!" 
Cooper: "and then Blake said, "hit me with another one!"

BOYS.

- when you take your new junior higher down to his school the day before it begins to practice opening his locker... and after multiple failed attempts on his part, realize you can't figure it out either. So you have to call for backup: the new 9th grade big sister - who of course opens it on her first attempt and then shakes her head at you. Listen. It's been 18 years, ok? MOM'S A LITTLE RUSTY.

- when your new 2nd grader only makes it to the second day of school before being discovered by teacher as: "definitely the chattiest one of them all". (I wish I could say this came as a surprise to me.)

- when your dog wakes you up at 1:47 am by growling and barking out the french doors in your bedroom, and your husband's out of town, so you spend the next 15 minutes on high alert with your heart pounding out of your chest before finally taking a Tylenol PM even though you have to be up in 4 hours. YAWWNN. (But hey, everyone's still alive in the morning so... win.)

- when you come home to find this on your dining room table...

CREEPY. 

(But still kinda impressive, right? I thought it was Iron Man but Coop informed me it's a mannequin head for making fabric masks on. Ohhhhh.)

Awesome:
- when your husband comes home after being away for 5 days and your whole body instantly relaxes and you know you're finally going to sleep well that night.

- school night bedtimes for the kids and the quiet house that follows... ahhhhh.

- Fall produce fresh from your front yard.

- getting paid to help someone pack for a trip when you just offered to do it for fun! Why planning trip outfits and packing suitcases is enjoyable to me, I could not answer you, but it is, and yesterday I felt like a superwoman when I helped a sweet lady headed to France for three weeks pick out mixable outfits and accessories and fit them all easily into a carry-on suitcase, with room to spare. That's right, I'm pretty much a packing ninja!

- new sports adventures! Coop decided to try cross country this year and low-and-behold, he's pretty darn good at it!

ALSO OF IMPORT: cross country races last 20 MINUTES. That's it. I think I have a new favorite sporting event to watch ;)