Catfish Crawl 5K

Saturday was a long anticipated day for me! It was my first official 5K! I had signed up for this about 3 months prior and the closer it got, I had mixed feelings. One day I'd be like "why did I ever do this??" and the next day I'd be excited for the challenge!

The night before I dreamed I showed up to the race in flip flops and convinced Dan to run home for my shoes, while I held off the race! :D Then I dreamed I needed to use the restroom and the room I went into was so small I could hardly get in it. So I was happy to wake up and know they were just dreams and know that nothing that crazy was going to happen! :)

Picking up our running bibs, shirts and other paraphernalia.

There were quite a few people in the race that we knew, either from church, or from our running group, A Case of the Runs. :)

Ashley Wesselhoeft, Caleb, Christine and Abby Ayers.

Dan, Danny and myself all signed up to run. Tamara was our photographer! :)

A good friend from church, Ruth Drawbond.

Ruth and her daughter Beth.

There were 130+ runners registered....it doesn't look like that many, but I think you just can't see the people in the back!

Some finishing pics of our family and some of our friends....

Eric Miller, white shirt, is the one who got us started with running by using the C25K program. He lost a significant amount of weight in the last year and a half!

Eric set a new PR of 25:42!! He also won 3rd place in his age category!

(Just so you know, the time showing on the screen is the time elapsed since the horn blew. It took the back of the pack a little time to get to the start line because of the amount of people. So that's why the numbers are a little off! :) Every runner had a chip mounted on their bib that registered when they crossed the start and then the finish line!)

Beth Drawbond did it is 28:16!! She won 3rd place in her age category!

Dan also set a new PR of 28:53!! :)  He came in 7th in his age category.

Danny had a time of 30:09. He's done better but his ankle was giving him trouble. :( He DID win 2nd in his age category, though, but because of a glitch in the system, they only discovered it later in the day, so he was not recognized and will only get his medal tonight!

UPDATE:

Danny received his medal tonight when the group ran the Trammel Bridge.

He is thrilled! :)

Ruth's time was 38:31. This was also her 1st race! She won 2nd place in her age category!!! :)

And here comes I! :) The man in the yellow shirt was near me the whole time, and toward the end, I thought I was going to beat him. At the last minute he sprinted by me. Later he came to me and said "I just couldn't let you beat me"!! :)

My time was 42:00!!! I was super happy! I have only run 3.1 miles 2 other times in my life (both in the last month) The first time Dan was running with me and encouraging me....that time I made it around 45 minutes. The 2nd time, I ran alone and it was hot and humid. That time it took me 48 mins.

My goal was to make it under 45, so I was super happy!! :)

I did it!!

I came in 10th in my age category! :)

After the last runner came in, they had a 1 Mile Fun Run for the little kids. Some of them had older family members run with them. :)

Carmen Miller (age 11), Eric's daughter came in first!! :)

 So, the 2013 race is over, now I need to work at improving my time to see what kind of record I can set next year!!!! :)

A HUGE thanks to my Hubby and my kids for encouraging me and cheering me on through this long, hard journey!

Also thanks to my church, facebook and A Case of the Runs friends for the encouragement as well!!

I don't think I would have had the motivation without all that support!! And if I can do it, ANYONE can do it!! Trust me! :)

Tuesday At My House

We got home Sunday night from a 10 day trip to PA. I have lots of pictures, but don't feel like working at that post today. So I'll give you a small glimpse of my morning.

A few weeks ago, a facebook friend posted how to make peanut butter from JUST peanuts.

So I tried it this morning....

Take a can of peanuts like this (I'm sure salted would be fine, too)

And blend it in your food processor for 5-6 minutes.....

and voila! You have some creamy, easy peanut butter!

 I did add a small amount of honey to mine, but it wasn't enough to taste. Next time I think I'll add more.

It needs to be refrigerated.

While we were in PA, two young men came by and edged our sidewalk for us. They recently started a lawn care business and did this as charity for us! It looks 100% better than before! :)

But now I see there is a new ant hill that needs attention! :P

Some of the plants growing around here.

I have no idea what this is? It grew up next to an azalea bush we had planted there (which since died). But it gets pretty blue/lavendar flowers almost all summer long!

The knock-out rose bushes are in full bloom. We have 3 of them.

The Magnolia trees are getting new leaves and are growing taller!! :)

My lone flower bed. I mulched it before we left on our trip and since we got back I noticed all these little tiny weeds growing up. I'm thinking lesson learned....don't buy cheap mulch! You never know what comes along with it!! :(

Our tomato plant is getting flowers on it and the carrots and potato's are doing well, too! 

Container gardening might work well for us?? 

Also have dill, cilantro and lavendar on the window sill in the living room and they are all growing. I need to use the cilantro soon! :)

Safe Vinegar Based Cleaner!!

Yesterday my friend Emily told me about a cleaner she found on Pinterest that works wonders on soap scum and hard water build-up in tubs and on faucets/shower heads. 

I am going to share my story....

I came home and gathered the necessary ingredients......white vinegar, lemon juice, dish soap and an empty spray bottle.

First I filled the spray bottle about half way with white vinegar.....

Then I added 1/4 cup lemon juice.

And then squirted in dish soap to fill the bottle about 3/4 full.

Closed the bottle and shook it good.

This is my new, pink, safe cleaner. :)

I was going to spray it on and work at my "problem tub" yesterday, but my camera batteries went dead. So this morning I sprayed my nasty tub with the above concoction and left it sit for 30 minutes. I took an old toothbrush and scrubbed a bit. Then I took off the faucet covers, which were NASTY inside, and sprayed everything good again. I scrubbed once more with the old toothbrush and a little scrubby.

Sprayed it one more time, scrubbed one more time, and it now looks beautiful!! :) I am so thrilled. I learned that this is also a great toilet bowl cleaner! Yay!! :)

The tub BEFORE:

And AFTER:

 (look at that shine!!)

I still have a little scrubbing to do on the ring in the tub, but I am thrilled with how well this worked. I also used it on the bathroom sink faucet, but didn't get pics.

BTW, I have scrubbed that brown ring in the top tub pic with all sorts of cleaner and nothing would touch it! Look at the difference this cleaner made in just a short time!! :O I am beyond thrilled!!

I wanted to share....I hope it works for you, too!! :)

Of Wild Animals

As I mentioned in a previous post, Danny got a turkey 2 weekends ago. Since Dan doesn't have any experience in dealing with turkeys, he didn't want to butcher it till he knew what was required by a taxidermist if we wanted to get it mounted or at least get the beard and tail mounted. So they neatly wrapped it up and stuck it in my freezer! :O

In our research we discovered a full turkey mount was around $500-600. So that wasn't an option. Mounting just the tail, beard and spurs was around $90.

In the mean time, Danny told us he would like to mount the tail, beard and spurs himself. He could get a kit at Walmart for $20 and he had been watching YouTube videos enough that he was confident he could do it. We decided to let him try it.....after all, this is HIS first turkey and it would be more special, even if it doesn't turn out taxidermist quality!

So Sunday night we got the turkey out of the freezer and Monday afternoon he tackled the job ahead of him with great eagerness. I sat on the porch and watched him, because what fun is it to work alone? :) And of course I needed to get some pics! :)

The first thing he did was cut the beard off.....and discovered it has two beards!! :) He's heard of that before and so he was excited to discover that was the case with this one!

Next he cut out the breast meat. I got the job of cleaning and freezing it! :)

Here's the tail, beard and spurs sitting with salt drying them out. Not sure how long they have to be like that till he can mount them, but they are sitting in his bed room! :P

He did a fine job so far....I think I can say he is a true hunter!! I'm impressed with how well he did in taking care of this task! I enjoy watching him do something he enjoys! :)

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Sunday night we were visiting with our friends Dave & Shannon Z. and on the way home, just down from their house, a deer came bounding out of the woods right into the side of "Sally" :( We stopped to see what kind of damage there was and Dan could see the deer on the road behind us, so we turned around and went back. She was sitting in the middle of the road and had blood coming out of her mouth. So we went back to Dave & Shannon's and the guys went out to put her out of her misery, but she wasn't there any more! 

I think one poor deer had a serious head ache that night....who knows if she even lived? :(

But this is what the van looks like. Monday I went to a local body shop and the man so kindly took out the dent in front of the drivers door, so we could actually open the door right!

The insurance adjuster came out yesterday and gave us an estimate, now we have to get it to the shop! 

Hopefully we/they can fit it in next week~

Quick Trip

We left the house yesterday morning and drove to Tallahassee. We had two items to return, one to Hobby Lobby and one to Walmart and did just a bit of very necessary (and fast) shopping. We also went to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital to visit our pastor, Ivan Nissley, who had  surgery on Thursday to open a clogged artery in his neck. It was good to hear he would be released last evening!! We pray that he is feeling much better now!!

From there, we went by the fairgrounds were we were planning to have a food stand at an auction today! Got to meet the man in charge of it all and drop off a bunch of our supplies.

From there, we headed up to my sis in Camilla. Had an enjoyable evening outside, making mountain pies for supper and chatting till the mosquito's drove us inside! :)

The kids waiting impatiently for supper! :)

Mountain Pies! Yum!!! :)

(The camper in the background was our "home" for the night.)

Two of my fun nieces! Crazy might be more like it! :)

Watching them makes me wish Tamara had a sister. I know how much fun she is missing in that area, since I grew up with 5 of them! :)

This morning we got up at 6:30 (EST) and made our way to the Thomasville Georgia Exchange Club Fairgrounds. We got there and set up the coffee and muffins and got the hot dogs and chili warming up!

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This is the story behind this venture. Our friends, AT & Traci Peyton, have friends Dan & Sue. Dan is an auctioneer and this was his first auction to do on his own. He wanted a food vendor there, and mentioned it to the Peyton's who thought of us. We agreed and so here we were......

Danny, ready to serve, with Trulie as his sidekick! :)

Dan and A.T. excited for the day! :)

Tamara, Laney and Izzabelle chatting in the corner. Seemed they had lots to talk about! It was great they had each other to keep them company! :)

 Mr. Dan had some quality products, household items, tools, etc. Some people got some great bargains today!! 

Even though we were there to do food, I got a nice 10 qt. Farberware stock pot for $10 and a Juicer for $12.50!! Happy me!! Now I need some good "juicing" recipes!

Dan was also thrilled to be able to get an air compressor. Ours had given out and he's been looking at them for some time, so I was happy he got one and at a steal! :)

This is a pic from their facebook page which shows the tables full of items for sale!

We came home with lots of leftover hot dogs, buns and chili, but it was a really good day and we enjoyed doing something different and making new friends! We might actually consider doing it again! I think we learned a few things for "next time" too! :)

 A big thank you to A.T. & Traci Peyton and Dan & Sue for all the ways you blessed our family!! Wow, we are so grateful!! 

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Tonight after we got home and unpacked, it was down to business for Dan. He had ordered a new catalytic converter for his Jeep a few weeks ago and never had a good chance to replace it. I was a little concerned what we would do if he ran into problems and couldn't get it done by bed time, because he has to go preach in the prison tomorrow and the kids and I need a vehicle to get to church. He was sure he would be able to get it done. He and Danny got to it and things were going well till he realized the parts store gave him an O2 sensor for a Dodge, not a Jeep!! :( That was a part that they had to order, so we were afraid they wouldn't have the right one in stock....but they did! :) He just got it all done and took the Jeep for a test ride. 

I am so thankful that my man is able to fix problems like that and can save us labor costs!!

While they were working on that project, I worked at putting things away. I'm still not quite done, but I needed a break! I also washed the van tonight. Imagine this.....this was the 2nd time I washed it in 1 week! Definitely a record!! :) But it needed it after being driven down dusty dirt roads and covered in pollen!! It looked more yellow than blue! :)

Turkey Hunt

This was a long awaited weekend for a certain young man in our house! The weekend that he and his Dad could go turkey hunting!!

This was their set up in the woods.....

Standing with his inflatable Jack and Jill! Never saw the likes! :)

Danny looking for turkeys. Not sure, maybe he was using his turkey call here?

Danny "talked" with a turkey for over 1/2 hour in the morning but it never showed its face.

About 11:30, when they only had an hour and a half left to hunt, Dan got a phone call. He was talking on his cell to one of this friends, when Danny whispered, "Dad, there's a turkey!!" And Dan said before he knew what happened, Danny had fired a shot.

And he was successful! :)

(no, the tree didn't fall on the turkey) :)

Someone is very, very happy!! :) He's been practicing his turkey calls, watching turkey hunt video's on YouTube and reading up how to butcher turkeys. It was not in vain! :)

It was a nice sized turkey.....had an 8.5" beard, 3/4 " spurs and 1 3/4" hooks.

Weighed in at 16.5 lbs. 

I am so proud of him and happy that his hunting dreams came true this year! I think he's been bit by the bug!! :) Now he can swap hunting stories with Grandpa Horst when we go to visit! :)

On another note, I am looking forward to a nice spring week with high's in the 70's!! May have to do some outside work. I think the garden may be calling, too! :)

 This weekend, we are doing a new venture for our family. We are having a food stand at an auction about an hour and a half from here. We are excited, but a little nervous about it. Hopefully I remember to take my camera! 

Have a great week and enjoy the coming of Spring, wherever you are!