Putting Out Fires...And Starting Them SPECTACULARLY

Being a mom you get to contend with a lot of crazy scenarios. Take today. Right after I got off the phone with Poison Control (The little boys had managed to get into a bottle of Children's Tylenol while I was cleaning. No worries. I found out they could have safely downed twice as much as they did. Good to know for next time. Plus I am now on the radar of DCFS again. It's been a few years, but they know me. ha ha ha.) I had to break out the steam cleaner (best investment I ever made) to sterilize the rug in the little boys' room because Sully has a thing lately with peeing in random spots. I discovered this latest deposit while wrestling with the boys in their room, and I rolled face-first into urine-dampened carpet. That was awesome. Earlier this week he used the garage as his personal latrine, and then the bathroom garbage can. He doesn't seem to have a preference, except that it NOT be a toilet.

Then there was yesterday.

As the kids piled into the car after school, Noble launched into a casual story from the back seat about how their Science teacher had mentioned that it was possible to make PLASMA - the cosmic, state of matter kind - with a grape and a microwave. To which I responded in disbelief, "Whatever. No way."

Turns out it's a real thing.

** I have to say right here, that telling a pack of 6th Grade boys how to create plasma in a microwave is about as responsible as telling them how to build a bomb with household chemicals. They will be compelled to try it...especially when they have lunch immediately after, where someone is bound to have grapes in their lunch box,  in a room with microwave ovens.**

Apparently, Noble and his friends gave it a shot, with great success and peer-adulation....... and then spent the remainder of their lunch period in the office with the Principal. I am glad she took it so well, and refrained from calling HAZMAT (creating plasma like that produces toxic fumes). She told them she could understand their innocent curiosity,  but expected them to never do it again.

So, I can't say I didn't learn something new yesterday. We all did. This video will give you an idea of the type of fireworks Noble & Co. created in the school lunch room yesterday.
Pretty impressive.

This might give you nightmares.

Noble has a sixth-sense when it comes to finding crazy, sometimes dangerous stuff.

Like this black widow.

Tonight he ran in, head lamp on, to report that he had discovered it while searching for "nocturnal creatures".  (not his first encounter with a black widow, btw)

He found its nest in the rocks next the basketball hoop on the driveway. Spiders give me the willies (especially black widows) - and this one was HUGE. Really huge. Like an inch and half across. It must have been making a pretty good living in these rocks.

It retreated under the rock as we watched it & Noble lured it back out by dropping a cricket into the web. (I know. Don't be mad at us.) We snapped the above picture as it moved in for the kill. It was so scary-fast.

Be warned: this video is disturbing. Poor little cricket. I'm still traumatized.

When Black Widows attack from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

I was a little concerned about this spider living in such close proximity to where little kids (Sully) play. So after I stopped filming, Noble got the wasp spray (Noble's idea. He's more rational than I in tense situations.) - and we dispatched the black widow.

Sorry spider. Sorry cricket.

Any Weather is Good Enough

I'm just going to get this post out of the way now. I have a little time and as long as I keep brooding about how things went down this morning, I might as well write about it.

Just to sum up - the school 5k this year threw us for almost every imaginable loop, from city permits & surprise health department inspections to a race course fiasco AND...

Snow.

This was the race site as we arrived this morning for set up. 

More concerning than the snow though, we discovered that on the 5k route the river had risen since our course inspection two nights ago, covering the trail with 8 inches of water at .5 miles in. We did an emergency re-route 45 minutes before start time (thank goodness Roy brought his bike and I had the GPS with me). We also found out (the hard way) that the little 1 mile "Fun Run" loop trail that we ran two years ago has been completely reconstructed. Two years ago we used a little loop trail around the fish pond as our fun run. I ran it as part of the Utah Marathon Relay a few years ago as well...so I thought I knew the course down there. Since I'm 7 months pregnant, I didn't run the course in preparation this year. Oh man, I wish I'd taken the time to walk it.

Apparently, since the last time I ran it trails, underpasses and bridges connecting nearby neighborhoods have been added and the landscape totally reworked. So I sent out our little herd of young children and parents with strollers down the trail with, "It's really easy. The trail just goes around a little fish pond, and you loop back. You can't get lost. Ready, set...GO." 18 minutes later NO ONE had finished - and I started to freak out a little. I sent my bro-in-law out on bike to find out what was happening. About that time we had a few runners come up the trail, and I was informed that a lot of people had gotten lost...some of the kids were up in a neighborhood, one kid was yelling for help (turns out that kid was Noble). My heart totally froze. I began to envision lost children, a fast river...you can imagine. I got a little panicked. I spoke with a few other parents who came past - and they made me a little less anxious - that most runners were on the right path by then. Several parents had followed the front-runners (all kids) to turn them around, Mike went back, my bro-in-law on bike collected the stragglers, and my brother, Casey, went back to guide the approaching 5k-ers (who were to finish along the same route) around the fish pond. Everyone made it in. No one got permanently lost, no police involvement, no angry mob of parents... But still, it makes me sick to think what might have happened. How can a tiny little thing like a 1Mile fun run go so terribly wrong? I have learned my lesson: NEVER ASSUME YOU KNOW THE RACE COURSE WITHOUT DOUBLE-CHECKING.

The funny thing is, in previous years I've actually lost sleep the night before worrying about logistics and details and what-ifs. This year I was feeling pretty confident, thinking this was our third year - on a familiar course - nothing to sweat. That will teach me. Later, before awards, I apologized for the mix-up, my co-organizer blamed it on the snow and the high water on the trail earlier that day - and all the chaos and confusion that caused at the last minute. Most (not all) people seemed to be cool about the mistake (as long as every one's kid had made it back in one piece...*shudder* It scares me to death.)

Other than that - and a few other dramatic moments - we had a very successful event. I was totally surprised at how many people turned up to run, even with the snow. We auctioned off a LOT of stuff. The Jimmer Fredette signed ball alone brought in over $700!

Mr. C. won the first annual pancake eating contest. Our timing guys pulled off their job without a hitch. (I don't think I could have coped with a timing failure on top of everything else. Thanks Elevated Racing.) 

Zeke turned up to show solidarity.

So - definitely a net success. But I would be good with less drama next time.

In other news, Jessie is competing in her first horse show of the season today. I'm going to go watch her now.

A View of the Inside of our Fridge and Other Updates

Everyone here has been busy taking turns getting sick. Strep. Our fridge is full of bright bubble-gummy bottles of antibiotics for all 5 kids. Plus Mike. (He actually has pills - not pictured.) That makes 6 for 7 of us. Pretty impressive numbers.

Twice a day everyone forms a line at the kitchen counter and I administer the goods.  Somehow I have escaped the scourge. But I haven't been 100%. My sciatic pain has gotten a little out of hand. So, I'll be seeing a chiropractor soon (or anyone else who claims they can give me some relief). 

A few items of interest lately from the life of Noble:

His submission for the Carbon Atom model assignment at school -

Saturday his Lego Robotics Club had a scrimmage against the only other club in the area in preparation for the big competition in January.  The Super Mega Nano Chips (Noble's club) beat the Smashing Robot Chickens... hands down. I was seriously amazed at what they could do. Wow.

Today I went to see my midwife - and - in case you doubted, our pregnancy has been professionally confirmed. I love to hear that little swoosh-swoosh heartbeat. *sigh*  She set the due date for July 1.

This weekend we will actually start our  Christmas shopping...watch out, world.  We're late this year so we have some ground to make up. All my friends and family out there who were done Christmas shopping in October, try not to think too poorly of me. I have to tell you, I had a nightmare last week that Christmas Eve wuz upon us and we didn't have anything done. Holy smokes. I woke up sweating...and reminding myself, "It was only a dream... only a dream." Wish us luck.

Hot Time in the Old Town

(photo horked from KSL)

Holy smokes....(I couldn't avoid the pun). We've been watching this all evening from our balcony. The wind has been blowing about 5 million miles per hour so it was actually frightening how fast this thing came out of nowhere this afternoon, cresting the ridges of the Oquirrh mountains, raging toward the city. I broke out the telescope to get a good look. It seriously looked like the surface of the sun, churning flames.

 I haven't seen any clear numbers yet on how many homes have burned. Best of luck to all you evacuated residents of Herriman. And to an old classmate, Josh Mills (Mayor of Herriman)...it's going to be a long night for him.

Also hot in town this weekend:

(photo horked from SL Trib)



It would have been nice to see Sean White on a skateboard this weekend but...

We were checking out this action instead.

(More on that later.)