Down and Dirty, Baby!

In fifth grade, my best friend and I turned a boring afternoon into a mud filled extravaganza. The school near our house had a huge hill of grass that had turned into a dirty mess after the rain. We had the brilliant idea to put on skates, crouch, and roll down into huge puddles of slimy goo. (It was Simi Valley, people. Not a whole lot to do.) And so began my love affair with mud.

Fast forward 20 years, and I'm pretty sure that most people wouldn't describe me as "hard core." And my name normally isn't synonymous with phrases like "kick butt" or "tough stuff." That is, until NOW! That's right, readers. This mommy has survived the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run! Not only survived, but actually finished the 3 mile course in decent time and had an absolute blast doing it. The course was made up of hills of mud, pools of mud and walls you had to jump over landing in, you guessed it, mud.

Despite how much fun I had, it wasn't a piece of cake. The hardest part of the course was what they lovingly referred to as the Hill of Death. It was definitely the turning point of the race where runners stopped running and started walking. The end of the race had a cargo net, a swim/walk through the shallow end of the lake and a huge mud pit with ropes that you had to crawl under on your belly. All the while, some guy in camouflage is yelling at you to, "Get down! On your Belly! Hoo-Rah!!!" And as this is all happening, I'm laughing hysterically. Really. Having a fit of giggles, like when you've been awake too long and everything becomes funny. It was so far out of my comfort zone and so different than what I do on a normal Sunday morning at 8:00 (wipe noses, watch Noggin and break up fights over who had what toy first) that I couldn't stop myself from laughing. When it was all over, I was completely brown. I had mud up my nose, in my ears and just about everywhere else. But I had so much adrenaline, I probably could have ran it again.

I'm so glad I ran. I almost didn't go, even after I paid the $50 registration fee. That morning, when the alarm went off at 5:30, I seriously almost rolled over and went back to sleep. I thought I wouldn't be able to finish, that going alone would stink, and that I should just stay at home and take care of the kids like usual. But one of my New Year's resolutions kept nagging at me. The one about trying new things and setting time aside for myself. While running on that mountain, looking out over Lake Hughes, I was SO glad I got my lazy butt out of bed. It was an awesome feeling to be there with 3,000 other people who were all encouraging one another and pushing each other up muddy hills. Most of us weren't even die hard runners. It was relieving to see such a wide range of ages and fitness levels lining up at the starting line. And I did breathe a little easier when I started to see people walking because the goal for most of us was to finish, not to finish in first place.

I hear there's another mud run in September. I can't wait!

http://www.asiorders.com/go.asp?74368377 Check out a picture of me on the cargo net. I don't know if you can see it on my face, but I just had my finger nail squashed between the net and the ply wood. It hurt. The other picture is of me and a woman who I didn't even know. LOL. I'd buy these stinking pictures if they weren't so expensive. They know that nobody brings a camera into the mud, and they take advantage of that.

When I got home Taylor said, "Mommy! What did you DO?" There's a kid's mud course for 4-6 year olds. Next year, it's her turn.

Sunrise over the lake. Burrr.

My Resemblance To Bill Murray

It's difficult for me to watch Ghostbusters, What About Bob or Scrooged. Not because they aren't excellent movies because by my standards, they are. It's just that they bring up certain, self conscious feelings in me every time I see a close up of good ol' Bill Murray. Now hear me out, and in no way am I writing this so that I'll get a million comments saying, "You're so wrong, yada yada yada."......I look like him. Bill Murray, that is. We're not identical, of course, but his less than stellar, slightly pot marked skin is a dead ringer for mine. So when that movie camera gets a close up of him saying, "I'm on vacation!" I cry a little inside.

So I guess I started throwing this topic around in my head after over hearing a conversation at work. A bunch of troll math teachers (not all math teachers are trolls, but these happen to be) were discussing how ridiculous plastic surgery is. How only superficial idiots have anything done, and how it's a waste of time and money. I didn't disagree with the trolls right then and there, so I guess this post is my rebuttal. I used to agree with them to some extent but the older I get, the more I'm thinking, "Wow! I did NOT look like that before B-Feeding that baby. Holy smokes! Where did those crazy lines come from beside my eyes?" I'm not trying to chase Heidi Montag perfection (snicker) I'm just thinking I might look into taking care of something that bothers me, where as before I thought my inner beauty would just overshadow my outer imperfections. LOL.

So I'm doing a little research on laser surgery for my Bill Murray-esque scarring. I think I've been inspired lately by friends and family (you know who you are) who weren't happy with something about themselves, so they took steps to change it. And really, is that so bad? I think not. Not at all. We all deserve to look in the mirror and feel happy about what we see there. Wanting to feel confident about your appearance doesn't make you shallow, it makes you human.

So, there! Take that, math trolls!

Spring Break-2010!

Woop, woop! It's spring break, 2010! Break out the beer bong, the bathing suits and the sun tan lotion!......Or, raise some caterpillars and go on a nature hike like I do. That's just how I roll. Even back when I was a teenager, I believe I spent spring break sitting at home watching MTV' Spring Break, and wondering why my vacation just never lived up to that hype. I guess being 10 lbs overweight in high school with cystic acne, kind of put a damper on the whole crazy, teenage spring break-thingy. But I'm making up for it now, because boy are we busy! There's definitely no sitting around for the Pollard girls. We are livin' it up this spring break and enjoying the pretty decent weather.

For Christmas, my Aunt Sue gave Taylor a voucher for butterflies and a cool butterfly house. So 2 weeks ago I sent away for the caterpillars and we started our little science experiment. We were sent 10 caterpillars in little cups and watched them grow into their chrysalises. Then we transferred them over to their little see-through butterfly house. I have to say, I was a bit creeped out by the whole cocoon phase. I didn't want to touch them at all when we were putting them into their new home. I just kept thinking about Silence of the Lambs and the cross dressing dude who raised butterflies...., ugh. But I digress. Once they were in their house, we waited. 7 days later, they started to hatch. Out of 10 butterflies, not once did we actually get to see a butterfly hatch. We'd go upstairs for a bath, come downstairs, and there would be a new butterfly. Go out to get the mail, come back, and there'd be another one. O well. I guess they don't like an audience when going into labor and birthing themselves. I can relate.

Ms. Tay was stoked with her pets, and was excited to feed them sugar water every day. 2 days after they were all hatched, we set them free as nature intended. Our neighbors came with us for a little ceremony. The kids even got to hold them before they jetted off on their way. It was a very cool Christmas gift that we got to enjoy in the spring.

If you're interested in getting your own butterflies, check out http://www.butterfly-gifts.com/live-butterfly-kits.html. They have all kinds of bugs to have as your very own.

Unrelated Spring Activities
A date to see"How To Train Your Dragon" with Alex.

Tay and Spencer at the nature center