Champions "Mud" Bash... ???

With few exceptions, this is where most of the mud was located

Nothing like jumping over a little fire...

Check us out! Team TLCF still fresh and clean prior to the festivities

All clean... for now...

Some of us got a little dirty I would say... I was hoping for caked mud...apparently not so much

Last Saturday was the day for the Champions Mud Bash in St. Cloud. I've been looking forward to this for awhile because I have heard so many great things about these types of events. I was so ready to be caked in mud from head to toe especially since it rained yesterday... however, the day was not exactly what I expected...

I arrived fairly early, the location was not very difficult to find. The weather was great and it rained for almost the entire evening the night before. The prospect for mud was high and I was ready to get dirty. Team TLCF (Ty Lewis Cancer Foundation) was decked out in our glorious pink tank tops in honor of the fact that the event was designed to raise money for Save the Ta Tas and the people around us were taking notice. I suppose it helps when you have several strapping lads donning their tight pink tank tops with phrases such as "Boobs, not just for breakfast". Our wave wasn't starting until 10AM so we wandered around to see the other contestants and their costumes as well as watch people cross the finish line. Based on the mud pool that we saw at the end, we were excited about the race to come.

As our time arrived, we lined up and got ready for the event. Chris was ready with 4 cameras in hand and we were revving up to go. Once the starter yelled go we were off... through a mine field of cow patties... yeah... poop... Aside from attempting to avoid all of the poop you were also running through trees that had these giant root systems sticking out of the ground. Right and left people were rolling ankles and tripping over heaven only knows what. I ran the first little stretch thinking I would be okay after making it through the trees because we were approaching an open field. Unfortunately, the open field was more treacherous than the trees were. Since it was grown over with grass you couldn't see the divots, holes, and other uneven elements in the ground so every step you took was a 50/50 shot that your foot was going to land level. It was at that point that I decided to walk. I am not the most graceful individual in the world and I was not about to roll my ankle right before we get on a cruise. Fortunately, I had wonderful company to walk with. (KP, Jake, Stacy & Sarge)

After deciding to walk, we started to reach obstacles that included, haystacks, large tires, and lines of flags that we had to step over. Anyone know where the mud is? I signed up for a mud bash, not a hay bash. There were a few obstacles that included mud along the way, but they were few and far between. People running the race were so desperate to get muddy that whenever they saw mud they would pick it up and smear it all over themselves. That's how low the mud count was for this race.

Now, there were two obstacles that were at least fairly enjoyable. They had a giant slip n slide set up that went down a hill and into a lake. It was definitely a blasting diving down that thing and into some mud and water. Especially since it was so incredibly hot by that point. The other obstacle was the trench of mud at the end. I suppose that you should actually have muddy people crossing the finish line, and to be honest that particular obstacle was a lot of fun.

I think the worst part about the lack of mud was the fact that there was just enough mud to be annoying. If you are going to an event that advertises mud obstacles, you expect to get caked in mud head to toe and just get nasty. At this particular event, you would get a little wet, and dry by the time you got to the next obstacle that actually had mud involved and all that was gross was your shoes and socks.

Overall, I was disappointed about the mud factor, but I had a good day because I got to spend time with my wonderful bootcamp family. Any event with them is a good event and although the mud was missing from the mud bash, it was still a successful day in the sun.

I am NOT the Rebel Spy...

Today Ricky, Tammy, Toni, and I all went to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the morning/afternoon. This was mainly due to the fact that I was the only one of the group that had not been on the new Star Tours since it reopened. I was excited because it was a new ride, but I was also hesitant because even with the changes, it was still a motion-based ride that had a screen. The older version of Star Tours managed to make my stomach a bit queasy previously, but I was told that this newer version was much more motion sick friendly... Being someone who suffers from motion sickness, this news was music to my ears. I must admit I was skeptical, but I was willing to give it a whirl.

Since we got Fast Passes for the ride, I did not get to fully appreciate the changes that have been made in the queue, however, Ricky did point out a few things as we sped through the line. I didn't mind missing the line at least this time around. Before entering the one thing I will say is that the glasses are much better now than the older ones. They work very well with the projection and the interaction is very well done. However, the real question is whether or not this newer version quells motion sickness... the answer is kind of... For those with motion sickness this ride does offer a bit more relief than the previous film, mainly because the images are clearer and do not blur like the old projector. Unfortunately, the ride still contained a few issues: air circulation and location. For me personally, motion sickness is reduced with air circulation. Since the air was not turned up at all, the air in the pod was very still and warm. This made the affects of the movement worse. The other issue I had was something that will never be fixed on Star Tours... and that is the warp speed shoots through space. For some reason my motion sickness peaks when they jump in and out of warp speed. I have no idea why, but even with the better projectors, my stomach still did a cartwheel or two.


Over all it was a good day in the park and since we left in the early afternoon the rain and humidity were just beginning so we managed to stay relatively dry. The crowds were also fairly calm and it seemed like a good day to be in the touristy areas... Besides... although we didn't spend the entire day in the park, ending the day with 4Rivers BBQ and going to see XMen First Class was definitely a good option.

Ruth 2 - Nemo Closet 0

Today I managed to get all of the holes filled in the Nemo closet. They fought a good battle, but in the end, I came out on top yet again.

I purchased the drydex Spackle that is pink when you first open the container. As it dries, the Spackle turned white letting you know when it is ready to be painted and/or sanded. Its smells terrible, but its nice not having to touch the Spackle to see if its completely dry. Although I must say, its a little strange as it dries because it looks like the wall has a rash. Part of it is pink and the other is white. Its even worse when you have a wall color that is close to a skin tone... then its just plain creepy.


After I spackled the closet, I managed to get a few base coats done today. I bet you can't tell what they are.... well actually if you can't then you really need to see Finding Nemo again. I am waiting for the base coats to dry before I go in to do the detail work, but I have been trying to get all of the base coats on the walls first so that I can work on whichever character I want to work on. I know I have made myself a schedule and I plan on sticking to it as much as possible, but realistically I may not want to work on the exact character I listed a month ago. So I figure that as long as I do a character that is equal in size or larger, I will still be on track. These guys are actually going to be one of the quickest, hence the reason there are three of them.

I am so excited that I'm really going to be able to focus my attention on the Nemo room now that the school year is over. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but I have been wanting to do this room for a very long time and its finally starting to come together. What a great summer this is going to be!

There's nothing wrong with fluff...

Pills and Sprays, and Topical Lotion... Oh My...

So today was the day that Oliver went in for his one year check up. Granted, Oliver's birthday is in March, but since we adopted him in June, our years fall around now.

We can officially say now that Oliver is a whopping 83 pounds and is a very healthy doggy. According to the vet, Oliver is in the correct weight range for a dog his size. He should maintain his weight between 80 to 85 pounds so he is sitting right in the middle of that. Overall, though he seems to be in great physical health. They even commented about the fact that he has very nice and healthy teeth.


Unfortunately, our dog takes after us more than we thought. Our pups has allergies. The vet seems to think that Oliver is allergic to grass and that is causing his scratching and itching problems. So we have a slew of items to use on our pups now to see if he is indeed allergic to grass. We have pills that he has to take twice a day, a spray that goes on his paws and underbelly, and a special medicated shampoo that is supposed to help with his itchiness. We also received some ear cleaner and ear drops for the pups in order to help clean the gunk out of Oliver's ears and his flea, tick, and heart worm medication. All in all I think Ricky felt like he had just gone on a shopping spree with all of the goodies he left with. Fortunately for us, Oliver eats pills like they are candy and doesn't mind the rest of the treatments so he is fairly easy to work with when it comes to these sorts of things.

We have a healthy and adorable pups and when all is said and done a few allergy issues aren't that big of a deal. There are far worse things that could cause issues with a pup and so far Oliver has managed to grow up nice and healthy. So assuming the allergy remedies are working we will see the vet again in a year.

Ruth 1 - Nemo Closet 0

Check out the destruction caused by the epic battle...

More damage...

In case you ever wanted to know what the ridiculous brackets look like for those wire fixtures,
here you go... Great for stability, not so great for removal...

Take that you silly closet...

As I have mentioned before, I really dislike those wire closet fixtures. Aesthetically speaking, I was never really a fan because things would fall through the slats and and it is just a mess. However, recently my dislike has grown to annoyance and hatred due to the fact that I could not for the life of me remove the fixtures from the wall in the Nemo closet. Ricky is going to build a closet organizer for that room and I was going to paint the inside to match the room, but those brackets were staring us in the face and laughing...

However...

Today I prepared myself for battle. I do not know where the fearless attitude or the rush of adrenaline came from, but I was going in there with a screwdriver in hand and I was not coming out until I was successful. Since we attempted to use the drill the last time, I decided to go old school and use a hand held screwdriver. I figured if the screws weren't coming out normally, I would use some leverage to pop them out of the wall. The first bracket was one of the hardest. Since the brackets and anchors are one and the same, I had to determine which was the anchors were adhering themselves to the wall. They had these prongs that went in two directions on the inside of the drywall. I can understand the benefit of those prongs for the fixtures stability, but trying to get them out is next to impossible. So, I had to do a number on the drywall to attempt to yank this thing out. I pulled and pulled and eventually the hole I was creating in the drywall was large enough to work the bracket out. Now I had the advantage. I now held the secret to the brackets and their stupid anchors because I knew which way they went into the wall. With this key piece of intel I managed to work the rest of them out fairly quickly because I could wiggle them in the correct direction to try to get the prongs to close and come through a smaller hole. Once I managed to get those out there was just one more obstacle in the way... the large side brackets that held the shelf in place.

These brackets were a bit more daunting because they really didn't have too many weak points that I could use to get underneath. We tried using the drill previously on one side to get the screws out, but just like the smaller brackets that concept did not work. However, as fate would have it, using my hand held screwdriver, I managed to actually get one of the bottom screws out of the wall on the other side. From there I could pop out the anchor that was attached to that piece and then just pull the top one out. The left side I had to resort to a more primitive method... yanking. I just grabbed it and started twisting it until I loosened it enough to pry it off with the screwdriver. I guess I just had to summon my inner Hulk for that one.

In the end I managed to remove all of the brackets from that silly fixture and have added a large bucket of Spackle to the Home Depot shopping list. In the end, I must say that I still really dislike those wire closet fixtures, but nothing is going to get in the way of my goal of completing the Nemo Room by the end of the summer.