The Mouse

Warning: This post has nothing to do with CrossFit, unless you count being able to get rid of the new guest in our house as athletic.

Well, being a new homeowner can bring some challenges with it.  For us that came in the form of finding a mouse. 

Michael and I were sitting on our couch after the kids were in bed when out of the corner of my eye I saw something move by our back door.  When I told Michael I thought there was a mouse he told me he had already thought he'd seen one earlier.  Which means, guys, that he let me walk around the house for the evening while there was also a mouse running around AND DIDN'T TELL ME!

Michael came up with a brilliant plan to get rid of the mouse that involved tipping our dining room table on it's side to create a barrier to force it out our back door.  Michael entrusted me with making sure the sliver of space between the table and the wall was closed so the mouse couldn't go that way.  Of course, when we lifted the towel the mouse was hiding under to try and get it out the door it ran right towards where I was and instead of making sure it didn't go that way I jumped out of the way, screamed, and let it run right by.

Seriously, what is wrong with me. I'm a 30 year old woman that is apparently scared of mice.  Logically I know that's ridiculous but when faced with the mouse all logic went out the window.

So, the mouse got away and ran underneath our oven.  Luckily Michael came up with another plan that involved getting it to run along the wall and then trapping it in a Tupperware container.  It took him less than a minute to come up with the plan, execute it and give me a look that clued me into the fact that he didn't want my 'help' again.

We're pretty sure the mouse came in at some point earlier in the evening when our front door become a revolving door as the kids tried to help Michael change the tires on the car.   However, I can't help but keep thinking I see mice around every corner.

I keep thinking about what I would have done in the situation if Michael had been away and all I keep thinking about are things that probably would have made the situation worse - like getting the dog to come downstairs to get rid of it - thank goodness that didn't happen.

The funny thing about military life is that I often have to handle situations like that on my own and  when they come up I always find a way to handle them.   It's crazy what you can do when you're forced to.  I even find myself thankful sometimes that Michael's job has taught me how to be independent.  Of course, I'm more thankful that for this particular situation I wasn't on my own and I had a quick-thinking husband who could handle it for me.

Update

We've been in Kingston for just over 3 months now.  When we arrived I planned on starting this blog up again so that people could stay up to date with what we were doing but unfortunately life got in the way and I fell short of that plan.

Moving across the country has been both more and less challenging than I thought it would be and always in the most unexpected ways.

With Christmas coming up as well as a new year I figured I would start my New Years resolution early and start working on this blog.

I can't promise it will be exciting but I can promise it will be real.

Goodbye CFE

It's hard to put into words how it feels to be leaving Edmonton.  It doesn't help that I hate goodbyes.   Since starting CrossFit I've been lucky enough to call three different boxes my home and leaving every single one of them has been hard.   Leaving CFE will be harder though because it has also been my kids home.  I've watched them grow up inside the four walls there- from doing workouts with them still inside my belly on the day they were born to taking some of their first steps across the gym floor.   This time it's not just me saying goodbye to the friends I've met but them saying goodbye to the first friends they ever made. The people we’ve met at CFE have become part of our village and have helped me raise them. How do you even begin finding a way to say goodbye to that?

Becoming a mom (and then becoming a mom again…and again…) has been one of the most rewarding but toughest transitions of my life.  CFE helped me become comfortable and confident in my new role and to find appreciation and love for my new body and the things I could do because of CrossFit.  I no longer considered myself a CrossFitter but instead I look at CrossFit as my outlet - the activity that allows me to thrive in the other areas of my life.

I cannot count the number of times I have walked into the gym after a particularly rough and defeating morning.  Often I would grumble melodramatically about having “the worst day ever” and somehow just being surrounded by the other moms at the CFE Mamas class, or any class for that matter, would allow me to forget about what had happened that morning and move forward in my day. 

As I looked around CFE on Saturday before I left I found myself reliving all the amazing things that have happened there since I started - the first time I walked in the building(Suz can fill you in on that gem of a story), Nathaniel’s first CrossFit Kids class, all of the classes I’ve coached, all of the parties, multiple babies, multiple PRs by all of you, not so multiple PR’s by me, and most importantly each and every one of you that makes CFE what it is – home.

Of course, with social media now, it's never really goodbye and for that I am grateful.  Even though I won’t be there to coach you in person I’ll still be able to check in on what all of you are up to and to see the progress you make in the future.  So keeping working hard, keep leaning on each other, and start counting down the days until we possibly (hopefully) make a grand reappearance in 3-5 years.