Dirty Girls (pictures!)

Last year in December I challenged my mom. I challenged her to do Tough Mudder (http://toughmudder.com/), a 10 to 12 mile challenge course with over 20 obstacles. To get ready for Tough Mudder, which helps to Wounded Warrior Project (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/), we decided to do the Dirty Girl Mud Run (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/), a 3 mile challenge course with 11 obstacles which is only for women and helps the National Breast Cancer Foundation (http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/). 

We arrived and were all clean and ready for the fun to begin. 

We first had to climb over several stacks of hay called the Barn Burner which was a piece of cake, then up and over this bouncy castle type of thing.

And the laughter then began.

Into the Utopian Tubes we went and then for a little walk to our next obstacle with a cool water break on the way.

Over the triangles that got progressively bigger after the 20+ foot  Cargo Net that we had to climb up and over (so proud of my mommy!)

Into one of the several mud pits called PMS or Pretty Muddy Stuff.

And then the Jail Break, which we had to go over...

...then under.

After some more triangles...

...then the Hangover, hanging tires with tires below.

We gave each other mud baths...good for the skin :)

and then got in some more mud.

Through the Spider's Web

and over the wall

Some suspicious looking hand prints.

and ended it all with another mud bath.

WE DID IT!

Then the boys had way too much fun spraying us off at home...next time we are showering there.

PUBLISHED!

The smile on my face could not get bigger right now! Let me explain.

Each year for the past three years I take part in what is called National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. NaNoWriMo is a competition, as much with others as it is with yourself as participants are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and the 30th. That's roughly 1,667 words a day. For the past three years, I took part in NaNoWriMo. The first year I barely finished, staying up late on the 30th and finished just short of midnight ~ the cut off. I didn't really like my story and haven't looked back at it since. The second year I finished during the day of the 30th but didn't really like my story again. 

The third year I was determined. I finished the 50,000 words on the 29th but still had to finish the story. With exams around the corner, I decided to do some editing during winter break. I gave it a look over and it wasn't half bad, actually, it was pretty good if I may say so. I tried to get my sister to help me edit but that didn't work. With the spring semester starting it was buried under books and homework. Summer came and the books went away, which is when I started to edit again. I knew it would be better to have someone else look over it to make sure my message was being conveyed and not that I just understood what I wrote several months before. That is when I enlisted Mason, my boyfriend, to help. He read it over giving notes and suggestions where he saw fit. I read them over and made changes and he read it again, catching things neither of us caught before. It was good. It was better than good. It was ready. I went to CreateSpace, a free self-publishing website, set up an account and published my book. That was a few days ago. On the 11th my book was on Kindle through Amazon. Today I just checked and my book is on Amazon. I'm on Amazon! (http://www.amazon.com/Keys-Sonja-Bauer/dp/1478367466/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344967175&sr=8-2&keywords=keys+sonja+bauer if interested). How crazy is this? I am on amazon!?! I couldn't be happier right now!

Dammit

On Thursday morning dad opened the garage door as we keep Dammit (our new kitten) still in there for the night and when we go away for a while so she/he is protected. Dammit was just as energetic as ever. When it was time for us to leave for several hours, we were calling her name (it is fun to go around the yard yelling DAMMIT!), she didn't return. Typical for the day time so we put some extra water out, closed the garage door and were off. When we came home later that day, we went around calling for her again and much to our dismay, she didn't turn up. Friday we didn't see her either so we are pretty sure one of two things happened. One, a hawk got her (living in the country and her still being small that could happen) or two, a car on the road saw a kitten without a collar (we never put collars on our cats), opened the door and she climbed in, having the people think that they were rescuing the poor little animal. 
I'm hoping someone thought they were doing good and 'rescued' her (even though she didn't need rescuing), but either way, you will be missed. 

Bored 'Hobbies'

Everyone has there little things that they do when they are bored while doing something else or trying to procrastinate while trying to look busy. Some like to play solitare, others read the news online. A common bored hobby, if you will is facebook, and commenting on people's statuses that they know but don't really care about and only stay 'friends' on facebook so they can rub in each other's faces of what they have and others don't (example is boy/girlfriends, losing weight, new family members (through marriage or kids), etc.)

My bored hobby is Minesweeper and Paint. For those that don't know, Minesweeper is a game where you have a field and there are a certain number of mines in the field. One then has to identify where the mines are and not blow up in the process while clearing the rest of the field. There are three levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I have gotten fairly good at Minesweeper. I am on advanced and still win fairly often, which I don't exactly know if it's a good thing, because it shows how bored I am at times.

My other bored hobby is Paint. Sometimes I do simple things:

Sometimes I do pretty things:

Sometimes I like to try complex things:

No matter what your bored 'hobby' is, I hope you have as much fun and are as good at it as I am!

Wood

Ever since the seventh grade, where I turned my first piece, a tooth pick holder, on a wooden lathe, I was hooked. In high school I took a woods class each year, making various things like cabinets, a chest and signs using a dremel tool. Every year in high school I would ask my teacher, Mr. J. if I could use one of the lathes to turn stuff which was always buried behind projects and tools, so he always said no. Grandpa used to have a lathe so one day dad brought it home and it was small and not very safe so dad wouldn't let me make stuff with it. We've always had a metal lathe, but it's not good to use a metal lathe for wood or a wooden lathe for metal, so that was also a no. 

This last birthday, my parents bought me a lathe, ironically, it was one from my old woods teacher, Mr. J. During the rest of the school year I was looking up projects that I wanted to make on it in the summer, the first of which was a wooden mug, so that is what I made. The wood started out roughly 18"x8" and dad helped me cut it and glue it. I put in on the lathe and began turning it and having a blast. 

Soon the mug was done...but it needed a handle to grip it better

After a few coats of mineral oil and butcher block conditioner, and 4 days of curing, I got the finished project after 7 days: (same mug from different angles)

I am proud to say that I drank some water from it this morning and it didn't leak!

Then dad wanted have the part where the motor is connected fixed a little so it would run truer, that meant a few days of no lathe, which was sad. I got the part back and we connected it and I had the need to turn something again, except I didn't have any wood, which is a problem. Dad and I up and down our road, where a bunch of trees were cut this spring, in hopes that we would find a piece that was left behind, and indeed we did. He chopped it up with the chain saw, I put it on and was soon covered in dust. 

Soon I got the rough shape I wanted from it...then drilled out the center and began working on it (first time drilling out the center and it went a lot easier)

 

I had dad help me cut it off after sanding it on the lathe and got this

After a coat of clear sealer and then a coat of varnish, this is the finished project after 2 days. 

Now I'm asking all of my friends if they have any wood...en logs so I can turn more stuff.

New Kitten

Last week mom came home from work and said a co-worker's cats had kittens and was wondering if we wanted one. Of course we did! Who doesn't want a little energetic ball of fur with it's tail sticking up?! So Monday came and we waited for our mom to call us to let us know that the kitten had arrived. We got the call from mom that the kitten was in her office and she had to entertain it for a while. 30 minutes later we got to her office and saw the cute kitten in the carrying cage, ready to be brought to it's new home. 
At home, I brought the cage with kitten inside to the back yard, sat down and opened the door for him/her to crawl out (we still aren't sure if it is a male or female kitten). It was the kitten's first experience with grass, and it was hysterical! With every step it took, it lifted it's paws up really high to avoid the grass. Soon it was frolicking about and playing with a stick and leaves on the end. 

 Now the only problem was coming up with a name. As you can see, it's an all black cat. And being the nerds that we are, we thought Darth Vader would be adorable. Sadly when mom came home she said no. Right away the cat went to her feet as she sat down and wanted to play. That is when she came up with it's name. 'Dammit'. 

Now Dammit is crawling around and investigating things like crazy. Dammit likes to crawl up trees and pant legs. Will purr very loudly, and if placed on someone's shoulder while walking around, will stay there peacefully. You can't get much cuter than that!

After shopping today we took Dammit out again and decided to rename him/her to Little Bear. (Hopefully that is the last name change)

Memorial Day

To most Americans, Memorial Day is a three day weekend spent with family and friends, but most of us forget why there is a three day weekend and even fewer forget to actually give thanks, and I'm not just talking about on Facebook or Twitter. Memorial Day is dedicated to the men and women who served the United States and paid the ultimate sacrifice, their lives for our freedoms. Memorial Day, always on the last Monday of May goes back to the end of the Civil War in 1865. Traditionally it was held on the 30th of May, but in 1971 Congress changed it to the last Monday in order to afford a three day holiday weekend. 

Some people attend a parade where veterans from wars past walk holding the flag up high, others go camping with family and friends in their own tradition, some might grill food and have a party in their yard, while my family typically goes boating.


Whatever you do today, if it is one of the things listed above or if you celebrate in a different fashion, please make sure you thank current servicemen and women and veterans and take time to remember the servicemen that couldn't be here today that have ensured your freedoms with their deaths.