Today, Mike’s youngest sister is bug bombing her rental house and needed someone to cat sit until it’s safe for people and pets again.  We’ve been selected for the job.  In a short period of time, Mike and I have gone from a zero pet household to two!

This evening is the first time the little ones get to interact.  From what I assumed, Binx could potentially be the problem since he’s male and has claws.  However, from what I hear (still at the hospital), it’s little miss Lucy that’s hissing and growling.  Thankfully it’s only for one night!

While Eli was in the whom, the physicians were worried about his kidney’s.  They threw out all sorts of possibilities of what that could mean.  After birth, Eli appeared healthy and everyone thought we were in the clear.  As it turns out, his kidney’s are still grossly enlarged.  According to the results of his recent tests, they are functioning fine, but his doctors are concerned about why then are enlarged.  As Mike said, this is a red flag for any number of terrible things that no one wants to think about.

I love the kiddo and I wish only the very best for him.

When she called me this morning to fill me in on her situation, my first thought was “Oh my God, are you dead?”  That’s right.  You.  As in the person I am currently speaking to on the phone; obviously not then.  After the shock and panic wore off, I headed to Luverne to see her.  It breaks your heart when someone you love looks so broken.  It’s strange how a crisis makes you appreciate those you have.  I’ve already lost my father.  I can’t image being without both parents by the age of 28.

Here are some images of her car:

Update (8.20.10): My mothers fracture turns out to be a burst fracture.  She was transferred from Luverne to Sioux Falls, where she underwent surgery.  A brace mechanism was inserted between the surrounding vertebrae (L4 and S1) to provide support and stabilization to her spine.  She is currently working on pain management and rehab.  She’ll be discharged tomorrow and moved to a skilled nursing facility for continued care and therapy.

I can hardly believe I’m 28.  A full fledged adult.  When did I get old??
I object!

It seems that as you get older, your birthday takes less precedence.  However, given how important I feel birthdays are, I still try to plan a celebration.  I scheduled myself for a half day of vacation and went to lunch with several of my coworkers.  After lunch Mike and I headed to a matinee of Salt (2010 (which was better than expected)).

Enjoyed a family meal at the Olive Garden in the evening.  Last year Mike and I had just landscaped, so all of my gifts were garden releated, including a rock.  This year I graduated from a rock to a Coach purse, some earrings and 4 Smurf glasses.  To my surprise, none of them were repeats!  Annie will surely consider this next statement as blasphemous, but I think I am more excited about the Smurf glasses than the purse.  I had several of the glasses, which were given away and I’ve slowly been collecting them back.

Later in the evening Mike and I invited some friends over.  Dan, Carrie and Mike were kind enough to grace us with their presence.  We had some beer and wine and played a few rounds of Cineplexity.  All in all, a good evening!

I don’t know much about his personality yet, mainly because he slept the whole time, but I can tell you he makes the funniest squeaking sounds and is 8lbs 5oz of cuddly goodness!

On the upside, I got a cool t-shirt and had an excuse to pull out the ‘ol ”jazz hands” whenever it suited me.  On the downside, the event must have been planned by band geeks; the run was miserable!

Granted, the planning committee couldn’t have controlled the weather, but it’s mid-July, some common sense would have gone a long way.  At 9am it was already in the mid 70′s with no breeze.  The course they laid out had literally no shade and water stations were not provided.  Not good for us poor saps getting beat on by the rising sun.

To prevent heat stroke, I stopped to walk, twice.  I’ve never walked in a race before (granted they were short stints), but I’m glad I did.  In mile 2 I was passed by an ambulance.  When I crossed the finish line I saw several participants lying on the ground surrounded by EMTs.

• Musical Malfunctions: I’ve been having some technical difficulties lately.  After receiving my new Nano my ear-buds died, in the middle of a run.  After replacing them my Nike+ receiver died, right before I began a run.  I’m not entirely sure how to manually load runs to nikeplus.com, so I’m out those 3 miles.  Boo.  Now, I have a new receiver, but for some inexplicable reason it’s not syncing my runs to nikeplus.com.  Double boo.
• TV: Mike and I started watching Fringe.  I still maintain I love all things J.J. Abrams.
• I’m going to be an Aunt (soon): In conjunction with my sister and mother-in-law, I threw a baby shower for my other sister-in-law, Katie.  She’s due mid-July.
• Tour de Grandma: After my Grandpa passed (April, 2009), my Grandma spent the summer traveling around between her children’s homes.  This summer she is back for round two; now that the weather here in the North is a suitable temperature for her of course!
• Fireworks: Mike and I spent the 4th of July at Lake Poinsett with his youngest sister and her boyfriend.  Apart from a minor issue with a propane tank, we had a grand ‘ol time.  Drank some beers, microwaved some hot dogs and shot some fireworks.  Oh, and who can forget the incredible display the neighbors put on – love this holiday!
• Birthday: Mike turned one year older, but I’m not so sure about the wiser part, hehe.  Happy Birthday, Mike!
• Anniversary: Mike and I celebrated 3 years of marriage yesterday.  We’ve developed a tradition of working a half day and meeting up for lunch.  After our meal we hit up a matinee of Knight and Day (2010).  On our way home we picked up some Chinese food for supper and drank some wine on the patio.  Oh, and I got a sweet bouquet of gerbera daisies!
• Feline Frenzy: Both my mom and my in-laws have taken in stray cats this past month.  My moms is a beautiful black cat with green eyes whom she named Binx.  That’s right, as in Hocus Pocus (1993) Binx.  Mike’s parents took in a cute little calico they named Lucy.  We’ve considered adopting one or the other, but haven’t come to a consensus nor fully determined if we’re certain we want a kitty at this time.
• Yo Necesito Dinero: Lately, or always, Mike and I have been discussing the many places we want to go, the many things we want to do and the many things we want to purchase.  I suppose I’ll post about those things when and if they happen.

I ran the second leg; a distance of 6.1 miles.  In my previous post, I indicated my excitement for the race was waining as I discovered my portion was all uphill.  To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined.  Don’t get me wrong, it was no picnic either (I’m definitely sore), but it was manageable.  Turns out the incline was fairly gradual throughout the majority of the course, so I was able to maintain a decent (by my standards) pace throughout.  The biggest challenge for me was the elevation, oh, and the giant hill in my 5th mile.  I was a bit winded after that.

The run was beautiful, but I am a bit miffed that the relay finishers did not receive medals.  Instead, we are the recipients of a “wonderful” MTM pin - which is about the size of my thumbnail.  Lame.

My leg of the Mickelson Relay

Feigning illness or injury has occurred to me, but unfortunately I have 4 other people counting on me, so I’ve turned my attention elsewhere.  To keep my motivation high, assuming that’s possible, I’ve created a fun musical mix!

Mickelson Mix:

• Axel F (Crazy Frog (sorry Andy))
• Citizen Soldier (3 Doors Down)
• Cyclone (Baby Bash feat. T-Pain)
• Evacuate the Dancefloor (Cascada)
• Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
• Finally Home (MercyMe)
• Fire Burning (Sean Kingston)
• Flight of the Bumblebee (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
• I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)
• Gasolina (Daddy Yankee)
• Headstrong (Trapt)
• Party In the U.S.A. (Miley Cyrus)
• Beatbox Harmonica (Yuri Lane)
• I Like to Move It (Power Music)
• Hey, Soul Sister (Train)
• I’m On A Boat (The Lonely Island feat. T-Pain)
• Uprising (Muse)
• Womanizer (Britney Spears)
• Imma Be (Black Eyed Peas)
• Laffy Taffy (D4L)
• Monster (Skillet)
• Naturally (Selena Gomez & The Scene)
• Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Kylie Minogue)
• Rompe (Daddy Yankee)
• Sexy Chick (David Guetta feat. Akon)
• Switch (Will Smith)
• Tik Tok (Ke$ha)
• Time is Running Out (Muse)

28 songs, 1.6 hours of music.