I Hereby Declare War!

I may be a microbiologist, but I don't consider myself a germaphobe.  I like my kids to go outside and get dirty.  Scrud, I like to go outside and get dirty myself.  We eat food that's fallen onto the floor or ground.  I eat my kids' leftovers on their plates (call me weird, go ahead).  That all being said, I have a few, very clear, lines when it comes to what grosses me out.  Recently, one of those lines has been crossed.  Our house has been invaded.  By mice.  

I want to squirm, scream like a little girl, power hose everything with bleach, and use whatever means necessary to feel like I have my house back.  Even if I feel it needful to use barbaric methods, count me in (speaking of which, how many people have you heard really care about using "humane" ways to kill mice?  To me it seems like all bets are off when it comes to rodents and pests.  We all just want them dead.  Very dead).  

We used to live in a house built in 1948.  We dealt with mice a little off and on.  They were tricky buggers.  Normal traps wouldn't kill them.  We had to get creative.  We eventually found their point(s) of entry and they were never heard from again.  Inside the house.

We moved this past spring.  Our new house was built in 1979.  But it's close to a river.  So naturally we deal with more small animals and rodents (more on voles and garter snakes another day).  We have a fruit room of sorts under our front steps.  It's an extended pantry and a great, cool place for food storage.  The local mice agree, much to our dismay.  Over the past few months, we have killed and trapped at least 11 mice (that's if my count is correct).  And there are more.  

As far as I recall, we've had to throw away a box of brown sugar, box of ramen noodles, box of Kodiak Pancake mix, a number of bags of pasta, part of a birthday cake, and a toaster (yep, you read that right.  One hid in the toaster.  Gross!).  War has officially been declared.  These vermin are going DOWN!  All our chewable-through items from under the front stairs on currently on the kitchen table.  All our snack cupboard items (kept in a lower cupboard for easy access for the kids) are on the counter top.  Um, I don't have a very large kitchen  It's getting crowded and difficult to eat in there.  NO more.  Enough.  These mice must and WILL die.

What Is Health?

If there is anyone out there who doesn't want to improve their health, I'd like to meet them and pick their brain.  At the beginning of every year there are advertisements, slogans, products, etc. all aimed at telling us this is "your" year.  This is the year you're going to lose that weight, finally stop eating sugar, eat all your daily vegetables, get that promotion, run that marathon, take that dream vacation, etc.  All sounds like a tall order to me.  Have you ever met anyone who got their health 100% together and fulfilled their dreams in just one year?  I haven't.  And even if it were possible to get it all done in one year, we'd have to come up with new stuff to achieve and make ourselves look good the next year, and the next, and so on.

So that begs the question: what is health?  What does that mean to you?  Chances are your picture perfect view of health is not the same as mine.  And so it should be.  Your body is different than mine.  Your brain is different than mine.  You and I have different genetics, tendencies, preferences, life experiences, etc.  I'd sincerely hope your idea of perfect health wasn't the same as mine. 

But, there are general rules to health that are pretty basic.  It's kind of like there's a basic skeleton that is the building block, and then we get to individually fill in the flesh.  For example: I think we can all agree that regular exercise is part of that skeletal base.  Little dessert and lots vegetables are 2 more we can include here.  So anyway...

However, what about mental health?  What about emotional health?  What about those things that exercise and vegetable consumption don't immediately address?  What about those times when you literally can't get your butt out the door to walk around the block because you already feel so horrible about yourself?  What if your sleep is off?  Magazines, gym adds, and all the supplements at the front of Costco beginning of January don't address everything.

May I suggest 2 things: 1. Learn yourself.  What motivates you?  What makes you actually stick with something?  Do you need friends in on it with you?  Do you need to pay someone knowing the money will motivate you?  Can you just dive right in (this would be me)?  Do you need to research the snot out of things first (this would be my husband)?  Be honest with yourself or you're going to be a gerbel on that wheel.  2. Start where you are.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  We hear this all. the. time.  Blah, blah, blah.  But is there another place to start? If so, please share!!!  And, own where you are.  Don't be ashamed.  You are of no lesser value.  Accept where you are.  And then change it.  Believe me when I say accepting where you're at can be the hardest part.  I've been there WAY too many times, in WAY too many areas of my life.  And I probably will again, but anywho...  

And remember. ANY change in the right direction counts.  We'll discuss more aspects of health ideas, tricks, tips, etc. as time goes on.  Now, go be happy!

The *Fun* Never Ends

When I was young, I'd look at the lives of adults I knew and they seemed to have it all together.  They looked "settled" and seemed to have all the answers.  I remember boasting that my dad was smarter than everyone else's.  He was.  So there.  Now that I'm an adult, I laugh at my childhood lense.  Of course I didn't know that my parents were dealing with near financial ruin, divorce of loved ones, let alone their own rocky relationship. 

My own life as an adult has been anything but smooth.  And I know I'm not alone.  Just the past year is a prime example.  In 2018, only, we moved, I got hip surgery, my oldest sister lost an epic battle with pancreatic cancer, we got our first dog, potty trained our youngest, my husband and I took a trip to Spain, and our oldest successfully finished 3+ years of chemotherapy for leukemia.  Good thing I color my hair or I'd have to witnessed all the increased grays on top of everything else.  At least that's in order!  I think...

We all have ups and downs.  No one is immune to craziness, trials, misfortune, trajedy, etc.  So what?   Do we just bend over and take it?  Do we give up ever making dreams?  Do we relinquish ourselves to misery because life is never going to turn out the way we planned or hoped?  I've asked myself those questions more than once.  My plans always seem to get messed up.  My dreams rarely seem to come to fruition, and not for lack of effort (I'm NOT afraid of hard work).  Maybe, I've thought, I wasn't in touch with the cosmos and therefore dreaming the wrong dreams, expecting the wrong things out of my life, asking for things that weren't meant to be.  Perhaps. 

I'm coming to terms with the fact that change is the ever-constant.  I can't control everything, as much as I try.  Crap hits the fan, even if you've planned effectively for the Apocalypse.  Life can and will bring us all to our knees at at least one time or another. 

So now what?  Ride the wave.  Enjoy the ups with your hands in the air.  Learn from the downs.  Blaming, staying angry, continually wishing things were different never work.  Believe me, I've tried.  More than once.  I'm always left feeling empty.  Gratitude, clinging to my loved ones, and building my relationship with God never disappoint.  Not even remotely.  In fact, quite the opposite. Joy, satisfaction, and growth result.  Now doesn't that sound like something we all want?