A lizard, a vent, a trash bag, and a baby!

If that title doesn't grab your attention, nothing will! I just had to write about my unusual experience I just had. I'm still shaking about it!! I had finally sat down to work on my thesis. (I'll be done w/ my masters in 2 weeks, but that's whole other blog!!) I kept hearing this weird scratching sound. I thought maybe the landscapers were out doing their monthly maintenance on the house. When I looked outside my window to see if it was indeed them...no one was there.

"Hmmm...that's kinda weird"

So I just started to get to work. I kept hearing it and as I was standing looking at my window, I started to notice that the sound wasn't coming from outside...but ABOVE me! There is an air vent in the celing of my room so as I stood on a chair to get a better listen, I realized that it was most definitely something in my attic! I thought...

"No big deal. It's probably a mouse or something. It'll die eventually and I'll never have to see it"

As I kept hearing the noise, I decided to look again to see if could figure out what it was. That's when I saw it!


Yep, a little lizard was POKING it's head out of my vent (which by the way happens to be partially above my bed!)

It was at that moment I realized that I truly DO scream like a little girl! My roommate, Amber, was seriously, but rightfully, alarmed at my scream. She; however, is more petrified than me at this point. She couldn't even set foot in my room.

We both set up camp. She in the hall looking through the phonebook to find someone to help us and I in my room watching the lizard to make sure he didn't fall out and go somewhere. (Looking back on it, if he indeed DID fall out at that moment, I would have ran like a scared baby!)

We called Ranger Rodents, Critter Catchers, Critter Gitters, etc. You name it we called it. One suggestion we got was to take a pair of pliers and grab him by the neck (!) Clearly, they weren't aware that we were scaredy-cat girls!!


Can't you just see me grabbing him with pliers?!?!

Thankfully, my friend (and at that point, my Savior!) Derrick was home! He was home by himself with his daughter, so he said he would be right over after he packed up Ella.

Once he got there, Amber stayed downstairs to babysit Ella. (We really had to twist her arm to do that!) Derrick and I debated our strategies and we narrowed it down to 2: unscrew the vent or try to lure him out to catch him. We opted for choice 2. So Derrick, taped a trash bag around the vent in the hopes that when I turned on the heat full blast, little Lizzy would fall/jump/slip (i didn't care HOW at that point!) into the bag.



With our bag in place, we watched. We heard him scratching and after a few minutes, Lizzy fell (literally) for our trap. We saw him in the bag. Now the big question was: How do we get the bag off with Lizzy STILL inside? We just had to go for it. So, Derrick, with no regard for his own life, swooped and yanked the bag off the ceiling. For some reason, that scared me. What if he jumped out of the bag? What if he gnawed his way out of the bag? I screamed! Apparently, that startled Derrick and he dropped the bag. My biggest fear of this whole charade had come true.

He was going to get out and LOOSE in my house!!

Thinking on our feet, Derrick told me to grab a couple of books to put on the bag.

Long story short...Derrick finally got the bag with Lizzy inside and threw him (still in the bag) in a retention pond :)

So...back to writing my thesis.
Thanks Derrick :)

He's home!

Bo finally came home on Thursday night, exactly 2 weeks after he was born. Here's some pictures of us finally getting to hold him. He's so tiny and light!!






This picture just makes me laugh...and if you knew my brother, you'd be laughing too!


Brooke and me posing with Bo

I've been tagged!

Three Things That Scare Me:
1. Being pulled over by the cops
2. Getting a phone call in the middle of the night
3. needles (I don't even have my ears pierced!!)

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:
1. Evan, my nephew
2. Amanda (let's just say we don't get much done when we're together)
3. Chrissy (she's uniquely funny)

Three Things I Love:
1. Snow days (although we NEVER get them)
2. a good surprise
3. hanging out with my neice and nephews

Three Things I Hate:
1. being a girl once a month
2. letting someone down
3. cancer

Three Things I Don’t Understand:
1. taxes, real estate, financial planning, dividends...
2. how Sanjaya is STILL on American Idol
3. God's timing (I don't understand it, but I'm learning to trust it)

Three Things On My Desk:
1. my phone
2. bills
3. my printer

Three Things I’m Doing Right Now:
1. procrastinating writing my thesis
2. debating on whether or not to go to the mall today
3. anything other than what I'm SUPPOSED to be doing

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. go on the Amazing Race
2. be a wife
3. go to Switzerland

Three Things I Can Do:
1. be a good aunt
2. bake a pretty good cake
3. type fast

Three Things I Can’t Do:
1. dance
2. make on the spot decisions
3. say NO to certain things/people

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:
1. God
2. when people talk to you (can't you tell when people AREN'T really listening to you?! I hate that!)
3. parents

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
1. doubt
2. fear
3. negative words (good choices, A!)

Three Things I’d Like To Learn
1. how to play piano (again)
2. how to cook...REALLY cook
3. how to put on make up (and make it look GOOD!)

Three Favorite Foods:
1. Mexican
2. desserts
3. italian

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid: (I don't really remember specific shows as a kid)
1. Saved by the Bell
2. Brady Bunch
3. Cosby

Three Things I Regret:
1. Not being more vocal about my faith (or at least some of my beliefs) while in High School and College. (me, too A!!)
2. some relationship decisions I made in college
3. not being more outgoing in high school


I don't know too many bloggers, so the only other person left to tag is K-dogg! You're it!! This would be a great way to start updating your blog :)

Baby Bo...again.

Well, he didn't come home this weekend :( He's still in the NICU, but still doing good, just not eating on his own yet. The doctors need him to be able to take a day's worth of bottles on his own. Tera (his mom) has been able to get him to take several bottles, but not enough for him to be released. She has been faithfully working with him and spending time trying to work it into his little mouth. He could still be in there another week or so. We are all so anxious to get him home!

Good news!

Baby Bo is doing great! He is steadily improving and there's a possibility he could come home this weekend!! They have taken out all the tubes and the holes in his lungs have healed. The big push now is to get him to take a bottle. He's gotten so used to the tube they've been putting down his throat that it's been difficult for him to get used to the bottle.
I can't wait to hold him and see him... without ten thousand tubes in him!!

Bauer down!?

So one of my all time favorite TV shows is 24 and one the main reasons it's one of favs is because of the picture of Jack Bauer they always show in the previews for the next episode: him in that white button up! I mean, if that doesn't make you want to be a secret agent...nothing will! So you can imagine my horror, shock and utter disbelief when, in the previews, they show a clip, albeit a short, succint clip, of Jack Bauer himself.....getting.....shot?!?! I'm praying (OK...praying is probably NOT the right word) that he had a bullet proof vest on!!