Bah Humbug

December 18th was the second annual Reindeer Run 5K. Why do you suppose I entered a 5K? Well, I hope you know by now that it wasn't for the running! It was, of course, for the costume contest!

This year's costume was a concept that was both auditory and visual. The sheep says "Baaaaah". The bugs say "Hummmmm". Together we are Bah Humbugs.


It took most people a while to understand what we were, but you knew when they got it because they would start chuckling. A lot of people thought Marin was a Christmas sheep. I don't recall the story of the Christmas sheep.

Bad news first. The race started out with the running. Ugh. Bugs and sheep running:
Marin, our awesome sheep friend, ignored the warning signs of heat distress and wore her costume for the whole run. What a dedicated costume-r!

Good news second. We won the costume contest (of course!). The emcee did not understand what our costume was at all. At the start, they had everyone competing write down their costume name. When it was our turn to parade across the stage, he introduced us as the Bah Humbugs, but he still didn't get it. I took the mic from him and Marin gave a wonderful "baaaah" which the rest of us followed with a melodic "hummmmm". As we walked across the stage area, he said "OH! I get it now!!" He gave us extra credit for the auditory portion. Despite the fierce competition from a fake-boobed, sexy Grinch in a tiny little green dress with two little Who-Children and a running stroller modified into an impressive sleigh, the Bah Humbugs took the prize...cuz we are awesome.

In case you haven't seen enough of the costumes yet, here we are with Santa (and Kristen's daughter, Ila):
Bah humbug, everyone!

El-Oh-El-Aye - Lola

Since my work travel schedule took a bit of a break over Thanksgiving, I got my first foster in forever. Yay!! Her name is Lola. I was going to name her a noun instead of a name, but "Lola" was suggested by 3 different people within 10 minutes so I figured that was some sort of a sign. And she likes it when you sing to her....L-O-L-A Lola... Lola is a one year old min pin who is in foster because she needs time to heal some wounds. This cut on her paw is the biggest of the wounds and it was pretty close to healed when I got her.I think she could have gone up for adoption with that minor injury, but if the vet says she needs foster time, then she needs foster time! :) Which is great for me because she is the sweetest little love bug. She loves to cuddle and wants to sit on a lap, any lap, all the time. She's housetrained, quiet and easy to live with. As usual, the arrival of a new foster ensures that Mo will be attached to my side. She's not taking any chances of being replaced! There are two things that Lola is scared of. One is the camera: And the other is the cat:When I introduced her to Al, it caused no reaction at all. He was on the counter and I was holding her so she could sniff him. Ho hum. But a few hours later, the cat moved and HOLY TERROR! She went into a barking frenzy!! It's ALIVE!! Now she watches him constantly, usually keeping a bit of distance.Al does try to make friends with her. Lola will be sitting in my lap and he'll come up and rub his head on her. Lola gets all sorts of crazy, not knowing whether to run and hide or lick him. She starts with the licking. Al starts purring. Cute - they are friends! But then Lola can't contain her nervousness and she starts nibbling on him. Al is quite dog savvy, he can handle a little nibbling. But then Lola's fear and excitement get the best of her and WOMP!! She'll give him a big ol' chomp. Al doesn't take kindly to being bitten so he'll swipe his paw at her. This causes screams of terror and hurt feelings from Lola. Hilarious. Yet she never learns and the scene replays itself every few days. She gets along fine with the dogs - no problems at all. Mostly she ignores them, but outside she'll try to join in the chase games. Running around with Frankie: I take her back to the shelter this week. I am hoping her shelter time is short. She loves being around people and being in a kennel will make her very sad. She should go quick since she's small, gets along with everyone and is housetrained. Fingers crossed! One last picture of her sweetness and my crazy evil shadow:

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Rematch

My friend Marin hosted her annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Spectacular this weekend. The invite stated:

So, it’s once again time to scour the racks at your favorite used clothing retailer for the fugly holiday knitware that it sure to be hiding amongst the mismatched dishware and broken kids toys. In an exciting twist this year, we are also encouraging guests to take it one step further and add themes or costumes to your holiday attire. ‘80s Christmas? Done! Homemade Uncle Scrooge outfit? Yes, please! But whatever you do, you better look like a huge holiday goofball because non-dresser-uppers will be mercilessly ridiculed, tarred, and feathered! Also as in years past, a Grand Prize will be awarded to the winner (it’s more of a loser though, right?).

Did someone say costume?? Did someone say prize?? Yee haw!
(Of course, someone also said huge holiday goofball, but we'll ignore that part!)

Marin and her husband were Santa and his elf. She is the cutest elf ever!
Pat wanted to beat his 2nd Place finish last year, so he spent even more time making his sweater this year. I think he forgot the "Ugly" and made his sweater too cute:While it may look like a simple design made with felt and a glue gun, it actually took quite a bit of work to make it. That's because he spent hours soddering and wiring the eyes and nose of his reindeer. He even made a schematic with the boys at work to make sure it was done right. He's such an engineer. :) The eyes could be red, blue, green or purple and could flash in varying stages of colors. The nose flashed red. I took about 100 pictures but could not get one while the nose was glowing.

I chose to go with a holiday theme costume. My original idea was to go as a snowflake, but the creativity part of the making of the costume completely overwhelmed me, so I took the easy way out and became a snowman instead:
A hot glue gun is a pretty handy tool. I used it to put on the buttons, make the pipe and make my carrot nose. I actually glued the orange felt to an old pair of glasses. Worked perfect!

Karissa and her dad went with Ugly Sweaters purchased at Goodwill just hours before the party. I'm pretty sure Baby Travis' outfit was not purchased at Goodwill:
After coming in 3rd Place last year, Emily upped the ante went with an "ensemble":
That is her actual tree skirt that she is wearing as a skirt. And those shiny balls are her actual Christmas tree decorations. Awesome.

Last year, a girl named Sarah won the contest. This year she was too scared of the competitiveness of Emily and Pat, and thus didn't even try to top her outfit last year. I think she just had on a red shirt and jeans. When the voting was tallied, the costumes and ensembles topped the Ugly Sweaters. Emily and I tied for 1st Place! Pat came in 2nd.

And Jamie, though wearing what really was the ugliest sweater at the party, didn't even get an honorable mention. You just can't compete with a Snowman, a Christmas Tree and a sweater with wires and battery packs!