District Contest, Mice and Cars so tiny they should be illegal....

This past Saturday marked the beginning of District FFA contest here in the good Southwestern part of Missouri. I like to imagine it as the last big curve in a race….right before you can see the finish line (State Convention next week). And again, I got asked to judge. At least Jim put me back in the office with the resumes instead of asking interview questions like last year. I’ve done the resumes enough that I’ve got a pretty good system so it doesn’t take too long.


I really don’t have any good stories directly related to my time spent in Karl’s. Those who remember Dr. Elliott will be happy to know nothing with him has changed. He is still just as nervous as ever. I pretty much stayed in my little corner in the main office and didn’t venture out except to use the restroom down the hall. Some might think my behavior was reclusive. I’d like to think of it as more self preservation. I think I’ve said this before, but the intensity going around Karl’s Hall during district contest is unbelievable. Actually, it is scary. The only other time I dislike being around a group of ag teachers more than districts is the ag teacher social during their summer meetings. Drinking ag teachers….no thank you!!! Anyway, every one is wound tighter than a cheap watch during these contests so staying away from it all is the best thing for me. I do know I’ve said this before….I love my husband, but I don’t like him at a contest.

But surprisingly everything went pretty well. I only saw Jay once when I was leaving and since there were no results being given at that moment he was able to tell me bye. And he did remember to call me when he was on his way home later that afternoon. Since he seemed to be handling it pretty well I thought we were through the worst of it. I knew I spoke too soon……

Jim and Sharon had the kids for us Saturday. I grabbed some groceries since I was minus my “helper” so my life would be easier and headed home. By the time I got home and started unloading them Jay was on his way home. I decided to wait for him and we went to Aurora together.

I wasn’t sure I was going to mention this on the blog but it fits in with the story, I’ve shared a lot on here, and it isn’t the first time it’s happened so I will put it all out in the open again…..I had another stupid mouse get in my car a few weeks ago. AND (gulp)….it had babies under the backseat. Two weeks ago this Wednesday I threw an absolute temper tantrum about the mouse. The day before I had stopped the car at Sam’s and in the 2 seconds of silence before I opened the door I could hear the mouse scurrying under the back seat. Jay was unconcerned about the fact a mouse could run out while I was driving and cause a massive accident. He said it would leave me alone. Yeah, it’s easy for someone who is at S&H with a bunch of kids to say that. Anyway, by Wednesday morning I was done with it all. I threw a hissy fit and finally Jay said I could take his truck. If he had volunteered that earlier it would’ve saved a tantrum. So that night Jay dismantled the backseat and found a nest with little babies in it. It still turns my stomach to say that. He kept telling me the “threat had been eliminated” which I found out later he still didn’t have the Mama mouse. So last week I thought I could smell something which meant Jay had to dismantle the back seat again to check for the Mama mouse. So that brings us up to Saturday night picking up the kids…. Oh – I almost forgot that Cade decorated his cake for the youth fair that day. So we were all crammed in my car with the kids, their bags and a large square box with something we did not want to destroy.

Jay picked driving over holding the cake box the whole way home. He was backing out while Cade was trying to put on his seat belt. We got to the end of Memo’s driveway and Cade realized he had no seat belt. Jay hadn’t got the latches pulled back through when he put the seat back in. We stopped and Cade got out and threw all the bags on the drivers side backseat to the passengers side so he could try that side. Which that side is smaller than the other side because of Camryn’s car seat. He checked around and still didn’t have a seat belt latch. I could tell Jay was tired and very cranky because he told Cade it would be ok. That got me a little irate and I told Jay Cade would not be going home without a seat belt. That is when Jay threw his own temper tantrum. He was tired and I know he didn’t want to take the seat a part again. But he got pretty mad. I thought it was funny because he had been making fun of my tantrum the week earlier. He was throwing a doozie of his own. I didn’t care if he didn’t want to ride with a belt on but the kids weren’t. Finally I convinced him to ride in the backseat while holding the cake, I would drive and Cade would sit in the front. It would’ve been easier to tell him to move the bags back over to the driver side because there was more room on the passenger side, but I knew he was in no mood for that. So he crammed and I do mean crammed himself into the backseat (he has never sat in the backseat of my car). We barely got the door shut and he had to have his right arm on Camryn’s car seat. That caused Camryn to be upset because someone was touching her seat. Then I handed him the cake box….

Since I am a nice wife I did pull my seat all the way forward. Which that meant my nose was in the steering wheel and my legs were so bent up the toe of my flip-flop kept getting hooked on the gas pedal. It was hard not to look at irritation at the bags in the passenger side back seat with Cade in the front all spread out like he was in a King size bed while Jay and I looked like sardines. We made it home safely, but I snapped a picture of Jay before I took the cake box from him. All I could think of afterwards was what if the mouse had ran out at that time. I can picture the accident report…..driver reported seeing a mouse but her flip flop got caught on the gas…..passenger in the back wasn’t wearing a seat belt but he was so packed in there he didn’t move an inch….

I think I will put one of those donate buttons on the blog….Help Crystal get a mouse free car :)  Actually last night when I heard Sheldon had that large hail I thought about Jay being out with my car and hoped he’d get home in case it hit us. Then I thought Naw…..I’ll just let the car sit outside this spring…..