squirrels and social engagements

So I had a really amazing weekend (I am going to go ahead and call this my "birthday weekend" since my birthday was on Wednesday and I had to work instead of doing anything fun).

Friday I did nothing other than work out before and after going to work. And ate some pizza at work with the other B-shift guys.

Saturday, I had an interesting encounter with a squirrel IN my apartment. Now, if you are not aware of the backstory, there have been squirrels (not sure if that's singular or plural) living in the walls of my apartment for months. I can hear them running around at weird times, and you can see where they are getting into the walls if you are outside the house and you look up at the roof. Apparently, a squirrel finally chewed its way into my apartment on Saturday. I was getting ready to get on my bike when I saw my cat, fur bristled, in the hallway outside of my kitchen. I walked into the kitchen to see an oatmeal packet in the middle of the floor and a tail disappearing into the crack between the wall and my cabinets. Yikes. I took a bunch of plastic bags and stuffed them into the crack, thinking that would deter the squirrel, and then I hopped on my bike. Less than 20 mins later, I heard noises in the kitchen, so I went and checked, and there was the squirrel sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. I yelled at it and it ran back into the wall. This kept happening multiple times! I ended up shutting the cat in my bedroom (because I didn't want her messing with it) and left 2 hysterical voicemails with my landlord, which went something like this:

Hi Rob, this is Alexa. There is a squirrel sitting in the middle of my &$%#ing kitchen and it's chewing on my garbage bags and trying to steal my oatmeal, and I had to shut my cat in my bedroom because I think it might have rabies, and I am trying to get a 2.5 hour bike ride done and I can't do it because I have to keep chasing the squirrel away, and I can't keep it from coming into the kitchen and I am FREAKING OUT AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS. PLEASE HELP ME!


Dramatic, yes, but it worked. He came over, pulled out the cabinets, left some poison in the wall, and boarded up the hole. So far, no squirrels have been sighted in my home. I feel bad about the poison, but I don't want wild animals running through my apartment, chewing on my stuff!!

 After the squirrel drama had subsided,  I was able to finish my bike ride and run and then I went out to dinner with my friends Ari and Trevor to Owl House. After eating FAR too much, we went to their apartment and watched the movie "Case 39." Now I cannot watch scary movies when I am alone, but watching it with company was fun; I especially enjoyed both Ari's and Trevor's running commentaries, example: "don't go in the closet you stupid idiot!!" hahaha. Good times. Also, we all screamed simultaneously at the scary parts. It's kind of fun being scared - with company. :)

This morning I went running with my friend Amie (we ran for an hour in 9 degree weather) and then we met up with her boyfriend for brunch. Her boyfriend is into some crazy mountain biking and has done an Ironman, and Amie runs and does triathlons, so we had a nice conversation about peeing on yourself on the bike, in the middle of the restaurant. Classy.

Then I went to a teammate, Don's, house for a surprise baby shower for Kim H. (another teammate). Not your typical baby shower. No annoying baby games, no squealing over ridiculous baby presents, it was basically a Train-This party and was REALLY fun!

I then did an hour recovery ride on my bike in my new Louis Garneau TT shorts while watching "P.S. I Love You" (I know, worst trainer movie ever) and then snuggled with my kitty. Great ending to a great weekend! But I had a really great weekend with a lot of different friends and I am heading to bed shortly feeling very happy. :)