I gave myself a goal at the beginning of 2017. The goal was to sign up & complete all the virtual events hosted by Hogwarts Running Club this year.

This was my first experience with HRC and I’m quite impressed with the organization.

They host six events in a year, plus have a seventh challenge medal. The registration fees this year were reasonable at $25 per race. HRC is non profit and the majority of the registration cost goes straight to a charity of their choosing. Because of this, most of the registration cost is tax deductible.

For your $25 you are donating to a charity, receiving a medal in the mail, and can download a digital bib. There is also the option to purchase shirts.

They are active on Facebook for those who like the social aspects. They have multiple groups including the Great Hall and common rooms for each house. I am part of the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Charity Miles

Hogwarts Running Club uses the Charity Miles app to track mileage for special events like the House Cup. By using the app, not only are you helping your house, but you are earning 25¢ per mile to a charity of your choice.

* 2017 Events *

Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody Constant Vigilance 5k

Charity Partner: Limbs for Life Foundation

The first event of 2017 was the Mad Eye Moody 5k. The medal is fun – the eye spins around.

Whether during a run or on a stroll with the kids, I enjoy spotting Great Blue Herons. They make me happy, even though they aren’t terribly fond of people. When I see one while running, I consider it good luck. It seemed fitting that I saw one during my first HRC event.

I printed my bib and brought it with me to Universal Studios, then stamped the back of it at the Owl Post.

The 10K and Spew

Charity Partner: Harry Potter Alliance and their Granger Leadership Academy

It’s all in the details.
When your owl delivers your mail, the package comes with a quirky saying. Love that! Also, many of the medals come with a saying or decor on the back.

This bib was also printed and stamped in Hogsmeade at Universal Studios.

I bought a basic athletic shirt and used my silhouette and heat press to create my own Ravenclaw shirt to run in.

Unmasked 10 mile Run for your life

Charity Partner: To Write Love On Her Arms

Sportin’ my Ravenclaw pride socks.

Even though it’s on the dark side, I love this medal. And, the charity is for an important cause.

Sirius Half Marathon

Charity Partner: Mission K9 Rescue

An event dedicated to Sirius Black.

The medal has a bit of a stained glass effect. The back is engraved with one of my favorite quotes:

If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.
– Sirius Black

The Eternal Glory Four Miler!

Charity Partner: Back on My Feet

A four mile event highlighting the Goblet of Fire.

You get to pick the name and number that goes on your digital bib. My number is always 262 – for the 26.2 miles I completed during the Portland Marathon. I chose a different name for each event.

Platform 9 3/4 Year Four

Charity Partner: Antarctic & Southern Ocean Coalition

Another amazing medal. The light on the train really turns on and off.

The bib is designed to look like a train ticket.

Again, I love all the attention to detail.

* Time Turner *

The Time Turner happens in October. This is when HRC turns back the clock and reopens registration for previous events. You can also sign up for the Challenge medal and the Perfect Prefect pin.

Challenge Medal

The Challenge medal was available to HRC members who registered for at least three of the 2017 events.

The fun part about being in the Facebook groups are the added encouragement and challenges along the way. For instance, The Ravenclaw Common Room provided us an optional challenge for earning this medal. Our “position” during our “Quidditch match” was based on our monthly total miles.  I ended up being a beater because I ran between 50 & 99 miles. You can be as active or inactive in the optional challenges as you would like.

The Patronus 5k

I had already registered for all the 2017 events. So, instead I registered for 2015’s Patronus 5K during the time turner.

I registered for this event in October, but technically there was no race date. I hadn’t gotten around to completing it until the first week in 2018. I brought the medal with me on a girl’s trip to the Dominican Republic as motivation to run at least once on the trip. And, I did. I ran only the one time during that week.

Possible Fun Fact: Pottermore helped me discover that my patronus is a ragdoll cat.
A cat? That hardly seems correct. I don’t dislike cats, and ragdoll cats are beautiful. But, I’m more of a bird and aquatic animal person. Or, goat. I do love goats. We don’t even have a pet cat because we don’t want one in the house and the two we tried having outside both got eaten by coyotes. So, no cats for us. Yet, my patronus is a cat. Weird.

Perfect Prefect

I never thought it could be – but yet, it’s true. I am a Perfect Prefect. I highlighted my name on Ravenclaw’s Wall of Fame.

To be a Perfect Prefect you must register for all six events and the Challenge medal. The pin is free, as long as you tell them you want it.

HRC Cheer Squad

The Cheer Squad at this year’s Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. I don’t know these women personally, but I was more than happy to have their support during the 5K. The heat and humidity during the half marathon was brutal. The Cheer Squad had ice! I am not exaggerating when I say that it almost brought me to tears. I was miserable by this point in the race. I truly needed that ice to cool down. More than that, it just felt good knowing someone had my back. It was the encouragement I needed to finish.

Universal Studios Hollywood

To celebrate our son’s birthday, we surprised the kids with a quick trip to LA primarily to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I brought my Ravenclaw shirt to wear and created shirts for the rest of the family. All the boys, hubby included, are Hufflepuff and my daughter is Gryffindor.

We went early in the year, so I only had 2 event bibs to bring with me. I brought them for the sole purpose of stamping them with the Hogsmeade postmark.

I enjoyed these virtual events so much that I already preregistered for all 2018 events. So, yippy! I should be a Perfect Prefect in 2018, too. I can’t wait to see the themes for each event. The first event has already been announced – the Nargle 9K.

Because I’m a sucker for things I adore, and excuses to run, and themed events, I recently joined HRC’s sister group based on Gilmore Girls, the Chilton Running Club.

There is also the Whovian Running Club, if you are a Doctor Who fan.

Now to work on my 2018 Perfect Prefect status!
Happy Running!

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When I realized Willow surely was pregnant I began researching the items I would need for the birth. Willow had kidded multiple times, but this was a first for me. So I had to purchase most everything we would need.

SUPPLIES I PURCHASED

This is everything I bought:

Except for the puppy pads, everything fits nicely inside the bucket.

So, what exactly did I buy and why?

Here’s my list:
HAIR TRIMMERS… I read it was better to shave the doe prior to birth, so the kidding goo has less places to stick to. I didn’t think Willow needed this, so I skipped this step.
PUPPY PADS... to wipe off newly born, wet kids
HEAD LAMP… to see at night and to see if baby is in correct position when bubble first appears
OB GLOVES... in case I had to go in
BETADINE… iodine based skin cleanser
NASAL ASPIRATOR… to clear out baby’s nose and mouth
FLOSS… to tie off umbilical cord
SCISSORS… to cut umbilical cord
TRIODINE-7… 7% iodine to sterilize equipment and to dip umbilical cords in
SMALL CONTAINER… to pour triodine in to dip cords
NIPPLES… I bought the Pritchard brand. Use if kid needs bottle fed
16oz SODA BOTTLE… to use as milking bottle, if needed
COLOSTRUM POWDER… to have on hand in case baby doesn’t get colostrum from doe
1cc SYRINGE… to feed baby colostrum, if needed
CALCIUM DRENCH… in case doe shows signs of low calcium/hypocalcemia
MOLASSES… added to water for mama; she’s worked hard
THERMOMETER… to check temp in case of infection
KETONE TEST STRIPS... to test for toxemia or ketosis, if needed

Just because I like to keep track of things, the total cost to purchase all these items was $156.71
I didn’t use all the items for this kidding. But, they can be used for general goat health or later kiddings.

SUPPLIES I USED

What I did use:
PUPPY PADS… We used quite a few of these to wipe off the babies. Towels or paper towels would have worked, too.
NASAL ASPIRATOR… All 4 kids in this birth were breathing on their own when we got there, but I tried getting out gunk anyway.
TRIODINE-7 & SMALL CONTAINER… Dipped the umbilical cords in
NIPPLES & SODA BOTTLE… Since there were 4 kids I was unsure if I needed to supplement. I tried a couple times. They didn’t love it and I thought Willow was doing a fine job feeding everyone, so I quit. About 10 days after their birth, though, I think I’ll start supplementing.
CALCIUM DRENCH… Willow never showed weakness, but I gave her the calcium drench anyway. I need to research if that was ok.
MOLASSES… Willow loved this in her water

Thankfully this was a problem-free birth and I didn’t need a few of my purchases. And now I’m all set up for next time. Yay!

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This may not be the most exciting table ever, but I love it for a few reasons. One is that it has a crisp, clean feel. Two, is that it is functional. And three, it cost me nothing.

In a hallway near our kitchen is where our recycling goes. It is the most obnoxious, untidy area. This isn’t even a good obnoxious photo. Usually there is so much recycling that it’s overfilling the bags and spilling all over the floor.

The space was in desperate need of tidying. I asked Farmer John if there was enough scrap wood laying around to build a small table. He found 2 closet doors and got to creating.

One door was used to make the table top. The other door was cut to make 2 36″ tall legs.

The doors are 18″ wide, which is a couple inches wider than I would prefer for the hall. But, it works just fine.

The doors obviously have a hole for a door handle. We cut that section off the leg pieces. But, chose to leave it for the table top so we can put cords through it if we ever needed to like for a slow cooker or Christmas decor.

Using a drill and countersink, Farmer John screwed the top piece to the legs.

The door had space for hinges, of course. But, we just placed that ugly side towards the wall.

Since the doors are hollow, the ends are open. We have old matting in our garage that Farmer John cut to cover the openings. It’s not fancy, but it worked.

He also used the matting to cut gussets to stabilize the table.

The triangle gussets were stapled to the back of the table.

The finished thrifty, yet functional, table!

To try to keep the recycling mess organized I labeled each container. Hopefully the family follows the labels and it actually stays organized.

As an added bonus the table is perfect for my cookbooks and old cookie cutters. I was also able to hang mine and Farm Girl’s aprons near the table. Win, win!

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Since I started running I wanted to have a way to display my bling. I found a few items around the house and got to making one. I had a few requirements: I wanted it to hold both bibs & medals, I wanted it to say Celebrate Every Mile, I wanted to be able to write on it & I didn’t want it to be too large.

PAINTING THE BOARD

Top Left: We had a scrap piece of plywood lying around that was already painted white. Score! My hubby trimmed it to 18″ x 12″ and I sanded off the dirt.

Top Right: With indoor/outdoor paint I had used on other projects, I painted the background. First, I painted the blue. Then after the blue dried, I painted green right over the top. When the green was dry, I sanded the entire thing to allow some of the blue to come through. I was going for a not-so-perfect look.

Bottom: Then, I used chalkboard paint for my final paint layer. After it dried, I sanded it, especially along the edges to roughen it.

THE INSPIRATIONAL WORDING

Using the font that came with the Boys Will Be Boys cartridge, I used my cricut machine to cut vinyl letters.

HARDWARE

Left: I screwed in 7/8″ brass hooks to hold the bibs & medals. I might need to change out the hooks used for the bibs later. They aren’t large enough to hold as many bibs as I had hoped. Right now I have 23 bibs hanging & I don’t think the hooks can hold many more.

Right: To hang the display on the wall I nailed a picture frame bracket to the back. I used only one bracket. Two would have been better.

USING CHALK

I wanted to change my times as needed on the board, so I chose chalk as my media.

Left: First I prepped the board by covering the entire thing with chalk, then wiped it off. You can see the board has deep grooves so the chalk didn’t fill in everywhere like it was supposed to.

Right: My board is a little too rough, making it a slightly difficult to write on. Also, the chalk pen doesn’t erase quite as well as I would like. But, overall, it does what I need it to.

HOW THE BOARD LOOKS TODAY

I’m pleased with the result. It’s not perfect, but it accomplishes all the things I want it to. Most importantly, it hangs within eyesight of my computer to remind me to get off my duff and run.

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