NEW PUPPY!

We started out the afternoon running some errands... dropped Vicki off at a friends house to spend the night, then to Harbor Freight for some work gloves and a couple of the free flash lights... then we stopped off to check out some free puppies that someone had posted on one of the rescue groups. They were an adorable set of Black Lab / Pit Bull puppies that are about 7 1/2 to 8 weeks old. We brought home the cutest rolie polie puppy of the bunch... and named him L.B. - for Little Boy. He took to Andrew right off the bat! We gave him some Comfortis wrapped in cheese immediately upon getting home with him (wanted to take care of any fleas pronto!), and then Andrew gave him a bath & dried him off. We've taken him out to go potty a couple of times, and he's currently (at 10pm) asleep in Andrew's lap. Yes... we're very good at spoiling our dogs, and L.B. will be no exception! I did find out that I didn't have any actual puppy food in the house, though - so I'll need to remedy that. I had the kids give him some Might Dog Seniors dog food - figuring that it might have more vitamins than just the "normal" canned food. I'll take care of getting puppy food tomorrow, though.

Of course, we picked him up today, and Andrew leaves tomorrow to go to Grandma's house for a few days... poor puppy! 3 whole days without his new daddy! I'm sure the kids will help spoil him, though. I'll get some pictures posted of him tomorrow, too. He's a sweetie!

The kids are happy to have some of their friends out of school for the summer, and I'm working on helping plan some fun summer activities. Everything from an 80's themed prom for teens & parents alike, to attending the square dance club in Tomball. I'm hoping MyCokeRewards.com will have the free Schlitterbahn passes again this summer, too. We're DEFINITELY planning on getting some of those. (We've enjoyed those free passes for the past two summers, and are crossing our fingers to get them again).

It's also time to round up the curriculum pieces and book lists for our summer school. We're not taking the summer off - I'm too mean for that Not to mention, I hate the whole "I'm bored!" regimen from the  kids - so we'll just completely skip that and go straight to school work. 

We have a couple of friends with swimming pools, too - so we'll plan a few swim dates and take over hot dogs & stuff to cook out with... and I know the kids have mentioned roller skating at Sk8 Town, and I'm hoping for some bowling coupons from Tomball Bowl or AMF Bowling. Between all of that, it really should be a fun and busy summer (and somewhat cheap is the plan!).

We need to get Trae his drivers license and a job... Jessica would  probably like to take Drivers Ed, too - but I'm thinking I might as well let her wait until she's 18. She currently works two days a month, and makes $100 for those two days (clerical work). Trae has a 4 week pet sitting job that will pay $200 total, but is still looking for a "real" job. I'm thinking I might run him into Magnolia & see if any of the vets or pet boarding clinics need someone for feeding, cleaning cages, and walking & playing with the animals. Those things are right up his  alley, and he'd definitely enjoy that sort of job.

Well, it's after 10:00, and I'm pretty much rambling while I wait for this movie to finish playing... hope everyone's had a fabulous day! Good night!

Vicki attended the Band Banquet at Magnolia West this past weekend - she and Gage had an absolutely enjoyable evening...

Victoria's sporting a lovely dress (don't remember the pattern number, but it's a simplicity pattern) - I managed to get it sewn the day of the banquet - and talk about pushing the time limit! (I might mention the fact that simplicity really FAILED on this pattern - it's NOT as simple as it could be... I'll be making some revisions - including adding a zipper! It's a very fitted dress, and the only way in or out is over the head... Yikes!)

We attended a homeschool sale yesterday, and we took LOTS of curriculum & workbooks to help clean out our shelves for the next school year... but found to our dismay that people were summer shopping, not school year shopping. We brought home nearly everything we took with us. I'm hoping to get it inventoried over the next few days and post stuff up on vegsource, ebay, and sellhomeschoolbooks.com - we have entirely more textbooks and workbooks than any co-op needs, much less a family! LOL

I don't remember if I posted about hitting the auction barn last week to see about getting a calf or two to replace Lucy... talk about a place of chaos! It was insane! I think we're going to hit the local ads, craigslist, etc, to find calves. It's got to be easier than the auction barn. The auctioneer would be taking bids on a cow, they'd send that one through and another one would be in the pen, and a third one would be coming in while he finished up the first. How is a person supposed to figure out what they're bidding on? Good gravy!

Last night was Sit & Stitch - I definitely enjoy Tuesday evenings. It's so much fun to spend time with friends... I told the story of our Colorado trip from a few years ago, and had the ladies laughing... I'll have to put that in print on here one of these days. It's definitely entertaining!

I've been informed that it's time to make more coffee... and I haven't even finished my first cup, OR my homemade biscuits that are sitting here getting colder on my plate. I did manage to get today's school work printed and handed out to everyone... that's an accomplishment, right?

busy as usual!

Yes, I do realize that it's been about a month since I last checked in... but  you know how crazy things can get for me.

We did pick up Lucy from the butcher, and I must say that it's the sweetest beef that I've ever tasted! I'm thinking that the whole "you are what you eat" phrase might be on to something... with the amount of donuts, eclairs, breads, pineapple, and pumpkins that Lucy ate, those could be a contributing factor to how sweet her meat is. We're hoping to head to the auction barn tomorrow and pick up a new calf or two. I know Brittani would definitely like for us to - she's been harassing us to get her a new baby... she's naming this one Chuckie - like chuck roast, ground chuck, or that horrible evil doll that no one will mind if we kill LOL

We managed to rehome 5 ducks that were rescued from a small backyard in Sugarland and taken to Fortuna's Garden & Sanctuary - but the current ducks/geese at Fortune's weren't giving the new ducks much pond time. We took those ducks over to Teen Challenge, where there's a HUGE pond with NO ducks - so now there are HAPPY ducks there!

We've also been plucking perch & turtles out of the Teen Challenge pond - we've been putting the turtles in our pond, and the perch in Fortuna's pond... we've moved at least 200 perch so far. It's totally nifty!

We picked up a HUGE quantity (2 pick up load fulls) of workbooks & textbooks from the english department at one of the junior high schools in the area - and we'll be taking the majority of them to a homeschool curriculum sale next week - I figure if I sell most of it for $1 each, it'll make up for some of the gas that we use in our Resourceful Recycling adventures, and still be a huge blessing to the homeschool families in need of the books. It's a win-win situation - they save money, and we have money to continue on our endeavors. (Of course, I actually had my living room cleaned until we brought the books home, and now you're hard pressed to find a place to sit - I definitely can't WAIT for the sale!)

Brittani & Zachary have both had their birthdays since the last time I posted - and I came to the realization that for 7 months of next year I'll have a total of FIVE teenagers. They'll be 13 to 19 years old. Can you believe? I'm totally floored. Holy smokes!

Trae's still job hunting - not very successfully... I still find that the marine recruiter is a dimwitted buffoon - trying to catch up with him has been a pain in my rear, and I have GOT to get Trae's birth certificate back from him. It irritates the fire out of me that this whole "single testicle" thing is sufficient to keep the military from even considering you for recruitment. Seriously? Like a person can't shoot straight if their sack is lopsided? Absolutely & completely stupid. I'd love to know what ladder to climb to get him considered... he'd make a good grunt. Follow orders well and doesn't deviate - we've trained him well :-)

We're winding down this school year, but I'll be doing summer school with the two  youngest this year. A friend of mine teaches 7th grade, and her school is adopting a new curriculum next year, so we're going to give the curriculum a "dry run" this summer with actual students - she'll teach language arts, and I'll teach math (which she wants to re-learn so that she can help her students when they ask for it). We already completed our Texas History curriculum, so that's done, which leaves only 7th grade science to do. Zach & Britt will be able to start 8th grade together next year - pretty nifty!

I need to get some pictures loaded on here - everything from fishing to delivering a port-a-potty to knitting a dishcloth (new for me pattern) has gone on over the last few weeks - and some of it's definitely worth seeing :-)

Hope everyone is doing fabulous!!