Jail Time...

Well, my poor Dixie has made her way to doggie jail. That's right! I kenneled her little butt up! She was being an absolute terror!!! I took her outside to go to the bathroom. It was thundering pretty good -- no rain -- and she decided she really didn't want to go. She'd rather make me chase her all over the backyard making sure she hit every wet and muddy spot possible. And did she ever go. Well, NO! As soon as I get her back in the house she decides that my rug in the living room looks pretty inviting and decides to dump down right there. Yep...On my rug. Before God and everybody! Mike was kind enough to let me know my puppy was pooping on my rug. Thanks Baby! So, she is in time out for now!

Well, it has been a while since I last blogged. I don't really have a good excuse. I have just been lazy. Well, once the school year ended. The first week of summer break I had to go to 3 different workshops, but really and truly I don't have an excuse for this week. I have done as little as possible. My excuse was that it was hot in the house and I didn't want to get any hotter by doing anything. But, then the A/C guy came on Wed. Now, I don't have any other excuse.

Lots of things have happened since I last blogged. Let's see if I can remember all of them!!! (In no particular order!)

Whitney graduated from Kindergarten on May 22. She even wore the cap and gown. She looked really cute and I had a hard time believing my baby was old enough to go to 1st grade. She will be at my school next year! :D They also did class awards that day. My dear sweet girl recieved the Funniest Frog Award. Basically, she is a class clown. My heart is just bursting with pride! LOL (Can you just see my red face as she got the award?)

I found out where my classroom will be next year. It is right next door to Ginger Riley, Ally's 2nd grade teacher this year. She is pretty nice & seems easy to get along with. I still haven't taken my stuff up to school but I think I will start working on that next week.

Got some really cute scrappy stuff made. I gave the girls teachers frames as end of the year presents. I really like how they turned out & they were lots of fun to make! I hope they enjoy them!

I also went to an amazing auction with Mike's cousin, Valerie. I had so much fun just looking at all the things that this woman had up for sale, including the house. She was an antiques dealer and had a hord of stuff in her HUGE house. Her house was 20,000 square feet under roof, 14,000 of it being living space. It was something else. And, there were only 2 people that lived in that house -- the lady who owned it and her 17 year old son. The house was 3 full stories and her son had the 3rd floor all to himself. We were able to walk through the house and look around at all the things that were going to be auctioned off. The lady and her son were there. It had to be really weird watching strangers walk through your house. The mom was acting like she was hosting a party or something. Very strange. Anyway, I had never been to a auction before and I must say that I am HOOKED!!! Oh my! And you should have seen the amount of $ people were paying for things! HOLY COW!!! I know that some people were dealers but some of them weren't. I bet that some of the personal buyers spent a few thousand dollars on the stuff they bought. I had fun just watching them! But, I did get in on the action when they had some small baker's racks up for auction. They had Texas stars on them and I just really liked them. So, I jumped in on the bidding. (That's what's addicting!) Got the highest bid too! This is what it looks like. I have it all decorated now. I have my cook books on it, some vintage quilt pieces, and some miscellaneous stuff. I love it. Mike likes it too. :D

Last weekend Aubrey and Taylor came to stay with me. Taylor had a fastpitch tourney in Longview. I love watching that girl play. She is so dedicated to what she does. And, she is really good too. All of that and just 14 years old. Aubrey and I didn't get to scrap any. Not enough time. I hope we have time when they come back to stay on the weekend of June 22nd. Got my fingers crossed!

I thought I'd share this picture of Allison and Dixie. I think it is pretty cute. Allison has been doing a pretty good job of acting like a big girl lately. She hasn't been arguing with her sister as much and has been trying to be more helpful. She has learned to bathe Dixie and that is a HUGE help to me! Not to mention that she does a good job of it! She and I have had to go clothes shopping in the last couple of weeks since she has completely outgrown some of her clothes! (Can you believe she is almost as tall as me???) Anyway, she is a bargain shopper! She knows how to check the sales racks! LOL And, when I tell her no to something she really likes she has done a pretty good job accepting that answer. I'm pretty proud of her lately. She is such a good girl!

Well, gang, I'm outta here. I'll try to do a better job of posting! Later!

This has been a busy weekend. I am tired tonight but I can't seem to turn my brain off. Lovely isn't it? I have nights like that sometimes. I think I just get overly tired. I haven't been sleeping too great lately. You know, waking up about a gazillion times a night. I hate that. Maybe tonight will be different.

My puppy has no idea how late it is. She is playing nonstop in the kennel. And being loud as she does it. She is even barking at her toys. Dixie is a mess -- totally rotten! Love her to death though!

The girls have only 4 days of school left. So far this week I am only working tomorrow. (I'll be tired....) Whit graduates on Tues. so I won't work then and I am not completely sure I want to work on the last 2 days of school. It will be wild!

Well, since I have to go to work in the morning I had better try to get some sleep. I'll update more in the next couple of days. Night peeps!

Hmmm... Let me think about that...... NO!

Went to wonderful Wal-Mart today to get stuff we were out of and stuff for supper. Didn't need much so I was bustling through the store at lightning speed. (Can you see that?) Actually, I was trying to go at lightning speed but my kidlets kept sidetracking me. Ally kept knocking things off the shelf ("Keep your hands to yourself!") and Whit kept taking off to look at things ("Stay with ME!"). They were a bit wound up, but they weren't too bad. (See them hopping around the buggy singing?) Well, when it came time to check out I finally had to tell them to take a chill pill. And, then I heard something dreadful!

Me: Girls let's get in line so we can go home.
Girls: Can we get a coke?
Me: Sure. Hurry and get one.
Girls: (grinning & giggling) Can we get energy drinks?
Me: Uh, NO! I don't think so!

These are words that you just don't want to hear from your children....EVER! ;P

They both settled for something else. Thank goodness it wasn't a fight. I don't think I had it in me today!

Another thought.....Why is it that when you go to the store for just a few things you end up spending more money than you need to? I can almost count on trips to Wal-Mart costing me at least $50 a trip. That stinks! Needless to say, I avoid daily trips to Wal-Mart at all costs.....no pun intended! :D

****Later! ****

Weekly ramblings......

The Dog Days of May...
I took the puppy to the vet on Monday and she checked out to be one healthy little pooch! Got her shots, wormer, and flea meds and was good to go. She has definately come out of her shell this week! What a little scrapper! She likes to get after it! Deuce has decided he doesn't know what to think of her either! She likes to take the kamikaze method with him. You know, run as fast as her little legs will possibly let her and barrel into him if she gets there fast enough! He doesn't really know what to do with this! If he sees her coming he just takes off in the opposite direction. I will say that in the past day or so he has been coming around a bit. **Sometimes** he doesn't take off right away. He waits to see what she'll do 1st and then take off! It has been pretty interesting!

Deuce hasn't felt too good this week either. He has double ear infections. Poor guy :( I have to wash his ears once daily and put antibiotics down in them twice daily. He DOESN"T like it at all! I don't blame him -- his ears are pretty tender right now. The meds seem to be working though. He has perked back up.

Oh! And I can't forget this one. Dixie was being all sweet to her daddy the other night while he watched tv. Mike was holding her while she laid on his chest and she did it. Yep! Pooped right in his lap! He was totally grossed out and all I could do was laugh. That stuff usually happens to me.

It's all good now.... :D
I waited a week and a half to get some information on the interview and got a call on Wed. from Tamara Dean, principal at the school. Seems I got me a job! :D I am so flippin' excited! I will be teaching 3rd grade next year. Really looking forward to it too. I think it will be a good thing. I will be at the girls' school, in Allison's grade, and not far from home. Talk about losing a ton of stress........ I can breathe a little now. Now I just have to wait on my classroom. It may be a while since they are doing some construction and remodeling on the school. :( I'll be as patient as I can.... ;P

Softball Woes....
Well, we played ball again last night....minus our starting pitcher. (He was out of town for work.) We were pretty evenly matched up and put up a pretty good fight against a team that had a record identical to us -- 4 wins, 0 losses. To make a long story short we lost by 3 runs. I have to say that losing really sucks. A lot. I played catcher once again and today my legs are screaming at me! And, for some odd reason so is my left shoulder. All I do is catch with my left arm so I don't know what that is all about. I'll live though. I do, however, need to start doing lunges and squats around the house so righty and lefty don't hurt so much from squatting behind the plate.

Something sad...
Heard about a motorcycle accident earlier this week. Apparently, a truck pulled out in front of a guy riding a motorcycle and the accident killed the motorcyclist. He was only 28 years old. He and his wife have twins that are 3 or 4 years old. She teaches at the school I will work at next year and I have met her. My heart is aching for her right now. I can't even imagine what she is going through.....Keeping her fam in my prayers......

It has definately been a week for me. So glad it is the weekend! Counting down the days to summer vacation! Only 9 more days to go!

Sunday Morning Coffee

Mornin' folks! It has been a while since I updated my blog. This has been a long busy week and I have a few things to talk about this morning. So grab a seat and a cup of coffee.

Nerves of Steel....yea, right!

I interviewed on Monday (4/30) for a 3rd (& possibly a 1st) grade position at Ally's school. But, I must say that I was so nervous that I made myself sick to my stomach all weekend and especially on Monday. Almost like morning sickness, just not quite as bad. ;D Although I did give myself a headache and stomach ache on Monday and needed to lay down before my interview. I took a quick nap but it didn't really help. Needless to say I was quite the nervous chick when I went into the interview. But, once the interview started I settled right down and the interview seemed to go well. I felt really comfortable with the women who interviewed me and I think they liked my answers to their questions. The principal said that they would be interviewing the rest of the week and the beginning of next week. Maybe I'll know something one way or another by the end of next week or so. At least I am hoping. I've been so worked up about this that I have been giving myself headaches. I know.......So not cool. I need to settle my nerves down. I just want a teaching position.....like yesterday.

The Daily Grind...

I subbed 3 days this week so I stayed pretty busy with that. I talked to the middle school principal's secretary, Joyce (who is as sweet as can be!), and asked if she knew if a particular lang. arts position was coming open. She said she had heard the rumors but the teacher hadn't turned in her contract yet to let them know if she was staying or leaving. She said she'd let me know as soon as she found out. (See, I told you she was a sweetie!) Maybe something good will come out of that.....We'll see.....

Braving the Wilds...

On Friday I braved the wilds of the zoo. I know, sounds strange that I need to brave the "wilds" at the zoo. You don't have to remind me that the animals are all behind bars and glass. I know that. It was what was not caged up that I needed to brave: kindergarteners. Yep, that's right. I went on the Kindergarten field trip....as a chaperone. It actually wasn't too bad. I had two kiddos -- Whitney and Chloe. They liked taking off in front of me -- I could still see them -- and didn't have a lot of patience waiting for me to catch up. Imagine that. :P It was hot and muggy and it seemed like every single exhibit was uphill. But, I did have fun with the girls. Whitney rode home with me when it was time to leave. She had such a good time and it turned out to be a really fun day.

Canton here we come!

We took the girls to Canton yesterday. Although they had been before they were way too young to actually remember it. They LOVED it though! We started in Pet Alley and looked at all sorts of animals -- mostly dogs. Of course, as you know from my previous post, I was on a mission. :D Well, I must say: Mission Accomplished. Woo!!! Hoo!!! We looked at all sorts dogs: Yorkies, Chihuahuas, Beagles, etc. But we just kept coming back to the Cocker Spaniels. I just love them. Pretty soon after we started we found a little girl that had a lot of spunk and looked like a healthy little gal. We kept looking and found ourselves comparing all the other little dogs to her. So, our decision was made. Or I should say my decision was made! ;P After talking to the breeder a little more I decided that the girl was mine. I paid for her and got her papers. (On a side note -- if I get her registered in the next 30 days I get entered into a drawing. Whoever wins gets the $ they paid for their puppy back from APRI. Pretty cool!) She was too cute riding in my Canton buggy on a blanket and Allison's pillow. Wish I would have had my camera! (Darn!) I did get some cute pics of her after we got home. I'm a little biased but I think she is just adorable! Say hello Dixie!!!