without pet peeves!

I have had it...!  As I've mentioned previously before I have children.  They are precious to me.  I'll do anything to protect them.  I've pulled over to do so.  Why you ask?

Years ago, when I learned to drive I seem to recall one of my instructors (parents, boyfriend-now-husband, paid-driving instructor) telling me to always keep a safe distant between the vehicle I was driving and the one in front of you.  But it was my friend Donna who told me she like to keep the crazy drivers in front of her... and I have to agree.

My pet peeve... if you are behind me and I can't see your license plate nor your headlights--because you are too d*mn close to my vehicle; I'm going to pull over and let you pass.  Why?  Because my greatest fear is I'm going to have to stop for something or someone and the vehicle behind me is going to rear-end my vehicle.  Then me, or worse, one of my children is going to get hurt and pay the price for someone's inability to judge the distance between two vehicles.

Do you have a pet peeve like mine?  

without dogs!

*BLEEP* not just one day slipped by me ... two!!! Two whole days gone.  And now I owe myself three blogs!

Ok, so for my first owed entry ... I'm going to blog about my furry children.  I know, I know some people consider pets, just pets or animals.  But ever since I was a little girl my family has had dogs.   Hound dogs, hunting dogs, wiener dogs, police dogs, and finally family dogs.  And every single one of them was unique. 

I remember Molly, Sokie, and Spike.  Molly was a Basset Hound, Sokie was a hunting dog, and Spike was our first and only wiener dog!  Since we lived in a mobile home, the dogs were kept in a large dog coop.  Each had there own run outside.  But inside, my dad had built large rooms for each.  Big enough I could walk in to get their dishes at feeding time.  I sure miss them.

Then there was Rusty, our first German Shepard.  He, well, didn't last long in our home.  He never seemed to like people in uniforms.  My stepfather worked for the water department and wore a uniform.  Enough said.

After Rusty, we had Lady Lord Sheba.  She too was a German Shepard.  She we had much longer than Rusty, but it was me she despised not uniformed strangers or stepfathers.  Sheba didn't like being told she couldn't eat out of the garbage.  Nor shake the throw rug if someone knocked on the front door.  I went to college before she left this world.

During college, I met my husband.  His family had dogs too.  Sandy a Golden Retriever and Shasta a Sheep-herding Mix.  Those two were inseparable.  Sandy was a gentle, loving and ready to chase ball pup.  Shasta too, loved to chase balls, but he barked for attention.  Shasta doted on Sandy, most of the time cleaning her ears and snuggling up to her.  But he would always scarf down Sandy's food if she ever left any.  Perhaps, it was fair trade... I clean your ears, you give me your supper.

When I turned 26 my husband surprised me.  He drove me an hour south of our home to a Golden Retriever breeder's kennel.  And there, I fell in love with truly my first furry child.  I didn't pick her, she picked me.  At six weeks, Hope, came to me and sat down between my feet.  Her siblings could care less.  They ran about the play yard chasing one another.  But not Hope.  She came to me.

Fourteen years she was a part of my life.  Fourteen.  That's a long time.  I miss her dearly still, as do my children and my husband.

Now, tonight I sit in my kitchen writing this blog... I've been interrupted a dozen times by my present furry children--Red and her sister, Maeve.  Red bops my elbows as I type, while Maeve brings me ball after ball.  Red didn't pick me.  Nor anyone else in my household.  She was picked by us because she wasn't timid and she's a deep red color.  Maeve on the other hand was timid and climbed into my youngest son's lap.  So we couldn't leave with just Red from the breeder, we had to take Maeve too.

Hard to believe they are three years old.  They both think they are lap dogs--although they weigh over 80 lbs each.  Red steals any thing she can reach on a counter and runs with it.  She *loves* socks and stuff animals too.  Maeve as I said before is a "ball girl."  She would run after balls all day if we would throw them.

Well, it's time to walk the furry children...

Without resolutions!

Yesterday I made a goal to write daily *again*.  Today, I’ve achieved that.  Tomorrow, I intend to continue.  On Wednesday, it may be hard but I will get up at the crack of dawn to fit it into the “old schedule” and perhaps make it a “new schedule.”  

Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and sit for five, maybe ten and read.  Better yet, drop me a comment and let me know if I should keep writing this blog. 

Now, onto the subject at hand resolutions!  Do you make them or not?  I reached a point in my life a few years ago when I just stopped making resolutions at the end of the year.  Sometimes, I make them day to day. 

For example, I stopped worrying about resolving to lose weight and started just eating better foods because consuming junk food leaves me feeling crappy.  I would rather feel happy and not bloated.  So I choose to eat better because I really do not like coming down from a “sugar high” or fall asleep mid-afternoon.  I have too much to enjoy… books to be read, kids to play board games with, recipes to try, and ohhh a blog to write daily!

To further stress this point, I had thrown out the scale five years ago, stopped weighing myself and in turn somehow lost 25 pounds.  Unfortunately, several family crises later, I gained it all back.  I’m still who I was before I lost the weight, after I lost it, and when I regained it.  Perhaps I was meant to weigh what I do.

Then there are the moments we resolve to be more organized, when I have had enough and clean up small areas of our home.  We all have them.  The walk-in-closet no one sees.  Or the spare room, that has become the store everything you can’t live without but really don’t use anymore.  And finally, worst of all either an attic or basement where we put the holiday decorations, seasonal cloths and camping/sports equipment.

A year ago I cleaned out my half of the walk-in-closet and stopped wondering *if* I could fit back into several outfits I wore when I was first marriage.  For those who don’t know I’ve been marriage more than twenty years and have three sons.  The oldest is old enough to *gasp* drive now.  I rearranged what cloths I kept by color.  Being a creative person I guess is what made me organize my clothes like a rainbow.  It has been a huge relief, when in a pinch, to go into my closet and be able to just grab an outfit in less than a minute compared to several. 

This week, I cleaned out two linen closets.  I found we have eight sets of twin sheets and only one kid is sleeping in a twin bed presently.  However, come summer when it’s time to go to Boy Scout Summer Camp I will know where all the twin size mattress pads and sheets sets are.  But the rest of us sleep on a full, queen or king size bed.  There were only three extra sets of sheets for king and one for the queen.  I’m missing an extra set for the full.  I filled a garbage bag full of old linens that were not even fit for our dogs to use for bedding.  I found stash of pillow cases I didn’t know we had too.  Best of all I filled a medium size shopping bag with plan cotton sheet sets we don’t use and plan to donate them.

Do you make resolutions? Goals? Promises?  Or do you just live day to day?

Without dead batteries!

Isn't it grand to reach for something--like your cell phone, remote, or laptop--only to realize the batteries are dead. I realized more and more of the items we use daily either have a power source that must be charged on a regular basis or take AA batteries.

I guess my recommendation to any young couple who has children is to invest in batteries that you can charge when they run out of power. I know it's still not too late for us to do the same.

There is another battery I was thinking of when I started this entry tho. My battery. So that I can recharge my battery, and keep it charged... I'm going to make another life-changing-resolution. In bed by 10pm when evening activities permit. Of course I will be starting tomorrow night since it's almost 11 now.

To achieve that though, I'm going to have to succeed in finishing more laundry (yes, that dirty word again) during the quiet hours of the day. LOL! This would ensure I wouldn't have to stay up (like I am now) to dry all the clothes I'm washing or have washed; as well fold them. Because dry warm clothes laying in a basket only wrinkle. Then I would have to (gasp) IRON!

Perhaps I'll also try to take our girls (pups) outside more, since the weather seems to be in a warming pattern again. Our trouble-maker, aka Red, has taken to showing me how displeased she is that we haven't been playing outside daily.

Look for my mid-day posts starting tomorrow!

Without energetic pups!

We recently had our roof replaced. One of the stipulations of the contract was to keep all pets and children indoors and away from the workers.

Keeping our children out of harms way was the easy part--they were at school for the majority of the time frame the roofers ripped off the old shingles and installed the new roof.

However, the pups were a different challenge. Red is a curious dog, she loves to explore counter tops and tables. She steals socks, whole tissue boxes, head sets, ace bandages, baggies of food or anything else she deems interesting. For instance, a terra cotta flower pot one of the kids had decorated to look like a bunny. Red's curiosity got the better of her and she snagged it off the counter. She grabbed the fuzzy-ball-tail and it smashed into several pieces.

The loud noises that the roofers were making drew Red to the windows in the kitchen. She tried to peak under the pull shades covering the windows. I raised them slightly giving her able view of the backyard. Red bark a few times at the workers. Probably telling them, "Hey, I'm in here and I'm watching you." Maeve on the other hand headed to her kennel with ball in mouth and curled up. She was content to just hang in there.

After scolding the workers, Red decided to pester Maeve. Into the Maeve's kennel Red lumbered in and started to poke at Maeve with her snout. Maeve got up and came out. They wrestled over the ball some, then Maeve decided she had enough but this time headed into Red's kennel.

Then a most unusual thing occurred (ok, in my humble opinion)... Red gently pushed her own kennel door shut with her nose, while Maeve was still in the kennel. I began to laugh hysterically until my ribs hurt. Maeve didn't take kindly to her sister shutting her in a kennel, she jumped and came out ready for another round of wrestling on the kitchen floor.

Just watching them have fun made me forget about the constant banging for a few moments...

Without Snow!

Our area was forecasted to receive 1" to 2" of snow last night. Nothing major. But as luck would have it, I needed a few items from the grocery store.

Thankfully, the weathermen hadn't spread panic through our local community and the store only had the usual crowd. But as I was leaving I heard someone exclaim, "It's snowing!"

Then I noticed the customer who exited just prior to myself. She started to trot as quickly as parking lot traffic and her high heels would permit her. She didn't slow down either once she approached her vehicle. She flung her car door open and proceeded to throw her recent purchases as fast as she could.

I was amazed. Why would anyone want to act in this manner? Oh, right it was snowing.

I took my sweet time strolling to my truck. Watching as the snowflakes fell from the sky with the wonder of a small child who was witnessing their first snow fall. It was glorious. I know I'm probably in the minority. But it's been so long since we had snow, even the small measly amount we received brought joy to my children. Too bad it will all be melted before they are dismissed from school.

If winter isn't your favorite season, what is?

if I didn't count my blessing

Today I met a young man who made it clear
I should count my blessing...

I have three wonderful kids...
who are as different as can be,
but love similar foods, books, and tv shows.

Two pups who give me new challenges everyday...
how fast can *you* back fill a hole while we dig two more!?!
Apparently, *not* fast enough! LOL!

And a terrific husband...
who not only can cook, but bake too!
And do many other chores; while watching the kids...
all while I'm working.

If a soul looks lost, reach out to them...
for they may be lost, and need guidance back.