A Snapshot

What's at the top of my to-do list?
--Make a final grocery list for our Eminence camping trip
--Visit friend in the hospital tomorrow
--Pick up canoe from sister's house this weekend to take down to Eminence

What have I accomplished?
--Put together a bunch of songs to sing around the campfire. Made chord sheet for guitarists and lyrics sheets for singers.
--Organized all of the volunteers for our swim team (about 33) to work the last two meets. Some of it has been crazy...but fun too.
--Finished up a week of Vacation Bible School

What's been driving me crazy?
--The multiple times I have to take Mary to the bathroom at the pool. I swear she is drinking all the pool water!

What has disappointed me?
--I have totally been thrown off my Jazzercize track. Have things gotten busier? Or have I lost the motivation to work on the usual busyness of my life? Either way, I'm disappointed in my lack of discipline to get myself there. Yes, I like Jazzercize, but for some reason I've lost my momentum.

What's my latest obsession?
--I'm excited about the puppy. I set out Charlie's new feeding bowls as a reminder of the change that is about to hit our house. Or should I say the tornado that is about to hit our house. I know having a puppy isn't easy. I've done it before. No more shoes can be left lying around unless I want them to be chewed up. No toys left on the floor that can be swallowed. I need to be ready for accidents. I need to be ready to be on constant duty during that critical house breaking period. I want to do it right. I'm also thinking about the fun things...the kids enjoying Charlie, walks with him, making him a part of our family. He just turned 4 weeks old today. We'll get him when he is 10 weeks old. We have 6 weeks to get ready for the big change in our house...
--Not really an obsession...but my latest thought: Ted just told me he'd be willing to change his stance on the type of flooring we put in our family room. He's always pushed for carpet and just today told me that he's willing to let me put wood in there like we want for the rest of the living areas (eventually). I'm thinking engineered hardwood would be perfect. That way we could install it ourselves (or pay someone to help us). We can't afford to do this now...and who knows when we will...but at least I won't worry anymore about those accidents Charlie will have.

What's been making me happy?
--All the outdoor fun with my family. I love being outside...trips to the pool, walks in the neighborhood, swim meets, softball games, etc.
--Spending more time with the kids. It's great having them home for the summer...and not having to do carpool!
--I just cut Mary's hair to a short bob. No more tangles. But what happened to my baby? She's my little girl now.
--Mary got to finally change her earrings for the first time since they've been pierced. She is now wearing her new cupcake earrings that her aunt bought her for pooping in the potty. She is so proud!
--I'm looking forward to our trip to Eminence. We are meeting about 11 families there! It has just grown and grown every year!
--My brother and his girlfriend got engaged! We will celebrate in Eminence because they are coming too! All the way from New Orleans!

And Puppy Makes Seven!

Yup. I consider my husband to be very predictable. Very. I need to talk about things about 6 months before I really want them to prepare him for change. Five years ago I know I could not share a home with a puppy and baby again. Since my babies are not babies anymore, I started opening my heart a little bit to the possibility of a dog in our home again. About a month ago we spontaneously led my family into the pet store (you should never go in there with kids unless you are actually ready for pet ownership...EVERYONE wants a dog after a visit to the petstore!). We brought two "Zuchons" into a room with our family to play (A Zuchon is a mix between Bichon Friese and Shih-tzu). The kids loved them. Of course. I've seen Ben and Mary go from crazed, dog fearing children to actually pet the neighbor dog across the street. After that experience, Ted said he might be ready for a dog again...maybe after my trip to Australia. I left it at that.

Then, we went to our babysitter's house for her graduation party two weeks ago. Our babysitter is also family... her dad is Ted's cousin. Anyway, they own two Shih-tzus. They told me her grandma breeds them! Her grandmother, Beverly, owns one male Shih-tzu, one female Shih-tzu and one female Bichon Friese! Which means she breeds full-breed Shih-tzus and Zuchons! To top it off, both females were pregnant! The Zuchons were born May 28th and the Shih-tzus were born June 6th. Lydia called me the next day to let me know about the new Shih-tzus. I told her our concern about Australia and she said she would watch the puppy if we needed! I laughed. I knew that was not Ted's only reason for not taking a dog on right now. I told Ted that we had a sitter...did he still want to wait? I told him he total freedom to say no and I would go along with whatever he decided. He told me we could go for it! What a surprise!

As we were planning our trip to Kansas City this week for Ted's 40th, Ted surprised me further by saying, "Let's go to Samantha's grandma's house on the way down to Kansas City!" I couldn't believe it. My predictable, safe husband can not be so easily put in a box. He was showing me some new colors. We visited the pups and decided to go with the male Zuchon (the female was taken). I didn't really like the coloring of the female Shih-tzu (mostly black), so I guess that's why I went with the Zuchon. Above is a picture of Ted holding the puppy to be named. I would like to call him "Charlie", but I'm getting ideas from the kids, too. We like "Jack", too...but I prefer two syllable names. Ted liked "Tiger" for Tiger Woods...but I think that sounds too feline.

Beverly gave us a great price. We put money down and agreed we would pick him up after our camping trip to Illinois Beach State Park (August 5th or 6th?) when the puppy will be 10 weeks old. We signed a simple agreement... and off we went to Kansas City!

While we were in Kansas City, Ted played a lot of golf, we ate out, slepted in, had free hot breakfasts, ate dessert every night and enjoyed each other's company! It was awesome! We even shopped for our future puppy. We got a dog dish, leash, collar, book on puppies, dog shampoo, detangler, and a couple of toys. I couldn't be happier.

Bad Blogger

I've not been good about TELLING you what I'm doing, so I decided to SHOW you.