Dog Days

The little songs of summer are all gone today.
The little insect instruments are all packed away:
The bumblebee's snare drum, the grasshopper's guitar,
The katydid's banjo, the cricket's violin,
The dragonfly's cello have ceased their merry din.
Oh, where is the orchestra? From harpist down to drummer
They've all disappeared with the passing of the summer.


Only 10 more days until school starts back...say it ain't so! It's inevitable, I know...still doesn't make it any easier to swallow.
I guess we've had a decent summer. Haven't really gone anywhere spectacular; although we did go to Louisville, Kentucky for the National Beta club convention, where my middle son performed with the band -and they came in 2nd in the nation! We did some sight seeing during that short visit. Got to go to my younger sister's new digs in Tennessee, on the way home from Kentucky, on the day they moved in. They are a lot closer to us now, than they have been for the past 15 years, when they lived outside Atlanta. We'll miss the Six Flags/Coca-Cola Museum/Stone Mountain trips combined with family visits, since that's usually the only time we'd go to those places, otherwise. I guess we'll have to settle for some new fun in the Tennessee hills (Cool Springs shopping, antiquing, perhaps, maybe some Smokey Mountain adventures, who knows?) We're really glad they are such a short distance from us now, though.
We enjoyed a wonderfully nutritious spiritual feast last week during the lectureship at Jones Road - 19 thought-provoking studies from God's word that really keep me digging into the scriptures. Our God IS an awesome God! I'll share the website where you can download and/or listen online to the MP3 recordings of all the lessons, as well as the ones we have every Sunday: www.jonesroadchurch.org
We acquired a puppy from our neighbor a few weeks ago...I just found out the dog is half Pit Bull. Now, for those who are enamored with that particular breed of dog, I hate it, but I'm just gonna have to tell the puppy SEE YA! I knew she was extremely aggressive and also destructive. Not sure if those are 'classic' pit bull characteristics or not, but she has virtually destroyed my back yard. We already have a dachshund mix that has always been a pretty good, albeit (according to the kids) a 'boring' dog. Well, let me tell you - 'boring' is the new desirable trait for a pet, to me, right now. This puppy will regularly devour our 'old' dog's food..and she just takes the abuse. She's older, etc. It took a while for her to adjust to the young whippersnapper, but I think she's about had it with the varmint.
To look at the puppy you don't instantly see a pit bull at all - she has longer ears, but there's something about the eyes...can't put my finger on it...and I don't think I would put my finger on her eyes, I'd end up losing more than one of them! She has bitten me before - not badly, since she still has baby teeth - but I've never had a dog act that way, and we've had puppies in the past. Just found out yesterday that the father of the puppy- the pit bull - (and he lives next door, along with a herd of other mutts that typically roam their yard, unrestrained - Hello, that's ILLEGAL in the city limits!) attacked a lady down the street as she attempted to take a leisurely walk through the neighborhood! He didn't penetrate the skin - but the potential is there. Ironically enough, an animal control officer lives in the same neighborhood...why isn't he patrolling and seeing these crazy dogs? They run out to my yard many times when we get out of our car to go into the house, and even approach our porch, like we're invading their property. I'm not sure if I should call the police or animal control - I can't ever get any response from A.C. except an answering machine. UGH!!! I'm afraid one of my kids or me or a guest at my home will end up getting attacked by one of them, and believe me, there will be trouble if that happens!
Not sure how I got on a rant about the dog(s), but trust me, those dogs over there can really bring out my worst side.
I am scheduled to work 8 hours at the bakery today and am leaving my 2 boys at my parents' house - my two daughters are both out of town right now. I would leave the boys alone, ordinarily, if I have to, during my normal 2.5 to 3 hour shifts, but two boys 13 and 12 alone for 8 hours...eh, not the best plan.
I have made sure they know to help out around their house and do some things that might need doing (that my parents might otherwise not be able to do). Hopefully that will go off smoothly.
Well, I am getting close to seeing the bottom of my coffee cup, which means it's time for one more before I head out for the long day.

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

At last! Summer is here in all its glory, with part or most of that glory being the fact that we are finally being blessed with the luxury of waking up a mere 2 -3 hours later than normal. I also am particularly in love with the fact that the days are much longer; the only thing I don't like about that part is that there seems to be more things I noticed that need to be done, throughout the day. But that first sweet day of summer freedom brings me utter delight! We are looking forward to a wonderful summer. We do have quite a bit planned already, but here's hoping the plans will turn out to be joyfully spent!
Last night my children and I attended the ABS Kindergarten graduation ceremony. It's always such an enjoyable thing to watch those little ones perform what they have learned for the evening, from all that they have soaked up throughout the school year. I could relate to those parents last night as it made me reflect on my own 'little ones' and the time they spent in elementary school. It seems like only last week that I was watching my now nearly 23 year old daughter up on the stage, reciting "Little Miss Muffet", moving back and forth in a nervous motion and flashing that sweet smile...I feel a kindergarten video marathon coming on in the near future...
My youngest child will be in junior high next year. That's another milestone we've reached. I say 'we' because everyone goes through it with the one who's actually taking part in it. Another year of 'firsts', for him now, and for me. He is excited about it, but just this morning was bemoaning the fact that school was out, summer is here and he won't have anything to do. We'll just see about that! I can think of several things that he can do, along with his siblings. I usually give them a few 'freebies' at the beginning to get their bearings and catch up on much needed rest. The last few weeks have been near maniacal for us as well as many other ABS parents. So everyone, let's all take a deep breath, relax, and go soak up some summer sun.
Listen to the birds singing - they don't have a care in the world, and they don't care who hears them sing! I think I see a lesson in this.



Proverbs 16:9

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

I'm still standing

I managed to make it through the frenzied weekend, almost unscathed. I say almost because on Saturday we were at the Junior Beta car wash from 9:45 Am - 4:00 PM, therefore I came away from that with a considerable amount of sunburn on my skin. Actually all members of my family who were in attendance there acquired a comparable measure of it on themselves, as well. No, we did not apply sunblock - I saw it all day long sitting around in various places outside the building but never once thought, "I think I'll put some of that on, and also have my kids put it on, too. We might get blistered." Nope, that just didn't happen, and now we're paying for it. I will say, I've had worse sunburns than this one, but I was in a good bit of discomfort that night. All that aside, the car wash was not a wash out, in more ways than one - it didn't rain until later that evening, and we made a good deal of money toward our trip to the National convention in Louisville KY, coming up in June. Scott Hudson did some calculating as to how much money we'd make if we had a car wash that successful every Saturday until we left for the trip, and it was quite an impressive total. That's an intriguing thought, but one I'm not going to dwell on too long. My kids and I were pretty wiped out from that day! But I think everyone had a good time, in spite of the heat - at least we had access (some had too much) to water all day long. :)
Only 4 more days of working this week for the school year, for me. I am super excited about getting out of school, and for no other reason right now than the mere thought of sleeping in, and doing nothing, if I so choose! I know that's a rarity, so I'm sure it won't happen more than maybe once or twice. The sleeping in part will likely happen more times than that, but there's always plenty to be done around here! I was pretty tired when I got home this afternoon, but I got a little snooze, headed back up to school to work some more, took Jonah to piano lessons and while he was there, Luke and I made a Wal Mart/Dollar General run, then we headed back home. Erin made supper for us tonight, I mowed the back yard, got a shower and actually watched a little TV ("Unwrapped" - one of my favorites) and now I'm doing a little catch up work on the computer...only to hear my daughter tell me she has to look up something for her science class...NOW she tells me. Oh well, story of my life....

So... this is a new address for me online. I've been a blogger for over 6 years on another website, I was a member on this site so I decided to delve into this and see how it goes. I'll try anything. Just about.

My mind is a little numb after enduring yet another blazing hot day at work. Hopefully we will have AC blowing cool breezes on us before the year's out. Hey, we have another 7 days - I'm trying to be optimistic, here! I also got to watch the last part of my youngest child's last elementary field day experience, and of course, the appropriate level of moisture was applied - ALL OVER his body. Between the water slide (which was determined to be 'pathetic' by some, due to its mere 'misting' quality as opposed to the deluge of water previously provided by its predecessors) and just plain old dumping of water directly on the head, along with the prerequisite sweat, that kid was soaked. He was content to stay that way throughout the afternoon, as well as on the ride home (which consists of a total of one block), but by that time he'd pretty well dried out, at least enough to keep from sliding off the vinyl seat in the back of the Jeep.

In the matter of 2 months, I've had my oldest child move back home and my second oldest child move back out; so now the oldest child inherits the second oldest child's room that my fourth oldest child had officially decided needed to go to the youngest child when the second oldest moved out because the oldest child was planning to move out herself. He came up with this idea on his own, mainly because then he'd have the biggest bedroom in the house.
Welcome to (a tiny slice of) my life.
My oldest daughter had been living in Morris, and working in Birmingham, when that plan fell apart after she lost her job and was unable to find another one. It was then decided that she move back home to find a job here in her hometown (which she did in only 4 days after arrival), and save money. Meanwhile, my oldest son had begun to date...ok, this 'oldest son/daughter' thing is already old. Anyone who's reading this knows their names...
Micah had begun to date Holly's room mate.
This proved to be an interesting situation as they became more interested in each other, and as so often happens, they wanted to be able to spend more time together. This has met with my approval, by the way - let's just let that be understood from the get-go.
So, Micah's career path took another turn, yet again...he's now entering into the physical therapy assistant field. He'll be attending Jefferson State (conveniently located near none other than the afore-mentioned 'person of interest'...that is not the best choice of words...) in the fall, but deemed it necessary to move down there earlier in order to find a job and become more established/acquainted with the area (i.e., start making better money and also save it by being closer to the girl he's been spending so much time going to see!). Lo and behold, he applied for a job online, went for an interview and got the job, all in a matter of a couple of days.
He starts this coming Monday.
He did a quick pack-up of a lot of items today and already moved down there, at least it's in the preliminary stage - there are still remnants of him around here.

I miss him already, and he'll be home tomorrow, to get some more things and attend church services here on Sunday - for the last 'official' time at Jones Road.

What's a mom to do?