Sunday, July 30, 2006

Long time no see or the summer in a nutshell

My last post was May 15. Holy cow, seems a life time ago! You see, I don't work during the summer, and I refuse to pay for s.l.o.w. dial up internet at home. So, I blog during my lunch hour, or on break time at work. But, since I've been at home all summer, no blogging. I've missed it. I've thought of hundreds of things to write about. I just have been to busy to come in and blog.

Today? Today is a Sunday. My wonderful hubby had to use the internet to do some annual training via the internet, so we had to come to town. It's hot here. The AC is off. Hot and stuffy. But, it's hot outside too.

Kev is online. Kat is online. I'm online. Andy is off helping his girlfriend load her truck and move. My little boy has a girlfriend. It's made for an interesting summer, as they have had the idea that they have to spend every single hour together and that he needs to be in town or she needs to be at our house.

I'm pleased that someone has discovered how wonderful he is, and has discovered that he is a cutie-pootie. But this means that I now have to share him. But, his girlfriend's family is relocating and they leave today. He's crushed. She's crushed. We adults, are slightly relieved, and yet we ache for our love-lorn children.

We've spent much of the summer getting ready for the fair. Those of you who aren't 4-H parents have no idea how time consuming it is. Animals have to be fed, monitored and trained to lead. Crafts have to be constructed and completed. Sewing projects created. Everything has to be delivered and presented in the best of light. Every year, I swear that we won't wait till the last minute. Every year, we have something that isn't done till the last minute.

This year, it was crafts and sewing.

Kat likes both, and is good, but boy is she stubborn and difficult and ...Well, she's stubborn and difficult. I, however am not.

Sewing. She's sewed 2 years. Made 3 or 4 items. So, of course, with her 2 years of experience, Kat knows more about sewing than I. To keep me from killing her, Kim offered to come over and sew with the girls (her's and mine) if I'd do arts and crafts with the boys. Done deal.

Kat sewed really well for Kim. Kim isn't as stupid as I am evidently. Kat made a beautiful sun dress. Zipper wasn't perfect, but it turned out beautifully. Purple ribbon quality. Two days before judging, she insisted we make a white blouse. The day before we had to have it judged, we sewed it. She and I. Lots of yelling, lots of "I don't care if that seam isn't straight, I'm not ripping it out." And she didn't. I had to let it go.

I really did let it go! I promise!

But, the shirt got finished. The dress earned reserve champion. It was well deserved. The shirt, well, we don't know yet what it got, we'll have to wait. I'm betting on a red. But, we survived.

All Andy has is animals. But, his love life has taken front seat to training animals. I'm not sure what will happen at the fair, but he's 15 and I'm not going to nag. Right???

Let's see, what else have we been doing??? In a nutshell

1. Bought and installed a new front door. A beautiful door. I stained and poly'd it. Now we need to paint the house.

2. Took a much needed vacation in the Mt's of Colorado. One week away from the world. 3 days of it in atypical continuous rain. My first hike down the snake river. The bald spots on my feet are almost healed now.

3. Drove the kids to the pool many many days. Drove kids to band lessons. Drove kid to drivers ed. Drove kid home from drivers ed. (Why couldn't the kid drive himself home???)

4. Stayed in the house out of the 100+ degree days.

5. Paid $120 for a stupid cat. Said stupid cat is a bottle baby that we saved after his momma died (carried off by coyotes or owls). Said stupid cat tried to play horse-shoes with the menfolk. Cat broke leg trying to catch horse-shoe. Cat is now is a cast from shoulder to paw, requiring him to be in the house full time and using a +*&()^%#$@ litterbox.

6. Discovering that of my 33 new "pullets," 5 of them are roosters. And 4 of those 5 are from my 8 Americana "pullets". I'm not going to get any colored eggs out of them. And, these 5 roosters are extremely randy. I feel sorry for the hens.

7. Sorrow. Miss Monkey, our bottle goat died while having her horns removed. It's my fault, and we've had lots and lots of tears about it.

8. Get ready for the fair. Which is next week. And one week after that, it's back to work.