Halloween

KJ was a decomposing corpse or a person whose flesh is rotting off or something like that for Halloween this year. He wore a "latex appliance" instead of a mask, which meant it had to be stuck to his face with spirit gum, and the edges blended with liquid latex.

What ghoul is complete without his iPod in a skull case? Maybe they bring their own haunting music?


We also made a cut and a burn on one hand.


Not in focus for some reason.

He and his buddy, Taylor, looked so cute together, but don't ever tell them I said that.

What do you get when you take one hard-headed dog...

who really likes to chase after things...

and add one mommie who in an effort to stop said dog from chasing a chicken decided to stick her leg out to trip up said dog? OUCH! He hit my leg with his head going full speed! I had a moment where I was worried he cracked something in my leg or gave himself a concussion. We're both fine though.

Sammie LOVES to put the chickens up. He loves it so much that he will go in the coop to get them to come out, just so he can herd them back up again. When the chickens are out, I put Sammie on his run until time for him to herd them up.

Sammie spends a lot of time destroying stuffed animals when on his run. Misplaced aggression, maybe? Yes, I know the run is not high enough, but I wanted him to have plenty of room to either side. It's a 100 feet long and he can go about 5-6 feet to either side. He's only on it when I let the chickens out.

Where stuffed animals go to die...

Thanks Mom #1

Mom #1 gave me an award.


"This blog invests and believes, in 'proximity' [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' - being close through proxy] They are all charming blogs, and the majority of them aim to show the marvels of friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate?"

I have to give the prize to 8 more bloggers who in turn must paste the above text. (which is a really long run-on sentence, but with a nice sentiment)

I'm passing the award on to Bridgett, Dy, Redneck Mother, Karisma, Rosie, and anybody else who wants to claim it.

Good news and Bad news

The good news is that my PCKidz employer needs a teacher to take over her most-profitable area, and that I'm taking the job. I have already quit Dairy Queen *happy dance* since I'll start this week. I'll make at least the same amount of money and work half the DQ hours. *more happy dancing* No more late nights for me! I found all this out Thursday night and my euphoric mood lasted until Friday afternoon when I got the bad news.

The STSNBN (situation that shall not be named) is not going well at all. It is looking highly likely (though we haven't given up all hope) that David will have to do two years in prison. His health problems (insulin dependent for 40 years, blood sugar out-of-control, no colon, neuropathy, retinopathy) will probably have him dead or severely impaired before his sentence is up. He is trying to get his affairs in order and do what he can for me and KJ, but is working under the assumption that he won't be back. We'll know more in a couple of weeks, but there should be a resolution (good or bad) by the end of the year. Ironically, if he was under indictment for the same crime in ANY other county, besides the one he is being prosecuted in, he would already be on probation. (That's what our lawyer says anyway.)

FYI - Updated post

I updated the "nice excursion" post with pictures.

Took a little trip

My friend, Debbie and her son, Rodney invited me and KJ to join them on a little trip to San Antonio. We left here early Friday morning and returned Saturday night. We went to the San Antonio Zoo Friday morning. In case you didn't know, KJ dyed half his hair hot pink and the other half is kind of a lighter pink.





Debbie wasn't super thrilled about being bombarded by hungry lorakeets.


This is a tad bit better.


Awww, this is more her style...until this bird started nipping her ear. I tried to shoo it off and it got tangled upside down in her hair. Sorry, I was busy removing the bird and didn't get a pic.


We had lunch at the Rivercenter Mall and then went on to the Alamo.

Rodney had some ancestors at the Alamo and was taking a picture of their names.

I wonder what was so funny.

After leaving the Alamo, we just relaxed at the hotel. Saturday was SeaWorld! (Debbie had 4 free tickets.)

The park was directed for Halloween.

Guess who I got to meet today?

I'll give you a hint. She has five of the sweetest, well-mannered children I've ever seen.






She is on my blogroll.







I've read her blog through her last three pregnancies and through two cross-country moves.








It's Dy from Classic Adventures!
Her hubby was going to be in the area for work so they packed up the whole family and came to visit central Texas. She is just as nice in person as she is on her blog. I only wish I had half her patience and wisdom. And the children...I was serious when I said they are sweet and well-mannered. James and John are such responsible young men. I'm sure they are a terrific help to their mother. They both have such a developed sense of humor. They make up their own jokes that you have to really think about to "get." Many times, children aren't that interested in conversing with adults, but I could have informative discussions with James, John, and even Jacob. (He's getting so big!) Emily is just a little doll. The boys, especially Jacob, dote on her. She has the sweetest expression on her face even when proclaiming that she doesn't like something. Then there is baby Jason who I gave serious consideration to sneaking home with me. He is so HAPPY! As long as he was fed and had a clean bottom, he was perfectly content. I don't want you to think Dy is raising little robots or Eddie Haskellish polite children. Authentic and genuine are the best terms I can think of. They're still kids, but self-assured kids...if that makes sense at all.

Thanks for lunch, Dy! Have a safe rest of your trip!

nice excursion - UPDATED with pics

Edited - I wrote this up Thursday afternoon, but did not have time to post the pics, so I just saved the post without publishing. Unfortunately, it is now SATURDAY and I finally have time to finish it. Guess who took the camera card with him to his dad's for the weekend? Oh well, I'll post pics later. We had a lovely day today. KJ and three other children from co-op have been volunteering at the World Hunger Relief Farm on Thursday mornings for several weeks. We parents take turns dropping off and retrieving the group. I usually pick up and take everyone to our history co-op, but today we were going on a field trip instead. I had given serious consideration to skipping the field trip, because I wasn't sure how relevant it would be to our history, wasn't sure KJ was interested, and knew KJ still had lots of Biology homework. Boy, am I glad we went on the field trip. KJ was absolutely fascinated by the museum, the architecture, the auditorium, the whole experience! The museum even had some artifacts from ancient times so it tied in with our history nicely too. KJ took tons of pictures, but I'll only post a few.

Here are the other three World Hunger Farm volunteers. (besides KJ)
This is H. KJ doesn't want to go unless she will be there. He says she makes it fun.


This is C. He is a jokester.


This is Rodney. He quietly observes everything that goes on.


The lodge had some really interesting architecture.














The inside was just as fascinating as the outside. Unfortunately, KJ forgot to take pictures of the ancient artifacts we actually went to see, a 3000 year old rock with cuneiform writing on it, some beads from ancient Egypt, and a couple of things I've forgotten.

These are pics of a gorgeous stained glass window in the memorial room.






This is a stage from one of the auditoriums. KJ is presiding.


These are pics from the Holocaust section of the museum. KJ was really moved.




I think this was Sam Houston.


KJ took MANY more pics, but this is enough for you to get the idea.