Dog – Life with us ~ The Wandering Workentins

Whew!!!

It’s been a few crazy days out in blog land. I was able to get all my blog posts (796!) all imported into WordPress…and then I set up my Crochet and More by Ali page set up…

which leads me to ask…IF you have been the recipient of any crocheted items by me whether as a gift or special order I would love to have pictures…for some reason I am unable to locate pictures of all the crocheting I have done, especially many of the items I made while we were gate guarding…so again, I ask, if you received something from me, would you be so kind as to take a picture and send it to me or post in the comments. Thanks a bunch in advance for helping this ole’ gal out.

I have heard from a couple of you that you are enjoying this new layout/look of the blog and that is much easier to read…thanks for the feedback…and if you haven’t left a note…feel free to do so!!! I love to hear from my readers!!! And my stats show there are over 500 followers on this blog from when I first started it in 2013 when I was trying a few new things…so comment away!!!

Today I’m taking Joey in for his first grooming appointment since he came to live with us…we have given him a couple of baths (he does real well~just stands there) but he needs a good cleaning, nails clipped, hair trim and all the other stuff that goes along with getting groomed.

Thursday’s are my busy days…did my log notes for the week, email to the relief HP who comes on tomorrow, clean off my desk and get ready for whatever we are doing on our off days.

This weekend we are going to Kerrville, TX https://www.facebook.com/events/2180785955520437/ and to meet up with our friends and fellow RV’rs…Dana Ticknor and her kids. Looking forward to getting away for a couple of nights and going to the Hill Country again with maybe a stop in Bandera!!! It will also be our first time taking Joey on a trip…we will see how he does!!!

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What do you like to do on your off time? Ron and I love to go on road trips and so one of our objectives this weekend is to see how well Joey travels and does in a hotel.

The other thing I really like to do on our off time is sleep in…can’t wait for Saturday and Sunday mornings to do just that. With the new requirement that all foster home/cottage homes/residential care facilities to have overnight awake staff 24/7 we don’t get to sleep in very often…though Ron and I do take turns sleeping in or even catching a nap or two.

I’m Tired…So What’s New

I don’t know if our having three days off and getting out of the rhythm of things has totally caused my body to reacting, all I know is that I am TIRED!!!

Today started at 5:30, up, dressed and Joey out the door…only he didn’t go far as it was raining, no pouring and he wouldn’t leave the dry of the carport…he finally tinkled on the generator (sorry Ron) but I had things to do so back into the house we went.

Relieved our night staff person (some of our friends call her our babysitter) and yes it is weird going into our apartment while someone else stays up in our living room…we call her our “human alarm” and yes on two occasions she has gotten one of us up for a kidlet who had a nightmare and one night when CPS showed up (they do their inspections to make sure we have a night time awake staff member between 11p and 5a though we say it would be better to come on a Saturday morning at 7:30a to see if we are all sleeping in) AND NO we have not gone back to bed though we both have talked about wishing we could.

It is about as far from NORMALCY as you can get…but that is another story.

Spent a few minutes organizing my day, got the kids a “home lunch” ready…it’s funny because when I was a little girl we always had to take our lunch to school. Nothing fancy, a sandwich and maybe a piece of fruit or some chips and change for milk. And would beg my mom to let me buy lunch. Here at the Yaokum ISD all the kids are provided breakfast and lunch each school day so it’s the reverse treat for them…they like to take “home lunch” as AR calls it…so one day a week I make them a lunch to take. It usually consists of a lunchable, a piece of fruit, some cheese or peanut butter crackers, either a pudding or fruit gummies and a Gatorade.

And then Ron took them to school and I folded the two loads of laundry from yesterday and got two more loads going. After Ron got back from the school run we headed to Walmart to pick up a few things, then to Tractor Supply ~ we were looking for

for Joey..remember he wouldn’t go potty out in the rain. Nope, couldn’t find anything so we went to HEB and got groceries and some cleaning supplies…then back home to put the groceries away and then it was time to go get Little Bit from school.

Little Bit has a mind of her own and when she decides she doesn’t want to do something she just won’t do it…today she didn’t want to match and fold her socks. Last night it was she didn’t want to take a bath…last night it was fine, if you don’t want to take a bath, get your jammies on and go to bed. Then it was “I don’t want to take a bath and I don’t want to go to bed!!” at the top of her little lungs for about 15 minutes till she cried herself to sleep. Sometimes it’s just plain hard being a 5 year old. So back to the not matching/folding her socks…she was told “everyone has a job to do and today your job is to match and fold your socks.” So while whining she didn’t want to match/fold her socks she matched her socks. It got done with a bit of complaining but it got done. And I was told “You are a mean mommy.” I said back to her “it’s okay that I’m a mean mommy, I still love you.” She is never quite sure what to say to me when I say that to her.

Being five, once her “job” was done she was off to watch her movie and pet Joey…she loves Joey. We only allow about five minutes at a time for her with him because they are both getting to know each other.

The afternoon went by quickly and then it was time to go get AR, then AZ came home and homework got done, some hearts for Valentines Day were decorated and then time for tutoring…math for both of them.

Before long it was dinner time. Tonight was a win..spaghetti and no complaints.

Bath time and then bed…whew!!!

I just sat at the computer for a few minutes to catch my breath, answered a couple of emails and then thought I should write a few words.

That is a pretty typical school day for us…

…I want to get back into writing more devotionals, share some stories, write a few guest blog posts for This(Un)ExceptionalLife, and get back to writing my book which includes transcribing all of my handwritten journals to the computer. I would also like to put my mother~in~law’s stories together from her handwritten journals to pass on to her grandchildren and great~grandchildren.

…I want to get back to reading for fun ~ I can’t remember the last time I picked up a book just to read for fun. Lately it’s been training manuals or daily devotionals but a good cheezy romance novel would be fun to indulge into again.

…And then there is my crocheting…I finished up a blanket two days ago and started on one of my temperature blankets. Once I get the first 20 rows completed, I will start on number two and then number three. Plus there are a couple of baby blankets/stuffies I need to get busy on.

…oh and continue being a wife, mom, Grammy and foster~mom, friend and Oh Yes, take a nap once in a while!!!!

Stay tuned and see what I get done!!!

Just Some Rambling Thoughts…

Oh where have I been…well last Thursday, January 16th was our 39th day of working without a day off…mostly our choice but still 39 days is a long time to work without any time off…oh, we did have an evening off in December when a local church had a Date Night…and for us it was perfect because it was on our 44th wedding anniversary so we joined some friends from our Sunday School class and went out to eat.

So Friday, January 17th after getting the kidlets off to school, stopping to have breakfast with a few people from our church we headed for home to rest and relax until the Candidate Forum at the Yoakum Community Center was to begin at 5:00p…well about 11:30a we got a text from our friend Donna that Joey needed help and a home and would it be possible for him to come and live with us. So the text conversation went like this…

…BJ wants to know if YOU want a dog, 6 years old?

…What kind? Is he house trained? Fixed?

…Yes is house broken and yes he is fixed.

…When does he need to find a home? Is he good around kids?

…Yes, he looks like Toto, he has papers but he is fixed so breeders don’t want him. He belonged to BJ’s girlfriend’s sister but she is headed to prison for 15 years…girlfriend doesn’t want to keep him as she already has 4 dogs of her own.

THEN the conversation with Ron

…Honey, Donna wants to know if we want a dog?

…Ron says: no, smiles and asks what kind? I show him a picture of Toto and I read him the messages between Donna and I.

And then Ron smiled real big

and showed me

and then we were off to Lampasas (3 hrs away)

where

Joey joined our family!!!

He is a Cairn Terrier.

Not sure he really knows his name is Joey,

and I have been calling him Sweetie

so in the next few days we will decide on a permanent name for him.

Any Suggestions????

So our first day off in 39 days was spent with being in the car for 7 hours!!!

Saturday was a day of rest, watching TV, getting caught up on NCIS, BULL, napping and lots of crocheting…trying to finish up a toddler blanket so I can get busy on one of the 15 other crochet projects I have on my list to do!!!

Sunday we went to Sunday School and church then joined some of them for lunch in Victoria at Grand Buffet….I filled up on sushi, even a ate a couple of Spicy Tuna Roll in honor of Max and then we headed for home. We got home about 3:20p and I laid down, only to wake up at 6:30p…I guess I was still tired…then it was time for Hawaii 5O and Magnum before heading back to bed about 10:30p…

and then this morning it was up, take the dog out to go potty,

get dressed, take the dog out for a walk around the big circle 2x, then in for some time with the Lord…and the message today was

Be Intentional!

Live each day as if it is your last!!

Prioritize People over STUFF!!

Live Authentically!!!

and then it was time to return to work and the kiddo’s…

first up was another two times around the circle with Julie, our Relief HP, to hear about how the weekend went, address some questions she had

and then chat with the kiddo’s…we knew the weekend was going to be hard as they had not been with anyone else but Ron and I for 39 days…

…they pushed some limits, tried some patience, and behaved great a a birthday party with total strangers so after Ms Julie left we had a little chat…okay AR would say a long chat…it doesn’t matter who is in charge of you, you have to follow the same rules,

thanks for being great at the birthday party,

now let’s work on following the rules whether it’s Ms Ali or Mr Ron or Ms Julie who is in charge…the rules are there for a reason, we discussed the reason and expectations and then we all went to our bedrooms, counted to 10 and came back together and began our day a new…you know the TBRI Re Do stuff…the kids played outside most of the day, Ron got a lot of the lawn mowed, I made sloppy joes for dinner, everyone got their showers

and slowly the kidlets are heading to bed.

Tomorrow is a trip to Seguin to see the dentist,

then back to school and back to routines!!

Oh and hopefully a trip to the vet for shots and then the groomer for a trim for Joey!!!