A Blog Post

So every day I put blog on my to-do list, and every day I never get to check it off.

Here goes......Last Thursday we went camping in our tiny house camper. The weather was perfect, and we had such a great time! We hiked many miles and cooked yummy food over the campfire. I am not through sewing curtains for the camper, but when I get them finished I plan to share pictures of our cute tiny house pop-up camper! So far I have only recovered the dinette cushions and bought color coordinated bedding, pillows, baskets, etc. I am using navy and turquoise (no pink because the boys said, "please, no pink!)

Wedding Update: not much

• ordered wedding memory books for both girls
• ordering hostess gifts for their showers today
• pondering when and where to buy a dress for me for both weddings
• planned an all day wedding planning extravaganza for tomorrow--Lynn, Leann, and I are meeting at 8:30 AM to get a lot of stuff done.
• most of the items we ordered during Spring Break have arrived

I am almost through reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I really like this book. It's my third time to read it, and I enjoy it more every time. We are reading this book in my senior English class. I am not sure they appreciate it as much as I do!  They are happy that I am not making them write a paper about it. We are doing business writing (business letters, resumes, and job applications) instead. And they have an 1800 word research paper due next week. 

We had our first track meet last Tuesday. It was Leah's first one, and she ran well. She and Clay both ran the 1 mile and the 800m, and Leah also ran the 4 x 800 relay. We got home around 11:00 PM. Fun.

I have gradually begun running again. (My CrossFit injury from many weeks ago has really slowed me down.) This week I have run 2 times!  2.5 miles on Monday and yesterday a long run with Leanna of 4 miles! Baby steps. I know that if I jump in too fast with too many miles I will get a running related injury in my knee or IT band. So, I am easing into the miles. I am running the Coke 10K on May 6, so my goal is to do that in under an hour. 

That's about all.

Oh. I haven't forgotten about Better Than Before. Keep reading! I'll blog about it soon.

Our Spring Break

My college girls have come and gone! What a week it was!

They landed in Memphis last Saturday morning at 9:05 AM, and our whole family was so, so happy when they arrived home. Sadly, we left at 7:15 AM this morning to drive them to the Birmingham airport. They have safely arrived back in Tampa.

Our week was full of wedding planning (lots accomplished) and visiting grandparents. Plus they had schoolwork. Yuk! I felt so sorry for them having to do school during their break. Jimmy had to work every single day they were home, and that was super sad too. All five children spent most of one day helping out with Jimmy's momma, and I spent most of my week at the Tupelo hospital with my sick mama. (She went home yesterday and is doing so much better). Even though I was pulled in several different directions, it was all good. I got to spend time with my parents (although not under the best circumstances), and I had lots of time with Olivia and Julie too.

Here is what we accomplished regarding the weddings:

• took both wedding dresses to the alterations lady to be marked for hemming and bustling.
• ordered personalized napkins for each girls' wedding cake table
• ordered personalized thank you notes for each girl
• ordered Love stamps for the wedding invitations
• reserved 17 men's suit rentals for both weddings (17 in all for both)
• Julie's wedding invitations came in, but the outer and inner envelopes were printed in the wrong font. It's all ok though. I contacted the company, and they reprinted them, and they have already shipped.
• Julie's bridesmaid dresses for Leah and Olivia arrived. They both fit perfectly and need no alterations.
• Both girls registered at Belk, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Walmart, and Kohl's for wedding gifts.
• Both girls finalized their choices for bride's and bridesmaids' bouquets, boutonnieres for the men, flower girl hair pieces, and all other flowers as well. I will meet with the florist very soon.

I think that's all!

We Have a New Dog

Just what we needed! Another dog.

When we came home from camping last Saturday, a brown dog was at our house. He was happy to see us! He had made himself right at home with our other three outside dogs, Ribsy, Pokey, and Lady.
We spent a couple of days trying to decide if he would make our home his new home. I called my neighbor down the road to see if she knew of anyone who was missing a brown dog. She did not. I waited to see if he would go back where he came from. He did not.

On Monday, he injured himself trying to jump over a fence to get to where Leah was. He got hung, but Clay promptly rescued him. He immediately began limping.....I kept waiting for him to get better, but no. Yesterday we could not find him at all until about 2:00. Clay found him on one of our trails, and he was not moving. So, I called the vet to see if I could bring "Brown Dog" in for assessment. Since we only welcome dogs with infirmities to the Johnson Rehabilitation Center, I knew that he would most likely have health issues.

And he did. The vet's report included a spinal sprain (treated by pain meds and anti-inflammatory medication), heart worms (all of our dogs come with heart worms!), and a variety of intestinal worms. Of course. They began treatment for all of that plus scheduled surgery to neuter him this morning. I ordered him a shocking collar (all dogs who live on our land have to have their surgery and wear a shocking collar so they won't get hit by a car), and we will pick him up tomorrow morning.

We still haven't named Brown Dog. The kids are trying to decide on the perfect name.

In case you're counting, that brings our pet population to a total of 8. Three inside cats, one inside dog, and four outside dogs. And I'm really not an animal person!

Do Everything At Once

That's how I am feeling lately. I alternate between being stress paralyzed and doing five things all at once. I keep reminding myself how to eat an elephant.....one bite at a time.

Wedding Planning Update:

• I am entering the names and addresses online into a database for the outer and inner envelopes to be printed for Julie's wedding invitations. This is way more involved than I anticipated. I have done 15 so far. I have about 200 to go! I have already typed the guest list in a spreadsheet document with tabs for several different categories of guests. My columns include name, address, RSVP, and estimate. The estimate column is where I guessed how many, if any people from each family would attend the wedding. This is the number I used to determine how much food to order from the caterer. As I get RSVPs (and I really, really hope people will respond--I am including an email address and number to text for responses), I will adjust my estimate for a hopefully final accurate headcount for the caterer.  I thought I could use this same document and just email or upload it to the invitation website, but of course it has not been that simple. I have to type each entry on the invitation's website, one at a time! AND....it will not save them to use again for Olivia's invitations!  So I am going to price having them printed locally, if I can just give them my spreadsheet or upload it somehow, and if it is not too expensive.
• I printed out the wedding ideas photos. 
• I met with the caterer for Olivia's wedding and planned her reception.
• I decided I may want a different dress to wear for Olivia's wedding.
• I scheduled the alterations of Olivia's wedding dress while she is home for spring break.
• I researched and compiled options for Olivia's rehearsal dinner and sent them to Joy. (Believe it or not, this took almost four hours.)
• Julie's finance', Big Sam, has gotten all but one of the groomsmen/usher's measurements for the suit rentals. Yay Big Sam!  :)

My back/shoulder/neck is still bothering me. I tried to do some housework yesterday, and I simply could not. My house is getting really dirty! The kids are helping me clean, and I am so thankful for that. I am really hoping that by next Monday I will be as good as new and can spend the week catching up on housework. 

Camper Update:  I have bought all kinds of cute dishes, towels, bedding, and such for our tiny little camper. I also have bought pretty fabric to make curtains and cover the dinette cushions. However, I have not found the time to do any sewing. The kids are anxious for me to make our camper cute....maybe I can sew some today. 

Happy Thursday to you!

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about Better Than Before. I had to finish Huckleberry Finn for my English class, and I haven't made time to read the next chapter in Better Than Before.  I will this weekend.