Runaway Dogs

Brandy

Niki

Our dogs are officially runaways. They got out of our yard sometime yesterday or Wednesday night and they have not returned. I've gone to look for them twice, I called Radford and Montgomery County Animal Control and I looked on the lost and found for the Roanoke Times and Craigslist. Sometimes they get out, but usually they return when they get hungry. This is the longest they've been gone at one time. I hope they turn up, it's upsetting because I really like those dogs and Colby keeps asking about them. Plus I feel like a failure. I mean who can't keep track of two medium sized dogs that are really friendly? Plus I just spent $130 at the vet to get their shots and whatnot and they just up and disappear! If you see them or know of someone that might have taken them in, call me at 540-230-7880.

Quasi-stay-at-home Mom?

So maybe sometimes I could be a stay at home mom. I finally made a loaf of bread for Colby that tasted good! I've already tried once and my mom has tried at least once - all dismal failures until today. I'm pretty proud of being able to do that because buying low pro bread is uber expensive. I already spend $100 on four boxes of cereal, 3 boxes of pasta, 4 cans of muffin mix and 24 small bags of chips. All of that might have cost $30 if it wasn't low protein, but...sigh...

Not Stay-at-home Mom

I have determined that I could not be a stay at home mom. I would be too bored to do it. I find I like the problems that teaching ninth grade English poses and I like solving them. In the midst of my summer break I find myself reflecting on last semester and thinking of new ways to do things and organizing things in my head and creating to-do lists for the first weeks of school. It's not that I'm eager to go back to school, the problem is I'm bored hanging out with Colby all day. It's monotenous. Go to park, lunch, nap, play, dinner, play, bedtime. Next day, go to library, go to Walmart, lunch, nap, play, dinner, play, bedtime. I love hanging out with Colby, but just not so many days in a row. I've been throwing in side trips to random places just so I can maintain my sanity, like we went to Panera yesterday. But, I suppose if that's the only thing to complain about in my blog...I'm good!

Oooooo That Smell...

This past weekend Colby and I went go visiting in Hampton. We had a nice drive down on Friday and when we arrived, my dad introduced me to their new Wii. I played ping pong and bowling against my dad, he smoked me on ping pong, but we were pretty evenly matched on the bowling. I beat him on a regular game, but he beat me on the crazy gauntlet of spinning bowling balls, which I maintain is sort of unfair because I'd never played that before :-) On Saturday I played some more Wii...I liked it :-) Also on Saturday I got to hang out with my grandparents. Colby was such a showoff for everyone that night, but a loveable showoff. On Sunday we hung out in the morning and Colby and I drove back to Radford. The biggest news on that trip: It was HOT! On Saturday and Sunday the high was over 100 degrees. The house was so hot that I had to sleep downstairs or sweat to death upstairs...guess which I chose.

While I was putting the carseat back in the RAV before leaving I thought I smelled something bad. I looked around, didn't see anything and shrugged thinking that maybe I needed to clean the car seat or something. Later down the road, the car was really stinking and I was like, "What the heck is that?" Then it dawned on me...on Friday I stopped outside Richmond to change Colby's pooey diaper...and then left it in the car for two 100+ days!!!! EWWWWWW! So I stopped and tossed it (sorry to Dairy Queen) before heading up the road with a much better smelling car!

Summer is Getting Shorter and Shorter

Lately I've come to a realization that my summer will not last forever and if there's something I want to do, I should do it! So this weekend in a spur of the moment decision I decide to take Colby and go to Hampton for the weekend. Sure, we saw my parents last month, but it seemed like it was rushed. Plus my parents just bought a Wii and I want to play it! Plus it would be pretty funny to watch them play it :-P I was also thinking that come August I would be pretty busy with traveling and starting school and all that jazz.

In August we're supposed to go to Hilton Head. I think Brandon and I decided to drive seperately so while I drive back to go to school, Brandon and Colby can stay for a few more days and enjoy the beach. I originally thought I was going to be able to stay at Hilton Head longer, but as it turns out teacher workdays start on a Tuesday and not a Wednesday and I thought my supervisors wouldn't be too happy if I missed the first day of teacher workdays. Oh well...I already go to go to the beach for a week and it was glorious, so I'll take what I can get before I go back to school.

Summer Update

So, my summer has turned out to be pleasantly uneventful. I've been happy to report that I've read three books since returning from the beach, which is probably more than I read all of last summer. If you like "what if.." fiction, you'll like S.M. Stirling and his books about The Change. They're fairly large, so if don't start reading them unless you have lots of time.

I finally finished my summer class, which I'm ecstatic about because I was sick of working on this online group project. I don't mind working with my group face to face, but I'm certainly disliking this online thing. Oh, well. It puts me closer to getting my masters degree. Oh! And Radford is thinking about starting a doctorate program for Ed Leadership so if I should decide to get that I'll be Dr. Julie Gill! :-) However, I won't lie...writing a thesis scares the poop out of me.

Well, our backyard garden is doing very well. We have pumpkins, watermelons, lettuce, green beans, eggplant, potatoes, and corn growing very well. One pumpkins will be the size of a basketball very soon. The corn looks a little raggeddy, but I think we may get some eventually. The front garden isn't doing well at all. I think we dropped the ball on preparing the soil. Live and learn I guess. At least it rained again today for a fair length of time.

Rain is a Good Thing

Today it rained! Normally that's not so exciting, but when your grass looks like it might have come directly from the desert, rain is a good thing. Plus we've been jacking up our water bill by watering out plants all the time. Of course it had to be pouring when I went to get groceries today, which was little bit of wet bummer, but okay.

So we decided to keep encouraging Colby to use the potty, but he's apparently not ready to actually do it yet. Hopefully when he goes back to daycare a little peer pressure will help him decide he wants to go. Then I won't have to buy diapers anymore, yay!

Potty Training :-/

This week I have fully committed myself to getting Colby potty trained. Unfortunately, Colby has decided he's going to be VERY stubborn. His stubborn streak isn't terribly surprising- I mean he comes from two stubborn parents, but I thought by day 3 he would have at least peed in the potty by now. So far we've only been able to get him to sit on the potty and that's mostly by bribing him with sour patch kids. I'm thinking that maybe he's not 100% ready to be potty trained so I think after this week if we haven't made any progress, I'll back off.

This week has been VERY hot. Today's high was 99! Colby and I and sometimes Brandon have managed to make it to the park most mornings to take advantage of the cooler morning temperatures. Also it gets him tired for his nap. He hasn't been getting to sleep for his nap well lately so getting him tired is definately a helper. I hope by the end of the summer we'll have a decent routine...just in time to destroy it!