July

Can you believe it's July?! And really...July is almost halfway over? Whoa! Things are moving at such a break neck pace around here, I can hardly keep up. Though the busy is just "stuff", we aren't stressed and have lots of time to hang out and enjoy summer, still.

A few updates:

Huck - We've had the cutest kitten ever for about 1.5 weeks now. He is such a doll. In true-to-us fashion he has tons of nicknames. I usually call him Hucklebug. Grey calls him Hook, mostly because I don't think he understands that it's Huck, not Hook:-) He spent the first 3 days running from us, hiding, and trying to avoid being "captured" (= picked up). But after that, he warmed up to us. And now, we can't get away from him! He likes to sleep with us, attack our feet...he is very playful. His brother (Sawyer would have been his name), has not been seen since Huck's capture. We are assuming he was run over by a car, or died of heat stroke in the hot weather. We were really hoping to bring him home too, but it doesn't look like that will work out :-( The kids ADORE him, and are so far, very diligent about caring for his needs (food, water, litter box), which is nice to see.

House - We've been doing some house stuff here and there. I've been lazy about taking pictures lately! Yikes. Been doing some yard work (general up keep and landscaping), and Brian got a pretty nasty case of poison ivy from down near the lake's edge (while trying to "clean it up") we are trying to cure him of, currently.

Van - Our air conditioner compressor went out on the van about 2 weeks ago. Boo. It's hot! When your vehicle is in pretty good shape...but 10 years old, I'm sure it's only natural that something breaks eventually, right?! We'll get it repaired next week. Last week, it was new tires. Up next, we need a new windshield! It's always something, isn't it? In other vehicle news, we sold the red truck. (Brian's old '93 F150), so now the van is our only vehicle. Brian has a truck from work that he drives...which had a flat tire Saturday, so he had to take our van into work until the tire was repaired. Lets hope nothing else breaks on any vehicle we drive!!

School - We are testing this week! Our state requires standardized testing for all children, even ones that are homeschooled. So far so good. We still have a few more days to go, as I believe it's 5 hrs of testing over 3 days. I am having them keep up with reading especially and a little math, just so they don't loose their heads come Aug/Sept when it's back to work!

Cookie Business - June was super busy with lots of baking. July has been much slower, which gives a nice break. Weddings and graduations are more popular in June I guess:-) I'm finishing up an order for 100 mini cheesecakes today, getting those out the door tomorrow morning. It's fun, it's not too stressful, and other than a messy kitchen/no room to cook dinner so we have pasta - it's not an inconvenience to the family at all, which is great. And the pasta thing only happened in June, when I was super slammed:-)

Work - Brian's work is going well. He is enjoying his position at the office, and there have been some changes taking place for the positive, which is good. He still has to "double dip" office work and on site work though, since many of the jobs are either so "picky" that he needs to be on top of it all, or so "after hours" that no one else will superintend the job. He's pulled a few all nighters this spring and summer, (watching others work), but by and large he's home for dinner every night, which is nice.

Exercise - Brian is still training for his remaining Spartan races (end of Aug in VA & end of Oct in SC). I have been doing Trim Healthy Mama, and exercising when I can. The THM "way" of eating kind of does affect the whole family, and so far, no one (even picky Daddy) minds the fare. It's normal food, nothing is really off limits - except sugar. I haven't made too many of the desserts (using stevia in the raw or liquid stevia), but so far everything is good. It's an adjustment, but not a big one. Just lots of healthy foods, and no sugar (though, sweet things are ok, if made with stevia). It's not carb free - but it is carb "lite", and I haven't missed the bread as much as I thought I would - and sure do enjoy it when I do have it!

Church - We are still involved in the Youth Group, and I am also involved in Awana's as the club secretary. Over the summer this involves inventory, cleaning up the database, and getting things ready for registration which will be upon us before we know it. It's a very large Awana program, so there is a lot involved in it all. Last year I was one of two club secretaries, this year I am the only one. Lets hope I do it all right!


Is that about it? A few nights ago at 10:30pm we were "victims" of a ring and run (presumably teens or preteens ring doorbell a bajillion times, and then run away before you answer the door). Silly, but a first for us. And like all good old people who get pranked, we scratched our heads. What was that? Was that supposed to be funny? Kinda don't get it. Oh, we also found a lab mix running down the road with no collar on, so we coaxed it on a walk around the neighbourhood until we found the desperate family searching for him. It's harder than it seems to try and "walk" a dog you don't know without a collar or leash:-) That was our good deed this past weekend.

We are looking forward to and planning for a trip up to Ontario in the near future. That will be fun!

Thanks for checking in on us. We will have lots of pics to share soon of our new kitten!