July in a nutshell-- a melted, dehydrated nutshell

Its been HOT. well over 100 degrees each day, with NO rain. Our heat index is usually in the 110 range. and like I said, NO percipitation. The gardens have all dried up and died, we have to literly water the hogs 4-5 times a day, making mud puddles for them, the chickens are drinking their weight in water, you cant fix your hair because before you get in the car your soaking wet with sweat and all the hairspray makes it into one big sheet of rockhard nastyness. (well it does me, but I still do the big hair thing... ) Finally we are getting rain. THANK GOD. about 3 inches this week. I am so happy. and I really am not complaining about the heat. Its been pointed out more than once, its 120* in Iraq, and at least I do have AC.



I know, I have been absent alot. I wish I could blame it on traveling the globe on a wonderful vacation with BR, or something important and life altering, even just working on a huge project to better the world. But alas, I can only blame it on my lack of drive.

That and I am just so damn tired of this dial up. and my computer is worse than ever. I havent even been doing my PTA stuff. I am the only one with assignments during the summer, and I havent gotten either one done. I have to get 100 school supply packs bought and together, going through all the stuff we already have in storage and adding to it, and I lost the list of what we have. I have turned my house upside down, and still cant find it. And I have to order T shirts. Doesnt sound hard I know, but none of the bids are cut and dried.

I also spend most of my time picking up, doing laundry and screaming at kids. One day I will get to be the fun parent. I swear I will. But as it is, all I get to do is order them around, take things away because they wont do the most mundane things, and act like a tyrant. It would be easier if I was just willing to give in, do it myself and let them go play and get out of my hair. But I guess I am just a glutton for punishment.

Rayley is really changing, I see her matureing every day. But she is gona be a pistol in school.
Brett and Matt are... trying... they just TRY to give me a nervous breakdown.

Bowdrie,... Oh lordy.. that child is a goofball. He is no longer my baby, he still doesnt talk. He CAN talk. He just doesnt. He uses the typical sounds "eewwww" and "uuuhhhmmmm" and he squeals and laughs.

The only words he will say are "Bye" which he delivers with a blown kiss and a wave, anytime he leaves the room. "UP" which is short for SHUT UP. He picked this up at my inlaws, they have lots of coon dogs that bark CONSTANTLY, so its a mantra around there "SHUTUP!"

and his new favorite, "Idit" Which is 'Idiot' He LOVES to use this one.

We did have one that was really confusing us. 'op' it wasnt 'UP' it was 'op' he would walk around saying it, looking in rooms. Sometimes if a car would drive up that he didnt recognize he would run to the window, climb up on the coffee table and holler 'OP'. Then one day, the kids were discussing Rayleys new gun. and when Pappy would be back. (BR and I call him Pappy, the kids call him Pop.. Not for any reason, just cause its funny... :) )

"mom, Rayley needs to shoot her new BB gun that pop bought her" one of the boys said, probebly so they could get THEIR BB guns and 'borrow' some of HER BBs' See they left theirs outside well over a year ago, and I refused to buy more when they got all rusty....
"yeah MOM! I need to shoot my new BB gun. Pop wouldnt like me not getting to shoot it after he bought it for me" Well first of all. it was only 108* outside, and he had been gone all of 2 weeks. She had gotten to shoot it in that time, just not EVERYDAY.

Well Little Bowdrie throws down what ever he was playing with, RAN to the window, and started hollering "OP!! OP!!" so now we KNOW, it was POP that he was saying!

He has let it slip a few times that he can talk. He will get mad, or excited and say something. He still runs to BR and will say 'daddy' if he gets mad at me he will holler 'momma' and he does go to the door and holler for Duke. We have also heard him holler for Matt. its more of a "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT" type word though.

Mostly he just grunts and points.

Speaking of BB's. Yesterday I was going to town, the boys gathered up all their money, where they keep getting money I dont know... and were counting it. They wanted to buy BB's. I am still smarting about them letting theirs go to waste, so I told them I didnt know about that. Then I overheard them talking about buying a toy. I put my foot down. they were NOT buying a toy.
"But mom, we have 15.00 in cash " (I think everytime my grandfather sees them he gives them some money) "and 7.00 in change"

"I dont care, you are NOT buying a toy. You wont even clean your room"
"well, its not really a toy, its a gun, you wont let us have our BB guns, so we are gona get a few fake guns, so we can at least pretend to have guns when we play outside- They have little sucker things we can hit targets with"

"NO! you got double barrel pop guns a few years ago, along with the bullets to go in them, NICE guns, your daddy drove hours to get them, and y'all left them outside and let them get ruined- and you lost your BB guns because you left 6,000 BB's outside IN the rain, to get rusty and ruined. ALONG with a BB gun."

"well fine, what are we supposed to do with our money? buy life insurance?"

This from Matt.
"it might be a good idea, at least enough to bury you with, so I dont have to dig an unmarked grave behind the house"

I did relent and allow them to get some BB's. I had actually planned on buying them myself, but, since they offered.....

The last few weeks BR and I have been getting ready for the National Wild Turkey Hunting Heratige banquet. It was last Saturday. We spent Friday setting up, then Saturday morning BR and I went to the Masonic Lodge for my grandfathers 50 year Eastern Star pin. and then we went back and set up the rest of the banquet. We came home to get ready and go get more ice, and ran into a STORM. I was driving, BR was bitching, and I couldnt see my own windshield, much less the road. It started hailing and everything. But I wont complain. Matter of fact, its raining here today. ANd I am thrilled. We needed it sooo badly. Anyway, we got the ice, and headed back to the banquet. The food was GREAT! and the prizes... WOW!! There was some really nice artwork, and it was a great banquet. Quite a few things went for pretty cheap, and I wish I had had some money to buy them. There was some really cool stuff, that went for practically NOTHING.

We won a few things in the drawings, but alas, no guns. THis is my first banquet in years that I didnt come home with a gun. I think its cause of my boots. But it might be because I didnt buy the raffle tickets that I usually do. LOL

See years ago, BR bought me a pair of lime green and periwinkle fat babies. I always wear them to the banquets. Well, being on the committee means I wear a Texas Flag shirt. Lime green is NOT a color on the Texas flag. I was just gona wear my crocs, I have a red pair. BUT BR suprised me with a pair of new Red and Brown fat babies. I honestly cant remember the last time I had a new pair of shoes. Its been at least 3 years. They are beautiful. The bottoms are brown, with the uppers, or 'tops' the part that is usually covered by your jeans, being red. They do have 3 small stars cut out that are lime green underlay, and the inside of the boots are lime green. YOu dont see that part, but I know its there. maybe it wasnt the boots, maybe it was just not my year. :)

The boys went with us, and they had a blast.

They won quite a few things off the Jakes table (the kids section of the NWTF) including some little bug houses... YUCK. when Rayleys name was drawn, they got her some .22 or BB targets, little clay targets on stands. She LOVED it!

I did win an archery target, a wooden box with a knife, a set of wire baskets, a really nice hen and rooster pocket knife, a set of filet knives and cutting board, and a pop up hunting blind. Oh and our districts reps wife was there, she had bought tickets for the womens table and won a hair cut in town. Since they are from up North (north Texas, not yankee north) she couldnt use it. So she gave it to me. Come to find out, its from the beauty shop I use!! whoo-hoo!!





Here is the boys with my grandfather. It was not planned that they all wear the same color. it just worked out that way. I asked them to wear matching shirts, so I could find them easily at the banquet hall. And remembering ONE color when you are doing 8,000 things is MUCH easier than trying to remember 2.

 
 
 



Oh and here is a picture BR and I took. I bet its the first picture we have taken in years. and years. Usually I am behind the camera, and BR is hiding. My hair had fallen in the 30 minutes it took to drive to town, but it started out looking good.


I wasnt able to get a picture of us in our Texas shirts and my new boots. You will have to wait until Next year to see how absolutly beautiful we looked. ROFLMAO.





We didnt take the other two kids. For one. Bow wont sit still that long, and two, we had to leave there and go set up the banquet hall. (yes, I did change clothes) So the other 2 were already dropped off with my mother in law.

Speaking of which, my sister in law was going to keep them, but Bow started throwing a fit around 8. His bedtime. she couldnt get him to shut up. So she took him to my mother in law. I started getting text messages around 9 that he was throwing a fit. nothing made him happy. I couldnt leave and get him, told them to just bring him to me. I would get him around midnight otherwise. Well at 10 he went to sleep. My mother in law said he was fine when I talked to her the next day, he wasnt throwing a fit once he got to her house, but I dont know.

anyway, she said to just leave him. She had him and my sister in law had Rayley. BR and I got home around 1:30. watched some TV and went to bed around 3. at 4 I woke up to my mother in law standing over my bed with Bow. He had woken up and was walking around looking for us. So she just brought him home.

He settled down and went right back to sleep. But its obvious that BR and I cant go anywhere overnight. Good thing we dont have the money. LOL




I also spent about a week cleaning out my house. I had a garage sale. Unfortunatly, I had it at the wrong time of the month, and only had a few customers. A few other families out this way are having one the last weekend of this month so I am gona try again. I was in the middle of the garage sale, and it was time to clean it all up, and BR decided we needed to rearrange the living room. It was NOT fun. But we got it done and its much easier to clean, looks less cluttered, and has more room. We also did our bedroom the week before the garage sale. THAT was a nightmare. Because my bedroom is the catch all. We dont have much storage space, so we use the bedroom to shove everything from extra wrapping paper, to school keepsakes, and everything else.

And I STILL havent found my PTA book. On Friday night before the garage sale I stayed up ALL night putting clothes on hangers, HUNDREDS of hangers, and ran out, I ran out about 45 minutes before I was supposed to start setting up at 6am.

It was VERY hot outside, and I was pouring sweat before 7am. With so few people coming in I fell asleep a few times.

I have been trying to get school clothes together for the kids. and trying to find BRett some decent pants to wear. He is in uniforms this year, but I cant find ANY khaki pants that you can wear with boots. Of course, I have to buy these pants IN ADDITION to his normal jeans. Jeans he can wear at home and on the weekends. The minute he comes in from school he will change into jeans to go and play in. I just dont belive that I should be buying special clothes that he cant wear everywhere to go to school. THis is a BIG bone of contention with me. THis is a public school. a dress code that mirrors decent dress would be fine. Thats how its always been. But dictating them having to wear clothes that they would not normally have in their closet is beyond rediculas. Yes, I KNOW when he grows up and gets a job he will have to wear what is expected in that line of work. A suit and tie for a lawyer, a uniform for a cop, firefighter, military man, or even some truck drivers. BR wears one. BUT, for one, you are almost ALWAYS provided said uniforms. BR has had many jobs where he wore one, and they were ALWAYS provided free of charge. BUT, despite that, he was being PAID to show up. either in his own clothes or theirs. HE was being PAID. I PAY for my children to GO there. I am already paying MORE in school taxes than some people pay for wardrobes. heck, its more than I spend on all 4 of my kids a year to dress them.

Sorry, didnt mean to get on a a soap box. Again...

My kids brought me a present the other day. All wrapped up in a hankerchief. They hadnt even gotten dressed yet, heard the dog barking and ran outside. as you can tell from Brett, he was in MY crocs...


 

 

Actually, when they walked in the door with it they said " WHERE IS DAD?"
"taking a shower, why?"
"we got y'all something"
"I really dont want it, I refuse to take care of it, and you KNOW your daddy is NOT gona be happy if its a snake"
Now, mind you they are standing, holding this hankerchief like the stork holds a baby, not at arms length either.

so BR walks out about that time see's everyone standing and says "WHAT?"

"the kids brought you a present"
"why?"
"because they are morons?"
"dad, can you tell us if its poisonous?"
"if whats poisonous?"
"this...."
"tell me you dont have a snake wrapped up in there that you dont even know what it is... IN my living room.... "
"we dont know what kind it is, do you?"
and they started to open it. Now, I had thousands of peices of clothes stacked in the living room about 3 feet behind them, piles of stuff, for the garage sale.
"DONT OPEN IT IN HERE!"
so out on the porch everyone went. It turned out to be a juvenile hognose.
Not poisonous. But a typical start to a typical day around here.

BR was NOT happy. he does NOT like snakes. PERIOD. He will kill them, but would rather just leave them alone. He isnt freakish like I am about spiders. He doesnt scream and run. He just gets the heebie jeebies and stays as far away as possible.
Unfortunatly, its not a trait he passed on to barefoot Jim and Crocodile Dundee. As you can see, Rayley is just as interested. Bow is too. You cant see him in the picture, because BR is holding him back.


We have started getting eggs from our chickens, and the hogs are close to breeding age. I have hatched out a few dozen chicks, and a few dozen quail, with more in the incubator. I cant wait to BBQ them, but it seems like everytime I get some hatched out, someone offers my sister in law enough money that we end up selling them.


I fiqure the rain is fixing to make me loose electricity. Not always fun, but it does remind me, I HAVE to take the generator in to the shop THIS WEEK. huricanne season is coming up and I dont want to be stuck with out it. I cant afford for my entire freezer and fridge to go to waste, plus I cant live with out TV. or the computer. No matter how crappy it is.