the first days of summer-

Its still HOT and DRY- we have had wildfires all around us- pretty scary stuff- Luckily God saw fit to send down some rain, and what the Volunteer fire depts hadnt already put out, was put out by His rain.




well the first day of summer arrived and Rayley turned 7- OMG- what happened to my teeny little mini monster that weighed 4 pounds 13 oz at birth and had to wear cabbage patch kid clothes?? I cant belive how grown up she is.
and yes it sucks to be the kid of a custom cake baker- LOL she got a Big Red icebox cake with cool whip frosting. But it was homemade!

For her birthday she got lots of stuff- but her favorite BY FAR, was her pocket knife her dad gave her- its pink of course- and she hasnt been without it since.




The day she got it, the boys were putting together a dog pen- it said "put together in under an hour" on the package- They underestimated the ability of my children to not be capable of contstucting a box with wire on it.




SO, They were opening the box, and Hoover says "we need a pocket knife" He doesnt have his, and Brett doesnt have his, well Bertha Sue reaches in her pocket and says "here, you can use mine- but dont loose it"

She has slept with it curled in her hand every night since her party.

My dad came in- He and I went to get him a gun like mine, and low and behold, there was a pink one- so he bought that for me and took my black and silver one. I am SOOO thrilled!! I love it!





Our house has been pretty hot here lately, by afternoon its hitting 80 with the AC running full blast. So, we decided it needed new ducts- I went to Lowes and bought the duct, and some tape and came home- first of all, I HATE wallerin around in the dirt- second, there are LOTS of spiders and other bugs under my house, third, I REALLY hate it when my skin cries.

BUT we got it done- Me and Bertha Sue- BRett helped a little, but she was right beside me the entire time-
One time I lost my knife and she said "here, use mine" - yep, she DOES come in handy-
Then she said "I better not break a nail or someone is gonna pay for this" ahhhhh my little princess. It was kinda funny to see four hands with pink american tips covered in dirt and grime taping and cutting on the duct work. or at least thats what Brett pointed out- He said "y'all are too girly to be down here doin this-" I told him he was right, and offered to let him do it- he said "NO, his point was we needed to quit being so fru-fru....

I let her get some artificial nails for her birthday, she is going to be a in a wedding on Saturday, so she got her hair redyed and got tips. She is THRILLED!

The airduct fix actually did what it was supposed to for the most part- But alas my house being cool just wasnt meant to be.....

Right now, its 7am and 84* in my house- see yesterday the fan on the outside condenser unit stopped working- the motor somehow burned up- I am QUITE sure it has NOTHING to do with that string wrapped around the shaft- and I KNOW my kids didnt see a fan blade spinning real fast and decide to see if it could cut a string in half- I know they wouldnt do that sort of thing...

BUT that means I have to replace that fan- I am trying to decide if I should tackle it or wait till BR gets home and let him do it. But I dont think we can wait that long- the coolest it got here last night was about 82*- It was SOO hard to sleep- For everyone except the boys- they slept on the porch- it was in the 70's out there and they slept like babies.

Of course that isnt all they broke yesterday- somehow, they managed to bust up the entire filter part of my dryer- not just the lint trap, but the peice that HOLDS the lint trap- The dryer quit working, so I took it apart, yep come to find out, there was a sock stuck in the fan motor- I have to buy all the pieces for that today too-

What is it with me and fans here lately? I think the fan clutch on my truck is going out too!!


Last week we had vacation bible school- I worked it except the night BR was off- The first rattle out of the box I walk through and there sits BRett and another boy on a pew in the foyer-
Come to find out, the other kid, well known for starting crap, had pushed him - so Brett rared back to 'take care of the problem' and got caught-

They were sitting out of one of the activities- BUT, I decided that was just too much- So, I loaded him up and brought him home, then went back to finish out my night- EVERYONE up there asked where he was- they all offered to let him help them, SO- I brought him back the next night and he was a helper from then on out.

It would have been different if this child hadnt been in an altercation with EVERY other boy in the church- Literly. And my kids take the old adage "if you dont stand for something, you'll fall for anything" to heart-

Bow really enjoyed himself- and loved the crafts- Bertha Sue had a blast and Hoover was plain old Hoover-

On the second night though we had a slight... 'come to Jesus' meeting- I told the kids "load up" its time to go- I was hot, tired and needed some nicotine-
well, BErtha Sue was on the playground and just kept playing- I told her about 5 times. I even got caught up talking to someone and ended up staying longer, she NEVER came to the truck- The other boys all loaded up- but no Bertha Sue- So, I started backing up, she kept playing-
So, I started to drive off- She kept playing.

I drove out of the driveway and down the road about 25 feet till I was hid in some trees. I called the church to tell a friend of mine who was finishing up cleaning that I was going to drive around the back way and hide behind the church- to leave her. But she said "I'll bring her home, just keep going" - So I did.

When that child got home she sat on the porch for over an hour- she was mad as a wet hen. And a little scared.

Finally her daddy went out and got her- she kept saying " I was just pickin" I told her " I was too, the first time, and the second time" But I didnt say a word after that- I just told her that she was lucky someone was willing to bring her home, it was a long walk in the dark- (we live almost a mile away) -

well, on the last night, when it was time to leave I told them all, and started rounding them up- Put Bow in the truck, saw Hoover lurking around thinking he was being slick, and KNEW Brett had heard my "byerly's load up" call. well, I knew Rayley was in the church helping clean up- So, I went to get my truck, to back it up to the front door, and when I started it up and started backing up low and behold I see Brett and Matt running from different directions hollering "DONT LEAVE US!! we are coming!!!" and 3 people ran inside to tell Rayley I was leaving her again- She knew though that I was just moving the truck, she had asked my permission to help clean up, but noone else knew that.

Not sure how long it will last- they have the memory retention of a housefly, but it was funny as hell to watch that night!


Everyone was laughing about the fact that I left her- and I said "yeah- and it might have been better if everyone here didnt know EXACTLY where I live!"

And for those that are freaking out- Dont- *rolls eyes*- There were plenty of adults who I trust, all around and they KNEW what I was doing- Half of them wish they had thought to do something like that with their own kids.


Now, I am off here to go to town and get the parts for my dryer AND my AC- then its back home to work on the non profit foundation that BR and I started to build a shooting complex here in our town, and I have to alter the dress that Princess Whinesalot is wearing in the wedding- OH and fix a few of the nails she has busted off...