This past year has both gone by soooo slow and so quickly. Certain things seem to take forever while others just seem to fly by. One of the things that has flown…my kids. They are getting older by the minute. My eldest is now 17! and youngest will be 10 next month. Where did time go?

Before I know it they will all be grown and off on their own.

I “lost” one of my fosters today. Leche had a long life, not all of it pleasant. She had horrible pain in her mouth and over the span of years, had many surgeries to remove all but two of her canines. Thankfully, she was able to go for the last year or so with not to many problems, and she lived a pampered life. She had her own electric blanket set up on the couch and would often be “cuddled” as we were watching movies or tv. Leche is missed, but I know she is waiting for me over the bridge.

Um, I found Thanksgiving dinner whilst working today…ain’t he pretty? As I was driving up he was showing off for his girlfriend, but the van scared her off and he started to follow her. So I didnt get the full display, but he is still pretty

well, it has been a long couple weeks. I have a short term job, which is taking up a lot of time, and when I am not “working” I am busy trying to keep the house in order. I have another week or so, then I am looking for work again. But that does give me more time to write. Be back in a week…

Today I am mourning the loss of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with me for many years. I’m not sure how old he was; his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, NOT children, are in charge).

His health began deteriorating rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set into place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harrassment for innocently kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

Common Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student but could not inform parents when the student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense declined further still when churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is, unfortunately, survived by his 4 stepbrothers, I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.

Sad to say it, but not many attended his funeral because so few realized that he was gone.

(found on a site I frequent, and thought it appropriate)

enough said.

I do remember now why I stopped posting for a while. Basically, I would type something up, read it and discovered that everything and anything I had to say is negative. Unfortunately, I am at that point again. I just wish something good would happen in my life so I could write about it. Oh well…

I dont even feel like looking for a picture

Today’s problems are just a bit bigger than yesterdays, but at least the weather was nice. I always learn lessons with every experience, so this one will be a doozy. And at some point I may elaborate on what is going on, but for now, all I can and will say is that when it rains it pours…buckets. I just hope I can resolve things quickly…no, I NEED to resolve things quickly.

Anyways, today was 93F and they are saying that tomorrow has the possibility of being just as nice. I hope to sit and enjoy some of the sunshine and hopefully let it melt a bit of the stress of the last few days melt.

So, I guess it is time for a summer-ish picture…

Today started off so promising and ended up with so disastrous…its given me a migraine.

I woke to a rainy start, but the sun soon came out, which was lovely. Went to a second interview, where I found out that the job was not what I was looking for. Ran around like a chicken with my head severed just above my shoulders…and a few other nightmares that I just want to forget happened. I think I should just go to sleep and hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day.

Unfortunately, tomorrow, I get to “fix” all the things that went wrong today…at least I hope I can fix them.

It is so nice to have the sun out, temps in the low 70’s! What a great day today was. I was able to clean and spend time outside. Tomorrow I hope to get the basement open and dry that out a bit more. There is still so much water in the basement. Thankfully, I have everything in plastic containers and nothing was ruined, the only bad news is that it gets musty smelling unless it dries out quickly.

Meanwhile, the kids are driving me crazy…their computer finally died a painful death and they will have to deal without for a few weeks. But I booted them outdoors…so it isn’t all bad

And for this installment of the picture thing…I wish this guy had moved with us. Maybe I get find a frog to take up residence in the pond this year.

As parents, it is important to that we teach our children to share. And it is usually a source of pride to see them doing so…crayons with their neighbors at school, toys with their siblings and friends.

However, we also need to teach them NOT to share the stomach bug with their parents.

Pictures in honor of the rain we are getting and the flooding of rivers, streams and basements.

what it normally looks like…