The Commitment

Ok. It's on. I have got to get a serious grip. I have been on auto pilot for what seems like forever. I don't put away laundry. I don't eat right. I don't exercise. I am never on time for anything. I leave my keys everywhere but where they are supposed to be. How can one seemingly intelligent person be so disorganized?? I am making a commitment today to expect more of myself. I don't know how, but I am going to get my act together (except maybe the exercise part).

Omnipotence

Have you ever sat down and opened your inbox to discover that God sent you an e-mail? Well, I just did and I thought I would share what He had to say. (What I mean is I received a new edition of a blog to which I subscribe that was exactly what I didn't want to hear, but instead, was what I needed to hear). Maybe it will strike a chord with you. http://theologyforwomen.blogspot.com/2009/11/helping-wounded-husbands.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FDTlt+%28Practical+Theology+for+Women%29

The Big Move

So let's go back to the beginning...

As Mandy said, we've been afraid to talk about it because it might get jinxed. So the things that I feel like everyone knows may actually only be known to a few.

In 1981 I was late getting registered for Kindergarten because it didn't occur to my dad to register me until several weeks after all the other kindergarteners had started. So here we go off to find Kindergarten. My granny dressed me in a blue plaid dress with a white pinafore and black patent leather shoes. I was wearing yellow crayon barrettes in my hair.

The first place we stopped looking for Kindergarten turned out to be the Acme boot factory on Adkisson Street, but it looked like a school... Soon we found Ashland City Elementary school and were given a tour by Mr. Sapp. Then Dad left and I found myself in Ms. Duggin's kindergarten class. It was already nap time by the time I arrived. I didn't have a kinder mat yet, so I napped on a cot provided by Ms. Duggin.

In the darkened kindergarten classroom, Sandy Moore lay beside me. We whispered greetings so as to not attract the attention of Ms. Duggin.

Why, you might ask, is this the beginning of a story about my family moving into a new house in 2009?

Sandy introduced me to Mandy Smith. She, Sandy, and I would become lifelong friends. There would be many sleepovers, scooter rides, pool parties, creek capers, out house adventures, and more to follow over the next 13 years of school. Even today the three of us are still in regular contact.

Recently, Mandy's mother passed away. I noticed a For Sale By Owner sign in the yard bearing Mandy's phone number. I sent her an e-mail telling her that I work at a title company and would be honored if I could help her with the process and threw in that we were looking for a new place for our expanding family if she were interested in owner financing. One thing led to another and here we are, moving into our own home.

While the blessing is bittersweet due to the circumstances under which the house became available, I think this is going to be good for both families. My family gets to venture into the world of home ownership and Mandy's family gets to know that a very greatful friend will be caring for and loving her mother's home.

I'll keep you updated on the process. Keep me in your prayers - change is hard for me!

Gruesome Thank You Card

Where do you find a thank you card for dead dog removal?

Here is a truly gruesome bit of info from the Sherbert household. When Rob was home over the weekend he ran over one of our dogs - not Amos, the pitbull, but a 6 month old Shepherd mix that we found dumped on our road.

The dog ran off into the woods. We tried to find her to no avail. We were afraid that she might come home and get under the house. The boys looked under the house later in the day and didn't see her.

Well, two days ago I knew she had made it under the house - July summer heat, you get the picture.

The next morning I started looking around and pulling away underpinning and found her, but despite your best effort, being 38 weeks pregnant limits your ability to deal with some things - this being one. With Rob being out of town, I had to call my dad. After work that day, he took care of it for me.

It's weird when you realize that even though you have been married for 14 years, have three children that you are raising, have two advanced degrees, etc, sometimes you still just need your dad to come to your rescue. But it's really great when you realize that he will without a moment's hesitation.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

If I am going to be honest, and I usually am, there have been many times over the past 14 years that I have WANTED my husband to pack his things and walk out the door. Obviously, we have managed to get over whatever the issue was at the time and have stuck it out. Well, today he did pack his things and walk out the door and I didn't like it one bit. He is going to pour concrete in Tacoma, WA, and won't be back until July 1st. We have prayed for work and prayed for work. We have applied for job after job from craigslist (I'm not sure that they all aren't fake anyway). We have even applied for jobs overseas. We have said if someone's pouring concrete anywhere, he will go. So now we have to put our money where our mouth is. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. He would just pack his bag, head off to work, and life would go on. You have to do what you have to do. Marina cried last night when telling Rob good night, I cried this morning as I put his toothbrush in his bag. We'll be fine of course. It's only 15 days and it's only pouring concrete, but in 14 years, we have only been apart for a couple days max. He went on a hunting trip once for about 5 days and he went to help is grandmother once for about 4 days. And at least I had time to think about those trips. This opportunity came up Saturday and he left this morning! I am NOT a spontaneous person! Further, those were trips to uninteresting places doing uninteresting things. The kids and I want to go to Washington!! Anyway, he promises to send photos back throughout the trip, so we can all live through him. And I made him promise to be miserable and endlessly pine for home...

Golden Retriever Gets Neutered

This will be the headline next week...

Golden Retriever Attempts Suicide

I am baby sitting my sister's Golden Retriever. He is a city dog. He just learned to pee standing up a few months ago. For about a year, he has not been around any other dogs except some little yapper belonging to my sister's former roommate. His name is Chubbs (because he was so chubby as a puppy, I think).

We have a male pit bull mix. Here's a picture I pulled off the web that looks kind of like our dog, Amos, except Amos is a little bigger, not so compact. Also, Amos doesn't have his ears cropped like this dog does.

We named him Amos because, even as a puppy, he acted like an old man, just laying around and wanting to sleep all of the time. Right now Amos calls a cable in the front yard home. We let him off from time to time to run around the yard. Sometimes we take him with us places, but he doesn't like to be left alone in the car if we have to go in somewhere... So, when the Golden got to the house, we took him on his leash to meet Amos on his cable. They were basically nose to nose, but not really able to get to each other. Amos fairly ignored the Golden and mostly wanted us to come closer to love on him. Chubbs tried to get tough and started growling and puffing up. I pulled him back and that was the end of it. So I thought. Friday the kids and I left to pick up Robert's report card, leaving Chubbs in the house. When we got home, Gwen's dog darted out the door, down through the yard, and straight at Amos. Of course, Amos wasn't going to have that. So a dog fight ensued. I ran down there and grabbed Amos' cable and pulled him off Chubbs. Chubbs ran off into the woods. Knowing that I couldn't leave him out there, Marina and I took off after him. Robert stayed by Amos with a golf club in hand to scare off Chubbs should he return before we could catch him. So Marina and I are down in the woods and I hear a dog fight start up and Robert start yelling. Chubss had circled around and ran back at Amos. I take off running (8 months pregnant) up the hill through the woods. I get to the scene, but by now this is a legitimate dog fight. They have had at least a minute to get fully involved. We are all yelling, Robert is swinging at both of them. I grab Amos' cable again and start pulling. The cable was slippery from being in the grass, so I wrapped the cable sort of around my wrist to get a better grip. Then I slipped in the grass and was now sitting down and pulling Amos toward me with all my might. I am thinking at this point that at the least, my dog is going to rip off an ear or a floppy lip of Chubbs. I yanked on the cable once very hard and either I pulled Amos loose for a split second or he just decided to let go of Chubbs. This time Chubbs ran straight for the house. Chubbs had only a tiny cut on his ear, no puncture wounds, no dripping blood, etc. I know that Amos could have done much worse to this insolent Golden Retriever, but he didn't. I, of course, didn't fair so well. I have a bruised wrist and forearm from where I wrapped the cable around my arm. I jammed the ring finger of my left hand and bruised the area around my finger nail and I bruised my ankle when I fell in the grass. And not to mention that my children are now traumatized and scarred for life; well, not really... So I come to work today and relate this story to my coworkers and all I heard was how it's because Amos is a pit bull and you know those dogs are unpredictable and blood thirsty. Huh? He was minding his own business and didn't even really break the skin of Chubbs. He didn't "lock" his jaws, as people believe. He didn't yank his head from side to side, attempting to shake Chubbs like a rag doll. This irritated me and got me to researching pit bulls and pit bull myths. If you're interested, read this article from the SPCA http://www.la-spca.org/dedication/talk/t_judge.htm or this from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull. I read that a lot of times when there are attacks by "pit bulls," they aren't even always pit bulls. Look at this web site to see what a legit pit bull looks like http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html. So, hhmmmph. That's my crotchety old person article of the week. I read a slogan that I liked: Judge the Deed, Not the Breed. The only dog that I have had biting / nipping trouble out of is my inlaws Pappillion. So from now on I am going to brand all Pappillions -- "you know those Pappillions, they are unpredictable..."