My Week In a Giant Nut Shell

Wow what a week... after a week of birthdays, I was ready for a break. Boy was I off on that one! Last Sunday was mothers day... so after church I headed off to take some sunset pictures around dinner time... of course the one day I get to go out and take photos at sunset the clouds are covering the sun... and the sky performed poorly. :-( TN has the most beautiful sunsets, yet that one night... not a whole lot! I would show you the pics I took, but I haven't had time to work on them yet because of my week. I just downloaded them off my camera today because it was the first chance that I've had to do it.

On monday I went out and taught water aerobics in the morning and as I was headed home I called my friend Amy to see if I could take her kids while she and some other sisters in the ward painted. Now, I've known for a week that she needed help with painting, but that was the week that the kids were off school... yeah, didn't think that the 5 of us would be much help, in fact I didn't think that Katie and I would be much help, that is why I wanted to help out with baby sitting. Amy told me that I was welcome to bring katie and come and paint, the baby was sleeping, so we could get some stuff done. I went over and painted her dining room and surveyed the land.... Oh dear was there a lot of work to do. It was time to call in the troops. I went home, made some calls to some wonderful friends and rallied some ladies for a "painting party" that night. But first I had to go to the Court House..... There is a proposal to put a HUGE subdivision across the street from ours. We joined with a few of the neighbors in standing up against the massive subdivision. We love our area out here and think it is already being over run w/ housing. That meeting went well, but we don't find out till this monday if we made a difference or not.

When I got there at 8:30 or so, the ladies were already painting! We painted that night till 3 am. It was a night of Dews and M&M's. Fun, but a LOT of work. We got the Kitchen, the hall/ stairs, the master bedroom and the master bathroom. WOW!! It felt so good to see such progress. I was very very tired at our presidency meeting the next morning, but managed to stay awake for the bulk of it. I spent the afternoon making dinner and cleaning up the mess from sunday and monday of not being around. Then on Tuesday night I went to a class at Sister Jann Martens office about Stress and Anxiety. That was a really good class for me. I came home and CRASHED HARD!! So tired.

Wednesday I taught water aerobics and then after aerobics Michelle and I snuck off to Taco Bell for lunch. After lunch it dawned on me that Liza had an Orthodontist appointment that I had to get her to ASAP! I jetted over to the school, picked her up and actually made it on time... slid right in.

After the appointment we stopped at Wal mart for a few essentials, and then quickly ran home just in time run Liza over to the Horses and get home for the other kids to get off the bus. I have to interject here, that I love to take Liza to the horses, cuz there are some horses there that are so sweet and snugly. I didn't think that horses could be snugly, but these ones are so sweet. It was the final "Chick fil a" fund raiser night, and the kids really wanted to go, so we waited for Liza to be done. But it got too late... Liza and Alex had activities at the church, so I took the little girls and Brent stayed home and took Liza and Alex to the church. *divide and concur* After putting kids to bed (late) I had to prepare my lesson for the parenting class Thursday night and got to be early, cuz I knew what was planned for Thursday......

Thursday was 'field day' for Tori's school. She was SO excited to have me there, I just had to go. This field day was supposed to happen last week, but was put off because of the flooding. They kind of improvised here and did what they could to not disappoint the kids too much. I had to find a Sitter for Katie in order to go. So 7:30 kids on bus, get in shower, meet Ryan at exit 11 to hand off Katie. Be at the school by 9:15. It was a lovely over cast w/ a breeze day... so it wasn't too terribly hot standing out on the concrete for hours. As soon as I was done there, I headed over to get Katie and was met at my house by Michelle. She was Ready to work!

This was Chinooks Last Day At Large

Michelle was here to help me install an Underground fence. That's right, a fence that shocks my puppy every time he takes off. I spend a good part of my week chasing this little lad around trying to make sure that he doesn't get into too much trouble. This week he took off and frightened the snot out of a kid that was visiting at a neighbors house. Then he ran over to the new neighbors house and tried to play with their greyhounds... could have gotten beaten up! FINAL STRAW!!

So, Michelle dug and dug, and i pried back grass and dirt and tucked. Four Hours and thirty minutes later, the two of us had laid nearly 300 feet of wire. Now the training begins. Supposed to take about 2 weeks to train him. Every time he needs to go outside, I take him out on a leash, and walk him around the perimeter of the fence, showing him the flags. He got a zap pretty early on, the collar beeps if he gets close, to warn him, then it vibrates, then it shocks. He DID NOT LIKE IT! In fact, he no longer wants to go outside AT ALL! I have to drag the dog around the yard, inside the fence line and tell him that he is okay. get him to potty, and then bring him in. On Friday he thew up he was so stressed out by the fence. AND THEN........ Later on Saturday mroning...... the little turd jumped the fence!!! YES HE DID!!! I don't feel sorry for him any more. Heck, I nearly jacked that shocker up to 10 I was so MAD! So then i had a dog, running around with a shock collar on... would you come home if YOU were going to get shocked coming back??

So I spent yet another hour 1/2 - 2 hours out there following my dog around trying to catch him. I eventually lost track of him, and found him on..... would you believe... the deck, cowering and asking to be let in the house. He is still deathly afraid of the fence when we go walk around the perimeter. He doesn't like to go outside, he doesn't jump with excitement when i grab his leash, he cowers in the back of his crate if I offer a trip outside. Yet, I fear that the minute I let him out w/o a leash he will indeed bolt again! URG this dog!

Then after braking our backs putting in the fence, we (Michelle and I) parted ways for a few hours to feed the families. Then it was off to Parenting Class at the Church. It was the one that we've all been waiting for... the TOKEN ECONOMY lesson. So that was good. As soon as we were done there, we headed back over to:

PAINTING PARTY PART DEUX

This time we knocked out the other bedroom, a bathroom and repainted a very stubborn living room. We had to prime and then do two coats to get coverage! Oh what a night again. Above is Carman and Kelly, working hard.

Here is Amy... she is chatting with her hubby. I do believe he told her not to stay up too late. LOL!!!

And RYAN, surely wiping paint on her tennies, while chatting on the phone! BUT .. while doing the DEW, we finished! (at 3 am mind you, but we did it!) The house looks amazing, ready to sell, and we were happy!!! SORE, but happy.

So since staying up till 3am and all the physical labor I did, wasn't enough, I got up and taught water aerobics on Friday morning. Phew, I can't tell you how happy I was when they made us get out after 1/2 hour because there was lightning outside. SO nice! That was my own little tender mercy right there. I took advantage of a big chunk of time and headed into Nashville to Costco. (I love costco) I was looking for a few things, so it was worth the drive. Apparently I missed a big old storm here in Clarksville tho. That was a fun little trip, but had to really try to stay awake while driving cuz I was exhausted. I got home on Friday to Brent and the Kids all home. We all took the night off. The kids watched a movie and had a "sleep over" they stayed up way too late and I was very tired. Of course they weren't and they were up at the crack of dawn bugging me! Brent was on Call this weekend, so he had to go into work on Sat. Morning. This is also when the dog took off. The kids were NOT doing their jobs like they were supposed to which lead to mommy melt down. NOT a fun day here either. Brent got home in time to mow the lawn before the sun went down. While he mowed, I slipped over to Jimmy Blackmons Author Signing doo da, at Borders. I wanted to see which picture they chose for the poster and also wanted to take a pic of Jimmy signing books.Liza asked me "mom, how did Brother Blackmon get to be so Famous?" I said (laughing inside at the famous comment) "He wrote a book Liza." "So all I have to do is write a book and get it published and I'll be famous?" Smiling to myself... "As famous as Brother Blackmon!" :0)

After the book signing, my sweet husband took me on a date to one of my most favoritest places for he and I to go to. We love Back Yard Burger. YUM!! SO not good for you.. but YUM! It was a lovely date, a quick date, but lovely none the less.

Here is a random photo I had to take:

Do you see the heart? I have a few friends who photograph hearts that just appear.. in nature and what not.. and I found this little heart and thought of them, so this picture is just for them. :-) I was thankful for the moment where I slowed down, and looked at the little love note in my eyeshadow. :-)

So oddly enough after this crazy week, as I stood in the shower this morning, I couldn't stop thinking of all the balls that I dropped this week. The missed meetings, the unfinished emails, the photography that needs to be completed.

I got a backdrop and a stand this month... haven't had time to drag it out and try it yet. :-( Man life is crazy. So there you have it... my week.

photos of painting stolen from Michelles blog.