Backyard Project

We were at a graduation reception this weekend, and the owner of the house had this great fence set up. Mike and I were in heaven because we could let Landon run and play with the other kids and not have to worry about him going out in the street or disappearing. So we came home that afternoon and measured our backyard for a new fence.

This is our current backyard. We have a neighbor that drives just a little too fast down the alley and Landon doesn't really like to stay in our yard. I am so excited to get this fence put up. It's going to make going outside a lot easier.

So I used the Digger's Hotline website and put in a request to have them mark all the important things in our yard. So far so good.

Today, the internet guy came and made a few marks in our yard. Nothing that is going to be in the way, but a strange pattern for the telephone wires.

So hopefully, Mike will be home next week and we can get the fence up in time for the summer.

Speaking of summer, I put Landon's swing set on layaway yesterday. He will love it!

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My flowers are starting to bloom. I think my garden will look pretty good this year. I hope they all bloom about mid-summer and at the same time. Then I can see if my colors go together. Most of the flowers came from other people, so I'm not really sure what colors I have planted.

Our other project is a burm. ( I think that's the right word.) It's really just a mound of dirt. It's going to go in the back of the yard around the trees and replace the rosebushes that were over grown and growing all crazy and out of the control.

Mike has already started the process. I think we need to put up the fence first. The back of the fence will run along with back of the mound of dirt. ( We are going to put wood chips on top of the dirt. To make it look a little nicer. ) Then we can get rid of the white trash dog pen and give Lucy a little more room to run.

Ready, Set, Go!

Friday I subbed for 1st grade in the morning and HS PE in the afternoon. So I woke up early, got dressed and then woke up the sleeping boy. He got dressed and ready to go and I loaded him in the car. I backed out of the driveway and as I was putting the car from reverse into drive I heard him talking in the backseat, "Ready, Set, GO!" (It sounds more like, "Ree, Sea, DO!" but a mother can understand her child better than other people. Which is good for the times when he screams, "Ho Pap."; Holy Crap in public.) I had to laugh. I guess he was a little more ready to start the day than I was.

The school had a program for the children in the morning. So I got to ride the big yellow bus. It's been about 8 years since I've been on a bus and I now remember why I haven't been too excited to get back on. The program was good. A fitness show with lots of cool toys. The kids were all ooohhhing and aaahhhing.

I spent Saturday at an auction. Of course I didn't buy anything, but it's always fun to look at all the junk, uhh, treasures that people collect over the years.

Sunday afternoon, I was sleeping on the couch when my phone rang. It was my mother so I ignored the call and put the phone on silent. Not two minutes later, she called again. This time she left a message. When I listened to the message, she sounded urgent so I called her back. Turns out, the police were looking for Mike. He stole gas from a gas station in town. Of course, this couldn't be right. After I talked to Mike, I got the whole story. Turns out he stopped for gas and pressed "Pay Inside." He went in, got some food and paid for it. He told the cashier that he had fuel on pump number #2. Well, she forgot to ring it up. Instead of calling her manager, she called the police and told them that Mike filled up and drove off. WOW!
After a day of phone calls and worries, everything worked out. The manager came in and cleared up the problem. She told the police she didn't want to press charges. Mike got a $5 gas card and a free large pizza and order of breadsticks. Everything was fine... well for us. The cashier might be in a little bit of trouble. She made her first mistake by not ringing up the fuel and instead of calling someone who could help her, she made her second mistake of reporting a theft to the police.

It was quite a weekend. Hopefully this week won't be as exciting!

Stay At Home Mom

I was watching The View this morning. For the most part it's a pretty entertaining show. I mainly just watch the first 20 minutes for the "Hot Topics." This is the part of the show where the co-hosts talk about events going on in the world.

One of today's topics was directed towards Stay At Home Moms. Elizabeth said that one of the back-stage employees had called in and said she was going to stay home and spend some time with her kid. The show was going out of town for the Day Time Emmeys and she was going to miss her kid and just wanted to spend a little time together before they left.

Star wanted to know what the employer would do if someone called in and said they wanted to spend the day with their husband. Would they allow them the time off? The answer was NO. She thought that spending time with the person you are married to is very important. Which I agree with.

The conversation then turned to talk about taking care of your husband. Star made some point about having to be with your spouse and take care of them to keep your relationship going. Of course Joy did not agree. She is always the one who talks about how women shouldn't do too much for their man. Today she made it sound like anyone who would cook and clean for a man is a total idiot. This could be why she's divorced.

I get so sick of her liberal talk. She thinks women should work (outside the home), kids should go to daycare and men should work outside the home also AND cook, clean, do the laundry, etc. I guess this gives the women the upper hand.

I don't quite see it that way. I love being a stay at home mom. I do work, hard. I might only have one kid, but I still put in a full day with him. He is the most important thing to me. I love my husband too. I like taking care of him. I want to be the one to clean and cook. He's the one that earns the money, and I'm the one who takes care of the house. It seems like a pretty fair split to me.

If other women want to work in an office or whatever, that's fine with me. I don't go around telling other women how they should live their lives. What makes them happy is fine with me. Being here, with my kid, makes me happy. What is so wrong with that?

It's a typical liberal attitude. What they believe is the only right way to do things. Anyone who doesn't agree is just stupid and trying to argue with them. BUT, if they don't agree with someone else, that's fine. They believe they have a right to their opinion, and everyone else has the right to agree with their opinion.

I think that as women, we should support each other. We are the only ones who can give birth, and feed our child. Men can't do that! Why isn't that something that we celebrate as much as a woman who runs her own company? I think it's a pretty special thing and I'm proud of that.

We need to get past wanting to be equal to men. If a man and woman do the same job, then they should be equal. They should have equal chances of getting jobs, into college, etc.

But we should also celebrate what makes us special. Instead of bringing each other down for choices we wouldn't make for ourselves, we should build each other up and be proud that we can make choices for ourselves. That is what it takes to make men and women equal.

My Little Man

It's amazing to watch how fast he's growing. One minute he is this tiny baby, that cries and never sleeps. Now he's a little boy. So grown up and independent.

My favorite time to watch him is when he thinks no one is paying attention. Sometimes he just sits in front of the tv, really watching.

It might be Dora or Diego, or a Baby Einstein that he's seen 100 times. It doesn't seem to matter. He watches like he's never seen it before. It just makes me smile because it's such a grown-up thing.

This afternoon, I came out of the bathroom and he was sitting in the rocking chair, head resting on his hand, legs crossed, watching Dora. He looked so sweet. I had to walk over and give him a kiss just because. Because he's mine. My son.

He's been playing in his room, alone, more often. I'll find him in there playing with his tractors or sitting at his desk, drawing a picture. He takes his chalk and scribbles on the chalk board, checks it out, and then erases part of it. Like he's making a masterpiece and wants to get it just right.

Tonight, we were playing in the sand box. He would take his shovel and fill up the empty flower pots with sand. He'd scoop up some sand, and distribute it evenly between the three pots. Then he would pick them up, dump them out and start over again. He'd have to check one last time to make sure they were empty before filling them again.

Sometimes, I sit in the rocking chair and just watch him. He's got a busy day planned, and wants to get everything done. I just sit, and watch and smile. He's my son. My little man.

Quarter Moon Bar and "Grill"

This is what's left of the Quarter Moon. (Also known as the Half Moon, Full Moon and The Moon.)

They say the fire was set by someone. It's pretty sad to think about this buidling being gone forever. I'll have to go the the library and find out the history.