The Rest of the Week

Friday

I am not quite as optimistic about good old (or young)Tweetie as I once was. I hope this is just a phase, but she has completely forgotten how to heel and side. She tugs at the leash in a way that would be horrible if she was 20 pounds heavier. Now it is merely a disgrace.

She has also started this barking thing. She will bark at strange dogs instead of being friendly to them, and also at new people (mostly adults, not children), or if children are yelling or running. What is up with this? What happened to our sweet little pup who was going to set the freestyle world on fire with her astoundingly youthful intelligence and obedience? I think this might be a manifestation of her "fearful phase". And buddy, it had better be quickly outgrown! Cause Momma is NOT happy.

A couple of new behaviors that we are working with include a mini-weave type of thing where she does a little figure 8 around the handler's legs. She will go anywhere for a treat. The second behavior is a home obedience type of thing. I have noticed that now that S is taking her out for more walks, she is brave about the outside and will dash out the front door and onto the porch. Once she even chased the cat out into the tractor shed where the cat easily evaded her and sat on top of the tractor tire grunting kitty obscenities down upon poor Tweetie's little round head. So now I am working to establish a Place command. She is supposed to go to a certain section of the front room rug and sit there quietly while the door is open. That way she will not be able to earn that treat and dash out the door. I think she likes treats even better than cat chases.

Still though, I am now dealing with the fear that she will disgrace us at our workshop and that she will be the worst dog there. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Y'all sit and be good,
Lori



Thursday

Today my car was in the shop. Sue and I have to drive to a city about 3 hours away from home in a couple of weeks and I wanted to have the old car checked over to be sure it was road worthy. I hate spending money on car repairs, but I hate sitting stranded beside the road even more.

So I borrowed Mom's car to take S to her 4-H dog meeting tonight. S decided that she wanted to do the dog meeting more than she wanted to go to her dance class.They were scheduled so that we couldn't do both. I don't like going so much, but she is an only child, we live at the end of a dead-end road in a rural area with no other children near her age, and we homeschool. Therefore, I am acutely aware of the need for socialization. She has 4-H activities, church activities, and various friends we occasionally visit.

This is the time of year I get serious about curriculum for the coming school year. I always say that January is the most dangerous time for our homeschool. I am bored with what we are already using, and all things are possible! Anyway, we have our plan and now I just need to track down the materials to make it happen. I already have most of what we need. I like to buy used materials whenever possible. With only one child, I don't get that multi-user benefit that larger families do, so have trouble justifying paying a high price for something that we will only use one year.

I still need to find Math U See Epsilon and the Rod and Staff English 5 student textbook. I have everything else or have already made arrangements with a person to buy theirs when they are done using it this spring.

In previous years, we started school early and therefore were done early. This year we tried time shifting and started late so we could enjoy our fall vacation to Florida. And now we will not finish until much later than I am used to. I hate it! I am ready to start in July this coming year so we will get out early! I don't mind starting early. Summers here are uncomfortably hot and humid, so the thrill is gone by July. I get all excited about starting another school year, so I am always chomping at the bit to get going. But I sure am ready to be done with it when that old spring fever starts kicking in!

Counting the pages,
Lori


Wednesday

This was a yucky day. Sue had an orthodontist appointment in the morning and an optometrist appointment at noon. We were on the road all day and I was exhausted.

One hilarious thing that happened was at one stop where we decided to let the pug out of the car to stretch her little legs in the mulched parking island in the middle of a parking lot. The pup lowered her head and then came up with a cigarette butt daingling from her lips! Looked like a 3 pack a day smoker! S and I laughed so hard we nearly fell over. Needless to say, I grabbed the butt and tossed it in the trash can immediately.

Fiber-wise, I am behind again. Our 4-H club made one of the tacked comforters for the last fund raiser. I bought the fabric to make another one for the next event. Which is nearly upon us! I need to find the border fabric asap and seam the top together just as soon as I can. Then I will see if some of the kids are willing to meet me at our meeting place and tie it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then I will have two whole days to get the edges bound and ready to go. They need it for Saturday night.

Very little progress to report on organizing my felting projects. This week found me on the road every day. I just hate weeks like that. I love staying home and working on my stuff, but there are some seasons where I just seem to run all the time.

Gasping for breath,
Lori