Sandy Drama Part II

Okay, so I called about how Sandy did during her surgery on Thursday afternoon. I found out from the Dr. that she had NEVER been fixed!!!! The APL cut her open, had a nice huge scare down her tummy fixed her hernia and did NOTHING ELSE!! I even have paper work that states what Dr. worked on her and that she WAS SPAYED!! ARG!! Can you imagine if I did nothing, thinking she was fixed and she had puppies!! I would have been so pissed off! So, on Friday I go down to the APL and let them know of this problem and that I want them to pay for the surgery she had done. They said that might possibly be able to give me some of my money back from her adoption and to come talk to the director on Sunday. We will be if we don't like what they have to say we might be getting a lawyer. The Dr. who did her surgery took pictures for us to prove they did NOT spay her. I choose NOT to see those, LOL!!! The bill was $156 and I paid $129 for her, to bad, their mistake! We'll see how that goes tomorrow. But, she is doing fine and she will no longer bleed all over the house. That was getting old really fast.

Sandy Drama

Okay, so the past couple of weeks Sandy has been bleeding out her pee'er. Now she was fixed, I got her right after her surgery so I know she was. It stopped for a while but then started back up and it was really bad. So, yesterday I took her to the vet and found out that the APL (Animal Protection League) left some parts in her and didn't get everything and she is in heat!!! ARG!!!! That explains why she took off the other night like that and why as soon as I let her outside all the neighborhood dogs are over here!! I was afraid it might be cancer or something so I'm glad it's not. She has to have surgery AGAIN on Thursday. They are going to look for everything that got left behind and get it out so that I don't have to deal with the bleeding every 6 months. How annoying!! I haven't called the APL yet but I'm going to and see if they will do anything since they botched it up. I have to pay $250 to have this done again! So frustrating! She whines ALL DAY to go outside, tough crap! That in itself is stressful!

Tomatoes, Tomatoes and More Tomatoes!!!

Okay, so on Saturday I decided that if I'm going to do any tomatoes this year I would just have to get off my lazy butt and go do it. I didn't plant a garden this year for which I'm sorry about now. Couldn't find a way to till it up but this coming Spring we are doing it!!! I had to pay for my tomatoes this year at the place I always used to go before my garden in Fairview. You pick your own and it's $8 a bushel. I got 4 bushels of Roma Tomatoes. After I picked the Roma's I drove out to my sister Kitty's place and she gave me Sandwich Tomatoes which are good for soup. She gave me enough to do one batch of soup, which is really all I needed for soup.

So here is one basket of tomatoes. I took some out, it was heaped up but of course I forgot to get a picture before I started. I got two heaping baskets full!

Here is Joe helping me squish. He did an ENTIRE basket full!! He helped wash and cut and did all the squishing! I made pizza while he worked!

Next year I'm getting an automatic squisher that attaches to my Kitchen Aide. Those Rock and I want one really bad. You don't have to crank at all, gotta love that!

Sandy loved to stand under the squisher and lick all the drips that came from it. After three days of this the top of her head and next were covered in tomato juice, LOL!! She is a sticky mess and needs a bath!

So, one basket was one batch. I did a batch of Spaghetti Sauce and a batch of Pizza Sauce. I cooked the sauce for HOURS till it cooked down to half it's size. I stood there stirring for hours, LOL! We saw one TV the other week on a kitchen inventions show that they have automatic stir'ers that run for 5 hours per battery charge and they clip on the pot, gotta get me some of those too, LOL!!

Here is my Spaghetti Sauce that I finished on Sunday. A few years ago the lady down the road was selling jars and I went to buy some and she had these HUGE canning jars. I had never seen any this big and they are perfect for Spaghetti Sauce. She canned homemade cider in them.

On Monday morning I finished up my Pizza Sauce. I got 35 pints of sauce. I make pizza once a week so I need 52 pints. I still have some left over from last year so now I have 59 pints altogether.

Then on Monday afternoon I finished up with the tomatoes Kitty gave me. Here they are all cut up and ready to squish. So, here is what I got out of these tomatoes. I ran out of quart jars so I had to use one of my larger ones. I'll use that for stew some time.So, thanks Kitty for the tomatoes!!!! :)

Here is where I put all my canned goods. It's a large shelf unit that I keep in the mudroom. I LOVE that shelf!

Runaway Sandy

Sandy pissed me off last night. She was whining so I let her go out to use the bathroom. I don't put her on a chain to just run out and go because she has always come right back in. I wait at the open door while she goes and call her in when she's done. We did this and then 5 minutes later she is still whining at the door, so I thought, okay she has to pooh. I open the door to let her out again and she bolts to the driveway, down the driveway, and down the street. I called and her an called her, she could care less. I said screw it and shut the door and that was at 8:30pm. She came scratching at the door at 3:15am soaking wet, muddy and a stinky mess. I was so pissed off that it took me an hour to get back to sleep. Needless to say, I'm exhausted today.

She over course goes right for the couch, I drag her off by her collar and made her sleep on her pillow by my bed. Gosh, the whole room stunk!! After I took the boys to school and worked out I came home and gave her a shower and the water was just disgusting! She has been doing nothing but sleeping since she got home. We have no idea what it was that made her bolt like that. We are thinking, it's the new dog from down the road that we have been seeing. I'm not sure if it's a stray hanging out of someones actual pet. But, now, I'm going to run out and get another thinner lead to attach to the larger one so that it fits under a shut door and she will be clipped to it EVERY TIME she goes outside and even before we open the door. ARG!!!

Here is a picture I took of her just hours before she bolted, looking oh so cute! She was looking at me while I was at the kitchen counter.

Kids are Just Weird!

Okay, for some unknown reason, CJ felt the need to put his sock on a 2 liter bottle of soda!! When he finds a hole in his sock, he always stretches out the hole to make it huge and after doing this got this bright idea of, "Hey, I bet that bottle of soda is cold and needs a good sock!" LOL!!!

KIDS!!! LOL!!!

Dryer Blew Up

Well, on Sunday night I had 4 loads of clothes to do. Guess I was lazy this week! Anyway, washed the first load and put it in the dryer and started washing the second load. When the second load was done I went out and found out the dryer quit and up and died on me!! It had been squeaking pretty bad for a few months now. LOL!! I guess I should have had it looked at a long time ago. I ended up doing the 4 loads up and then going into town at 8pm on Sunday night to get them all dried. I hate going to the laundry mat!! Man, it was really busy too, so I guess that is a hoping time to do all your clothes.

I called to have someone come out on Monday and since everyone in town was out of power he came right over. I guess the ball bearing had been cutting into the metal and finally broke off which made the drum come down and when it did it took out the heating element. All in all it was $272 but now my dryer works and it's so quite!! LOL!!! It's not like I can run out and get a new dryer. Being in a mobile home we have to have a stackable so it was worth the money to just have it fixed.

Here is my dryer tore apart.

Here is the drum pulled out on the floor.

I would have gotten a picture of him leaning inside the drum but that felt a littler weird LOL!

Do you see all the bowls on the floor? We had a slow leak in our ceiling of the mudroom for years, since we built it. Chuck has re-roofed it and tried to fix it many times but alas, we never could stop the leak and on Saturday part of the ceiling caved in.

When it rains, it pours, as they say! LOL!

The Dentist Saga Continues

Okay, went and got my teeth cleaned and it was a nightmare of scraping and tugging and general owieness! But, got all the gunk off my teeth, they now shine like the sun and Mike said I have 8 cavities!!! Okay that makes 10 total as he fixed 2 already!! Man, I have got to brush more often, floss more often and get to the dentist every six months and not every five years! Sue printed up an estate for me to get all those 8 fixed and it's $1,200.00 LOL!! Man, going to take a while I guess. But I will keep at it till they are all fixed up and good to go! Joe goes in on the 18th for a cleaning and check up. He is going first since he has one tooth that is bothering him and sore gums by this tooth. Gotta make sure it's not infected. He had one like that once and I didn't get him in right away since I had no idea what an abscess looked like and he had to go on med's and get the thing pulled out. So, let's not do that again!

Joe is serving his 3 hour after school detention today and after that I will get him something to eat and we are off to the Y for his first swim team practice. They want us to bring them at least twice a week but we might be able to do 3. We shall see. I have meatballs in the crockpot so Chuck and CJ will be able to eat and I won't have to worry about cooking when I get home at 9pm, LOL!!

Boy's and School

Well, Joe came home yesterday and has Detention after school on Thursday from 3-6 for HOMEWORK!!! Good gravy!! So, Chuck and I sat with the Assistant Principal this morning for over an hour. He's in a special study hall to help him get adjusted and it seems he forgot to do his homework in two classes so he got detention. Dang, they are strict! I am also trying to get used to this homework thing and what is due and when. It's confusing!

The boys each have a really nice assignment book that they have to write all their homework in. I didn't realize I was supposed to look at it each night to make sure they are getting everything done. I really didn't understand it and I would just ask, is your homework done and they would say "yes" and I would be like, good. That is what I have always done before, if they even had any homework at all. Joe never did so this is really new to him. Now, I check that assignment book every day and I'm all up their butts about getting everything done LOL!!

It seems Joe will do his homework but leave it in his locker, which he is not allowed to go get, and for History he forgot to color his map!!! Good Grief!!! Forgot to color!!! This is crazy. He has a paper that has to be signed by all his teachers each week that his homework was done. They all have to be circled yes and be signed. He had two circled "no" so he got detention. Now, he has over the weekend to get those "no's" to "yes" but he forgot to color his map and he forgot to hand it the other. He is used to being asked for his homework and here you just have to remember to do it. So, I'm hoping that this detention will help him to remember to DO all his homework, even the coloring, and to REMEMBER to hand it in!

We also found out that NONE of the teachers realize that they have NEVER been to public school and that their last school they had one room and one desk ALL year long! We talked to Joe's History teacher and he had no idea and now he realizes why Joe is having a hard time. They think that the boys are just being lazy! SIGH!! So, today after school Chuck and I are going to talk to each of their teachers and let them know. So, it's a culture shock and a bit to get used to but we'll get there.

On another note, last night was Joe's swim team try-out and of course he made it so we'll be at the pool quiet a bit. He has meets on Saturday's I believe. I told him if he has a concert for the Jr. Phil that trumps any swim meet. Hopefully he'll be able to do everything. I know it will feel like I'm never home and I better find some really good crockpot meals! Who has time to cook? LOL!

Also, CJ's football team won for the first time this season the score was 16-12. He played almost the entire time too, so he was happy!

Jr. Philharmonic

Joe had his audition last night at the Fairview Middle School for the Jr Philharmonic. He was nervous and when he went in to play he really didn't play that long. Maybe a minute or two? He came out and said he did really horrible but when we went into the conference room they said he made it into the "Entermezzo String Ensemble". He's like, "Really? I did really bad." They said he must not have because they haven't been taking many and he made it!! YEAH!! He's very happy and excited. There is Rehearsal every Tuesday night from 5-6:15 at the Fairview Middle School. I'm glad it's not all the way into Erie or the other side of Erie. They used to meet at Central High. First concert isn't until the end of November. The season runs in semesters and the first semester is from now till Dec. 3rd and the second is from Jan 5th till April 21st.

CJ just didn't want to. He is afraid of people and he doesn't want to play in front of people, which is weird because he can play football in front of people?? I won't push it because it has to be fun.

Joe's Birthday

Yesterday was Joe's 12th Birthday. Again, I made lasagna and cherry cake. I also bought a pie from a friend of mine. She makes awesome pies and we got the Resses Peanut Butter Pie!!! OH YEAH!! We got Joe about 3 balloons and a nice card for when he first got up. We also gave him the birthday card from Nana. BTW, Mom, I gave him $25 in cash as he is REALLY into cash so this delighted him to no end so he was thrilled with your gift LOL!! I didn't take a picture of the balloons, I guess I just wasn't in the mood at 6am to take pictures LOL!! The balloons have been in the dryer since the since the cats like to eat and chew on the ribbon they are tied with. Makes one forget they even have balloons, out of sight out of mind I guess!

We got him "Rock Band" for his PS2 and it comes with a drum set and a guitar. Needless to say CJ and Joe were playing "Rock Band" from 6pm till 10pm. My ears have had enough of the bang, bang, bang of those drums!! I did find out that they might silencers for those drums!! Gotta get me some of those!!!!

This is a book bag that he wanted for school. The bag kind with ropes for closing and caring.

This is an air gun in camo colors

These are camo pencils with his name of them, LOL at the Cheezer Grin!!

Here is the birthday pie!

Dentist Again

Okay, went back and had another tooth worked on. I tried the ear muffs for the noise and guess what? That backfired on me!!! The noise is in my head and what the muffs did was make everything really quiet and the drill noise 10X louder!!! OUCH!!! I took those off right away! So, I guess I'll just have to live. I go back again next Thursday for a good cleaning. Mike said that my teeth need cleaned before he can do any more because there will be a lot of bleeding if I don't. Maybe by Christmas I'll be done going to the dentist!

Right before I went in Chuck called me and told me that our Pastors son had passed away that morning. He has been fighting cancer for almost a year. I feel so bad for the whole family. His oldest son is only 16. I think Randy was around 45.

CJ's Football Game

CJ had his first football game yesterday. This will be his 5th year playing football. This is the first year playing for the school. I got a few pictures of him.

Here is CJ with Danny. Danny is number 40 and of course CJ is 51. There "away" jerseys are white with blue numbers and the "home" jerseys are dark blue with yellow numbers.