Almost September

 Maggie bought some key chains

Maggie is a mentor for the lower Web Design students this year. She has a group and she named it Goldfish and she drew this fish!

We went to see Nana while she was laid up.

Gwen's prom. Mamaw made that dress. 

Double birthday party! How crazy is that Gwen and I are 7 years, 3 days apart and my kids are 7 years, 1 day apart?!?

Early Gwen Christmas getting a King Kong doll

That's me and Honey Bear. Maybe she thought I was in her way. . . 

Amanda at her previous job. . . at a big cat rescue!!! Now, she works with horses.

Another goldfish drawing

What a work place

Smiley got adopted!

They renamed her Arrow

Christmas. Gwen sent us all these old pictures.

Ruby wrote me this note: You are the best mom in the world! I love you so much. Everyone wants you to be their mom. You did a good job making Honey not fat. 

What an endorsement!

Honey is OBSESSED with eating apples. We always give her what's left so, if you have one, she will follow you and stare and drool at you until you give it to her. 

Maggie and I did cat bingo again. We won so many times I was embarrassed to say bingo. We shoulda bought a lotto ticket. Oh yeah, there was a kitten!

Ruby's friend Oliver's birthday party. I had completely forgotten. My friend Tina was taking Ruby and she had forgotten too. She called me and said, Oliver's party is today! So we got ready super quick and all was well. Oliver has been in Ruby's class every year they've been in school. 

That's Ruby, Oliver, and Connor.

Me at my sleep study. 

Ruby's new class

She took a baby picture for Show and Tell

Look at his furry, curly footsies!!!

Oh yeah! That's New Dog. She's so good. She had never seen cats before and her mind was blown. I had to teach her to leave them alone and now she only sniffs them. She rarely barks, doesn't get into anything, and she's huge. I really like her. Maybe I'll keep her and take a break from fostering. She doesn't seem super smart. It took her a shockingly long time to figure out the dog door. Also, I have a little pedal thing so I can pedal any time I'm sitting during sessions (I stand for half and pedal for the other half; it's a lot of sitting or standing still). So, she was laying where her head was getting hit by the pedal and I thought well she'll move and she did, but it took an insane amount of getting hit by the pedal IN THE HEAD!!!

Those are her baby pictures.

Gwen thinks she looks Tom Petty in this picture.

Gwen says that's at Jeff's duplex in College Station and I had just burned her with some comment. I don't remember. 

End of August

 Ruby is now a big third grader. She actually has three teachers. Her homeroom teacher is her ELA teacher. Then she also has a math teacher and a science and social studies teacher. Sadie is in her class again so she's very excited about that! 

On a Sunday, I woke up and immediately noticed my throat was swollen. I walked out into the living room and one of the dogs had thrown up. Then I realized two dogs were missing. Then I saw one of my stupid (not Buddy!) cats brought a DEAD RAT into my house!!! 

I took ibuprofen, cleaned the vomit, and then I had to figure out the rat. I offered Ruby money to put it in a box but she changed her mind once she actually saw it. Then I sat there for a few minutes trying to decide if there was anyway possible that I could not be the one to pick it up. Then I devised a system using bags, a broom, and a box and it's gone. 

Eventually the dogs came back but I had to contact a handyman to come out that day to fix my fence. 

My throat hurt again the next day. That day I thought it was a sinus infection but it was worse on Tuesday. Gwen and I were supposed to go to see The Terminator that night but I spiked a fever. At that point, Gwen and Laurie said I needed to test for Covid and I had it! The girls never got it. It was gross. I felt so gross. As far as I know, that's the first time I've had it. 

I got my CPAP machine. It's definitely getting better. It's very hard to get used to. I've been using it about 10 days and I've only had one jump up and run around episode. 

I haven't been able to watch the Olympics for years. I had Peacock last time but it was only clips and hard to navigate. This year, I borrowed Laurie's Peacock login and I'm obsessed again!!! I remember why I love the Olympics so much. Ruby told me, Mom, this is a lot of Olympics. 

The movie theater we go to had a special of 1984 movies. I was in heaven. Unfortunately, I got Covid at the beginning. I missed the Terminator, which breaks my heart! I'll never get another chance to see it on the big screen and I LOVE that movie. We saw Ghostbusters, which was so fun, and Footloose. I had so much fun at Footloose. Ruby turned to me at one point and said, mom, I don't think I like this movie. Insane! Maggie enjoyed it. 

Ruby almost started a fire! She wanted to make noodles. Basically the dried noodles and spices are in a Styrofoam cup and you add water and cook in the microwave. Ruby forgot the step of adding water. Thankfully, we were playing cards in the living room so I smelled something and ran in and stopped the microwave. It smelled AWFUL!!! 

Another school year. . .

 Let's see. . . the school year started. As of the first day of school, Maggie still wasn't in her Lit Mag class. She (ON HER OWN!) went and found the teacher who runs the magazine and teaches the class and asked her to help Maggie fix, which she did. I was very proud. In fairness, first I had to refuse to come get her because her morning had been so hard, but after that, she took charge!

She also decided she does want to stay in Theater 2. Further, she wants to go with them to NYC this fall. I said, sorry, I can't get that together with such little notice but if she stays involved with Theater, I will let her go her junior and senior years. 

She applied for her first job! She got an immediate denial, I'm guessing because you have to be at least 16 and it just automatically kicked her out. We'll try again next month. She wants to work at Studio Movie Grill because her friend works there. 

The other day she came and got me and told me there was a HUGE lizard in her bathroom and could I come get it. I went in there and saw nothing. So, I got down and still couldn't see anything. Then she got down and said there it is but I still couldn't see it. I thought she might be pranking me, like how long could she keep me on the bathroom floor insisting there was something there. Eventually, I said just tell me if you see it again. She went and got her phone and took a picture. It was this tiny little guy and he was kinda up and on the back of the inside of the cabinet. 

I usually can't get Maggie until 4 pm. One day she decided to try to walk home. She got about 1/2 a mile and kinda freaked out. I left as soon as I could and got her. She was bright red and as soon as she got in the car, she told me, thank you so much for driving me to and from school, that was awful. She is so funny.

The end of old pictures!