The house is supposedly selling

We countered and he recountered. We have an agreement. It is not what we would have liked, but it is a going to lift a load off us. I wish it was anyone but him, though. I know it is selfish, but I want someone who loves the house to live there.

Missing a friend

I have a few friends I have never met in real life. We have been friends for many years, but only online. I know many people think this is odd. We don't. We have supported one another through child rearing issues, husband problems, learning disabilities, death of parents and grandparents, moving, illnesses in our families. Several of these ladies I have been able to keep in contact with. One of them I am really missing today. Lyn if you are out there, send me an email. I miss you.

Dogs - gotta love 'em

It is a commonly known fact that Border Collies and Shelties are two of the smartest breeds of dogs. At our house, we have currently have 2 half shelties and 1 (at least) half border collie. That can make for some very interesting entertainment.

The girls, the shelties, sleep in a kennel together. They are litter mates. They don't sleep well when they are not kenneled together. Ranger, the border collie, has his own chair in our room where he sleeps. They sleep well. As long as you don't flush the toilet, the girls will just keep sleeping. If you flush in the middle of the night, it is like an alarm clock- they are up and raring to go. It really is bad if you are sick in the night. They just don't understand it. Most days, they sleep through Dean getting up and getting ready. One I get up (and flush) they are up for the day. After a quick run outside, they come inside for a morning rawhide. Since they were puppies, we have had this schedule. Now that Ranger lives with us, he is included as well.

Ranger eats his much slower. I have to watch to make sure one of the girls does not take Ranger's. He is too nice to take it back. He just looks at me with sad eyes.

We try to play fair. Each dog has their own set of toys. They favorites right now are these stuffed toys. They have a constant battle over them. Not in a bad way, just for fun.

Ranger will grab one of the toys whenever I start to put them outside. He will hang back and let the girls get out - then he tries to 'sneak' by me with the toy. Most of the time, I can catch him. If not, he goes out side and drops it about 10 feet from the patio. He then crouches over it daring me to come get it. All I have to do it step toward him and he is off! Running as quickly as possible to a new spot where he drops it and repeats. We play for a few minutes when this happens. Some times, if I don't really have a long time to play, I will call him back in with the promise of a treat. Dazzle is always ready for a treat. If he doesn't bring it back, Dazzle has been known to grab it from him and bring it in so she can have a treat.

Tonight it was a different plan they plotted. They were all three outside. They kept barking- even Ranger. I went to the door and called them in. Ranger and Dazzle came in. Razzle wouldn't. I kept calling her with the door open. All of a sudden, Ranger with a toy, and Dazzle flew past me. They ran right to Razzle and dropped the tow. I swear they had it planned out.

They really are a lot of fun to watch.

wow, where has the time gone?

So much has happened in the last 6 months since I have blogged. So, so much. There is no way I can even attempt to catch up. I will not even attempt to give a catch up post. I will just talk about what going on right now. I will try to do much better at blogging. I miss writing.

Today is labor day. In honor of labor day, I have done nothing today that can be considered work. I enjoyed some time alone at the mall. Eric needed jeans. I wanted to get a few things for Joy Anna's next care package. I tried on shoes at Dillard's. Why is it that when they are having a sale, the only shoes that I like are too big or too small? I would have really liked a new pair of shoes.

I am really struggling with the fact that the renters offered such a low price. Along with that, they said a lot of bad things about the house. I now know why you should use a realtor. It makes it less personal. Maybe if we had not put so much into the house - financially, emotionally, physically - it would not hurt so much.

I miss Joy Anna, too. I am so very excited that she is in a wonderful new town, starting a great school tomorrow, living in a wonderful little casita, but I miss her. I really enjoyed her being home this weekend. We had a good time reworking her fairy costume. We had fun hanging with Shannon and kids, Amanda & Joe and their kids, and the Roberts and the Snows over the weekend.

Watching her head off north on Sunday afternoon was not easy. I am glad she made it home safely. Today, she worked. She has worked all day long. She needs to go get groceries for herself for the week. She starts school tomorrow!!! Pretty cool.

She has been sleeping on a sofa. She has not been very comfortable. We bought a futon for her at goodwill on Saturday. It was brand new. It was sort of hard to pack it all into her little sunfire. It was in a a lot of pieces. She put it together last night and then called to tell me she knew why it was at goodwill. The directions failed to tell you to take out the two large packing bolts that were attached to base. With the bolts, there was no way to put the legs on. Poor thing. She is going to have to redo it tonight in order to sleep on it.

I am glad she came home for the weekend. I enjoyed taking her shopping for the first day of school.

I am really struggling with following my passion. I so feel the need to be creative and write and shoot photos. I am so exhausted - more emotionally and mentally - that I am just struggling to be creative. I am going to write tonight. I am within a few chapters of finishing my novel. I need it to be done. I am wondering why I am having such a hard time finishing. Is it because I am afraid of it not being good enough? Am I afraid of taking the next step and polishing it to go further. I like the story a lot. It is lighthearted and fun. Other people have a story to tell and are able to get it published. What holds me back from trying?

And so, I will cast of the fear of what next, the stress of what next with the house, and I will write. I know I have photos that I need to work on. I really should do that. I just can not seem to wrap my creativity around it. 5:00 p.m. That leaves me at least 6 hours before my usual bedtime. Maybe I will attempt both. Maybe writing will relax me enough so that I can actually work on photos.

I'm off . . .