A beautiful Saturday morning~

It is a gorgeous morning here, almost "Minnesota-like" in temperature and breeziness. It's in the low 70's so far, clear air, white fluffy clouds, and is perfect in every way! I have the windows wide open all over the house, (have had then so for the past two days now), and it's an invigorating type of day! I got my main floor totally vaccuumed, dusted, and mopped (in prep for the kid's mom coming to get them for the week), so right how I am sitting in my clean living room, enjoying the sounds of the birds at my feeder in the tree outside of the back door. As I look out the window I see between 20 and 25 birds flocking both the feeder and the ground under it, including some fledglings who have their beaks wide open and are squacking loudly to be fed. It makes me smile! If Eric weren't sleeping I would run and grab my camera and take a few pics, but not today. Everyone and their brother are out doing yard work right now too, and I hear hedge trimmers, edgers, and lawn mowers running in chorus out there. I really don't have any "planned" chores for today, but maybe I will tackle the front closet as you enter the house, and of course, finish up the laundry (Rei cleaned the boy's bedroom on Thursday and the laundry room is now a toxic disaster area... lol). Sure wish I could have a clothesline here--it is a perfect day for hanging out bedding!

Patrick and Aurora left for IN yesterday after going out to lunch with their mom and Brie. When they called last night to check in with Eric they said they "forgot" to bring with good clothes for church... At almost 18 and 16, one would think they would know what they are going to need to have with them! And I made sure Patrick had a variety of clean clothes ready to go (marathon laundry started after Rei's cleaning spree). Bah! Kids! Brianne is at drill all weekend, and she will be getting her final instructions for her AIT training so we will have set in stone dates next week for when she leaves. Kimmie came over yesterday to visit, so her and Rei went to a movie last night (they saw "Public Enemies"--Johnny Depp--and said it was the most boring movie they have ever seen!). Kimmie spent the night and they are now off walking. Perfect day for it! The house is deliciously quiet and I have no complaints at all!

Got a surprise last night. I was upstairs, enjoying having the house to myself and immersed in playing Everquest and talking to Eric on the phone, when the doorbell rang. Outside stood the neighbor girl with Pekeiko cradled in her arms, a dog leash attached to her harness... Apparently the dining room (ok, sewing room as I prefer to call it) window's screen got push out from the frame by the dogs at some previous point in time (I was unaware of this) and she must have let herself out the window (I had it WIDE open for the breezes yesterday). The catch is, she is in heat, so now the question becomes, did she find a male to scratch her itch with??? Grrrr! My guess is perhaps yes, because she was acting decidedly out of heat last night (after almost a week of yowling and carrying on)... We shall see! I don't remember what the gestation period is for cats, but if we end up with kittens I will NOT be pleased! I do wish they made screens more secure than they do as I noticed we have a few that have been pulled out of the bottom edges of the frames (by the dogs I am guessing), so that we can only open them a little bit (and still run the risk of letting bugs in at the same time). Leina has herself planted in front of the one window she can have access to here in the living room, and she is even laying in front of it when she doesn't have her nose poking out of it... (I have it open about 2.5 inches so she can't reach the screen).

I just got a call from work asking if I would teach a dress-making class for a lady on Saturday. The person originally scheduled to teach it has a schedule conflict and can't do it, so I said I would. Then I came to find out that it is a two week class, so now I will be teaching on Liisa's last Saturday here! We need the money so I won't say no, and my guess is her and Jesse (along with Rei, Patrick, and Aurora) will be able to find things to do to entertain themselves for 3 hours, but still... And I don't have my full work schedule for that week as yet either, but I think I will go ahead and let it be what it will be as I don't generally work more than 5.5 hours a shift, and while it had been one day a week, lately it's been 2. I don't mind that too much. I had a chat with Reimond last night about the value of money, how I only make $8/hour, so if he asks for $10 for a movie, that means I have to work 70 minutes to earn it (not counting the deductions for taxes etc...) I pointed out that money does not come for nothing, and if he wants money he too needs to find things to do to earn it. Now after all the work he did in his room, I was willing to pay for his movie with Kimmie (he spent about 3+ hours on it just on Thursday), but it is something for him to keep in mind, when I only generally work 4 to 5.5 hours a week... I think it was an eye opener for him when looked at from this perspective.

Liisa is getting excited for her trip down here, even went out and bought new collars for the pupkins so that they will look pretty for Grandma! (They are not allowed to wear them til they travel so they stay clean and pretty, heeheehee). She's bringing 2 screw in tie-outs so we can put the puppies out a bit (beyond their multiple walks) so that we are not trying to alternate 5 dogs on one tie-out, and she'll bring a kennel for them too. They graduated from Puppy school and did well, and she had them "fixed" on Tuesday (as Rei said when really small, they were "sprayed and neutraled"). They are showing no ill effects from the surgery and should be well healed up by the time they come down. I too am excited for their visit, and that is also a part of my cleaning spree around here... My goal for next week is to get all the carpets shampooed and that front room totally cleaned! Always something to do in a house this size though...

My coffee cup is empty, so I guess it's time for a refill; I just put Po out and his first act was to charge the tree and scatter the birds... He seemed quite proud of himself, and they are now sitting at a distance scolding him... I also need to shower and change (am in my lounging pants I made and a tank top--somehow the "naughty kitties in the sewing room" design on them feels appropriate)! I hope everyone has a productive and wonderful weekend!

**** As an aside, and in case anyone was wondering, my brand new computer is fixed, and they did end up replacing the hard drive as it WAS faulty (so we didn't need to pay for anything--the repairs were covered under the warranty). I also got my replacement battery for the laptop on Thursday afternoon (with a 5 hour charge on it!) and my replacement power cord came last night, so I am now again up and running computer-wise and as happy as can be. Two computers repaired for the cost of $ 2.98 (for the two mailers to send back the battery and power cord respectively) and the gas to drive back and forth. When we get my computer paid off, the next goal will be to get a new tower (perhaps system) for Eric as his is outdated and runs slowly, and then a new laptop (his screen is pixelating, and the laptop itself is more of a portable computer than a laptop). It all takes time though, and we will do it as we get to it. So nice to be connected again and now Eric and I can once again play Everquest together!