Welcome to the family, Penny!

We adopted a puppy!

This is Penny.  She's an unknown breed and unknown age.  She didn't have a name and her "foster family" didn't know where she came from. She's had no shots, not spayed, and has probably never seen a vet. She growls, barks, bites and isn't potty trained.  Well, gee, that's everything that we didn't want in a dog!  But, she's cute and soft, so she's becoming a Schumacher.  Deep Sigh.

We've been keeping our eyes out for an adult golden retriever to adopt. My friend who volunteers for a dog rescue agency suggested that we find a new dog for our kids since they are still so sad that Sandy died.  I told her we're actually looking around a bit, but haven't been looking hard yet. We are hoping to get one this summer.  She said she'd look for me.

My crazy dog friend sent me a lot of announcements for dogs who need homes, mostly puppies. This has been going on for weeks! None of them excited me until she sent one for a pregnant homeless golden.  She was pretty! But I wouldn't want any of her pups, just her. I applied for her through the rescue agency and discovered someone else already claimed her to adopt.  Oh well.  Then she had 11 puppies.  Two were blond females, so Lisa put my name on one for us to adopt when they were ready.  As it turned out, we didn't get one of the puppies.  Like I said, Oh well.

Sunday morning she called me, sent texts, and facebook messages (I don't take my phone, tablet or laptop to bed with me) so when I woke up and looked at my messages I saw she was very excited to get ahold of me for something!  She sent me a link to a Craigslist Ad for Penny.  The ad said they wanted to "rehome" the puppy since they couldn't keep her and they wanted $25 for her.

I replied to the ad and the seller replied back to me. The ad had been online for 14 hours and she had been bombarded with replies, everyone wanted to take her in.  My reply happened to have good timing and I wrote that we have 3 kids in our house and we had a dog who died of cancer and old age.  She liked me from my email.  I literally wrote three sentences!  She said I could pick up the dog that day and suggested a park. I chose one halfway between us, and I was familiar with the park, and told her we want to meet the dog before we commit 100%.

Lexie and I loaded up the kids and told them we might be bringing home a puppy. But if the puppy  has fleas, or obvious health issues, we're not bringing it home. Plenty of other offers for it if we don't like it.

Turns out, the people were really nice and the puppy was sweet.  She didn't bite anyone at the park and she was playful and happy.  The kids liked her too. So, we gave the lady some cash and brought her home!

The family that had her said they had her for one day, but they had to find her a new home because they have two old dogs and they work full time and aren't home enough to take care of a puppy.  They got her from their relatives who had her for a month.  The relatives (one was at the park with them)  found her alone under a car in the rain.  It did rain a month ago around Christmas time, so that sounded truthful. They said the puppy seemed healthy while they had her, but they never did figure out where she came from.  They also couldn't keep her forever, so they gave her to this lady who said she could probably find her a home fairly easily.  One Craigslist ad later, and here she is.  They said they think she is a "Boulder Retriever".  They insisted that was the breed.  They said, yes, boulder, like rocks.  They joked that they wondered if those dogs brought you big rocks. I am not a dog professional, but it sounded to me like they didn't know what breed she was and I wasn't so sure if that was an actual breed.  We are guessing Golden Retriever and Border Collie mix.  But, who knows.

I told the kids we would keep her on a temporary basis until we decide if she's going to like us and we're going to like her.  Yeah, that comment bounced right off of them! The kids named her Penny right away and she snuggled right in.

She is playful and happy, but she also snuggles.  I think she'll be a good fit for the family. The kids are really happy with her and as soon as she's house trained, I'll like her a lot better too.  I'm looking for inexpensive vet care and trying to teach the kids how to react to her puppy antics.

Welcome, Penny. You're a Schumacher now!

Improved Ironing Area

I suppose this post should really be on my sewing blog, but it's my personal space, so I'm blogging it on my personal blog.

I need more storage space and less clutter laying about.  One day I looked at my ironing board and realized it's taking up  a lot of space and I really only use half of the top surface. Yet, it takes up an entire wall of space.  Most of that space is for the legs of the ironing board. That's just silly!

I could have a tabletop ironing board and an Ikea shelving unit filled with my stuff. What a great idea!

My husband thought buying a dresser off of craigslist was a better idea. I told him no, that's actually more expensive and will hold less stuff. The Ikea unit has one lateral shelf vs. three rows of drawers. I'll be able to stuff it with a lot more fabric than a dresser of the same height. Plus, this would be cheaper. He groaned. I know he's not a fan of the way Ikea furniture looks, he thinks it is too cheap and looks too cheap. He might be right, but he doesn't have to look at it (much).

After pondering this thought for a month or so, I finally went to Ikea and bought the unit.  It just barely fit into my car, but it fit! I couldn't lift the box that it came in so when I got home I opened the box and carried the shelves in and up the stairs one at a time.

I cleaned my ironing area. Whoa. I've been wasting a nice space. Look at that!

It took me two hours to put it together, but I put it together! I messed it up once and had to take part of it apart and reassemble a bit, but in the end: Success!

After getting it put together, I filled up the shelves. They filled in pretty fast. I ran to Target and got a tabletop ironing board and my new ironing area is complete.  I'm so excited to have all of this storage instead of wasting the space for ironing board legs.

Here it is stocked and topped with a cute little ironing board.

Triple Draw and Write

Gracie's school sent home a homework packet that is to be done today. Only today. Today is the first day of the second semester and this packet is the assessment that is turned in to the district to measure the homeschooling portion of the Casa Montessori program.

This page is part of that packet. I love it! She did such a nice job all by herself.

Nicest People:
First up: Jillian.  "My BFF. She's nice, friendly, smart and she loves to play a lot!"
Next: Libby.  "My little sister. She plays with Charlie a lot! Sometimes it's me."
And Fenna.  "My. She's kinda my sister but she is the best!"

Fenna made the top three!  Pretty cool since she has been gone for a couple of years now.

Science Center with 7 kids

Roll Call:
Gracie, Libby, Charlie, Alfred, Henry, Jillian and Mallory.

Monday is a homeschool day for my kids so we went to the Science Center in Balboa Park. Also, I wanted to pick up Libby who spent the weekend with her big sister. She was feeling stressed and needed a little weekend get-away so she went to San Diego to relax from her life as a responsible 5 year old.  After two days, her big sister was the stressed one so I went to go pick her up.

I told my friend that I was going and as it happened, her daughter was out of school that day. Perfect!

We all met at the Science Center since it's a fun place to be. Three mamas and seven kids. It was really busy in the museum so I warned the kids to be careful and not get mixed into a school group and end up being loaded onto a bus. It could happen!

Gracie, Charlie and I hit the road and got to Balboa Park just in time for lunch. We swung through In N Out and grabbed a picnic lunch and ate by the big fountain in the park. While we were there, we noticed a very large group of police officers. They didn't seem to be on alert or anything, just hanging out together. Charlie was fascinated! They all grouped up in front of the fountain for photos so Charlie and I went and stood behind their photographer and looked at them. He waved and yelled to them and they waved back. He loved that!  Then he went back to his food. When he and Gracie were done eating, they wanted to stick their feet in the water. I said ok, and they know they can't get in it.  Another little girl was knee deep and prancing around in the fountain, and he got the idea that would be fun. He tried not to get in, but it was too inviting and next thing you know he was soaking wet.

Back to the car for dry clothes.  At least it was just his pants.

By the time we finished lunch, Katie was there with Libby and her boys. Time for science! I gave Katie the pass that says Lexie on it and when we went in we all just held up our passes as we walked through. The lady didn't even look at them.

The kids just love this place! It has been a long time since we've been here too. They get to touch everything!

Charlie found a thing with tiny pegs in it and you put your hand or something against the pegs and they take that shape. My mom and I were just talking about these things being sold in Walmart in the toy section. Kids love them! He was fascinated and played with it for a while. Someday I'll have to learn what this thing is called.

We made a bee-line for the section upstairs called Kid City. The kids all love this part of the museum. They play and play and play and play!

Katie and I had fun in Kid City too! One of the exhibits is a magnifying camera and a video screen and we had a great time holding our wedding rings under the magnifying camera and looking at the diamonds. So pretty!

The museum had a special exhibit about guitars. The Schumachers and guitars are a perfect mix! The kids are so lucky that they've all inherited their daddy's music genes. They are all talented and have an ear for music. All of them appreciate musical instruments, especially guitars! The highlight of the exhibit was a 43 foot electric guitar laying on the floor. That was pretty cool!

Jillian and Mallory and their mom caught up with us while we were looking at the guitars. The kids had a great time working their way through the science exhibits and playing with everything. They love being together and they are all hungry to learn anything and everything that they can.

One of the exhibits that they have is more for adults than kids; it is a Hurricane Simulator booth.  For $2, you can hop in, shut the door, and stand in hurricane force fan-wind.  Well, we didn't want to do that! For some reason though, the kids enjoy squeezing into tight spots together. They all crammed into the booth (except Alfie). We laughed so hard at them! All of us moms thought it might be a good place for time-out. We need these hurricane simulator booths at home too.

Katie and her boys left to grab a coffee for Katie and Henry was done and wanted some outdoor playtime. They went to run through the butterfly garden and then rode the Balboa Park tram around the loop. Henry loved it!

The other five kids found another room, I had no idea it was there, and it was amazing! The Tinkering Room.  It was set up like an art classroom and was supplied with markers, scissors, glue and paper. There was a project of the day list on the wall and that day's project was a zip line flyer. The employee in the room was a shy teenage boy, possibly a volunteer, and he wasn't at all interested in helping the kids make a project. Like I said, it was a very busy day in the science center that day and he had probably been run ragged by the school groups. We were fine on our own. Jillian made a zip line flyer and kept making improvements on it to make it go faster and faster on the zip line that was set up in the room. The other kids were happy to draw, cut and glue whatever they could get their hands on. No help needed! They were all content in this room and they just let their creativity flow.

At this point, we had been in the science center for four hours. Leaving was not an idea we all embraced. In fact, I think the vote was 5 to 2.  You can guess who was outvoted: The moms! We bribed them with some playground time at Pepper Grove Park.  There they could get the last of their wiggles and squeals out, and have some snacks before hitting the road for home.

Katie and the boys met up with us at the park. The kids played until five o'clock. And then begged to stay longer, but the sun was going down. Nobody can argue with the sun. We all hugged and said goodbye like we'd never see each other again, and as soon as the kids were in the car they were begging for another playdate.

Haircuts

All of us girls got fresh new haircuts to start the year.

When it comes to haircuts, I get nervous.  I have never trusted anyone to give me a decent haircut. I've had a few good haircuts, and then those stylists disappear off the face of the earth as if the hair world is saying to me, "Ha! You'll never get another haircut as good as that one!" I usually get something that looks like I went to the preschool and let the kids go at me with their safety scissors (the ones that don't cut anything but paper still cut hair).  And then I pay these people for my terrible haircut! Every dang time!  So, I have this trust issue with hair people.

The girls don't. They were super excited for haircuts.

I decided to ask my friend, Amanda, to cut our hair. She doesn't cut hair, but she is amazing at doing hair and make-up. With a beauty minded friend like that, I was willing to bet my hair that she could cut it and it would look pretty good. I figured I could go to a salon where the stylists are trained and experienced, or go to Amanda who doesn't cut hair and the odds were probably in favor of my friend.  So, I begged her to cut our hair. I told her I would bring a bottle of wine and that way neither one of us would care if it was perfect. On that note, she agreed.

Here is a wild hair "Before" picture:

Between the two of us, our available time slot was early afternoon. Kind of early for wine, so we skipped that. As I guessed, we didn't need it to look good. She did a great job!

Gracie was first. She wanted a nice short bob. Gracie wanted to be cute and bouncy.  Amanda cut off about 4 or 5 inches of hair and gave her an adorable little sassy cut. It looks great and has been very easy to care for. Gracie has very thick hair. It isn't the easiest stuff to manage, but Amanda did a great job of cutting it evenly and it lays nicely.  She looks fabulous!

Libby was next. She wanted it as short as Gracie's.  I said no to that because Libby has only had one haircut before and it was just a little trim! The hair she was born with is still on the ends of her long hair and I was having a hard time parting with it. She was loving the idea of short hair.

I told Amanda that I was ok with 4 inches or so coming off so that her hair was straight across and significantly shorter, but still down past her shoulders so that it's still long. She agreed and thought that length would be just right.   Amanda had fun cutting off the baby hair on the end, and she bound it together so that I could take it home. I was being ridiculously sentimental, but she humored me.  It's a silly mom thing.

Libby's cut is adorable! She looks super cute! Her hair is bouncy and looks so much healthier. Amanda gave her a pretty little heart shaped braid to finish her off. I nearly had a cute attack! Like Gracie's cut, it's nice and even and straight.

My turn. Oddly enough, I wasn't feeling anxious at all. I was feeling confident.  Love that! I never feel that way when I get my hair cut. I always feel like I'm about to do something really stupid and will soon regret it. Totally didn't feel that way when I sat down. I was right! My haircut was done nicely and I was very happy with it! She trimmed it up so that it was even and healthy looking again. It feels great! I knew she could do it! Amanda was amazed at how thick my hair is, but it didn't scare her off.

Amanda gave us three nice haircuts! We're all adorable now!

Bye Bye, Baby Libby. Hello Grown-Up Girl!

Say Bye Bye to Baby Libby, Here comes Grown-Up-Girl!

In this past week, Libby lost two baby teeth, cut off  her baby hair, and graduated out of her baby bed.  The girl is making changes!

The dentist said her baby teeth would stay in until she was six, or close to six.  She just turned five a couple of months ago. She sure showed that dentist who's in charge!

She said she saw the tooth fairy. It was a cat with wings. Her second tooth got lost. She may have swallowed it, but nobody knows for sure. It might be in the sand under the playground equipment at the park. The flying cat tooth fairy came anyway.

Her hair has only been cut once before and it was just a tiny trim. I wanted her hair cut when she turned three only so that her first haircut was done before she, her sister, or her nephew could take the scissors to it and ruin that first experience. You never know with kids. She hasn't had it cut since!

I took her to a friend for a real haircut and she wanted it up above her shoulders. I didn't want any of it cut, just a tiny trim to even it up, but we compromised and I let her get a blunt cut just below her shoulders. It really looks cute!  But all the hair that she was born with is now gone.

We also bought her a twin size bed. Her feet have been hanging over the edge of her toddler bed and she wants a big bed.  Sigh.  Keith bought a twin bedframe for her and it is adorable! We just need to get a mattress and she'll be sleeping like a big girl, with plenty of space for those legs to grow longer.

A Real Resolution

I decided to make a real resolution for 2014.  I will also try to keep my "have a better year" resolution, but I'm going to add something to it that falls into the normal range of new year's resolution type of things.

I am going to declutter.  Just bits at a time, in an attempt to keep up.  The kids outgrow things so fast that it hardly seems fair to get rid of things when we've only owned them a year or less.  I need to try to declutter a wee bit though. And a wee bit is all it takes to make a big difference!

I am going to resolve to fill and donate 52 bags of clothes, shoes, toys, and junk in general.  Or treasures. Junk is treasure!  And I will donate 52 bags of it.  That should be a decent enough tax write off at the end of the year too.

Every Wednesday, I have coffee with my friends. There is a donation bin next to the coffee shop where we meet.  It looks like a book drop.  If I take along a grocery sack filled with donations and drop it in the bin each week, it will only be a grocery sack full and it will be handy.  That sounds plausible. I can do a grocery sack once a week.  That really isn't much when you consider how many I bring in vs. how many go out!

I think I'm a hoarder on the edge of totally filling up my house to the ceiling with stacks of useless stuff.  Might as well donate it to the hoarding Gods and let someone else give my clutter a home. If I had more storage space, I would fill it!  And I would have no idea what I had in there.  In fact, I do have totes in my house that I have not opened in years and years. I have absolutely no idea what they contain.

Time to make the effort to keep up a bit. 52 bags.  One per week.  I can do that!