havocandmayhem.com

It was time to mow the lawn. The stuff was tall enough to hide small children and medium sized dogs. (there is a small child hiding in this photo) It was tall enough to hide trees I was lucky to find the tractor. It’s because of all the rain The dinos are forting up. They are not happy about the sudden influx of dogs & kittens. Who? Us? For more Weekly Winners please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom

Yesterday was Mayhem’s last day of school. Havoc goes until June 9th and then we have about 10 weeks of nothing much going on. There will be some vacation bible school for the little pagans. I know of at least 6 so far, but we’ll probably limit it to one a month, depending on who else of their friends is going to which one.  The dog has training every Saturday at noon starting next week for 8 weeks. That is about as planned as I am so far. I’m hoping to get in a day trip up to the Smithsonian, maybe the Air & Space museum this time. I’d like to go spend 4-6 days in Wheeling but that depends on finding a place to stay. My parents are trying to organize something but I am not sure what. They rent an efficiency apartment for 6 weeks in the summer. No room for us. My brother & his family are bursting out of their house as it is, so no room for us. Jamboree in the Hills, Beast of the East and another little league tournament are taking up hotel rooms for nearly the who...

I’m used to Memorial day weekend being more or less the end of May. Yet here we are, still in May, with an entire weekend of it still to come. I want it to end before any more events overtake us. The unexpected dying car event, where a ‘let’s see what is out there’ fun car browse became a ‘who ever will give us the most for this dying car, assuming we can get it, steam billowing as it overheats, into the used car lot, gets our business’ car shop. We are now the proud owners of 48 months of car payments, that we were not planning on making until the end of the year, if not a little later. The unexpected dog event. DH’s boss gave him about $300 worth of dog kennel set up, while we were taking the unadopted kittens to the shelter (Kittens get adopted fast at our local shelter) I agreed to look at dogs and we found Athena. $45 adoption fee, $100 miscellaneous dog supplies and $108 vet visit for our kittens before the shelter would let us take her, we have a dog. The unexpected ...

On the plus side this weekend DH & the boys got to go camping & swimming in the river with friends I got to spend 24 hours alone I set the pool up I scrubbed the kitchen floor I mowed the lawn On the minus side The a/c fan started making an ominous, expensive sounding, squeaking noise at 10pm on Friday night (because nothing requiring service ever breaks at 8am on a Tuesday) My hands were raw & pretty much unusable yesterday. It hurt to just turn a door knob The dog got out of her kennel while we were at dinner. Making the 4th time so far. She stays in the yard but we don’t know how she did it this time. First time she broke the gate latch. Second time she dug under the fence. Third time we found and area that we assumed she had scooted herself under (if dog ribs squish flat).We fixed all those. This time we have no clue. Gate still bungee corded shut, hole still filled in and pavered over. Area she went under blocked off with another paver. All pavers sti...

We’ve had a lot happening this week at our house We picked up a dog from the animal shelter We had a load of gravel delivered I had to rake it out and level it So I could then set up this My arms, back, shoulders and hands ache so much I can barely type.  For more Weekly Winners please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom

We have a dog now. Her name is Athena. She is from the shelter. They think she is about a year old & a mix of Plott Hound, Greyhound and something else, probably Beagle or Retriever. In other words, she is a dog. She’s about dog sized & looks like a dog. Or at least she is more or less the vague image that comes to my mind when someone says “dog”, maybe a little taller and darker in the coat. The sort of dog found roaming the neighborhood when I was kid – your hound retriever huntin’ dog mutt. We had a miniature schnauzer, which is fine but small and yappy & not really what I think of when I picture a dog in my mind. Havoc is over the moon with joy. I’m just ok with it. I am not a dog person but I’ll get used her. She is a nice dog, knows some commands & is just a bit over enthusiastic right now, which is natural enough. We start obedience training next Saturday. The whole family is going. DH brings her in the house for a little bit in the evenings after their...

That’s the dog, in the back of DH’s truck, coming down our driveway.