Saturday, July 12, 2014

A Case of the Mondays

So this week has blown by since we went to Chicago.   More stuff has happened in July after our trip, but you know how it is, I'm not getting to writing about it until now.

197/365

The morning after our trip to Chicago, the boys and I did nothing.  Well, mostly.  Unfortunately, Chris and Sam started Art Camp right after we got back.  And it met at 8 am on Monday morning.  Well, as you can imagine, when that alarm went off on Monday, it did not go over well.  Christopher hates waking up to an alarm clock.  And on this day, they both did.  And every day during this whole week.  

However, they had a wonderful time in Art Camp.  I found out about this camp from a gal (http://www.canvaspaintingsbykatie.com/) who did a wine and canvas type party at a friend's.  She's an art teacher, and has her own summer art camp for elementary age students.  She posted that she had some openings, and I snapped up the opportunity to let the kids go and get more art.   Art is not the favorite subject for either one of them.  I enjoy so many different types of art, that I was hoping this camp would get them motivated.  It certainly did!

But boy, by the end of the day we were all exhausted.  Pickup for art camp was at noon.  I pretty much just did laundry from Chicago, and still didn't get everything unpacked.  I took a bazillion pictures that are going to take me forever to get through.  Jake and I just chilled out today.  But it is clear that we are just happy to be home.  Being away in Chicago was the longest we've been away from home since 2012 when we went to Florida.  Jacob was happy to play with his toys.  He found his frog and was playing happily last night, happy to play in the bathtub.  And he and his brother Sam got to wrestling like maniacs on Monday evening.


You'd think that kid would be exhausted and need to catch up on sleep.  But he really didn't want to do that.  He wanted to play with his stuff, and his dog.  His horrid little dog.  
It's a good thing she's really good with that baby.  

She flooded the couch with pee while we were gone. And Lisa sat in it.  She was non too happy, as you can imagine.  And they tried all kinds of cleaners to get rid of the smell.  She even was trying to diffuse with Purification in that room.  I did too, while it took the smell of the pee pee couch away, the stink returns.  They washed the pillows and blankets, and that stuff got cleaned up, but not the couch.  I went to go put some febreeze on it, and when I tipped the bottle to get a good angle, the bottom of the bottle (not the handle) dropped and half the contents spilled out, completely soaking the couch.  Well, I figure, if THAT much febreze can't get the smell out, then it's time to be done with that couch.  

Then I was upstairs, and I noticed she peed on my bed too.   On my white comforter, (well, it has some dark swirls on it, but where she peed was white) Grrr.   So I had that laundry to add to my mountains.   And when I was gone to pick up the boys, she got into our bag of fourth of July goodies, and she ate a couple temporary tattoos, and chewed up the bag, somehow pulling it off the stairs, through the gate, and eating the box that the whippersnappers came in, without actually eating any whippersnappers.  Little Houdini!  Maybe she is a black dog ninja, but not in the sweet adorable way.  I was not happy with her.  But I thought she might be sick, so I let her outside, while I cleaned up her mess.  It was only a minute, and when I went to let her in, she was Gone.  She disappeared!  And gave me a heart attack.  I had all three boys outside, getting eaten alive by bugs on the muggiest day of the year to date, as we traipsed through the swamp out back calling for the little idgit.  Finally, I remembered how cousin Suzy had taken her for rides while we were gone, and how she'd made a dash to the car in the morning when Eric had left to take the boys to Art.  So I loaded up all the yahoos and drove the neighborhood with the car doors open yelling for the stupid dog.  And with our neighborhood search unsuccessful, I went to try the neighborhood next door.  I drove on the little street that goes near our house, to the neighborhood behind, where we can still see our house.  And that wee little beastie was on the stairs waiting to get back in.  I whipped a U-y, no easy feat in a mini-van in the middle of the street, and came back home.  Both  big boys jumped out and tried to let her in the house, but she saw us coming and was around front, while we were out back.  It was like Keystone Cops find a dog!  Finally she jumps into the mini-van, so as a 'reward' I drove her down the end of the driveway and back, before closing us all inside the garage, so she couldn't escape.   Then we let her back in the house.  

She got crated for the rest of the day.  Grr.  


And when we finally let her back out, for a doggie dinner, and the evenings routine, she was so happy, she let the baby crawl all over her, and attack her.  She's so good natured with him, it's really darn near impossible for me to hold a grudge.  

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