Treasure Your True Treasures

          I watched the news this morning. I usually don't get to watch the news. I am too busy in the mornings before Sagan gets up and then after he's up it goes to child appropriate viewing. Watching the news just reminded me of just how lucky I am. I actually try to remind myself what is truly important everyday. But sometimes it hits home more then others. Watching the news really made it hit home today.
           With the flooding in Mississippi and so many people having to abandon their homes, the first full face transplant in America to a man who got his whole face burned off in an electrical  accident where he worked two years earlier  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ , all the
tornadoes hitting the east coast and all the people loosing not only their homes but loved ones as well, the terrible earthquakes in Japan and all that devastation and all the acts of violence that surrounds us everyday it shouldn't be hard, at all, to realize what is truly important.
            Life truly is too short. You never know just how much time you have, so enjoy every minute of it. Show your children how much you love them. Spend some extra quality time with them. If they have been extra naughty, take a pause and rethink the punishment. Have some friends over and play some board games. Throw a party. Tell those you love, you love them. Take a deep breath and feel how good it feels to breath. Enjoy a sunset, a sunrise.  "Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" As Auntie Mame would say http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4218159129/ .

My handsome little man

getting along

Molly



Friends



 

Like father, like daughter





Cheetah



              So look at all you have and be thankful. Take a few moments and don't worry about the bills, the chores or any of the other numerous worries we have these days and just be thankful for what really matters. Treasure the true treasures!!



(I would put up a picture of all my friends, family and the kids at school if there were enough space. I treasure each and everyone! I am a truly lucky person!!)







Making a Bid

(I have both the camera & the dog)

                   April 7th, just 2 Sunday's ago, My family and I thought it would be nice to take Molly (our Doberman) for a walk around the neighborhood. We decided to take a different route than we normally go. As we are out enjoying the scenery (joke) and soaking up the vitamin D, we came upon an empty store that my daughter and I used to go to to find treasure. (It was being rented out as a Used Stuff Store or you could say a Thrift Store, but they had moved out a while back. It is hard to keep any kind of business running in this rink-a-dink town.)

                  We thought it would be neat to walk around the building  and look in the windows and just plain check out the place, when Ayla said "It would be cool to live here!" That statement took both Rene, my husband, and myself back a little. We rent our house right now and haven't tried looking for a house to buy for some time. Then we notice the FOR SALE sign. This property would be a little unorthodox for a home, but had excellent possibilities. Well, that started the whole ball rolling. My husband gets on his iPhone and opens up the Zillow.com app and gets any info. he can on the place. We are all chattering away about the possibilities and the need to contact someone A.S.A.P., when we come across yet another property FOR SALE. Only this property is a little more down to earth and just 2 houses down from the house we use to rent years ago. (My Husband has always liked this particular house.) Again, my husband starts searching and comes up with some great news. The house just couldn't be the price he found!  The rest of the walk home is noisy and exciting with all of us spouting possibilities and hopes.

Some of our "Scenery"

                    That Monday I waste no time in calling around to try to get some information on these 2 properties and I make contact almost right away. A Realtor can show me the house the next day. Sagan, my son, and I go to see the house and we love it. I love it for it's charm and built-ins and Sagan loves it for the echo and space to run. I couldn't wait to get my husband there! We make another appointment the next day to see it again and to see the other property also. We all ended up liking the house best. So we tell the "folks" about it and then take them to see it. (Dad has a great eye for spotting trouble.) While we are taking our tour another Realtor shows up and rudely tells our Realtor " When are you going to be done?! I have clients that are here to see the house." I was a bit livid to say the least. I decide to take just a little bit longer and discuss with the "folks" what they think of the house. That little bit turned into 20 minutes. (Shame on me.)

                  Ultimately we decide to put in a bid but so does the other couple.  When we found out about the other couple making a bid, we agreed to to go up on our bid, which takes away that little extra cash we thought we might have had every month. The Realtor tells us it could be 3 to 4 days before we will hear anything. (DARN!) Now we have been waiting in suspense since Monday when the bids were presented to the morgage company who owns the property. This waiting is KILLING me! Well, O.K., it's just very distracting!  Are we going to finally get a house that we can call ours?!? I hope we hear soon!!

                      

Doberman Agility A-Frame Fun

Molly is my 1 and a half year old Doberman. She is extremely energetic and playful. She is very, very active and I can't seem to keep up with her sometimes even with 2 walks a day(usually), playtime with her favorite squeaky ball or rope ball twice a day and flashlight fun(yes, she LOVES to chase the light just like a cat- and boy is she FAST!) at night. SO I decided she needed some extra stimulation, exercise and fun and starting investigating Agility Course Activities. I talked to my husband and he agreed to make the obstacles for me. I found a book on Kindle called Dog Agility Construction Instruction: YOU CAN! Build Better Training Obstacles for Your Dog. It's a pretty good for those of us who don't want to spend an arm and a leg buying pre-made obstacles.

We have a lot of scrap wood just lying around and decided to build what we could with that. It took my husband about 4 hours (with LOTS of breaks) to build the first obstacle which is the A-Frame. He built it by himself with the occasional assistance from our 3 year old son. Molly loved it right away! The kids Loved it, too. Yes, it is very sturdy and very heavy. We do plan on painting the bottom half of both sides yellow for the touch points and will be adding sand to the paint for traction.



A-Frame Fun



Up and Over



"I Built That!"




Over Again





"This is fun!"



Ayla and Sagan having too much fun.



"I can do it, too!"





This is just the first of the many obstacles (Weave Poles, Jumps, Hoop, Pause Table, Teeter, Dog Walk, and a Buja Board to name a few) that we plan on making. As long as they fit in the back yard we will build it. We plan to make everything sturdy enough for the kids to be able to get on with Molly. How could a dog or kid resist??