Devil burrs

Our house trained pup is house trained so well that she refuses to go to the bathroom in the hotel.  Even though she has my blessing.  Here's why she has my blessing to go potty on the floor, or on a towel, or on the tile, or even in the bathtub in the hotel.  It's not because it's not my place, but because there are evil plants outside.  We go outside, and she, at all costs, stays on the pavement..where she will not go to the bathroom.  It's gotta be grass, gosh darn it!  Not even dirt!  


The reason she avoids any grassy area is this.  Her poor little feet get stabbed with these terrible burrs every time we go outside.  It's gotten to the point that I carry her around everywhere, and don't force her to walk at all.  Of course, I do put her on the ground when she wants to be.  Here's a picture I found on the internet of one of these devil burrs.  Imagine these stuck in your skin.  It HURTS.  And, the little pointy parts (it's covered in points, although it's hard to see in this picture) will break off so you need tweezers to get them out if you're not careful.  And of course, it hurts to grab them at all so pliers are a more convenient way of removing them.  Normally though, I just yank them out of Belle's toes and let them stab me so she doesn't feel the pain as long.  Aren't I a good mom?  Haha :)

Poor little girl held it for almost 14 hours and finally peed this morning.  It took her 3 minutes, no lie.  Then she limped back to me and I pulled 9 burrs out from between her toes.

Day 2

Remember, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.  Genesis 28:15


We were warned about the Louisiana roads, but we didn't truly know what we were in store for.  Have you ever ridden a wooden roller coaster?  Those were based off of the Louisiana roads.  Never ridden a wooden roller coaster?  Okay, how about this one.  Ever laid on a trampoline while a friend bounced on it?  Yes, it was that uncomfortable.  I was literally holding Belle because she was flying out of her seat, up and down... up and down.


Along with our terribly bumpy ride (let's just say we're not sure everything is in tact in the truck anymore..) the Louisiana roads made a quick turn forcing us onto another road other than I-10, which was what we were supposed to stay on.  So, we got off of the first available exit so as to not get too far off of our path.


We pulled off the highway and wound up on little one way streets lined with cars.  We were in the impoverished section of Louisiana.  We were in New Orleans.  As we carefully maneuvered our trucks down the little side roads, children who were sitting in the streets playing with their toys were running up to our trailer and hitting it.  We got to a safer area, pulled over, and checked the map.


As Carl and Austin sat in the truck checking the map, I hopped out of the truck and took Belle for a little walk through the park.  A nice looking man was walking by with a chihuahua, so I approached him (keeping a safe distance, plus Carl was right there with me) and asked if he could direct me to I-10.


Oh lawd.... this man is Creole.  This was, no lie, our conversation.


Me:  "Excuse me, can you please tell me where I-10 is?"  
Man: "Hebedegooooooooo"
Me: "Um..... I-TEN?"
Man: "Ubagulee tosh tosh way vlay...?"  
Me: "Um..... she's a girl."
Man: "Ohhhohhh????? Ehh?? Hooooh?"
Me: "Yep....a girl.... thanks.... see ya...."
Man: "Aaaaaah....... hehehehe?"
Me: "Girl.  Good day sir."


To say the least, it was awkward.  I got back to the truck and I don't think Carl could even fathom how awkward I felt.  I did an impersonation of this stranger, and he just laughed.  Loudly.  Apparently judging by our gestures, he had no idea that there was not a real conversation that took place.

We found I-10 again, and continued on our trek.

Stay tuned for Day 3.

Day 1

Our adventure began.  The ride was a little bumpy, but everything was going well.  Except for the fact we were all sad to be leaving our home and families...but that's a different story.  This one is about the trip.  At the end of our first day, we stopped close to midnight.  We were in Loxley, Alabama.  We saw a nice hotel, so we pulled over and started our parking nightmare.  Just as we finally got our huge truck (towing our car) parked, the hotel night manager came out and told us we couldn't park there.  So, we started our attempt at backing up to get out of the hotel parking lot.  If it weren't for another driver ignoring our backup lights, we would've made it.  He stopped behind us and waited for us to move.  Unfortunately, we couldn't go anywhere but forward.  At the end of a long parking lot, there was a curb.  With no where else to go, we jumped it and wound up on a service road.  We figured we would just drive down the service road and turn around our car to get back out.  Ha, boy were we wrong.  We wound up with our truck wedged between a fence post and a ditch.  As long as we tried to back up the truck, we were having no such luck.  Either take out a fence and damage the truck, or drive into a ditch and flip over.  Neither sounded like good options so I finally was able to convince Carl to call the police.  Surely they'd understand our predicament... not being too familiar with a big truck, being out of town in the night, and stressed and tired.  No such luck.  The cops were none too friendly.  


One cop (we'll call him Officer John-Boy) hopped in the truck with Austin and I and started backing out the truck while the other cop (we'll call him Scary Samuel L. Jackson with a nightstick...) directed us.  Belle was not at all having Officer John-Boy back up our car and take us anywhere.  She wanted her daddy to drive, end of story.  I struggled to hold her back, but I also knew that if I were to let go, she'd just jump on him and bark louder.  Teeth were not an option.  Officer John had to direct me to, and I quote.... "Lower your pup, ma'am."


Just as Belle started settling down and being okay with Officer John-Boy giving us a hand, Scary Samuel L Jackson with a nightstick appeared in our truck's headlights.  Um, horror movie, anyone?  I don't blame her for not liking him, he wouldn't smile.  He just stood in our lights and grimaced while making sure we didn't hit anything.  It was after the half hour of incessant barking that we diagnosed Belle as a racist.  You see, in her short life, the sheltered pup has only seen two black people... and both were women.  A black man, no matter how friendly he may look or be, was foreign to her.  Add that to the first one she sees being an angry, tall man carrying a weapon, and you can see why she she has become a racist.  (Side note- she's not racist because she's learned it from anyone in our family.  Some of our closest family friends are other skin colors than ours.  She's just developed a schema of what is okay and what is not.... apparently I need to work on broadening it a bit.)


Anyway, the officers successfully and safely got us out of our predicament.  We thanked both Officer John-Boy and Scary Samuel L. Jackson, and headed on about our night.  We were too embarrassed to stay in that hotel that yelled at us, so we went to a different hotel that Officer John-Boy deemed "trucker friendly."  We now know what to ask for when making reservations.  Lesson learned.


Stay tuned for day two.

Is He Here At The Mall?

My friend, Toe-thumbs, shared this video last week.  It's apparently gone viral on the internet, so I had to help spread the word... it's a great song inspired by a 4 year old boy.  Take a listen :)

Band Performance

A week ago today, the kiddo played in his first ever concert.  He was so proud of his accomplishments on his flute.  And so are we.  Here's his section of the program....

We only had my little camera, so the pictures didn't come out so great, but here are the shots we got of the night, plus a few videos!  

Austin's grandparents (on Carl's side) came to show their support for our little flautist.  (That's a flute player, yall.  Personally, I think it's a weird word.)

Poppa K came to show his support as well!  (Momma K had a prior commitment, but she got a personal Christmas performance in our kitchen a couple days before the concert!)

And of course we were there! 

Seeing the middle school band performances really brought me back to my middle school days in band.  (Hi Ms. Beres!)  Those were such fun times!  I was actually watching an old video of my first band performance and, oh, how terrible we sounded.  But we thought we were hot stuff!  We didn't hear the squeaky notes we hit; we didn't hear how out of tune we were.  We heard perfection.  Pure bliss.  (Our ears deceived us a little bit, but it was well worth the memory!)  

During one of Austin's performances, the whole band hit squeaky notes and I couldn't help but laugh (that explains the shaking camera).  Austin, if you're reading this, you guys did a terrific job and with the amount of effort you all put into your instruments, you will be improving exponentially!  Hearing Austin's band just brought back such fond memories.  I hope Austin will carry these memories with him for a long time, too.  They did a great job.  And how the band teacher manages to teach that many students so many different instruments is beyond me.  Kudos Mr. Dixon, Ms. Beres and every other band teacher out there!

Without further adieu, I present to you... the Westwood Middle School Beginning Band!

(Please also keep in mind that the reason there are so many videos is because some family who reads my blog might be interested in watching them all. If you don't watch them ALL, my feelings won't be hurt!)

Look for a few cameos in one of these... ;)  Wait, are they cameos if the person isn't actually famous?  Ah, who cares.

Get Well Soon!

Poor baby Belle was really sick yesterday.  Really sick.  I was up with her all night while she had some sort of stomach bug, so soon as the vet was available in the morning, we were in the office.  They were concerned about her and had us wait in the cat room so Belle didn't infect anyone else.

After a shot to make the stomach bug go away, a shot to give her fluids because she was dehydrated, and getting blood from her to check her liver, kidneys and white blood cell count, poor Belle was pooped.  She was so exhausted.  

We got the results this morning that her enzyme levels were normal, so her sickness was some sort of scary fluke.  She's back to her bouncy puppy self this morning, and it's so nice to see her happy again.  Yesterday she was flat out pitiful.  Wanna see what I mean?

Those things on her arms were from where they took blood.  Poor baby was so tiny they couldn't get blood from one arm and had to have the other one stuck too.  It broke my heart when they brought her back in the room looking like this.  She wouldn't even look at the camera for the picture.

So once we got to my parents house (who's right down the road from the vet), both me and Belle were exhausted.  Belle had no interest in walking or playing, so we both cuddled up together and took a much needed nap.  Poor, sweet Belle.  I'm so glad she's back to her bouncy puppy self!

My Sisters

Sunday evening (a few weeks ago now), we spilled the beans to our small group from church.  While they were sad to see us go, they were such a source of comfort and encouragement.  We split up between men and women, and let me tell you what.... these women are amazing.  

They're my prayer warriors, my cheerleaders, my sisters, my comfort, my friends.

As tears poured from my eyes over the thought of leaving home, many hands and hugs were extended to me.  I truly cannot tell you how much I will miss these ladies.  

Each friend volunteered to take a day this week to pray for me, and for this move to go as smoothly as possible.  Each friend also volunteered to pray that this move will bring my family even closer together.  I cannot thank them enough.  I can feel their prayers working in my day-to-day life.  I've actually been getting excited about moving!  I didn't expect that to happen, but I'm honestly looking forward to it!  That's not to say I won't miss my family, and it's not to say that I'm not treasuring my moments and days here in Florida, but I am looking ahead to what the future brings.  


Thank you, my sisters, my friends.  You are unbelievable!