Marking his territory

Around 4 am Sunday morning, I kept hearing a funny noise, while I was half asleep.  Finally after several times, I realized it was the dog banging his bowl around to go out.  I got up and let him out.  I stood there waiting and watching.  He wasn't doing his business, so I figured he wanted his privacy, came inside, went to the bathroom, and went back out to get him, where in fact, he still hadn't gone!  Annoyed, I said to him, "GO!" 

He looks at me, and goes on his dogfood box!  I shout at him in a whispered shout, "SCOUT!"  He jumps up in the RV knowing I'm not happy with him!  Where I notice the dog food box lid is off.  I made sure he didn't get the food wet....gross!  and crawl back in the RV and into bed.

About 20 minutes later, I hear Scout scratching at the door.  UGH, I figure he didn't finish going, so I got up again and was going to let him out.  I got the door open, and instead of him running down the steps like he normally does, he took one giant leap out, where I see the dog food lid off and a critter running from Scout.  I assume it was a raccoon.  Crazy dog must of heard the coon, didn't like him over in his dog food!  That's why he kept waking me up and why he went on his dog food box.

What's hilarious is the whole time we lived at the State Park and Amarillo, we were more like the country and never had any coons come mess with his food, and now in the city here they all come.  LOL

Blessings til next time!

Another Joy of Homeschooling

The joys of homeschooling: We were driving by a local highschool Thursday, and Bella said, "Ha, you kids have to be in there doing Algebra and I get to go to Target right now." I said, "You have to do Algebra too." She replies, "Shhh, I'm enjoying the moment." ROFLOL

Whatever happens in Vegas...

Stays in Vegas-NOT!


DH took me to Vegas for a surprise 25th anniversary trip!  LOL  He was afraid I would be disappointed, but actually I thought it sounded kinda fun. 


After shopping for two day to get ready to go and getting a manicure and pedicure, I was ready.  DH let me know on Thursday morning where we were headed, so I could buy the proper attire.


I ended up staying up all night Friday, packing and we had to leave around 3am to catch our flight out of Houston Intercontinental.  We got to Vegas by 9am their time.  Most of the day we were half asleep.  We couldn't check into our room until 3pm and so we went to Walmart to pick up a few things, and I ended up falling asleep in the rental car for over an hour!  LOL


Vegas....hmmm...what can I say....too little clothes, too many tattooes, lots of smoke, and gambling.  There, that's it in a nut shell.  LOL 


But here's what we did:
Our first site seeing stop was here:
It doesn't look anything like on TV.  The actually Pawn Shop is rather small.  There were people lined up to go in.  No, the Pawn Stars weren't there or if they were, they weren't visible.  DH and I figure the way they do the show is, they prescreen who they want on, and they remove all the spectators, leaving just a few folks in there to make the store look much bigger. 

We stayed in the Stratosphere Hotel.  Saturday night we had $10.99 Prime rib, then went back to our room and went to bed.  We were totally drained from being up all the night before.
Here's a view from our window:

Sunday, we headed down to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.  When we got down there, we decided to take a paddleboat cruise around the lake for 90 minutes.  Our cruise didn't start for awhile, so we drove around the park and stopped at the Marina.  There was a little girl feeding the fish popcorn and here's a picture of the fish all gathered together to enjoy their snack.  Most of them are carp, but there are a few striped bass in there as well:

The cruise was very relaxing and beautiful.  We got to see the back of Hoover Dam as well as the new bridge they built across the Colorado River. 

Here's my honey, enjoying the cruise:

I think that night we went to a different casino and had dinner. Buy one, get one free.  So we paid like $10 for dinner, plus tip, and it was a buffet.  :)

Monday, I think we went for lunch at the same casino from the night before and then went to the pool at our hotel.  Spent time reading a book, while DH enjoyed the pool.  Afterwards, we went hunting for a place our friend recommended for a cupcake.  LOL  It's called, "The Cupcakery".  Unfortunately, our friend sent us to the wrong place.  We had fun checking out some of the Vegas strip while looking for it though. 
Here's a pic of the Venetian, where they have gondola rides.  It's a little blurry.  I took it from my phone.

Finally, after hitting most of the Vegas strip, we found "The Cupcakery".  It was in the Monte Carlo and not in NY, NY.  I finally thought, hey why don't I just look online-duh! LOL

The sign:

The entrance:

We also got Ben and Jerry's ice cream!  LOL  Actually, I didn't eat my cupcake until Wednesday afternoon at the airport.  I got Mocha frosting with chocolate cupcake.  The icing was so rich and sweet it hurt my teeth!  My friend said they opened one in The Woodlands too....hmmm, that's all I need!  LOL

We ended up going to In and Out Burgers that night for dinner.  :) 
Afterwards we met up with a guy I went to highschool with.  He and his wife, daughter, and mom flew up on Sunday.  He and his wife now live in Saudi Arabia and were home in Houston for vacation.  They flew to Vegas for a few days and we went and saw them.  He told me about another gal we went to school with working in one of the casinos.  FUNNY, because it was the one we had eaten lunch that day and dinner the night before!  What's even funnier is, we ended up going there the next day, and almost ran smack dab into one another. 

We got a chance to do a quick catchup, said our goodbyes and then we met some friends of my parents at our hotel after a quick trip to Walmart.  One of my dad's oldest friends and his wife.  I hadn't seen them since I was probably 12 or 13.  This was probably one of the highlights of the trip, because over the years they have become Holy Ghost filled Christians and we got to share the goodness of GOD for several hours.  They were so sweet to come meet us at our hotel and then we all went to the diner and had the $10.99 prime rib and they wanted to bless us for our anniversary by paying! 

After they left, we headed towards Hoover Dam again, to see if it was lighted at night.  We ended up driving over the bridge, barely seeing the dam, and headed back to our hotel. 

Wednesday our trip came to an end.  Got up and ready to turn the rental in.  Lost my earring, somewhere between the hotel and returning the car.  :(  Paid $150 to get an earlier flight.  It was a direct flight from Vegas to Houston....but wouldn't you know just before we are to land in Houston, Houston has severe thunderstorms, we have to divert to Austin, fuel up and wait for the storms to pass.  So we got in almost at the same time that we would have originally landed.  Hopefully we will get a refund.  We filed for one.

Now it's back to the grindstone.  :D    Not that I mind, great getting back and seeing my babies! 

Blessings until next time!

This is the stuff that drives me crazy!!!!

I heard this song for the first time yesterday while driving.  I actually teared up, because I can SO relate!  I love Francesca Battistelli.  She is such an inspiring, young (as in literal age), energetic Christian!  She is real and I LOVE THAT!  Please take a moment or few to listen to this tune! 
Blessings!!!!

Catch up post

We are leaving for our surprise 25th anniversary getaway on Saturday.  I still don't know where we're going.  I've been trying to figure it out, but dh won't reveal. 

My sister is going to stay with my kids for the weekend.  I'm relieved.  DH wanted to leave them with some friends, but I wasn't keen on that idea.  Not only do they have 4 boys, but one of the boys is very mean to my youngest and the boys have friends in and out all night.  I don't think DH remembered that when he asked them.  I don't want to expose my 14yr old dd around that or have my 15 yr old ds around it either.  I know DH was trying to plan something nice, and make all the arrangements to surprise me, but he's so busy, I don't think he thought that one through. 

Prayers for DH and work would be appreciated.  We might not be staying in Houston afterall.  Long story, will let you know if we are leaving asap. 

My oldest was extremely blessed.  She asked me not to give out details, but it was a huge blessing and answer to prayer! 

Saw Captain America over the weekend.  Not my genre of movie, but it was decent.  My guys sure did love it!

Can't think of anything else for now.

Blessings until next time! 

OY! August already!

My apologies for not posting sooner.  Life.....ya know?!

Got Doodles in an apartment-old, but appears safe.  Found her a nice stainless steel pots and pans set with some utensils, etc on clearance.  They were like $120 and I got them for $55. Also, found a cute bistro table with saddle back stools on clearance for $90. 

Made it back safely to TX, and been busy with all kinds of things since. 

Doodles found out the day after I left, that school was almost completely paid for.  She got $1000 scholarship at the beginning of the year and had paid in almost $1000.   She thought she was going to have a student loan.  When she went to turn her scholarship check and financial aid papers in, Ms. Elaine, the school's financial person, told her she was eligible for a Pell Grant, and she would only owe $311!  PTL!  Doodles had been praying and trusting the LORD would provide.  She has some great friends that were in agreement with her.  She is elated.  (so is mom)

Last week I found out DH is taking us on a 25 year anniversary surprise get away.  I'm not suppose to know where we are going, but I have my suspicions.  ;)  We leave on the 19th and get back on the 24th.  I have to leave my kids.  sigh~  LOL....I know they will be in good hands with our friends.  (I do hate leaving them still)

I got a few new dresses and had my hair....well it was suppose to be highlighted, but I think the gal went crazy with the coloring!  That's what I get for not going to my favorite person in Austin.  (she's booked til after I get back from the surprise getaway)   I still have some more shopping to do though.  Have to find some shoes, and maybe some cute tops.  :)

That's the latest and greatest....oh DH got offered his old position in KC.  DH and I think we are suppose to stay here in TX for now.  (the kids are happy about that too)   It is good to be back home. 

Can't think of anything else too exciting.
Blessings!