The End of a Rough Summer

Today is his first day in 10th grade.




Today is his first day in 5th grade.


Today is the End of a Rough Summer and the first day of school in our part of North Texas.
The end of a really, rough summer.

 My 10-year-old starting getting sick in May.
After weeks of pain and nausea ...
and tons of medical tests,
he had surgery in June to remove his gallbladder and appendix. 

Then, after some bumps in the healing process,
we ended up back at the doctor's office
and he ended up with a new diagnosis of Abdominal Migraines. 

 Needless to say, he's had a rough summer.
No summer camps.
Canceled trip to Disney.
Lots of indoor time healing.

The 15-year-old spent the summer healing from his 2nd knee surgery
and learning how to drive.

It has been a stressful summer, to say the least.

 But, I've watched my older son become more confident in his driving
and continue to grow into such a fine young man.

 And I've seen my younger son overcome adversity
and begin drum lessons and return to baseball.

 I have hope as we go into fall ...
hope that this will be a great year.
And thankful we survived the summer.



 

The Survival Skills of a Pampered Labrador Retriever

The Survival Skills of a Pampered Labrador Retriever

 I'm not so sure my pampered Labrador, Annie, could make make it on her own ... her survival skills are lacking. Princess Annie-Pie. Case in point:

1. Foraging for Food: She tries to chase rabbits, but to date, she's never actually caught one. And, she might never live this one down in the canine community, but she has actually laid on a bed and let rabbits jump around her!

2. Living in nature: She doesn't like to get her paws wet. Or go out in the rain. If she gets muddy at all, she immediately starts grooming. She uses stepping stones and seems to prefer the sidewalk.

3. Mating: She's friendly with other dogs, but she's not that interested in them. She's more likely to steal their bone, tennis ball or squeaky toy. (Also, she's fixed.)


 I'm afraid Annie just doesn't have what it takes to make it in the wild.


Her real skill? She probably holds the world record in longest attempt at begging for pizza ... and fastest ever response to the sound of a bag of chips being opened. Gotta love her.






Have you seen the Tumblr site called DogShaming? If you love dogs, you'll get a kick out it. Dog owners send in photos of their pets with hand-written statements of their shameful crimes.


 

Find My iPhone: Yes, My Teenager Lost Another Phone

A True Story, brought to you by Find My iPhone and my occasionally forgetful teenage son.


My 15 yr old son has an iPhone.

The same phone that he used his Christmas and birthday money to buy about 7 months ago.

Firs you need to know this:
He doesn't have the best tract record with cell phones.
He's dropped one down the sewer.
He's gone swimming with one.
He's dropped one in the toilet.

But, after few years and some gained maturity and responsibility, and his own money,
and he's ready for a smartphone.

He's done a surprisingly great job of keeping up with it ...
until a few weeks ago.

He left his phone at our apartment complex pool.
Overnight.
And realized the next morning that it was missing.

So, he calls me at work.
In a panic.

 Enter: Find My iPhone. (accessed through Apple's iCloud.)

This is so wonderfully cool.
With Find My iPhone, through GPS, you can see on a map
where your phone is currently located.

You can send a message and/or sound to it, remote lock it and/or remote wipe it.
The sound emits at full volume, even if your phone was on silent, for two minutes.

My son did this, with no luck.
So, when I got home from work, we went searching.

I downloaded the free Find My iPhone app, and then started searching for his phone.

The GPS showed his missing phone was still in our apartment complex,
but located near another building.

So, we went a-knocking.
We knocked on every single door in that building.
No one answered.
except one.
A teen boy was working with a crew putting in new carpet in an empty apartment ...
but he said hadn't seen the phone.

We were about to give up, when I decided we needed to access the Find My iPhone app again and have it send the noise ... and then we heard it.

A pinging.

From the bushes right by the apartment with the carpet installers.

We found the phone!

Someone had ditched it (probably freaked out by all the noises it was making and all the message we had sent). They'd stripped off his OtterBox Case, darn it.

Thank goodness for Find My iPhone!!

FYI, Find My iPhone must be enabled in the iCloud settings on your device for you to locate it with this app.

 Because my with my son's track record, there's no way I was buying him a replacement.


 (This post was not sponsored in any way by Apple or iPhone. It's a true story, and I'm SO thankful we were able to find the phone.)


 

Communication Issues and Spiders, Oh My.

Last night, I piled my younger son and the big dog
into the car to drive to the high school to pick up my older son from football practice.

(Miss Annie, the big dog, refuses to jump into the car now,
so I have to heft and heave her big boned body into the car.
And end up covered with hair.
BTW, she jumps in for my older son.
And I'm the one who feeds her and takes care of her.  Ahem.)

Anyway, the weather was unseasonably cool,
so we had the windows down and were cruising through the dark,
somewhat quieter part of town.

It was peaceful.
Serene.
Destined to be interrupted by noise and chaos.

And, of course, the calm is broken by my younger son yelling out, "Spider! Ahh!"

And then I respond with a "Ahhh! no!!!  Where?!"
as I slam my foot to the brakes.

There's no response from the backseat,
so I turn around and find ...

my younger son deep in his Minecraft game on my iPad,
battling digital spiders.


Good grief.





 

The Care And Handling of Roses With Thorns

The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorn by Margaret Dilloway 

was the latest BlogHer Book Club read.

The main character, Gal, is in her mid-thirties, 

a high school teacher and struggling with kidney disease.
 

But, she has a passion for roses. 

Growing and breeding roses.
The story focuses on her goal of trying to win a rose competition 

and the unplanned arrival of her teenage niece into her home.

I really enjoyed this book.
The rose breeding was fascinating to me.

Gal is a strong character, and she feels real.
A flawed woman who learns more about herself.
And learns to love.

A good read!!

It made me want to go out and plant things.
Grow things.

I don't have many hobbies, besides reading.
What are your hobbies?
Have you grown anything?

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

Confession: My Foursquare Addiction

 

It's time to admit that I have an addiction. 

Well, I have many addictions, 

but the one I'm talking about today is my addiction to Foursquare.

What is foursquare?

It's a smartphone app where members can note their locations with their phone 

and can find out where friends are. 

You earn points for every check in.

You can leave tips and read other people's tips.

You can upload photos. 

You can unlock specials.

Foursquare has 20 million registered users.

I've been an active fourquare user for well over a year. Maybe closer to two years. 

I currently have 30 mayorships and 28 badges.

My highest points in one week was 346 points.

 I'm competitive. 

I check-in everywhere.

During my long morning commute to work, I check-in to intersections. 

I like being able to see where friends are going and where they've been.

I guess it makes me feel less alone?

I've checked-in at my children's schools, my local gas station, my grocery store, my mom's house, Target, Walgreens and anything and everything in between.

I realized that I had addiction when I checked-in 

at the emergency room with my sick child.

I'm not proud of that moment.

So, I've decid

ed to detox.

To completely quit.

 The only reason I might still occasionally use it is to unlock specials.

"Specials" are when businesses offer discounts and freebies when you check-in. 

That's it though.

Cold turkey.

Are you on Foursquare?

Were you addicted?

– 

Summer Storm

 

I love the big summer storms that build up and roll in, 

majestic, explosive and energizing. 

A break in the intense Texas heat. 

dampening our drought. 

A change in weather and pressure. 

 I embrace these storms in nature...

but not in my life. 

Change is hard. 

I'm trying.