Stuff

Lucy is home with us. We picked her up Monday evening. She's awesome! Sweet, smart, cute, obedient, patient...all the things we'd hoped for in a new pet! We're already completely in love with her! I noticed today how she really seems at home with us. There's a spring to her step when we call her over. And when one of the girls comes into the room she's in she gets up and goes over to greet them. Just a happy wag of her very fat tail and a sniff, then she'll go lay down or whatever. She and I have taken early morning walks the past two days and today she seemed really excited to go! When we got back to our driveway she turned to go home - I told you she's smart! Tomorrow we're off to the vet for an initial see how she's doing kind of check up.

Today me, Becky, and Allison went to a picnic and a play done by Shakespeare and Company which is a theater group in Lenox, MA. It was a family performance under a big tent. We sat in low lawn chairs and the stage was only about a foot off the ground. It was very cool! Today's play was made up of several scenes from different Shakespearean plays, like Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and others. The scenes were chosen to demonstrate Shakespeare's clever way with words. Apparently an average adult has around 20,000 words in his or her vocabulary. Shakespeare used some 37,000 different words in his plays. He is also credited with inventing several of the words we still use today, of course I can't remember any of them right now! He also created several catch phrases like, dead as a door nail; your own flesh and blood; and more. And when the actors (who were fabulous, by the way) were presenting this information it was done in a funny and silly sort of way! Becky found it all very entertaining - I think being in the first row was especially fun for her. Allison couldn't have cared less! Katie was at soccer and then to a friend's house although I think she would've really enjoyed it! I did!

I read today that gas prices are expected to head down to about $2 a gallon by year's end...we'll see. We're right around $2.83 right now which is down about 20 cents from a couple of weeks ago, so no complaints.

Happy Back to School! I know some kids in Maine are starting tomorrow. We start Tuesday. One more weekend! We're off to a soccer tournament in Agawam this weekend. I hope Katie's team does well! I'll let you know...

Lucy Update

This is a picture of Lucy. Isn't she just the cutest thing!? Apparently she likes to carry around her favorite toy with her. I can't wait to see if she has it with her when we pick her up.

Lucy is on a van transport headed to New England as we speak. She left from her shelter home down south last night and is expected to arrive at her temporary foster home tomorrow around 5 p.m. A long haul, to be sure!

We are still waiting for a time to be scheduled for our home visit. It has to be done before we can bring Lucy home. Until the home visit is done she has to stay with a foster family. I've chatted via e-mail with the lady who will have her. She sounds really nice. I'll call her tomorrow late afternoon to make sure Lucy arrived.

The girls have been so excited. It's hard not knowing exactly when Lucy will come home but they're hanging in there. They are a little wound up, you know, the way kids are at Christmas! They've been so great about getting ready to have a dog. They've spent their own money on some things for her and spent time yesterday washing down the crate. I'm really proud of them.

The calendar says it's still summer but the weather doesn't seem to know that! It's been in the 60's all day and cloudy. Oh well...we need a little rain. Maybe we'll have one more warm up before school starts.

News

I don't know what kind of butterfly this is but it's about the most georgeous one we saw at the Butterfly Conservatory. We went while my mom was down a couple of weeks ago. I think I may have mentioned it in another post.

The butterflies are fluttering all around and will land on people from time to time. Becky is not looking at Katie with jealous disgust, it's more like, 'Make sure that thing doesn't land on me, would ya!'

This beautiful blue butterfly was taking a break under a nice bench when Allison decided to scootch down to check him out.

We have decided to expand our family...Hold onto your britches! I'm not talking about adding another person, I'm talking about a dog, specifically a Labrador Retriever. After deciding that now is the right time I began doing some looking online for different animal shelters in our area. Slim pickins. Then I expanded the search and found a few different Lab Rescue organizations. Ah Ha! I was onto something. These groups are run by all volunteers located throughout the Northeast. There is no shelter, so to speak. Most of the dogs are placed in foster homes awaiting adoption. Most of the dogs are rescued from 'high kill' shelters in the south. A very nice lady I spoke with from www.americanlabrescue.com was telling me that last year in the Houston area 26,000 dogs were euthanised. Once a dog comes to a high kill shelter they have three days to be adopted. After the three days they are put down. How sad. Labs are the most common type of dog in these shelters, many of them pure bred, many more a mix of some sort. Black labs and black dogs in general are the least desirable to adopt, I don't know why. This same lady told me that she received 26 pages of dogs from one shelter to choose from to add to the rescue. I don't envy her job of trying to determine the most adoptable dogs on that list knowing she only has a certain number of foster homes to place them in. After searching through many lists of dogs on www.petfinder.com we were put in touch with www.labs4rescue.com. We are planning to adopt Lucy, a 4 year old, pure bred, black lab. Apparently she carries around her favorite toy with her all the time and is very smart and obedient. She'll require very little training, and she loves children and other dogs. She's a real cutie! We've submitted our application and had a phone interview with Lucy's case worker. Now we need to schedule a home visit and then she can come to live with us. We are all so excited! Even Ed, believe it or not. I'm amazed by the whole process and the dedication of the volunteers at these rescue groups. I'll keep you posted.

We're off to the Bronx Zoo this weekend with my in-laws. That should be a lot of fun; I've never been to New York City before. It's only about 2 1/2 hours from us. I'll be sure and post some pictures from our zoo adventure.

Can you believe summer is almost over? Where did it go? I find myself asking, 'What did we do all these weeks?' It's been nice to loaf around without the strict morning routine that comes with school. We've also enjoyed the steady stream of houseguests we've had. It's fun to show folks around our new community and show them the things we really like about living here.

Allison is SO excited about going to Nursery School. Becky is lots less excited and Katie just shrugs her shoulders when I ask her about it. I helped Allison's teacher and another mom from the school put together a rather large rubbermaid shed last week. Between the three of us we had the tools we needed and decifered the directions and got the thing together in about 3 hours. Pretty good! We affectionately refer to it as the "She Shed" because no man helped! Tonight I'm going to the school to serve on the interview panel for a teacher's aide position that needs to be filled for the start of school. How cool to have so much input about who Allison will spend 6 hours a week with! I'm looking forward to it. It's a cooperative nursery school which means it's essentially run by the parents. I like that.

My friend Deborah recommened a good book recently, Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson. It was excellent! You know you've found a good book when you can't put it down! I just started a new novel called, Quite Honestly. I can't remember who wrote it. It's set in England and the charcters are obviously English, with their dry humor and funny phrases. I'm getting into it...I'll let you know how it goes. Becky is reading the Magic Treehouse series and really likes it. We're reading the American Girl Samantha series out loud too. I just love the American Girl books. They're educational, inspirational, entertaining... Our local library has the Left Behind for Kids series and Katie wants to start on those. I read the original series for adults and it was excellent, a definate must read!

Oops, Gotta go - my children need a referee!

Recipe Review

Just a quick post to tell you not to bother with the corn salad recipe I posted yesterday. While it was very pretty and easy to make it lacked any real flavor. Katie gave it a good try but just wasn't interested. Allison picked all the cucumbers out and ate them. And Becky wouldn't even try it. Ed and I liked it all right, but weren't overly impressed.

We're now on a smoothie kick. I dug out our blender (which we got as a wedding gift, and looks like new) and have been going to town making fruit smoothies. We tried making them with ice but most recipes I've found call for frozen fruit instead, hmmm...we'll be trying that.

Another hot day tomorrow with slightly lower temps (low 90's). Katie and Becky are both having friends over in the afternoon to swim - it's always more fun to play in the pool with lots of people. Maybe we'll get a good game of Marco Polo going. Even Allison gets in on the action.

Speaking of Allison...Yesterday while we were in the car heading somewhere Allison did not want to go, she had her daily melt down. On and on she went while I kept on driving. Finally after several minutes of ranting and raving she says, "YOU'RE A PANCAKE!" It was all I could do to keep from bursting with laughter! I guess being a pancake is pretty bad, because she was pretty mad when she said it. After that she was quiet and good as gold. Go figure.

Here's a picture of Becky and Allison on one of the rides at Funtown. I'm sure Becky is explaining something to Allison.

Here's a fun picture of Becky flying her kite at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth. If you've never been there you ought to go. There's picnic tables, a small beach, lots of wide open spaces for kite flying or kickball, and of course, the beautiful Portland Head Light.

I just love candid shots and this one of Little Miss is a new favorite of mine. I love those curls just a-blowin' in the breeze!

We are under an excessive heat warning today and tomorrow. Hmmm...the heat index will be in the 105 degree range! The low temps for tonight and tomorrow night is only in the low 70's and extremely humid. I'm not complaining, but I do wish I had central air. I've got the house closed up and shades closed, which does make a difference. Then later this evening I'll open things up again and put the window fans in the bedrooms. The girls and I are heading to the mall this afternoon to beat the heat and do some school supply shopping. Then it's off to Katie and Becky's first piano lesson. After that it's pool time! I'm trying a new recipe at supper tonight. It sounds delicious and requires no cooking, maybe we'll have chicken salad sandwiches with it.

Corn Salad

1/4 c. minced fresh basil

3 T. olive oil

2 tsp. lime juice

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. slat

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 c. frozen corn thawed ( or use fresh sweet corn)

2 c. cherry tomatoes halved

1 c. chopped seeded peeled cucumber

In a jar combine the basil, oil, lime juice, sugar, salt, and pepper: shake well. In a large bowl combine, corn, toms, and cukes. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Refridgerate until serving. 6 servings.

How much more simple could it be? I'll let you know if the kiddos like it.

My friend Heather posted about the trials of a three year old on her blog about 2 weeks ago. I'm so glad to be reminded that it isn't just my child who is difficult to deal with! Allison has always had a bit of a volatile personality but lately it's magnified! It's more like spontaneous combustion! One minute she's fine then she's literally exploded over something seemingly small! Some things I know make her crazy, like shopping or having to stay out of her sisters' rooms. But other times we're going about our day and she freaks out about EVERY LITTLE THING! Three years old is do much harder than two years old! Give me a house full of two year olds anyday over one three year old! Katie and Becky were the same way! I have documented proof! I wouldn't change a thing about my little miss even if I could. I know that this head strong determination she has can be an asset in her life, with God's help. And eventually she'll turn FOUR!

Stay cool!