Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Just Hangin' Around

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Not much has been going on.

The cat is still hangin' around outside. We feed it everyday. When Preach and the kids go outside, the cat follows them around. He loves to be petted, and purs like a motorboat.

We've slowly started back to school. We are easing into Tapestry of Grace this week. It's going good. I am trying to figure out what Math curriculum to get Princess. She is having a hard time with number concepts. She is progressing on her reading, so I am pleased with that.

We've almost finished with Princess's room transformation. I will post pictures whenever we are done. The only thing we need to do is recover the cornice thing that goes above her window. Oh, and figure out how to put the billions of toys back into her room. My parents came over one day a couple of weeks ago and saw the piles and piles of stuffed animals in our living room. My dad said he is still having nightmares of all those stuffed animals. LOL! It's obscene. Princess wants a stuffed animal of every single real animal there is. She has a snake, a warthog (complete with a baby warthog), a kangaroo, a skunk, a cheetah, a tiger, lion, and much more. She has just about every breed of dog and cat there is. (sigh) And that's not even counting the dozens of stuffed bears and rabbits she has. The list goes on...

Saturday, September 6, 2008

"She" is a "He" and other stories

We've had a weird past 36 hours or so. But that's par for the course for us.

Here's a quick rundown for you:

Preach and kids picked up a stray black cat at a gas station. They *said* the cat just climbed in their car. I just wonder if the cat had some HELP getting in!

Brought cat home, fed it, and named it Midnight. Preach said the cat was a girl based on Princess's description of the "holes" it had.

Took cat to the vet that afternoon. Vet politely told us "she" was a "he" (totally embarassing!). Did tests on cat to make sure HE didn't have Feline Aids or Leukemia. Vet told us to expect the worse. We started telling the kids we were probably going to have to get rid of the cat (trying not to tell them we would have to put it to sleep). Luckily (for the cat) tests came back negative. Cat just had a bunch of ear mites.

Took cat home, made it a bed in a box.

I couldn't sleep all night, expecting the cat to come in and jump on our bed. In the middle of the night, I awoke to find the cat on top of me. (sigh) I frantically woke Preach up to move him.

Got up yesterday morning with Princess coming into my room saying she hated the cat - he had peed on her BRAND NEW mattress and comforter! UGH! Sure enough, he had!!! Stripped the bed, washed everything. Sprayed the mattress with Melaleuca Tough & Tender and Solumel. I made Preach smell the mattress last night, and there was still cat pee smell. I told him I wanted to buy her a new mattress. Um, that didn't go over too well.

Cat peed again on my bathroom rug. And yes, we had a litter box set up.

Yesterday afternoon, Prince goes to pick up cat, and cat BITES his arm! Broke the skin. Prince said cat hung on for a few seconds. Sorry, cat - but you hurt my baby - you are GONE!!!

When Preach gets home, cat goes OUTSIDE! We are going to feed him, and hope he sticks around.

We learned out lesson on picking up strays. If we EVER get a cat again, we will be getting a kitten. But this was such a bad experience, I don't know if we will ever again do it. I'm not a cat person anyway. I've never owned a cat. I love dogs! Give me a good ol' dog any day over a cat!

Oh, and if any cat owners out there know of how to get out cat pee smell, PUL-EEEEEZE let me know how!!!!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Homeschool/Cub Scouts Giveaway!

I just wanted to let my few and faithful readers know of a homeschool/Cub Scouts giveaway on the Learning By Living blog! She is giving away some awesome things - like Explode the Code workbooks, lots of children's books, Bible storybooks, Alice in Bibleland book series, 6 how-to homeschool books, Leap Frog Fridge Phonics, and much much more - all for just the cost of actual shipping! There is also a post where she is giving away a bunch of Cub Scout things!! Stop by and post a comment - you might win!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

More Setting It All Up...

I finished putting the first Unit in page protectors. Whew! It took a long time. I'm already trying to figure out alternatives to putting the other units in page protectors. But I know I will end up doing it anyway. LOL!

I am trying to follow TOG's instructions on How To Set Up Tapestry that's somewhere on their website. I am confused on the Student Binders. It's about as clear as mud.

Preach looked at Unit 1 last night, and said he was impressed. He said that he wishes he could go through the curriculum! We have Year 1, and it is Ancient History, which goes through Biblical history.

I still have to order some books to go along with Unit 1. I was doing price comparisons with TOG's Bookshelf to Amazon. And surprisingly, TOG was just as cheap as Amazon! Since I have a $15 Gift Certificate to TOG which came with the package I bought, I will be ordering from them. Gotta do that today. I was surprised that our library system has some of the books, so hopefully I can use those. Does anyone know how Interlibrary Loan works? If I could figure that out, I wouldn't have to buy as many books.