Happy 20 weeks old!

IMG_0804, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Today the kittens are 20 weeks old! What amazing little miracles they are. I posted pictures of Mina and Lucy already so of course today has to be the only little boy...Mr. Perry. He is now the biggest of the three kittens but by no means the boss in any way what so ever. Perry is just very content most of the time to laze around and watch the world going by, or his sister's flying through the house at high speed.

Happy 20th week of life our dear little kittens! I can't wait for your 1st birthday and what you all will be like by then.

House Update

IMG_0636, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yesterday I got a phone call from M asking if I had pictures of the house. Me have pictures of the house? Only a ton of them! He wants to use the photo's for a collage of start to finish for the office and asked if I would continue to take pictures of the process. Wow...I don't know if I can deal with having to take as many pictures of the house as I want. So of course that meant grab my camera and head over to the property and shot tons more pictures! It worked well because we also got an update about progress on the build. Inspections were passed for septic and water yesterday, electric will be out Wednesday to finally put up the pole, transformer, and run the line, oh and install the meter! The picture is in the morning room where the french doors will be going in at, which is just about ready for those doors now. The master bedroom retreat room has been prepped for the door that will be going in there and there has been quiet a bit of dry wall work done already this week.
I'm sure today is going to be the sound of the bobcat moving dirt back to fill the holes for the septic lines and probably the completion of the electric trench. There is also tons of dirt to move back into place to cover all but about 6-8 inches of the foundation that will be getting moved. Walking around the property you have to be a bit careful because suddenly you hit very soft spots right now which catch you off guard for dirt here in Arizona. I also found myself getting very excited with the thought of the soon to be completion of this and our move. How sick is it to be happy about making a move?

Monday Catching Up

IMG_6660, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Because of running on Friday, running on Saturday, running on Sunday and then the collapse of I refuse to do anything more, I'm going to play some catch up here today. Let me start with saying that Sweetpea and Little Bug are settling into the routine of school nicely and now that we finally got the last of the requested supplies, I should be done for at least a week or maybe more if I'm really lucky!

Binky Sue had her first freshman college class this morning, and with just that one class under her belt she came home and said that she was exhausted and needed a nap! Binky is very glad that we finally found out just how to access her scholarship fund from the Lions Club last week, and were able to get all of her books on Friday to the tune of $446.00. However, with her whole first year paid for by scholarships there is much happy dancing going on around here.
I know that I have mentioned here that Binky Sue was invited to be a honorary member of the Lions Club that gave her the scholarship, and that she has enjoyed attending the meetings, and even had an idea for how to advertise. I think I mentioned that the idea was well liked by the members and even promised to share pictures. Well, that is what this picture is for finally. It is a tee shirt design using the colors purple and yellow, and done with a youthful approach for the top one, and a more mature (doesn't make you ask how to pronounce a word) for the lower one. The vest was presented to her a couple of meetings ago and is part of what is required to wear to the meetings. This Saturday though, Binky Sue spent the day in Safford, Arizona for a cabinet meeting of the Lions Club. Her favorite comment coming from the president for the state of Arizona's Lions Club "Wow! You are young!" Binky Sue is the youngest member of the Lions Club of Arizona in the last 20 years. The local Lions club got to show off their young member, she got to show off her idea, and the day sounded as if it was a great one. Binky Sue is enjoying learning all about the club and their good work, and looking forward to being a part of it for the next two years. Now she just has to come up with some youthful ways of fund raising that don't require a lot of man power. (Hmmm...thinking about it now maybe there is an Aunt that could give some idea's on that one.)

There is probably tons more that I could type about, but I will spare you all of that. Binky Sue did point out that if you have the "Heart of a Lion" you should check out your local Lions Club. I hope that everyone had a great weekend and that there is a wonderful week ahead for all of us.

Simple Happiness

IMG_4474, originally uploaded by torri_g.

We had our first session with the trainer this Saturday, and I happy to say that Mia did a wonderful job. Both the trainer and I were concerned about how Mia would react with all the distractions of being at the dog park, but we quickly figured out that she really could care less about any other dogs. Hmm...that means that it is solely a Trinity issue that needs to be worked on. Everyone in the house now knows several of the things that seem to trigger Mia into going after Trinity and we are all working of either avoiding those things or trying to change approach to how they are dealt with. Mia's exercise time has already increased in the past few weeks, and is going to increase more as of this week. Three to four times a week Mia and I will be making trips out to any of the local dog parks for walking. By the way when you hit the walked 3 mile mark with Mia she will lay down in the parking lot by the first car that seems to resemble Mom's. The goals of training are going to be to break Mia of feeling she is Mom's protector who needs to punish Trinity for anything she does wrong. Wow that is one heck of a goal! Basically it is to get Mia to feel that she has an important job here in the house that doesn't require her to use those teeth of hers. For our first time out I really was very proud of her because she did a great job. I learned new ways to get her attention when she is so focused on something she doesn't need to be, a few new ways of correcting her behavior. I also heard the words from Ms. L that she really believes that Mia is so willing to please her Mom that she will learn these new things rapidly and calm will return to house with both dogs. Great words for me to hear really.
Now since I have a goal for both Mia and myself here this week I need to get moving. I think the dog park and the mile long walk around it is calling for us, and for us to do at least the laps around. I hope that everyone has a great start to the week.