Random things from the past week or so

Today our kids had a "carnival" for their "school."

Yeah.

I could hardly stand the excitement. But I was put on the spot Tuesday when we were turning in our last bit of work, books and paying the fines/replacement costs of the thing the dog chewed and the math manipulatives we can't find all the pieces from.

So there I was paying them $38 for the lost/missing/chewed stuff and they ask my kids will they see them at the carnival. UGH. The kids' eyes light up and say "mom!!! there's a carnival!!!"

Darn it. Not one to want to bash the school in front of the school while in the school.. I found myself paying $5 for the joy of going to the carnival and $3/kid for lunch as well.

And we went today to the carnival which was.. well.. a few games which the kids could win cheap oriental trading post toys or candy. joy.

BUT there was the one game that the line was around the entire park for. THAT game you played and won goldfish.

So while I was waiting in the line that took a full hour to get their lunches, I gave them their carnival tickets with instructions to stay together and they went to the ......

you got it. The gold fish line.

And while I was there they didn't often or consistently win the games that got them cheap plastic toy or candy, but dang it- all 3 of them won goldfish.

And Kayla won 4 goldfish in her bag. In true Kayla fashion- life seems to smile down on her favorably and when everyone else gets 1 goldfish, she gets 4. I think the day she turns 21 I'll take her to a Casino.

So.. We are now the proud owners of 6 goldfish. And we had to stop at Stuff Mart and get a fish tank, de-chlorinator and fish food. I passed on the rocks, fish net, and tank decorations. I told them if the fish were alive in a week from now we could discuss buying those things. While I wasn't looking, Kayla took one out to pet it (much like she did with our beta fish when we had one), JM fed them quesadilla, and none of the kids could leave the tank alone for more than .5 seconds. Their names are Six-y (because Joey's six years old now), Little Cutie (because Sonia names nearly everything cutie), Cinderella, Nemo, and I forget what else (because Kayla likes Disney names).

But on a side note. Homeschoolers are their own worse enemy. I know I'm a bit over-the-top protective of my kids but the un-ruly and unsupervised kids at the "carnival" weren't ambassadors for homeschooling. It was windy (as any day here is that we plan on doing something) and the kids had balloons. not helium, just plain old blow-them-up balloons. And the wind often blew them out of my kids grasp. As they (or I) was chasing it, other kids would grab it and yell "MINE!"

huh? how do you figure? After the 6th time this happened, I went up to the kid that grabbed (the ticket this time that blew 2 feet away as Joey was handing it to me) and said something 'that JUST blew out of my hand' can you please give it back?' and the kid claims it's his.. whatever. I glare at him and drop it. He hands it back and runs and tells his mommy that lady took his ticket. Great. making friends. Not that a single mom said anything to me the entire time we were there, anyway. There is really nothing about that school that I like. Really. put someone near me and I'll start talking. These moms were sitting around chatting with each other while their kids were doing whatever they wanted. hmmm.. reminds me of some of those unsupervised playdates I'd been on..

And in other news... This week I realized that "stripey" Kayla's beloved beanie baby cat was really worn. Add to that the fact that it's the dog's #1 favorite thing to find and chew I went on a quest to find another one in the event that Something unfortunate and deadly happens to Stripey since Kayla needs Stripey to sleep. She used to need Princess as well, but she was decapitated by the dog, so Stripey is the only thing we have left.

Anyway.. I went on this quest and found Stripey (who's real name is Amber) on Ebay and promptly bought her. We exchanged new Stripey for old/aged/cataract "ice cream eyes" Stripey and the next day Stripey went everywhere with us and at night I could not find her. ANYWHERE. So I take old stripey out of the washer and let her sleep with Kayla one last time before she went into the safe place in case of emergency.

And we still haven't found new Stripey. We went to all 5 places we had gone to the last day she was seen, turned the house upside down.. no Stripey. I guess she decided to find her way back home. I hear cats do that sometimes.

In housing news- we still are waiting for that short-sale house which isn't really happening.

So.. Larry found a house that he saw and liked alot, so we bid on it. He liked it so much that I went to see it the following day. The house was on the market 6 hours when we bid on it and at that point we were bid #5. I kid you not.

So.. today we gave our "best and highest" bid and cross our fingers. Not holding my breath... but I really really really really want this house. REALLY. The entire yard- ENTIRE yard- INCLUDING DRIVEWAY is gated. it has an automatic gate like the movie stars do. Not that I think I'm a movie star but if I have to worry less about our kids running in the road.. oh praise Jesus!

On the downside- it only has 3 bedrooms and vintage 1960 stove top and oven and bathroom fixtures. And a vintage 1986 built in microwave. It has a bunch of projects 80% competed.

Oh, and it's next door to a firestation.

So.. we'll see. I'm praying and hoping that we get this house, but know that if we don't- I'm confident that God knows the desires of my heart and that it will work out somehow. I like this house SO much more than the other but can't really put my finger on why. This house screams "this was lived in by grandpa" but the yard and size of it makes me swoon. Don't get me wrong- it's smaller than the house we're in but yard and 3 storage buildings and TREEHOUSE.. makes my giddy if we get it. I can handle electric heat and stove and lineoleum with holes in it and wall paper galore for a the fenced yard/driveway and tree house.

We're also looking at other rental houses if this falls through. God also knows that I'm really really hesitant to buy a house.

We got our dog fixed and I felt horrible that she was wimpering and crying for the entire day after we brought her home but today she's back to her usual obnoxious self. I actually got a shock collar for her since he's been dang near impossible to train.

Larry has a theory that dogs are recycled- once they die they re-incarnate so to speak. And I believe him now. We put the collar on her and she was a new dog- without even putting batteries in the remote. I'm thinking in a past life her owners also had to resort to a shock collar.

We're exited to have my family visit this summer. It would have been nice to have been settled in a new house but.. oh well.. this house is bigger. Maybe this is where we were supposed to be.