More stuff.

We had a busy weekend. Tim worked both days, and my parents came over on Sunday to visit. Tim started working on that dutch door, but it's not complete yet. I'll try to post a picture when it is done. I hope that happens today. I'm plannin on painting it all white (I bought primer and paint for it) and then hopefully we still have a little bit of red paint left, and I think I'll have the kids put handprints on the door. :n) I think it'll be cute.

Since I seem to be frozen in my weight right now, I've been sort of trying different things. I'm a little worried that this is how it's going to be from now on. You know, lose a pound, then plateau for a week or two. I guess the next step would be to work on clean eating, but I don't know if I have it in me to go that far with it just yet. It's something that I aspire to, but it's a lot of work. Ideally I'll move into it with baby steps, and gradually work my way into it. But before that happens, I need to, at the very least, start working on grocery shopping every week. And I don't even do that yet.

Today will be Corbin's first day of Kinder Camp. It's a 3 day program. He'll be at the school from noon to either 2:30 or 3:30... I can't remember which. I have to ask when I drop him off. I know he's going to have a good time, and I'm not worried about him going at all. I'm just a little... I dunno... "bittersweet" (to use a phrase that a good friend of mine uses) I guess. I know that he's excited about it, so I'm really happy for him.

Brooke asked me about dance class last night. She asked me how much longer. A month is a long time for a kid to wait. Poor girl. She peed her pants yesterday and today already. I took her dollhouses away. I'm not sure what to do about this all. Is she going to start this when she gets into pre-k? I've told her she can't go to school if she's being a pee pants, but she still does it occaisionally. It really bugs me.

Speaking of cleaning up messes of that nature, as you know, the whole reason for the dutch door is to keep LeeLoo from going upstairs. So, this morning, I decided to do a little work on planing the door down on it's side so that it fits a little better. I did take the dog out this morning, but she refused to go poop. Well with me in the doorway, she couldn't get upstairs, either. So guess what I found in the living room?

I love my dog, but there are times that I want to kick her.

I pushed her face down by it and spanked her, and she went into her crate and hid. I know that a lot of the "experts" say that doesn't work, but I also know that it's what my parents did with the dogs we had as kids, and they stopped going in the house. I wanted to get a little bell for her--the kind that they have at the counter to ring for service. My plan was to push her foot on the bell every time I take her out, so that she gets that pushing the bell means you go out. But I haven't gotten (or seen) a bell like that yet.

So, as I said, I was helping out with the door this morning. The spot where the bottom circular part of the doorknob attaches sticks out enough that it bumps the frame. So I was going to cut a small notch out. I couldn't find Tim's handsaw, so I was going to use his saw. I broke the blade. ::blush:: I texted him and haven't heard back. I'm guessing that he's not amused.

I've been thinking about our landscape. I want to get a bunch of fruit trees planted here, pretty soon. I'm pretty sure I can plant them any time as long as it's warm out, but I feel like I better get a move on pretty quick. I'm thinking that what I want is darn near an orchard of different fruits. Not really an orchard, but I do want one area of the yard to be covered or surrounded by fruit trees. I want at least one apple tree, and I'd like to have a granny smith, as well as a "regular" apple tree. Cortland or Empire maybe. I want to find out if there's any reason why I can't have a peach tree (is the climate that much different here than in PA?), and I'd probably like a pear tree, too. I do want a veggie garden (which won't happen this year), but growing trees is a lot less maintenance than keeping up a garden.

I have been meaning to tell Bonnie that my plan is to dig up the grass for our entire front yard, and plant the flowers that I want, and wherever I don't have flowers or stepping stones, I'll have cedar down. So at some point, when we do that, if you want the grass from our front yard to transplant into your back yard, you're welcome to it. I don't know how much grass you need, but it's definitely a good amount that we'll be digging up. But, like I said, that's a "when" that happens sort of thing.

Tim and I have been talking about the pool. Unfortunately we still have a lot to do before we can put it up, like buying the liner and the sand, and then paying someone to come fill it for us. It's going to be a few hundred dollars for all of that to come to fruition, and it's not exactly doable at the moment. Then we want to put a deck around it. The plan is to eventually put a deck around the whole house. But for now, at least around the pool area. So that's another few hundred. I wish money grew on trees. But then I'd have to plant them, too, and we all see how well that's worked out so far.

So the other thing that we want to do is put a pond in the back that's swimmable. I don't think Tim really gets what I want in a pond. I'd like something that is clear water, and tropical looking. I don't want something that is going to be a breeding ground for bugs and fish and crap like that.

Anyway, I have to get the kids around and figure out an early lunch for everyone (we'll have to eat it in less than an hour so that we get to the school on time.)