Backyard Fence

We finally replaced our fence in the backyard!!  When we bought the house, part of the deal was that the previous owner would give us enough money in closing costs to cover the cost of a new fence.  I didn't fully understand it at the time, but everything is working out now.  The real estate agent that we used to help us find a house also flips houses so he had a referral for someone to build our fence.  It ended up costing a little more than we had originally thought, but we added two short smaller fences in the backyard that were not in the yard originally.

The old fence is all gone.  So crazy looking!!

Our fence looks awesome!  I don't have to worry about whether or not Maddie can crawl through a gap in the pickets anymore.  Plus, I just like new things.  For the new fence, we added a rot board to the bottom of the pickets so that the fence would last longer.  That raised the height of our fence, so now I'm worried that the HOA is going to have a problem with it because our fence is over 6' tall.  I mentioned it to Andy while the the workers were building, but he assured me that it would be fine.  I told him that if we get a letter from the HOA about the fence then it's his problem to fix.  Arguing about that kind of stuff just stresses me out.  Either way, I am excited we got our fence done!  Next small-ish project is landscaping and the next major outdoor project is extending our patio, building/buying a new fire pit, and possibly putting in a pergola.

View from our back patio

Small fence we added.  You can't see this part of the yard from the
patio, so we're going to use it for a small garden area.

Another small fence we added to hide the
main gas line that just hangs out in our yard.

Going Green

Andy and I finally decided to cave in and purchase reusable shopping bags.  We've been going to Whole Foods every now and then for a few items.  Their reusable bags looked really strong and were cheap.  Then I went to Wal-Mart to buy the rest of my groceries and used my bags.  It was amazing how many groceries could fit into one bag.  I have heard about some grocery stores in some cities (like Austin) that charge you for using a plastic bag instead of a reusable one.  I am thankful that we are not forced to use them in the Houston area.

Water Fountain

Several years ago we bought Lonestar a water fountain.  It supposedly circulates the water keeping it oxygenated which is better for your pet.  And since Lonestar is a rather large cat (15 lbs), we figured we should try the fountain for "health" reasons.  The fountains usually go on sale for Black Friday for $20, normally $40.  Lonestar's original fountain from years ago finally broke, and I hadn't replaced it with the new one we bought.  So he's been without his fountain for about four months.  Poor spoiled cat.  I decided to set up the new one on Sunday.  They have modified it from the original one we bought, and I really like the changes they made.  I think Lonestar likes it too!

Garage Sale

For the past two months, Andy's mom has slowly but surely been cleaning out the barn.  We have spent the last three out of four weekends in Tarkington helping her finish cleaning it out and getting everything ready for the garage sale.  We are officially done with the garage sale!  We have never sold as much as stuff as we did in those two days.  It was ridiculous.  God really blessed us!  Normally, we're excited if we've sold half of what we had.  Seriously, we sold probably 85% of what we had.  We fit all of the remaining stuff in about half of Andy's mom's garage.  (Remember, we cleaned out an entire barn with two bays and outside stuff.)  It was awesome!  We had a lot of people helping us too which made it even easier.  Like I said, we were blessed.  God was definitely looking out for us.

It was a little chilly, but Sawdust enjoyed hanging out outside with everyone.

Doggie Day Care

Today Andy took Maddie to Rover Oaks for her evaluation.  If she passed, then we could take her to doggie day care.  After she got sick, the vet recommended that we take her to a doggie day care so that she could burn off energy and then would maybe stop acting out by eating rocks and other weird stuff.  Andy dropped her this morning before work, and then received a phone call midday that Maddie had passed her evaluation!!  Woohoo!  We were very excited!

We just didn't know how Maddie would react with the other dogs.  When we take her to the dog park, she only plays with us because we have her ball.  She rarely, if ever, plays with the other dogs.  The lady told Andy that Maddie was a little timid and afraid of the big dogs.  She apparently freaked out a little bit when they all wanted to sniff her at the same time.  She's done that at the dog park before, so it didn't surprise me.  She did fantastic in with the small dogs (25-45 lbs) and ended up playing with several of them.  When we go back, I want to know what they are calling "playing" because I have never seen her truly play with other dogs.

Maddie crashed when Andy brought her home.  Straight up passed out on the couch, and she has slept most of the evening.  We love it!  We were going to try to take her back to doggie day care on Wednesday, but they are booked solid.  So it looks like our day is Tuesday until an opening comes up on Wednesday.  They are even open on Saturday for day care, so we may be taking advantage of that every now then.

Passed out on the couch as soon as she got home!

She'll sleep anywhere!

 

Happy Dog!

Shell Houston Open

Andy and I took off of work on Friday and went to the Shell Houston Open.  This will be our third year in a row to go.  We really haven't been keeping up with golf, but it was still a fun day.  We waited at the tee box of Hole 3 to see a few of our favorites tee off.  Phil Mickelson was literally within arms length of us.  He stood so close to us that I we could have touched him.  It was AWESOME!!

I always find what women wear to the golf tournament... interesting.  I always think about comfort, especially for shoes.  The course is 18-holes long so there's a lot of walking.  It just fascinates me when women wear their high heels.  I give them props because my feet couldn't handle it.

Little did I know that this trip would leave me in pain.  It was sunny, but the wind was blowing so I didn't realize that the sun was scorching my skin.  And that's exactly what it did - scorched my skin.  Three days later and I am still in some pain.  Aloe Vera and I have been best friends!  I will never forget my sunscreen again.  I never allow myself to burn this badly, but I guess I can't say that anymore.

The night of...

The next day...

Matron of Honor

I am really bad about checking the mail.  Most of the time about 75% of our mail is junk.  Andy has most of our bills set up on auto-draft or he pays them online. The few paper statements that we still get are just filed.  I finally checked the mail today (after about five days of not checking it) and little did I know that I would be super excited to check it.

Blair, my brother's fiancée, sent me a card asking me to be the Matron of Honor in their wedding!  I am so excited that my little brother is getting hitched!  I cannot wait until their wedding!  Being in the wedding is going to make it even more special.  I told Blair that I did not have to be in the wedding if she wanted one of her lifelong friends to fill that spot.  It honestly wouldn't have upset me if I was not in the wedding.  I know both of them love me, and I didn't need a role in their wedding for them to "prove" that.  However, I am stoked to be in it!!  Now I have to read up on all my duties. :)

State Testing

If a student attends a public school in the state of Texas, they now have to take the STAAR EOC - State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness End-of-Course - test in order to graduate from high school.  When I was in school, it was called TAAS - Texas Assessment of Academic Skills.  Then it changed to TAKS - Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.  Bascially, all of these tests are the same things just different "fun" acronyms.  I think it's just a big money maker for who can come up with the next acronym for a state test.

When I was in college, a newbie at this whole education thing, I thought standardized testing was pointless.  But what's the alternative?  Even the collegiate system uses a standardized test (SAT, ACT, etc.) to determine acceptance into their universities and colleges.  Some professions outside of education require employees and potential employees to take tests in order to determine your skills and abilities to perform well in that business.  Unfortunately, I can't come up with anything more fair than a standardized test.  It's a test that is the same for everyone and everyone must take it.

This is how I explain it to my kids... I make you work really hard in my Algebra class.  You have to learn something everyday.  We take difficult quizzes and tests.  I don't just give you free grades.  However, a teacher at a different school may give their students participation grades for everything.  So they really aren't learning Algebra, but on paper they are probably make really really good grades.  Is it fair for them to graduate with the same degree you get it when you had to work so much harder?  Is it fair for them to take your spot at a college or university because their grades may look better than yours?  Standardized tests hold everyone accountable - teachers, students, and parents.  Teachers have to teach the material, students have to learn the material, and the parents need to support both.  I have spent countless hours thinking about what the alternative would be or could be.  I draw a blank.

With all that being said, it's not fun watching my students take a five hour test.  We had two days of testing for the English 1 and 2 EOC test.  Students were given five hours each day to complete a reading portion, essay portion, and short answer section.  Ugh!  It was a LONG day.  I was exhausted, and I am sure my kids were exhausted too.  So after testing for two days, Andy and I decided to go out to eat an extra night this week as a treat for surviving the first round of tests. :)

Attic Space

This past Saturday we went to Tarkington to help Andy's mom finish cleaning out the barn.  It's amazing how much stuff was in there and that we could fit it all on two trailers.  Now, several large pieces of equipment had already been sold so that helped.  But wow!  There was a lot!  Friday starts the garage sale, which we will not be there on that day.  But we will be there the second day - Saturday.  I'm hoping we make enough money to replace our desktop computer.

On Sunday Andy decided to lay plywood in the attic for our things that we don't need to access all of the time.  We had Andy's dad's table saw to help us cut down the plywood.  We thought we were going to have to cut out an opening the ceiling of our garage to use the attic space above the garage.  However, the rafters ended up being awkward, and it was too difficult to lay down any of the plywood.  Andy did find some space right inside the attic entry in the house.  I am very excited to almost have the spare room empty and the garage organized.  Slowly but surely we're moving completely into our house!

Very excited about attic space!