Am I CRAZY? Chickens in our house?

Okay so let me tell you first off that I am not this huge animal lover. I like them, but do not want to have a zoo. LOL! Three cats, a dog, and a part time fish (it lives in the dorm with Kasie most of the time) are plenty enough for me! Actually they are too much for me. Well … I do not always have the deciding vote in our house. I run a democracy; sometimes I wish it was not. LOL!

While we are at Art class today (Kasie joined us) we played with Ms. Samantha’s chickens again. Ms. Samantha lives in the real country; not the have a big yard with no trees to climb and still have neighbors country like we do (Kalie’s words). Ms. Samantha has a wonderful husband who supports her crazy, eclectic, creative homeschooling adventure. They have a dog, five cats (two who will be having kittens soon), two guinea pigs, two birds, 3 roosters and many chickens! So … while we are there Kasie is talking to Ms. Samantha about her chickens and how cool it is to have chickens just walking around your yard. Somehow (I do not know because I missed the beginning of the conversation) Kasie discovered that you could get baby chicks at the local Feed and Seed for under $5 each. So, guess what Kalie is going to get for Easter. How crazy is this? Ms. Samantha said that when the chick was too old to keep in the house we could add it to her “flock”.

Our homeschool adventure is becoming more and more unschooled. I need help!

Tuesday ~ A busy day.

Tuesday is our busiest day of the week. In the morning we have MMCC and Art class in the afternoon. I always try to fit in all of the errands needed in between the two. So it can be hectic. Today was no exception.

Ralphy (our youngest kitten/cat) is about 9 to 10 months old now. So it was time to be fixed. (I am a firm believer in getting pets fixed, unless you are a responsible breeder.) We dropped him off at the vet at 8:30 on our way to work.

Kasie was the infant teacher today (Ashley, her friend who usually does it, went home to NC for spring break). She spent the time loving on Carissa (almost 7 months) and Mia (almost 10 months). Kalie helped Ms. Elizabeth (and the two homeschooled teenage girls) in the Toddlers and Two class today. I was alone with the preschoolers. We had a great morning!

Afterwards we went to the bank and ran errands. Then off to Art class which was an adventure to be told in another post. LOL!

When Art class was over, we had to rescue our little “Ralphy Muffin-Cake” (as Katie calls him). Our running around did not end until after 5:00. We were all so tired when we got home. The evening was spent “chilling and relaxing”. Kalie played with Izzie and I loved on Ralphy. It will be hard to keep him in the house for a few days as he loves to play in the yard.

Monday ~ Cleaning and Scouts

The day was spent cleaning the house (we did not finish the day before), running errands and a Scout meeting in the evening. Kasie stayed home while we went to Girl Scouts. I came home to Hayley (her friend) and her changing their hair color, AGAIN! Whenever Kasie gets bored, upset, stressed, etc. she changes her hair. I guess I should not be upset, as hair will grow out/back. She could be doing worse things, like piercing and tatoos. I do not always understand my girls. LOL!

Sunday ~ The adventure continues.

On Sunday morning as we are getting ready for church, I said (really loud as Kalie was in the other room) to Katie and Kasie, “Well, what do you think? Have we found the right dog? Should we keep her?” In their loud, overly done voice, they answered; “Yeah, I guess we should keep her.” Kalie screamed and started crying and laughing, the dog went crazy. Kalie was hugging her so hard that I was afraid she might break a rib. She kept saying, “Izzie you are part of the family now. You get to be my dog forever. We are going to be best friends. We can adopt you! I love you so much!” It was a good 10 minutes before she came out of the room to tell us “Thank You”

Kalie did not want to leave her when we went to church. I had to set some ground rules very fast. LOL! Izzie is not a reason to miss commitments and responsibilities! Walking into church, I started towards our usual spot; right behind the Dyches’ and Mark & Mer, but Kalie had other plans. She wanted to sit by Jonathan. I was very surprised! She has made so much progress with her anxiety lately. Eighteen months ago I could barely get her to church, twelve months ago it was a struggle to get her to Sunday School, six months ago I could barely get her to go to community group without tears and having to leave early and today ... we sat by someone new (well not really new, he is in our community group but we have never sat by him before) and she walked almost all of the way to Sunday School by herself. HUGE progress! I am so pleased and happy!

After church we made our usual stop at Wal-Mart for our paper and Sunday treat. While we were there we stopped at the craft/fabric department. I needed a pioneer dress pattern (yes we are really into this unit study) and … we had to get a doggie coat/bed pattern. Kasie and Kalie picked out coordinating fabric to make 3 coats. We will pick out fabric to make the cover for her crate later in the week. Kasie is very excited that Izzie is a girl/dog who likes to wear clothes.

The older girls went to work for the afternoon. Kalie and I came home to CLEAN (our house was trashed). We worked for about 3 hours doing laundry (we had about 6 loads to fold) and picking up. It was so cute where ever Kalie went Izzie followed. We folded the laundry on my bed. I would hand Kalie a stack of folded laundry to put away, she would walk out of the room, and Izzie would jump off the bed to follow her. They would return. Izzie would jump on the bed, lie down and look as if she was sleeping. As soon as Kalie would start to walk away from the bed to put something else away, Izzie would perk up, jump off the bed and follow her.

I think that Izabel will be the perfect best friend for Kalie. The only concern I have is … will Izzie want to be homeschooled. I do not need any more uncooperative students. We have had problems with Oliver, Stanley and Ralphy (the cats) and their participation. LOL! You think I am crazy, but Kalie has spent many an afternoon locked in the bathroom trying to teach the cats’ math. I also think that Izzie will also help to get Kalie more active and trim her up/down. I say this because she took the poor dog for 6 walks from 12:00 until 5:15. LOL! Poor dog.

We met Paige at around 4:30 to get Izzie’s crate and toys. I know that she was sad to see Izzie go to a new family, but happy to see that she will be loved, pampered and spoiled. We will meet Paige early next week to get Izzie’s shot record and papers. We will register her, but will not breed her. In fact I will make an appointment to get her fixed very soon. I am going to check into a class for Kalie and Izzie. I thought it might be another way to help Kalie with her anxiety about new people and places if Kalie and Izzie did dog shows together. Nothing serious or stressful, just maybe a local show.

Kalie did not want to go to community group for church. I had to reinforce the laws that had been stated in the morning before church. We had a wonderful supper with great fellowship! I am very blessed and fortunate to have “the Best community group” ever. After the meal we had a short sermon discussion and broke into prayer groups (men and women separate). Well sometime the miracles pour out all at one time. Kalie joined us for prayer time. I was so amazed. She has never joined us for prayer before. She has always played (sometimes quietly and sometimes not so quietly) in the background. She is still young (7 ½) so I just pushed being respectful and quiet during prayer time not requiring her to participate. Well she did participate and very well at that! I was so very proud and pleased with her! God is so good! He is slowly changing Kalie into his chosen daughter. I am very blessed!

Katie dropped Kasie off at community group after work. Katie had to go back to AU. Kasie did not have to go back to NGU because she is home for the week. Yea! Spring Break! Kalie is happy to have her sister home! The rest of the night went very well. Izzie slept in Kasie’s bed with her.

Saturday ~ A new dog?

Kalie has been very lonely since her daddy has died. He was the “good” parent, always ready to play and read. He never had to worry about keeping the house, paying the bills, her education, therapy appointments, her diet, clothes, etc. You know all the things moms have to do. We have all missed Bill, each in our own way. The older girls miss having someone on their side to help change my mind. I miss my best friend and confidant. Kalie misses her best friend and daddy! He has been gone for two months now and it seems like yesterday and also like forever ago. So, that being said, we have been missing something … I of course, had to try and fix things and fill the void.

We got a dog! Crazy, I know. Just what I need, another responsibility and expense to add to my overflowing, underfunded plate. I really felt that Kalie needed an always be there for you, love you even during the rough times, friend. Well hopefully, that is what Izzie will be.

Izabel (Izzie for short) is an AKC black cocker spaniel. She is about a year old. She has been crate and house trained. (Which is the only way I could have done it, we are not good trainers? LOL!) A friend who encouraged this new adventure, saw a listing on Craig’s List. She convinced me to check it out. After over a week of back and forth we finally met Paige (Izzie’s mommy). She bought Izzie to meet us. It went so well that we asked if she could have a puppy play date for a few hours. Well that went so well that we called and asked if Izzie could spend the night. Kalie was so happy! The two of them were glued together the entire day/night. Where ever Kalie went Izzie followed.

We had a very busy day! The morning started off with a cookie booth sale and meeting Izzie, things just got busier. I had to run Kasie to work (by noon), go back to the cookie booth, end the cookie booth, afternoon errands, getting our hair cut, running Katie to work, library trip, and a cookie drop off all with a dog in tow. LOL! It was crazy! We also stopped at Petco, got some doggie treats and had Izzie’s nails trimmed. By that time I knew that we would be keeping her.

Kalie, Izzie and I picked the older girls up at 9ish from work. We all changed into our pajamas and went to Brewster’s (Ice Cream) for free waffle cones. Once a year (the first weekend in March) they have pajama day. If you come to Brewster’s in you pajamas they give you a free waffle cone. They also give dogs a free puppy sundae (vanilla ice cream and a doggie biscuit) whenever you come. Katie worked at Brewster’s for 2 year. We LOVE Brewster’s.

To be continued ...