Nate's Letter to Me

I can't find a picture of the front, only the back unfortunately.

District Pinewood Derby

Nate took 2nd place at the District Pinewood Derby race today. Wow! I was just sad Mario wasn't there to share in the happiness. I kept him up to date on the race by text though. I even did what I made fun of the Bishop for doing last year...I wrote down some of the fastest times of other cars to keep track.

Mario's Quilting Conversation

Mario called me a few minutes ago and told me about a conversation he had with one of the other students in his class, a guy in the Army.  He said, "Terri, I just had a half hour discussion with an Army guy. Guess what we talked about."  I guessed the church because that's normally what gets Mario all excited, sharing the gospel.  He said, "No, quilting."  I laughed and asked him why.  He couldn't remember why they started the conversation but Mario said something like, "I don't want you to think my wife is old or anything, but she loves quilting."  The guy laughed and told Mario that his wife also enjoys quilting.  Mario is just like me, I thought quilting was for older women.  But after reading many quilting blogs, I have come to discover there are as many younger women (younger than me) as there are older women that quilt.

Anyway, they spent the next half hour discussing the different brands of sewing machines, the cost of fabric and thread, etc.  Mario said finally a young Navy guy sitting near them leaned over to another guy and asked, "Are they talking about quilting?"  Mario overhead and he and the Army guy laughed. The Navy guy has only been married a couple years and his wife hasn't gotten into quilting yet, but I'm guessing he won't ever want his wife to get into quilting after Mario and the Army guy told him how much we spend on the sewing machine and all the fabric.  Mario told the guy that I tutor to support my expensive hobby.  Mario mistakenly told them that I spend $300-$400 on each quilt. Poor Navy guy.  I only spent that much making my quilt for my bed, and I don't even really like it.  So I plan to change it when I finish all my other projects and save up to buy that much fabric again.

Sophie the Garbage Disposal

Sophie wasn't eating yesterday and then I noticed she was throwing up grass and was pretty lethargic. I thought she probably made herself sick on stolen Easter candy.

But by this morning, I became really worried. I started googling objects being caught in dog's intestines. Sure enough, Sophie sounded like she had those symptoms. I decided to call the vet this morning.

I dropped her off on my way into tutoring this morning. They told me the vet had several surgeries today and he would see her as soon as he could. Around 2 this afternoon he finally called me and said she had a corn cob stuck in her intestines. We could wait another day to see if she could clear it but he didn't recommend it. She was severally dehydrated. I had thought so. She had gone from looking like a hyper pup to an old dog within just a day.

I asked what kind if price we were looking at (because when I goggled it, people were saying they paid between $800 and $3000 for the surgery. He first gave me this long list of things they would charge me for like vet visit, IV, medication, X-rays, surgery, etc. It seemed like he gave me a list of like 15 things. I braced myself for a $2-$3000 bill. Then he finally told me I was looking at $450 for everything. Holy cow! I told him I was expecting $2000. He said well he could send me to another vet clinic in town that would charge that much. I asked him how soon he could do the surgery. He stated he would do it as soon as we hung up.

What a relief! We can have our dog back for a month's worth of tutoring money. He said she will be a totally different dog tomorrow when she is hydrated again. He also said Sophie was a very lucky dog because sometimes these type of things can do severe damage to the intestines and then it can be very complicated (and I'm sure costly) to fix. I think we are lucky she's alive due to dehydration alone.

Poor Zach has been really worried about her. He begged to miss school to take her to vet. I would have allowed him to since he wants to be a vet but I knew I couldn't stay with her.

I have now gone to the store and bought new trash cans with lids and the kitchen one even locks. Now we just have to remember to lock it. We may have to shock her to teach her to stay out of the kitchen. Her life may depend on her learning to stay away from the trash.

Celebrating Eric's ACT Score

Eric scored a 34 on his most recent ACT test. He even got a 34 on the science section which I heard is tough because it's the last test section and you are worn out. So he chose to celebrate at Texas Roadhouse. Erin wouldn't join us because she didn't think she could find anything here that would be butter-free.

He says he's done taking the test. He is satisfied with his score now. Congrats Eric! We are so proud of you!

Eric makes me laugh because for all these years, he has accused me of being too strict. But I see him with his younger siblings and I tell him that he's going to be a stricter parent than me. For example, tonight at dinner, the boys wanted more rolls. They asked me if they could ask the server for another basket. I was going to say yes, but Eric jumped in and told them no that they didn't need to be a glutton. Then they wanted more soda. Again, Eric told them no. He and Erin no longer drink soda so now he doesn't want them drinking it either or at least not too much. So, I think I have proven my point. So when his kids ask for an IPhone (or whatever technology is available in 20 years) I'm positive he will say no even though he thinks I'm completely unreasonable for not getting him one now.

While at dinner I got a text from Cameron's parents. They have apparently come up with the money owed and want me to go back to tutoring tomorrow. That was a very short break (1 day) for me. They asked if they could pay me 2/3 tomorrow and the other 1/3 by end of the month. I agreed. But I really don't like playing the role of bill collector so I definitely have learned some lessons for when I do this tutoring full time. Lesson learned...have Mario take care of all the billing and collections. I'll just tutor. I think that's a good, fair plan.

Squirrel! Squirrel!

I used to love the trees in my yard. I don't love them now since we adopted Sophie. The trees only bring squirrels. And squirrels that like to taunt Sophie. This morning Sophie was barking and barking and I think trying to tell me she needs to get outside immediately to take care of our "squirrel problem." I finally had to put her shock collar on to keep her quiet but here she is standing and looking at the door begging to go out to mess/try to play/kill the squirrel right outside the window.

Prepping for Easter

The boys each made Erin a homemade Easter gift out of leftover Mickey Mouse fabric from her Christmas present. I love how Nate is supervising Zach to make sure he doesn't break my sewing machine. Zach made Erin a small zippered keyring pouch for her gum and Chapstick. Those are two things that Erin has on her at all times. Nate made her a fleece blanket. Zach has done something that I have never done myself. I've never sewn anything with a zipper. I've always been scared but I discovered a zipper foot and a blind stitch foot make sewing zippers very easy.

We also made our traditional Easter Bunny cake. But I made it out of white cake mix with strawberry frosting since I won't be eating any of it. Now I won't even be tempted. As the sign says that hangs in my kitchen "If it ain't chocolate, it ain't worth the calories." That was a gift from my friend, Luana from Illinois.