Buyer's Regret

Honey's class has a monkey theme this year. They can earn "monkey money" for doing good deeds etc in the classroom. Honey had over 100 monkey bucks saved up when her teacher "opened" the store the other day. She was so excited to tell me about her purchase when I picked them up on Monday. When she got in the car she finally had time to check out the puppy she had spent her money on. To her dismay, there wasn't really a puppy in there at all! The package said "pet in a bag" and sure enough you could see a mini canvas sack and sticking out of the sides were two furry ears and a tail coming out the back. If you squeeze the sack, you can hear a puppy barking. Honey tried and tried to open the bag but couldn't get it open and it didn't feel like a puppy in there at all! She handed it to me and I could tell right away it was one of those joke products and she wasn't ever getting a stuffed animal out of there!

She was so upset and the tears started right away. "but I saved and saved and spent almost all my money!!! 100 DOLLARS and it's not a REAL animal????? my teacher said there was a puppy in it!!!". Since it's an extra activity the teacher is doing, most likely out of her own pocket, I wasn't sure what to say to Honey. I didn't want her carrying on like that at school and there will be other "store" days for  her to get something else. In the end I told her she could talk to her teacher the next day and explain how she'd been mistaken when she picked it but she decided it would be too hard to keep from crying and she didn't know how to explain herself without getting upset. Instead she's using it as a backpack decoration and saving up more monkey bucks for next time. Lesson learned, make sure you know what you're buying BEFORE you hand over all your hard earned monkey bucks!

Going Strong!

Murphy has recovered nicely and seems to have most of his energy back.  Now that he's not on the arthritis medication, he's a bit stiffer and slower moving but the main thing is that he's still moving! For a few weeks he'd only go for small walks, one or maybe two houses down the road and back. By the time he'd get home his back legs would be shaking from exhaustion and he'd go to sleep right away.

On the weekend we went for a walk in our old stomping grounds and he saw us leaving and immediately  made it known that we were NOT going on any walk without him! Busted! We had to go back & get him & Murray was prepared to turn around with him when he got too tired. He never did! With the numerous stops that the girls make to play and explore (high speed hikers they are not!) he got lots of breaks and chances to catch his breath. He really slowed down for the last bit of the way home but he did last for an hour or so out there with us!

We're so happy that he's still hanging in there and enjoying it while it lasts!

My Party!

We had a party last night to celebrate my big milestone birthday. My sister in law made a trip just to attend! Teena, Dale & Boo came for supper and we had deep fried turkey!!!!!!!!!! Teena has talked about this meal for ages and I've been dying to try it out and she made it happen for my big birthday:))) Dale was the one who had to slave over a hot vat but everyone greatly enjoyed the fruits of his labour. Even all the kids ate supper willingly! and Honey asked for 2nd and 3rd helpings. The seasonings made the meat so tasty & juicy and it was surprisingly not greasy at all. I had to tear myself away from the table to stop eating it. Mmmmm mmmm good! Colonel Sanders has nothing on Chef Dale!

 

Look, he's got a timer and everything! 

After supper it was time to get things ready for stage 2, bonfire birthday party!!! with cake, s'mores, chips, cheesies, glow in the dark bracelets & sparklers! I'd invited my close friends & their families and they all arrived around 6:30. One guest was a wonderful surprise and I shrieked with delight when I realized who had walked in the door! (some people's ears may never recover) Nicolle had brought along Babycakes who used to go to our church and used to come hang out with me here with some of the other teens from youth group. Now that she's at another church, I rarely see her but miss her ALOT!

Murray got the buffet table set up and started bringing out the food and beverages and got the fire started with a little gasoline assistance! The sun had set by the time we had everything ready so we started with some sparklers and glow in the dark bracelets to keep the kids entertained while the rest of the food was being brought out.

The kids were beyond "wild with excitement". If a party could be judged solely by noise level, this thing was a raging success! We had trampoline action, haunted playhouse mischief, the pyrotechnics and lots of racing and tearing around AND caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!!! mmmmmmm cake!!! I ordered it earlier in the week and had been looking forward to it ever since. oh cake, how do I love thee???

It was a great night & everybody went home full but tired! I enjoyed my party immensely and was so glad that people came! (I'm 40 but still worry that no one will show up if I invite them, shouldn't I be over this by now??? LOL)