Luna's First Day of School

We got up a little late for school, but made it on time.
Pops took a couple photos for Me before we left for school.
She did really well and didn't have the epic freak out I was expecting. Yayyyy!

There are only 10 kids in her class, two boys were there when we got in. I have no idea what the entire class looks like, though. Her teacher is Ms Violetta. She has a really heavy asian accent. Hopefully, Luna won't pick it up the way Steele picked up the spanish speech structure from his stint at Pre-K.

Personally, I'm pretty ragged out from the walk. It'll get easier though.

Giving the monkey some love before school.

Photo Op!

Sunglasses, Mp3 player, water & chariot.

We're ready to roll.

This is the main crossroads in Deland.

Her first day. *sniffle* My baby's gettin grown.

*** Just in case you don't know, if you click on the photos they get big.*****

Daddy and Luna

I got some photos of "Quality Time With Daddy"


Proud Papa and his Gamer Girl.


He's explaining something...



Tired Monkey being read Nursery Rhymes by Daddy.

He even makes sound effects.

Fun & Good Times before bed.

Luna's room

We were going to put Luna in the middle bedroom, but she's having issues sleeping in her room. I moved her into the front room, so I can open the door and she can see us. Little steps to getting her independent.... Wadean's husband Jessie is going to come over tonight to install the circa 1960 smiley face ceiling light for me.

I found a sleighbed on Craigslist for $25. I was amazed. The thing is solid wood, wonderfully kept and a very expensive chunk of furniture. Wow. Cool!!!!!!!! Got it home and it was under an inch too large to fit the way I wanted it to. *sigh* We got it in, though.

I'd taken back from Fanya a lamp that Mom gave her, but it lived in her closet. She never used it. It's got a painted roses and beaded glass shade. I'd hung her little bats - they'd been over her crib when she was a baby. Her purple moon mobile got some space. I've taken out all the toys and put them into the middle room, but I left her full as it can be bookshelf.

I used an old yellow butterfly sheet that was left at the house by one of the ex-roomie's mostly homeless buddies to make curtains. I also raided an old Pops topsheet. He rarely uses the topsheets. They'd end up on the floor for Molly to sleep on.

I got out my creative hat and went to Walmart and spent about $15 on iron on stuff, fabric paint and red fabric. I'd cut off some shorts for Fanya and used the leftover stripey fabric in my build.

This is what happened....

Crazy Cat Lady

We've got a feral colony in the backyard, some kittens, Dad's cats and my kids.
It's a screaming buttload of cats. My current count is 21, with maybe 2 more that stop in for a bite and roll. I'm trying to catch one who's pregnant before we have more kittens. I've been fixing anyone I can catch without a trap, but it's about time to start considering buying a trap. When I'm done with it, I can give it to the lady at the feline rescue who is posting the kittens for giveaway and fixing them at no cost. At this count, I have 11 who need to be fixed.

When I showed up, I brought my cats:
Buster (fixed)
Sabby (fixed)
Grey (fixed)
Lola (fixed)
Cleo (fixed)

Dad had his cats:
Angel (fixed)
Dora (boy)

We got kittens from the ferals, they've been domesticated enough to even be ok with our dogs!:
Rosencrantz (Rosie) - getting fixed this week
Guildenstern (Gil) - getting fixed this week

Then there were more kittens:
Polly (girl - she's domesticated and the runt. She likes being an indoor cat)
Wolly (boy - semi-feral)
Doodle (girl - semi-feral, working on domesticating her)
Allah (no idea, way too feral - but next on the bus for domestication)
Dae (girl - semi-domestic)

The ferals I've been naming and getting fixed and shots:
Frankie (now semi-domestic & fixed)
Nia (pregnant!)
Tanner (boy)
Grady (girl)
Adelaide (girl)
Houdini (fixed)
Gizmo (boy)

School time!

Luna is finally signed up for VPK, it starts Aug 31st. It's near Freedom Park, but on the boulevard. Mapquest says it's 1.4 miles from the house.

After realizing that asking the kid to walk 5+miles a day would not be a nice thing to do, I started plans to build a rickshaw. Mike's pop was gonna help on Sunday, but he found a jogging stroller on Craigslist - Orlando, but located in Deland for like $45. The rickshaw was gonna cost 30, so why not avoid the work and just buy it? We did. She let us have it for $40 and it's a $200 unit.

I've found the rain shield on Ebay, it's gonna cost us another $30 to get it.

This week we are starting the school wake/sleep schedule. It's really really really hard for me. She's got mommy's natural aversion to getting up early. This morning after grabbing my principals and not begging for more time, I started trying to wake her. It took two dogs, two parents and actual lifting of the child to accomplish. We walked about a mile and a half to Wadean's and back this morning. I want to do stuff like that two or three times a week to get my legs ready for the real deal.

To keep her happy, I'm getting her a new set of headphones just for her MP3 player. She can rock out on the way to school. It's gonna be neat. I hope she sings as I walk.

Hopefully, walking a few miles each day will help me lose my giant rear end. I'm trying to keep the idea of a gift of weight loss & earth friendly behavior rather than a whine-fest of not having a car. Wonder which idea will happen in the rain....