A Day in the Life of Erin

Erin's mom here. I'm going to take a stab at telling you about Erin and Scouts first day on the road. I'm not as funny or as colorful as Erin is, so just imagine Erin telling it.

Monday: Erin calls me in the morning to say they woke up to a flat tire on the "vintage" trailer. They had been told it would need tires so they had all of them replaced. What's another few hundred when you've come this far.

Ring...ring, 2nd call: Mom, you're not going to believe this dip shit that just passed us like a bat out of hell in the middle of the road, not even a lane!!!! He threw a big rock up and shattered the wind shield!!! So what do they do??? They go after the guy!!! Driving down a country road hauling a "vintage" trailer with six dogs, a turtle & a baby. Well, thankfully they didn't catch him. You never know what those rednecks are packing. Uh....sorry Scout. Nothing personal.

Ring, ring, ring 3rd call: Erin is hysterical, crying and all I make out is the word dead...For a moment I panic and freak out and my co-workers are wondering what the hey. Erin ends up yelling at me "The turtle is dead" , she's sobbing now. "I fried her to death!!!" She berates herself over and over, saying how rotten she is, how bad she feels, "I hope it was quick"!!!!!! They had pulled over to get a soda out of the trailer and that's when Erin saw that Jalapeno was a goner. It had just gotten too hot in the "vintage" trailer.

Later....another call, Erin is better and can talk now. I asked her if they had a roadside burial. "Well, she says....I put her under someones mailbox." Won't someone be happy when they pick up their mail after this turtle has rotted for awhile. Stinky!!!!

The rest of the afternoon passed quietly. I hear from her about an hour from Amarillo where they are going to stop at a KOA. Great...I can rest and go to sleep. Ring, ring, RING...it's 11:30 pm my time. "Mom"??? Yes Erin..." We were pulling into the KOA site and Scout hit the water hook up and broke it. We've tryed to shut the water off but it won't stop. There's water all over, flooding...what do you think we should do??" I'm sure you are asking yourself like I was at the time...why are you calling me? Erin says, "Do you think I should tell them in the morning? Do you think they will charge me?" If they had stopped at Walmart like I suggested!!!! we'd all be sleeping!!! So I tell her there's nothing they can do now....go to bed.

Next day: Everything turned out okay. She told me some guy tryed to help her find an emergency number last night but couldn't. Erin went in to report it, it had already been fixed. She never had to fess up that they did it. She actually looked like the hero who tryed to fix it.

Last I talked to her they weren't too far from Colorado Springs. They hope to go househunting tomorrow. I'm sure I will hear where they parked the "vintage trailer" with the six dogs, one less turtle and the baby.

Ocean Shores

Tucker and I went to Ocean Shores with my mom and stepdad after Scout came back to Texas (some people have real jobs!). It was freezing and windy, but I was determined to get some pictures (kudos to my mom for great photos).

My crazy stepdad. He's a kid in a grown up's body, I swear:

Getting eaten by the shark:

Standing on the beach! This is a huge deal since Tucker refuses to stand or walk on his own!

Me and my boy:

A Birthday in Pictures

Teagan's birthday was amazing and so much fun. I wish I had time to upload more pictures.

A bathing suit and a buddy:

Cousins, trying to get along:

Presents. I think she likes the quilt I made her!

Cake. I love this picture:

Trailer Update

So, Dutchgirl, I didn't talk Scout into the trailer I blogged about.

We went to look at it. I saw it for what it could be: Beautiful, clean, and useful.

Scout took one sniff and walked out. He saw it for what it was: Ugly, smelly, and gross. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "You REALLY want that piece of SHIT? NO."

Scout never says no. Scout lets me be my crazy self and have these wild thoughts about buying trailers and living in them. But he wasn't havin' it this time.

So I introduced him to a substantially higher priced trailer - a 1971 31-foot Airstream Sovereign. We are in the process of buying it now. And I'm glad he stood his ground on Trailer Number One. Trailer Number Two is Suhweet.

I wish I could tell you I'd have pictures of it soon, but the internet is getting shut off tomorrow and we're moving in a few days. Gotta get all my blogging in today!

Moving is a Pain in my Ass

I've come to terms with moving. I'd even say I'm happy about moving. But it's still a pain in my ass.

We were supposed to fly to Seattle for my niece's birthday last night. We were planning on shipping some dogs to my mom's and sister's to lessen the stress of moving with SIX of them. Thunderstorms hit Dallas and the flight got canceled. We're leaving tonight.

Problem is, it's supposed to be 101 degrees today (it's supposed to feel like 109 degrees). We can't ship the three dogs when it's over 85 degrees.

My assumption is that it will only get hotter over the next few weeks, and shipping the dogs will become even less likely. Hooray.

By the way: I had prepared all of the kennels, which meant cleaning them out - we bought them at Goodwill, and they needed a good cleaning. Put fresh towels in them, put "Live Animal" stickers on, attached food/water instructions. Filled up water containers that look like they belong in a gerbil cage. Took dogs in for vaccines and health certificates. Loaded dogs in kennels. Loaded kennels in truck. Drove to airport. Unloaded dogs. Lifted and stacked kennels on tiny carts. Got "Look at the Crazy People" stares from strangers. Stacked suitcases, a purse, an ACU backpack, a Nike backpack, and Tucker onto tiny carts. Stumbled into airport. Found out flight is canceled. Stumbled back out of airport. Unstacked and reloaded dogs into truck. Drove home. Dogs thought, "What the hell was that all about?"

So here's my plan. My mom and Scout think I'm a lunatic.

1) Forget about flying the dogs (and then arranging to pick them up when we find and buy a house in Colorado).

2) Buy a trailer, pack up our crap, and live in said trailer (very temporarily) until we find a house. (I've been wanting an Airstream - isn't it awesome?)

3) Live Happily Ever After.

There are a few benefits to this dream of mine. 1) We won't have to ship the dogs. 2) We won't have to worry about finding a hotel room - particularly with six dogs. 3) We can stay for cheap in an RV park. 4) We LOVE camping! 5) I'm trying really hard to come up with more; my husband isn't convinced yet.

We're going to look at the trailer today, although I don't think Scout will go for it.

I think it sounds adventurous and crazy. And that's the way I like things.

What do you think?

Texts From Last Night

Have you guys heard about this place? I LOVE it!

Two of my favorites:

(713): wait, did i just see you litter out your window??
(281): umm, i have a hybrid. it cancels out.

(714): Was just hit on by a guy with 2 kids and one was named Rocky. I need to get out of Buena Park.

I Made it.

I made it through my first year of teaching. Here's my last day in (mostly) pictures.

Such a pretty, sweet girl. She transferred in and I didn't have long with her, but she was lovely.

Love these guys. The one on the right was the most respectful, lovable, smartest kid around. The one on the left gave me a run for my money on the days he didn't take his meds for ADHD (some days, I had to remind myself that it would not be in my best interest to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze). But on his good days, he made the bad days worth it. The one in the middle was just a good kid whom I adored.

You wanna talk about a smart kid with a future? This is him. This picture looks so awkward because my hands are wrapped all the way around his skinny (tall, tall, tall) body. But he's great.

These are two more sweet kids that I will miss. I love how he's looking over at her while she looks at the camera. I'm glad to have this sweet picture of them.

This was one of my favorite students; he has Asperger Syndrome, which was always challenging in a classroom environment. But he was so passionate about Star Trek and fire fighting. He drew me pictures and told me (over and over and over) about the latest episode of whatever he watched on the SciFi channel the night before. Before the ceremony yesterday, he held up his hand like in this picture; I shaped my hand the same way and gave him a high five. He said, "Ok, you weren't supposed to do that." I asked him why not and he said, "Vulcans don't give high fives." I asked him if we could invent the Vulcan High Five, and he said, "Well, I guess so." He was not impressed with my attempt at being a nerd. (I asked him about his lovely vest, and his grandma knit it for him; how cute is that?). Oh, and in my yearbook he wrote, "Live long and prospere." (spelling is his).

I have more pictures to post; scroll down.

Teachers I will miss

This is me with a two good friends; a great history teacher and an awesome art teacher. They are great girls whom I will miss dearly. We were mocking all the kids that were taking pictures that day. I kept telling the students, "Put your hands down! You look like tourists at Disney Land!"

This is a guy I am lucky to know and call a friend. You could ask him anything about U.S. History and he would know the answer, and then he could tell you everything else about it that you'd never find in a textbook. He always fascinated me when he spoke about the early years of our nation; I could sit and listen to him speak about it forever. He's also someone I always felt very safe around. Man, I'll miss him too.

It would take me forever to upload all the pictures I want and say all the things I could about my first year teaching. I'm glad it's over, but there are good memories and good people whom I will never forget.

Dog Bed Question

Recently, my dog bed idea was featured (well, "featured" makes it sound much more important than it is - but I don't know what other word to use for it) on Design*Sponge, an awesome website that has very creative before and after projects.

Another Design*Sponge reader, Autumn, asked how I got the TV out of the actual box. I'm glad you asked, Autumn! (Good thing I took pictures of it!) It is very simple, really.

First, you take the back off with a screw driver. Watch out; mine was pretty nasty inside! The one I rescued smelled like fried chicken when I opened it (maybe they had that for dinner a lot? Hmmm).

Here's the back:


And after removal:


Then, gather a curious baby, a sexy man (preferably with tattoos), and a pair of wire cutters.

Just start snipping (or have a sexy, tattooed man do the snipping). The nice thing is that you don't have to worry about cutting the wrong wire or doing ANYTHING wrong at this point. (Remember, it's just a dog bed!)


To take the actual television out, you will probably need some help (it is quite heavy). Unscrew the screws that are holding it in place and pull it out!

You will also notice that what used to frame the TV (and be used to switch channels) is separately screwed in. Remove those screws and pull the frame out.


And there you go! The easy part is done! Now pick out some fun colored paint and some pretty fabric and go to town (by the way, a king size pillow fit perfectly in the box, which we had laying around the house; no need to sew a fancy cushion - unless you want to).

Lewis

This is my entry for iHeartFaces this week. I don't have any good birthday shots, but I can enter the pet category for sure!

Here is Lewis, watching the neighborhood from the front of our house.

Go check out all the other great entries!