Home Improvement

We have been fighting a cloggy toilet upstairs for several months. Alicia kept telling JR it needed to be fixed and he kept telling her to call the landlord! For about two weeks Alicia and Brittany have been using our toilet downstairs. With Dani's arrival I had to put my foot down. Tooo many people were going to use the downstairs toilet! So we bought a new one on Monday night and JR and a friend put it in. Quite hilarious.

After JR got the old one out, which was pretty easy, they put the new bowl in.... and kept yelling at me not to take pictures! All was going good until they went to put the tank on and it wouldn't fit. They measured and the contractor who refinished the house four years ago did not put the drain hole the necessary 12" from the wall like it's supposed to be. Moving the hole was NOT in the option list, and going back to the old not working toilet because it was too cheap also got booted off the list.

And that meant ... yes, you guessed it! Cutting a hole in the wall so the tank would fit. How funny is that?? But it is working and one day... maybe... the hole will be finished so it doesn't look goofy.

Dani

On Saturday evening we welcomed Dani. Though, I am sad to say, we were late getting there. Alicia and I went to our standing hair appointment, JR went down to the local barber shop, then we tackled the lawn...s. We actually do three of them, our neighbor to the north and our neighbor to the south. That's a 2 1/2 hour job for JR and I and it's always HOT!! So we took our showers - couldn't show up stinky - what kind of impression would that be?

So anyway, when the girls and I had the training class 4:30 was mentioned in conjuction with the pick up. So true to form, when the email showed up with all the pertinent info -- I did not read it all. Because - yes - I knew better!

We arrived when they let out and kids were going to pick up their bags. Great first impression!

Any way... Dani is a lovely 16 girl. Very quiet and speaks English very well. Thank goodness she likes animals since we have so many. We got her enrolled in school. She likes it well enough. She has three mentors who really help her out. It's good. So here is a picture of the first day of school for Brittany, Dani and Alicia!!

OMG It's August

I can't believe that a month has gone by already!! I would like to say I have been very busy, but I can't in good conscience.

This last week we had a guest from Australia. Alicia met Nathan last summer when she was "down under" and he came to the states to spend time with different people he knew and came here for a week. It was a lot of fun having him around and what a nice boy.

Tomorrow we pick up Dani from Wichita. It means it is the start of a new year!!

Alicia started school on Wednesday!! She is a senior now and plans on graduating in December! My word we are getting old. We are letting her use the Ranger since she has to drive to school. She decided that the stock radio wasn't good enough for her so she saved her quarters from her waitressing job at Pizza Hut and bought a new stereo with a CD player and a jack for her MP3. It was quite hilarious watching her try to take out the old radio to put in the new one. But she did it, with help from her friend Brittany.

My coworker who does beautiful photography (he did the girls' pictures) is always being asked to take pictures here at work. I hate to take pictures. Not my favorite activity but we were doing a scrap book for a girl who was leaving and had a "Margaritaville" theme. Being the funny "man" I am, I had Chris do a re-creation ---- any one remember this? Yeah I thought it was quite funny!!

Well Chris knows how much I hate picture taking and unfortunately we had to do it again!! for some new staff. All I can say was the sun was in my eyes!!

But the actual picture used was much better than that, thank goodness.

More Blessings

When we were at the Academy, JR made the wise choice of becoming a sponsor for an International Student. He picked Malaysia because we had never been there. So our student was Musa Haron. What a wonderful man. Of course, when you get one you get many so our house was blessed with an International flair that year. That was the best!

Musa just wrote and informed us of his new position. He is now the Malaysian SMA! It's not a job he really wanted but when the service calls a patriot responds. Here are his promotion pictures. We are so proud to know him.

Blessings

JR and I have been blessed many times over with dear and close friends. Even though the miles keep us apart we manage to stay in contact.

Last week I was fortunate to go to Lawton Oklahoma for a day and a half. And what a 36 hours that was!! Getting in on July 1 evening, I spent time with our dear friends Willie and Jayne Mattice. We have known them almost forever. Ryan used to babysit their kids when they were little. Not so little anymore. In fact, "Aunt Mary", yes - me - got to hold Lauren's little love bundle. Makaila Marie Grace was born on May 4. This was my first opportunity to see her. She has a head full of hair and is just beautiful. She fell asleep in my arms then later woke up smiling and excited. For those of you who know me, babies usually run screaming from the room. And even though I totally enjoyed holding her and talking to her -- I AM NOT ready to be a grandmother yet.
















The second blessing came the next morning when I attended Rich Longo's promotion ceremony to Bridadier General. What an awesome ceremony and what an honor to a wonderful family. All of Rich and Dianne's kids came in for this celebration. Although it was long, it certainly was exciting. Rich joins the 1/10th of 1% of the General Officer's Corps that makes up the Army. JR was unable to make it but we are so proud and glad to know them and to know that our leadership is in such good hands.














Jennifer, Angie, Nick, Rich, Kevin, Dianne


The third blessing for that day was the arrival of a unit back from Iraq. A very dear and old friend brought his brigade back to Ft. Sill and it was his welcome home ceremony. Col Pete Baker was JR's Platoon Leader back in 1984 when we were stationed in Germany those many years ago. So it was an honor to see him safely return all his men under his command.

Pete, two of their boys, wife - Annie

The missing cat

Last night Smoky was brought downstairs against his will and kind of socialized. So here is a picture of Bethany's 800 lb cat. (not really 800 lb but close!)

The Zoo

When I was a kid, moving around with my Air Force dad, we always had to get rid of any animal we happened to latch onto at that duty station. As a kid, I thought that sucked. We would get attached only to have them ripped away from us. The emotional toll!! Didn't matter that it was really mom and dad that had to take care of them, or the expense of the vet... let alone moving with them and finding a new rental that would take pets. All we knew was the anguish of saying goodbye.

JR and I have had our share of pets and we too had to give them away to homes that were more stable or not moving. That is until 1994 when an 18 month old pug wandered into our yard and our lives. Butch had escaped from a family where the twin 8 year olds were a little ornery. In 1999 we adopted another pug who was the runt of a litter, only survivor out of seven and not really expected to live. Thus came Sundance. (Can you tell JR's favorite movie?) Technically, Sundance is Ryan's dog. But only technically. Butch is on the left and is now 16!! and Sundance is still cute and almost 9.

We moved to Germany and paid for the dogs to go with us. I never thought I would pay to have dogs shipped. While in Germany, we acquired Romeo, a loving 6 month old stray cat which was Bethany's. Though he slept on MY pillow. After 5 years in Germany, we once again paid to have the dogs shipped home. And the cat was to be Bethany's carry on and they still charged us an arm and a leg to carry him aboard. (I am still trying to figure out what I paid for... he didn't eat anything or have his own seat)

Romeo and Sundance loved sharing that pillow. Romeo alas passed away last year. We think mole poison. Six months go by and when mice started showing up in the house, JR relented into letting us get another cat. Only because they serve a purpose, mind you. So then came MoJo. Another 6 month old rescued cat. But a good mouser!! I had new gifts!! And he can catch bats too.

So now we are in a house, that completely belongs to us. And we are thinking two dogs and a cat are good! Nope! Were we wrong. This last weekend saw an increase in our four legged family members. First, Alicia begged for an animal. Ryan and Bethany got an animal when they were 15 or 16. She is almost 18! So what does she get? TWO 9 week old kitties! Yes, we have lost our minds!!

So here is Milo and Otis. Litter mates with different personalities.

And to add to the fun of the Ewing household, we took in one of Alicia's friends, Brittany and her dog Boomer. Boomer is a coon/dachsund mix who is twice the size of Butch who thinks he is a lap dog and a bed dog.

And we babysit Bethany's new cat, Smoky, who is a 100 lb 8 year old cat. Oh and it gets better!! Bethany also decided to adopt a new 6 week old kitty, Harley, to keep Smoky company. But!! She is staying at her bosses house for a week taking care of his animals while on vacation so her two cats are now with us. We don't have a picture of Smoky, because he is the most anti social cat we have ever met!

I think I have lost my mind!!