Matco Tools

Michael is home from Matco Tool school in Ohio. He has been on the road now for two weeks and things seem to be going well. He's getting things down and the route changed up to run smoother, etc. I'm very proud of him and I think he's enjoying the change. He has been working about 12 hour days / 5 days a week between the route, closing out, doing inventory and orders, etc. Which also makes for long exhausting days for me as well, but pregnancy will do that.

Danae is so happy to have her daddy home, so is mommy :) We'll keep truckin' and hope we can run the business at least at the par of the previous owner, but its going well and kinks are getting worked out.

...and a huge thanks to Jason and Nando for putting the closet organizer in! Michael loves it and it saved him a couple days of work, like he doesn't already have enough piled on to get done. Thank you, it looks beautiful!

Monkey Hear, Monkey Repeat

I have to admit, I have a bad habbit of saying "Damnit". I never realized I said this word as much as I do until I really started listening to myself. Danae has been saying it and I am trying to get her to remove the word from her vocabulary. It does make you giggle and smile when she says it so appropriately...but nonetheless...not ok for an almost 2 year old...or her mommy...to be saying.

The other day she had a sheet of stickers and was peeling them off and sticking them on her bare belly and legs. She got to one sticker she just couldn't get off and I hear her clear as a bell "damnit stickers!"

For the Birds

Danae loves most critters and birds are no exception. She enjoys teasing, feeding and petting Emily and has to have her out at breakfast, lunch and dinner to sit on her chair while she eats. She loves to follow the neighbor's chickens around when they make it over to our property. She has really become attached to three plastic dove decoys...even taking them to bed as if they were stuffed animals. Then the other day a Blue Heron/Sand Crane, you know those huge gray stork looking water/swamp birds, flew overhead and I pointed it out to Danae. I had to smile when Danae looked up at this huge bird in the sky, held out her arm and curled her hand under (like she does when she wants to hold Emily or a bug) and said "on hand". Little does she realize the bird is bigger than she is.

Trying to Keep a Straight Face

Danae has been quite hyper later, either that or I have just been more tired. She had her "Frumpy" stuffed lion and was teasing Emily throught he cage by hitting the cage with Frumpy. I had told her to stop, I had given her a spanking because she didn't stop...and yes, she continued. So when I looked at her with an upset face and told her sternly no once again, she looked at me, smiled, started wiggling her rearend and said "dance".

We plan to name him...

Corbin Rafe Dearden. Michael had picked out Rafe from a Louis L'Amour book "Crossfire Trail" quite sometime ago. I never liked it and told him absolutely not! I've wanted Wyatt for a long time and Michael said no way! So when I found out my little bundle is a boy I actually hit the internet for "cowboy names". Corbin was one in a list of mostly common names. I wrote it down but wasn't too hip to it just yet. For days Michael and I through name combinations around and one day I put together Rafe Corbin, and it had a ring to it I liked; however, sounded better as Corbin Rafe. I wanted to spell it Raef and Michael was wanting Rafe.

I bugged him for a few days planting, ok kinda forcing, the seed in his head for Corbin Rafe. He didn't like the spelling I wanted so we hit the Louis L'Amour book to see how he spelled it. Ok, so Rafe it is. Once I agreed to that spelling, Michael agreed to Corbin Rafe. So there you have it :)

Got Tools?

Opportunity has knocked and we opened the door, signed the papers and Michael is going to be leaving for tool-man school on Sept 21 in Ohio. We bought the Verde Valley/Flagstaff route for the Matco mobile tool truck. Michael's last day at Red Rock Jeeps is Thursday the 9th and he is ready for the change. He has developed allergies to some of the oils and working in the heat box of a shop is wearing on him.

So here's to taking a leap and trying something new! Its a little scary knowing Michael has no set income and it will depend soley on his sales, but that can be a very good thing for us too. Its as exciting as it is scary to go out on a limb and go into business for yourself. But the other option is to keep doing what we're doing and just wonder if it would have ever worked out for us.

Here's to something new!

For the Love of Horses

Ok, so these aren't horse, but I wanted to throw this picture in there. The neighbor's chickens come over sometimes and my little animal hound loves to follow them and get as close as she can. She gets upset when they run home and she can't follow them anymore.

Now for the horses. She loves these two. She has to go in and pet them at feeding time and whenever she is outside and they come to the fence she has to say hello. My nibbler, T-Bone, does well with her and usually will keep his mouth to himself.

They love the attention as much as she loves them.

She finally discovered my collection of Breyer horses up on a high shelf. She just had to play with them, and they are quite sturdy so I let her play. She talked to them for about an hour. She washed them, then she put them to bed and got a wipe...or blanket...for each one and covered them up. What was really cute was at dinner she insisted on having one with her, so I let her. She set it on the table and then she held a fork full of peas to its mouth and began talking to it saying things like "yummy".

I know what collection I'm going to start for her. No barbies, its going to be Breyer horses. She really loves her critters! She really never showed much interest in the one baby doll she had.