College Life

Sahara went to 2 days of orientation and had a blast. Day 1 lasted from 8 am to 9 pm. They were fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They broke into groups according to major or interests. They toured, played games, got signed up for things, got freebies and much more. I don't remember any of this from my first time around college days.

This is a huge Freshmen class.

Sahara and Brittany drove in together for the first day. 

Sahara and Kendall were in the same group for Psychology. 

Random sitting around pictures. 

Meeting new friends - Byron : football player. 

And Caleb : music major. 

Brittany : undecided - Sahara : psychology - Kendall : psychology - Katie (new friend) : business major. 

And Alex : major unknown. 

Sahara's name badge and groups. 

Some of the loot she came home with. 

And here she is! First day of college freshman year!!

She just woke up but her class isn't until 10. Canyon and I had to leave at 7:30. 

Later she sent me a selfie before she left the house. 

At Tech, Brittany and Sahara panic before heading off to their first class!

But they survived!!

It was nice while it lasted

My electric bill this summer just kept getting smaller and smaller. I certainly wasn't going to complain!  But the meter guy came around the other day while I was at work and told Sahara he need to fix it because it wasn't working properly. 

Oh darn!!!  I was hoping to see a $0 amount due in a month or two. 

Will I owe BIG TIME for all the sweet low bills?? Time will tell I guess. But it's been nice having these itty bitty bills this summer while it lasted!!! 

First day!

He's off for his first day of his high school freshman year!!

Awwww...sweet sister. 

And he returns with a big smile, but of course not much to say. 

First field trip already scheduled for the 28th!!!

Google Maps

A month or so ago the Google car was in town. I guess they were in a lot of towns because people from all over were commenting that they've see it in their town/city from all over the US on Facebook. Well I happened to check today for an address and it was by the high school. I zoomed in to the high school, and there is Sahara's car parked in her spot. 

Someone else checked and their son's truck that he hasn't had since the beginning of the school year is in his spot. I don't know long Google waits to update, but for now and maybe a few years, Sahara is parked at high school!  

So I decided that if Sahara was at school, I probably was at work. 

And there I am!!

Open House

High School time!  

Actually Canyon is in 9th grade and technically 9th graders here are still at the JR High. But his classroom is housed in the High School from here on out. He will be bused to the Jr High after 2nd period with his aide and a couple other 9th graders for Art, PE, and lunch. Then back to the High School for 4 more periods. He also will be a bus rider (special transportation) this year. He found his new room, his new teacher, and his new desk with his buddy Shawn who will sit right in front of him. ( Mom forgot to take pictures of all that ).  I think he is going to LOVE this year. 

End of summer clean-up

Yesterday was fun day. Today is chore day. 

No one has swam for 3 weeks. That's usually how it goes. So since school is about to start (work for me tomorrow!!) the pool came down today. 

Pool toys deflated. 

And pumps packed away. The pool will stay out till Saturday to dry out. Luckily we will not have rain (not supposed to anyway) so it should dry pretty good. Since next year is not a big vacation year, we will keep the pool for 1 more summer. The blow up ring around the top is dried out, and brown, and sticky. I don't know what happened to it. I see other people's pools in their yards and they are fine. Maybe because ours never saw the shade. Direct sun all day long. 

While working on that, Jared and his friend came to haul off the old swing set, broken trampoline, and broken basketball goal.

 

They took all the metal to the scrap yard. It only came to $28 but it was only 1hour worth of work. Not too bad. They kept the $$, I just wanted the junk gone. 

The Last Hooray

We went to the Little Rock Zoo and a day of shopping before we have to get ready for school to start again. We picked the wrong day. It rained on us the whole morning. But we were basically the only people there. Literally, we ran into 3 other families while we were there. The main reason other than the rain, we went on Tuesday, but found out when we got there that Wednesday is half price day. Oh well. 

This is the entry to the park. See, no one around!

Sahara and Brittany said it was like a creepy movie. 

Canyon took this picture of me. 

This is Canyon in the bird house. 

In the reptile house he liked the snakes. More so if they were moving. 

All Canyon wanted to see was the zebras. Once there he could care less. 

To make it more creepy, the walkways were all over grown. I think what happened is the weight of the rain was weighing the grasses down. But it seemed like a place not taken care of anymore. I liked it because it was more natural and safari like. With a packed zoo it would probably cause problems because there were areas that the grass from both sides touched in the middle. 

The giraffes didn't want to come out in the weather (neither did the elephants) but we got to see them in their houses eating lunch. 

Canyon Hawke got to meet a Red Tailed Hawk. 

Every pond had fish. Some had LOTS. 

We got there in time to watch the penguins eat lunch. 1 vitamin packed fat fish per penguin (3 x a day). The zoo keeper checked off their numbers as they took their fish to make sure no one was missing or going without. I forgot to take pictures!!

The lion was enjoying the rainy weather. 

But I think he was bored with us. 

These kitties are so pretty. 

Back around for a better shot of the zebra. 

This old turtle was nearly 3 feet tall!!  Sahara got to pet it. The sign said he may bite but the fence was low to touch him. 

And last is the monkey house. This guy was sticking his tongue at us. 

We stayed about 2 hours. Which for our zoo is all it takes. Specially when you have the place to yourselves!!

Next stop was the mall for our late lunch and shopping. Canyon was introduced to the plasma light. He thought it was awesome. 

I assume they pose no danger, but he held on to that thing for 10 minutes straight. He loved it. 

I found an iPhone and $40 in the bathroom. I wanted to return it directly but the phone had a password so I couldn't do anything. I turned it in to the mall office. I hope that lady gets it back. 

Then on to Conway for more shopping. There, at TJMaxx, I found a set of keys. I turned them in too and the lady who lost them, in the store 2 down, asked the worker if she had left keys there. So I told her I turned in keys at TJ Maxx. At least I know she got hers back. 

Switch-a-roo

I have known for awhile that Facebook has local sale/swap sites and I've used them to sell some things in the past. I never bought before. I got a little crazy with it last weekend though. 

I was so tired of my pillow back couches. The pillows never stay where they are supposed to. And even tho the color and texture of the fabric looks nice, it doesn't feel so nice. So after about 6 months after I bought them new, I had made slips for the cushions and that's the way they have been for the last 21/2 years. 

These are the couches (minus the slips on the cushions).

Nice to look at but not comfy really or practical for us anyway. 

So I found some on the sale sites. This is the first one I bought. 

Really comfy oversized love seat. It was $65 and barely used by a family whose daughter is getting Make-A-Wish and her wish is a theater room. So they sold this love seat from their spare room to make room for the new theater seating. Sweetest family too. 

Then I got these

Plus a coffee table and the sofa has a hide-a-bed

Score!! All for $100!!

I realized after loading the furniture and driving away that it looks like hotel furniture. Oh well, its my hotel furniture now!!  The good thing is that they are very sturdy ( the sofa weighs a ton ) and the fabric is very durable. 

I listed my couches. 

I had to get rid of them fast because they were now in my kitchen!! So Right away I got someone interested but she couldnt pay that price. I lowered the price and lowered it until she finally agreed. Then she couldnt come get them because she didnt have a truck. Finally I offered to deliver them to her after holding them for 3 days and she said she didnt have the money. I guess she planned to hold me out  till next payday. I finally told her I had to relist them. And guess who jumped on them next?? The lady I bought the couch and chair from!!  I couldnt believe it. The lady who bought them lives in an apartment and I think they were made for an apartment.  Very light weight. 

Now my living room looks like this. 

With more furniture, it actually feels like we have more room!

 

So for $5 ( the difference ) I got seating for 7-8 instead of 5-6. A coffee table ( we may make a project with or paint- not a cherry person ), a queen size bed - great for sleepovers!  And no more hassle with pillows that don't want to stay lined up right. 

And when I get sick of this set up...I can just do it all over again. I don't think I'll ever buy new again.  

Then, I found this for $40. Canyon needed more clothes drawers and this goes with his other dresser. It took me a lot of stores, but finally at The Container Store in Little Rock, I found 2 black buckets that neatly fit into the cubby holes at the top. You can hardly even see them in the picture. 

The Container Store is pretty cool!