Weekly Wrap-Up: The one with lots of excitement

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday, y’all! I hope your week has been amazing! It’s been gorgeous here. Lots of sunshine and warm spring weather. As a matter of fact, it got so hot a couple of days that we had to run the air conditioning. I can’t remember the last time that happened in March. I much prefer open windows and fresh air – but I also like being able to sleep at night and I can’t do that when it’s upwards of 80 degrees in the house.

So, last week was full of the excitement of Brianna passing her cosmetology state boards and the potential of buying a car for Josh to drive and Megan to learn on since, um, no, they’re not driving my car. Brian’s is a manual. Josh can drive it, but Megan wants to learn on an automatic and I don’t blame her.

Gus

This is probably the best picture I’ve ever made of Gus. He’s such a gorgeous boy.

Brianna opted to buy out Josh and Megan’s share in the car that Brian’s parents passed down to us when they got a new one a couple of years ago. I don’t blame her either. It’s a nice car and we were very conservative on what she’d owe to buy out their share.

In case you’re curious, Brian’s parents wanted to give the kids the car to use, but wanted to be fair. So, they gave it to us and we told the kids they could each drive it as they got their licenses. If any of them wanted to keep it at some point, we’d split the fair market value three ways and the one wanting to buy the car could buy out their siblings’ portion with the money being put toward a car for the remaining two.

If none of them wanted to keep it after everyone had learned to drive and purchased other cars, we’d sell it and spilt the money between them. Brianna decided she wants to keep it and Josh and Megan were fine with having money to put toward another car.

So, yesterday, after much shopping and pricing, we bought a 2009 Honda Civic for Josh to drive (he’ll get his license within the next couple of weeks) and Megan to learn on. We’re buying it so that there’s no squabbling over who gets to drive it and both kids will have the option to buy it or sell it and divvy up the funds when the time comes.

First Car

We were excited to find such a nice, well-kept car with extremely low miles – only 48K – within our price range. I keep telling the kids nobody offered to get me a car that nice when I was their age. Although they both initially were hoping for something sportier, now that we’ve got it, they both realize what a nice car it is. Heck, Brian and I have both said we’d drive it – and probably will from time to time.

The other bit of excitement this week is that I signed up to take an online creative writing course through our local community college! I’ve dreamed of being a writer since I was 12. Author Dani Pettrey, whose books I adored, is going to be a guest poster on my site next week. After reading her post about following your dreams while homeschooling, I was inspired to follow my dreams.

So, I signed up for the class, which began Wednesday. Hopefully, at some point in the future, y’all will be reading my books. It makes me excited just thinking about it.

writing class

And from the “stories that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy” files, let me tell you about my sister’s cat. He’s an indoor cat with outside privileges and he’d been missing for a couple of days on Saturday. My sister was just getting ready to post a picture of him on Facebook to ask if anyone had seen him when my older niece her him meow.

He was stuck about 50 feet up a tree. They tried for a day or two to coax him down to no avail. My sister called the fire department, sheriff’s office, and animal control. No one could/would help. She called multiple tree services who wanted a minimum of $200 to come out, which she just doesn’t have. She called a neighbor who does tree service work, but didn’t get a response.

Tuesday night, her neighbors had to call the fire department for something else. The fire department was literally right in front of my sister’s house and could/would not help. By their policies, they aren’t supposed to help with things like that.

A conversation about all this ensued on my mom’s Facebook page. One lady said she would find a way to get the cat of the tree, that she couldn’t sleep knowing he was still up there.

Tuesday night, a little before 11:00, this lady, another woman, and two men showed up at my sister’s house from a town that’s a good 40 miles away. They knocked on my sister’s door and the lady from Facebook told her that God told them to come get her cat out of the tree.

One of the guys put on his climbing equipment and climbed up to get the cat, while the others held flashlights so he could see. They got the kitty down and he’s safely recuperating at home, a little skinny and very clingy, but none the worse for wear.

I just thought that was so cool. That’s what being a Christ-follower should be about – loving people and meeting their needs, whatever their needs may be, even when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient, and giving God the glory for it. I smile every time I think about it and cry every time I try to tell the story. Because apparently I’ve become an emotional wreck in my old age.

algebra problems

This photo was posted to Instagram with the caption, “Does anyone besides us think it’s weird that the homeschool graduate wants to do algebra because she likes the two trains left the station at the same time problems?”

Did you catch my articles at About.com this week? I talked with some of my work-outside-the-home homeschooling friends and I’m sharing their tips for making it work in How to Homeschool if You Work Outside the Home. And, with spring right around the corner (and feeling like it’s here already in my part of the country), don’t miss these Nature Study Themes for Spring.

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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14 Comments

  1. Ok, so the cat story made ME cry! His love compels us and yes, we need to do what is uncomfortable and convenient. Great story to inspire that action.
    Excited to hear about your writing course. I love your voice in writing! What a great opportunity to grow in your gift!!

    1. Thanks, Michelle. I’m really excited about the class – and I’m being a total nerd taking the optional quizzes and such. 🙂

  2. Had to laugh about the firefighters! My husband is a firefighter and says there is a lot of misunderstanding about the present day firefighter’s role. So many stories tell about rescuing cats, sliding down poles and dalmatian dogs. The sad thing is that it is mostly because of liabilities that they cannot help with things outside their duties. On the job injuries are real and costly for all. At the same time, I know many of the guys wish they could be more helpful than the chief or city allows. That being said, I’m glad someone was able to help get the cat down. Silly kitty!

    1. Yeah, I completely understand liability and firefighter safety and I’m sure the guys wish that they could have helped – especially since it was my niece asking. All ended well. I bet the cat never climbs a tree again. 🙂 You have kind of dashed my firefighter image revealing the truth about poles and dalmatians, though. lol

    1. That’s what I thought, too. For the first couple of days, I said he’d come down when he got hungry. By day 5 with no food or water and one failed attempt to come down, I wasn’t so sure. I really don’t think he’d have survived another day in that tree. It sounds like your husband has some interesting stories. I bet that horse in a well one has been told a few times. 🙂

        1. Poor horse! It’s a wonder he even fit in the well. It looked like he was going okay after they got him out, though. He’s gorgeous!

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