Our New Kansas Humane Society!

Hi everyone! Hope you all are having a great weekend.

I'm getting really excited about our new humane society set to open for business on June 22 next month! Our current facility has been in sad shape for a long time but thanks to many generous, caring people in our community we have a brand new building! It is said to be a "state-of-the-art facility soon to be a model for animal organizations across the nation." It will have a medical clinic with 2 full-time veterinarians & their teams, a behavior assessment area, natural settings for adoptable animals including canine apartments, kitty condos & cat community rooms. No rows of cages! (except for maybe ill or special purrsonality cats). It will also have a retail store & a learning center where you will learn proper & responsible care for your new pet before you bring it home.

I'm so happy for our homeless Wichita animals! I wish every city could have one of these facilities! I plan to volunteer as soon as I can. The first volunteer orientation class is actually FULL (isn't that great!) so I'll have to get on the next one. The picture above was taken in February so it's much farther along now & there are actually lots of trees around that you can't see. Check out the Kansas Humane Society's website here!

Among the many goals on the list for this facility, my favorite is this: "We will END THE EUTHANASIA of all adoptable animals in our community within 5 years of opening our new campus! Current animal population estimates indicate we will be able to save 10,000 animal lives a year once this goal is met." That is AWESOME!!!

Top 10 Reasons I Haven't Blogged...

Shelby & Cousin Rachel
Kayla & Cole at graduation with big sis Shelby

Kayla & Cole (yes he needs a haircut & yes he CAN smile)

(This comes from having 3 teenagers!)

1. Oldest daughter Shelby's Confirmation retreat & Mass.

2. Younger daughter Kayla decides to do cartwheel in living room, collide with rocking chair &

break her toe.

3. Shelby has vocal music program.

4. Kayla & Cole (my twins) have 8th grade Farewell Assembly at school.

5. 8th graders have party at hotel

6. 8th graders have Promotion Mass & reception

7. 8th graders go on Worlds of Fun trip

8. My niece Sam graduates high school & we travel to Colorado

9. Helping my son Cole finish up Spanish class

10. Trying to clean up my house which has been as neglected as my blog!

Good grief! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've posted anything! When did graduating 8th grade become such a grand event??? I thought the celebrations would never end. It was a lot of fun things for the kids but a bit much if you ask me. I think it's finally over at least.

I have a canvas with a sketch on it just waiting to be painted & it's driving me crazy not having time to get to it! Hopefully soon. We're having friends in from out of town this weekend so cleaning the house will have to come first. Darn.

Above are a few pictures from our latest escapades ~ Kayla & Cole's 8th grade graduation & Shelby's confirmation (pictured with her cousin Rachel who was her sponsor).

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial weekend & is looking forward to a looong, relaxing summer like I am! Luv & Hugs!!!

Latest Kitty Creation...

Hello all you blogger peeps!

Here is my latest painting ~ a few days later than promised. Oh well...I had it done, then didn't like how the cat looked so I repainted him, then didn't like that either & repainted him again. There's still something not quite right about him but I was tired of messing with him so this is how he is. "Cat Loaf 2" is listed on ebay right now! Check it out! I have another work in progress that should be done in a day or 2. School & kid activities are finally winding down so I'm starting to have more time to paint.

My daughter's softball team had another rainout yesterday. They have a make-up game this afternoon but we have another chance of storms so we'll see. It's nice & breezy & sunny right now! Happy Wednesday to you all!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

I didn't want the day to go by without wishing all the moms in the world a very happy Mother's Day! I hope all of you got to do something very special today to celebrate the greatest (& hardest) job in the world!

I had a wonderful day! I told my husband I didn't want any presents today, I just wanted a day to myself where I didn't have to cook, clean, help with homework or drive kids anywhere. I got all that & more! After sleeping in on a rainy morning my hubby made french toast for breakfast & my daughter brought me a Starbucks latte. Later I turned on some 70s music & spent the afternoon painting. Tomorrow I'll show you what I made! I had a nice long chat with my mom a while ago & now I have the house to myself for a little while cuz the rest of the family went to a movie. Ahhhh... peace & quiet!

My good friend & customer Heather sent me this precious video you have to watch! It just melts my heart! I keep watching it over & over & it just brings tears to my eyes. What wonderful mothers those creatures are!

I will leave you with a few of my favorite quotes about moms:

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only 4 pieces of pie for 5 people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." ~ Tenneva Jordan

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." ~ Elizabeth Stone

A Quick Post Before Bed...

Anne (sis-in-law), Mom, Joni (big sis), & me!

Honery Kitties!

Hi everybody! The end of the school year is always SOOO busy! Final projects, softball games, field trips (I always drive) & my oldest daughter has Confirmation tomorrow night. Needless to say, the blog's being neglected. I can't wait for school to be out for the summer & we have more free time! I'm also waiting for a shipment of canvases so my painting's been on hold for a bit, not that I've had much time to paint anyway. I do have a little wooden box I primed last year & want to do something creative with so maybe that will be my next project.

I thought I'd post a few pix of me, my sissy, my mom & my sis-in-law when we had our weekend in Kansas City a few weeks ago & went to see the "Phantom"! We had SO much fun! Also thought I'd add a cute one of my furry kids playing on top of the computer desk. They found a palm from Palm Sunday Mass & had to check it out. I don't know why it was on top of the desk ~ I didn't put it there! Hope everybody's having a great week so far!

Stormy Weather!

Tornado in a west suburb of Wichita

Storm clouds by our house

Flooding in Wichita

Wow! Mother Nature is really making up for lost time here in Wichita! It's been storming & raining on & off for the past couple weeks & it's not over yet. We got 6 inches of rain last Sunday afternoon & the tornado sirens went off twice! We headed for the basement the first time because our cable had gone out due to the storm & we weren't sure where the tornado was. After we got a radio turned on we found out it was on the other side of the city from us so we came back up. The 2nd siren was for another funnel not nearby so we didn't worry. It's actually been a long time since we've had to hit the basement for a tornado warning.

There was a lot of flooding in Wichita but luckily nothing too close to our house. Our sump pump is sure working overtime though! Of course I LOVE storms so I'm enjoying all this! Everything is turning a beautiful deep green! If we had any hills around here it would look like Ireland!

My daughter's high school softball team was supposed to have 4 games this week & every one got cancelled. Two of the games were make-ups from rainouts before ~ ha! Oh well, maybe the fields will dry up for next week. Happy weekend everybody!!!