It's October Already?!

My, how quickly this year has gone by! Seems like just yesterday I started working, and that was back in February. Eight months and I'm still at it! God has certainly been good to me.

It's almost a month since we said goodbye to Molly, and I'm still not used to it. I wait for her to come out at her dinner time; I expect her to be on the rug in the evening, or in the middle of the floor where she can watch us as we walk by. It's hardest when the doorbell rings and there's silence. We knew someone was at the door even before we heard the doorbell - she was standing up, looking out and ready to bark at whoever it was that was disturbing our peace. Now it's just quiet, and we all look at each other with sadness on our faces. I never imagined it would be this hard.

This past Thursday I asked my son R to throw away the last few cans of dog food that were in the pantry. We'd gotten rid of most of her things (except for her collar, leash, and favorite toy; those are keepsakes that are dear to us), but I couldn't bring myself to throwing away her dog food. It seemed so final; I would get choked up every time I attempted to go near them. R took care of it while I was at work, and when I got home and saw they were gone, I cried again. My sweet puppy. What a large hole you've left in our hearts.

School has been going well. My son has A's in all his classes except biology, where he has a B. He's working hard in that class but his teacher is pretty demanding. Her motto is, "If it was easy you wouldn't be learning." Okay, I get it. His favorite class is Personal Finance. These are lessons he feels he will use his whole life, and I'm glad for that. We went to our credit union a couple of weeks ago, and he opened a checking and savings account. His goal is to have $500 in savings, and another $500 to build himself a computer. I'm so proud of his progress.

Between school and work I've kept so busy that I often think about blogging but can't find the time to do it. There's just so much to keep up with around the house. Right now our lawn mower is giving us problems, the master bathroom toilet is running even after I changed the mechanisms inside, I need to get an oil change on my car, hopefully I can get my hair cut sometime this month since I haven't been to my hairdresser since March...my life is on autopilot and I can't find the brakes! I'm seriously looking forward to the holidays and some days off!

I did manage to decorate for fall and rearrange some stuff so I could get a bit more organized. As part of his allowance I'm paying my son E to vacuum and help with laundry. Best money spent in my entire budget!

I think I'm gonna stop here, since I have to clean up the kitchen. Honestly, I need a break, but there's so much to do and so little time. I do want to say thank you to everyone who has sent me comforting comments and messages about Molly. You've all been so kind and compassionate. I don't have the words to tell you how much those words have meant to me.

Hope y'all have a blessed week. Enjoy each day and be thankful.