I have been busy doing a bunch of different things, most of which I cannot speak about without my attorney present and my fingers crossed that I will not reveal too much information. No, really, Mower and I have several ideas for different businesses and are putting the wheels in motion in small increments for them. It's a very cool and also very scary thing to be completely in charge of your destiny--different than working for a company and relying on others to bring in revenue, handle what comes in, decide on insurance companies and benefits, and so many other things that are just as important as the idea or the product.

Bubba started first grade, which has been a bigger adjustment for Mower and me than for her. She cried on Sunday night, saying she didn't want to go, and then again on Monday morning. I pulled her into my arms and hugged her, told her that it's okay to feel your feelings and cry when you're sad, but it would be okay. Mower and I have a new system for getting them to school, since Handsome's is 35 minutes away from our house and Bubba's is much closer. We all pile into the Conformity Mobile and one of us stays with Bubba at her school and then walks home (the most exercise we've had in a long time), and the other takes Handsome to school while he watches a reading DVD on the Conformity Mobile's tv. The other then gets to pick up the child they didn't stay with in the morning. We're doing that for this week and then should be able to just have one parent go do it, since Bubba will be comfortable enough to go in with her classmates without us there next week.

The baby is sucking the very life out of me, especially my teeth. I have been told that I need gum surgery in the near future, and was going to take care of that this year before getting pregnant next year. That happened much earlier, and I cannot put off going to the dentist much longer. My bottom two teeth are moving apart from each other because of the built-up tarter on them, and I can feel the roots under a very thin layer of gum. Yippee. Nice, painful and expensive stuff when I can't take pain medication. Can't wait! Luckily the deductible for the baby wasn't as bad as it was with Handsome, although not as good as the $10 we paid for the first visit for Bubba and then nothing ever again. That was with insurance from a large restaurant, and boy, were we spoiled fricking rotten and didn't appreciate it.

We have done very little with the house since moving in. I haven't had the energy to sort through tons of photos to determine which ones are going into frames, and we have boxes and boxes in the foyer filled with various business stuff that we haven't sorted through. I feel like I live in a New York City tenament building with half a foot to squeeze through to get through the foyer. I did vaccum this past week, and then Handsome took a nice, runny dump right between the bunk beds. Thanks, Handsome. At least he pooped on a clean floor. It would bother me more to clean up hair and Polly Pockets underneath the feces. It would have bothered me a lot less, because I told Mower to get a diaper on him, but he didn't. It was Mower's birthday, though, so I took the cleaning upon myself so as to allow him one day of niceness. I do that to keep our marriage strong. One day of me not being a complete bitch lasts 364 days. Or so I think.

We went to the gun range and fired off our shotguns, a first for me. I was very apprehensive at first, but after realizing it was not forcing me onto my ass after the shot and that I could blast the shit out of a barrel with surprising accuracy, it wasn't so bad. I fired off five or six rounds, with Mower loading it for me so I wouldn't touch the lead shells. I have one small bruise on my arm, and my dad gave me his ear protectors, so overall it wasn't a terrible experience. I figured that if I aimed low, I was shooting a little higher than I thought, so if anyone comes to fuck with my family, I'll aim at the balls and take out their lower intestine and give them a gallbladder-ectomy. I never thought I would want a gun in the house, much less something that is extremely messy once used properly, but with the proper precautions, it does make me feel safer to have it than not. Besides, how can you be a proper redneck without the shotgun? Drinking beer while pregnant, sending the kids outside by the highway to play, and fumigating for roaches by stopping putting the trash under the trailer just weren't enough.

That's about it. I have a ton of photos to bore you with in the next few days, so check back.