Burleson Business

Recently, I had the opportunity to get paid for house/cat-sitting for my aunt and uncle in Burleson for a week. The week was full of adventures - some fun and others not so fun!

It all started with Sage and I all packed and ready to go...

Saturday afternoon was spent at Babies R Us trying to get Nick & Erin registered for baby items for Samuel. Think we enjoyed lounging in the gliders more than looking (at least they did) - I was too busy playing with the toys. :)

Sunday rolled around... While I was relaxing and watching tv, I heard a loud thud from the sunroom where 3 of the cats were hanging out (2 of which are under a year old). As soon as I opened the door, I didn't notice anything had gone wrong except I didn't see the two youngest cats. Then, I realized that one of the screens was off the window and there was a pitbull outside. I immediately thought, "Oh great - I've lost two of my aunts cats!" So I got some treats and headed outside to try and find them. As I was getting treats out of the cabinet I noticed that the black cat was sitting on the kitchen window ledge with his tail all fluffed up. It took several minutes but I finally was able to grab him and throw him back in the house. Now off to find the gray cat... after looking around for a little while I noticed a dark clump high in a tree. As I proceeded to walk closer, I couldn't believe that he was at the VERY top!! He is the big dark blob above the gutter line...

Long story short - I had to have a neighbor help me get him down and so the neighbor shook the limbs until the cat slid down (like a pole) until he was within reaching distance and then the neighbor grabbed him by the scruff and handed him to me. So I proceeded to grab the cat by the scruff at the same location the neighbor was holding him and as I was getting him closer to the ground he turned around and bit me. I promptly dropped him because of the pain and let the neighbor grab him again to throw inside the house. It was quite an adventure!

Book Update

I have finished book one of Shepherd Tales (cover - back and front - shown above). All I have to do now is illustrate it and it will be ready to send off to an editor/publisher. However, before I do that I need to make sure that I don't want to turn these books into Christian children's books based off the idea from a friend of mine. When she saw the title she immediately thought it was a Christian book series, so I might run with her idea and take it that direction. We shall see! Anyway, I'm quite happy with it so far and will continue working on it.

The pictures below are the last two pages of the first book (each book will have real pictures of Sage based on what takes place in the story).

Shepherd Tales

I am about to start a little side adventure of writing my own series of children's books called "Shepherd Tales." The series will be all about my dog, Sage, and the many adventures that she takes (it will basically be a compilation of things she has done). The back of the books will include real pictures of Sage from that particular story. So far all I have is the cover (can't decide if I like it) and maybe the first book written (it is being edited by my sister). The next big step is the illustrations for each page and then book 1 will be complete. Hopefully, I will actually follow through with these :)

Samuel!!

Here is the first picture of my nephew Samuel... I can't wait till he arrives so that I can meet him!

100,000 Miles

100,000 miles...this is what my cars odometer hit about a month ago. :( I've had it for 7 years and have only put 50,000 miles on it - think I'm doing pretty good.

100,000 miles pic (blurry because I was driving)

What my car looks like now... (took the running boards off to make it appear like it has a small lift but hoping to put an actual lift on it someday)

What I want my car to look like (it seems as though this one has maybe a 2" lift)

Guns Galore

Wow! Tonight was definitely been an exciting adventure! I don’t know what it is with me and guns lately...

Last night when I came upstairs to go to bed, I noticed that drawer was out slightly in my bathroom that I could have SWORN I didn’t open… Therefore, I got my gun, took the safety off and went around to each room upstairs checking behind doors, swinging them open really fast and pointing my gun around corners, etc. – very “cop show” like. :) Anyway – obviously no one was upstairs with me. I put my gun safety back on, slid it under my pillow and went to sleep.

Next, I had a nightmare wake me up in the middle of the night because my mom and I were standing and talking in the den and when we looked up someone broke through the front door and was running towards us and I had my gun drawn but my hand was shaking so bad I couldn’t shoot him (NOTE – THIS IS ALL IN MY DREAM). This dream kept me up for about 30 more minutes because my heart was racing.

Well, tonight about 7:30pm I was sitting in the den when I heard a LOT of sirens going by (not unusual) but I got up to check because Sage (who always howls when the sirens go by) was going crazy! As soon as I stood up I saw flashing lights out of the corner of my eye through the front door. My parents and I ran to the windows and when we got there we saw 10 squad cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance at the end of the street. Flashlights were shining everywhere as police officers swarmed the neighboring house in the cul-de-sac with their guns drawn. One looked in the window of the garage while another ran through the back gate and into the back yard. Then all of the sudden, 2 of the police cars sped off, and the rest followed suit.
To find out what was going on we got online to dallasfirerescue.com and dallaspolice.net. When we pulled the website up we saw that it said 9623 Windy Terrace Dr. – Gun Shot Wound. Then we noticed that the same Engine (Fire truck) was at another scene not 2 minutes later close by and the same incident – shooting – gun shot wound.

Anyway, it was quite exciting to see the police swarm the house with their guns drawn – definite adrenaline rush for the night. No worries – my gun was on me the whole time just in case a crazy person was hiding and on the loose. :)

World Series Bound!!!

The Texas Rangers are headed to the World Series!!!

Labor Day 2010

Labor Day 2010 was full of adventures! Here are a few out of the many:
1) The first adventure was the drive up there which took 2 hours instead of the usual 1 due to traffic and construction (an entire lane was closed for NO REASON for about 20 miles - there was no construction going on to warrant closing it). Ridiculous! And my mom wouldn't drive over 60 mph...
2) a dog fight between the two males of the canine portion of the family...they were fighting over the female.
3) riding the dirt bike without a clutch (popped a wheelie as I was starting).
4) My 2nd cousins kid sliced his leg swinging off the dock because he didn't let go of the rope
5) Found out my strengths with Strengths Finder 2.0 and the fams strengths.
6) Caught some major air on the waverunners due to all of the yacht's out this weekend and the wind!

Nick & Erin
Matt & Lisa (cousins) tubing...

Me & Sage

My New Sister

My brother got married this past weekend!!! I'm so excited for him and my new sister-in-law!! Congratulations guys!! Here are a few pictures from the wedding...

The happy groom!
My sister and me

Wedding Dance

MySpace

So I finally broke down and started a myspace page - but only a band page. My high school girls had been begging me to make a CD with some of the songs I've written so instead I decided to put them on the internet (for now at least while I continue to write more). I love my high school girls!!! They have taught me so much over this past year and have encouraged me more than imaginable! So, here is my page www.myspace.com/laurenmadeley