Chaos and escaping donkey

The past couple of weeks have been wild around here. I've been busy spackling, painting, trimming bushes...you name it in order to get the house ready for sale. My best friend's husband came over and worked for several hours on odd jobs as well. I just hope I can keep up with it all. And you KNOW as soon as you fix something something else breaks. It wasn't even 12 hours after Justin (BFF's hubby) left that my toilet broke. Amazingly I was able to fix it myself!!!! I was very proud :). Then the TV in the boys room went out...I am definitely not an electrician so I had to replace that. Then I had to do fence work so I hopped on my mower...remember the dreaded machine that I would've shot if we had owned a gun...ah yes that one. Well a TIRE came off....yes a TIRE. So now the stinking thing is sitting in the middle of my property. Once again Dad is going to come over and rescue me and fix it....if it's not burnt to a heap before then ;).

So I bet you are asking why the escaping donkey in the title. Well the fence work I mentioned above has more info to it. A couple of nights ago about 9:00pm I was chatting with my Dad on the phone. The dogs started barking. I've had the windows open lately because we have had awesome weather for August so as my heart rate quickens I go close the windows. Then the horse is crying out, and I say to Dad "Boy I hope the donkey isn't loose." I open the garage door to take a peek...HELLO Arthur. Sigh remember it's 9:15. I tell Dad I gotta go and attempt to herd Arthur back into the paddock. Not working...he ends up in the street and I am running with a flashlight praying my quiet country road doesn't suddenly experience rush hour. I realize I can't do this myself when he runs into a neighbors yard. I thought hmmm a Major in the Army lives there...probably won't be too happy seeing large bodies walking around his property one hold a flashlight...and yea he probably has a gun. So I run back to my house and call a neighbor. They come out in pjs and flashlights and together after another 30 minutes we get Arthur back where he belongs. I thank my neighbors and all is well, right? No I wake up the next morning and Arthur is grazing around our swing set. I get him in the barn myself...woohoo. I come back to the house..look out the window he is out again!!!!! Get him back and I lock him in the barn. Needless to say I found a huge hole in the fence and I had the pasture bush hogged today so the electric fence is turned ON. Just been craziness.

In all of this Joe is back at school full throttle, Katie is now crawling...and Garrett is keeping me on my toes for sure! The house will be on the market Sept 1st...I just hope I can keep it together and my animals on my property til then ;)

OK since Joe always likes a pic here is Little Joe ready for the 1st grade!