I Can't Believe It's August

August signals for me the end of Summer. Those long, lazy days are coming to an end andit's time to dust off the work clothes. The boys and I did the bulk of our school shopping today. We got tons of stuff at great bargain prices. I even got some GAP Jeans for $2.99. We were out and about just about all day but it was well worth it. All we have to get now is some new shoes and heavy winter jackets. I would like to get them black jackets this year to match their Carolina glove and hat set. I just have to make sure that they are really heavy. After last winter I am foregoing the light jackets and going straight for the heavy ones.

Football tryouts are over and both the boys did great. Donnie will be playing in house this year and did great out there. Compared to some of those kids my baby looked so tiny but he held his own. Daniel made the travel team and is rearing to go. He had he fitting yesterday and starts his practices today. He will practice everyday until school starts and then on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I haven't gotten Donnie schedule yet but God help me I am gonna have to find some extra energy from somewhere. It is so worth it though to see my boys following their dreams.

Thrifty

I like to shop sales...in fact I would say that I am probably addicted to shopping sales. I can usually find some really good deals and when I do I always have that feeling of accomplishment. I try as a rule not to buy full price for anything retail. I however have a little bit of trouble at the grocery store. Having two boys and a husband that could eat a whole cow in one sitting my grocery bill gets up there. So I have actually started a new practice in the Slade household...the weekly menu. Oh yes people I am through coming home and trying to figure out what I am going to cook, I will have it all ready to go. You see I already make certain dishes in advance and freeze them. My homemade spaghetti sauce with spicy sausage and meatballs is always cooked in bulk, divided, and frozen for a quick yummy dinner. I also do this with my homemade chicken and dumplings, taco meat, Curry, and soups. I also shop at a wholesale retailer so I only have to buy meats, detergents, toilet paper, paper towels, and rice once every three months. I divide the frozen stuff up and tuck that in the freezer as well. My drawback is buying too many fruits, veggies and spur of the moment stuff. I average about $125 a week on milk, fruits, veggies, bread, and that sort of stuff so I wanted to see where I could cut back. I made my first menu this week and took off to the store. I stopped in at Caputos and picked up just what I needed.
The items were,
1 1/2 lbs Italian Turkey(Fresh Deli)
1lbs Cajun Turkey(Fresh Deli)
1lb of thick sliced pepperoni(Fresh Deli)
2 bunches of Bananas
2 honeydew melons
one cantaloupe
4lbs green seedless grapes (it was cheaper for the 4lbs container than the 2lb)
10 notebooks at .10cents each
1/4 lb of blue cheese(Fresh Deli)
corn chips
Doritos
2 Lettuce heads
1 bag of organic spinach.
This came to $49.61.

Then we headed off to Kellers Farm
12 ears of fresh sweet corn
Two tomatoes
6 peaches
That came to $7. 07.

Then I had to get bread and Milk so I stopped by wal-mart
2 loaves of bread, 1 white wheat and one cracked wheat.
milk
That came up to $5.76.

My Grand total for the week $66.44.
That's a savings of 58.56.
Now that's a week so if I can keep it up that is over $200 extra a month in our pockets.

I didn't pick up the muffins or the premade cinnamon rolls or any of the other impulses that I usually just grab. I actually have snacks for the kids that will last about 5 months. The local store had a 10 for $10 on fruit roll ups, gushers, chex mix, popcorn, pringles, mini oreos, mini chips ahoy, and mini golden grahams. Needless to say that was in May, I filled two cabinets full and still have 3/4ths of it full. That includes my husband stocking his desk at work. I did spend about $150 but the items don't expire until December of 2009 and some stay good even after that. I actually make some killer cinnamon rolls myself and have everything I need to do so at home. I was just picking up the Pillsbury because it was easier and faster.

Not bad huh. I am proud of myself if I do say so myself.

Here's a quick, yummy recipe. I always seem to be in a time crunch when school gets back in session and they boys sports are in full swing. The taco meat freezes well and reheats really quickly. Enjoy.

Throw it Together Taco salad
lettuce, chopped
carrots, diced
half of a red onion, chopped
pepper jack cheese, diced
fresh mozzarella, diced
cucumber, chunky
tomatoes, chunky
1 bag of corn chips lightly crushed
Ranch Dressing
French Dressing
ground beef
taco seasoning
chipolte seasoning

Combine lettuce, carrots, onion, cucumbers, tomatoes in a big bowl.
brown beef, drain and season with taco and chipolte seasoning as directed, place in separate bowl.
dice pepper jack and mozzarella, place in separate bowls.
Place some of salad mixture in bottom of salad bowl
add cheese of choice
add dressing of choice
add a sprinkling of corn chips
add taco meat
DIG IN

Pineapple, Coconut Ice Cream, and Bananas

What a very sweet treat....it's also serving as my brunch. I know not good but hey I have my dairy and my fruits and danggummit its healthy to me. It's such a hot and muggy day today that this is perfect. If I had thought about it I would have put it all in the blender with some malibu and called it a day LOL no I seriously wouldn't drink this early in the day.

As for everything else we are all doing great. The boys are almost done with tryouts....YIPEEEEE....we have been at the football field everyday except for weekends for the last two weeks. The boys are both loving it. They are of course in two different divisions. Daniel in Bantam and Donte in Featherweight. Daniel has always had a love for Football and is one of the most non-fearing children that I know. Donnie has found a new found love for football and is learning so quickly. He has the agility, strength, and speed. Most of the kids out there have been playing for years and are well over 100lbs. My poor baby is barely cracking 80 so he is on the smaller side out there. Trust me some of those boys give a whole new meaning to baby line backer. Anyway I think Donnie is going to play in house this year as they have pretty much already picked their travel team for featherweight. He is a little disappointed but I explained to him that for a kid who would rather pick up a base ball bat or kick a soccer ball than a football he wowed them all. Rarely can the kids get him down when hes being tackled...heck yesterday he ran into the line like a bowling ball going for a strike and broke through 4 kids with no problem. I am bursting with pride just in case you can't tell. He did admit that he loves football though so through the years I am going to have to start buying stock in that hair dye. Why can't my babies like Golf?

Donte has been taking Daniel and like I mentioned before this child loooooooves football. He is doing well in Bantam and we will find out soon what the results of his tryouts are. I know he did just as well as his brother. Mr. Tuff Stuff himself.

Now onto the husband....OMG....he is living, breathing, and just about glowing football. The three of them sit around and talk in that gibberish they call football language. Of course they are all grinning from ear to ear and I am looking at them trying hard to catch a familiar word here and there. Oh well I should have known with the amount of testosterone in this family.

As for me.....I am enjoying the last days of summer with my family. All too soon it will be back to the school house and actually getting up to an alarm clock. I am excited in a way but in another I have really enjoyed the days with my boys. Pretty soon I will be writing tardy passes and waving hi to all the little ones that pass by the front. Before I know it, it will be May again and the anticipation of summer will have us all ready to bust.

It's a.............

BOY!!!! Adam (brother) and Chrissy (SIL) are having a boy!!! WoooooHooooo a healthy little blue bundle of joy will be coming our way in December.

ENERGIZED!

I have my mojo back!! I woke up early did 30 min on the elliptical, did some crunches on the ball, and caught up on everything I needed to and its only 11:27. Maybe I needed that lazy day and all that extra sleep.

The boys start their tryouts today.....they also start full contact....HELP. They are both as excited as can be, but me, the Mom is not so excited. I keep looking back to when they were tiny and they would crawl up in my lap. All it took was a look and they would scramble to jump in my arms. I would hold them for hours and just stare at them in amazement. I could hardly believe that they were mine. I loved to give them kisses on the bridge of there nose and made up songs for them. They would squeal with laughter when I sang the rubber ducky song and would get tired whenever I sang lullaby and goodnight. They were both hip babies and I had some killer arm muscles from that because they were not lightweights. What I would do to have a few more minutes with them as babies. Even when they hit the terrible two's it wasn't that bad. They were pretty good toddlers and they have gotten better as the years have gone by.

They are growing up so very fast. Half of me is so proud that I could burst and the other half is heartbroken that their little worlds no longer revolve around sesame street and Cheerios. OH well whats a girl to do....one thing I will have to do is go and pick up some more hair dye. Full contact = More Gray. After this week I am sure that I be totally gray.

10:30

That's the time that my husband I got up. The boys got up at around 11:30. I guess we all needed the extra sleep. I feel a lot more productive today than I did yesterday thats for sure. I have already done more in two hours today than I did all day yesterday.

We stayed up late last night playing the Wii. We played golf, and we bowled. It was hilarious. The best part was that we didn't spend one red penny and had just as much if not more. There was no crowd and no loud music or voices and the best part.......we did it all in our PJ's. I am off now to my craft room, to lock myself away for awhile. Happy Sunday!

Thirtyishitis

Well I think my sluggishness is gone for now. Grant you its 9:27 PM and I hope that I can get to sleep tonight. I did do a little today but nothing that used a whole lot of brain power...ahhh whats a girl to do. We still have 25 days left until I go back to work and 27 until the boys go back. I can't believe that a couple of months have gone by so very fast. I don't feel like I have gotten everything done and I have that awful feeling of scrambling inside of me...you know the one where you know it's there, and you know it has to get done, but it can wait just one more day. It's like the 32 year olds version of senioritis. I shall call it "Thirtyishitis". BKA "I don't wanna get off my lazy butt right now, and I dare anyone to tell me that I have to".

As I said I did manage to get a few things done today and when Te came home we headed out to the Taco Bell/Long John Silvers in town. Friday night are usually our go out to dinner night but none of us felt like the formal sit down, heck we would have been happy to stay in our PJ's and eat chex mix but it was Friday so we got ready and went out. We get there, order, and sit down. Let me tell you the one thing that gets on my nerves more than anything else...SMACKING....we are not heifers we aren't sitting in a pasture or in a barn, so we should now how to eat like civilized people right....NOT. There is a girl around 15ish sitting across from me at the far table and she is not only smacking so loud that it sounds like she is right by my ear but she is staring me dead in my face. I looked at Te and I tell him that this chic is staring me dead in my face and he laughs. He knows my weakness so I don't even tell him about the smacking because he would just tell me to look away. So I am trying to engage in conversation with my family and this chic is just all in my grill so I stare back until she looks away. Thank God they left soon after. I sooooooo wanted to walk right over and give them a lesson in etiquette.....I did want to but I refrained and I didn't. Of course Te and Donnie think it's all quite funny, Daniel was too busy eating to realize so at least it wasn't X3. I know I'm not the only one that can't stand the smacking....I mean really people I would rather rake my nails across a chalkboard than have to endure someone smacking....IT DRIVES ME TOTALLY NUTS.

Here's a picture of that lovely young cow.....ummm I mean lady.

Blaaaah

Lazy is the only word that I can use to describe the way I feel today. I don't feel like doing anything at all. Sometimes I love that feeling of doing nothing but on days like today when I have a lot to get done it doesn't feel so good. I feel blaaaaah. I suppose it doesn't help that the boys came down earlier this morning ate and are back upstairs playing, Donte had some sort of stupid training today, even the dogs are just laying there like nonaimated lumps, uggggg maybe I need to eat something and just drag my butt up and start plugging away. If I can shake this comatose feeling maybe I will have something more interesting to blog about.

Randy Pausch

I saw Randy Pausch for the first time on Oprah. I remember coming home from school and wanting to watch my DVR'd Oprah(Yes I am addicted), but I had to get the boys homework done. I have a very strict no TV during homework rule. The boys finished their homework and I settled in to watch...I don't know how to explain it. As I watched this man tell his story and do his push ups, he really opened my eyes. To not just one thing but to about a zillion. The old saying of "don't cry over split milk" has a whole new meaning for me now. How wonderful was he to share this with first his students and then the world. His attitude, his smile, his laugh, and the way he made you feel like you knew him personally was so special. As I opened my laptop today I saw the newsbanner that he had passed away. If you haven't heard his lecture or haven't heard of him you should. I try really hard not to feel sorry for myself, for what God has blessed me with I am more than grateful for....even the not so great stuff had it's reasons.

http://www.thelastlecture.com/aboutr.htm

http://news.aol.com/article/man-behind-last-lecture-sensation-dies/100948?icid=100214839x1206295664x1200328977

He tried to prepare his family as best as one can prepare them. He made sure that there were great memories to keep and he made sure that the world knew that there is good out there. May God bless his family and help them through it all.

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

I have mentioned many times that I miss the "Military Mentality". The fact is that I felt like a fish out of water for a long time after moving to Illinois. There was no welcome committee, and even after I did meet a few people who we thought would be great friends they turned out to be a lot different than we thought they were. There are good and bad where ever you go....trust me I know that. Well when I went to conditioning on Monday I ended up sitting by this really nice lady. We struck up a convo and within minutes were gabbing away like we had known each other forever. Come to find out she is retired Army, a former West Point instructor. Tuesday another lady joined us....her husband was in the Army as well. The three of us chatted away while cheering on our kids. We talked about everything from being stationed here and there and how we miss certain things about living in a military community. I even got to vent about feeling like a fish out of water for so long and they agreed that they went through the same thing. I finally felt like I wasn't losing my mind. Another thing I love is that their kids are well behaved. I guess I not only missed the military wives but I missed the military brats too. Now I am not saying that there's anything wrong with all of the locals because I have met some really great people, people that I will stay in contact with forever. People that I love to hang out with and look forward to their company. Unfortunately I have also met people who get joy out of acting like they are 12....enough said.......I don't have time for that crap!

I so believe that there are things in the universe that pull people together. The law of attraction is a powerful one. So thank you universe for pulling me in the right direction!

Just a Few Shots

No not the alcoholic kind even though I like those too. :0)

WHAT?


Eye on the goal.


Got it!!


Relief!



This one is one I took of the sun. I love this picture!

Grass, Blue Skies, and Stinky Little Boys

Today was day two for football conditioning. Donnie and Dannie both condition on different fields that are no where near each other so Donte rushes home grabs one child I grab the other and off we go. The boys need to be there at 6PM...PROMPTLY. They constantly go from 6PM to 8:30PM. They hit, they tackle, they look mean, they laugh, and man do they sweat. The weather here has been perfect for it and I have met some really great people. The parents are actually all really nice and have common courtesy<-----Big change from some of the other sports out here. In fact it's really relaxing for me.

Donnie has about 14 kids in his section and they all get along so well. Us parents take our lawn chairs and get to gab and watch our little men transform from itty bitty babies to little men on the field. I took my camera today and got some great pictures. The skies have been blue and the boys have been full of energy as have the parents and I really think that the positive energy transcends into everyone.

As Donnie and I were driving home today I was telling him how very proud I was of him and that I could really tell that he was enjoying himself. He smiled and looked at me and said "Mom, I'm really good at this aren't I?" I responded with "You sure are." You see after asking them both if they were sure they wanted to play, and them saying yes. I went out and signed them up. As soon as we were done and got back in the van Donnie says something along the line of "I don't think I want to do it." My head could have popped off....it costs more than a couple hundred for each kid to play and you don't get a full refund. My reply to him was " Oh no you wanted it, you got it, suck it up son, you will be fine." Now don't get me wrong nothing would have made me happier than running in and saying pull my sons name out....but it's the principle. Once you have signed up, you can't quit. You have to give it all you have. I am not raising quitters. So today as I watched him catch, tackle, and all that other football stuff I could have passed out from the sigh of relief because you see my son was enjoying it. We talked for awhile about it and he was telling me how he faked this and how you can't tackle with your helmet because you can break your neck (UUUUUhhhhhh SON DON'T TELL MOM STUFF THAT HAS BREAK AND NECK IN THE SAME BREATH). He was grinning from ear to ear. It gave me the warm fuzzies.

I don't know if I was dizzy from the warm fuzzies or dizzy from the smell coming off my boy. Man he was stiiiiiinky. I know he put deodorant on too because his Uncle Adam bought him David Beckham deodorant that he slathers on so the whole world knows he smells good. I cracked the windows and he says " smells good doesn't it Mom?. My mouth hung open in disbelief....you see his is my sweet one....and he cracked up laughing. As he did so he raised his arm and said "smell it!" By this time we were both laughing hysterically and both my windows were down. I can just imagine when they are teenagers what I am going to have to go through. **Lord help me please**

My First Born, My Baby, and The Man That Loves Them

This little football player is my first born. My sweet little, angel faced, loving boy......who turned into a monster ramming the heck out of his brother and father and giggling with enjoyment at every hit. To think that he is my reserved one. That's not a tear on his face, it's hard core sweat.



This little muffin is the baby of the family that swears his first word should have been TACKLE. I knew this time was coming for him and have been mentally preparing myself from the beginning.



Here's the first moment of impact....I think my head sprouted about 50 gray hairs after witnessing this.



Here's the proud Daddy who is seeing the fruit of his loins starting their manly trek into tackle football. HA and he thought that he was exempt from being tackled. No way Jose your a target too. Moms the only safe one.

The Death of The Lemon Filled Doughnut.

I really love Sundays. It's a day that we are all usually home and it's a day of doing whatever we want to. I absolutely love to spend time together especially when it's just the four of us. In the winter we are even known to stay in our PJ's all darn day.

Today we had a nice lazy morning. The boys and I were up and Donte was still asleep. We were doodling around downstairs when my Mom called to tell me that Mario Kart was in the Target flyer....hmmmmm i googled the number and they were all sold out. I decided to go to the Best Buy sight and what to my wondering eyes did appear? The Best Buy in Bolingbrook had one. I called and the lady said that they had 9 left. I ran upstairs told Donte....he jumped into gear after a few choice words and hollered at the boys to hurry up and get dressed. We all piled in the car and off we went. We get to the store go in and they had 3 left...I wish I had my camera to show you all how wide the boys smiles were. We also had to stop by the Krispy Kreme store....only because it was right there. It had been awhile and anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE THE LEMON FILLED. We walk in and the boys are pointing out all the ones that they want, I didn't see the lemon filled so I asked the lady. She had the nerve to tell me that they had been discontinued. WHAT!!!!! OMG are you serious? <--I really said that. She said that they weren't that popular. AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH! They are popular to me darn it and that's all I care about <---OK so I didn't say that. I settled for a raspberry. And even waited until I got home to eat it. Where's the fun in that?

However we did grill tonight and that was scrumpdiddlyumpcious to say the least. You better believe that I put some of that corn out there and Daniel and torn it up! So now I'm sitting here aimlessly plugging away on my laptop, Donte is playing Call of Duty 4, and the boys are playing Mario Kart. I think this is the perfect time for me to sneak into my scrapbook room and get some memories done.

Golden Yumminess

The last few days have been busy. That's the best way that I can put it. Every time I sat down to post something or someone would come calling and I would have to go running. Today I finally got to relax a little.....I got to take a 3 hour nap!!!!!.....I am recharged and rearing to go.

Today started off early. The boys have being dying to see Dark Knight as has Donte. So we were all dressed, fed, and in the car by 9AM. The film was filmed right here in Chicago and I knew with all the hoopla that it would be one of those movies that drew the crowds by the masses. There was a 930AM showing and we got there at around 920. Unfortunately the theater was already crowded. We bought tickets for the 10AM, got our icees and candy, and settled in. The boys and Donte loved it. I liked it as well but the length kinda got to me. It was almost 3 hours long. All in all it was worth it and the boys are still talking bout it.

We then headed to the fresh market and to the local farm. The farm stand was finally open.......I have been counting the days for it to open. There's nothing like fresh produce. We picked up some tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn. I couldn't help myself as soon as I got home I had to make a ear of corn. It only takes like 5 min on top of the stove but it seemed like so much more. I swear I was drooling by the time I got it to my plate, buttered, salted, and finally in my mouth. Corn is absolutely my favorite veggie and I was in corn heaven. MMMMMmmmmmm MMMMMMmmmmmmm Good.

We hung out at home for a bit, then we decided to head to the school so the boys could play some football in the field. I took my new camera and got some great pics of my men. I feel so blessed to have all three of them. It was muggy and sticky but theres nothing sweeter than seeing the man you love teach the two little men you love how to do something.

Donte Jr. He is always so happy.


Donte Jr. and Diggy


Murphy after he got shaved....so fresh and so clean.


Golden Yumminess


My three men


Father and son. I love this picture.


SET......HIKE


He looks so tiny compared to that big 'ol ball.

Old Movie Day

The boys and I have taken to watching old movies once a week. We have watched such films as "Field of Dreams, "Rudy", and many more today we watched "Lorenzo's Oil". I remember watching his many years ago and I remember crying then, not only for the movie content but for all the people that have been, are, and will be effected by ALD. After the movie the boys and I googled Michael Odone only to find out that he passed away this past May....he was 30.

The film not only educates us all about the medical aspects of this disease but it also shows the power of parents love. If you haven't seen it, you should. Doctors aren't always right...sometimes they need a little help too.

The Vet

Today we took the dogs to get their yearly check up and get groomed. We got to the office in plenty of time and dropped of Mr. Murphy with the groomer and walked Diggy over to get his exam.......let me start with a little description of Diggy. Diggy is very muscular and at first was always friendly with other animals. We had him since he was 6 weeks and he was such a cuddly little fart. When we moved here we left him and Max with my brother. My brother has two dogs too and they are notorious for getting out and taking off. One day my brothers dogs and our two got out and Max never came back. They scoured all over for him but we never found our Max (still a very delicate situation). Well after that Diggy would loose his mind at the sight of another dog. I swear he would go plain nuts whenever he saw another dog. He was OK with Murphy when we got him. I think mostly because Murphy was just 6 weeks old. However he was still very aggressive towards other dogs. It was a fight to say the least to take him to PetSmart or anywhere else. We tried training, hell we tried it all and nothing seemed to calm him. Over the last year we have worked extensivly with him.

IT FINALLY WORKED. Today when I took him to PetSmart he calmly walked by numerous dogs. Now I was set for a struggle with him, I was so pleased that I decide to test my luck....and my dog. I walked him by the room with the huge window, that has the daycamp area for dogs. There were at least 10 dogs in there. Some even jumped at the window and barked. Diggy started to pull to get closer. I calmly said "leave it" and he did!!! He just turned in my direction and kept going.....I was so the proud owner!!!

They both got groomed and Diggy got his yearly. I have to take Murphy back on Thursday but this time I will be a lot more relaxed about it all. I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them tomorrow.

Back to Shopping.

I have lollygagged as much as I can today. It's one o'clock and it's time for shopping in the basement. **Sigh**

Ok I am back. We did really good on our shopping expedition today. I actually found my old high school year books and the love letters that Donte and I sent to each other while we were dating. It was nice to reminisce a little. Of course the boys were too busy rolling their eyes to pay attention. Donte was so right I have too much polish pottery....oh man oh man. I'm keeping it darn it. It's sooooooo puuuuuuuurty. I also found my foot massager. It's one that you plug in and turn on. Ummmmm how nice.

We had another great day today as well. The windows wide open and of course we had to go outside for a bit today. I got some great action pictures of the boys. We also went across the street for a little bit and chatted with some of the neighbors.

I know I haven't talked much about recruiting lately.....my Mom told me if I have nothing nice to say not to say anything at all. LOL It's going OK. They are in the 4th quarter so the are busy to say the least. The days are long and the hours suck. They are doing what they need to and his stress levels seem to have evened out. I am still counting my blessings that he is here with us and not in Iraq or Afghanistan. Late nights I can handle but the deployments get old really fast. I know that when he deployed he did so much good in an awful place but I am cherishing the time that he has here with us. One year down and two more to go!

Alllllll Done........and a Bit of Everything Else.

I am so glad that my craft room is done. It is a pain to have to move everything but it was so worth it. I can now have the window open wide and my papers are not flying around all over the place. ****Sigh**** That's my sigh of relief now that it's all said and done.

We also went shopping yesterday after Donte got home to get the boys their football stuff. OMG we spent a small fortune. All well worth it though. My boys have to be protected!! Most of the stuff that we picked up was Under Armor. I figure with the cold here it's worth a little bit extra to keep them warm/cool and dry. They are totally excited now and keep drooling over the bags of stuff. It was funny to see them in the football pants. You can really see how gosh darn skinny they are. I am sure that they will stay safe out there and yes they are tough as nails, so they will be good. I will keep repeating this to my self until I believe it. :0)

Today is an absolutely beautiful day here. It's 77, sunny with a good breeze going. Needless to say the air conditioning has been turned off, all the windows have been opened and the four of us are just hanging out. In fact all four of us are still in our PJ's....it's 4:52PM. I even sat out on the back patio and read some today while the dogs layed on my feet and fell asleep.

Speaking of dogs. The house we have here doesn't have a fenced in yard so our dogs have leads outside. They can run and play and all of that but I hate leads. Donte and I really wanted them to be able to run like they used to. We broke down and ordered a PetSafe Wireless Containment System. I also ordered an extra collar so both dogs could go out together. We excitedly opened the box and put everything together. The instructions say that it takes approximately 2 weeks to train a dog. We set everything up and put the dogs on leashes, we got their treats, and went to work. It took ONE day to train my two. The can go outside and run around and still have their border. The system actually gives them a warning beep before shocking them. When they hear the beep they back up pronto.

Well I am going to go back to my lazy Sunday because before I know it, it will be Monday......but wait.....I'm off then too. :0)