thanks

my xmas was really nice. i'm writing this on my new laptop. thank you dad. i got a lot of great things. and got to hang out with my family. made it to xmas eve dinner at my sister's. she made the best veggie lasagna and had a bday cake for me and my brother. colby got to play with their dog and had a great time too. we woke up early and waited patiently for xmas to start. had a delicious brunch and opened everything just in time to leave for work at the kennel. it didn't start snowing until the last few hours we were there. it's still snowing. i had today off but poor gareth had to go to work in it. colby's had another blast playing in it. he's such a snow dog.

snow

it has been a busy week but i started feeling better pretty quickly. i didn't miss work (i never do) even on our snow day. we got a few inches and i had to work at the kennel. ended up shoveling snow there for about an hour and teching that night. it was absolutely exhausting. the next day was my bday and it was a relaxing and fun day. i got an expensive haircut at the salon where i got a free haircut earlier this year when i donated my hair. then i got my first massage. it didn't help with all my back and shoulder pains as much as i'd like but it was nice. we went to maggianos for a fancy dinner then went to see tron. we both really liked the movie. i'm almost finished with all my christmas preparations. i gave gareth his presents last night. sandies, a scarf and his annual photo album. colby had a blast this week in the snow. i have to take him with me to xmas now since we're both going to be out of town but i think he's going to have great time. i'm really looking forward to spending the holiday with my family.

sickness

i finally succumbed to sickness. i was home all week with my mom and felt fine but the day i came back for work i woke up sick. it was nice to be home with my mom and i'm glad i wasn't sick there. i spent the week starting the application process for the vet tech program. just to find out last night they completely redid the website and the process for applying this weekend. so i have to redo some of the things i've already done and figure out a new way to do other things i was in the process of doing already. i'm really frustrated but think i can still do it all right. and i'm going to call them tomorrow about one thing i don't think i can. ugh. after work yesterday i went to the volunteering activity i'd committed myself to at petsmart. it was the santa claws photo shoot. hence the silly pic here. it was fun but i'm glad to have the day off today. not looking forward to the busy week ahead. i hope i start feeling better soon.

someday

it's officially december. this year has really flown by. a lot of things to be thankful for this season. unfortunately my mom wasn't feeling up to making it to thanksgiving dinner. so i went to see her at the house before i went to our dinner. she's doing better every time i see her. dinner with the rest of my family was nice but short. i had to leave early to make it to work at bbuster that night. but it was an easy shift that i got paid time and a half for. it was crazy working at the kennel this weekend. there were seventy dogs there to take care of and clean up after. it was hard work and i'm glad there were two techs on a shift. i'm going to be working my own shifts there this week. but i'm told i won't be getting a raise until at least next month. i took kitt to the vets at the beginning of last week. she'd been throwing up a lot lately. she did have an overgrowth of bacteria in her gi tract. the same thing that colby had last time i took him in. so they gave her antibiotics. but she wouldn't take them in her food so i had to squirt them down her throat. which she didn't take well. i gave her the last dose today. she's thrown up once since she started taking it. she'd lost three pounds in the last six months. which means she's not obese anymore. but there could really be something wrong going on. we signed up for pet insurance last week. twenty five dollars a month each for both of them to cover accidents and illness. after this past year we're not hoping to need it but think it's a good idea just in case. i got a chance to catch up on my pics this week. the new harry potter movie was enjoyable. nothing special by itself but it left us excited about the final one this summer. it will be nice to someday sit down and watch them all.

lovely

looks like it's been a busy month for me. i didn't end up winning anything at my brother's event. it was a nice time for everyone and seemed to be a success. i'm glad to be a part of what he does. my mom was sad she couldn't go but she wasn't doing great at that point. she actually ended up back in the hospital a few days later. she was retaining fluid and it was in her lungs and heart. she got some blood transfusions and diuretics. they also found an irregularity in her heartbeat and she may need a pacemaker put in. but she's doing better at this point. i actually haven't seen her in a few weeks. my dad's going out of town in a few weeks though and i took off work to be home with her for a few days. in the midst of all this busyness i tried to add another thing to our list. a dog named lola. she would have been the perfect addition to our family. but we're not ready for another dog right now. gareth had to be the bad guy and say absolutely not. she wasn't at the shelter long and the lady who adopted her named her jenny. kinda crazy. i signed up for my part time benefits yesterday. i had to wait until they changed my status to part time to do so. i'm the one who noticed it was wrong and pointed it out to the higher ups. for me doing so they cut my pay. but once i start running my own kennel shifts i will get a raise there. not as much as i lost but it's something. i actually start assisting another tech tomorrow since it's such a busy week there. i worked my first closing shift at bbuster in months last night. it was weird to be up so late. and nice to sleep in so late today. this is my first day off in a while. gareth's off too. we're going to see harry potter tonight. looks like it's another lovely day out for us to enjoy.

lucky

my mom went home on wednesday. i haven't seen her since tuesday. she's doing well but still in a lot of pain. gareth and i will see her today before going to my brother's dinner theater fund raising event. this is chrisi's donated terrarium for the silent auction. i'm excited to see what other items are up for auction. maybe i'll come home with something nice. it'll be nice to see everyone. i know mom is sad she can't go. i'm back to my busy schedule again. i've been doing physical therapy every week now for a month. my back's been much better since i started. i no longer wear my brace and i'm back to doing most everything i used to do. including everything around the house. it was nice to have a break from that for a while. and now i know that gareth knows how to do everything. so maybe he can keep doing some things. i know i'm lucky. he's so good to me.

heart

my mom had to have open heart surgery to replace her aorta on thursday. it went well and she was moved out of icu today. it was pretty scary for our family to watch her go through that again. she had to have bypasses ten years ago and ended up bleeding internally so they had to go back in to fix it. it took her a long time to recover. so we're all hoping for the best this time around. it's been a pretty rough week for everyone. i was lucky enough to get some time off from work. first bbuster had put me on the schedule when i wasn't available. then to punish me they took me off the schedule entirely. so that worked out well. hhs said i could have the rest of the week off after i found out she needed surgery. i'm glad i work at a humane society. i went to their howl-o-ween event today. but i couldn't bring colby. i'd bathed and groomed him at work on monday and after that he was coughing all week. so i brought him to the vets friday and he may have a minor case of kennel cough. but i was told to keep him away from other dogs for two weeks. i'd already bought him a costume though so i came home and took some pics of him in it. i heart him.

momentum

i'm actually at work right now. i've been left in charge for the next few hours. but there's not much to do unless dogs come in or go out for grooming or boarding. or if people come by to see the dogs. i took more pics. this time of mr belvidere and yoda. they're on the same website as the last ones. i went to see the new doc on mon. he said it's just the muscles i haven't been using and may have had damage to that are hurting now. apparently i should have been in physical therapy six weeks ago. so i started my once a week for a month therapy yesterday. it went pretty well. i got stretched and pushed in some painful ways. but i'm actually feeling ok today. partly i'm sure from the muscle relaxers the new doc prescribed... that was yesterday. i took colby to work with me today. we put a baby gate up and now i can keep him in the office with me. he did

pretty well and most everyone seemed to enjoy having him there. i've been taking some pics at the kennel too. i hope i can keep up my momentum. maybe it's just the muscle relaxers i'm feeling but i'm absolutely exhausted. i've never gone to bed so early like i am these days. tonight i'll be asleep by seven... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

helping

i'm in the middle of my work-filled week but it hasn't been so bad so far. i'm actually off today so i got to sleep in but i'll be going in for the wellness clinic tonight if i'm feeling up to it. i was also off yesterday but had to get up early to help out with snip. i'm glad i went though because i was the only volunteer that showed up. so i got to do everything. it's nice to be useful for a good cause. i've also been taking pics of the new arrivals at the kennel. i took jake and carmen's here. this is the new puppy ginger in quarantine at the house. i've been able to hopefully help some birds too. my brother's having an event for project perry next month. i've been working on getting some great stuff for the silent auction. a gift certificate for a weekend of boarding at the hhs. a large terrarium from chrisi. and possibly a piece of art from gloria clifford. i'm really excited and hope the event is a success. gareth and i went to see the social network last week. it was pretty good but almost makes you not want to use facebook. he didn't do a review. he's been promoted to assistant manager at bbuster. that's the only way to get a raise there anymore. so i'm glad he's finally getting more of what he deserves. my manager's giving me a hard time about my availability now. i just hope they keep me on so i can keep my benefits. i've learned how important it is to have health insurance with everything lately.

busy

it hasn't been a very exciting week but it's been a pretty busy one. this is my first day off since my last post and it's my only day off this week. next week's going to be even harder. i'll be working or volunteering every day. and starting tomorrow i'll be getting up even earlier to start learning the kennel tech part of the job. hopefully i'll be up to doing that soon. i got my records and xrays from the docs to bring to the new doc. so i was able to get a better shot of my fractures. i also caught up on the rest of my photos. i got this shot on my way to the hhs this week. soon i'll be seeing the sun rise on my rides. i don't know how dad did it for years and years. i'm already exhausted. i hope i'm able to keep up with everything. it's been raining the past few days so it's really feeling like fall. i guess it's a good reason to stay in today and take it easy.

experience

i thought i'd written since that last post but i guess i've been too busy. i started my volunteer work with the hhs. they had their wellness clinic last week where i got to not only observe the vet and volunteers but also help fill vaccinations and learn about everything going on. yesterday was my first spay and neuter clinic. it was pretty intense to see my first surgery. but i was ok watching and actually got to prep the dogs by the end. it was a really good experience. i went out after the clinic and got my first scrubs shirt. i'm excited to get to wear it next time. not a lot else has been going on. it's been nice to only be at bbuster a couple days a week now. i'm a lot less stressed now even though i'm doing alot. i also ended up making an appointment at another orthopedist for my back. i'm supposed to be healed by the end of the month but i'm still in a lot of pain. so i'm hoping if there is something else wrong that it will be found and fixed by someone else. maybe i just haven't given myself the time and rest to heal right. gareth saw a movie a couple weeks ago i forgot to post. machete. i haven't taken many pics lately but here's one of a groundhog i saw at the hhs the other day.

hopeful

it's been a pretty good week. i started at my new job yesterday. it's going really well. i like the people and the dogs. i'm learning quickly and it's pretty easy so far. i also get to mostly sit for now so that's been better than bbuster for my back. that should be beneficial in at least the last part of my healing process. i have a new ailment though. i think i have a mild case of poison ivy. i got a breakout of little bumps all on my leg the other day. luckily it hasn't spread elsewhere and i was able to treat it once i realized what it might be. i'm still not sure that's what it is. i've never had it before. i may have gotten it when i went out to louisa for labor day this week. i took colby out for a get together with my family. it was my brother's bday celebration and i made a cake. it was a nice day but perhaps i need to be more careful walking in the woods. my parents also headed out this week to yellowstone for an adventure. dad sent an email and it sounds like they're having a good time seeing all the wildlife. it actually started snowing there and some of the roads were closed. i wonder if they'll get to see any wolves. that would be the best part for me. maybe someday i'll make it out there myself. we've decided not to make plans to travel for this year. it's been enough to deal with everything around here without trying to go somewhere else. maybe that means we can make big plans for next year. i'll be hopeful.

ending

i made it through the past week and and a half. it was exhausting. but at least i get a nice four day weekend off now. and i'm officially part time. i start at the hhs next weekend. and it looks like we have a plan now for moving to nova. it won't be for another year. but i'm excited to have an idea of something new to do. i got gareth to go with me to the docs the other day. the good news was there are no more breaks. the bad news is it's going to take at least another month to heal and for me to feel better. i've got my next appointment in two months and it should be completely healed by then. we took colby in for his six month appointment too. he's doing great now. i'm glad he's all better. i know i will be soon too. we saw our first sign of fall this week. a lovely tree turning to red. i'm glad to see summer ending.

ridiculous

things may be a little better. but they're going to get a little harder. my manager's on vacation for the next week and a half. so i'm in charge. my introduction to that today was an employee changing his availability for this week. so i worked on finding someone to cover his shifts and called him to let him know i got it covered. and he tells me he can't do what i've changed it to. ridiculous. i put my two week notice in today to drop down to part time. i'm taking the job at the hanover humane society. they're giving me a desk job at first. i didn't get the job at the vets. but hopefully this will get me started going where i want to go. i don't really know. gareth and i talked last night about the possibility of moving to nova. if we did i could go to an actual campus and get my degree in two years instead of three. so who knows what i'll actually do. i just hope i do something soon. and i hope i eventually heal so i'm able to do things again. i finally got my disabilities note back from the doctor. it says i'm supposed to be sedentary at work. like that's possible. i have an appointment next week to see how i'm healing. and get more pain killers. i missed my sister and niece's bday celebrations yesterday. at least i got to hang out with gareth for an evening. he saw piranha last week. i saw something decent that comes out tomorrow. city island. and i'm almost through with the ken burns series on national parks i got for christmas. maybe by dropping down to part time i can take time off and go somewhere this summer. i could really use a vacation.

rough

it's been a rough week. turns out disability only covers what i've already taken off. and i've been having a hard time getting through to anyone who can help at the doctors. my schedule at work has been a pain to make right. and i'm pretty much in constant pain through all this. to top it off today i was supposed to meet my parents in r'mond for dinner when i got off today. the person coming in to relieve me was an hour late because someone else said that was fine. and no one told me. so i missed dinner. i didn't hear back from the vets either. i'm pretty bummed about everything. but i need to get myself together and figure out what to do next. it's just not been easy for me. at least colby's doing better. he got the stitches out and is pretty much back to normal now. gareth got back monday night but has had to work every day since then. he works nights and i've been working mornings so we haven't seen much of each other anyways. he saw the extendables this week but they posted someone else's review. i did get a chance to catch up on my photos this week. i'd been trying to get my niece's old computer to work with my old hard drive for months and finally succeeded. but only got about a day worth of it working before it was broken again. that's all the complaining i have to do for now. hopefully this next week will be better.

rainbow

everyone's doing better this week. which is good because gareth's out of town all weekend for a wedding. and i went back to work yesterday. i'd filed for disability monday and they waited until the last minute of the last work day of the week to call and leave me a message saying they needed more info. so i don't know if and when that will happen. i had some great news this week though. i got a call back for an interview from the vets where i'd most wanted to work. again i think it went well so hopefully i'll hear back from them the beginning of the week. we took colby back in monday to get the stitches and swelling looked at. they said everything looked good and the stitches can come out next week. poor pup's still wearing the cone and now he has pjs he wears to bed and when we're gone so he can't scratch the stitches. i have some good news about a pet. budd laid the last of the eggs this week. i'm quite happy that ordeal is over with. nothing else too exciting has happened. i did go back to f'burg on my last day off for a visit to the dentist. they didn't find anything really wrong. just a lot of staining since my last visit. at least they didn't have to do much scraping this time. there were a few storms while i was there and i got to see a nice rainbow on my way back. made for a nice ending.

hurting

kinda a crazy week. first and worst colby hurt himself. he was running in the yard through the ivy and ran into one of the sharply cut off branches on a stump. he made the worst cries i've ever heard. i picked him up and ran upstairs where gareth was and we took him straight to the vets. they had to perform surgery to close the wound. it had even cut into the muscle. poor pup. i got out of work that night to help with him and was glad i did. he cried for hours. he's been ok since but has to wear the cone so he won't lick at it. he's spent a lot of time sleeping and looking sad. except of course when my dad came the day after to help with him while gareth was at work. he acted like his puppy self for a few hours. he gets the drainage tube out today and the stitches in another week. it's been scary and stressful for all of us. i ended up overexerting myself in that whole ordeal and when i went back to work yesterday felt absolutely awful. so i went to the after hours clinic again when i got off. they were able to give me the strong pain killers again and a note to take another week off work. i'm going to see the spine specialist again on monday to talk to him about going on disability. before all that craziness happened i had a really nice weekend. gareth took me out to olive garden. my favorite. and i went home for my mom's bday on sunday. colby had another awesome time swimming in the lake and it was nice to see my family. we finally got the new tv today. and they're supposed to come and fix the cable later. so i'm looking forward to vegging out for a little bit after not being able to for some time.

slow

the appointment didn't go so well. i was hoping to hear that things were healing nicely and i could start doing more. instead they found two more broken bones and said i really needed to take it slow for another six weeks. and keep wearing the back brace. so that sucks. and that means i can't start at the kennel next month. but i did apply to a couple places for open vet assistant positions. one even took me around to see everything and meet everyone. the tech there said she did the distance learning program i'm going to apply to and now runs the classroom at john tyler where i'd be going. so i hope i made a good impression on everyone there. not much else has been going on. i did all that on my last day off and today will be another cleaning day with gareth's assistance. i think we're going to attempt to cut colby's nails again before bringing him back to the pet store. i really think we just need a table like they have there. we try and do it with him on the ground and he just squirms out of our grasp. kitt's not liking her new food. she keeps leaving it behind in the bowl after eating the old stuff. i've never seen such a fat picky cat. i think i'm going to try and mix it with canned food. that's what we've been doing with colby's when he's not interested. such picky pets. i think it's because they know i'll pander to them.

better

i just checked my camera and see i've taken no new photos since last week. i have been busy doing things but again nothing too interesting. we did a major cleaning of the pets yesterday on our day off together. colby finally got a bath. i think we figured out what he's allergic to. grass. how silly is that. he hasn't been as itchy with the rain we've had. in my research on different foods though i did decide to upgrade both what i get for him and kitt. they were getting science diet but it's not the best quality for what you're paying for it. i'm surprised i wasn't on top of that before. so now they're on wellness. or in the process of switching to it. it's a little more but looks a lot better. we went to see inception last night. gareth had seen the midnight opening and loved it so he was immediately up for another viewing. i loved it too. he saw predators last week. that one wasn't so great. our tv stopped working this week. i think we've picked one out now. just trying to figure out where to get it and how to get it here. i have my doctors appointment this week. hopefully everything looks good. it's been feeling better but i'm definitely not completely back to normal yet.

bearable

i went back to work on thursday. it's been much better with the back brace and taking the pain killers at work. i'm now in the middle of working six days in a row. so i hope it continues to be bearable. and that the pain killers last until my next appointment. or i'm no longer in pain. we decided not to go to the beach. by the time monday rolled around we realized there was so much to catch up on around the house we needed three days of not working to do it all. and colby had chewed at the base of his tail until it bled over the weekend so we had to take him to the vets on monday. turns out he might have allergies. and we have no idea what to. so we're in the process of switching his food and giving him beneadryl. he's doing better now. we finally got to see toy story three together. it's pretty intense. people were crying in the theater. i didn't cry but i did enjoy it. i had sent an email to the kennel i got the job at to tell them what was going on with my back over the weekend and hadn't heard back from them about it. so i called yesterday and they're willing to wait for my next appointment and for me to be feeling better to start. which also gives me more time to figure out what to do about bbuster. turns out they're closing two more stores in r'mond. we don't know which ones yet. i was supposed to go to the spca volunteer orientation this morning. i'd signed up months ago for it. but our power went out so my alarm didn't go off and i slept right through it. i probably needed the sleep though. and i'm sure i'll have lots of volunteer opportunities with the hanover humane society. so i'm not too worried about it. i haven't taken many pics lately since i haven't been doing anything interesting. i think this one sums that up.

broken

so i went back to the doctors yesterday and found out i have a break in my spine. it's in the disc across from where it says 0mm. it's the triangle that points down. the tip of it is broken off. but it's aligned perfectly and should heal just fine. it's just been painful. especially after working three days in a row thinking i was just sore from muscle and joint pain. after a day off i was still in pain and decided to get it checked out. gareth's worked my shifts last night and today for me. and i just got someone to cover sunday. so i have a week now to recover. with pain killers and a back brace. hopefully we're still going to the beach on monday too. shouldn't be too stressful and i'm sure i'll be stir crazy by then. i'm hoping gareth brings me home some movies today. i watched best in show the other night. wasn't too impressed. maybe i wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. gareth saw the new twilight movie this week. apparently it's the best one of the series so far. doesn't mean it's actually good. i got some good news on the job search. at the beginning of the week i got a call back from the hanover humane society about the kennel tech position i applied for. i went in and they offered me the job by the time i left. i'm still thinking about it though. it would be a huge pay cut. only part time. no benefits. and a lot of physical labor. but it would be a great way to get into doing what i want to do. and i could still do bbuster part time and keep my benefits. so i might end up doing it. i'm just not in the best place right now to make a major decision. i have an appointment in three weeks to get another xray to see how i'm healing and meet with a spine specialist. hopefully i'll be doing just fine soon enough.

kicked

i ended up in the er last night. while i was out at the barn i got kicked in the back by a horse. it was pretty terrifying. i fell to the ground and couldn't breathe for a minute. after that i thought i was ok. but on the way home i started having sharp pains whenever i moved my leg. so i had gareth drive me to the hospital. they did x-rays and didn't find anything broken or misaligned. they did a urinalysis and found a slight amount of blood which could indicate a problem with my kidneys. but sent me home on some strong pain killers and said to take it easy for a day or so to see if the pain subsides. i got out of opening today and i'm actually feeling much better now. the sharp pain isn't happening every time i move. i'm just really sore where i got kicked and apparently where i fell on my butt. i'm going to get my kidneys checked again tomorrow just to make sure everything's ok. and go to an orthopedist on monday if i'm still having the sharp pain at all. i'm seriously lucky though. it was a few inches from my spine. at least someone else was there in case it had been any worse. my poor parents were quite concerned after getting the call on my way home that i got kicked then calling as i was checking into the hospital. they called every hospital in r'mond before finding me to see how i was doing. i'm glad gareth was able to be there for me. i really needed him. i still don't know what made the horse kick me. i was just finishing up grooming her outside and turned to walk away when she turned too and just kicked. who knows. animals are unpredictable. on another bad note i was supposed to hear back from the doggie daycare place by the end of the week. she even said to call her if i hadn't heard back from her. so i called and left a message with someone there for her to call me back. she never did. i called back today and she's off so i left her a voicemail. i think she would have contacted me if she was really interested. i guess there's still a chance though. gareth went to see grown ups the night before. i'd tried to stay up to go with him but after opening that day i was asleep well before midnight. we did get to watch percy jackson and the olympians at home. turns out it's not worth watching. i did actually see something good. creation. the story of darwin. on another good note last weekend went really well. i was actually a decent help at the veggie fest for my brother's booth. i took lots of pics. and father's day at my parents' was nice. even though i'd shown up late thinking i was early. colby had a great time swimming with my nephew. they make a great playing pair. i took my other pets to the vets for their checkups this week. they're both ok but not great. kitt's white blood cell count has been slightly elevated these past two times which could be a sign of stress or infection. and budd still has the two eggs in the same exact spot the same exact size. so we're giving her until the end of the summer to lay them. if she doesn't i'm going to take her to a specialist in nova to get treated. i was at another doctor's earlier this week to get my moles checked out. one looked a little different than usual but i honestly don't usually look at them since they're on my back. so i don't really know how it normally looks. but the doctor said they all look normal and again to just monitor them. i'll try and do a better job at that. i don't want my body to fall apart. it's scary.

long

i didn't get the job at petsmart. didn't even get a callback. when i called them they said the position had already been filled. but i still have good news. i applied the other night at the holiday barn doggie daycare. and already had an interview this morning. it seemed to go well so again i'm hoping i get a callback. i've been working six days straight to get this weekend off. i'm going to the veggie fest in r'mond tomorrow to help out at my brother's booth. then i get to bring colby home on sunday for father's day. i've been looking forward to this weekend all week. glad it's finally here. we're going to stay in tonight and get a pizza and maybe watch hot tub time machine. i'm sure it will be stupid but i'm not up for much more than that. gareth went to see toy story three last night. he said it was great. i hope we get a chance to see it together. i've started taking colby to the local dog park. he's been having a blast and i get to see some of the people from our walks and socialize a little myself.

pleasant

this past week seems to have flown by. let me see if i can remember everything. i applied at petsmart's vet clinic banfield for a full time position as a pet nurse assistant (vet assistant). but i haven't heard back from them yet. it's the first job i've applied for that i actually want. so i'm hoping i at least get a callback. i had a great time out at the barn this week. got some awesome shots like this one. i went out to my brother's today for an open house and took a ton of pics. i also learned a lot from the volunteers there telling visitors about the birds. i'm glad i've been able to do more with the animals lately. gareth and i were invited to a couple's last night for dinner. they made a tofu stirfry and i was inspired to make my own tonight. it turned out pretty good. looks like i've found a new dish. gareth went to see the new karate kid the other night. seemed enjoyable but nothing special. we watched youth in revolt earlier this week. it was actually pretty funny and not entirely stupid. i was pleasantly surprised.

spinning

only a week this time but it's been busy. on memorial day i went out to louisa for a cookout with my family. i got to see more family in the middle of the week when i went to king's dominion with my sister and her kids. we rode everything and survived the intense heat. they have a new ride that made me and my sister almost pass out. i still won't ride the drop zone despite her trying to persuade me. it was a fun few days. gareth's working six days this week so today was our day off together. we took colby to petsmart for a pawdicure. returned the dremel. i think that's a bad sign wanting to go into animal care and not being able to cut my own dog's nails. we got him a deshedder and got a ton of fur off him but i'm sure there's still more we'll see around the house. with all the summer storms starting to pass through we have gotten him going on the treadmill now. today he even hopped up on it himself and went without a leash. i took him to puppy play at petco for the first time in awhile. he made a new girlfriend and had a ton of fun. we got the pics they did in the mail today. they turned out pretty good. can't complain since they were free. we stayed in tonight and watched the movie the greatest. it wasn't quite the greatest but it was pretty good.

skipped

looks like i've skipped a week or so writing. it's been a busy time so i've had a lot to write about and not much time to do it. i got to see a lot of my family this past weekend. it was my niece's graduation and a dinner celebration. both were nice events to attend. another event most of us attended was our old pastor's funeral. it was nice to see his family. they were always so nice to us. very sad to see him go. i spent the night at my brother's that night and got to help out with the birds. it'd been awhile since i'd done that and i always enjoy it so that was nice too. i'm going to work on getting all those pics up soon. this is where they should start from when i posted last. the first one's of the riverrock festival i took colby to last weekend. he took his first swim in the river and had an absolute blast. gareth's gone to see two movies in the past two weeks. macgruber and prince of persia. neither were good. we watched the road at home and weren't too impressed. i did watch a gem the other night though called the defendor. i got my cholesterol checked again for the first time since i've been on meds. it's normal now which is great news. our landlord came by today to inspect our mold problem. the ac unit is infested and spits out little pieces. he helped me clean it up so i hope it's no longer a problem. it was pretty gross. i guess that's about it. except probably most importantly i've spent a lot of time recently looking into a career with animals. right now i'm looking into what it will take for me to work at a vet's office or a shelter doing vet assisting and eventually getting a degree to be a vet tech. i hope i actually pursue this instead of just thinking about it. it seems like something i should do.

trees

it's been a nice week. besides getting out a lot to enjoy the summer weather i also got to see a lot of movies. invictus comes out next week. so does valentine's day but i wouldn't recommend it. or good hair. i finally saw man on the moon and it was great. we also saw iron man two and gareth loved it. i enjoyed it as well. i took colby home on sunday for mother's day. he had fun being around everyone especially my nephew who ran around with him for most of the time. i just got my webshots album updated with all that. i took colby to another park with fewer dogs yesterday. he did a lot better playing with just one or two dogs. i think we'll start going there instead and build up his confidence a bit. it's supposed to start raining today and have scattered thunderstorms for the next few days. guess it's time to work on him with the treadmill again. gareth got this great shot of the baby birds in our side yard. he's tall enough to see into the trees.

free

i chopped off my hair last week. every few years i take off ten inches and donate it to locks of love. i actually got a nice haircut this time though. found out some salons give free cuts for donations. colby got a makeover too. it was much easier to bathe him with the bath mat we got. we also did his nails for the first time ourselves. it didn't go so well. the clippers were leaving them shredded so we got a dremel. he hated both. we finally got them all done but that's going to take a lot more work to get him comfortable with it. i took him to the dog park again but his girlfriend wasn't there at all and he didn't play with a single other dog. i finally got him to fetch the ball after the other dogs weren't around but it was sad to see him so uncomfortable around all the other dogs. we've had a nice day with me off today and not having much to do. i watched the first iron man in preparation of the second one's midnight opening this week. gareth's so excited about it. he saw a nightmare on elm street last week. we went out to maggiano's this weekend. it was exquisite as usual.

earth

colby's been feeling much better this week so we got to do a lot. i took him home for a visit to my parents' on one of my days off. we stopped by a friend's workplace on the way and got to run around the gardens. at my parents' house i took him skateboarding for the first time. got him a harness so he could pull me. he kinda got the concept. we had fun on our walk/skate with mom. he actually was let off leash when we played fetch in the yard and did well staying in the grass. we went exploring in the woods and he walked into the lake a little. dad and i took him on a raft ride as the sun was setting. it was a nice day. the next day i had off as well and it was earth day. i went out to the farm and spent three hours taking care of the new horse there. he's been cruely neglected and he's in pretty bad shape. but with the help of the rescue hopefully he'll be happy and healthy soon. the birds have started coming to the feeder. it's nice to see some wildlife right outside the window. we got to see oceans. it was enjoyable. also watched the imaginarium of doctor parnassus. it was interesting. it was supposed to rain all weekend and into the beginning of the week but i've only seen a few showers pass through. we went back to the dog park yesterday. he was happy to see his girlfriend but after she left he didn't really know how to make new friends. i hope he gets better at that. we'll just have to go more.

hanging

another dog filled week. but this one wasn't so good. he had the runs early last week so we took him to the vets. he had an overgrowth of bacteria in his gi tract. probably from all the treats at the pet store over the weekend. they put him on antibiotics and probiotics and a bland diet. i always joke about him being like our baby but i really felt like it giving him baby food for a few days there. he's getting back on his regular food now but we have to take it slow. he threw up last night. i hope he starts feeling better soon. poor pup's been taking it easy for a week now. not too much else going on. i finally got something to put my bird feeder up outside on the window. i hope the birds figure out it's there and start coming soon. i also hung my magnificent spider plant up outside. gareth and i had a date night last friday. we stayed in and saw crazy heart. it was pretty good. i'm looking forward to seeing oceans this coming weekend. earth day is thursday and i'm off but he's working so i'll have to find something entertaining to do outside. hopefully with a healthy dog.

country

i actually got two days off in a row last week. unfortunately it was at the beginning of the week and now i'm in the middle of working seven days straight. on one of the days off we went back home to pick up my parents' old treadmill. it's actually for colby. we've seen numerous times on the dog whisperer that it's a great way to exercise dogs. it's going to take some training to get him up and running though and that hasn't happened yet. he had his last class on friday. passed with flying colors. our trainer always told us (including colby) what a great dog he was. i took him to puppy play at the store again on saturday. his girlfriend was there and the owner invited us to go to a real dog park with them on sunday. he had so much fun with the twenty something dogs there. i've never seen him run so much. i don't think he ever has. he passed out as soon as we got home. gareth's bday was also last week. we didn't get to do anything for it since we were both working. i hope we get some time off together soon. we did get to hang out together on easter with my family in louisa. they all got to meet colby and he had a good time out in the country. we had a good time out there too : ]

pineapple

i got a new cord for my laptop but i'm still on gareth's computer. i don't know what the problem is with mine now. probably the fact that it's four years old. i did get caught up on my webshots album though. most pics are of colby since he's the most photogenic thing around. he learned how to shake and roll over tonight. next week is graduation. i'll definitely have some pics of that. it's been such a nice week out. i think it's been eighty the past day or so. i've started taking budd out in the side yard. colby's been doing pretty good with him but a turtle's an exciting thing to have around. we've gotten as far as letting the dog sniff kitt through the gate. she doesn't like it. i think that will be the true test for his graduation. gareth went to see clash of the titans last night. we saw a few good movies on dvd (blu ray) this week. sherlock holmes was as enjoyable as we'd thought it would be. hachi was a good but sad one. i don't think anyone could watch it without crying. i got a post card from my traveling friend today with pineapples on it. made me miss summer at my parents house out on our raft in the middle of the lake eating fresh pineapple. maybe i'll get to do that soon.

clean

i haven't been able to use my computer for a week now. my power cord stopped working. i've ordered another and it should be here soon. i'll get my photo album updated as soon as it does. gareth went to see repo men last week. we finally got to see the blind side this week. it's good. and only available for rent at bbuster. same as sherlock holmes next week. we're looking forward to seeing that. it's been such a nice week out until today. a rainy and windy and cold one on my day off. we gave colby his first bath today. he did quite well with it. he was pretty stinky after a month of playing outside. we've been bringing him to an apartment complex nearby that has a dog exercise area just about every day this week. it's been nice getting out and seeing spring come to life. i'll have to take some pics of that soon. i hear my dad's having an interesting time in georgia. i told him he should start a blog. he sent me a nice sunset shot last week. made me smile. i can't wait to get to traveling this summer. no big plans this year but a trip to va beach to see my dad and a trip to florida to see gareth's dad will suffice. i'll have to settle for trips around the neighborhood with the dog for now. at least he's clean and cute.

exciting

another exciting week but i'm not so exhausted today. the puppy's passed out though. we went back to the shelter i got him at last night for their adopt-a-thon event. he was so happy to see everyone there and they were happy to see him. he had more excitement the other day when we went to our old roommate's place and colby got to play with his dog naiyah in their back yard. she's a little bigger and we were all rooting for him getting the ball from her. it's starting to feel like summer here. yesterday was the official first day of spring. tonight is the official start of the series "life" from the people that did "planet earth." i'm super excited. i did get called in for jury duty on st. patty's day. we had some luck though and after sitting in a room for almost two hours the judge actually came up and said that we were not needed for the day because the defendant had pleaded guilty. so we all got paid for just showing up. and we shouldn't get called in again for this period. i got a surprise when i stepped out the back door of my apartment the other day. this guy was sitting on the fire escape. i screamed. then took this picture...

exhausted

i've been exhausted all week. it had been raining for the past few days. we're supposed to get thunder storms tonight. but it was nice out this afternoon so colby and i got to play a lot after i got home from work. he learnd how to sit in class last night. he's doing pretty good with that command and even better with last week's. i didn't get out to the barn this week but i did go to the monthly meeting. we're looking for more volunteers if anyone reading this is interested in joining. my dad left today for an rv adventure in georgia. i'm sure he's excited to get out and explore after being cooped up all winter. i called my grandma for the first time since she got home. she'd sent me a belated bday card. nice of her after all she's been through. she sounded better but said she's still not feeling well. i also got a gift from a friend travelling in asia. a little pillow pin with embroidered stick figures and some foreign candies. made me feel special. i had to call in for jury duty for the first time last night. i'm on call for the next two weeks. just hope i don't have to go in. i guess there is a lot going on. i'm just feeling more exhausted than excited about everything.

nice

another exciting week with colby. we had some nice days out and got out to enjoy them. he made some friends at the park and at obedience class. we started him on clicker training. he did really well with the trainer at class and he's been doing better with us at home. he did have his first accident inside the night we got back from class. we'd just taken him out but i guess he still had to go. we took him to our vets this week too. learned how to trim his nails and got him on his preventatives. we're finally done paying for everything initially for him. it came to almost a thousand dollars. wow. we went to see the midnight showing of alice in wonderland. it was pretty cool looking but not the best story. the oscars are tonight. gareth took off but i forgot and am working. there are some pretty good ones this year. we watched up in the air the other day. it was really good. we got to see my family again yesterday. my nephew had his tenth bday party at a laser tag place in short pump so i got off work early to go hang out. my parents and my brother came over to see colby before we all went out to eat at the best italian restaurant in r'mond. carinis. it was a nice way to end the week.

week

it's been a great week. not having to work was definitly a plus. i go back tonight. we spent my last day off yesterday visiting my parents. they were pretty excited to see colby. he was pretty excited to see some snow. we had a nice time and dad made us dinner. colby even got some chicken. i was able to do more this week with my days off. i took my car to be inspected. all it needed was new windshield wipers. sweet. i also went out to the farm. it's a big mudhole now with all the snow that's melting. but it was nice to get the horses in and get the mud off them. we watched michael moore's newest movie last night. capitalism. very informative. and scary. his films always do that. gareth might go see the crazies this weekend. i've just got a few more things to get done for colby this weekend. we need to get him a city license from the spca. and i'm going to sign us up for puppy training classes at petco. it's not that we're really having problems with him. but i'd like us to really have control over him at this age so when he gets bigger we don't have huge problems. he's been really good so far though. we're really happy.

home

he's home now. things have gone really well so far. he's doing great with the housebreaking. hasn't had an accident at all. we put him in the crate last night and after whining for a few minutes he was quite calm and went to sleep. he's let out a few barks but we've been able to stop him pretty quickly. kitt's been spending a lot of time under our bed but they've seen eachother and neither has been too upset. he's half asleep at my feet right now and we're watching dogs 101. i'm happy. he took right to gareth too. he's been really good with his training. he's had some trouble getting up and down the steps but we've been patient and positive and he's getting the hang of it. he's so good on walks. we thought that would take a lot of training to get him walking on a leash but he's doing great. so we're quite happy with how things are going and happy that he's finally home.

ready

we get to pick up colby on tuesday. we've decided to keep the name. i went to see him again yesterday. got a video of him outside this time. too cute. we finished his shopping last night. got things all set up and kitt started exploring it.

we both got some extra days off next week to spend with the new guy. gareth really enjoyed shutter island. i thought the informant was quite amusing. not too much else is going on. we just can't wait for tuesday.

puppy

something seemingly random happened this weekend. we decided to get a dog. i've actually been wanting, looking, researching and convincing for months now. then i found this guy. his name for now is colby. i like the name but we may find something else that suits him. he's the sweetest guy. i went to meet him yesterday and took some videos. i took this video within five minutes of meeting him. i was there for about two hours. took him outside twice. he loved the snow. i didn't get a video of that. i took this video at the end of our meeting. he's four months old now. he's listed as a chow chow mix. but i really don't think he has much if any chow in him. as you can see his tongue is pure pink. he really looks like a shiba inu except his ears bend at the top and his tail is straight. he's adorable whatever hs is. gareth's excited about getting him too. one of our main concerns is the fact that we live in an apartment. but i've started puppy proofing the room he'll start out in and we plan to crate train him and give him a lot of excercise. the other concern is the cat but we're going to separate them at first. they showed me how good he is with the shelter cat though and we had a dog over the other day to see how kitt was. she didn't necessarily like the dog but she didn't freak out either. and most importantly she hasn't peed at all. i brought a towel to the shelter and rubbed the dog down with it and put it in her bed too so she starts getting used to the dog's smell. i think if we take things slow and are careful that we can make this work well for everyone involved. we're just waiting for the shelter to call the vets to see if kitt's up to date on her shots. which she is. and call the landlord to see if we have his approval. which we do. then they'll let us know when he can get in to be neutered and when we can pick him up. i'm so excited. other exciting things have happened this week i should write about. on valentine's day i walked into the living room to find a giant box of ghirardelli chocolates. my favorite. i finally went to the doctors this week to get put on some cholesterol meds. not too exciting but a good thing to do. gareth's woflman review just got posted. i hope they get on the ball with things and put up his review of shutter island this week. the informant doesn't come out until next week so i should be able to see it now. it's going to be a long week waiting to get the new puppy home. but we get to go shopping for him so that'll keep me busy.

riches

another pretty busy week here. i ended up closing the store early last weekend on the day i'd switched shifts. this next paycheck will pay for those two snow days getting cut short. but i just checked my bank account and saw i got my taxes back today. i haven't seen that much money in there in a long time. probably since last year's taxes. puts a smile on my face. i was pretty happy on my day off monday when i got gareth to go to the park with me at sunset. we met some nice birds and saw some pretty scenes. we went to the byrd after and saw the fantastic mr fox. gareth had already seen it but he said it was even better the second time. it looked really neat and made me smile. i've been waiting to get the informant at our store all week but it hasn't come. hopefully we'll get it this weekend and i'll get to see it before it comes out next week. gareth went to see wolfman last night. he starts the prescreenings next week. i'm excited for him. we had another snow storm here. this time it was mid-week. i'd barely been aware of it since it was only supposed to be a few inches. but i opened the morning it hit and was faced with the worst road conditions i've had to drive in so far. i got on the interstate since it had been the most cleared on other days and watced a truck spin out in front of me. scary stuff. i made it there safe though and got a call from my manager who sounded surprised. she was told we could open the store late because of the horrible weather. but i opened on time. the thing that made this storm so bad was the wind. it was like a blizzard when it was snowing then still looked like it was snowing with the wind whipping what was fallen all around. it's supposed to snow a little again tonight into tomorrow morning. i'm opening so i hope it's not another crazy little storm. we're all pretty tired of this now. i haven't made it out to the barn in the past two weeks. partly due to the snow and partly due to my new schedule. i hope i can get back on board with that. i'm working on valentine's day sunday and we don't usually do much anyways but we're going to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate. i'll take any excuse for that.

productive

i'm getting my weekends confused. it seems like they've all been snowy ones lately. this is another weekend of snow. i took some pictures last weekend. they actually closed the store early on saturday and i was supposed to close so i didn't have to go in at all. it was the first snow day i've had off in a long time. i'm also off today. but not because of the snow. i just got a call from my manager asking if i wanted to switch shifts tomorrow and close instead of opening and i gladly accepted. she said she has a truck so she can make it out easily. i'm really liking this manager so far. she seems to have her act together and run a smooth store. even though the drive is twice as far and i have to take the interstate. it's worth it not to complain about someone who makes more money than me. poor gareth had to go in this morning to help out his manager who was working alone. he said it was the busiest day he's ever worked. he's passed out on the couch right now. i went out to the grocery store earlier and it was a madhouse. the roads were getting pretty bad when i left. i don't know why people risk their safety like that for entertainment. i went to the dentist for the first time in like four years this week. i hadn't had insurance and i just signed up for it this year. they actually said things looked pretty good. no cavities. but they did do quite a job scraping all the tartar buildup. they made me bleed. that was a first for me at a cleaning. i went to my parents' house after my appointment for the first time since christmas. my dad's been sick for a month. he finally went to the doctors and found out he has bronchitis. poor dad. hopefully he's on his way to getting better now. my mom should be coming home next week. i haven't talked to her this week but i think things are going well now. i stopped by petsmart this week. they said they were hiring and that i should hear back from them soon. i filed my taxes today. i'm getting twelve hundred back this year. woohoo. i can finally start saving again after emptying my savings payng off my car. we watched a serious man on dvd this week. it's really good. pretty subtle. but keeps your interest. we're going to watch couples retreat tonight. not expecting so much from that. gareth got a message from rva magazine about doing pre screenings with the radio station y101. that's a great step for them and for him. i hope it all works out. this is a long post. guess it's been a pretty productive week for us.

somethings

some good news and some bad. the good is they finally figured out what might be causing my grandma's mental condition since she's been in the hospital. it turns out they messed up her meds. i talked to my mom today and she said she's been better since they fixed it yesterday. that's a huge relief. my poor mom's had to deal with a lot over the past few weeks with all that. so i'm glad there's a good outcome to the situation. the bad is i'm not getting a raise. don't really know what to do about that from this point. i applied at petsmart to be a dog groomer last night. i know i can't quit without having something else so i guess i just have to step it up on the job search. i am looking forward to getting away from the manager at the store i've been working at though. he sucks. i hear the one at the store i'm going to doesn't. i've been going out to see the horses once a week since the holidays. they got one adopted and two new horses so now there's three. even with all the mud i've enjoyed spending time out there. i watched a good documentary that came out this week. it's called no impact man. it's about a man and his family who go a year without impacting the environment. gareth's going to see mel gibson's edge of darkness tomorrow. it's supposed to snow this weekend. i hope it's not a mess like last time. i'd like to enjoy it.

raining

another not too exciting week. some interesting stuff to write about though. i finally saw the movie event of the year (so far). avatar. it was pretty cool. definitly worth seeing in theaters for the 3d. that's the first movie i've seen in theaters in a few months i think. the best movie i've seen on dvd lately has been moon. a syfy (that's how they spell the channel now) psychological drama set in the not too distant future. we only got a few copies but it's definitly worth checking out. i got some news this week about my job. i'm going to be transfered in the not too distant future. it's the same "your store doesn't make enough money to have an assistant manager" spheel i was given months ago before the last manager quit and i had to run the store for a month then help get the new manager through the holidays. i'm still waiting to hear where i'm going and if i'm getting a raise. my dad ended up having to get my resume set up correctly on the website i was trying to use to find a job. i applied to a position today. thanks dad. my mom's been in new york for over a week now. my grandma hadn't been doing well after ending up in the hospital then a nursing home from her fall. my mom went to help with the situation. not sure how that's going. hopefully i'll get some good news soon. in all of these situations. it's been raining too much.

board

not a lot has happened since i last wrote. the biggest and best though was going snowboarding with my brother and his girlfriend at wintergreen. i took a lot of pictures. and had a lot of fun. gareth couldn't go but i'm hoping we can make plans to go next month and that he can try to ski. he went to see the book of eli last night. that's the first movie he's reviewed this year. he talked to his dad about finding a job recently and he'd suggested going to the virginia employment commission. i went on last night and it's the most confusing website i've tried to use to find a job yet. but i managed to upload my resume after some time. it still wouldn't let me apply for a job. but i'm hopeful i can figure that out soon enough and have a new tool in my job searching. things have been ok since i stopped getting so worked up about work. but i work with the girl from new years eve for the first time since tonight so i'm hoping i won't have anything to complain about from that. kitt went on a peeing spree this morning. she got the rug in the kitchen and the rug in the bathroom. so she's been banished to her room with a clean kitty litter. i really don't know what her problem is. it's nothing medical. but i don't know what happens that she has a bad attitude about if that's the case. crazy cat. it's finally warming up around here. it'd been in the teens for far too long. it's supposed to stay nice and sunny until sunday. unfortunately that's the day i was invited out to help train the horses under saddle. hopefully the rain will hold off.

new

dad's party was nice. i was actually early to a family gathering so that was good. dad was happy to know he didn't have to get up and drive to work the next morning. work's been pretty bad for me lately. we just found out one of the stores in richmond is closing next month. our manager is aware of the possibility of more stores closing including ours. that's why he'd cut hours so much over the holidays when we should have had extra coverage. it made for many difficult shifts for me. the worst came new year's eve when my csr found out she hadn't gotten paid holiday pay for working christmas eve. she had a temper tantrum and i ended up telling her to leave. after being in the back for an hour she came up and said she couldn't afford to leave. i told her to straighten the store and didn't see her the rest of the night until closing. so i basically worked by myself. it was pretty busy and quite annoying. i've made a new year's resolution though to not complain so much about work. so i'm hoping that's my last complaint written this year. it happened last year and was pretty crazy so i'll let it slide. it's mostly in the form of complaining to gareth. he's shown me how much i let these things effect my life outside of work. and it's not fair to him. or me. so i hope i can improve. he did his top ten movies of last year. the last one before that he'd reviewed was avatar. it made it on the list. another one i didn't see. i got the results back from the vets. everything's ok for now. if budd doesn't have the rest of the eggs in the next few months i can bring her back to get the shots that will help her pass them. kitt's results were good. i'm happy they're both healthy for now. it's been a pretty good start to the new year so far.