Agility!

Whitman is by far not an agility dog.  We just finished an agility class with Angie...  I'll tell you that it was our 5th class and we still only got second place.  BUT... Whitman has come SO far in being motivated enough to do anything and he really has so much fun.  Someday, we're going to get first place!  I have sworn to do it until we get first place no matter how long that takes.  Of course, in order to do that we may have to kill Rebecca and Oliver and hide their bodies...

Moving Day!

Hey hey!  Moving day!

No I'm not moving.  Man I never want to move again.  I have way too much stuff.

Anyway, Kathleen moved out because we weren't well matched at roommates.  We're going different directions and not connecting well.  So she's gone off on her own and Shay is taking that room.  I'm pretty excited about that.  Shay and I will be much better matched.  We're both crazy dog people... and crazy in general.

I hope it works out because moving SUCKS!

Welcome to the family Shay and various critters!

Warning: Mushy post

Jake has friends in town from his homeland, Portland!  We went out a lot this weekend between playing darts and pool and generally just drinking.  I didn't drink as much as I have in the past because I learned my lesson on Thursday.  I am sucky at pool, just as I remember.  But I am actually decent at darts, first time I've played.  I would have done anything just to go out with them of course.

Anyway, I was tickled to meet Jake's best friend, also Jake.  I want so much to share with him and be a big part of his life like he is for me.

I'll never forget it.  He told me he loved me and I know I've found something special.

Foster Dog

So I've had a foster dog in my house for a little over a week.  I'm taking advantage of not having a roommate at the moment.  (oh forgot to mention that.  Kathleen moved out and Shay is moving in!)

Anyway, her name is JoJo and she's this darling little hound dog mix.  She was at LD but getting too over aroused and biting.  I thought she needed some rules and structure so I brought her into my house.  We've been working on rules and desensitizing her so that she isn't so mouthy.  I've loved having her... Whitman not so much.  But today she got adopted and I hope this is her forever home, since she has been returned twice.  Good luck to you JoJo!  You've been a hoot!  Behave yourself!

JoJo!

I think this is the picture that ultimately got her adopted.  Just goes to show you that making the dogs personal and showing their personality is more important than anything else.

Whitman's attitude about having a foster sibling hasn't been overly ecstatic.  Plus he ate her food and got sickies.

Never drinking again

Oh not a good night.  Started out good at Jeff's house for his birthday party where we drank, ate and played Cards Against Humanity.  A lot a lot of fun but somehow, my drink didn't go down right...

Felt even worse coming right back up.

Poor Jake... If he doesn't hate me now and doesn't break up with me then he probably won't.

Here's how this week has been:

My mom sent him a crazy thank you note, which granted bothered me much more than it bothered him.  Still, AHH with the crazy.

When we got home from Jeff's party, I was already drunk and feeling it.  Poor Whitman was sick and had thrown up and diarrheaed all over Jake's carpet.  Oh it was bad.  It was so bad.  I felt horrible.

Immediately I got to cleaning it up of course.  Normally not that big of a deal for me.  When you have dogs and kids you learn how to clean up disgusting messes pretty fast.  However, I don't normally do it drunk.  And I was drunk.  Something about the motion of cleaning and the smell and just everything combined and not in a good way.  I threw up.  I threw up a lot.  Then I cried because I would rather die than throw up.  And it was horrible.  It was so horrible.  Can I just erase last night from my memory?  Or better yet, erase it from Jake's memory.

Ug I feel terrible.  So not good.  I've NEVER thrown up from drinking before and I NEVER want to do it again.

Going to crawl in a hole and hide for a while.

Oh and Jake's friends are coming this weekend... ug!

Booze, fire and TWISTER!

So didn't wake up hungover this morning like many people did I'm sure.  St. Patrick's Day should not be on a Monday.  That's just God laughing at us Irish people... and those who wish they could be Irish.  Oh what the hell, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day!

Even though it was Monday night we still had some fun.  I hosted a party at my house for the first time.  We had booze, beer, smores on the outdoor fire pit and... twister!  Oh very good night.  Good night except for getting a cupcake in the face and up the nose.

Still, wonderful people and a good time.  I'm so happy in life right now that I can't even tell you.  I finally feel like I've found people and the place for me.

God bless the Irish!

HAPPY IRISH DAY!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

Proud to be Irish baby!

Blast from the past!

I have recently been going through a box I found of all these old photos.  I stole my dad's scanner and scanned them onto my computer.  These are mostly from high school and man do they bring memories back.  I had a good time in high school, generally.  Things may have been crap at home but I had some good friends and we were a good group.  Man I remember laughing so hard some nights over just the stupidest things.

What I wouldn't give to be a carefree kid again...

Goodbye to something

Announcement:  I've decided to pull out of one side of training.  I am leaving Central training and the Levels program.  I'm not interested in it anymore and it feels like I am just drawing out a long death.  I decided to work with dogs because I believe in doing what you enjoy instead of what can make you lots of money.  If that's really what I believe then I need to be true to that.  I no longer enjoy training at Central.  The whole reason I've been doing it for so long is because I am loyal.  I am loyal to people I love and I love both Astrid and Angie.  However, this is not fair to me.  And it certainly isn't fair to them.  So... I'm out.

I'm not sure how to feel about it but mostly this is a good thing.  You have to let go of things that don't make you happy anymore.  People who really care about you will understand.  Besides, I have Jake now and I want to spend more time with him.  Life isn't just about working anymore.  I want to be able to have a social life and stop working myself to death.  Is this the right choice?  It might be hard but I think that it will work itself out in the end.

That being said I have decided to stay at South, even if it is a bit toxic down there.  I went down and had a meeting with the manager today.  I want to change that area upstairs into my training area so I spent several hours today pulling things out and cleaning it. The area is so junked and cluttered that I am rather embarrassed to train there so that needs to chance.  I've been asking for help with it for months but really I need to just make the decision to do it myself and stop trying to get these people to help out.  It's not going to happen.

There are a lot of big changes happening at LD that I am not going to go into here.  Let's just say things that I was told were never going to change are.  We've changed up management a bit and I'm actually pleased with that.  Maybe things can actually change for the better if we can get the ball rolling now.  Who knows?  I know that I am glad things are happening finally.  I need to stop making excuses for things that I do not like and do not make me happy anymore.

Onward and upward!

Whitman's form of training

I have made some hard choices in regards to training.  Training classes are no longer as enjoyable for me as they once were.  I don't like it.  I'm bored and I need to do something else.

However, there are still moments where I find some joy in them.  Mostly when Whitman is ignoring all the working dogs and playing in the toy box like a kid in the back of the classroom eating paste.  Man, I love this dog!

Thoughts...

Six happy months!

It has been six months since my first date with Jake.  Who would have thought I would find him!

Muah, Sexy!  Happy six months!

I've been pretty content being single for a long time now.  I'm content being who I am not not answering to anyone.  I never really thought I'd find anyone who I wanted to spend serious time with.  I've been there, done that and got burned bad.  Plus I'm kind of a jerk.  I admit it.

For some reason, Jake puts up with me.  He seems to like me just as much as I like him.  I'm so lucky!