Job Update

What a difference a couple of days can make. So on Monday, as I said, I got the call that I didn't get the job I had recently applied for. On Wednesday I went in to school and told some of the teacher's the news. Thursday afternoon around 3:00 I got a call offering me the job! Apparently "someone" made a few phone calls and they decided they could hire me after all as long as I understood that if there were diapers to be changed I would have to help out with that. Since I don't anticipate that I couldn't really refuse and if the occasion does arise I can always look for another job. So, starting Monday I'm a permanent employee. It's definitely different from working in the classroom where you just watched children be escorted or carried out and now I'll be the one escorting and carrying.
So, today when I got home the sun was just streaming in the window and I couldn't resist some pics of the pups in the sunshine. They looked so shiny and bright!
Here's Zoe looking gorgeous. She's such a good poser.

And Charlie is learning. He will sit for quite a while as long as I'm holding the ball. He's quite the ball player and a really good retreiver too! The two of them have quite a system with Zoe chasing it (being the fastest) and getting to it first, then she passes it to Charlie and he brings it back to me. It's like a relay.

Here's Charlie cuddling up to Zoe just before he snatches the ball away from her.

Not much else new to report around here. The weather is still crappy though next week it's supposed to get up into the 30's. That'll be a nice change. There are still huge chunks of ice frozen on the road of our subdivision making it very slippery still. Maybe with the warm up some of it will melt away.

COME ON ANDY, LET'S PLAY A LITTLE BALL!!!

Job Hunting... Again

Well, I'll be looking for a job again after Friday. I got a call on Monday, while we were off for Mid-Winter Break that I "was not one of the people chosen" for the job (and 9 others) that I applied for. The only reason given was that they were looking for people who were willing to change diapers at the high school and manage students with cathetors. Neither one of those things are required now in the job I do but that's what they wanted so, so be it. I will finish out the week and then start looking for a new job.

This is what Zoe thinks about me not getting the job!!!

Yesterday the pups went to the groomers for baths and haircuts (trims). It was Charlie's first time as I've been bathing him at home in the tub but he needed a little trim work and the groomer wanted to get him used to coming while he's young. They both looked so soft and shiny and smelled so good!


The groomer reported that Charlie did fine and didn't give her a hard time at all like I predicted he would.

This is how tired he was when it was all over!

Then last night Charlie and I went to his second round of puppy classes, this time at a different place, more professional. Charlie is a bit shy so he sits back and watches for a while before he feels comfortable going out to meet new dogs. The worst part of the whole night was just getting there as the school is on a dirt road that is completely covered in ice! It was a tough drive but we made it.

Zoe was like, "where did they go?" She was probably glad to have a little time to herself without Charlie pestering her all the time!
Not much else new. Tyler's liking his new job and the hours, from 5-9 at night, are working out well and an added bonus is that they give him any leftover food at the end of the night! Saves on his weekly food budget! Amber and Andy are doing well. Amber's back to work after her surgery and feeling better all the time. Nothing new with Scott, just school and studying and a little work. zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Oh, sorry, dozed off there for a sec, life is so uneventful! Did I mention it was still cold? Down into the single digets tonight but at least the sun was out today!! Woohoo!!

Hey Andy, Charlie told me to send this picture out just for you and to tell you that he misses you and come back and see him again soon!! slurp, slurp!! (That's a puppy kiss since he's not much of a hugger, like his Mom.)

Just a Year Ago...

Just a year ago we were enjoying this scene in beautiful warm, sunny San Diego. I really missed being able to go there this year though it doesn't seem to be as warm there this year as it was last. Anything would pretty much be better than what's going on here right now.

Today we had rain most of the day. The snow has been melting but there's more snow coming, soon. Winter will be hanging on for a while yet.
Not much else to report really. Friday night at bowling we took two points. We won one game and took totals. I think we are now in 14th place out of 16. We still have a few months to keep working our way up.
I'm going to be enjoying a long weekend. We have no school Monday or Tuesday. It's a combination of President's Day and mid-Winter break supposedly. Not really long enough to go anywhere but it's nice to have the time off, I guess. I should be hearing soon if I got the job I interviewed for. You would think it would make sense for me to get a job I've been doing for 3 months but it doesn't always work out that way. We'll see.
Believe it or not I don't even have any pics of the pups to show off. But don't worry, I'm sure I'll make up for it next post!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Many people feel this is just a "Hallmark Holiday" but elementary school children really know how to get the most out of it. Today I helped with "Valentine math", art projects, candy passing, filling out Valentines, distributing them, receiving them and giving a few. I also received a few pieces of candy, many hugs and Valentine's wishes. They can barely wait until the parties begin at 2:30 and they really know how to squeeze lots of fun into an hour. The sugar in the cookies, cupcakes and ice cream really gets them all hopped up and then, thankfully, it's time to pack them up and send them home!!
Here is one of my little Valentines!


Zoe always poses so nicely, knows how to sit, lay down, stay. I had to take about 20 pictures of the monster to get this one halfway good one! Most of the time they were doing this.

I guess Zoe remembered that just a couple years ago this had been "her" pillow! Now she has to share it and she doesn't seem too happy about it!
Not much else is new here. Amber is recuperating nicely and getting around a little bit more easily. Tyler called today to tell me he has a job at a Health Food Store. Scott had to shovel 6 inches of show off the driveway yesterday. We should have had a snow day but it was "Student Count Day" and unless hell freezes over there's gonna be school on that day! Students at school = $$$. So we had school and I had a hard time getting my little car out of the driveway. When I finally got out I was on a solid sheet of ice and couldn't go anywhere. I finally rocked back and forth until I hit a patch of snow and could get going, then on the road out of the subdivision I got to the top of the hill and got stuck on the ice again. I had to back up a couple houses and get another running start to get to the top of the hill! Fun, fun, fun! At least yesterday and today the sun has been out. That's the good news. The bad news is we are expecting more snow tonight. Hopefully it will all hit after I get home from Bunco tonight! And if there is school tomorrow that will make 5 days in a row! The most we've had in weeks!
I hope everyone had a happy day and received lots of love!

Let's Begin With The End...

And the end is, Amber is just fine now! However, last night around 6:30 when I called to see how her "stomach ache" was, she said she was in the emergency room at the hospital. After that brief announcement our phone connection ended! After a brief moment of panic I called her back and with a little patience got the rest of the story. Seems her "stomach ache" was back so they decided to go to the emergency room where the Dr.'s initial diagnosis was appendicitis. Believe it or not, that can be hard to diagnosis even with all the fancy tests they have these days. They ended up operating around 10:30 last night, she was in recovery from 11:30 to 1:30 a.m. and when I spoke to her this morning around 8:00 a.m. she sounded great! And another amazing thing is that they released her late this afternoon and she was home by 5:00. She's supposed to take it easy for a few days and if she's feeling ok she can even go back to work at the end of the week.

When I had my appendix out 25 years ago I was in the hospital for 4 days and couldn't go back to work for over a month! Modern medicine is amazing! It's also odd that both Amber and I had our appendix out at about the same age! I'm just glad all went well and now she's at home being fussed over, I'm sure, by Andy.
In other news, the sun came out today. I have proof, just look at these pictures!


Oh, but wait. There is a price to pay for all that beautiful sunshine here in lovely Michigan. It's called: the temperature.

And that was the high. It's below zero now at 8:00 p.m. Brrrrrrrr!
Good thing I have these two around to entertain me and keep me busy!


And today while I was looking out at that beautiful sunshine I saw something but I couldn't believe my eyes. There were three of them, eating berries, all puffed up and chubby! I ran to get my camera because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Just as the Juncos predict the first snow, these guys predict the coming of Spring but I don't think they got the memo about how far away Spring really is. Or about how bitterly cold it's going to be for a while yet!


Yep, it's a Robin. I hope they have lots of stored up fat because they are gonna need it! There are a few berries left on the trees and that's what they were eating but those aren't gonna last long!
I also talked to Tyler briefly today who snagged himself some tickets to the Pro Bowl in Honolulu! Way to go Ty! Must be nice to live in paradise.
Back to work tomorrow but we'll have to see if we can make it through the whole week without a snow day. Then we have next Monday and Tuesday off for President's Day! If we ever do have a whole week of school it's going to seem endless!
Have a good week everyone!

Footprints on the pond.

A Day Late and Six Inches Later...

Snow Day!!! From yesterday morning until last night around 7:00 we got 6-8 inches of snow so.... today is a snow day!! They were starting to close schools in the area last night but not our district. I found out this morning at 6:00 a.m. when the alarm went off! So now we have another day off to enjoy the beautiful weather. Oh wait, the weather is not beautiful, it's crap! Still cold, gray, icy streets so that you can't go for a walk. It's hard to believe Spring is only 5 weeks away, officially.
So I spent the morning playing with the pups and taking their pictures. Here's Charlie following me around.

Here they are waiting for me to continue our game of fetch. I have to hold the ball on my head to get them to hold so still and look up!



After a rousing game of fetch we spent a little time singing (some of us were howling more than singing).




I'm not sure what our plans are for the afternoon but I'm sure napping will squeeze in there somewhere. Oh, wait, already happening and it's not even noon yet!

A quick click of the camera and nap time was over...


Dogs and weather. Weather and dogs. More excitement later. Naptime...

Charlie is 6 months old today...

This baby is really growing up fast! He's as tall as Zoe now but a lot skinnier. He only weighs 25 pounds while Zoe weighs almost 40. Granted, she's slightly overweight but I think he still has a few pounds to gain and probably will now that he's neutered.

This is what Zoe looked like at 6 months old.



She had a much smaller head and nose and looked fuzzier somehow. And of course she didn't have the cock-eyed ear he has. I guess we're going to be stuck with that sticking up from now on. It doesn't look like it's going to lay down anytime soon.


This poor kitty didn't have a chance!

He was pulled and tugged for a good half hour!
And for those of you who love weather news: we are having another Winter Storm Advisory tonight, rain, sleet and snow, up to 3 inches by morning rush hour! I am going to go ahead and predict that we will NOT have a snow day tomorrow. We only get two free snow days and then have to start making them up in the summer. Unless we absolutely cannot get to school tomorrow they won't be calling it. Geez, dogs and the weather, that's all I've got!

Charlie Update...

Charlie visited the Dr. today to have his stitches removed. The Dr. said he was healing well and everything looked good. He's also been given the ok to play without restrictions so as soon as we got home he ran in to to tell Zoe the good news. Shortly after that they were running around the house seeing who could get the ball first! I'm glad I can stop worrying now about him popping a stitch or something.

Still Ain't No Sunshine...

How many cardinals can you spot in this picture? They come around all winter as long as I remember to fill up the feeder!

Depressing, gray, cold, ugly. I tried to take Zoe for a walk yesterday and even had my snow shoes on and ended up slipping and falling on the ice beneath the snow! I fell right down on my knee but surprisingly it doesn't hurt today! I just hate not being able to go for a walk if I want to! I came home telling Howard I was ready to pack up and move. Somehow I don't think he's taking me seriously. I was serious. Seriously!
Howard and I had our own little Superbowl Party. I made mini hotdogs and chicken wings, woo hoo! The game is still on and I'm half listening to it while I write this.
Friday night at bowling we only took 1 point :-(. One of the games we lost by only 1 point! That hurt!!
Not much else to talk about. Life is boring, weather is boring, nothing going on, nothing coming up any time soon... boring. Seems like all I've been doing lately is cooking. Yesterday I made bread and home made tomato soup for dinner.
This blog could use some new pictures and excitement! Hey Ty, how about sending me those new pictures you told me about! I could show everyone how beautiful Hawaii is and it would cheer me up too!! I'm waiting!!
I tried several times to get this nice picture of the pups together but everytime I got them sitting together Scott would run from room to room distracting them. I finally got one but it was blurry so this is it for pup pics!



Have a good week everyone!

Looks Like the Weatherman Was Right, to a Point...

We did in fact have a snow day today! I woke up to the alarm at 6:00, turned on the radio and heard that there was no school today. When I got up and turned on the news the weather forecasters were predicting 10-12 inches of snow and it was coming down pretty heavy for a couple hours. Then around 9:00 it kind of fizzled out and we probably only got 3-4 inches. Oops!! I think south of us may have gotten a little more snow but we probably could have made it to school with no problem. Oh well! It's nice to have a 3 day weekend!
We have bowling tonight. We have finally moved out of last place up to around 12 (out of 16). In all the years we've bowled, we have never been in last place. Not even for a week. Never. It would be nice to take a few points tonight!

Zoe, enjoying the new snow!


Charlie, watch out for those stitches!! He loves wrestling in the snow though he's usually the one on the bottom!


Watch it, Buster!


Come on Zoe, chase me one more time!

Have a great weekend!!