What We've Been Up To

I am exceedingly, disgustingly busy with classes and all the stuff I try to do with Erie. I posted last at the beginning if February and those last few posts certainly weren't exciting.

So . . .

Just Me

- School is horrific

- It turns out that I'm really bad at Nemeth Braille

- I love my reading class and tutoring (for some reason that I can't possibly understand most people don't seem to get this- I am taking a class to learn to teach reading, I'm not in a reading class myself)

- Read some fantastic books: All of Shannon Hale's books. I wasn't too enthralled at first but I stuck with her and kept reading and I'm glad I did because I loved the last four I read, her Books of Bayern series. Ally Condie's Matched. And my most favorite, Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I am currently waiting very impatiently for my turn with one of the library's hundreds of copies of Mockingjay.

As Erie's entourage

- Started Rally classes

- Went to a fun match and won "Best of Breed"

- Went to a show in Denver where we won our class 4/5 shows

- Erie is becoming super easy to live with

-And she went into season

- Dealing with that now

Cute little Erie napping.

Dog bed I made Erie. Isn't the fabric great?

Erie not looking to thrilled about being photographed in her "pants."

Erie not seeming to mind being photographed in her pants.

Erie relaxing on the couch. Ummm, she really shouldn't be up there- it's my roommates couch and she doesn't want the dogs on it- but I had to take a picture before I got her off.

Erie will be spending her longest time away from me this month as I'm going to Seattle this week for an AFB Conference. I'm not sure where she's going . . . Ahh! She was staying with her Grandma (her doggie daddy's family) but since she's in heat and will be in standing heat while I'm away and her daddy is intact, that's a problem.

I'm hoping to take Erie to a NAVHDA test towards the end of the month. This particular test she has to pass by 16 months in order to get the title, so this is our only chance. I have a lot of training to do before then . . .

And in between all that I have all my regular assignments to do, two papers to write, a bunch of data to enter and run stats on, etc. etc.

Wish me luck!

Happy Love Month

And since I changed my blog background 14 days ago, I'm already ready.

I wish I had more to blog about right now but my life is a constant circle of work, classes, too much homework, working with Erie, and starting over again. It's really not that exciting. Hopefully they'll be something to report soon.

Whew!

Somebody finally told my blog it's not Christmas anymore. We miss it, but it was time for the background and banner to get over it.

Hope to see you again soon with some time to update about something.

Off to work . . .

Back Again

The new term starts today. . I am so not excited.

On the agenda:

Elementary Reading Methods. Okay, I'm a little excited about this class.

Functional Communication

Principles of Assessment and Data Based Decision Making

Nemeth Braille. Really not excited about this one.

Pray for me. I'll see you in three months.

On Point

No, no, no. Not that kind of point!

[Dancers from the Nutcracker Ballet on pointe. Photo of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company from the Seattle Times website].

This kind of point!

[Erie in a beautiful point while out hunting.]

Erie has had very limited bird work but we took her out this weekend and you would never know it. She did very well and is just stunning in this photo.

"Until Every Child has a Home"

This song gets me every time. This shouldn't happen. I wish it didn't. "Until Every Child has a Home."

Happy Birthday Erie!

One year ago today Kezza and Budha had seven puppies. I wasn't supposed to get one, but since Kit had only expected Kezza to have five, and the "extras" were girls (my kinda-sorta preference; I wasn't too particular), after some discussion with Judy (Budha's owner) I moved up from the bottom of the wait list to the top of the list with this litter (since I was committed to showing and doing other performance events). One year ago tomorrow, Kit emailed me and told me the good news.

Erie got salmon brownies for her birthday. I tried to make her a birthday hat but I wasn't sure how to attach it to her head properly so it didn't work out so well.

[Erie sitting in front of the couch and behind her "table" with her salmon brownie resting on a platter. She is wearing her birthday hat and basically has the cutest expression ever on her face.]

[Erie grabbing her brownie off the "platter"- an upside down dog bowl.]

[Dropping the brownie. You can kind of see the hat better in this photo. It has fallen over her eyes though!]

[Dropping the brownie. "Oh, right, I can't chew it all at one time."]

[Sitting on the floor with her head turned as she tries really hard to keep the brownie in her mouth. "Thanks Mom!"]

Happy Birthday Erie. Hope you have many, many more!