Happy Anniversary!

We brought Ricky and Lucy home a year ago today.

Little bitty Lucy- The day we brought her home.

Little Ricky- 3/31/11

I can't believe how quickly this first year together has flown by.  They were such cute babies!

This day last year...Ricky and Lucy: 8 weeks old

And now, they are growing up to be such beautiful dogs!

Gorgeous (even posing for me today with the sun in their eyes) and so sweet!

Happy Anniversary!  How lucky we are...

Mom

7 years ago today.

How can that be?

I remember when Mom died, I worried that I'd forget the sound of her voice over time.  Or get unfamilar with her face.  I thought over time, memories of her would fade.

But I can close my eyes and see her.  I still, exactly, know her face.

And not only can I still hear the sound of her voice, I so often know exactly what she'd say to me about certain things.  I can almost have conversations with her!

And funny little memories, and lots of sweet ones, of her pop up on me all the time.

I remember one of the last things Mom said to me.
She sighed and said, "I should have had you earlier."  Well, I knew what she meant by that.  She meant we should have had more time together.  And we should have. But rather than having me earlier, I just wish she had lived to be a very old little lady.  I know she had me at just the right time.   

Mom gave me a great childhood.  And ultimately, a great life.

I have so many vivid memories- old ones, and more recent ones- of her.
So yes, 7 years.  But the memories haven not faded.

Unsubscribing

This week I've been unsubscribing, left and right, to all the random email's I get.  Most of them, I'm pretty sure I've never subscribed to in the first place.

It's annoying to have to unsubscribe and a little more time consuming than just hitting delete, like I normally do.  But I figure, if I spend a little time this week doing that, maybe next week I won't have so much silly stuff piling up in my inbox.

Ah...Spring cleaning!  :)

Read In

My first career was that of a 1st (and 2nd) grade teacher in the public school system.

Although lots of teachers complain about the low salary, fresh out of college and not really knowing any better, I felt like I was making a fortune!!  I loved those little kids so much.  And I got to teach a lot of them how to read.  What a huge, huge honor.

But, after only 6 or 7 years, I was feeling pretty frustrated and burnt out.  I still loved the kids, but I grew to dislike the paperwork type stuff.  And the feeling of never getting caught up with all I was supposed to do.  And the administration.  And oh yeah, some of the adults I had to deal with.  If all I had to do was be with the kids, it might have been the perfect job.

I knew of some teachers that were nearing retirement, that I really think  should've retired years before.  They just seemed a bit too bitchy towards those little kids.  And I was afraid that I might become one of those bitchy ladies if I didn't get out before I became too jaded.

There's a whole slew of days, and events, and of course certain kids that I look back on with complete fondness.

Just the other day, as I was looking at some of the books piled around my bathtub, I thought, "It'd be great to take a whole day off from everything else and just read."

My current pile...

not to mention, the books in my Kindle waiting to be read!

And then, I thought back to my teaching days.   We used to have a day a month (I think that's about how often we did it...) that we called a "Read In".  (Similar to the "Bed In" John and Yoko had to promote peace...)  We'd just cleared off our schedule and read all day.  Sometimes all together, sometimes paired up with a friend, and sometimes off by ourselves.  And as the teacher, of course, I fully participated in these Read Ins to set an example get caught up on my reading. Those were great days!

I might just have my own little "Read In" one day soon, and I encourage you to do the same.

Last time I took a picture of a stack of books I was reading, I had a few people ask me what the titles were because they couldn't make them out in the photograph.  So, I'm going to list the titles below in case anyone is curious:
Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson
Dogs, Inc. Then Uncanny Inside Storey of Cloning Man's Best Friend by John Woestendiek
The Long Goodbye by Meghan O'Rourke
The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller
Creative Girl by Katherine Sise
Part Wild by Ceiridwen Terrill
Top Tips from Top Trainiers by assorted dog trainers
Reaching the Animal Mind by Karen Pryor

My Mistake

Ok, so regarding my last post, I was wrong.

Although only sort of...

On the finale of "The Bachelor", there was some crying! I got that part right!

But unlike my prediction that Bachelor Ben wouldn't pick either girl, well...He did!  He picked Courtney, otherwise known as "The Mean One."
But I also watched the "After the Rose" show, and they've already broken up.

Shocking.

But then they got re-engaged on the show!  Yay. 
All's well that ends well.

They don't look very happy tho.  :(

Predictions

 Can I just make a quick prediction before "The Bachelor" airs tonight?

The least attractive Bachelor EVER!

Well, first of all, as you may have heard, it's going to be the most dramatic rose ceremony ever.  I think they have said that nearly every single season.

And I predict Ben isn't going to pick either girl- Neither the mean one, Courtney, or the other one who's name no one even knows- is going to go home with a rose.

No. and No.

 Oh, and I'm going to go out on another limb here and also predict there is going to be lots of crying.

boo hoo.

After I return from Fajita Special night at Margarita Ranch, I will be glued to see how it goes down! Yay for bad reality television for making us all feel better about ourselves!  ;)

Hello?!

You know how sometimes it's been so long since you've called an old friend, that the thought of doing so just seems a little overwhelming?  There's just so much to catch up on, that you feel like it's going to take a l-o-n-g conversation, so until you get that big block of time, you avoid it.  But that big block of time is hard to find.  But you really miss your friend...

Well, my blog is that friend!

So rather than avoid it any longer, I'm just going to do a quick check in.

And then I'll check in again in just a day or two.

And then again.

And so on and so on...

Even if it feels a little awkward, because I've let us get a little too out of touch.

Here's a great thought from Ira Glass, about fighting your way through awkward beginnings.