Taxi is definitely not mellow yellow...

Haha, well sometimes. It's probably my fault though, my parents and little brother came to visit for a bit today and I think all the new people just made him go a little crazy. Next time they will have to take turns meeting him in my room until he's allowed to come out and actually say hi to everyone all at once. Also, he's a little obsessed with the toys but that might be due to Egypt taking them all. It's weird, I have never really seen her be possessive over her toys but this is also the first real dog to come into her 'territory'. She and Darrell are gone for the night though so when I drop him off I'll have to ask what we can do to fix it. Or do some dogs just not like others? I think maybe he just plays to rough for her. She doesn't like getting jumped on too much. Hopefully she likes the puppy... Anyways, after everybody left (Darrell went with my parents for the night to hang out with Dad and brother) Taxi settled down very nicely.. and then he saw a cat outside. lol. It took a while to get him away from the windows and the patio door but he settled after a minute or two. He's been a normal crazy dog for the most part though. I just hope with the dog we board more often that Egypt gets along with it. I could tell Darrell was getting a little stressed out with Taxi's energy... He's just used to mellow Egypt, he didn't grow up with inside dogs and isn't used to their normal puppy craziness. Well.. we'll just have to see what happens.

Here are a few pictures from today. This is my first time using Alt-Tags so you screen readers better let me know if its working! That means you Ro's Alex!

Is there something in my teeth?

Get that Kong!

Does my butt look big?

Can you throw this please?

Lets finish this thing so you can play with me.

How to board a Taxi

With Guide Dogs of Texas they use volunteers to board the dogs that are in formal training. Well guess what I get to do?!?! I get to board a crazy Golden Lab mix named Taxi. He's very pretty, kind of crazy and I don't think Egypt likes him too much lol. They want each others toys and I haven't seen a play bow since he got here. Usually she's pretty good with other dogs but maybe he's just too much for her. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Anyways, more about the boarding. What happens is the dogs that are in formal training sometimes need places to stay other than the kennels. So they come to "sitters" but it's kind of different with them. We don't get to take them out like puppies in training. They don't allow this because we could possibly hinder their normal training. Well I get to keep him tonight and tomorrow night. I'll return him to the facility early Wednesday morning. They told me that I probably won't be boarding him too much. They have another one planned for me. But anyways, here he is. Sorry there is no more information, he's only been here a few hours so probably more updates tomorrow. Here are some pictures of him! Hope you like

He is a brown rusty color with brown eyes. Here he is sitting nicely.

Here he is playing with one of the kongs.

Here is a close up of his pretty face.

Give away!

Well, not mine but Domestic Diva is giving away a "puppy package", click the name to go to the post and enter her contest. Here is the info.

• A small Kong toy
• A package of small ziggies for the Kong
• A $10 Petsmart gift certificate
• A package of natural puppy treats that I have to buy at a speciality store, but Max LOVES them
• A paw picture tree
• A cute little toy
• A package of rawhides

Christmas Blanket Song

This weekend I attempted to make a blanket for Darrell.. here is how it went. Sing it in your head to the 12 days of Christmas lol.

12 broken/bent pins.

11 yards of fabric.

10 hours of online T.V.

9 meals while working.

8 breaks to relax.

7 puncture wounds.

6 bobbin refills.

5 different fabrics.

4 squares for design.

3 days to complete.

2 spools of thread.

1 broken machine needle.

All this to make one fabulous blanket for Darrell. He doesn't like the couch throw because he gets fuzzy stuff up his nose lol. The design of this fabric is somewhat quilt like, I cut out 120 6 by 6 inch squares  and made into a pattern with four colors on top and one solid on bottom. So, for his blanket I wanted it to be very tactile so I got 5 different types of fabric, all in darker boyish colors. I like the idea of Darrell being able to feel which color is which. So there is a deep red that is a soft wool fabric, a blue denim, khaki colored cotton fabric and a dark forest green that is a burlap type fabric.. should have gotten something else but I liked the way it looks... not too harsh on the skin but hard to work with. The bottom of the blanket is a very soft navy blue flannel - it feels like a baby blanket so he'll like it. I tacked little X's into places so the blanket doesn't get all tangled. I also stitched in a border.. nothing fancy just to make the edge more secure. It was just a zig-zag pattern about an inch in from the edge. So, here is the picture of all my time spent to keep off boredom.

For you screen readers out there, let me know if you need more of a description or if you have any questions.

2010 better come soon *Revised

So guess what happened today. Today, I got a little message on Facebook today from our puppy lady, Michelle, telling me that she has a puppy for me to sit in January. Oh, I was so excited, I didn't even know what to say.. all I wrote back was "Yay!!!!" haha. She said its a baby doodle (or labradoodle) so I'm not too sure who it is. The only new labradoodle I'm aware of is Alfie but I don't know if he's still considered a baby or not. There might be a new one that I just don't know about so we'll see. Well anyways, I'm excited because stuff is actually happening now and I'll get to go and learn how to actually do things. Now I just hope that whoever this little doodle's family is doesn't change their plans. Ok, just had to share my excitement. Hope I get started soon!


* It is Alfie!!!! Thanks Beth :) I Can't wait for the little fluffy dood :)

Reading Material...

Ok, so as you all know, when I got the puppy manual I was supposed to leave it alone and focus on my finals right? Well, if any of you know me at all, you know that didn't happen, haha. I didn't even last 2 minutes before I cracked it open. Well, I finished it in a day or two, it wasn't that long. I also had plenty of time to study for finals so no worries there. Also, over the course of finals season I received a book to read on how to raise a good puppy from the puppy guy Larry. This book was/is very informative and I have actually learned some pretty interesting stuff about puppies and how their little brains work lol.

Anyways, my main thing I wanted to discuss was the lack of stuff in the puppy manual. Now, don't get me wrong, its an awesome manual, I was just hoping to see more specific things. Not that there wasn't a bunch of stuff, because there was, I was just expecting to see a lot more you know. For example, there is a section that has some of the commands we will teach the puppy, however it doesn't say how to teach them. This is some of the stuff I really wanted to know lol. I assume they will teach me all of this in time but I'm just one of those people that has to read up as much as I can on stuff before I actually do it. Also, I noticed that some of the commands they teach, such as the 'finds' aren't in the manual. This might just be due to the manual being old because I have seen some discrepancies in the program vs. the manual. Such as sitting the puppy at all up curbs, they do this now, however it has different instructions in the manual. So anyways, thats my beef lol. I want to know everything and its all just not happening fast enough for me haha. Especially now that I only have one final left, and no plans until a day or two before Christmas... I'm going to go crazy with boredom. Maybe I can just go and intrude at GDTx and bother everyone there until someone snatches a dog off the street to give me just to make me shut up. Well, we'll see haha. I'm hosting for them Wednesday for lunch so that will get me in there to bother some folks lol.

Anyways, let me know what you think... For all you other raisers, were your manuals like mine or did they have a bunch of stuff in them? Not trying to spy or anything haha, I swear.

The above image is a clip art of a dog laying on its stomach reading a book.

Accepted!!

So I had my puppy walk today and it went great. I got to see this cute little German Shepherd dog Petey do his walk. I think he's almost 4 months old and he is full of fuzz. After about ten minutes  the puppy guy, Larry, asked if I was ready. My reaction was "What?" lol I didn't know he was going to have me try it out too. Well it went good, the guys were trying to help me and telling me about 8 different commands to give him so it was kind of crazy lol. Also, for a 3 and half month old puppy he is strong! Haha so I did ok, Darrell hung back with Larry and told me that he said I was doing good. That made me feel better afterward because by the end of the walk Petey was getting all distracted and crazy. lol. It was fun though, it was also raining and one of the guys told me that its worst when it rains because it stirs up all kinds of smells.

Anyways, after the walk, Larry followed us back to the apartment and we had our little home assessment, which wasn't even what I thought. He didn't look around at all lol. He did use the bathroom, maybe to spy lol. No, just kidding, we sat at the table and he went over the first 2 weeks of puppyhood with us. He told us that since our place isn't fenced that the puppy will have to use the bathroom on our patio concrete. They have to do this because other dogs go in the grass and if the puppy does too it could pick up stuff from sick or unvaccinated dogs. So until its about 12 weeks old we will be cleaning off the concrete a couple times everyday lol.

He also gave me my puppy manual and on the first page this is what it says - "Congratulations, you have just been selected to become a puppy raiser for the Guide Dogs of Texas." So yay, it's official!

So now I have to resist studying the manual until my finals are over, but I'm sure I can squeeze in some puppy study time, lol, my finals wont' be that bad this semester.

Below is a picture of Petey taken from one of the GDTx Blogs. The link is below that if you want to check out any of their other dogs

Petey is a very fluffy, fully black german shepherd dog, in this picture he has his ears perked up, head cocked to his left and his tongue is sticking out.

Petey is one of the pups in the Pawsitive approach program through Guide Dogs of Texas, here is their link if you would like to read more information on the program. GDTx

.

Rescheduled...

One of the officers that was supposed to bring out the Pawsitive Approach guys called in sick so my puppy walk along has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning. Hope he feels better and it works out tomorrow.

Getting ready...

So, as Monday gets closer so does the home assessment. We haven't really thought much on it lately because the puppy lady (Michelle) told us that if home is good for a guide dog its good for a puppy. Well, what Michelle doesn't know is Egypt is kind of a freak of nature (No offense Darrell haha). She never gets into anything she isn't supposed to. Ever. I know this is supposed to be normal of most Guide dogs but I have heard some stories out there that defy that supposed norm. So anyways, point of the story, we feel the need to puppy proof the apartment at least a little. Most of our place is pretty much safe. We don't leave shoes everywhere, there are a couple by the front door but most go into the front closet. We have a small laundry room attached to the kitchen and thats where we keep the trash can so that is safe. We don't have any open storage so chemicals and cleaners are all put away. My main concern would be wires and stuff. Most are hidden but can still be accessible to a wiggly little puppy. So tomorrow we are going to go out and buy some wire covers just in case. Also the laundry basket might be an issue but I expect dirty laundry would be an issue with any puppy.

If anyone has any other suggestions about what we might need to do please feel free to comment.

Also, we don't have a fenced in area so the puppy won't be roaming free outside so no worries on issues out there.

Thanks a bunch!

"If names are not correct,

Language will not be in accordance with the truth of things" - Confucius

Some of you may not know this but when I first started blogging I hated the name of my blog. Still sometimes do. To me it sounds corny and its irritating. I usually put a lot of thought into names and titles and this one was just not one of them. I have certain guide-lines I set for myself when I name things. Guide-lines such as it has to be mysterious (meaning it can't just say what it is). If a complete stranger where to just read the title of whatever they are looking at I don't want them to understand. They also have to have at least some resemblance to whatever they body of work is. Like I'm not going to name a blog something random that has nothing to do with my post. You may now be wondering Natalie, what the heck are you talking about and whats with the ranting/rambling. Well to the what am I talking about thoughts here are some examples..

1. Darrell's blog - Egyptian Pawprints - I helped him think of the name and this is what I thought of. It doesn't shout out what the blog is but it still relates to it at the same time. I like that.
2. Some of the names of my iTunes playlists include "Happy meals" which is a playlist of songs from a long time ago. I don't like naming playlists by number or genre; I like knowing what is in there, not wondering which of my favorite songs I put in either playlist Rock 1, Rock 2, or Rock 3.
3. Animals - I have never had the pleasure of actually naming an animal all by myself - having lived with 2 out 3 brothers and my twin sister that opportunity just doesn't come around. And the hamster doesn't count because I was like 7). I even had my own cat once but twinnie suggested a name and I felt pressured so just said ok... didn't really matter though because she only came to "kitty"

Ok, point of the story, I have thought several times about changing the name of my blog but every-time I went to do it I couldn't think of anything. This is simply because I plan on changing it when-ever I get the puppy... I'll make it cool then, haha. At the same time though I kind of like having the word escapades in there - one of the definitions of escapades is "A wild and exciting undertaking." I like that, lol. As corny as the word sounds I like the definition so it might just be there in the future, we will see. But don't worry, I can't change the URL because of access permissions with mom's work (any non work related web addresses have to be approved over there and there's no point in making her do all the paper work again.) So yeah.. just some thoughts on that.

Another thought about names and such is the puppy's name. I know I won't get to name it but it is still fun to try and think up names for it. I actually don't know GDTx's method of naming so I can't even think of names that it might be, I just think of names lol. Even though I think you have to actually meet the dog and see its personality before it gets a name it is still fun to imagine. Here are some of the names I thought would be good and why.

1. Cane - I actually wanted Darrell's dog to be named Cane just because every-time we went somewhere he wound up cussing out his cane or calling it bad names - I just liked the irony in it lol.

2. Cairo - is going have to be one of them, simply because of Egypt.

3. Chi - Pronounced Kai (or like Tie) . This is a math term that is denoted by the squiggly X. It looks like a regular x but the arm going from left to right has extensions on the top and bottom. When we learned it I thought it was kind of cool looking. For those of you are not math nerds like me Chi-squared is used to test a null hypothesis. Which I think fits because in looking at any puppy in a guide dog program the null hypothesis for their out come would be that they will become a Guide dog. The alternative is that they will not. I don't know if that makes sense to you but it does in my head so yeah.

4. I had a lot more but suddenly had a brain fart and can't remember, guess they weren't that good, haha.

Well if I remember I'll just come back and edit the post. Also I think I am going to start labeling all my posts from now on. Just FYI.

Stuff is happening!!

So guess what? Can't guess? I'll tell you.. My puppy walk along is on Monday!! Yay lol. Also, the home assessment is right after it so I have to make sure and clean haha.

Ok, for those of you who don't know, a puppy walk along is kind of a training session but for me. Haha. The way it was explained is I follow along with another puppy raiser and supervisor and see how the training walks work. So basically I learn how to do training walks and what to do and stuff.

The home assessment will be after the walk along and basically the guy will come, check out our apartment and see if anything needs to be puppy proofed and stuff. I need to quit saying and stuff..

So yeah, I'm really excited and will be sure to post something as soon as its all done with.. unless it goes terribly wrong and then I'll probably break my computer so there won't be a post for a while haha. No just kidding.. but seriously.. if I don't post you know why... bum bum bum!!!!

Dang.. I'm gonna wind up jinxing myself.. I'll stop now.

So earlier I log onto blogger and see this great thing on Ro's blog, I had received a Thanksgiving award! So what happens is, once you have been given an award, you're supposed to give the award to 5 other people who you think deserve it. Ok, here are my 5 choices.

1. Would have to be Darrell because without him I would have never even known about guide dogs and puppy raising lol. For those of you who don't know Darrell is my boyfriend, he is blind and due to all of our research and efforts to get Egypt, his guide dog, we decided to do the puppy raising program here in Texas.

2. I want to give an award to Alphini's Puppy Raiser, Beth, who is also Dakota's Puppy Raiser, however Dakota has just recently graduated to becoming a Diabetes dog so Alfie is her new puppy. Beth raises for Guide Dogs of Texas, which is the same organization I am trying to raise for. Beth is very kind and has been very encouraging since we met.

3. I want to give and award to Cabana's Puppy Raiser, hers was one of the first blogs I started reading and she has always given really good advice. So thanks Mimi!

4. I want to give an award to Megan, Fuller and Paris' raiser, again, hers is another blog I have read since I started all of this and her stories have always been encouraging and entertaining to me. Thanks Megan

5. Is going to have to be Ro of course. I don't know if thats even fair because she gave one to me but I want to give one back. Ro has got to be one of the nicest people I have ever 'met'. She is on the path to getting a guide dog and tells stories about her progress with that, she also tells stories about her life and how she came to be where she is now. Ro, you are one of the most interesting people I know and I can't wait to see your story unfold.

So now, if you were mentioned here what you are supposed to do is take the picture and give an award to 5 other people. Ro, obviously you are excluded from this but for all you others, have fun!

Crazy thing happened today....

So today while Darrell and I were on our way back to the car Egypt did a crazy thing... She found the car! Now something you have to understand is Egypt hasn't been trained to find the car, we tried like once but never did again. Usually when we go to the car I just click the remote to open up the back so Darrell can hear where it opens and finds it that way. Well today I took a little too long to find the keys and didn't have time to push the button and guess what she did - she turned and went straight for the car! I know it doesn't sound like that much but it was really cool. Well thats about it, I just wanted to share because it was exciting! 

This is a picture of Egypt standing by the door of the Jeep.. This is the side door but because of all the fur and how hard it is to get out of the cloth on the seats we decided she gets to ride in the back.. Its actually better for her back there because its flat and she can't fall off the seat accidentally lol. Yes that has happened.

Movie Night

Ok since its been about forever since I have posted something I decided I could post up some videos Darrell and I made. We just got a little video camera, well I gave it to Darrell for his birthday so we decided to make some movies to show how Egypt works and stuff.. Most of it is just me talking and following Darrell around like a creepy little stalker but here you go anyways. Enjoy!

This first video is supposed to be Darrell finding and going down a stair case at school. Well I started rolling a little too soon so there is just a bunch of me rambling and at the end chaos ensues due to my phone so sorry for the boring awkward clip.

Here is the link to the 1st video on youtube > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQvcQBk6PdQ

By the way the reason we were joking about Darrell tumbling down the stairs is because at some point while he was walking down the steps he gave me the thumbs up. Well the camera doesn't zoom out that much so it missed it and when I asked him to do it again he was right at a break point or little landing and if he hadn't put his hand down when he did he probably would have tumbled all the way down due to lack of finding the next railing lol. Sorry about the abrupt stop also.. the phone call was actually from GDTX telling me my second hosting session had been canceled.. just like the first one lol. Maybe they just don't want me cooking for their clients. No haha I'm cooking tomorrow for a new client so wish me luck! Taco's tomorrow.

This next video is of us trying to find our parking spot and how Egypt knows where to go across the street.

Here is the link for the second video on youtube > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=677yoG4tSSc

The reason for my little mean "fine" at the end is simply because Darrell messed up my video lol. In his defense he told me he thought I was done recording so he wanted to heel Egypt to the car and hold onto me because we were all the way down at the end of the line and it was kind of hot that day. So yup, here you go, some videos of us. If you have any special requests of stuff you want to see or things you want me to take pictures of let me know and I will do my best. Its going to be a pretty boring month so give me some stuff to do.

No news yet on the puppy raising frontier but hopefully I can squeeze some information out of Michelle (the puppy lady) when I see her tomorrow.

Halloween brings out the crazies..

At Walmart that is. So, before I tell you about that though, this is the perfect opportunity to tell you about Darrell's blog that he just started today!!! Not that I'm bitter or anything but he already has 3 followers and it took me at least a week to get one! But whatever lol.

Anyways, Walmart - fun stuff.. Since Darrell has already written the entire story on his page you can just go over there and check it out. He's so excited at his instant popularity so why not go over and make him feel good and comment on his crazy hour in Walmart. Here is a link to his page > Click me! Have fun reading it!

From request of the mother

My mother that is... She has been reading my blog and, though she has left no comments ;) has requested that I post pictures of Darrell and Egypt actually working. So, I carried my camera around to a couple stores with us and to school and got some good action shots lol. So here you go, hope you enjoy.

P.S. thanks momma, it was a good idea :)

Here is Darrell just getting off of the cross walk - He just told Egypt to start turning to the right after she stopped him at the curb.

Here they are walking into the store, she is supposed to stop him at the doors and wait for him to give her direction.

Here, they are heading back to the car using the cross walk. Egypt will stop at the curb of the street and only go when she and Darrell think its ok to go. Darrell has to listen for traffic and then if he thinks its clear he will tell her forward, however, if she doesn't think its safe, she won't go. They call this intelligent disobedience.

This is at school where Egypt is showing Darrell that a stair case is starting, you can see Darrell's left leg probing out to find the edge of the steps.

Here is Darrell trying to find the door. The reason he is a little off is because he knows this door swings from his right to his left. He gets nervous because he doesn't want to hit Egypt so he stops working her when he hears the coke machine thats right next to him. If you look closely you can see a girl's hand coming into the picture there on the left. She rushed up to help him with the door.. she probably thought I was terrible for standing back and not helping, just snapping pics lol. Oh well.

Here is a better picture of Darrell probing for the top step of a different stair case.

And last but not least

Darrell and Egypt finding a seat so they can wait until they can get into class.

So yay, pictures. I feel bad because I don't have more to write but no real news so yeah. Hope everyone has a fun halloween. I will be studying all day so yeah. Wish me luck on my physics test.

Puppy Training and Big News!!

So, yesterday I had my very first puppy training meeting. It was very interesting.. I wasn't the only one there without a dog, one other lady there had applied a few months ago so we stuck together the whole time. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed meeting everyone, they were all very nice. The raisers learned how to get the dog to tuck in and sit in between your legs (so if you're on a bus or something they aren't out there in the open so can't get stepped on). They also worked on dog distractions and then everyone played and ate. I look forward to next time and here's the big news! The main puppy lady told me and the other girl (puppy-less people) that she is trying to get us each a golden retriever male by Christmas!!!! I'm so excited and I hope she can pull everything through. The facility doesn't have a breeding program yet so they go through other breeders and sometimes we get some from the program up in New York. So, wish me luck in getting it soon (hopefully not during finals week tho!)

Here are some pictures from the training.

Here the raisers had to get the dogs in the hoola-hoops and get their dogs to sit nicely. Then they would all switch hoops which helped work on passing dogs and getting your dog back and focused on you.

This is where they learned to get the dogs to sit in-between their legs. I like this picture because it shows just about every dog we use. The labs, shepherds and mixes (the labradoodle and the golden mix)

These are our two prison pups, they are so good but need extra help with socialization (for obvious reasons) the guys get to go places to work with the puppies tho so thats good.

Sorry about the bad pictures.. I brought my old small camera because I didn't know exactly what we would be doing so I didn't want to risk the big one..

Cooking for "Clients"

So, the other day I get a call from Annie the secretary lady of Guide Dogs of Texas. They needed a volunteer for Friday to come and cook dinner for the Employees who still have to do their blind day thing. First I guess I need to explain why they are having a blind day. Apparently all the employees at the facility have to have a day where they go blindfolded for 24 hours. They stay at the facility and spend their day with a dog and going through the normal training experience. I guess they do this to feel what it is like to be one of their own clients. Very interesting to witness. So, about the whole cooking part.  The school doesn't have a staff that cooks for the clients so they ask for volunteers. We can either cook at our place and then bring it, or they have a full kitchen for us to use if we prefer.. It's very nice there, very homey. Anyways, so I cooked chicken-n-dumplings, dinner rolls and white-choc macadamia nut cookies. We (Darrell and I) went over about 5:15 and sat for a while and just chatted. The two ladies doing the thing seemed to be really enjoying the experience. Neither were too stressed out.. they said they started out that way a little but after a while they were ok. The most I heard them complain was the masks were too itchy lol. Well anyways. That was about it. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share. I can't wait till I have  real clients to cook for lol.

By the way, tomorrow is my first training day with the school!! Can't wait and I'll write more about it tomorrow :)

Ok, so...

Alright.. I have realized that pretty much every single one of my posts starts with "Ok, so" or just "So,". Not sure what the relevance is of me posting my realization.. just thought I would share my discovery with the rest of you :)

PETCO Hamster Derby 2009!

Ok, so this Saturday at 2:00 I got to judge the Petco Hamster derby. My sister works there so I'm kind of a big deal ;)

Here is a slide-show because there are too many pics to post all of them.

New Do's and New Toys

Ok so, pretty much just some pics.. First things first, Egypt and I got make-overs!! yay!! So, since this is a blog about dog's she gets to go first..

She got her nail painted!!! lol I leave Darrell alone with Erin for

5 minutes and the things they do... Well, She wouldn't sit still because it was after

she got her nails clipped and was pissy so yeah.. thats why there is only one

She also got a pretty little pumpkin thing from the groomer, she also smells like

pumpkins now but unfortunately I don't know how to take scratch and sniff

pictures yet so you just have to use your imagination!

Now its my turn!!

I cut all my hair off!! This isn't the best pic but it will do :)

Here is the other side..

Here are her Egypt's new toys!

She got a new Nylabone ring thing and a Nylabone bacon flavored corn-cob thing

We also got her some greenies.. had to by the low cal ones because she's getting a

little too round...

Well, thats about it for now.. No word yet from the puppy raiser lady but I did get a call this morning because they needed a volunteer for Saturday.. apparently no one else responded so the volunteer guy was told to call me :) I'm happy because I'm showing them they can count on me, but I don't really want to wake up that early lol.. Oh well, sleeping in isn't healthy anyways...

I'll write again when i have more news :)

Oh and here is a cute pic of Egypt playing with her kong.. good action shot don't you think?

New Profile!!!

I'm just excited.. I learned how to do all this in about an hour. What do you think?

doing the transparent pic took the longest but it was worth it!

just some pics

So, I just got a new camera (Nikon D5000!!) so I was goofing around taking some pics so here you go :) Still getting used to it and figuring it out so give me some time for the really good ones :)

Egypt and her favorite ball thing..

This is my twinnie Erin and her Guinea Pig Winston

E.G.-poo (as Darrell likes to call her)

Darrell and his girl :)

licks

play time

Dumb old me..

Ok, so I finally get all the paperwork that I need to fill out and am so excited right?! Well.. turns out that all the meds I'm on for my kidney stone that I currently have are not very good for my mental capacity... So here's what happens.. First.. I live at an apartment right so I go to stick my paperwork in the mail and just as it is sliding in the tiny slot for outgoing mail I see that there is no stamp!!! NO!! So, I peek inside the box and see that there is only one other letter so, I decide maybe if I write the postman a little note on a sticky and staple 2 stamps to it maybe he'll be nice and put them on there for me - cross your fingers! Then, as I am starting to do some homework later on I get a flash of the forms that I filled out about 2 hours ago and realize that I put Egypt's weight as 162!!! So, I quickly log in to yahoo and inform the puppy lady about my stupid slip up and hoping she gets the letters she won't think i'm that big of an idiot.. fun stuff right? Well.. after all this my sis comes home and wants to go eat at Chili's.. I'm already full from a previous meal but decide to go along for some chips and salsa (good Idea knowing I have a stupid rock inside me probably from dehydration and too much salt) but anyways... So we go and I decide I want to color one of the chili pepper pictures for St. Judes.. so I take a second to decide what to draw and the only thing that keeps popping up in my head is Harry Potter (Darrell and I are currently listening to one of the audio books) so here is how it came out.. And thus ends my stupid day :) hope you enjoy.. I wanted to take Harry Pepper home with me.. Erin and Darrell wouldn't let me.


Here he is

Oh this sucks...

So, you know how I went out and volunteered on Friday?  Yeah, well I did and I did it knowing it was wet and raining and I was going to be outside for 3 hours in it. So guess who has a cold now?!? Well, it wasn't just the rain and stuff.. was feeling a little down before I went out there.. just contributed it to the change in weather. Well now I have a cold.. yay volunteering!! lol Oh well.. hope I get better soon cause I volunteer with some kids next Sunday and I can't go if I'm sick... Ok, wish me well :)

Volunteering and paper work

Ok, so I still haven't received any forms or info in the mail yet... Maybe the lady wrote my address wrong or the post office messed something up. Anyways, I emailed the main lady but it was late so probably no reply until Monday. Other than that I volunteered with them today.. rainy golf thing but was fun. The other volunteer that I worked with was very nice. She said she has been volunteering for 4 years! I will probably be like that too.. they were all so nice. I am really looking forward to working with them and getting more info about their programs. Things are looking good so far :)

INFO!

Ok, so I got an email back from a very nice lady and she told me that they had mailed me some more forms to fill out. So, once I get those back to them I start the little interview process and go on a puppy walk and stuff like that (keep you informed as it all progresses). However, one bad thing is that all the puppies for 2009 are already spoken for :( but she does have 18 puppies lined up for 2010 so hopefully I can get one as soon as possible. Thats a lot of puppies huh? I wonder what their success rate is.. Oh well.. I'm excited.. at least now I know they got my app. and things are rolling.. still wish I could get a puppy in this year but oh well... good things come to people who wait.

That doesn't mean I have to wait patiently though does it?

I gave in...

Ok, I did it.. I gave in and emailed the people about my application.. I didn't want to do it but what if they didn't even get it? What if it went under the seat of the the mailman who picked up the mail? Is it terrible that I did this? Will they get mad at me for being overbearing?? Am I being overbearing? I'm going to see these people in exactly one week to volunteer with them. What if they hate me before they even meet me?

Ok, I'm getting a little crazy now lol. All I wanted was a "thanks we got your application, more info coming soon" thats it.. so why did it make me insane.. Like I said before, I don't mind waiting to get a puppy.. I know the whole process takes time but I want to at least get an update every now and then. Plus, no offense to them. But if it doesn't work out with their program I want to apply at another one as well. So I kind of need an answer you know. Don't want to go applying at two different ones at once and then risk having to let one down by saying I already have a puppy to raise.. Oh well.. I'll be back when I have a reply.

No news yet...

Ok.. so I know its only Tuesday but I live less than 20 minutes away from where the mail is supposed to go, and no response yet.. Maybe they are sending something back to me. Who knows.

On a lighter note I am volunteering with them on the 11th so maybe that will be a good way for me to get my foot in the door huh? Still depressed though.. I'm just a weird little person. I don't mind waiting, but I like to know what's going on you know? So please.. if you are out there and reading this.. tell me what's next!! :)


P.S. Even though Egypt's Birthday was in July.. here's a pic - she turned 2

It's Monday!!

Ok, yay! It's Monday, that means mail is running again, which means that the Guide dog program will get my application either today or tomorrow!! So, I'll get back to you as soon as they contact me. Just had to say it :)

So just some random stuff I guess

Ok, I'm just bored now.. waiting for my sister to get off of work so we can go to dinner. I was looking through some pictures trying to find a good picture of our dog Egypt (I say our dog, she is Darrell's Guide dog but non the less a big part of the family). Anyways, I found some funny pics of all of us playing the new Spongebob Operation game. Of course its not fair because Darrell is blind and we are not so we (my twin sister and I) had to modify ourselves. Well, we don't have a blindfold just laying around the apartment so we had to improvise.. haha see below.

* Here is Darrell getting caught trying to conspire against me with Erin (my twin). He does this with every game we play.. especially Monopoly and Clue!

* Here is poor Spongebob and all of his problems.. lol he had stuff like heartburn and elbow grease

* this is my invention of a blindfold.. we couldn't tie the towel at the back (heads are too big I guess) so we secured them with Erin's sunglasses.

* Erin got tired of me "checking" her blindfold so she tried without..  I caught her cheating by waving my hands in front of her face... she cracked up every time

* Darrell and his girl Egypt - please ignore all the mess and wires, this was less than a month after we moved .. yeah fun stuff.

* Here is me trying to show off my pretty new headband, it has a little red feather on it :)

* and Darrell's attempts lol, he was so bad poor boy

Well Erin just got back from work, time to go eat and then off to "The Final Destination" !! Hope all the noise doesn't freak Egypt out.