I Moved!

I've realized its been an incredibly long time since I've posted a blog and felt the need to do so.  Shameless plug first. Bella and Duncan's blog has also been updated so feel free to check out www.seebellarun.blogspot.com!


I guess the biggest news is I moved! I bought a condo and I'm now a homeowner. The process was a little scary, a little tedious, but well worth it! I now have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a glorious fireplace, and no sofa. That's right, I don't have a sofa. Due to financial restraints I've had to postpone the sofa purchase. If anyone knows of a good, used sofa let me know. Despite not having a sofa, I love my condo. My neighbors all seem pretty nice, some friendlier than others. One of these days I will have everyone over to tour my new home...after I get a sofa. Bribery? I think so. I'm super excited to decorate for Christmas this year! I love the holiday season. Hopefully next year I'll be able to have people over for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinners - and a few summer BBQ's to boot.


I've also decided to return to school. I'm working on a Graphic Design degree. I think I've finally figured out what I want to do in life (I hope). After avoiding a career in computers like the plague, I read the course descriptions for Graphic Design and really liked what I read. Yes there are computers involved, but I also get to take courses on photography, web design, typography, 2D drawing and more.  I get to be creative! I'd like to work in advertising (like in Mad Men!). I think it's the best of both worlds, I get to be creative and have some job security. Lets face it, advertising isn't going to disappear from American culture anytime soon. 


Expect to see more of my photography posted soon!
Love, J

Fearless Heroine Vs. the Sanctuary

We now find our fearless Heroine in a grand sanctuary in a beautiful house. It was 8am on a Sunday, early for mere mortals, but not our Heroine. She climbed the mountain to take her place next to the overwhelming instrument. She was expecting to be blown away by the bellows, but to her surprise that was not the case. Though any other day the Heroine's voice could have filled the grand sanctuary, she was battling wheezes and sneezes which drew her voice inward. Not to fear, a microphone saved the day!

As the service commenced the time to sing drew near; our heroine felt her nerves begin to rise. With weak knees, she climbed the mountain once again. She was taken aback by the amount of people in the sanctuary, much more than she had seen at the bottom of the mountain. The large instrument began to make beautiful noise and she knew she couldn't back out. Our Heroine let her voice ring. When the music ended a calm, excitement came over her. Yes, she knows that would be an oxymoron.

Despite the "wheezes, sneezes, and a sinus that was really a pip!" Our fearless Heroine made it through sparkling and climbed back down the mountain to her seat among her people.

Update

This post won't be a story for the ages like previous posts, but I felt a need to update :)

I started working at as the Afternoon Lead Daycare Staff at a Boys & Girls Club. I had one day of training and was thrown to the wolves. Okay so it wasn't that bad, but those of you who've grown up in Edmonds or the like know that kids in these areas are well trained, lol. The kids at my daycare have a lot of learning todo. They constantly argue with each other and/or the staff and are...needy. Though I don't know the background of all the children, my guess is most of them have grown up in less than stellar conditions and need more guidence. That being said, they are still young and still good. It seems as of late I've been letting the kids get on my nerves and I need to stop this. Going home frustrated 3-4 days a week is not how it should be. The daycare has gone through quite a few staff over the last few years and now I know why.

No this doesn't mean I'm going to leave, I'm stronger than that. It means I need to step up my game and stop letting the kids get away with so much (this is my fault entirely). I gave the kids more freedom because I thought they could handle it, but I was wrong. I need to talk with my staff and really start laying down the law! :)

For example: Power Hour (homework time) should not have kids speaking with outdoor voices; I should be able to hear myself read to the kids.

Transitions between snack time clean up and gym time should not take 15-20mins!

And for Pete's sake I should not have someone coming up to me every 10 minutes because someone else "said something mean to them"

I'm sure this sounds like I'm venting, though part of me is I'm really just getting ideas out that I've bottled up for a while. Thanks for listening (reading).

All in all, I enjoy my job and I just want to do what's best for the kids so we can all be happy.

The Cup Bearer and the Rock

After the wonderful fantasy of defeating the Ogress, we find the Cup Bearer back in her familiar meager position. She assumed her position at the gate of the Burger Kingdom. Looming near was a disaster; the Magical Liquid that quenches the thirst of the Knights and Ladies of the Court had suddenly disappeared.

Oh no!

The Queen told the Cup Bearer to find more of the Magical Liquid. The Cup Bearer searched the Kingdom far and wide for the precious liquid. After hours of searching the Cup Bearer tripped over a large rock. Disgruntled, the Cup Bearer was ready to turn around and get back to the court. Then she took another look at the rock, it brown and square like, how odd the Cup Bearer thought. She took a chunk out of the rock and it was true, the Magical Liquid could be found in that very rock. After much physical effort the Cup Bearer had finally moved the large rock back to the Burger Kingdom.

The Cup Bearer thought the hard part of her job was over, she though wrong.

For many hours the Cup Bearer fought with the rock, using every tool she could find, alas nothing would crack the rock. Leaning against a court wall the Cup Bearer happen to glance toward a sword a Knight had given her for defeating the Ogress. With all her might she lifted the sword and heaved it in to the rock. The rock split down the middle and there sat the Magical liquid. It was surprisingly gelled together and it took all of the Cup Bearer's strength to lift the Magical Liquid on to the pedestal where it would sit. It took a few tries; eventually the Cup Bearer put the Magical Liquid in its place.

It was time to destroy the rock from which the Magical Liquid came. Many cuts and bruises later, the rock shattered in to a million little pieces at the Cup Bearer's feet. It was a victory for the Cup Bearer, even if it was a solitary victory.

J. Pair V. The Ogress

We find J. Pair, the Cup Bearer, at the magical burger kingdom. The Cup Bearer is fiercely mastering the dragon which provides currency to the knights and ladies of the court. After taking the commands of the knights and ladies, the Cup Bearer requested an audience with the King and Queen. Their majesties then approved the commands and J. Pair brought back feasts for the court to nourish upon. All was well in the kingdom.

Suddenly a black cloud appeared. In walked the Ogress, a feared creature in the kingdom. She demanded a feast be placed before her immediately. The Cup Bearer ran to their majesties and repeated the words the Ogress had spoken. Against his will the King obliged. the Cup Bearer returned and told the dragon the Ogress’ commands.

The dragon would not hear of such atrocities and forbade the demands to take place.

What was the Cup Bearer to do?

She pleaded with the dragon in vain. The Ogress began to stomp and shout. Beads of sweat started to pearl on the Cup Bearer's brow as she continued to plead with the dragon. The Ogress thrashed around the kingdom barely missing the people of the court.

The Ogress stared teh Cup Bearer in the eyes, the Cup Bearer didn’t flinch. Finally the Ogress gnashed and fled the kingdom in disgust; setting out once more in a search of a feast.

Alternate Ending (The way J. Pair would like it to end)

The Cup Bearer stared down the Ogress without a flinch. The Ogress gnashed, baring her enormous teeth. The fearless cup bearer ran to a knight and in one swift movement took the large sword from his belt and jumped to the belly of the Ogress, holding the sword to her throat. She told the Ogress to cease her torment and never return to the Burger Kingdom or there would be irreversible consequences.

The Ogress quivered, fell to the ground sobbing and crawled out of the kingdom in fright. The knights lifted teh Cup Bearer on their shoulders in appreciation. The King absolved the Cup Bearer of her status and made her a Lady of the Court. The Ogress was never seen again.

Early Riser

I have become an early riser, usually waking between 6 and 6:30am. Why you ask. It was not a choice made by me, rather dictated by Mr. Duncan. You see when Mr. Sir (Duncan) goes to bed at night and when he tells me he needs to potty…midnight, 4am, and so on, he whines. When he goes back in to his crate after the potty break he cries a little and I tell him "quiet" and within a couple minutes he is indeed quiet.

This is in contrast to 6am or after when Mr. Sir starts whining once again. Repeatedly I tell him "quiet" in vain. Alas my night has come to an end. I would absolutely love it if Duncan could sleep until 8am or even 7:30am. Yes, that would be divine. In the meantime I'm considering switching my schedule around a bit incase Mr. Sir can't sleep later.

I'm considering getting a gym membership (suggestions accepted!) and though I like working out in the evening, at the rate I'm going, I'll be a vegetable by the time I would like to be working out. This means exercising in the morning, not my favorite idea, but it could work. This also means taking Bella on her walk in the morning – note, the sun setting later will also help in an evening walk. With having permanent hours at the B & G Club in the afternoon I now need to get my chores done, you guessed it, in the morning, ugh. Though I've always been able to easily get up at any morning hour this doesn't mean I can function. I will need to get used to this new schedule. Once again this could all be resolved if I could just get up at 8am instead of 6:30am.

Update: I wrote this blog entry a couple days ago and didn't get a chance to post. Since this original entry, I have successfully woken up at 7:30am! In fact, this morning, Mr. Sir needed to potty at 5:45am and seemed content to stay awake. I however, was not. I kindly, yet firmly told Duncan "quiet" and though it took a few extra verbal reminders on my part, he settled in and drifted off to sleep and let me sleep as well.

Meet…

I know this blog is for Bella, but I'm momentarily hijacking it to write about the newest member of our family.

Meet Duncan Rex…

He's two months old and just came home Saturday. Believe it or not, I think he's smaller than Bella was when we brought her home. He is a little bundle of joy!

The first day was fun, Bella was very curious about the little boy and it didn't take long for her to start playing with him. I was worried he would howl Saturday night once I put him in his crate to sleep as Bella howled her first night which is why she now has a permanent place sleeping in my bed. My main concern was the barking would upset my neighbors, so I figured if he started howling and wouldn't stop I would let him sleep with me just like Bell.

To my utter shock within about five minutes of whining he quieted down and went to sleep! Of course he woke me three times during the night to tell me he needed to go potty. Even after the potty times he only whined for five minutes and curled back up in his crate.

Since Saturday night Duncan has gotten progressively better at sleeping, last night he only needed to potty once. As of now we are going to bed about 10pm and waking up at 6am.

The past couple of days I had to work and had many errands to run and noticed Duncan has found his voice and howls when I leave, in turn Bella starts voicing her thoughts as well. This is not good, especially for condo living. Having free time today I decided to experiment. Duncan likes very much to cuddle and sleep in my arms; I like that too, but at some point I need to start getting back to normal. After play time this morning he started looking very sleepy, I gently removed him from my arms and put him in his crate. He starting whining so then I covered his crate with a blanket. I told him a mere 3 times "Quiet" in a calm yet firm tone and he went to sleep. I am in awe.

I love Bella, but Duncan is much less stubborn (knock on wood) and is much calmer. I hope is training goes as smoothly as his sleeping!