Hello family!

Hi there everyone! So, last night we had a crazy electrical storm. I have never seen or heard such close lightening and thunder. It was lighting up the house and it was so loud! The dogs were terrified, Gypsy ran in and laid on Lilly's bed, I think to "protect" her, but it ended up just waking Lilly up. Anyway, we lost power, but it came back during the night so that is good.

So, I am finally on summer break. Halfway through! Woohoo! I need to work on a thesis this summer but for now I am just unwinding. Mandy's wedding is coming up and then Lilly leaves for a month to visit her Mom in San Diego.

All else is fine. Today is Lilly's last day of school. JJ is at work of course and he has gigs all weekend, so I'll see him at some point. That is about it, I am going to go eat something.

Hello

So yesterday Reggie turned one year old. I brought him and Gyspy to the dog park and they had fun, so we brought them again today. Except today some woman was really rude to me so long story short I used descriptive language to express my dislike for her. A little embarrassed to go back but I was right so I will anyway.





Sunday was Mandy's wedding shower, and that went really well. The weather held so most if it was outside. I need to get more pictures of the flowers in the yard, it looks really pretty out back now.

Today I had a horrible exam in my health comm class. It drove one girl almost to tears and another student, Nolan, was practically hyperventilating next to me. Ugh.

Anyway, it is almost summer break and I am excited. That is about all for now!

I am here!

Hello family! Yes yes sorry it has been so long, but I must point out that Steven's blog still says he is sure McCain is going to win the election. Anyway, I have had a lot going on. School has been brutal this semester. It is almost done! Woohoo! As you can see above, Lilly had a good Easter.


My precious dog is still.... well.... big. And fixed now. As you can probably tell, he has grown quite giant.


This is Gypsy. In case you don't know the story, Gypsy was JJ's dog when he was younger. He had to give her away to a friend when he and Caelah separated and the place he left her at seemed really good for a few years. Anyway, things apparently started going downhill for them and the dog because JJ just found out Gypsy was a 10-year-old dog that spent everyday alone, except for one person feeding her once a day. Her nails were so long her foot was infected, she was covered in ticks, she had a bladder/kidney infection, is extremely obese, and other ailments. So he felt terribly guilt, as you can imagine. So, of course, Gypsy lives with us now. After her vet visit, she perked up considerably and is very happy now. It is hard to see that here because apparently Gypsy is terrified of cameras and kept cowering and running from me. I wanted to get a picture of her and Reggie to show how small she is next to him, but I started feeling bad for forcing the camera on her because she was really upset. But she is sweet dog, or at least a spirited one. She tries to dominate Reggie, who allows it because he is such a sweet dog. Then he got fixed a few days after we got her, so I think his sleepiness made her feel even more empowered. At least she is letting him eat now.... Reggie is about twice as big as she is, and strong, but he won't be aggressive with her ever. He is a good boy. And she is very affectionate and happy to be here.

Another thing going on is that Mandy's wedding shower is going to be held here this Sunday. It has given us a good reason to get the yard cleaned up. These pictures are of some flowers we are planting. There are still garden impliments everywhere and things to finish cleaning, but this gives you sort of an idea anyway. What is a bummer is that it is forecasted to rain that day, which kind of messes up the plan of having it in the backyard. Hopefully it will hold off. Anyway, there, a blog! When school ends I will be less busy. And less sick. People in grad school apparently get sick a lot, because all of my classmates and I keep getting stupid colds and things. They put us in these tiny rooms with no windows, it is not surprising we keep getting each other sick. Pretty sure it is not the swine flu though. :)

I agree

JJ and I have also discussed our need to be healthier. So here is a picture of us, hopefully we can start looking better!

Reggie's Family Reunion

Reggie with his mom (Minnie) and dad (Raider).
That is Reggie and his mom and the back of Dad's head.
Reggie's dad.
Reggie sniffing his dad.
Reggie chasing his dad.


Hello family! So the breeders that we bought Reggie from told JJ when he got him that they would love to see how their puppy grew up, so we took him over there today and boy were they thrilled! I got to see Reggie's parents and the breeders could not believe how big and beautiful Reggie is. They called him picture perfect and the guy looked so happy I thought he was going to burst.

New blog

I really like the backgrounds Monica uses, so hopefully this is one she hasn't used yet and hopefully she doesn't mind I went to the same site. Also hopefully the text on the lime green isn't completely abrasive to read. Let me know. I'll change it at some point anyway.

So.... it isn't my fault! I was all set to have Reggie fixed tomorrow, but the vet office called me and my vet is sick so we had to postpone. Sigh. I had gotten myself all geared up and ready, and it needs to be done. But it isn't postponed for long, we are trying for next Thursday. So his Reggi-balls will be no more soon.

Spring Break is almost finished. It does mean we are halfway through the semester. Then it will be summer and Mandy's wedding will be here. God knows I have to lose some weight before then or I won't fit in my dress, I have reached an all-time weight high and I feel pretty gross.

Let's see.... I guess that is about it. I have today off work, so I am going to do homework, clean and walk the yellow dog. Hope you all are doing well.

Blog time

Hello family! Well, it is Spring Break. I am celebrating the first couple days of it by not doing any homework. Then I am going to spend the rest of it doing homework. But if I get done what I hope to it will make the last half of the semester much easier. My computer crashed right before a test last week, so I did not get to look at my notes one last time like I always do. It is frustrating because not only did I not get to look at the notes, but my OCD kicked in because, like I said, I ALWAYS do that. So hopefully I did alright. I know I didn't fail or anything like that, but I think I would have done better had I been able to fulfill my ritual note-check. Oh well. The computer is back up and running at least, thank God for Jimmy.

Reggie is now 10 months old and as much as we feel bad getting him fixed, it has to be done. We have already waited too long. So his appointment is Friday. Poor yellow dog. He is 81 pounds now and if he goes after a female I will not be able to stop him. He is too big and strong. And yellow.

Lilly is doing well. Her new favorite movies are "Snow Buddies" and "Space Buddies," and if you don not know what those are, just feel lucky. At least they aren't musicals. They are about Golden Retriever puppies that have adventures, which sounds cute and all, but Disney insisted on having one of the puppies, B-Dawg (sigh), sound all gangsta and it is just obnoxious. He is a puppy. It doesn't make sense. Really. Doesn't make sense. Yeah.

Well, I am getting an error message so this may not even publish. So, let's try!

I know it has been too long....

Hi family, sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. It is a busy time. Homework has hit like a tidal wave and I am trying to learn to surf it. I was reading Mary's blog, and mentioned that 2010 was going to be a big year for us, she will be done in March and I will be done in May. Although somehow she gets a split masters in less time that I get one. But Chico State will not let us vary from their program regiment and time unless you want to take longer than four semesters. At least by this summer I will be half done and probably starting to work on a thesis. We have a choice between taking comprehensive exams, doing a thesis project or writing a thesis in order to graduate. The nice thing about doing a thesis is that you have to defend it and have it done early, so while everyone is freaking out about their upcoming comp tests, you are essentially done. Also, your thesis is a bound book that not only you get a copy of, but the library has available to check out. It is a really neat way to be published. I need to start on it soon because apparently it takes almost a year to write one. I have a few vague topic ideas. One is to examine the role of internet communication on society, another is to examine the anonymous communication on the internet and how it affects how people behave, another is to do a historical thesis, for instance the types of communication used in peace talks in some past conflict and why is was effective or ineffective. My other idea to go critical theory, and do a feminist rhetorical thesis on Disney and how they affect gender roles in young girls. So I am pretty much all over the map with this. Oh well, I have a little while to decide, but I'd love anyone's input because this will be a huge project and it has to be something I can keep going on and not get so totally burned out that I can't finish it!

I hate being sick.

So we have been living in the sick house. Lilly got the worst of it, but I am a close second. I am so over this. At least the fever is gone. Blah.

Not Watching the Super Bowl

I just couldn't make myself care. Anyway, all is well here, just thought I'd do a quick blog to say hello. Not too much going on. Yesterday we went on a group dog walk with Mandy and the neighbors that included four dogs. It was funny because all four dogs had different objectives. Roxy, Mandy's corgi, wanted to herd all the other dogs. Peanut, our neighbor's chihuahua, was just trying not to get run over by the other dogs, especially Reggie. Reggie's goal was to wildly run around, oblivious to everything. Brutus, our neighbors lab/rott mix wanted to protect everyone from nothing, and mostly protect Peanut from Reggie's wild running and stomping. At one point Reggie started running full speed at Peanut, so Brutus dove on top of Peanut to protect her, and Reggie just bounced off Brutus at full speed, which angered Roxy, who then tried to protect Reggie from Brutus. All in all, it was a lot of fun. And the dogs never really got aggressive with each other, just some dog-bickering. Oh, and above is an adorable picture of Reggie when he was still small.

School

Hello all. School started for me on Monday and it is going to be pretty brutal this semester. It is looking like somewhere between 500 and 600 pages to read a week, not to mention assignments. I had this whole plan to start all of the big assignments really early so the end of the semester would be less stressful, but I don't see how it is possible when I have so much to do on a day to day basis. I am worried.

All is well here though, JJ Lilly and Reggie are fine. Today I work in the morning and then school in the afternoon, but I will have the evening off to.... well read textbooks and journal articles. At any rate, I should take a shower and walk the dog, I will talk to you all soon.

Sorry!

Hello! I am sorry, I have been a very lazy blogger. Not much has been going on, I have been enjoying my break from school, but that is ending soon.

My dog is 78 pounds, and whines at me insistently when he hasn't had his walk yet (like now). Lilly is less that 78 pounds and whines at me insistently when she hasn't eaten yet this week (just kidding).

I watched "Burn After Reading" last night, it was.... weird. I have also watched all of The Tudors to date, that show is addicting! I have my friends watching it as well. I tried watching The Other Boleyn Girl movie but it was terrible, I can see why Mom and Mary were saying they hated it, it was the worst movie. I do stand by it being a good book though.

I am a little annoyed though, because there is an internet rumor that they don't plan on making Henry fat in The Tudors, but that messes everything up as far as I am concerned. Not only was he supposed to be obese, he was supposed to have a smelly disgusting injury on his leg that won't heal. I understand that the actor has spend a lot of time on his six pack abs and wants to show them off, but for him not to become unappealing is not just a little bit forgivably inaccurate, it is a mess.

Oh well. School starts on Monday. I am looking forward to being done with this semester because it means I am halfway done with the program, and that will be an accomplishment. Well, I need to take the dog for a walk, and do some laundry and stuff (it is my day off) so I am off.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year family!