Exciting June!

 I cannot believe that it has been almost a month since I have posted anything here. June has been a crazy whirlwind of a month! Allow me to elaborate:

·         I turned the big 3-0. People made bad jokes including the phrases “dirty and flirty” my friends from college came out to celebrate with me and my not from college but still awesome friends. We cooed at babies, drooled over my new Kitchen Aid mixer, did crossword puzzles and drank a lot less than we used to because, ya know, we’re old.

Me and the BFF at my birthday party

·         I went to my twin sister’s surprise birthday party all the way in Indiana and made her cry. Making her cry is my chief goal in life and boy was I full of win that day. Then came the awkward moment when my family tried to add “and Melissa” to the part of the song that goes: “Happy birthday Dear Angela”. Even though it was her party and not our actual birthday. Luckily, we are pretty used to sharing, but she should have thrown cake at me and screamed, “This is my day, B!@$* because that would have be waaay more entertaining.

My Sister and I at her Surprise Party

·         I attended two weddings. I’d like to think that I inspired both since the couples were all there for my big day and who wouldn’t want a wedding after that? In all seriousness they were beautiful and tons of fun. As you can see, my family and I were very excited to attend.

OMG weddings are Awesome!

·         My sister came to visit, and I actually got to spend time with her. My husband bonded with my nieces and nephews which he immediately regretting after he picked them some fresh raspberries from the bush in our yard and discovered the poison ivy… the hard way.

I also entered a writing contest. More specifically, the Simply Stated Blogger Contest and was selected as a finalist! (Trust me; I am as shocked as you are.) If I win I will get a chance to blog over at Simply Stated for a month and receive a $1,000 dollar cash prize. I dunno about you, but I think mainstream media needs a little more disability perspective (Plus, $1,000 never hurt anyone).  You can read and vote for my entry here!

July is shaping up to be a lot calmer and so I plan to get back on a regular writing schedule soon. I have a few fun ideas rolling around in my defective little brain. So stay tuned. It’s about to get crazy, but not too crazy. I have to be in bed by ten.

Update on Training and More New Projects

My back hurts. Isn’t that fascinating? I don’t know what it is, but back pain has been almost a constant in my life for about six months now. I am not a fan. On Sunday, I apparently broke myself while doing the dishes of all things. The rest of the evening was spent, crying and being carried and helped off the toilet because I could not stand up. At least I’m back at work. For the last two days I have been at home, whining. My back still hurts but I have gotten over the pity party and moved on. I am sucking it up like a boss. It’s one of my best skills. Tomorrow, I have an appointment to be fitted for a new wheelchair. I will hopefully see my doctor and be able to ask her about the pain. If not, I have to make an appointment. Yippee.

That’s enough of that, yes?

Taden is coming along in training okay. As usual I am sort of slacking, but all the snow and rain isn’t helping and then the back issue. I did finally get around to teaching her “Wait.” She used to charge passed me up the stairs which is sort of dangerous.  I trained “Wait in order to get her to wait patiently at the bottom while I go up.  As usual she learned it fast, but I did have to climb up and down the stairs 16 times on the first night of training before she waited until she was released. (She kept charging up as soon as I hit the top step, instead of waiting until I said “Okay.” I think our next thing needs to be eating on command. This dog is notorious for her strange eating habits.

Last night, Tom shouted from upstairs: “Why did Taden bury her food in my clothes?” This is not unusual. She often hides bits of her food and then later after she eats the rest of it will go hunting out the rest. Only sometimes she forgets. Other days, she won’t eat all together and never once has she eaten as soon as I put the food down.

I am not sure how to train this; my training books talk about over excited dogs, but not dogs that just don’t care much about their food. (She is fine medically, I’ve checked.) Does anyone have a suggestion?

In other news, I am taking a quilting class. I took one a few years ago and made this lovely quilt for my bed:

I made one more quit after that and started on one for my lovely Seester, but I didn’t finish because I got all wrapped up in the wedding. Signing up for the class motivated me and I finished the blocks on Saturday before my back started to hurt:

This one has a few obvious errors. The pattern was a little difficult for me. I picked it after being told it was hard because Seester loves stars! It goes fast but require perfectly straight cutting and sewing and since I sew one handed (I have to use the other to work the peddle) this is really hard. (The cutting I have no excuse for, I just suck. LOL) Seester is an awesome seamstress, so I am a bit nervous about this one!

I am making the next quilt for Charles. In this class we are actually doing two so the other will go in my spare room. or give it to Tom. Then, I have requests from Stephy and my youngest nieces and nephews! Classes are Wednesdays so I will try to do my quilting update on Thursdays from now on. I know, you’re terribly excited.