Blizzard...

So all winter long we have barely had a winter here. Barely any snow fall and the weather has been great as well. It has had it's cold days but certainly not like Wisconsin or any where else has had it's snow days or cold days for that matter. I have thouroughly enjoyed sitting back and hearing the news reports about Wisconsin and knowing that I wasn't there! People always say it's colder in Denver, I beg to disagree! Anyways, every time there is snow coming people freak out because of the snowfall from 2006, they also always predict that we are going to get way more than we do. So yesterday morning they had blizzard warnings out, schools were closed, businesses were closed, and for the first time since I have lived here I actually saw plow trucks out driving around! It was amazing. I still had to be at work however so I went in to work, in a basement with no windows. So if a blizzard did come I would have no idea. Then the emails started about how they were setting up cots and blankets for those who had to stay. It was craziness. I left work early and so did Matt, but it took Matt over 2 hours to get home-normally it takes 45 min. The picture above is from the blizzard yesterday, I got it off one of our news channel websites.

It was just craziness. I think that we got about a foot of snow here in our part of denver, but I know that the foothills and mountains got a little bit more. I took the day off today though just to relax and have a mental health day, because I need one! The snow is looking beautiful today though and it is super bright outside! The snow is all sparkly and glittery and the sun is out and ready to melt what it can. That is the one thing that I love about the snow in Colorado, is I know it will always be gone within a few days, no matter how much we get!

Puppy....

As I have expressed in my last blog...our puppy gets a little crazy when we are not home. He actually has separation anxiety and so he just freaks out when he is alone. Then when you get home it is like he is on drugs, he is so hyper and whining and it is very hard and frustrating to see him like that. So we have tried many alternatives that have been recommended to us but nothing has worked. So a friend/schoolmate who is a vet has offered to help us, he has gotten us a tranquilizer for him that will hopefully settle him down. I know it sound horrible to do to our dog, but you don't know what we go through. He is definitely getting better, but even leaving him alone for an hour leads to blood on our walls and a possible disaster in the waiting. We will not keep him on the tranquilizer for very long, just until we can really work on the behavior and retrain him to be okay with being at home. We also have devised another plan.....

When we got Apollo he was only four months old, but he was a big boy. People that would meet him, including the vet thought that he was about 7 months old. For those of you that don't know, Apollo is a boxer and great dane mix, he is quite the big and dopy boy! But we love him! Anyway, we really missed the puppy stages. I know that most people hate it, but we never got to enjoy the tiny, cute, little puppy stage. So, we have decided to get another puppy! We know that we will have him by the end of April (so expect pictures) and we know what type of dog we don't want but we are keeping are minds open for what we do want. We will not be going to a breeder, we don't really believe in paying top dollar for a pure bred when there are so many puppies that have been rescued and are just waiting for love. We have been checking out different shelters and rescue groups so we know how much the little guy will cost and what the background is for both dogs and shelters. I am very excited and cannot wait!!

Updates

Well, life has been quite the interesting ride the last couple weeks. About two weeks ago I was driving home and saw black smoke coming from my direction of town...when I got closer I realized it was coming from my neighborhood, my apartment complex. It was directly behind my apartment, I ran upstairs grabbed the dog and came back outside to watch the fire...We have a small little hill behind our apartment that has a small trail on the top and the rest of the area is all open field, somehow it had gotten started on fire. When I pulled up it had actually jumped across the walking area to our side of the hill, it was really quite scary. Matt was at work so it was just me and Apollo, needless to say I was freaking out! It of course is fine now, but at the time, it was very scary. It ended up covering over 80 acres of land, I had never seen a fire like that except on the news.

Then on Tuesday on my way to work, my fuel pump went out and my car died in the middle of a busy street where I had to sit for an hour or so until the tow truck came. They tried to charge me $600 for the work but I found the part for cheaper and it ended up being $400, which was a little nicer. That day I had a co-worker drop me off at home, and when I got home our dog Apollo had busted out of his kennel and had torn up the apartment! He had literally busted and pulled in the metal door on his kennel, scratched up the front door and broke about 6 blinds. It was ridiculous. So now we are leaving him out of the kennel. It actually hasn't been too bad, there have a been a few times that things have gotten chewed up and I think he has stopped attacking the door so I am hoping he is slowly adapting. Our only issue is now that something is happening with the end of his tail and everyday we come home to the tail bleeding and blood all over our walls. Insanity!
Those were the major situations but there was also some work conflict and craziness and some other stuff going on that made the last two weeks barely tolerable. Anyway, just trying to keep everyone updated, even on the not so important stuff :)

Interesting....

You Are Brave and Cheeky

When You Are Comfortable: You are a strong person. You're driven and assertive. Success is yours, as much as you want it. People find you to be clever and spirited. You're a bit saucy too... delightfully so! When You Are At Your Best: You are a hard worker. You need security and stability in your life, even if that means putting in long hours. People see you as solid and dependable. You are always able to see the good in situations. Other find this comforting. When You Are in a Social Setting: You are a shy, quiet person. Underneath your shell, you are compassionate and giving. People find you to be friendly and welcoming. Your home is a place of comfort to them.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoyourinitialssayaboutyouquiz/">What Do Your Initials Say About You?

Feeling better about myself

Well, today I put into action part of my new plan of feeling better about myself. I got myself up at 5 am and went to the gym and worked out. I was only there about 45min, but it was something and it felt great to finally be doing something again. I know that I will have to make a lot more changes to my daily routine and eating habits to become healthier and feel better but I think I am finally to a point where I am ready to do that. I can pass up candy, choose a salad at dinner out instead of a greasy burger, and I can get myself up at 5 am and exercise!! I am ready to make that commit and change how I am doing things and living my life.
I don't feel that I am overweight but I have put on some pounds I would like to shed and I am sick of feeling like I am fat everytime I try on clothes, look in the mirror or try and fit into clothes that I bought less than a year ago. It is time that I make a change and start feeling better inside and out. So today I took action and got up at 5 am and I hope that I can do this at least 3 times a week and find time to fit in a workout on the weekends as well. I am going to keep track of everything I do and start doing a food journal as well to keep track of what I am eating and when I am eating. I can't wait to see if this is the change I need....

My program is changing

So earlier this week I thought I registered for my last 3 classes before I was able to start my internship and look forward to graduating by the end of this year...then I received an email.
An email was sent out to everyone in our program discussing that our degree was going to be changing, effective July 1, 2009. Our degree of a Masters in Community Counseling will now be changed to a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, which also means that our credit hours are changing from 48-60. I am still unclear of all the changes that need to be made, but I do know that I will be adding four more classes on to my load that I was not prepared for. Which also means that I will probably not be able to graduate until Summer of 2010.
Since I am still working full-time I do not want to start my internship until I have finished all my classes so that I can focus on the internship fully and get all of my hours done while trying to stay 40 hours a week at Children's. I need 660 hours of internship hours and about 300 of that is immediate client contact, so it is important th at I am able to devote my attention to the internship and the clients and not worry about getting other class projects done. Also, I am going to try and work at least 2 facilities so I can work with the 2 different populations that I am interested in working with. It is going to be a rough couple months when the intership gets started but I think that I am prepared for it.
I really just want to start on my professional career journey and be out there counseling, and now it is going to take even longer and that sucks. Not to mention all of these changes mean that other people, like a really good friend of mine, who have worked so hard at trying to get everything together to graduate by the end of summer are now getting pushed back at least 3-4 months also. I think in the long run it will be a really good thing for all students involved but right now it totally sucks.

Full-Time

Well, just a small little update.
My position at Children's has gone to officially full time! That means that I now get benefits and PTO!!! Which is all very exciting. It does however mean a pay cut :( but it is okay, the PTO and benefits make up for it.
Also, Matt got a new job!!! He is working for Dish 40hours a week. I am so excited for him. Regardles of what some may think, he has been trying really hard to find a job and it has finally paid off.