Today is our 1 year anniversary.  I’m so excited.  I can’t believe how quickly the year together has passed.  I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun.  And fun is all I have when I’m with Bryan.  Seriously, I have never smiled and laughed so much!  As I look back and reflect on this year with Bryan, all I can say is wow!  The time we have been together has been the best of my life, and I truly believe that it will only get better from here.  I can’t wait to find out what this upcoming year as well as the rest of our lives together has in store for us.

To celebrate this occasion we have decided to recreate our first date which was dinner at North and then mini golf at Main Event.  It was a lot of fun then, but I bet it will be a lot more fun tonight.  I almost cancelled our first date because I had a fever blister on my lip, and I thought it would really gross him out.  I was embarrassed, but I went anyway.  I’m really glad I did.  Who knows if we would be here if I had cancelled.  🙂

For dessert Bryan made some chocolate covered strawberries (a favorite of ours), and they look delicious.  Check them out: http://blog.familyofgoldsteins.com/?p=333.

Upcoming Events:

• Feb. 11 – Jason’s Birthday
• Feb. 13 – taking Jason to dinner for his birthday
• Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) – I have a special dinner planned for us but since I’m cooking it I’m not sure how special it will really be 🙂 / I’m also testing for my yellow sash in Tai Chi
• Feb. 15 – Bryan’s grandparents arrive from New York as new Texans  🙂 – they’ll be staying with us until they find a house and move in

Songs I’m digging right now:

I found a cool Word Press plug-in that will let me add audio so if I have the song on my computer I’ll try to insert it so you can have a listen.  Ah, I really love technology.  😀

Paparazzi – Lady GaGa

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Wednesday:

This is the day that I went back to the shelter to get Sweet Pea.  Wow, what an ordeal.  Let me just make a statement: “I despise the Humane Society of Williamson County, and I urge you to be careful if you do business with them.”  Ok, now the rant and story of how I got Sweet Pea:

*Let me say before I start this story that on the previous day I asked if the $95 voucher we had for Atley’s adoption would cover the adoption of the kitten – the director never answered the question, and so I assumed it was ok. *

• filled out the adoption form
• the girl handling the adoption asked if me and the director worked out the details
• I informed her that I thought so because the director had not said no to my request on Tuesday
• the girl went to check with the director to be sure
• she came back with news – bad news
• the director had said that she would take the normal kitten adoption fee of $120 to $95 but I couldn’t use the $95 voucher we had toward the adoption
• I looked at the girl and exclaimed “you have got to be fucking kidding me!”
• the director over hears and comes out
• the director says lets discuss this
• so we do, right out there for everyone to hear (fine by me!)
• the director says she doesn’t want to give me the kitten for the voucher because it has the potential to bring the shelter $120
• fine I say, but I gave you back a dog that you let us adopt under false pretenses because your shelter didn’t do your job and we brought the dog back with food and toys as well as the info and x-rays that I collected from various vets (all of which we paid for)
• I also informed her that if she stuck me with this that I would tell everyone not to do business with them (I’m still telling you not to)
• I also said that I don’t want to have $95 “invested” into their organization (it’s not exactly drawing interest or anything – and it expires in 30 days)
• she asked me what I thought was fair
• to which I quickly responded was to give me the kitten that I picked out
• she finally gave in and I got Sweet Pea – yay, me!
• I walked out proud of myself (the didn’t lose money they just didn’t get any – don’t care because we lost money on Atley)

Here is a video (it’s actually 5 videos back to back) that I took of Sweet Pea her first day at the house:

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Thursday:

I worked at a middle school – it sucked.  However, Bryan had good news when I got home.  He was coming home earlier than excepted.  This was such good news because I had spent the day missing him more than I ever had. In fact it was overwhelming, and it sucked.

Friday:

I picked Bryan up at the airport around 9:45 AM.  I was so happy to have him home.  We grabbed breakfast on the way home, and we stayed at home until my belt ceremony that night.  Yay!  So, I’m officially a brown belt.  This is so exciting to me.  I can’t believe how far I’ve advanced since starting TKD last year.  That black belt is really close now.  We came back home to enjoy a very lazy night at home on the couch….ahhhh.

Pictures from the ceremony:

lining up

bowing in

awaiting the belts

getting my new belt

everyone that ranked up

showing off my new/old belt

Saturday:

I went to TKD at 9 AM then back home for a couple of hours.  Then I went to Kung Fu at 1 PM and a little of Tai Chi at 2.  Master Joe informed me I was testing for Tai Chi next Saturday – um, yay?  This is the martial art that I feel like I lack serious skills.  It’s just foreign to me.  I really enjoy it, but I have found learning the material is a lot more time consuming than the others.  I guess after about 6 months it’s finally time to test for the first time.  Yellow sash here I come?  I sure hope so.  🙂

That afternoon we cleaned up the garage so we can work out in there again!  I’m going to try fasting twice a week again.  I also did some work in the backyard – a successful afternoon/evening.

That night Bryan cooked a great meal before we went to Ben’s house for Amber’s birthday party.  The theme was clowns because Amber loves clowns.  I didn’t go full out, but I did paint on a red nose and red cheeks.  I think it was pretty cute.  We stayed for a little bit but didn’t over do it.  Bryan has been feeling under the weather thanks to something he caught while on site last week.  I really hope he keeps it to himself.

Sunday:

We spent the whole day at home with me sleeping till noon.  I don’t care what you call me (lazy), but I needed it.  We hung out doing this and that and just enjoying the last day of the weekend.

More Pictures of Sweet Pea:

Sweet Pea at our house on her first day

Sweet Pea and Bananas

Sweet Pea on a shelf

Here she is the newest and last member or our all cat family. I’ll post more pictures soon.

Yesterday wasn’t the best day.  OC kept me awake till 2 AM so I slept in way longer than I should have and was too exhausted to work.  Thanks meanie!  He did everything possible to keep up including knocking something off the kitchen table that woke me up and scared the shit out of me.

I finally made it to the shelter yesterday to bring them Atley’s X-Rays.  I was kinda hoping to see him, but that didn’t happen which is probably for the best because I teared up just driving over there.  So, now we have an adoption voucher…great.  I went to check out the cats to see if any would be a nice addition to our family.  I had been eyeing a kitten that could be Bella’s twin since we brought Atley back to the shelter.  I thought it would be pretty cool to have 2 orange cats and 2 Siamese cats.  However, this cat is not really that warm to people.  But there was a new kitten that had just arrived that morning, and I instantly fell in love with her.  She’s brown with a white tummy.  She’s super loving – demanding to be in my lap and purring away.  She’s so loving in fact the shelter named her Love Bug, but I’ll be changing that to Sweet Pea.  :)  I think she’ll fit in perfect and finish off the family.  I’m sure the cats won’t be happy at first, but they’ll all be playing in no time.

Last night I went to TKD because it was forms night.  I learned my brown belt form.  It has some things I’ve never done before.  I like that they are getting more challenging.  The only difficult thing is that I’m learning new stuff in both TKD and Kung Fu while trying to get ready to test in Tai Chi.  It can be somewhat overwhelming at times, but when I stop to think about each thing I realize that it’s not all that bad actually.  I love martial arts and feel blessed to get to study each night.

Bryan is still in Alabama, and I still don’t know when he’s coming back. Sigh…I could really have used my best friend last night.  I find the long distance communication hard when you’re talking to someone you’re used to communicating with face to face on a daily basis.

I’m going to go get ready so that I can pick up the new kitten in a little while.

I started reading again over the past couple of weeks; I have missed it so much.  Life just got too busy for reading for awhile.  I used to read ALL THE TIME – seriously.  I read any chance I could reading no less than 4 books at a time.  My reading really slowed down after moving to Austin and especially after starting martial arts.  I also spend way too much time on the Internet doing nothing.  I went through my Google Reader and deleted some RSS feeds that were only taking up my precious time.  I kept the important ones and now my reader is much smaller each day, and I’m loving it!  So, back to the reading…  I had started PJ’s book right after it was released.  I read a chapter, and then I didn’t pick it back up until last week (after months and months of it collecting dust – shame).  Then I devoured it.  Not quenched, I immediately went to the bookshelf to see what else there was to read.  I discovered a book called The Giver.  I had never heard of it but I read half of it last night and the other half this morning.  It was GREAT!  I loved it.  I find books of this topic to be extremely intriguing.  It’s about a community so planned that everything has rules and everything is for the betterment of the community.  It really reminded me of Ayn Rand’s Anthem.  It makes you wonder…  I’m excited because now it’s time to pick out another book.

Songs I’m digging right now:

Beautiful Dirty Rich – Lady GaGa

Poker Face – Lady GaGa

Monday, Monday, Monday…and Groundhog’s Day

The groundhog saw his shadow…boo!  Ok, so Austin hasn’t had a very cold winter minus a few nights, but still, I’m ready for the constant stream of warm weather to roll on in.  I can’t help it.  I love summer!  I feel the sun on my face, and it makes me want to get active.  Winter makes me want to curl up under a blanket with a heater blowing on my face.

I subbed middle school today – 8th grade science.  It was an ok day.  I really like subbing for this teacher all of the time.  I actually know some of the students, and they know me.  The teacher even called on my way home to see how my day went which I thought was very nice.  I got some of my observation forms signed by the principal so I’m only lacking 2 now!  I should have these completed by now but better late than never.

After work I ran over to Animal Trustees to pick up Atley’s X-Rays to give to the shelter.  It was only 2 miles from the school which was convenient.  I couldn’t believe what they show.  I was just floored.  How can this dog walk?  Dogs must be such resilient creatures to have normal lives with a condition like this.  I was sad to the point of wanting to cry.  I was also even more outraged by the original vet who decided he was “healed”.  I really think he needs the surgery, and I hope he gets it soon.  I hope he goes on to be a very happy dog and live a long, happy life.  I’m going to the shelter tomorrow to see about possibly getting our money back or services.  If they aren’t going to give our money back then I suppose I’ll be adopting a cat.  I think that would be fine.  What’s one more?  🙂

Here are Atley’s X-Rays:

Thursday night:

I just wanted to say that I had a lot of fun at the Pop Princess Sing-Along.  Thanks Amy for driving me there!  And thanks to that gay couple sitting next to me who helped me realize it might be more fun to celebrate my non birthday days (364 days) rather than my actual birthday (1 day and you get older…hmmm).  I really think there’s something to this.  :)  That was my first Alamo Sing-Along, but I hope to go back to more in the future.

Friday:

I took the day off in order to take Atley to the vet where Allison works.  This vet was amazing – by far the best vet I’ve ever taken a pet to.  Thanks, Allison for getting us in.  Unfortunately, while the vet was awesome the news was not.  On top of the leg issue, Atley had an upper respiratory infection and a fractured tooth under the gum.  She also wanted him to be on anti-inflammatory medication for his leg which was $46 for a small bottle.  Needless to say, this made up our mind for us.  Atley was by far the most costly animal I’ve ever tried to own, and we had him for less than 2 weeks.  I didn’t want to drag it out, so I suggested that we take him upon arriving home.  It was really sad, but I know that he will get the care he needs from the shelter one way or another.  It was so sad to surrender him back to the shelter.  I felt like a failure and terrible person.  However, I still think we made the best decision for us and the dog that we could.  Oh to be a millionaire.  So many of our friends were nice to us during this time.  Thanks guys.  It was not a lightly made decision I can assure you.  I spent the rest of the weekend fighting off urges to go back to the shelter and tell them I had made a mistake.  There will be no more dog attempts until my kids are pleading with me begging “can we keep it?”

Friday night Joe and Allison came over for dinner.  It was nice to have them over and nice of Bryan to cook us a delicious meal.  I really enjoyed their company.  We were going to watch a movie but spent too much time talking (which is fine by me).

Saturday:

Saturday was my senior blue belt testing in TKD.  I was nervous, but I feel like I’m getting less nervous each time.  It’s important that I get over my nervousness because if I don’t I will never show the judges what I can really do.  The belt ceremony will be Friday.  I can’t believe how far I’ve come and how close that black belt is!  😀

Here are the pictures that Bryan took of my testing:

talking to others

bowing in

warming up

blocks

kicks

sparring time

resting

I only wanted to put this one because I wanted you to see that is my foot way up there.  😉

Videos that Bryan took at the testing:

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After testing we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the Kung Fu school for 2 classes.  I couldn’t even make it through Tai Chi because my brain was fried from the day.  I started learning the bo staff form (very cool).

Saturday night we met up with everyone for Stephanie’s birthday dinner at Vivo’s.  It was a really fun night.  Her birthday cake was too delicious (I had 2 slices).  After that we headed home to have some alone time since Bryan left for Alabama on Sunday for work.  I can’t believe he had to leave again so soon after his last trip.  Ugh.  I hate when he’s away!

Superbowl Sunday:

We slept in – yay!  Then we got started on getting everything completed that we needed to so Bryan could leave for his business trip.  We left the house for the airport around 2 PM.  Later that afternoon Jason came by to watch the superbowl with me.  I thought it was a great game.  I was able to really enjoy it because I didn’t really care which team won.  I haven’t gotten to watch football all season; I forgot how awesome it is!  I’ll have to do better about getting a few games next season.  🙂 I also gave all of the cats a bath tonight (always a fun event).

I’m missing Bryan like crazy already, but the conversation that we had on the way to the airport has me excited and giddy!  It’s just what I needed to help get me through the week.

I’m subbing middle school tomorrow for a lady I’ve subbed several times before.  No referrals – no referrals!

Recent pictures of the cats:

Mallos and OC trying to eat at the same time.

OC thinks he can go with Bryan but his cover is blown.

Wednesday:

I took off from work in order to take Atley to Animal Trustees, the place that Elizabeth had recommended.  They were nice and saw to him pretty quickly.  Typical, he was really hamming it up there.  They did 2 x-rays.  Bad news: he needs surgery to repair it.  Even worse news: estimate of $500-600…wow!  After I returned home with him, Bryan and I went to see the animal shelter we adopted him from to talk about the results and what they could do to help him/us out.  We felt pretty strongly that they should have never put him u for adoption in his condition.  They should’ve been more in depth with his diagnosis.  Of course, it wasn’t even there vet that made this call but a vet from another shelter.  They were really nice and felt extremely bad about the whole thing.  They asked us to bring him on Thursday morning so there vet could examine him.

Wednesday night I went to TKD and Jiu-jitsu.  That was most likely my last Jiu-jitsu class as I just don’t find it all that fun or interesting.  I know it could be useful, but I really just don’t feel it.  It doesn’t have the same appeal that I felt instantly with all of my other classes.  I have a lot on my plate anyway so, it’s quite alright.

TKD class was fun.  A high ranking student from another school came to take class with us.  It’s always fun when a student from another school shows up.  It makes class interesting.  We are really drilling for test – lots of test type sparring and forms.  Sparring was okay until I had to match up with the 4th degree black belt visitor…ugh.  He totally owned me.  However, I did manage to get one awesomely sweet roundhouse to the head which made me feel victorious even if I totally and without question lost the match.  That’s what I love about sparring.  I can find some much pride in one attack that I don’t even care who won because I delivered something I never expected to.  This only helps me realize that I am indeed getting better at sparring.

Forms were awesome too.  I don’t know why, but when I went up to do mine in front of the class, I just nailed it.  It was just…well, the best I have ever done it.  I shocked myself!  I got lots of compliments from several people after class that really lifted my spirits.  It’s nice when others see something in you on a night where you’re feeling great.

We ended class with some stretching which I always appreciate and love.  I have become much more flexible over the past month surprising even myself with some of my stretching.

Thursday:

The dog woke us up at 4:30 and neither of us ever went back to sleep…yay.  I worked today…middle school…double yay.  It was a school I had been to once before.  It was an okay day. The kids where a little rowdy.

Bryan took Atley to the shelter this morning for the their vet to look at.  He was gone all day.  We picked up after I arrived home from work.  Boy, was he worked up – too much cage time all day!  They had some bad news.  The vet agreed with ATA that a surgery was a must.  Unfortunately, it will have to be done in a clinical setting meaning that the vet can’t give it to them at a super low cost.  They said the ATA price was quite reasonable, but we still can’t afford it.  The director of the shelter said she had one last option.  She would call a vet’s office that will sometimes help them out in cases where they get to try something different or exciting.  Let’s just hope that they think Atley’s case meets this criteria.  If not, then the shelter will have to campaign for the money.  If that happens, we’ll have to give him back, and he’ll become a poster dog for their projects.  Either way, there’s no chance of him being put down.  Both will be great lives for him, but of course, we’d prefer he stayed at home with us because we are attached.  The shelter would prefer this option too.  This blows…  Hopefully, we’ll hear something tomorrow.  He has another vet appointment tomorrow to see about a little infection he has.  This dog is falling apart!  I just want to make him well and happy.

I promise whatever happens – there will be no other dog.

I’m going to the Pop Princess Sing-Along tonight with Shelley, Amy, and Bubbles.  It will be fun and just the thing that I need to get my mind off of Atley’s situation.

Songs I’m digging at the moment:

Day and Night – Kid Cudi

Here is the video of Atley playing that I wanted to post last time.  Thankfully Bryan found a fix for my little problem.  Thanks B – he is good!  😉

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Sunday:

Sunday isn’t much to speak of.  I did go out to lunch with Jason and then to the mall to help him pick out some jeans.  We went to a few other stores also.  Then it was back home to chill with the animal crew.  I worked on a little of this and that, but mostly did…nothing.  I was missing Bryan so bad that I was just lethargic.  It was a tough week without him.  Not only did I miss him, but with everything that was going on here with Atley, I just felt like I was single.  I’m not used to not having him around to help out with things.  It definitely made me realize how much I need and depend on him; he does a lot to help me out everyday.

Monday:

I didn’t work so that I could try to work out some vet stuff with Atley as well as make sure I could pick up Bryan from the airport that afternoon.

When we looked at Atley the first time as well as the day I brought him home, the shelter both pointed out his leg (he limps) and assured us that it was old, healed, and perfectly fine.  We don’t believe this to be the case.  When Elizabeth was here on Friday, she felt of his leg and pointed out that there was some swelling, and we should definitely have it looked into.  Ugh!  What else with this poor pup can go wrong?  She referred us to a place with I called, but unfortunately they couldn’t see him until Wednesday.  We are trying to keep him from using it too much until we figure out the extent of the damage and know what he’s capable of.

I picked up Bryan a little before 5 PM.  I can’t even tell you how happy it made me to have him home.  We ate dinner before coming home.  I know he was glad to finally have some interaction with the dog, be home, and love on all of the kitties.  The rest of the night was just us hanging out at the house.  It was nice to not have to sleep alone.

Tuesday (today):

I couldn’t manage to pick up a job today which sucked!  So, I just stayed home and tried to find things to do.  I spent a majority of the afternoon sewing Bryan’s patches on his new gi.  I’m slow because I suck at it.  :)  Oh well, I try.  I still have a couple more left to go.

I also called multiple times to the vet that made the call that Atley’s leg was healed.  I’m trying to find out if they did any xrays and if so can we have them to take to the other vet tomorrow.  I found out nothing, but I did get the opportunity to talk to the less that nice receptionist that answered.  What a bitch!

Tonight I’m going to TKD because I test on Saturday.  I liked to do my form a few more times for the instructor before the big day.  Luckily, they moved the testing site.  Instead of driving to south Austin we only have to go to Lifetime Fitness on 620!  My testing is at 11:30 AM so I should still be able to make it to afternoon classes at the Kung Fu school.  Yay!  I’m looking forward to getting started on my blue belt material.

The Kung Fu school is closed tonight due to the nasty weather.  So instead of going to his classes, Bryan ran out to H&R Block to do his taxes.  I know – he’s so on top of this business.  ;)  I’m still waiting for a couple of things to come in so that I can get mine out of the way also.  Bryan is cooking tonight so I’m looking forward to a yummy meal after working out.

Bundle up – it’s really cold out there!

Upcoming Events:

• tomorrow – Atley’s vet appointment
• January 31 – my testing and Stephanie’s birthday party
• February 9 – our 1 year anniversary and anniversary date
• February 14 – Valentine’s day (which I’m in charge of this year!)

Um, well I hope all that had my previous blog RSSed have finally taken the time to RSS the new home of my blog.  Thanks to Bryan for setting this all up for me.

The moving the blog is my excuse for taking so long to post.

On Monday Bryan left for New York and training.  We were up too damn early.

On Tuesday I adopted Atley, our second (and last) attempt at owning a dog.  He is sooo cute!  I think he is a much better fit to our needs.  I went and bought every type of toy I thought he might want to chew on and some just to keep him entertained.  A couple of days after bringing him home I realized that his neuter spot looked bad…really bad.  Elizabeth confirmed my worries.  Bryan called the shelter.  I took Atley there on Friday to get a cone.  They said it just needs ointment on it three times a day, but I’m starting to side with Elizabeth that he might need something prescription.  Elizabeth also noticed that his leg (which was broken a while back – according to the shelter) definitely needs looking into.  Sigh…poor pup!  He seems really happy here.  I think he likes his new home even if the cats didn’t roll out the welcome mat.  They are coming around…quicker even after starting to get used to Astoria.

Speaking of Astoria…ugh…I don’t want to.  They people that took her are dumb, really, really dumb!  I don’t want to write it all out as it’s kinda long.  Thankfully Bryan already did that on his blog.  I feel bad for everything we have put Astoria through.  I would love to have taken her back until she could find the perfect home, but with Bryan away and Atley, it just wasn’t going to happen.  I feel like I really failed this dog.  I can only promise that I won’t make the same mistakes again.  However, I might make some new ones.  I am only human after all.

In school related news – I finally wrote up the school observations that I did back in early November.  I put them off far too long.  I was really dreading them.  However, I couldn’t put them off any longer and am ashamed that I did.  When I finally looked into doing them, I found out that my school had revamped the way that we write them up and turn them in.  And the revamp was actually in my favor and much simpler.  This is what gave me the boost to do them finally.  The only kinda bad thing about the new way is the fact that each observation form must be signed off on by the principal of the school.  So, I had to go back to the 2 schools that I observed at in figgin’ November and ask them to sign which they did.  The principal at the second school was quite rude to me.  I had written some honest statements on the classroom management of the teachers, and she did not appreciate this.  I was just being honest.  It’s in no one’s best interests for me to sugar coat what I had saw.  I think  my school would be a little weary of 20 perfect teachers…please!  I would love to have told the principal just that, but well, I can’t afford to burn bridges before I even start job hunting.

Friday is the only day I subbed.  I subbed for a teacher who called me because of the lady I have subbed for multiple times referred me.  And because I wasn’t subbing for her, I was able to introduce myself to her.  She had really nice things to say about me which was a nice boost of confidence especially for a job where you work and never hear anything back 99% of the time.  It was quite a rough day, and I ended up sending 2 kids to the office.

Friday was also the third installment of the pancake theater.  It was pretty fun, but none have yet to live up to the Waterworld edition.  A lot of people bailed on me which is fine but also makes me not want to plan anything for sometime.  Let me try that again:  I don’t want to plan any open events.  Bryan has mentioned some small get togethers that would be fun so maybe that’s a possibility soon.

Today I slept in…yay?  I didn’t get a lot done, but I enjoyed the sleep.  I missed the sparring clinic at TKD, but it’s hard for me to do martial arts before I test.  Oh yeah, I tested in Kung Fu today.  I was tested by Master Joe (ahh!) in front of the class (ahhhhhh!).  I was nervous, but I’ve been worse.  I think I did pretty good though true to me not my best.  What can I say?  I forget to actually make the forms look good because I’m too focused on just getting the correct moves.  I’m learning and getting better, but yeah, I still have quite a ways to go.

Recent pictures of the cats:

Mallos sleeping in the laundry basket.

OC hamming in up on the futon.

Pictures of Atley:

Atley's first photo - first day at the house.

Atley's first day at our home - sitting in my lap.

Isn't his curly tail the cutest?

Atley sleeping on the couch.

Atley loves pillows.

Atley's cone of shame (to keep from licking his neuter infection).

I had a really cute video of Atley playing but apparently it’s too big for this blog.  Did I rush away from Blogger too soon?

Songs I’m digging at the moment:

Single Ladies – Beyonce

Just Dance – Lady Gaga and Colby O’Donis

I don’t want to bore you with a detailed list of all of the things I did last week. Since I’ve taken so long to post I have pretty much forgotten what all I did anyway. I went to both TKD and Kung Fu/Tai Chi several times this week though I did skip twice during the week thanks to feeling like crap. I was just wiped out on these nights. I couldn’t fight my body. I subbed a couple of times including a 2nd grade class which was one of my favorite days to sub so far. They were a super sweet class, and days like this really show me that elementary is the place I want to be when I finally get to the point of job hunting. I also started the third and final section of my schoolwork. I only have a little more to do before I can start preparing (big time!) to take the teacher certification test which I hear is quite difficult.

Saturday was a horrible day. It started out bad and only got worse. The only good thing about the day was the open house at the Kung Fu school which was actually a lot of fun. I won’t go into the thing that set it off, but I’ll tell you the rest of the day. I tried to go to TKD/Jiu Jitsu but failed to remember it was board breaking clinic. So, I had to return home mad about wasting gas. I took Astoria for a walk and then headed to the Kung Fu school. I met Bryan and we went out for tea and a quick bite. Then we went back to the school for Kung Fu and Tai Chi class. I finally finished 24 – yay! I also am ready to test in Kung Fu. 😀 After class it was time for the open house. It was a lot of fun. The demos were cool, and it was awesome to see how many people came. Hopefully, we have several new students!

Pictures from the open house:
Master Joe speaking
Master Joe receiving his house warming gift

Here are the videos I took of the demos – not all of them because Blogger is being difficult:








In sad news:
I hate to report but we had to give away Astoria. Though we tried our best we soon realized that we were not a good fit for one another. We tried to walk her everyday and many days twice, but she still had energy to spare. She began to find outlets for her energy which I can’t blame her for. However, she chose a destructive path. We had noticed she liked to chew, but the longer she was with us, the more it was apparent. This is most likely due to the fact that she went from being an outside dog to an indoor dog. The more days she spent inside the more she found to chew. On Saturday while Bryan and I were at the Kung Fu school for classes and the open house she destroyed half of the closet including a brand new pair of shoes Bryan had just purchased. Don’t worry – I have already replaced them. Finally we had to sit down and discuss what to do. We both agreed we weren’t able to provide the time she required. So, we posted her on craigslist and we were able to place her on Sunday. She is now living with a couple. The guy works at a dog friendly office which means Astoria will be able to go in and be with other dogs all day! I know this will be beneficial to her. I cried a little, but I’m glad that we did the right thing for her and us. Here are some videos I took of her on the day she proved to us she could indeed fetch. I love the leaps! 🙂

On a better note:
On Sunday after running errands galore, we went to the Williamson County Animal Shelter and found a dog that is hopefully much better suited to our needs. He is a terrier mix, and much smaller than Astoria. We learned a lot from Astoria, and I think we can do much better this time because if we can’t I’m done with dogs for a long time. His name is Atley, and he is too damn cute! I’m going to pick him up this morning.

Last night’s Kung Fu and Tai Chi class were awesome! Master Joe says I test on Saturday! Ahhhh! I better start hammering my material. I’m ready but not mentally. I need to review and review in order to feel confident. I’ll probably be testing in Tai Chi during the first week of February. So that’s 3 testings for the next 3 weeks…um, yay?

Bryan is gone on business for the week, and won’t be back until next Monday! That is the longest we’ve ever been apart, and I already miss him like crazy.

Don’t forget that this weekend is the Pancake Theater which we moved up one night to Friday the 23rd. It will be starting directly after Ryon’s class so head on over as soon as your done. There will be pancakes so bring your appetite. We’ll be making fun on Robin Hood so bring your wit and anything you want to drink. There will be some beer here, but I still encourage you to bring something you like. Ryon – will the fruit fucker be coming? It’s always welcome. 😀