Two Hours Later...

At 9:30 this morning - while at work - I see my phone light up with a phone call. I don't know the number, so I let it ring. Two minutes later it lights up again with the same number. Again, I didn't answer it, then I saw that I had two voice messages.

My dogs were out walking around the trail.

Fifteen minutes later I was out the door of my building and on my way to the car to drive the half hour back home. -- With my supervisor's blessing.

This was after I had called my mom who works at home to see if she happened to have any breaks in her morning appointments. -- No answer. Twice.

This was after I had called my neighbor to see if she, by any chance, was home and had time to drive around looking for my dogs. -- She answered (my phone call woke her up), but she had to be out the door in an hour. I told her not to worry about it.

This was after I had called my dad, who also works half an hour away from home but in the opposite direction, to see if he had any ideas on what else to do. -- No answer.

My neighbor sends a text message right as I'm leaving and I call her back. She says she can go look for them after she's gotten ready, but that she'd have to leave by 11 even if she hadn't found the dogs. I appreciated the offer, but told her I was on my way home to look for them.

I called the lady who had left the two messages earlier, asked if she had seen them again (she hadn't) and asked if she would call me again if she did.

My dad called, suggested I call my grandpa who lives next door and let him know in case the dogs decided to come wondering back home. I did.

The lady called when I was two minutes away from the trailhead by the park and said that she had just seen them and she tried to get them to stay with her but they were headed in the opposite direction and wouldn't come. They were headed home.

I looped around to where the trail breaks to cross a street, parked my car, and whistled for them. Nothing.

I drove home, grabbed their leashes, and started walking toward the trailhead where I knew they were last seen. I walk to that same break in the trail where it crosses the road. Nothing. Along the way I ask people if they've seen two rogue dogs. I get a few affirmatives, 'Yeah. A big white dog, and another one in a coat?' 'Yep.' They tell me when and where they saw them (unfortunately nothing more recent than 15 minutes) and I feel good about the direction I'm heading. At the break in the trail I see a lady on the street. I ask her the question, she gives me the same answer. But points in the opposite direction saying she saw them down there about 15 minutes prior.

During this information gathering stage, I hear from a couple of people that there's also a coyote out somewhere along the trail. Dingo kind of looks like a coyote, but I think the coat domesticates him a little bit. I also run into a lady who's looking for her mom's cocker spaniel. I get her number so I can call her if I see her dog. I never did.

By this point I'm wondering how the devil can the dogs be on one side of the trail 15 minutes earlier, and then 5 minutes later I ask someone else who saw them on the other side of the trail 15 minutes earlier.

I start to feel like I'm playing a real live version of 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.'

I don't like it.

When I'm almost back to my house I call my grandpa again who announces, 'They're here. They walked up to me outside about 3 minutes ago.'

Relieved, tired, frustrated, and with the beginnings of a headache, I go talk to my grandpa who said that after he got my call he went outside and saw that his gate had been pushed open by two rotten dogs (my words, not his). He fixed the gate then got in his car and drove around looking for them. After getting home he was standing outside for a minute and they came running up the street toward him. - Dingo sans coat.

While I do appreciate that they stay together (it was hard enough - and I was unsuccessful - at finding one moving target, it'd be that much harder to find two), I hate that they get out and take themselves on a walk. I'm also really, really grateful for people who call to let me know that the dogs are out. That's why I got the ID tags. And I try to do the same when I see a dog running around. Good karma and all that.


 And that's my story.

...I'm back at work.

With a headache.

Rotten dogs.

My Workstation (I Feel Fancy)

 Last week IT came up to my cube and set me up to have two monitors. I love it. I'm already spoiled by it and would LOVE to have this option at home. Maybe someday...

When I told a friend she should come checkout my sweet setup today I had stepped out when she happened to come by. I caught her leaving, and she came back with me and showed me what she had left on my screen:

 

the way it's written, i'm not sure if she was calling me a name, or signing her own... (:

Lastly, something random from my chat with the same friend today. 

it's true. i don't want to marry him, and i love him in the 'Jesus said love everyone' type of way. (:

ps - Perhaps this is an appropriate post to mention that my internship that started this past June has TURNED INTO A JOB. Yay!!! Huge relief that I don't have to keep searching for one.

Things I've Been Looking At Lately

• Zenhabits and a post encouraging you to 'Toss Productivity Out the Window.' Definitely interesting. A friend posted about it a while ago and I've had it on a tab in my browser ever since.

• An article about how there's not a really great reason to celebrate Columbus day. Another friend linked to this on Columbus day. I'm a bit behind, but stay tuned for a post on how Columbus day saved my life. (:

• Google translate. I'm trying to learn Spanish again...

• This post about a recipe that helps dogs pack on the pounds. Dingo is getting pretty skinny even though he's eating. I'm hoping this will help him beef up a bit. Looks like an appetizing bunch of ingredients, no?

• And this just for fun and just for dreams, right now anyway.

• A princess bride reunion picture. I love it. Saw it on her blog.
  

I think that does it for now.

ps - When I was younger I used to often have bruises or scrapes that came from unknown reasons. I'm realizing that that's not a thing of the past yet.

Yesterday at work I kept bumping my knee on my desk and it hurt a lot more than it should have. It felt tender to the touch too and I figured I had just bumped it harder than I thought. Last night I finally realized that it was most likely a real bruise (I had pants on so I never actually checked it out) and that it came from me throwing myself on the floor one, two, or maybe three times during a volleyball game on Wednesday. So I guess not technically from an unknown place... just a bad memory. Another sign of aging? Perhaps.

A Good Quote

I just saw this posted on a friend's blog and I love it. So I thought I'd share -

'The first service that one owes to others in community consists in listening to them. Just as love for God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God's love for us that He not only gives His Word but also lends us His ear. …Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and, in the end, there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words.'

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(I have an audio book about him that I haven't listened to yet. - he was part of a failed assassination attempt on Hitler)

I think it's a great reminder of the need to listen to other people even if (maybe *especially* if?) their viewpoints differ from your own. Not that you have to agree. That's not what I'm saying at all. But I don't know that it's ever harmful to let someone explain where they're coming from. I think it can lead to a greater understanding of and love for your fellow man.

Ticket: Purchased

This morning, the last thing I did before leaving for work was buying a plane ticket to Denver. While I'm not spending my 30th birthday there like I had originally planned to, I will get to be there when my sister has her 7th baby (5th daughter) and makes me an aunt for the 22nd time, as well as Thanksgiving - spending a total of 2 weeks and 1 day there. I must say - I'm pretty excited about it.

Just FYI, Southwest and Delta both have awesome fares to Denver right now. Cost me $115.10 through Southwest - it was $110.10 yesterday when I checked, but I forgot to buy it when I got home from work... oops.

So Much Fun

Thursday evening we had a relief society activity called something like - 'Apples, Aerobics, and Autumn' (I may be getting the order wrong). We had apples, we did aerobics, and it took place during Autumn. (:

A counselor in the presidency brought her Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies DVDs. We put volume 2 on (my favorite is Volume 1, I think... it's been so long...) and started sweating.

I had forgotten how much fun those videos are! I remember doing them with my mom and some siblings. It was so much fun. I loved the music (big Oldies fan here).

So, as an early Halloween present (you are so lucky, who gets Halloween presents?!) I'm giving you this link.

No need to thank me.

Just know that I'll be doing that video sometimes.

Promise.


Oh, and in case you were wondering, we had a 100% satisfaction rate with that activity. The 6 of us that were there loved it. (:

(read more about Richard here)

Clean and Sober

via

It's been two weeks and three days since I posted this about how I was thinking of getting rid of my facebook account (I'm not counting days, I had to look it up on the calendar).

That same day I deactivated my account.

I must say, I'm not really missing it.

Also, when looking for the above image, I found this and this. I must say it seems as though there are really good, legitimate reasons for not having a facebook account, but few that are really great arguments in favor of it... (that second link is pretty cool, showing how the availability of info on facebook has changed over the years - it took me way too long to figure it out, but click on the graphic to see the different years, or click on the years that are in faded letters next to the graphic)

Today's Walk

The kiddos helped me walk the pups tonight. I love that Jimmy kept his birthday hat on the whole time. So cute.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

We Got Snow

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Columbus Day

I don't have to write a report on Columbus day in order to have
A DAY OFF FROM WORK.

The joys of working in a state office.

It will be a very happy Monday. (: I'm planning on using the time to put the principles from 'It's All Too Much' to use in my bedroom.
I'm excited.

via

When I left for work today I still had pillow marks on my face. Let's just say I woke up a bit late.

The last two nights I've gone to sleep after taking a dose of melatonin and Excedrin PM because of a nasty soon-to-be-migraine (I hate how I can feel those coming on, but I guess it's better than being totally blindsided).

Also, I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but for the past few weeks I've been waking up sans alarm. After sleeping through my 374th snooze one more for the 837th time I realized that the whole alarm thing wasn't really doing it's job.

Now, I don't go to sleep until after saying an urgent 'please-let-me-wake-up-early-enough-for-work-and-maybe-even-early-enough-to-exercise-before-work-like-5:30-would-be-great-but-no-later-than-6-...-20-...-please-please-please-please-please' prayer.

I don't always wake up as early as I'd like (take this morning, for example) but it's almost always been early enough.



And it's soooo much nicer than an alarm clock jerking me awake.



random - last night I had a dream that I wanted to sail from one place to another. It was like a city on water, but not really. I knew the way I had to go over the water was really hard, but I still wanted to go. I was going to go with five other people and the boat was really little. Actually, first we started planning to take a raft-type-thing, but then switched to a small rowboat. For some reason I was really intent on making sure Max could come with us, when at the last second I said it was okay if he didn't. Also, when everyone was ready and we were trying to decide how to fit in the boat I realized that I hadn't packed anything. So we all went over to this big building where I kept my stuff and I tried to make other excuses while I packed my bag - grabbing whatever random stuff I could. It was a weird dream.

Apparently I Listen the Same Way I Read

I normally have a few books that I'm reading at any given time. Often, one will grab my attention more than the others and I'll spend more of my time on that one until I finish it, begin my mass readings again until another one wins my attention, repeat process again and again, adding in new books as I finish others.

For the last couple of years I've had an account with audible.com. Earlier this year I really started taking advantage of it. Now, almost all of the 'for fun' reading I do is through audio books. It took me a while to get used to it, but now I love it. I've noticed, that just like when I'm reading, I listen to multiple things until one grabs my attention, etc, etc.

Here's what I've been listening to lately - in no particular order (except that it's alphabetical, so I guess that is a particular order...) :



My sister sent me this book years ago thinking that it would help me with my 'issues' (my word, not hers), and I just barely found an audio version of it (not through audible). I've been listening to it for the last few days and I really think it's helping me work through some things. It's a great book for figuring out your current relationship with food, yourself, and your body.


I've heard from a few different sources that this is hilarious. I've just barely gotten into it, and I must say, she's pretty funny.


I've mentioned this book on my blog before. Like here, and here, and even here. It's a great motivator to change your eating to be healthier. So many things can be prevented if you eat a healthy diet (I'm talking real healthy, not fake vegetarian or vegan healthy that is stocked full of pastas and breads - and sadly, I love pastas and breads).


I found this book when I did a search for a feng shui book that my sister asked me to look over so I can help her baby-prep her house when I go visit. I couldn't find the feng shui one, but I've been listening to this one and I really like it. I have a problem with not getting rid of clutter, and I like the way this guy talks about why we have it and how to get rid of it. He used to be on the show Clean Sweep (which I've never seen, but think I might enjoy). I'm also looking forward to listening to his book 'Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?'


No explanation necessary. It's a classic. I'm listening to the unabridged version. It's about 60 hours long.

BIG NEWS - have you heard about this? I'm really pretty excited about it (not that it's 3d, but that they're making a musical movie version). I just really, really hope they don't ruin it. And that the actors can actually sing. I mean really sing. I will say that I'm pretty thrilled with the casting of the lead role.


I read books like this and I think - I have nothing to complain about. So why do I keep complaining? Wow. It's about a Russian girl during WWII. I started listening to it a while ago but it got pushed to the side with some of the others. I'll try to finish it in the next week or so since I have less than an hour and a half left.


There's an in-depth look at my audible app on my phone. I have lots of others yet-to-be-listened to. Some of those include: 'Cary Grant: A Biography,' 'The Story of My Life,' 'Endurance,' 'The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook,' and 'Tears in the Darkness.' Plus more... I'll keep you updated. (:

Pretty Much, Yep.

My friend Amber showed this to me and I just had to share it.


I can't be the only one who relates to this, right?