Hello everyone! Today, I’m giving a fun little update on my life this past month!
Also, funny story, as I was writing this I totally typed 2021 instead of 2022… I’m still so behind mentally due to this pandemic!
Anyway, I’ve had a surprisingly busy month for a January, so let’s get started.
My January Life 2022
Work
I figured I’d get the work part out of the way first! I am still very much enjoying my job, despite how crazy busy I am!
Some of the events that were supposed to have deadlines earlier this month ended up extending their deadlines or just had stragglers who needed additional help. While that is a good thing that there was more interest, it did make it a little more challenging to make a plan and balance all the work! Even so, I made it work with the help of various AMAZING coworkers!
I will say, I did have a bit of a deja vu moment as a few events (including some I work on) cancelled last minute. It was just like the start of the pandemic in a way where we were working non-stop for the event in the days and weeks leading up to it only for it all to suddenly stop. The difference this time was that I had plenty of other events to fill the gap and kept getting more actually. So there is hope!
I also wanted to mention Google Keep. I came across a video on Google Keep from a teacher YouTuber and watched just for fun. I’ve been struggling to find a way to organize myself in this new job. I really loved Microsoft OneNote in my last job, but in this job I don’t have OneNote access. While Google Keep is not anywhere near OneNote, I do think the checklist feature is exactly what I needed for this job and so I’m really enjoying using it. I will say that it’s a really great way to help me keep my desk clean as I’m no longer starting endless to do lists that I then lose under the new lists and so on.
Long story short, work is going well and I’m loving my job!
Fox
Fox has had quite a month! I barely know where to begin!
At the start of the month, Fox went to a new grooming place. I wanted to switch to using a local place and it was highly recommended from multiple people in town, including one of my librarian friends and a few of Fox’s classmate’s parents. So I gave them a try! I will say, it is very much a small, no frills, small business. It took awhile to get a hold of them on the phone to set up an appointment and even then it wasn’t really an appointment. Instead, they assigned us a day and told me to drop off Fox in the morning before 9:30am. So I did and they were super nice but a lot different then PetSmart. PetSmart had a check in process that asked about aggression and stuff, but I had to volunteer that information for the new place. PetSmart also required me to show them Fox’s vaccine records to make sure he’d had the rabies shot, which this place didn’t. I also had to explain that Fox has a collapsed trachea without being asked which isn’t a big deal because they took him back with all his stuff on, so he had a harness. I think PetSmart didn’t ask either though and they didn’t keep his stuff on him so when he came back out he had the leash around his throat instead of his chest. It’s just a different experience! I did love that the new place uses Square so I could tip via my card instead of just cash, unlike at PetSmart. And it’s closer and more budget friendly!
I’ll give a training update next. We skipped one class because it was snowing, and I do not leave the house if it snows. We did go to the last two classes though! It was cold but not snowing so we sucked it up. Fox barked a lot at the other dogs still, unfortunately. I really thought he’d be more used to them by now! But if he thought they got too close or were getting too rowdy he would bark like crazy. He also still isn’t the best listener but he’s getting a ton better. The session ended and for “graduation” the dogs were given an obstacle course to complete. Fox is the smallest, by far, so the equipment is so big compared to him! And because he’s lazy he won’t jump over stuff or on stuff and barely completes the tunnels. So honestly I was doing all the work picking him up and getting him over the A frame and through the jumps! I think I earned the certificate more than he did but, alas, his name is on the certificate!
Now, since he isn’t really well trained yet I wanted to sign him up again, but I was going to skip the next session and sign up in the spring in hopes of less stress about snow and potentially skipping a bunch of classes. However, a handful of his former classmates were signing up again so I decided I would too! By the time I went to sign up, the class was full though! I called and got on the waitlist, but was resigned to the fact that we missed out. But then the park district person in charge of the registrations called and said she’d asked the instructor if she was okay to add one more which she was! Fox got the extra spot and I paid right away. I thanked the lady a million times and I’m honestly so touched she went above and beyond to get us in the class! Last session we had combined with the puppy class though, because there were only five adult dogs and four puppies, so we did get to go earlier than the scheduled class time. This time it’ll be nine adults and seven puppies, so I doubt we’ll combine this time but it’s fine!
Fox also had his second therapy session. Long story short, Fox bit my dad back in November and he started seeing a behavior specialist almost immediately after. He was supposed to go to the second session three weeks after the first, but that happened to be Christmas Eve so we scheduled it for early January. But the vet had a family emergency. so it was moved back again! After almost two months we finally had the next session. By this point though, we’d had a majorly bad weekend. I told the vet that it started with him going potty in the house multiple days in a row and almost biting my dad a second time. She decided to give us an expanded list of things to work on training-wise, and also telling me to get my dad to work with Fox too. Hopefully that works and we make more progress for the next session!
Blog Talk!
I had my blog presentation this month! I’m going to do a full post on it so I won’t say much right now, but I think it went really well! It was a hybrid event, and it was pretty cool to do it that way. The zoom had three people on it and in person was the librarian and one of the security guards for the library along with me. I got some great questions and it was a lot of fun! Afterwards the librarian and security guard were so kind and said that I was a great public speaker, to which I jokingly said “thanks! It’s the result of the tens of thousands of dollars I spent on those fancy business degrees!” Now that I think about it, it’s honestly true though.
So that’s my January! Honestly, it was a very Fox focused month now that I look back. But it was still fun and I really enjoyed it!
Thanks for reading!
Pamela
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