Broken Glass, Soloist, Puppies, and Jobs...

Well, I didn't get that job I wanted. And I won't know about any of the others until next week or so. Which means I really can't be moving out next week now can I? I really hope to when i can though. If things look promising I'm going to ask the kind folks to hold the property for me; offer them half rent or something, until I'm all set. I'm applying at a furniture store as a door greeter and I'm going to check out restaurants. Ugh. :( I already checked all the restaurants that are classy and I would get good tips from... now I can try those which will bring in very few tips... then I'll go to no tips. And fast food. Crumbdiddlyumptious. Yes that is a real word and yes I do say it.

Here's a bright spot: Look at how cute my doggies are when they choose to share a space!

He's getting so big. I got him at 6 wks and he was shorter than Samantha. Now he is pushing 4 months, weighs three times as much as he did originally, and Sam could walk right under him if she ducked her head a little. They get along pretty well considering he's a rambunctious lab puppy and she's an old reserved papillon.

I'm watching The Soloist right now. I've seen it once before and I really enjoy it. It's about a man that once played the cello at Juliard but was overcome by paranoid schizophrenia and "bombed out of there". He is now homeless and living on the streets and he played a violin with only two strings until the reporter Steve Lopez discovered him. He writes about Nathaniel the musician in the newspaper and a cello is donated to him. From that point on both men embark on a journey of self-discovery, trying to make sense of the world, triumph and pitfalls. It is truly an excellent story and I highly recommend the movie to anyone. Nathaniel's character is so multi-faceted, unpredictable, and endearing that you will be captivated throughout the entire show.

Last of all, I am making broken glass jello for Christmas!I actually found this recipe many moons ago, and separately found the blog of The Food Librarian and only later realized that she is the one who I got the original recipe from. Does that make sense? Perhaps, perhaps not. Regardless, you need to check out her post and you'll see what I'm up to! For tomorrow I'm making the Christmas version; for New Year's Eve next week I'll make the multi-colored one. I've done this once before and my one problem was that I didn't wait for the white jello to cool enough before pouring it over the colored pieces and it melted them a bit. :( Whoopsie! This time I know better, now don't I? As a side not, do check out Food Librarian's latest post; I really want to make those clear gelatins with fruit in them. Gorgeous!!



I've really enjoyed getting to know people on 20sb.net and would like to give a general shoutout to anyone who has chatted with me, written on my wall, read my blog, or commented on it. I'm so encouraged to blog when I know that someone actually cares a teensy bit! Haha. I just added Google reader and will now be keeping up with all the blogs I'm subscribed to. I may not always comment but I will be reading because I'm interested in all of you!

You make me smile like the sun

I found out yesterday that my four-month old lab puppy is actually a three and a half month old lab puppy. Two week is not a huge deal, but that does mean that when he came into my life he was at the very oldest, six weeks old. No wonder he was a sad, scared little insecure puppy! Definitely not ready to leave his mama yet.

Now he is fourteen weeks, twenty-five pounds, taller than our sheltie, and 100% handsome. He learned to sit on command at seven weeks, was housetrained (... mostly! really!) by eleven or twelve weeks, and knows several commands. He can sit, come, wait (including when you feed him; he'll sit and wait until you tell him "okay"), get in his kennel, go outside, go somewhere else if he's begging and I say "go", leave the room with "get out of here", and "eat nice" instead of taking off your whole hand when given a treat. He also walks well on a leash, tolerates grooming, and and settle down if you're trying to hold him and he's wiggling. I still feel like he need to work on his manners... but I guess if he's not even four weeks old yet he's making good progress.

I have big plans for this handsome bundle of trouble! This week we're going to work on obedience [sit, down, come, stay] and "clean up", which will mean to get his toys from wherever he scattered them and put them in the toy basket. He has a bad habit of taking his toys outside and leaving them there, so we're going to try to remedy that. :) Some day I want to do agility and obedience competitions, companion dog certifications, therapy dog licensure... haha. He is mostly lab, with the obedient and eager to please personality that goes along with that.

Have any of you taught your dog tricks? What was the neatest trick you've ever seen a dog do, or wanted to train a dog to do?