Monica's Page

Healthy Lifestyle Change

2011-02-05T09:13:00.004-07:00

Well, I wanted to get back into the blog world. Since my last blog I've had some life changes. I did not enjoy living in Star Valley so at the end of that school year I put my house up for sale and moved to SLC, UT. Unfortunately, I was only able to stay there for about a month because I realized that with my house not selling I could not afford to pay that house payment and live in SLC. So, I moved back home to Bear Lake and looked for a new school job. Luckily, I was able to find an open position in Evanston WY. I lived at home and commuted to work until I was able to get the house sold. At which point, I moved into an apartment in Evanston. I stayed there through the last school year and at the end of May, I found a house to rent that is just perfect for me and my dog.

It has definitely been a new adventure and it has been made easier by all my new friends I have made. Many of them I call my "new teacher friends" because we all moved here at the same time and are considered "new teachers". My work assignment here has been in the middle school setting which I never thought I would enjoy but I have found that I love working with this age group! I also have enjoyed living in Evanston. I especially enjoy that it's not so remote and I have access to a Walmart. It's also only an hour from Salt Lake which is nice because I can pop up for quick visits. Last year was my first year in Evanston and currently I am in the middle of my second year.

Anyway, it's the first of February and I find myself looking forward to a cruise I have scheduled for Spring break in April. Unfortunately, that also means that I need to get in shape! This brings me to the point of my blog. I'm hoping to chronicle my process of getting healthy and fit. By writing about this, I'm hoping it will help me stick to my guns!

For me, I'm basically going to follow an organic /whole foods approach. As for exercise, I'll be getting up in the mornings and doing 30 minutes of walking or bike riding. I may also add some swimming on some evenings and/or dancing since these are activities that I enjoy.

I'm very excited and hope to keep you all informed as to how this goes! 12 weeks to my cruise!
~MW

STAR VALLEY ADVENTURES

2008-09-24T20:35:00.002-06:00

Well, I survived the move. Barely. It sure was interesting starting work but having no place to live. I hadn't closed on my house and work started. At first, I tried to drive back and forth from Bear Lake but after being late I realized I needed to be closer so I rented a motel room. What an experience! The guy who owned it was very nice but would pop up outside my door to surprise me. I'd be hanging out with the door open and all of a sudden I would hear "Monica".

Scared me everytime! I almost pulled out the kickboxing moves a couple of times. 'watch out now!'

My first day of school though, another teacher introduced herself and offered to let me stay with her. As I stayed, we realized we got along really well and since her lease was up we decided to keep the roomate situation and have her move in with me :) Yeah! She even has a fun dog that is very well behaved. So, a win/win situation for everyone.

Finally I got closed and I joined the world of homeownership. The first thing I realized is there's a lot of work to homeownership! We began cleaning the carpets but the previous owners had pets that peed on the carpet so they smelled horrible and they were not coming clean so Joanna and I ripped out all the carpets. (girlpower!)

But that took a while because we are both working full time. So, it took the whole month of september to move in and get settled in. While doing all that I also had to get set up with the post office, get telephone, utilities, tv...the essentials. I'm also in the process of starting a dance school up here and I've been working on that.

I'm basically working 12-14 hours a day! It's been so crazy and I'm sure it will continue to be. Although, it has settled down. Last Sunday we finally finished unpacking the kitchen. I can now cook real food instead of eating at Maverick. That's been nice.

The weather here has been very nice! The mornings are fairly cool. This morning it was 27 but the afternoons have warmed up to 70 which is perfect. I'm cringing for winter though. I've heard lots of horror stories. But so far so good...no snow.

I'm looking forward to helping with the roundup this weekend. My dad invited me to come ride through the hills and round up dogies. I'll have to take a camera and take cool pictures of the fall foliage. The leaves and colors are beautiful up here.

Well, work comes early and I need to get to bed!

Laters

Day 4-10 Highlights

2007-08-18T18:19:00.001-06:00

It's taking a really long time to load pictures even with cable internet so I'm just going to touch on the highlights of the rest of the trip.

Sunday a few of us went on a hike with our new friend John. He took us to see the waterfall that he lives by. It was crazy to see all the beautiful scenery and then think people are living in such poor houses in the middle of it all. We were especially baffled to see such a beautiful waterfall in the midst of the city. Every now and then cars honked at us as they drove by on the dirt trail. We kept forgetting we were on one of the main roads.

We spent the rest of the week doing speech therapy testing. There were about 5 of us in the speech committee.

Towards the end of the trip I did get a chance to teach some Irish dance and country swing dance to some of the older girls. That was a lot of fun.

On friday they performed some traditional dances for us in the closing ceremonies. We in turn got up and performed the Boot, Scoot and Boogie. It was a such a fun experience. Afterwards one of the teachers came up to me and said "I like your dancing. You are a very vigorous dancer" I said thank you but I started wondering "Was that a compliment?" :)

Our last day at the Kaaga school, I got to say good-bye to my two favorites Lucy and Elosee.

During the weekend the group went on safari. I selected some of my favorite pictures. My favorite animals were the elephants and lions.

Oh, and we got to see a tame rhinoceros, Morani. He was pretty cool.

The next week the speech committee spent more time at the Kaaga school while the rest of the school went to the Huruma center. Then on Friday it was time to head back home. It was a very good trip and I hope you all enjoyed the picutres!

Day 3

2007-08-14T13:56:00.000-06:00

(I hope you all will forgive the formatting...I'm not very good and arranging these blogs)

My roomates and I woke up and took turns showering. The hotel was really nice and had hot water. We were all a little worried about that. Then we went to breakfast and it was amazing. Anything you could want...fruit and crepes and omeletes...and all kinds of juices. Real juices sqeezed from the actual fruit not made from a concentrate!

After breakfast we headed across the street to buy the last Harry Potter! Everyone in the group was anxious to get it. There was a fun little mall strip right across the street but we had to make sure and leave in groups. Everything was gated there especially the hotel we were staying in...Well, my roomates finished breakfast early and left and then I couldn't find anyone else who wanted to go to the mall. But I knew tons of people were over there and I was told it was just across the street...all I had to do was cross the street and then I would be with everyone in the group... So, I walked out to the gate and asked the guard to show me where to go...He looked at me very concerned and very kindly told me the mall was very far. But I told him that everyone in my group was there. He said "Let me get you taxi" I said "no no, that's okay I don't need a taxi. Is it really that far to walk?" (see I was confused because everyone had said all morning that the mall was across the street) He told me it was and that it was not good to walk alone. He suggested very nicely that I either needed to take security with me or take a taxi there. So, I decided to stay at the hotel until I could get with my group. So, even though it is dangerous in Africa...there are many that keep their eye out for us white people. Then Amy and Kim came back from the Mall and I asked them to go back over with me and they took me a different way. Out the back way...and it was just across the street. I told them that the guard had said it was so much farther and they said that he was probably referring to the other mall that is a couple of blocks away...We bought Harry Potter than came back to get ready to load the buses and head out to Meru. We had another 7 hour drive ahead of us...

The drive was long and bumpy. The roads aren't exactly finished there. One time there was a dump truck full of people that we passed. That was pretty amazing to see. I guess it's pretty typical since we passed various types of vehicles crammed with people. We saw the largest outdoor air market in Africa. We passed it as we traveled on to Meru. Many times we passed beautiful fields and land only to see the homes built there were barely liveable. And often the shacks had chickens or cows tied up outside and there was no running water...

We stopped a few times for potty breaks. Each place had markets with people that would follow you around trying to get you to buy things. And all of the things were very over priced. One of the places we stopped was the equator and of course we all got pictures to show we were there.

Finally we arrived to the opening ceremonies. We were a couple of hours late but all the teachers were still waiting. Akuna Matata. No worries. They had invited several officials from the government to take part. The african people are very formal and loved ceremony. Each person wanted to stand up and basically say the same thing "We welcome you. We thank you. we appreciate all you have done" and then they would introduce the next person who stood to say the same thing in slight variation. It was very nice to have everyone so excited to see us. The kids would swarm anyone with a camera. They loved getting their pictures taken.

After the speeches we all had our first tea time together. Then we headed to our hotel room. When we entered it was pretty clear that it was no Jacaranda hotel...but it was the nicest hotel in the area and I didn't think it was that bad really. Maybe a little small. But we had beautiful sunrises we could watch from outside our hotel room door.

Trip Pictures

2007-08-14T12:30:00.000-06:00

Okay so here's the update...

Day 1 & 2: Traveling

Our group made the flight to minneapolis and there we waited for 3 hours until the flight for amsterdam took off. We flew nine hours and arrived in Amsterdam at 6:30 the next morning. We had a layover of about 3 hours again. While we waited we explored the airport which was quite an amazing airport. It actually had a museum and I saw some really famous paintings but I can't remember now by who. I think Rembrandt?...

This picture was my favorite there although there were so many that I liked. I think I liked it so much because the museum had the actual items worn and used when the picture was painted.

This picture was my second favorite and it was the one painted by Rembrandt I think...

There were other really cool architectural things to see too...

Then it was time to board our huge plane to Nairobi...

This flight was around another 9 hours...so by the time we arrived it was really late and we had lost only half a day but it felt like a whole lot more. We were now 9 hours ahead of Utah time. The first night I rode in the little van to the hotel. There we found our rooms and finally after a quick dinner we got to go to bed! We all were so excited to finally have a bed to lay flat on rather than airplane seats like we had been trying to sleep on for the last 24 hours.

Back Home

2007-08-10T13:45:00.000-06:00

I made it home and believe I have finally gotten over the jet lag and acclimated back to Utah time. It was pretty tough the first 3 days...I kept waking up at 2 am and could not go back to sleep. On Wednesday I looked like a Zombie because I was not letting myself take a nap so I could get on the right time...I guess it finally worked. I slept through the whole night the last two nights. I'm only waking up at 6:30 now.
Anywho....I thought I would post some pictures and start at the beginning of the trip and hit some more details.
.....uh...just kidding....the library computer won't let me upload pictures either. I guess I'll have to fix my computer so I can do it at home...I will definitely try to get it done by the first part of next week....

Back in Meru

2007-08-01T08:33:00.000-06:00

So the Safari was the most awesome thing! I loved the Sweetwaters hotel...I wish we could have stayed one more night. But I was able to go on the night run. It was pretty cool. We were able to see a whole bunch of lions. There were several lioness with their cubs. It was really cool because the lions began to hunt while we were watching. There were some Impalas nearby and the lions kept trying to run them down. Our drivers would drive along side the lions and then stop when the lions made their attempts. We saw three attempts. The last one the lion had her paws on the Impala but it was too fast and got away. It was cool on that one because the lioness was using our car for camoflauge. She was walking right by the drivers door. If he had opened it he could have touched her. I could look down from the top and see her walking. It's too bad she didn't catch anything. We also saw hyenas hunting and giraffes, zebras, and water buffalos.
We came back to Meru. Many of the group began work this week at the Huruma Center in Nakuru. However, us speech people and the audiology people felt that we still had a lot of work to finish at the Kaaga school for the Deaf. So, we've been finishing up there this week. I feel a lot better about finishing up there. We've been able to really explain to the teachers how to do speech therapy. Last week we were so busy testing the kids that we didn't have time to really train the teachers. Now the kids have left for winter break so we've had a lot of time to show the teachers all the materials and explain it to them.
On monday, when the kids were leaving, I said good-bye to all my special kids. I gave them some licorice and packs of gum. They loved it. But it was so hard to pass stuff out and not let all the kids see. If the kids see anything like candy or gum or anything free really...They swarm you and push and shove to get to the front. I gave the rest of my fried fruit pieces to all the kids but I had to have a teacher help me pass it out because the kids were grabbing me and pushing and shoving trying to get some.
So, we finally finished today at the Kaaga school. Tomorrow we will be going to Nakuru to the Huruma Center. The Huruma center will be having closing ceremonies. The whole group finishes there tomorrow. I'll make it there just in time to see the work everyone else has done and say good-bye. I've heard the students have been doing amazing things like paying the electrical bill, and making a cement sidewalk and cleaning up the trash. I wish I could have been there but since I've specialized in speech they need my help more at the Kaaga school.
Friday morning we have to make the long drive back to Nairobi. I will be catching my flight late Friday night around 11 pm. Then begins the long flight back. This time I will be flying for 2 days and gaining a day.
So, I probably won't get another chance to write...so I will talk to you all when I get home. And also let me say...you all don't know how lucky we are to live in the U.S. It's been quite the culture shock. For example...the internet is so slow here! It took me 30 minutes just to get this page pulled up! Just things like that! It's truly amazing what we have in the U.S.
Also, there is not a lot of options when it come to eating... They eat mashed potatoes, rice, cooked carrots with peas mixed in a meat stew. They have that for every meal! And the sad thing is...that the school is actually fixing us the best meals that they can (we gave them money to buy food to feed us with). So, we're actually eating like kings compared with what they usually eat. No wonder they are all sticks! And they don't waste anything here. It's really true when they say "There are orphans in Africa starving." I've seen the orphans so they really are here. It's quite sad and I have felt horribly guilty when I have not been able to finish my meal.
Things I do like though...The Chapatis are really good...I like the Samosas and the Madas...and I love their Wheatabix!
So, I'm getting dirty looks from the locals. I think they want to use the internet cafe too so I better go. I hope to go through all my pictures when I get home and provide more in detail descriptions of my trip. I'd rather wait until I have high speed internet. So...stay tuned...

2007-07-29T00:24:00.000-06:00

Finally found the internet!

2007-07-28T08:36:00.000-06:00

Jambo Everyone!

I'm sorry it has taken so long for me to write. The internet was not as easily accessible as we originally thought. But I arrived safely. The flights were horrible! The one to Minneapolis was not bad. But from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was the worst. We were flying ahead which meant that it was night time on that flight. Also, everyone was trying to already get on Kenya time. So, even though it was only like 1 pm in UT, in Kenya in was almost 10 pm. I really tried to sleep. I did everything I could think of. I put in ear plugs, put on my eye coverings, and I even took 2 ambien sleeping pills. I slept for about 2 hours and then the lady woke me up when she brought dinner. After that, I could not go to sleep. I felt so relaxed from the ambien but not sleepy.
We arrived in Amsterdam at 6:30 AM....it was only about around 9:30 pm UT time. So, my body was so confused. Plus I was exhausted. We had around a 2 hour layover then boarded a huge plane to Nairobi. My plan was to just stay up at this point so I would be able to sleep that night in Nairobi. (By the way, each flight was around 8 hours long). So, we boarded and everyone was getting seated. I leaned my head back and the next thing I knew 6 hours had gone by. I didn't even feel us take off. Pretty amazing considering I had no sleeping pills, no ear plugs, and no eye coverings. I completely zonked. My body sticks to a schedule more than I realized. So, it was daytime during the flight but back home it was now night time.
We arrived in Nairobi that night around 8 pm. So, basically we flew for two whole days because we lost a day.
We stayed in Nairobi at this nice hotel called the Jacaranda Hotel. The next morning they had the most amazing breakfast buffet. Eggs, bacon, croissants, crepes, fruit galore, juice galore....not exactly toughing it. Then we all went over to the mall and most everyone bought the new Harry Potter. I bought mine for 1800 shillings....kind of confusing...but around 30 dollars. Then we loaded up and drove for another 7 hours to Meru. By this time I was sick of traveling! But the car sights were amazing. Everyone lives in little shacks along the road. We stopped at a couple markets along the way. I wasn't going to by anything because they were sharks. Out for my blood! They would follow you around and say "Come to my shop" or "I give you good deal" or "Give me good day"....and you can't just look. When you're looking they will say "you like" and force it into your hands. When you say "no" then they will say "okay what's your lowest price". They take No to mean start the bargaining! Awww! It made me crazy...since I just wanted to look. I ended up buying 2 wall hangings for 3000 shillings...probably a little high. I probably should have talked them down more. For those of you wondering, there are around 67 shillings to a dollar. Plus you're supposed to get more for the dollar here. But that doesn't stop the sales men from trying to stick it to you.
We arrived in Meru...quite a bit smaller than Nairobi. Our hotel was also quite a bit down in quality from the Jacaranda. Every breakfast was the same...fried eggs, sausage(gross), stale bread, and juice...finally the team leader asked the hotel manager to start providing cereal. Then they brought out this stuff called Wheatabix. Sort of like shredded wheat only you put hot milk on it and lots of sugar and it's really good. It's been kind of frustrating because a lot of the girls have done nothing but complain and it's driving me crazy. I mean we did come to Africa.
This week has been all the same. Wake up at 7 go to the orphanage, test speech, and come home around 7....It get's dark here around 6:30 pm. And we can't go out after dark so I pretty much stayed in the hotel all week. Besides the plane ride gave me a lovely little virus...6-7 of us got it...I've been fighting this cold all week. I thought I was winning but I ran out of Airborne on Wednesday and it started to grow into a cough so I went to the team Dr. and he started me on Antibiotics. Hopefully, I'll start feeling better. So, yesterday was the last day at the orphanage. The kids have been so awesome. I taught them country swing, line dance, and Irish step dance...they loved it. They didn't want to stop. They want to learn it for their Deaf Competition they have every year.
This morning we got up at 3 AM...I feel like crap...But the ride to the Sweetwaters Resort was pretty cool. We got to see the top of Mt. Kenya when it was not under clouds. We arrived at the Resort and had our first Safari run. I saw so many animals. It was amazing. Still no lions though. We came back to this place and almost cried. There is TV, and the internet...the bathrooms are spotless...I feel like I've died and gone to the Hilton. It's pretty swanky here. Even nicer than the Jacaranda in Nairobi. Unfortunately we only get to stay one night here and then we are going back to Meru tomorrow. Next week we begin working at the Huruma Center which is a center for Street kids. The speech people did not finish with our testing so we actually might all go back to the orphanage one last time. I hope so cuz I want to see my favorites one last time. I've gotten pretty good at Pidgeon Sign so at least the kids kind of understand me now. And teaching Dance in sign language is a whole new experience. Talk about a langauge barrier.
We were supposed to go on another safari run at 3-6pm but I felt so crappy...I think I'm running a fever. So, I took medicine and took a nap. And caught up on the internet before the group mob gets back. Tonight we are all doing a night run and tomorrow morning we will do another morning run. Oh, and today we had our first rain storm...It was cool to be in my little tree shack tent (those are the hotel rooms here) and listen to the rain.
Well, I'm down to 10 minutes on the internet....I'll try to find more time so I can write in more detail. I'm also going to see if I can download some pictures.
Monica

Ready to Fly

2007-07-18T22:31:00.001-06:00

Well, thought I would check in one last time before heading to the airport. Yesterday was a crazy day full of last minute details. I found out that the company that was supposed to donate the "Oliver gets Hearing Aids" books, did not send them like they had said they would. They said it was because they didn't get my fax...but who really knows. So, I spent all day yesterday trying to make a additional copies of the one copy that we have. But Kinko's wouldn't copy the book without permission from the editor. So, I ended up just laminating and binding the only copy. Hopefully I'll still be able to do the activities with the kids with just the one book. It would have gone better with more copies but I'm gonna have to just make do now.

One other sidenote: Yesterday at the group packing meeting it was found that we had so many extra materials and donations that we couldn't pack everything. I thought that was pretty amazing. We ended up having to set up piles to take to refugee groups and other various charitable organizations.

Well, I'm off to the airport. We will be flying to Minneaolis, then on to Amsterdam, and finallly to Nairobi. From there we will drive to Meru. Next time I write I'll be in Africa!

Jambo!

Shopping

2007-07-13T10:27:00.000-06:00

Well, today I'm going shopping for Africa! I don't have a lot to get but it's going to be tricky planning for this trip. I don't want to take really nice clothes but yet the leader of our group says that the African people are very modest and take pride in their appearance. So, basically, we shouldn't dress like slobs when we go. Also, you want to take things that will easily wash and dry since there won't be dryers. They will be washing and hanging to dry. So, things like jeans won't dry for a long time especially since it will be humid there. Plus, I'll only have one bag to pack so I will need to take things that don't take a lot of room....So, I've carefully planned out basic outfits and will be taking lightweight cargo type shorts.
I'm also going to buy some mosquito wash that you wash your clothes in. It's called permethrin? I think. But anyway, you wash your clothes in it and Voila! instant mosquito repellent and it lasts for a while. Don't worry friends...I will also be taking regular mosquito repellent to spray extra on. Even though it is their winter (which means less mosquitos) I am NOT going to get malaria.

I've also got to get a money belt. Apparently even with a fanny pack it's too easily stolen so I'm getting a belt I can wear underneath my clothing. There I can keep all my important papers, credit cards and money.

I'm also going to be taking a traveller's bag. It's sheets sewn together into a sleeping bag shape. That way I put it on top of the bed and can have peace of mind and not worry about things like bed bugs...then when I leave I'll probably just leave it there just in case any critters had the idea to come home with me! Well, those are just some highlights from my shopping list.

Tuesday evening is our packing meeting. We will be packing up the extra duffel bag with all the materials we've gotten donated. Each person in the group will be taking one duffel full of youthlinc materials and the other checked bag will be for our things. Then we our allowed two carry-ons...Don't get me started on the carry-on...that's going to be even trickier to pack. Apparently we need to take a change of clothes incase baggage is lost. Then we are allowed so many ounces and it all has to fit in a 1 qt size bag! Sheez!

Oh and I found out today that my flight over there is going to be around 24 hours!!! I've never been in a plane for longer than 6 hours how am I going to do 24! There's a layover somewhere in there too. We're layovering in Sweden or Norway I can't remember which. But if anyone has ideas on what I can do to get me through it please let me know! I'm thinking sleeping pills...

Later~

Feis Results

2007-06-28T18:25:00.000-06:00

I almost forgot to write about the feis last weekend. It was a lot of fun! My competition was held on friday night. It was my last day for dog sitting so I packed up and headed downtown to the Marriott to get ready. Since I've been helping teach the beginner adults I went early to help them get organized into their partner dances. It was a lot of fun to see the adults I've been teaching, go up and compete their dances. I felt a little bit like they were my kids up there on stage. I was rooting for all of them and would silently chant the steps of all their dances. As if they could hear me :)

They did really well. One particular 'student' placed 1st in the hornpipe. The hornpipe is a hardshoe dance. It's a little more difficult. Usually when learning, the Double Jig is learned first and then Hornpipe. It's just because it's more challenging to feel the rhythm. Anyway, in class, I had them all do exercises over and over, especially hornpipe exercises. So, I was so proud when she said she took first! Another student took first in St. Patrick's Day (another hard shoe, a traditional book dance) I will feel a little bit sad to not teach this next quarter. I've been helping my teacher out and she doesn't need me this quarter.

As for me I did better than I've ever done at a feis! I placed in all my dances. I received the following:

Two hand: 2nd

Three hand: 1st

Four hand: 1st

Novice Category

Soft shoe:

Reel: 3rd

Slip Jig: 4th

Light Jig: 1st (Yeah! I can now move this up to Prizewinner category!)

Hard shoe:

Double Jig: 2nd

Hornpipe: 2nd (Ahhh! so close on those two...this is like the fourth time I've placed 2nd in these two dances! The judge said I needed to close my knees more...)

Blackbird (traditional set): 3rd

Double Reel Special: 4th

Prizewinner Category:

Single Jig: 1st!

And those are all my dances. I'm really close in being able to move up into prizewinner! I have the two there now (light jig & single jig) and hornpipe and double jig are so close...I talked with my teacher and said how this is the about the fourth time I've placed second and she said "we'll talk" ...so I'm hoping that means that she might just move me up anyway. Technically you can't move up until you place 1st but sometimes if your teacher feels you're doing really well she can bump you up into the next category. I would love for her to just say, hey move everything into Prizewinner....

Once I get to Prizewinner...well...for adults that's the end of the road. Unless, you drop down into the 18 & over prizewinner category. Once in that category... you guessed it...I have to place 1st to move up into Preliminary and Open Championships. I don't know if I'll go that far but I would like to move into 18 & over prizewinner and place some firsts. Show those youngn's a thing or two :)

Well, that's it for this year's Utah State Feis!

New Blog

2007-06-19T20:04:00.000-06:00

Well! I am super excited to be a part of the blog world! For a while now I have been meaning to set one up. I finally did it. I especially wanted to do it before my big trip to Africa! Friends and family have wanted to see pictures and hear all about it and I thought this might be a good way to keep everyone updated. I'm set to fly out July 19th and return Aug 4th. I will be helping orphans with speech therapy in Meiru, Kenya. I can't wait!

Just for a quick update: I'm currently dog sitting. It's been fun. My partner in crime is a young golden retriever named Aly. We like to sit and shoot the breeze. Mainly we sleep a lot. She's still really young though so we have to take good walks or she gets into mischief. Yesterday I had to work and left her in the back yard too long. I came home and she had old boxes and newspapers torn all over the grass. I had a slight panic attack because I thought she had torn up valuable stuff but once I got to cleaning I realized it was all really old and decaying. Very dusty. Not the funnest cleanup. We had a long talk about more appropriate ways to release energy. She just wagged her tail.

Today has been better. Although this weird guy knocked on the door trying to find the "warner's"? It made me a little nervous just because he arrived on foot. But Aly loves everyone and ran outside before I could stop her and I had to go get her by the collar to bring her back in. Then the guy was talking to me about training dogs. I just said good bye as quick as I could.... I didn't want him knowing I'm staying in a house by myself. I had a long talk with Aly about being cautious about making friends with strangers. She just wagged her tail.

It's great fun though...right now she's laying on my feet. Tomorrow I think we'll go for a little run.

Well, I'll write more later...