SkyWaitress.com

As you probably know by now, I love our little dog Phoebe. She makes me laugh multiple times a day. She’s a joy to have around 99% 95% of the time. Sometimes I wonder if she’s fully aware that’s she’s actually a canine though

Today I took her downstairs to potty and noticed it was actually really beautiful outside. The potty area, while not fenced in, is basically enclosed because it’s surrounded by buildings. I ran around with her a little bit but thought she might have more fun if I got some toys. We ran upstairs, grabbed a ball and a squeaky toy and went back down for what I anticipated would be a fun little game of fetch.

It started out just fine. I kept her lease on so that if she took off I’d have something to grab. I don’t want to jinx anything but so far she’s not the type to make a break for it. Also, if I tell her to stop? She does. Even I’m impressed. Anyway, this was the beginning

Aw! So cute and she seemed to be having a good time.

Very quickly though she seemed to forget the point of the game. I’d throw her ball or toy and she’d run like the wind for it, sniff and then….

Notice the toy way off in the distance? And she’d stand there looking at me like, “What are you going to throw now?”

Eventually it was just a game of throw the toy, run to the toy and…

“Oh look, a hole!”

I tried showing her how to run to the toy and pick it up. I’d squeak it and get her all excited only to throw it and have her completely lose interest. It was like she was thinking

“I just got that thing for you and you throw it away again?!”

So yeah, that whole movie image of a good game of catch with my dog? Not so much… Obviously she is in no part retriever.

More like papillon with a side of ADD.

Phoebe wants you to vote for us!

Phoebe is a great dog. Everyone who meets her loves her. Even people who don’t really like small dogs like her. She’s just a likable girl (she takes after me). She’s also generally really well behaved.

However, she’s not perfect and being 17 months old she’s going through a phase where she is constantly testing her boundaries. It drives me crazy. The thing about dogs is, it’s hard to correct behavior. If you wait a split second too long they have no idea what you’re correcting. Even if you don’t wait too long it’s always questionable if they have any idea what you’re talking about. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said “Why don’t you just speak English?!” to her.

Obviously I don’t expect perfection (ok maybe I kind of do) but when she acts like “come here” means let’s play a fun game of tag, barks at us for no reason or uses our legs as chew toys I get really frustrated. There’s just not much I can do. Obviously yelling at her won’t work because of the whole not speaking English thing. Everything I’ve read says that putting her in her kennel isn’t a good idea because that’s supposed to be her safe spot. We’ve tried just walking away and shutting her out but that also gets annoying when we have to do it every couple of minutes. Sometimes I think she wants to kick us out of the room.

There are times when she just needs a time out. Where to do it though? Not in her kennel because that’s not supposed to be used as a punishment. Not in any particular room because she always seems to find something to get into so I don’t think she’d view it as a punishment. Our little one bedroom apartment only offers so many options.

In a moment of desperation I stuck her in a confined area that we just happened to have laying around and surprisingly it worked! She easily could jump out but so far she doesn’t. When I went back and took her out she listened very nicely… at least for about five minutes. Trust me, at this point I’ll take what I can get.

Behold, our very own naughty spot.

Super Nanny would be so proud.

Still blogging from my iPhone. I love the darn thing and would hate to live without it but blogging on here is soooo sloooow. It’s seriously making me stabby. Instead of bitching about how irritated I am with my lack of computer I’ll distract you with this hilariously cute papillon video.

Here’s hoping I stay sane until my life returns to it’s version of normal. Or just that I don’t call The Salvation Army to take away everything we own and start from scratch. I’m tempted.

I don’t know how many of you were reading my blog six months ago. If you were you might remember my 30 by 30 post. The list by itself is also a page in the upper right hand corner if you ever just want to look over it. So far I think I’m doing pretty well. I’m working on several of my goals. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have 6 years and I don’t have to do everything at once. Here’s an update on my progress so far. I won’t go through every number, just the ones I’ve been thinking about or have made progress on.

1. Travel to India. This is so close to becoming a reality I can taste it. Really it deserves it’s own post and I will work on one in the near future. Basically it’s been my dream to go on a mission trip to India since I was 12 (half my life) and we have one set up to go in October.

We are working on fundraising right now. We’ve had some very generous donations from some amazing people. We’re still a ways off from the total needed though. If you have any ideas for fundraisers please send them my way. You can get more info at HelpSend.Us

2. Become a mother: Still not ready for this one. I have time ::grin::

4. Read all books on Time 100 best novels list: I have a few books marked off but honestly they’re ones I read prior to making the list. I need to step up on this one.

5. Run a marathon: I’ve taken the first step. Or steps. Check out Running Between Tweets for updates on mine and all my fellow tweeps progress.

9. Visit every US state: I have 12 more to go. I still have my flight benefits so getting to the states isn’t a problem. The main thing is having a place to stay once I get there. I don’t have tons of cash but I have so many wonderful blog/Twitter friends spread all over the country.

Would any of you from the states that I’m missing be willing to host me? Even just over night so I could meet you and buy a spoon (yes I collect spoons. What?) I don’t need anything fancy. A floor and a blanket would be more than enough. Who’s first? ::wink::

10. See all movies on Time 100 best movies list: I’ve gotten about a quarter of the way through the list thanks to our Blockbuster online membership. I’ve loved some and been bored to tears on others.

14. Earn an award with Phoebe: I’m entering us in our first rally obedience trial the middle of this month. I’ll let you know how it goes!

16. Join a book club: I get to mark one off! Woot! I’ve written about my book club a few times so you already know I have met some really neat girls there including the one who invited me to be on the soccer team.

I don’t know that I expected to have so much fun. I love reading but the book club is so much more than just discussing books. In fact, as we’ve gone on I could almost care less about the books that I’ve read. None of them are probably ones I’d pick out myself. The great part is, it doesn’t matter because the group of friends we’ve built is priceless. It’s just what I didn’t know I needed.

26. Keep a blog or journal daily for one year: That is where the title of this blog comes in. As of today I have successfully completed six months of that year on SkyWaitress.com. I’m actually really impressed that I’ve come this far.

Before this I was always a sporadic blogger. I would post several times a week for awhile and then go for months with nothing. I felt like if I didn’t have anything big to blog about I couldn’t post.

Now I’ve realized that isn’t the case. Granted, all of my posts haven’t been stellar but I feel like I’ve learned so much and improved as a writer and blogger by making this commitment. There are days when I have no idea what to blog about but I sit down and start writing anyway. And sometimes? Those are some of my best posts. Apparently my brain has a lot rolling around in it.

I don’t pretend to be a professional blogger or to have everything figured out. I am having fun though. I’ve also gotten more involved with Twitter and have made some wonderful friends out of it. I seriously wonder what I did without all you guys. I look forward to the next six months of blogging and beyond.

I am so excited about how far I’ve come. I have a long ways to go and a lot to accomplish in the next 5 1/2 years but I’m confident I can pull it off. I’m doing really well. Working through this list has already improved who I am as a person. I am much more focused and excited about life. I have goals and I am working towards them. I highly recommend everyone make a list similar to this. It can fit where ever you are in life and drive you to where you want to be. You’ll be surprised how inspiring it is.

Letting myself dream and get excited is the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s already taken me places and I can’t wait to see where I’ll be in six months, a year and on my 30th birthday. I have a feeling, it’s going to be somewhere amazing.