See...

She does stop! She was very interested in the camera flash though. Here's the wiki page for the Ibizan hound (thanks Christine). I don't think she's purebred though. Her neck and head aren't quite that long and the black makes me think of just a tough of shepherd. Apparently the breed in general is an escape artist and will jump fences, I haven't seen any sign of that, and neither did the home where she was staying. Other than wanting to run around and look at everything every.time she comes in from outside, she has good house manners and is ok with just laying down and chilling out.

Meet Ava

Well we finally went through with it and got a dog. Petsmart was having their adoptions today, and this girl got to come home with us. She's an Ibizan (a herding dog I think), and is about a year old. She's mostly white and brown with some black around her muzzle. She's housebroken and has basic training, with a bit of work left to do, but she seems like she'll learn quick. She has lots of energy, which is good since we were looking for a walking/jogging/hiking buddy, but she should also mellow out into a really nice dog. She's also already decided that Chris is the lead dog in our little family pack. She seems more curious about the cats, but hasn't chased them or anything. So far David is in hiding and Chiam is curious but very wary. We're hoping they'll both adjust in good time.

The Lord's Prayer

This is in two parts, the prayer (in blue type) and GOD (in red type) in response.

*********

Our Father Who Art In Heaven.
Yes?
Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.
But -- you called ME!
Called you?
No, I didn't call you.
I'm praying.
Our Father who art in Heaven.
There -- you did it again!
Did what?
Called ME.
You said,
"Our Father who art in Heaven"
Well, here I am..
What's on your mind?
But I didn't mean anything by it.
I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day.
I always say the Lord's Prayer.
It makes me feel good,
kind of like fulfilling a duty.
Well, all right.
Go on.
Okay, Hallowed be thy name .
Hold it right there.
What do you mean by that?
By what?
By "Hallowed be thy name"?
It means, it means . . good grief,
I don't know what it means.
How in the world should I know?
It's just a part of the prayer.
By the way, what does it mean?
It means honored, holy, wonderful.
Hey, that makes sense..
I never thought about what 'hallowed' meant before.
Thanks.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Do you really mean that?
Sure, why not?
What are you doing about it?
Doing? Why, nothing, I guess.

I just think it would be kind of neat if you got

control,of everything down here like you have up

there.We're kinda in a mess down here you know.
Yes, I know;
but, have I got control of you?
Well, I go to church.
That isn't what I asked you.
What about your bad temper?
You've really got a problem there, you know.
And then there's the way you spend

your money -- all on yourself.
And what about the kind of books you read ?
Now hold on just a minute!
Stop picking on me!
I'm just as good as some of the rest

of those People at church!

Excuse ME..
I thought you were praying
for my will to be done.
If that is to happen,
it will have to start with the ones
who are praying for it.
Like you -- for example ..
Oh, all right. I guess I do have some hang-ups.
Now that you mention it,
I could probably name some others.
So could I.
I haven't t hought about it very much until now,
but I really would like to cut out some of those things.
I would like to, you know, be really free.
Good.
Now we're getting somewhere.

We'll work together -- You and ME.
I'm proud of You.
Look, Lord, if you don't mind,
I need to finish up here.
This is taking a lot longer than it usually does.
Give us this day, our daily bread.
You need to cut out the bread..
You're overweight as it is.
Hey, wait a minute! What is this?
Here I was doing my religious duty,
and all of a sudden you break in
and remind me of all my hang-ups.
Praying is a dangerous thing.
You just might get what you ask for.
Remember, you called ME -- and here I am.
It's too late to stop now.
Keep praying. ( pause . . )
Well, go on.
I'm scared to.
Scared? Of what?
I know what you'll say.
Try ME.
Forgive us our sins,

as we forgive those who sin against us.
What about Ann?
See? I knew it!
I knew you would bring her up!
Why, Lord, she's told lies about me, spread stories.
She never paid back the money she owes me.
I've sworn to get even with her!
But -- your prayer --
What about your prayer?
I didn't -- mean it..
Well, at least you're honest.
But, it's quite a load carrying around all that

bitterness and resentment isn't it?
Yes, but I'll feel better as soon as I get even with her.
Boy, have I got some plans for her.
She'll wish she had never been born.
No, you won't feel any better.
You'll feel worse.
Revenge isn't sweet.
You know how unhappy you are --
Well, I can change that.
You can? How?
Forgive Ann.
Then, I'll forgive you;
And the hate and the sin,
will be Ann's problem -- not yours.
You will have settled the problem
as far as you are concerned.
Oh, you know, you're right.
You always are.
And more than I want revenge,
I want to be right with You . . (sigh).
All right, all right . .
I forgive her.
There now!
Wonderful!
How do you feel?
Hmmmm. Well, not bad.
Not bad at all!
In fact, I feel pretty great!
You know, I don't think I'll go to bed uptight tonight.
I haven't been getting much rest, you know.
Yeah, I know.
But, you're not through with your prayer, are you?

Go on.
Oh, all right.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Good! Good! I'll do that.
Just don't put yourself in a place
where you can be tempted.
What do you mean by that?
You know what I mean.
Yeah. I know.
Okay.
Go ahead. Finish your prayer.
For Thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen.
Do you know what would bring me glory --
What would really make me happy?
No, but I'd like to know.
I want to please you now.
I've really made a mess of things.
I want to truly follow you..
I can see now how great that would be.
So, tell me . . .
How do I make you happy?
YOU just did.

Four Days

Really? Four days since I've blogged and I still can't think of anything noteworthy to write about? Well I was sick. That's noteworthy because it happens so infrequently. I've been blessed with an immune system where every germ I encounter bounces off. I get one, maybe two colds a year, and very little else. It comes in handy since I choose to make a career out of working with small children. Well over the weekend (yes, while we were out dog-hunting) I got my semi-annual cold. Two and a half days of a throat that felt like I'd swallowed glass and a nose that dripped like a faucet, and I figured that would be that. Not so much. Sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning I woke up shivering and shaking with my teeth chattering. Keep in mind that I sleep under a sheet, a quilt, and a comforter. In Phoenix. In June. There is NO WAY I should have been cold. Unless I was running a fever. Seeing as how the last thing in the world I wanted to do was get out of bed and find the thermometer, I pulled the covers over my head and tried to keep my teeth from chattering. A few hours later Chris came to bed. I made him get me the thermometer, and discovered I had a temperature of 101*F. Given that by that time I was no longer freezing and shaking, I figure my temp. when I first woke up was probably a few degrees higher. At any rate, I still registered about 100*F when I finally got up that morning, so I started calling families to cancel my visits for the day. Fortunately, I only had three visits scheduled. Needless to say, I spent most of Monday either sleeping or trying to stay awake for an hour or two at a time. Fortunately, by Tuesday I was at about 75%, and today I feel pretty much better again.

We must be crazy

Crazy like a fox, or crazy like a fool. I'm not sure which. Possibly both. At any rate, we are considering getting a dog. We've been wanting one for a while- a dog to go hiking with us, and to go for walks, among other things. I've pretty much always had dogs, and I miss having one around.
Chris and I visited Pet Smart today "just to look" (which is about as effective as it sounds), then headed to a local animal shelter, again "just to look," then to a different Pet Smart. All in all, we saw 2 or 3 dogs that probably could have been a good fit for us, although Chris and I didn't really agree on any. My favorite was a poodle mix, surprisingly enough. It was a decent size, looked like a pretty sturdy dog, loved to play fetch, and would gladly have gone hiking with us. The second favorite was a chihuahua. He was an odd one though- he had markings just like a german shepherd. I've never seen it before- he was full chihuahua though. He also was a spunky little thing with lots of personality.
I think right now the plan is to think about this for a while. If it still sounds like a good idea in a few days or next week, then we might take the plunge.

A word to the wise...

Never buy a king-sized pillow unless you are prepared to hunt for a king-sized pillowcase. Chris got a new pillow yesterday because he'd finally beaten his to a pulp, and we didn't realize until we got it home that it was a king-size pillow. Its approximately the size of Rhode Island, and of course all of our pillowcases are standard sized. Honestly, I didn't even know pillows CAME in king-size. So back to the store we went, where the only king-sized pillowcases were all scratchy. Off to another store, where the king-sized pillowcases were purple with green flowers. In desperation, we started looking at the flat sheets, figuring I could sew a pillowcase. We managed to find a fitted sheet that was the right color and texture, and brought it home. I unstrung about 50 feet of elastic, did some measuring, cutting, and sewing, and a little while later we had a workable pillowcase.
Now maybe he'll stop stealing my pillows.

Another news story I almost can't believe

Teacher who let students "vote out" 5 y/o boy with Asperger's Syndrome gets her job back
I blogged about this here, and here.

"Wendy Portillo, the Kindergarten teacher infamous for permitting neurotypical students to vote a boy with a form of Autism out of her class, will keep both her contract with the St. Lucie County school district and her tenured status after a unanimous vote by the School Board. Portillo is "overjoyed" by the ruling and hopes to return to teaching."

Once again, kids with disabilities lose. There is NO way she should be allowed to return to a classroom. If she'd done the same thing to a child without a disability label who was being disruptive it probably would have cost her her teaching license. If she'd used a disparaging term for a minority student, she'd be facing a lawsuit in addition to being unemployed and blacklisted.
Alex, the little boy, still hasn't returned to school. Does Wendy Portillo realize that ALL students are entitled to an education, and that she has deprived him of his?

Its a wonder these people can sleep at night

Obama auto team called shareholder lawyer a terrorist
"Business Insider reports that more than one Chrysler senior creditor has corroborated Thomas Lauria’s allegation that the Obama administration threatened them with public attacks if they didn’t surrender their contractual rights. One of their sources says that the Obama team comprises some of the worst “ends justify the means” people he’s ever encountered."

Left-wing Islamics who walk into military recruiting offices and start shooting aren't terrorists, but lawyers trying to force the government to follow contract law instead of taking over private enterprises are??

They (whoever "they" is) say that in order to have an interesting blog, you have to have an interesting life. Somehow I don't think that's my problem. I have an interesting life. Or at least a mildly entertaining one. The real problem is that a significant chunk of my life is off limits to blogging. Because I want to protect the privacy of the families that I work with, I'm very careful with what I blog about work.
For example, I could say that this week I showed up for a scheduled visit at the same time as the CPS worker and the family preservation specialist. That definitely qualifies as "interesting", but I can't give any more details because it would make it possible to identify the family, even if I didn't use any names. Its a very sticky situation, and everyone involved has an opinion (including me), but I'm trying to keep my nose out of it.

I can also say that one of Chris' and my new ways to relax is to go to a hobby shop on Thursday nights and play board games. We went last week figuring we'd try it out, and were quickly accepted into the group. We played a card game that I didn't really understand the rules to, then played Power Grid, which is actually way more interesting than it sounds. I don't think it would play well at all with two people, so we have no interest in actually owning a copy. We went again last night and played Killer Bunnies, which is every bit as absurd as it sounds. It also wouldn't play well with only two people. I'm really enjoying getting to learn different board games, especially since it IS so hard to find games that play well with only two of us.

Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl

I read Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl, probably close to a month ago, and just hadn't gotten around to writing the review. I do remember it being an enjoyable read for a thriller. Its subtitled as "A Triple Threat Novel," which I assume means there will be more books coming with the same set of main characters.
The story concerns the disappearance of Senate page Katie Converse. She vanishes while home for Christmas break. Despite her parents' insistence that Katie was the perfect "All American Girl" a not-very-anonymous blog reveals otherwise.
The heroes, such as they are, are a federal prosecutor, an FBI special agent, and a reporter. There are a few minor plotlines that keep things interesting- a stalker, an abusive boyfriend, and a random hippie, but they don't relate much to the main question- what happened to Katie Converse? For that answer, you have to make it all the way to the end.
This book goes quickly, but it was a fun read. The relationship between the three main characters was the crux of everything else. Not a perfect friendship by any means, but a close one. I don't think I'd go out of my way to pick up another book by this author, but I wouldn't turn it away if one showed up on my doorstep.

Utah...finally!

After much too long of a delay, here are some of the pictures from our trip to Utah. We had a great time, even though I didn't take as many pictures as I'd wanted to.The trip there took us almost 12 hours, mainly because we hit Salt Lake City at 4pm on Thursday. Fortunately we were able to just jump in the HOV lane and avoid the worst of the traffic.Part of our route took us through what had to be a reservation. The only word for it was...desolate. Scattered trailers and houses that looked like they were about to fall down. Definitely the most depressing part of the drive.
Friday we were in recovery mode and just sort of hung out. It worked out well because Stephanie was at school most of that day. That evening we went to an arcade and played miniature golf with black lighting...something I can honestly say I've never done before.
Saturday we went to Logan, UT with a friend of hers. Most of these pictures were taken there. After 5 years in Phoenix, I was shocked at the amount of GREEN we saw.You might be from a desert if....naturally occurring standing water is a novelty.As are mountains with GREEN stuff growing on them!This is Starr, Stephanie's beagle. She's probably trying to sniff out a bunny or something. You can take the dog out of the hunt, but you can't take the hunt out of the dog. Really, though, she's pretty well behaved.I forget what this was called, but water just seems to bubble up out of the bottom of that cave. It was ice cold mountain runoff, but not good for drinking.And this is a pretty butterfly we saw along the trail.
The weather was just perfect- about 80* and sunny. I meant to get a picture of the mountains surrounding Ogden (they still had snow on top), but never got around to it.
Our drive home was...long. Really, there's no getting around it. But, we managed to miss a turn off of the highway (or our directions were bad), and STILL make it into a shortcut so I guess it could have been worse.

The sad part is...

that this is needed.
Read the Bills Act.
" To this end we have created the “Read the Bills Act (RTBA).” RTBA requires that . . .

• Each bill, and every amendment, must be read in its entirety before a quorum in both the House and Senate.
  
• Every member of the House and Senate must sign a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has attentively either personally read, or heard read, the complete bill to be voted on.
  
• Every old law coming up for renewal under the sunset provisions must also be read according to the same rules that apply to new bills.
  
• Every bill to be voted on must be published on the Internet at least 7 days before a vote, and Congress must give public notice of the date when a vote will be held on that bill.
  
• Passage of a bill that does not abide by these provisions will render the measure null and void, and establish grounds for the law to be challenged in court.
  
• Congress cannot waive these requirements."

They have a link to e-mail your representatives in support of the legislation.

Best Complaint Letter. Ever

I'll be blogging about our trip to Utah soon, I promise. As soon as I get a chance to get the pictures off of my camera. For now I'll just say we had a great time, even though we came home to an ant invasion in the kitchen. I'm trying really hard to get caught up with work, and take care of a few other logistical things. Until they get done, though, you can enjoy this
"Dear Mr. Thatcher,
I have been a loyal user of your [Brand] maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the Leak Guard Core or Dry-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants...."
Keep reading. But swallow your drink first. Trust me.