A Week's Recap

Don't worry, Derby hasn't killed me, I've just been busy lately.

We are hiring at the daycare and while that means I have had resumes and stuff to sift through, it also means I've been working an extra 9 hours a week.  We did working interviews with 2 people this week and have 2 more to go next week.  They stay for 3 hours, and it is the best thing ever as you get a much better feel for who they are and what they are like.  It also gives them the opportunity to realize that the job isn't all fun and cuddles with the dogs.  I leave in the middle of it (I work a split and it gives the interviewee the opportunity to meet all of us and vice versa) and I love how much more relaxed they are when I get back and they've spent a few hours surrounded by the dogs.  Not surprisingly, their first hour is pretty stiff.  :)

At the same time, I've also had a final rush on dog event photo sales from the summer as they were about to come off the server. I have one more print order to make and then that will be completed. Phew. The photography aspect of my business is great in the summer when I have time, but it sure is a drain on spare time when I'm working full time at the daycare.  I had a job lined up last weekend and when they called to cancel, I was so relieved.  I love it, but don't always have time for it.

The rescue calendars are finally printed and they look fabulous!!!  We've had some problems with the quality/consistency - first they were delayed, then some of the calendars had pages that were printed on with two different things, at least one has had the months out of order and the most recent issue is the coils not being properly shut.  Sigh.  That has been frustrating, but the good news is we are already 50% sold out in less than 2 weeks.  Walmart is letting us hang out this weekend and sell them in one of their stores and I'm hoping that will take care of the rest.  It was a bit of a risk buying 500 calendars but I think it is going to pay off.

We are still cooking food for the dogs.  We made a week's worth for Coulee last weekend and we'll be doing that again this weekend.  I think we'll be shopping for a decent knife today.  Every time I cut up a huge slab of pork loin from Costco, I curse our knives and the cramp in my hand.  Our grinder is awesome and fast, but the cutting into chunks takes a while.  Marlin also got a small deer the other weekend so we have deer meat for Lacey.  We made a giant batch of food initially for Lacey (it was originally going to be for Coulee too until we decided to put her on the Pork and Potato diet) so we haven't had to do any prep for her for a while.  But if we don't get some done this weekend, she'll be going hungry this week.  :)

On the fun side of things, I went out and took pictures of sheep herding last weekend.  You can see a few pictures here if you want - http://paws-on-the-run.ca/2011/11/feeling-sheepish/

I've also been going to Derby practice Wednesday and Friday nights.  Most of my equipment arrived on Wednesday so that was pretty exciting too.  I'm just waiting for my helmet still.  I feel awkward all class as we practice falls and stops and stuff but when we do our warm down skating around the rink, I'm amazed at how much more comfortable I feel compared to the warm up.  So I must be getting at least a little better.  I actually rolled backwards last class by accident and it didn't put me into a complete panic.  :)  I put my outdoor wheels on last night but I think it is going to be too windy to skate outside today, so I might head down to the daycare and try and practice my cross overs.  I also bought some padded shorts. They were expensive but when I fell on my ass last practice, I knew they were worth every penny. :)  I think I just need to get more comfortable in general on skates and then the other stuff will come a little more smoothly.

I've still been out walking the dogs, but I haven't been bringing my camera much as I don't have time to do anything with the photos after. I brought it out with me yesterday (hence the random photos in the post) as it had been way, way too long.  It was super windy out but the dogs didn't seem to mind and it kept everyone else out of the dog park which made it a stress free walk for me.  The dog park has been getting busier for some reason and I've had some stressful moments trying to keep out of other people's paths.  It would be fine if people weren't so damn friendly and kept trying to seek us out.  LOL

I had to laugh at poor Lacey.  A truck was coming down the road and she was trying to prick her ears up in the wind... she couldn't quite pull it off.  :)

I'm very happy we have a long weekend although I'm still going to be fairly busy.  I'm volunteering for a few hours selling calendars tonight at Walmart  and have derby practice after that.   I'm also volunteering tomorrow night at the Derby games.  It should be fun!