Things are looking up... sort of

although I really, REALLY screwed up yesterday (forgot something EXTREMELY important). Don't know why I've been so absent-minded lately; might be medication-related, since it seems to correlate with when I cut my dose in half. Yay, neurotransmitters. (Mine seem to need cheerleaders, this week). When I can't tell an eighth note from a quarter, something's wrong upstairs, dude.

Dogs sprained my right wrist, sometime today I think--or maybe yesterday's Squirrel Incident. I still love them, though. Dozer weighed in at 68 lbs or so at the vet this AM... what a bruiser. It's nice to be able to take a walk down to campus at 11 PM, though, and not be scared of anyone or anything. Nothing says "don't mess with me" like a big fierce dog who growls at strangers (and shopping carts, and baby strollers, and anything else odd in his environment.)

New puppy settling in!

So, we have a new member of the family as of last Saturday! His name is Dozer--because he's a stubborn puppy and he's going to be a BIG guy. Probably bigger than Graham wanted, but he and Cinnamon hit it off so well he was clearly the right choice.

I had originally applied to adopt the smallest of these boxer mix puppies, and I drove about an hour on Saturday to go meet him and see how he and Cinnamon got along, after the app got approved. But the lady whop had him went to the wrong place, and she wasn't going to come all the way out and wouldn't be back until Sunday... and since I couldn't come back, I decided to see how Cinnamon got along with the other boys in the litter. Dozer was the second puppy she met, and within about ten seconds of sniffing they were play-bowing to each other. I took him home around 5 on Saturday, and at first he was very nervous about the new surroundings--but by late evening he was coming out of his shell and not so scared! It's been a rough week adjusting my schedule to puppy needs, but we're getting there. He and Cinnamon are playing well together, and the real miracle is this: Cinnamon's crate destruction has just CEASED. One time I even came home after a two or three hour absence and went upstairs and she was still curled up in her crate when I got there.

I'm practicing a bit, finally, and learning four or five new songs for the Schubert Institut CD.

Scholarship and grant applications didn't go so great--I did manage to get an application in for funding from the International Institute. A long shot, but since it IS related to my dissertation, I have a grain of hope. It would be nice to go to Austria and polish half my first dissertation recital with top-notch coaches and world-class Lieder singers and pianists. That wouldn't suck. I can't wait for Ana Maria to get back so we can get working and send off the CD.

CEW app went awry--they called last week, a week after Prof. Sheil sent her letter, and told me they'd received no recommendations. I still need to call them and find out if that has changed--must do it first thing Monday. The past couple of days have been busy, and I keep forgetting to do it first thing in the AM. :p Self-sabotage much?

Dogs are curled up on the couch right now, with their little rear ends together. They make a backwards S. It's adorable.

Cautious optimism!

So, Marilyn from the Home Fur-Ever rescue came by today, and they've approved the application! I couldn't adopt Buster, because he's pretty much a pit bull, but these puppies I met over the weekend are boxer X ??? and look less like pit bull types. They're listed as boxer-lab, they might have a little pit in them... but not any more than Cinnamon.

So this Saturday, I'm heading out to a Petsmart with Cinnamons, and we'll put Joe and Cin in the classroom together and let them get acquainted, and we'll see how they get along. If it doesn't work out, there are more puppies around and on the way...

fingers crossed! I'll take a pic this weekend.