Life Update

Life has been flying by recently! A quick update on what is going on in the life of the Pickels.

1. I celebrated my 23rd birthday and my older sister celebrated her 30th birthday on September 16th.  We love sharing a birthday but was disappointed because this year we couldn't celebrate together.  Overall it was a nice, quiet low-key day.  As I get older I find that birthdays aren't as exciting as they once were.  All I wanted was to spend time with my husband and puppy, and that is exactly what I got!

2. My GRE is over!  It was exhausting but was surprised how well I did.  After the test I got a score range which was excellent! So thankful all my studying paid off!

3. On the birthday I had an interview, and the next week I was offered a position! Yes, I am going to be a working girl.  My first day is planned for this Friday and I am so excited about the position and the work I am going to be doing.

4. Last weekend I traveled with my parents and younger sister up to Cleveland for my cousins wedding. It was a blast! I hadn't seen many people in over a year since we missed Christmas, so I was wonderful to catch up with all my family.  Plus the bride and the wedding were beautiful! I am so happy for them!

5. I have been very preoccupied this week trying to get my NC registration and license plates before my Missouri ones expire at the end of the month.  The process is extremely frustrating and at this point I am praying I can get everything done this week before I start work.

6. The puppy is doing well and feeling much better.  She is starting to respond better to responds and we are working on some simple training.

7. We finally met some neighbors.  They have some dogs too, which is how we met them.  Although the dogs are older, Lyla still likes playing and I like finding some friends to talk to out here.

8. Still church searching, nothing really stands out yet.

9. I have lost over 30 lbs.  It has been nice to get compliments from those that have noticed, especially those that haven't seen me in a while.  The past two weeks I have been stalled, but with traveling and my birthday it was expected.  Overall, I was in my birthday weight loss goal and only 2 lbs away from the low weight in the range.  I call that a success, and now I am ready to set new goals for myself.

That was a quick update for those wondering what I going on.  Hopefully I can share some pictures soon from the wedding or talk in more details

My little sick puppy

Today is another study day for me.  Four days to freedom. I have the countdown going!

This week has been a little more challenging taking care of the puppy, partly because she has been sick.  We took her to a vet for an initial visit and to check on a cough she has developed over the past couple days.  For the first couple days we had her, she had a runny nose.  A few days ago she started coughing pretty bad.  So we made sure to get her to the vet as soon as we can.  What can I say - I am a paranoid new puppy mommy.

The vet said she looked really well with the exception of the cough.  She weighted 11 lbs and we found out she was slightly older than we thought.  According to her teeth, she is more like 16 weeks old.  As for the cough, the vet said it was kennel cough that she probably picked up from the dogs at the other rescue (we were warned of some upper respiratory problems going on there).  I was a little scared because of all the stuff you can read on the internet about kennel cough, but I am thankful we brought her in when we did.  They prescribed some anti-biotics and cough suppressants.  When I took her home she was acting even more sick.  She vomited a few times and was very pathetic.  I spent all day cleaning up after her messes and holding soothing her.

She has been sleeping for a decent amount of time during the day.  It is hilarious the places she finds to curl up. I love seeing her so peaceful and silly at the same time.

Yesterday she began to act more like herself.  It is so great to have her back to feeling better.

GRE studying does not equal a good time

You would think that since I am currently not working, I would have all the time in the world to blog.  This is not the case.

First, this new puppy of mine has occupied a lot of time.  I have to pretty much chase her around and know where she is at every moment to make sure she isn't chewing something or getting into all kinds of trouble.  Plus she has to go outside every hour.  That makes it hard to concentrate on much of anything for an extended period of time.

Second, in one week I am taking the GRE.  A few weeks ago a bought this book to study from, but was not as  studious as I should have been.

(Amazon)

Sure I opened it up quite a few times, but nothing close to what I should have done-  especially considering it has been a while since I had personally studied anything academic.  So for the past few days I have buckled down and got to studying.  It is tedious, but must be done.  To motivate myself I keeping concentrating on how I have been dreaming of going to graduate school for a few years now, and that this test is necessary.

Things I have learned through studying for the GRE:

1. My vocabulary sucks.  I never knew there were so many words that I would need to know.  Some I have never heard of and I think they sound like the book's authors created them to trick us.  Seriously, they are that crazy!

2. It is surprising how easily I start to remember algebra and geometry concepts.  I haven't had these kind of topics since sophomore year in high school.  So it has been a while.  However, the more problems I do the more I remember.  

3. Standardized tests are ridiculous.  I am not sure how knowing how to find the hypotenuse of a triangle is a good indicator of academic success is graduate school, but I guess that is the system.  

Anyways, I guess I am done feeling sorry for myself and get back to studying!

New addition to our family!

Nope not a baby...

A little cute puppy! Meet Lyla

She is our little baby girl, a spaniel/collie mix. We brought her home on Sunday and since then so much of my time has been consumed with puppy sitting.  Although being quite the handful at times, she is so sweet and loving.

We have pretty much been talking about getting a puppy for years now, probably since we first started dating.  Both of us just love dogs, and new that we wanted to have one of our own.  For too long we put it off, making excuses about the wedding and money.  Once we made this move we were determined to get one, but a little timid about making the plunge.  I think we are just so cautious we could have found excuses forever, but when I saw this picture on a rescue's facebook page I knew I wanted her.

We visited her foster home on Sunday and filled out the adoption paperwork and took her home then.  Since then we have only fallen in love with her.  Who can resist that face?

Not these proud parents!

Some days I still can't believe we finally got a puppy.  Really we lucked out because she is pretty well potty trained already and sleeps through the night.  There have only been a few accidents.  We just have to deal with some typical puppy chewing and mischievousness.

Every day more of her personality comes through and I am kinda glad that I have the time to stay home with her for a bit.  I am still doing serious job searching, but it has been good for me to be here for her.

I can't stop taking pictures and videos of her.  We are obsessed and I am not embarrassed.

Believe me I will be sharing more!