This and That With a Rattle a Tat

I have for you yet another update via bullet points.

Aren't bullet points the best?

• I'm a student again! Sort of. Actually I'm only taking one class. Wanna guess what it is? I bet you'll never guess.

It's interior design. Why, you might ask, am I taking an interior design class? Sometimes I ask myself the same question. In all reality I wanted to take an occupational therapy class to see if I liked the field, since I want to go to grad school one day (I think), but I can never decide exactly what subject to study. However, the occupational therapy classes that would fit in with my schedule were full, because I sort of decided to take a class last minute. As in like..three days before the semester started. By the time I figured out all of the classes were full I had already had my heart set on taking a class, so I looked through all of the subjects and I came across interior design. The more I thought about it, the more excited I got...so I just went for it. Truth be told though, I've always loved interior design. I remember going with my dad to look at houses when he was looking for a house and looking forward to it every time. When I was younger I loved going to Home Depot with him so I could look at all of those little kitchens they have set up as displays. I've always loved pouring over magazines with pictures of rooms inside. After working on our house so much I remembered how much I really loved it. Am I going to make a career out it? Mmmmm probably not. But I'm loving the class. I guess that's a great perk about being graduated....you get to go to school for fun if you want to, and I want to. Not that I didn't enjoy school before, but I cannot deny that it was incredibly stressful. Now I get to focus on just one class and cut pictures of pretty room and put them in notebooks. (Ok, really there's a lot more to it than that, but really, I look at these magazines for fun everytime I go to the store.)

• A lot of people have been inquiring as to why I don't have a dog yet. A big reason is that we still have yet to put a fence around our yard. Even so, I definitely think about having a dog a fair amount. I have narrowed it down to three types of dogs that I really really want. Observe:

The Lab. Labs, particularly of the black variety have a very dear place in my heart. Remember how they're my patronus? Yep. I've grown up with them. I've always had a special lab in my life, since the day I was born. They are some of the naughtiest puppies around, but the grow up to be the best dogs in the whole wide world. They're so friendly and usually pretty darn smart. So, why not just get one? Here's the thing. I kind of don't want to get a dog until I have kids and I'm a stay at home mom. I know that probably seems weird to a lot of you, but I just don't want to leave a dog home alone all day while I'm at work. Especially a puppy. ESPECIALLY a lab puppy. But, I just might change my mind someday. Because, well, I really want a dog. Life without a dog is sort of weird for me.

My second dilemma is that lab puppies really like to bite. It's in a very playful sort of way, but it really freaks little kids out sometimes, so if I don't get a dog until I have kids I don't really know if a lab puppy is the very best idea, as I don't want them biting and freaking out my kids. But, one day I will own a lab. You mark my words. It just might not be until I have kids and they're a little older.

The Great Dane. I have recently fallen completely in love with Danes. My sister in law has a Great Dane and we've watched him a couple of times while they've been out of town and I just adore him. What can I say...I guess I love big dogs. Also, I have a really big backyard, so I'm suppose to have a big dog. That's the rule.

They're calm, they're cuddly, they're adorable. Need I say more? This is probably Jayson's choice in dog. The biggest down side it that they only have a life expectancy of about 6-7 years. :(

The Newfoundland or Newfie. These guys are kind of a Dane and a Lab mixed together, so it's hard to go wrong. They're supposed to be amazing with kids, really smart, calm, and loving. They also don't have a super long life expectancy and...wow that's a lot of fur.

Have any of you ever had any of these types of dogs? Or mixes of them? Would you recommend them? I'm not the kind of person that really cares if their dog is a purebred.

Also, has anyone ever done allergy shots? Do they work? Are they wicked expensive? Jayson is slightly allergic to dogs. It's not a bad allergy, but enough so that it might be unpleasant for him to live with dogs. We have discovered though, that if a dog is bathed often he does ok, so hopefully we'll work something out.

Now that I've probably bored you with dog talk I'll move on to the next bullet.

• Jayson has decided that he wants to build furniture. Why? Because he's Jayson. He has a lot of crazy ambitions. He doesn't want to do it as a career, because he loves his chosen field, but more as a side job or a hobby of some sort. Yea, he's definately crazy. Do you know what though? His crazy ambitions are one of the things I love most about him. He's one of the few people I know who actually truly and completely believes that he can do anything. It's so refreshing. He's also been pouring over our cook books lately and trying some new recipes. I definately don't mind that. Yea. He works in demolition and loves to cook. Where did I get this guy?


• Jayson is also becoming a wiz at fixing cars. I love being married to a handyman.


• Life as of late feels....different? I can't really put my finger on it. Nothing has changed, but it feels different. In a good way. For years I've said that I feel like I'm 17 years old and that I'm just teenager pretending to be a grown up by doing grown up things. But lately I don't feel 17 anymore. I feel 24. And it's kind of bizarre. Over this past month I've felt more like an adult than I ever have before and I can't really figure out why. I've been doing adult type of things for years now. I've lived on my own, gone on vacations without my parents, got married, bought a house, etc. I really feel like Jayson and I are making our own lives now. Maybe it's because we now live in a more permanent place. I think I've just sort of felt like a drifter since I graduated high school and now I feel firmly planted. It's a great feeling, actually. It sounds a lot more boring than drifting, but I'm actually pretty fond of boring things.


• All in all life is actually really great. Do you ever have those weeks where you feel like you have a new zest for life? I've felt like that a lot lately. It's one of the best feelings in the world.

And now I'm going to share a quote with you because I discovered it a week or so ago and fell in love with it: “Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. ”

― Mary Anne Radmacher

That quote is exactly what I need. Sometimes life is hard and trying again tomorrow is all we can do. It may seem like a small thing, but I think it's a pretty big thing.

Well, this post made a whole lot less sense than I thought it would

Thus, I will leave you with this video. You should watch it. It makes me cry every time. It's kept me going on some really hard days.

My favorite part is when he says, "Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead."

And...that's a wrap.