Throwing Me to the Dogs

I recently finished off one of my notebooks/journals and went to by a couple new, gorgeous ones. I put story ideas, random notes and diary-type stuff in each one I've ever had. Every time I finish one off, it makes me feel like I've accomplished something, so I like them a lot!

Right now, I need all the happy happy joy joy feelings I can get. This last week has left a lot to be desired. In order to accurately describe everything, here's a point system. For every event, I'll give it Insanity Points (IP). If the number hits 50 before I describe the end of the week, it means I've gone insane.


1) Parking Ticket because it was the first day of street cleaning and I didn't realize what this meant. Also, the only way they communicate is through freakin' orange signs that they tie to the trees. You know they totally do it to trick people so they can get money. +10 IP


2) First three days of work shadowing people during the house/pet-sitting job. Lots of stuff to remember during each visit. By the end of every day, my head feels full to bursting. +5


3) Lose phone on Wednesday. It's a Samsung Mesmerize and it was also functioning as my GPS. Now I am lost in Chicago without means of communication. +15 IP


4) Go to USCellular store and get a loner phone. At least I talk to people at work and my roommate, Tina (name changed). -5 IP


5) Try to use Google Maps to get around from visit to visit. Chicago streets are confusing at their best and traffic shaves ten years off my life every time I drive around. Must call people who have a GPS just to get around. +10 IP


6) Driving through graduation traffic. +5 IP


7) Thursday am cut lose to try pet sitting on my own. Can barely remember whose dog belongs to who and what clients' addresses are. +10 IP


8) Set off one client's alarm, alerting ADT and making their neurotic dogs even more neurotic for the duration of that appointment. +5 IP


9) Friday - Lose keys to a brand-new client's apartment. Am forced to root through every nook and cranny of my apartment and my car. Walk up and down my street and client's street. No keys. Client may not be a client now. Business has to pay to get locks change. +20 IP


10) Saturday - Dad comes to bring new dishes and medication (Tylenol PM and heart burn medicine) as well as fanny packs for dog walking. We get a new Garmin (newer model) and he gives me my old Android so I can have a smart phone again. Quality of life instantly better. -15 IP


11) Forget medication in his car after he leaves. +5 IP


What number are we at now? 65?


Uggghhhhh...

A New Life

Hey everybody. So, I've moved to Chicago in the last month after pretty much a split-second decision. I've accepted a job as a dog walker and an English tutor. I would go into details with all this, and I probably will at a later time, but I'm also under a bit of stress right now. I think my cell phone was stolen this evening and I'm so glad that I'm not panicking (if you believe in God, you could probably back my belief that the Holy Ghost has been helping me not panic). I called up USCellular and told them to suspend my number.

All this was after a comprehensive search so I'm not just jumping to conclusions. I am, however, trying to be realistic. My parents will be able to bring me my old Android phone, so I can have all the stuff I used to, just with a smaller screen. Even if somebody picked it up intending not to use it, it would be very difficult getting it back to me.

As for the pet/house sitting job, I'm an independent contractor with a business called Pawlosophy (very cute name!) I take appointments that are approved by the administration and set my own schedule every day within the time frame that the clients supply. I've been shadowing other sitters thus far during my training days as they've gone on their routes, particularly the woman I will be replacing. I've met most of the dogs in my area. Next week, I have an appointment with a cat, but I'll be training for that later. 

Among the dogs in my area, I have a number of Golden Retrievers and Chocolate Labs, a pit-bull mix, a darling (albeit huge) puppy who gets very shy during the rain, a deaf dog, a huge Pointer, and 3 VERY rambunctious dogs that don't even go on a walk, but rather race around their huge basement area. I'm allowed inside all the clients' homes, except for a few people who want to meet me before I go and pet-sit for them. 

Most of the homes I visit are in very high-class neighborhoods (probably since the people living in them are the ones who can afford it) and the houses are big and amazing. Quite a few of the clients have property near Lake Michigan, so I can take their dogs on walks by the beach. I'll take pics of some of the more beautiful sights when I can. If I can take pictures of the dogs, I'll post those too.