Third Annual Doggone Dog Swap

Yep, it's that time again!  I originally started this as a way to gain new followers.  It didn't exactly work out that way but it was fun anyways and I wanted to continue doing it.  I haven't had many participants in years past but hopefully this year will be different.

This isn't a swap for yourself, it's a swap for your dogs!  No, we aren't swapping dogs, although sometimes I wouldn't mind trading mine in, lol!  Basically, you'll each buy toys and/or treats for your swap partner and they'll do the same in return.  You never know what you might get.

The deadline to enter is Wednesday, June 1st which gives you almost 10 days.  Once your swap partner has been chosen, I will email you back from a different email address.

I've listed the ground rules below, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

1.  You can only swap for up to three dogs.  If you have more than three, don't despair.  You can still participate but you'll have to decide which three will join the swap.  I'll do my very best to match you up to someone who has the same number of dogs.

2.  The maximum you can spend before postage is $30.  You don't have to spend that much but you can't spend more than that!

3.  You'll need to let me know when you sent your package and when you get yours.  If I discover that you received one but never sent one out, you'll be outted and blacklisted from participating in the future!

4. You must post about the swap once you receive your package.  I want to see what you got!

5. You have until June 30th to get those packages mailed out.  That gives you one full month to go shopping and to get it in the mail.

6. This is the most important rule - HAVE FUN!!!!!

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please email the following information to me at glitter.sprinkles@gmail.com:
1.  The name(s) of your dog
2.  Male or female
3.  Breed of dog and size (small, medium, large, xlarge)
4.  Is there anything your dog cannot have?
5.  Is there anything in particular that your dog really likes?  Examples of this might be a certain kind of toy or treat.
6.  Your address.  Your information will only be shared with your swap partner.

I didn't specify the first year whether or not people outside of the US could participate and had someone from Canada join in.  It never occurred to me that someone from another country might read about it and want to do it too.  So yes, even if you don't live in the US, you can still do the swap.  You'll likely be partnered up with someone else from outside the US although not necessarily, it all depends on who else decides to take part.

Half Full Friday!

Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eyegirl originally started in June 2009.   We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us.   So by participating, I'm deciding to see the glass as half full instead of half empty; I'm choosing to concentrate on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives.   The Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that.   They're a list of the things in my life that have brought me happiness over the past week.   I'm determined to find something good in each day.   Are you?

For the next week, I'd like to challenge each of you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.

~I'm happy because...

My mom mowed the lawn for me!  In the rain!

I got an A in History!  My final grades for the semester are an A and 3 B's.

I've gotten  to sleep in almost every day this week!

I got a wonderful gift in the mail from the fabulous ~KS earlier this week!

I've started a little bit of spring cleaning!  Very little bit but hey, at least I started!

Shockingly, it didn't rain at all yesterday!

I've received numerous comments from various bloggers saying that Half Full Friday is their favorite post of the week.  If that's the case, why not join in?  I've hosted it for awhile now and the only one who ever joins me is Velvet Over Steel.  There's plenty of room for everyone!  I couldn't add the link this week because I finally upgraded to Internet Explorer 9 yesterday and I'm not impressed with it.  For one thing, it won't accept the HFF link for some reason.  I tried to uninstall the program but I can't even see on my system where it's even been updated.  You know how you can check your updates and stuff?  It's not even listed.  Gotta figure out how to remove it over the weekend.  Not liking IE9 at.all.

Source:  weheartit

So today I'll be volunteering.  I'm kind of curious as to what they'll have me doing.  Usually I just go in on Thursday's but lately they've been telling me they have too many people and don't need me.  Yesterday morning when I spoke to them, the girl said something to the effect of, "But you are coming in tomorrow, right?"  To which I replied, "I wasn't aware I was supposed to but if you need me, I can come in."  They don't typically hand out food on Friday's so I'm wondering why they need volunteers today.  Guess I'll find out in just a little bit.

Tomorrow I have to get up at the crack of dawn and help out with the other organization I volunteer for.  Since I've started school, I've done exactly jack squat for them and feel like I really need to get a move on since the big event is coming up in less than two months so this will be part of my contribution.  Not looking forward to getting up so early but hopefully I'll raise a lot of funds for them.

And then on Sunday probably, I'm thinking of making cupcakes.  Just for something relaxing to do and for something extra fattening to eat.  Because I want to put any weight back on I might have lost walking a zillion and a half miles (one way!) across campus 3x a week for 4 months as quickly as possible!  LOL  And of course, I'll be adding extra sprinkles.  Because everything is better with sprinkles...

Almost Wordless Wednesday

This is mostly what spring has been like so far and we're in for about another 3 weeks of it according to the weather man...

All images courtesy of weheartit

Goodies, goodies, goodies

A few weeks ago, I got my prize in the mail from Amber's live giveaway.  Wanna see what I got?  Well, too bad because I'm gonna show you anyway...

Powder, a makeup brush and concealor.

I love how the mirror and the powder applicator thingie are separated between the powder.

I won this forever ago from Life With Dogs.  It seems like it came just before school started which would've been sometime in early January.

The author autographed it and sent a bookmark and a card with it.

I got this book and the cards above and beside it from Deborah.  She was kind enough to pass the book along to me once she finished it and I'll keep the tradition going.  Now that school is out, I'll actually have a little free time to read.  The cards are from her card company which she started to help raise money for her best friend Penny who is suffering from cancer.

Chico is just as excited about this package from the lovely ~KS as I am!

And now we're doubly excited!  She sent House Rules and Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult, one of my 2 favorite authors.  ~KS spoils me way too much!  I have most of her books but didn't have these two and now I do!

This is the necklace I gave my friend as a graduation present on Saturday.  She majored in psychology.

Half Full Friday!

Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eyegirl originally started in June 2009.  We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us.  So by participating, I'm deciding to see the glass as half full instead of half empty; I'm choosing to concentrate on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives.  The Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that.  They're a list of the things in my life that have brought me happiness over the past week.  I'm determined to find something good in each day.  Are you?

For the next week, I'd like to challenge each of you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.  Be sure to link up here once you've posted your list!  (This isn't a blog hop so please only link up if you've participated by posting your happy list.  Thanks!)

~I'm happy because...

Blogger is finally back up!

I made it through the semester!

I got B's in my Psych, Government and Theatre class!  Still waiting on my History grade.

My History professor agreed to accept my report!  And she said I was a joy to have in class!

I'm going to my friend's graduation party tomorrow!

Another friend from school sent me a really sweet email at the end of the semester!
 
I got my free BBW stuff for the month yesterday!
 
I got a book and cards in the mail from Deborah!  I'll show them off next week, along with some other goodies I was lucky enough to receive.
 
I'm a little ticked at my Theatre grade.  We had to write 2 reviews.  I got an 86% on the first one and admittedly, put very little work into it.  The second one I'd worked on for several days and was quite pleased with it when I turned it in.  I got the same exact grade as on the first one!  I really felt like I deserved an A on it.  I got a high C on the final because I didn't really study for it.  It was an easy class so I chose to put my focus on other classes instead.  But the important thing is just that I passed!
 
Once I got back into town yesterday from taking my Psych final, I went over to my parent's house and from there, we all drove over to the vet's office.  They had a very old beagle named Angel and my father decided it was time to put her down.  She hadn't been doing well and he felt it was in her best interest.  She sat in the back with me and immediately peed on the seat as soon as my dad closed the door.  I didn't say anything to anyone about it though because I didn't want her to get yelled at in her last few minutes of life.  She cuddled with me on the way there and I kept telling her how much I loved her.  It was so hard to let her go.  We think she was about 15-16 years old.  My parents are having her cremated. 
 
The worst part of it all was when we returned home.  My parents have a young beagle and he was extremely upset that we didn't bring Angel back with us.  He just howled and howled and wouldn't let anyone comfort him.  I felt soooooo bad for him; Angel has always been there his whole life and he's lost without her. 

RIP, my sweet Angel

MIA

Yes, I'm still alive for anyone that might have been wondering...

This is finals week so last week was filled with last minute homework and this week has been focused on studying for finals.  I've done very little else and am so ready for it to all be over with for a little while.

I was going to do my Half Full Friday post last Friday after I got back from class since it was a short day.  Unfortunately, I had a really, really bad day with several things going wrong and by the time I got home, I just wasn't in the mood.  It's supposed to be a positive post and I was afraid my negativity would rub off so I decided to forgo it.

One of the things that happened is that because it was the last day, two of my classes had been canceled so I didn't bring my book bag and just grabbed a folder out of it.  My history professor has strongly stressed since Day 1 that we must do every single assignment in order to pass the class and that our final report was due at 10:30 AM Friday, NO EXCEPTIONS!  Late papers would not be accepted.  I grabbed the wrong folder and by the time I realized it, it was too late to go back home for it.  There wouldn't have been time to have anyone bring it to me because my friends would've been at work plus none of them have my house key.  If I'd have called my parents, I'd have gotten a 20 minute lecture on how irresponsible I am and I seriously doubt they would've made it on time anyways.  It's a 45 minute drive from my house to the university.

My professor is recovering from surgery so her husband has been substituting in her place.  We haven't actually been doing anything the last two weeks anyways other than oral presentation in front of the class so I guess the school doesn't care that he doesn't have a teaching degree?!  Anyways, I talked to her hubs and explained my dilemma.  He told me to email it to my professor as soon as I got home so I did.  I haven't heard a word from her so I still don't know if she accepted it or not.  I hope so because I have a B in her class and would hate for all that hard work to be for nothing.  We had a take home final and I was hesitant to even work on it because I don't want to put time into it only to be told I was going to fail since my report wasn't in.  I figured I'd still go ahead and do it though because I didn't want to find out at the last minute that she did accept it and my final wasn't done.  Got the multiple choice section completed, now I just have to pound out the essay portion. 

I told my mom about it and she told me that I have no one else to blame but myself.  True, but that's the last thing I wanted to hear after such a s#$%& day. 

We go in tomorrow to drop off our finals, then we have to have one final discussion on history.  Ugh, soooooo not looking forward to that!  It's going to be painful to have to sit there and listen to a lecture on the very last day when alls I really want to do is to drop off my test and go home!

Then Thursday is my Psych final and I am DONE!!! 

Flat George, Part II

More adventures with Flat George!  These were all taken last Wednesday, the only decent weather day of the week.  I was going to try and get some more shots on Friday but the wind was blowing and cold and a little wet and all I wanted to do was just go home and curl up with the chi's.  I'm thinking maybe next semester we'll do another post and get some shots of things around campus that I missed on Friday.  There's definitely more I would have liked to have shown you.

Tiptoeing through the tulips

Checking the flyers on the bulletin board

The Wishing Tree - click to enlarge

The Wishing Tree

Helping me study for the Psych final

Half Full Friday

Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eyegirl originally started in June 2009.  We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us.  So by participating, I'm deciding to see the glass as half full instead of half empty; I'm choosing to concentrate on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives.  The Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that.  They're a list of the things in my life that have brought me happiness over the past week.  I'm determined to find something good in each day.  Are you?

For the next week, I'd like to challenge each of you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.  Be sure to link up here once you've posted your list!  (This isn't a blog hop so please only link up if you've participated by posting your happy list.  Thanks!)

~I'm happy because...

I had a fun time at the BBQ last weekend!

I got lots of chocolate for Easter!  One can never have too much chocolate!

My dad seemed to really like his birthday present!

My neighbor mowed the front yard for me!

The Kick-Off for one of the committee's I volunteer on went really well last night!

I got the prize I won from Amber's live giveaway!

Next week is the last full week of classes.  I'm excited for summer but also really sad.  I had a really good first semester and I'm not ready to let go of it.  Everything must come to an end though and when it does, a new door opens.  For me, that door will be summer!  If we get one, that is!  This spring has mostly been cold and wet with a few days of warmth here and there.  I look at pictures like these...

Source:  weheartit

Source:  weheartit

...and I'm so jealous that I can't be there, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine.  Summer'll come though, I just have to be patient.  And get through finals.  When summer comes, it'll be all about the chi's.  And alcohol.  And reading for pleasure instead of for an assignment.  And sleeping in every day.  And, and, and...

Source:  weheartit

Wordless Wednesday

Shiver is obsessesed with his tennis balls!

Chico's favorite relaxing place

He's winking at ya!

My baby boy

Rainy Monday with Flat George

I purposely waited to post until I came home this afternoon so that I could show you my adventures with Flat George.  Only...

Mother Nature seems to be slightly confused.  We've had a few warm days but now it's just getting colder.  It rained heavily all day with thunder, lightning, snow and hail so we couldn't get any outside shots.  It's supposed to be like this all week but I'm holding out hope that it dries up one day so we can get some good shots outside.  There's a wishing tree that I wanted to show FG, plus a few other spots around campus.

Inside, I got some pix but my camera ran out of memory.  I'm gonna have to read the manual, I guess.  My memory card holds up to 500 pictures so I thought I could take that many at one time.  Apparently not. 

And then my computer and I got into a shouting match and are no longer on speaking terms again.  Stupid computers - can't live 'em and can't live without 'em! 

I'll post the pix I got today and come back with some more next Monday.  And then on Wednesday, I'll post pix of my baby boys. 

Here's Flat George waiting for Theatre class to begin.

Flat George is enjoying learning all about National American Government.  This is the only class I bring books to. Poor FG lost his tail.

George and I were bored in History class.

Here we are sitting on the bench waiting for Psych class to begin.

Here's FG hanging out on the Psych white board.

Here's FG checking out the vending machine in between classes.  He wanted a treat but everything in there costs $1 or more so we didn't buy anything.

I realize these pictures aren't overly exciting so I promise to do better with the outside shots. 

Half Full Friday

Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eyegirl originally started in June 2009.  We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us.  So by participating, I'm deciding to see the glass as half full instead of half empty; I'm choosing to concentrate on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives.  The Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that.  They're a list of the things in my life that have brought me happiness over the past week.  I'm determined to find something good in each day.  Are you?

For the next week, I'd like to challenge each of you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.  Be sure to link up here once you've posted your list!  (This isn't a blog hop so please only link up if you've participated by posting your happy list.  Thanks!)

~I'm happy because...

I got my computer fixed!

The class talked my History professor into giving us a take home final!

I only have one class today!

I got my camera fixed under warranty and finally got it back today!  It's charging now.  I'll try to get some pix of my boys over the weekend and Flat George will be coming to school with me on Monday!

I registered for the fall semester yesterday!

One of my good friends invited me to her graduation party!  I'm excited for her but bummed that I won't get to bump into her on campus anymore.

I got two reports done this week so now I can focus on the really big one!

I'm going to a BBQ tomorrow and now I can go without guilt since I got two reports out of the way!

My brother invited me to his wedding!  This is really big because he didn't want anything to do with my family for a long time.

Source:  weheartit

I'm just wondering if anyone knows how Dip-Dip and the Bridge and Elliot too are doing?  Lynne took her blog private (as did Martine at I Need a Sugar Fix) and I miss them.  If you talk to Lynne or Martine, please tell them I said hello.  Thanks!
 
Any big plans for Easter for those that celebrate?  I'll be having dinner at my parent's house as I do every Sunday.  And then Monday is my dad's birthday so I'll head back over there for a little while in the evening.

Source:  weheartit

I love me some Peeps!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!

Did you miss me?  Because I missed you all! 

I got my computer fixed over the weekend and then had to catch up with all the homework I'd put off.  Well, didn't catch up all but most of it.  Only 3 more weeks left of school and the homework is just flying in -- more than usual. 

I can't decide if I'm happy or sad about the semester ending.  I'm happy because I'll finally have free time to do what I want to do and not having to worry about falling behind if I'm not doing homework every free minute.  But then I'm also sad because I've made some good friends this semester and I might not see them anymore once classes are over.  Hopefully we'll have classes again in the future. 

Wordful Wednesday

My computer and I are no longer on speaking terms!  It decided at the worst possible moment to quit working.  Well, it still works but on its terms and not on mine.  Sooooo....that's why I've been MIA. 

Hope to be back regularly soon.  Miss you all!

Wordless Wednesday

Back to the Real World...

Source:  weheartit

Spring break is over.  WAAAH!  I sooooooo loved sleeping in every single day!  I did that for an entire year while I looked for work but didn't appreciate it nearly as much as I did this past week.  I'm going to miss spending so much time with the chi's!  I know they'll miss it too, they were all over me all week long, just wanting to play all day and cuddle all night.  I didn't really miss school at all, I think because I had so many assignments to work on that it felt like I was still in school.  It'll be nice to see my friends again today though.

It was a pretty productive week, overall.  I got all my mountains of homework done (except for working on the big report for history but it's not due yet), opened a savings account, got a haircut, got caught up on housework, figured out where to send my camera to get it fixed under warranty (I'll be sending it in this afternoon) and caught up with almost all of my online friends!  Blogger is no longer my bff these days because one minute I could comment and the next, I couldn't.  I promise I really did visit almost all y'all though!

Source:  weheartit

Last Friday was my mom's birthday.  We'd planned to spend the day at the zoo and the art museum but sadly, neither of those things happened.  We got there and after driving around for forever and a day, we decided maybe it wasn't the best idea.  There was absolutely no place to park and the line for the zoo was outrageous!  The zoo and the museum share a parking lot since they're just a short walk apart.  So we went shopping instead.  Not quite as much fun but all in all, not a bad day.  Afterwards, we went out to dinner and then home for angel food cake covered in strawberries and whipped cream.

A few weeks back, I finally got around to doing my Paw It Forward.  Katie was the lucky recipient and she recently posted about all the goodies she received.  If anyone wants to see what she got, click here.

Half Full Friday!

Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eyegirl originally started in June 2009.  We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us.  So by participating, I'm deciding to see the glass as half full instead of half empty; I'm choosing to concentrate on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives.  The Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that.  They're a list of the things in my life that have brought me happiness over the past week.  I'm determined to find something good in each day.  Are you?

For the next week, I'd like to challenge each of you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.  Be sure to link up here once you've posted your list!  (This isn't a blog hop so please only link up if you've participated by posting your happy list.  Thanks!)

~I'm happy because...

I've had a whole week off for Spring Break!

I got lots of quality time in with the chi's this week!  I didn't realize how much I miss being able to spend so much time with them.

I've gotten around to visiting almost all of you this week!  If I haven't stopped by yet, I will!

The weather was beautiful yesterday and today!  We won't talk about the rest of the week.

I found out on Friday that I got an A on my government test!  I was so excited because the other two tests I've only gotten C's on, even though I studied for them.

I got my haircut yesterday!

I won Mark makeup from Amber's Live Giveaway! 

My mom's birthday is today!  We're celebrating by spending the day at the zoo and possibly the museum!

Source:  weheartit

A good portion of my week has been spent finishing up homework.  I might as well have been attending class for as much homework as I've had to do.  I had at least 2 lengthy assignments for each class except government.  My professor said he'd post the new assignment on the website but I've been checking every day and it still isn't there.  So it looks like I'll be spending the weekend working on it. 

Source:  weheartit

I met with an advisor last Friday.  I didn't realize it when I made the appointment since someone else had given me the phone number but I ended up talking with a woman in the Career Center.  Not exactly what I was looking for but it was still helpful.  She gave me some paperwork to review which lists various careers that you can do with different majors.  The woman also gave me a couple of links she thought I might find helpful.  They're for three different tests you can do that'll kind of give you an idea of what kind of career might suit you best.  I haven't taken them yet, there's a charge for two of them.  She also said she could set up a job shadow if I was interested.  I told her I'd love that so she said she'd email me the information.  When she sent it, she said the woman agreed to do an informational interview with me and she included a link for questions that might be beneficial for me to ask.  WTF?!  I thought I was going to be doing a job shadow?  There was an issue with the phone number so I had to email the woman.  Because of the phone number issue, she thought it would be best if I emailed her my questions so I came up with about 15-20 and brought up the possiblity of doing a job shadow.  Waiting back now to find out if that's something that I can do.  A job might sound great in theory and/or on paper but actually doing the job can be a totally different experience!  And I'd want to know what I was getting into in advance.  Most jobs you aren't that lucky enough to do that before you start so I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity now while I can.

Source:  weheartit