Successes!

I don't know what my deal has been with this whole blogging thing lately. Things just haven't seemed exciting, I guess. Big things have happened, though. Some high points:

• My review was last week at work. It went well. My raise was good. I had let myself get my hopes up about the whole promotion thing until early last week, when I learned in a conversation with my boss that there are absolutely no positions open in what I'm wanting to do next. If such a position does open up, she'll let me know so I can apply for it. In the meantime, I'll be helping out a few different groups in that area, so I'll just be building more and more valuable experience for when that job does come open.
• My brother got an awesome promotion. (He works for NA.SCAR, remember?) He'll get to travel with the team he works for to pretty much all the races now. He actually kind of got two promotions in one, and the cool thing is that both will allow him to work on pit crews as well, which he really enjoys and wants to do more of. I'm so proud of him and excited for him!
• K and I had success with the webcams Saturday! The picture was a bit delayed and would freeze for a few moments sometimes, but we were both able to see and hear each other much better than in our previous attempts. Thank you, Y@hoo messenger!

Last Thursday morning, I sent K the most awesome care package ever. It was the second part of his Valentine's Day care package. I sent the first part out last week, and it included some homemade peanut butter cookies (a new recipe!) and a photo calendar, which I always get K for Valentine's Day. I also got him P!rates of the Caribbean 3, since he would have bought it if he were here (yes, I know it's been out several weeks, but I kept putting off buying it because I thought P!rates 2 was so disappointing).

For the package last week, I made him a photo greeting card. I wrote my own little message to go inside, and I got the talking card so I was able to record an extra message on that. I know he's going to love the card, so I'm excited for him to get it. I'm pretty proud of it. It turned out great.

I sent him lots of Reese's, since they're his favorite, and I bought him some new pillow cases, washed them and sprayed them with his favorite scent that I wear. I also burned him a CD with a lot of the current popular music that I don't think he heard before he left, in addition to a couple songs that weren't so new but I thought he might like and not be familiar with. I wrote him a nice, long letter about why I chose each song on the CD, since I'd just written him a huge email telling him everything I'd have said in the letter. I put red tissue paper and Valentine's patterned tissue paper in the box to add the extra bit of care. I'm really excited for him to get the package!

When I spoke to K today on the webcam, he showed me the tupperware container I'd sent the entire batch of peanut butter cookies in. There were only three left, and he said he'd only had them for a day. Guess I'll be making more of those!

The weather was gorgeous this weekend! Yesterday, I was a complete bum, although I did get some cleaning done around my apartment. Today, I went to church, ran a couple errands and then took Piper for a 2-mile walk at a park not far from my apartment. She did so well!

She used to be kind of racist. She always managed to bark at blacks and Mexicans. I have no idea why, but thank goodness, she got over that several months ago. She's always barked at kids, though. Even if they're 11 or 12, she's scared of them. I don't know what the deal is. She also doesn't like it when people she doesn't know run or ride scooters or bikes near her.

I didn't know what to expect taking her to such a busy park that I knew would be filled with plenty of families, young children, other dogs, joggers, and runners, and people on skates, bikes and scooters. I tried to be optimistic, but I prepared myself for the possibility that I'd have to leave soon after arriving if Piper didn't seem to take to the whole thing well.

She pleasantly surprised me! We walked all around the park. We passed running children, crying babies, skating kids and even kids who stopped to pet her. She did great through all of it. There was one time she started giving low barks to a little girl who was walking with her two parents. I immediately got in Piper's space, put my hand over her muzzle and told her to hush. And she did. I'm thinking now that the weather is getting better, I'll take her there more often so she'll get more exposure to the world around her and not be so reactive to people she doesn't know.

Tonight, I went to the gym. We're doing this tough circuit that is exhausting. We did chest and back, and I seriously feel like my arms are going to fall off. It was a good workout, though, and a good way to end the weekend.

In an effort to make it to bed before midnight, I'll close with this oh-so-funny comment from K during a webcam attempt this afternoon. For some reason, the microphone on my webcam wasn't working. K and I were trying to figure out what the problem was. I typed on the messenger, "You can see me, but you can't hear me." His response: "I know. It's the perfect marriage."