It's been a while

Whoops, I lost track of time and have been hibernating.  But Spring is soon here, yay!

I have some exciting fundraising updates for you... according to the gogetfunding.com site, I have $2,470 raised!  But better news is that I’ve received donations from people who prefer not to give online and that brings the total to $4,175!!  And the best news is that over $400 came in from the fundraiser that was held at Folklore Coffee Company a few Sundays ago!  That is 60% of my goal (and 83.5% of the required $5K to give back to UDS)- sorry, that was the Budget Analyst in me. 

 

We have been going all over the place lately- CVS, Ciro’s (the Sicilian old lady mama chef even came out to see him), Central Market, Mommalicious, Garden Spot Furniture, Café Chocolate, Tomato Pie Café, the bank (where he already knows that they give me a treat for him!) and church...I am probably missing a few, but there are too many places we go! 

While at work Charlie sleeps under my desk on a big bath mat/carpet thing (and occasionally snores and barks in his sleep).  We go on bathroom breaks and then I run him on the sidewalk around Binn’s Park in the city (I work in the building that sits around the park).  During lunch we go around quite a few blocks at full wheelchair speed- almost 5 mph!  People bounce right out of our way if we go fast and it’s less opportunity for them to reach out and touch him!

Charlie is turning 3 in 11 days!  And in 23 days I am closing on my first house... surreal!  I can’t wait to get in there and put a fence up for Charlie and his friends to play in.  There a a few things to be done before I move in- one of them is building a ramp and walkway so I can get in the house in my power chair (or building a shed to store it in at night)... so if you know anyone, shoot me an email with their info so I can start getting some bids!

1/29-2/5 Update

We made it through the week!  We had some tough moments, too.  Monday’s snow early in the morning was not a fun time- we ended up waiting for the bus for an hour in that snow.  I tried holding my umbrella over Charlie and me but it was nearly impossible and he ended up soaking wet.   Once we got on the bus he dried off a bit, but the floor was all wet from everyone else bringing in the snow.  Thankfully, we arrived to work in one piece (despite the hour long ride) and Charlie curled right up on his mat under my desk where he fell asleep soundly.  He likes it under there because I catch him snoring and dreaming (legs twitching, quiet noises- as if he were chasing a squirrel or something)! 

The rest of Monday was nice and warm until we had to go back outside.  We left work early because I had a meeting at TABOR- about 4 long blocks from where I work in the old Armstrong building on Queen St.  Unfortunately, halfway through block one it started to rain- freezing rain (which then made the sidewalks extremely slippery).  Charlie was slipping and my wheelchair was sliding!  Not fun at all.  Then, when we got to the building we had to wait for someone to let us in the handicap accessible entrance, but I went to the wrong one so we ended up waiting 15 minutes outside this building in the freezing rain.

The rest of the week was uneventful (thankfully) minus Tuesday's crazy rain storm... I was able to get home a bit early and avoid the downpour.  We stayed low for the rest of the week as we are still adjusting and therefore exhausted by the time we get home each night.  We did work on a few commands and Charlie was able to "tug" off my boots as well as "hold" and "carry" a plastic bag with various things in it to weigh it down (I am working on getting him to be able to carry my lunch bag for me).  

Saturday we took a trip into Philly to pick up a beautiful leather chair at West Elm.  Charlie did so well in the van, slept the whole way there and back!  It was difficult once we parked and had to walk to the store because there were so many smells and sounds.  We are working on no pulling while walking and that morning was surely a challenge.  Later that evening we joined a few from the UDS gang and went to the Hershey Bears Game to man the table where we sell dog treats and calendars and people come to visit the dogs.  It's always a fun time to see Charlie's fan club!  

Sunday we went to church and there was absolutely no whining during the service!  That was awesome.  After that we headed to Cafe Chocolate in Lititz because I had to take some photos for a class and Charlie did a great job just laying there and watching me as I did my thing.  

Monday night we went to UDS training and got to see everyone.  Charlie had a rough time going into the room because he was so anxious.  But, once we were in he settled nicely and worked hard the rest of the time.  It was one of the dog's birthday, so to celebrate each dog received a nice treat- frozen yogurt... Charlie was literally drooling over that thing!

Charlie is popular at work already- all the Deputies love seeing him as we go in and out.  Today we had our first meeting together with all the staff in my department.  He slept the majority of it!  Lucky.