Kicking myself

I had my interview this morning at 6:30 am. (You'd think I'd get bonus points for being bright and articulate at that hour at the very least). I think I bombed big time and was kicking myself all the way home with all those "woulda, shoulda, couldas" that swirl through our heads at times like this. What is done is done however and we will be notified in writing later as to whether or not we were successful. It's a relief this long process is finally over, but I so wish I could re-do that last 5 minutes of the interview. At least then I would feel that I had given it my very best shot.

I just keep telling myself that it was good experience and I can reapply in the new year when they run the process again. Doesn't change the fact that I am bitterly disappointed in myself for how things went this morning.

Oh well.

Car ride

Car ride!

Shotgun!

Cleo hated the car at first, but slowly and surely she's getting used to it. Today was her first ride through the carwash - now *that* she found interesting, up on her hind legs looking out the window at all the water cascading down.

Our day at the lake

2007-10-10 Cleo's first visit to the lake.
Run, play, stop, sniff, play some more...

EXTREMELY windy. I'm going for the windswept ears look - it's very "in" this year yanno!

Dog meet Lake...Lake meet Dog...

BIG stick!



She just loves it here!


Dig, dig, dig...

Everything smells so interesting!

Playing at the shore.



Puppy power!!!! (at mach 10)

dig...dig...dig some more!

Checking out the view.

She wants to be a beach bum when she grows up.

Checking out the water's edge.


I can see the Labrador in her is making her a true water lover!! The lake in October though? Brrrrrr!

Cleo!!

Here are a few pics of Miss Cleo taken yesterday - I can't get over how much she has grown in the past three weeks!!

















I love the photos of her with the boy, but now I realise I have none with her myself! I will have to try and get him to take a few of us!

Construction Pics

Well the crew are wrapping up the sewer and water pipe work, according to the workman who came beelining for me at the jobsite yesterday, I had Cleo with me for the ride and she's a total magnet for cute guys!! So hopefully we will see some actual "construction" work being done in the next few weeks!!

Yes! We have fire hydrants!!

PTD

Well I tried to get a few pics of my progress to date. Currently sitting at 72lbs gone and 8lbs more to go to the goal I set myself in January - although personally I think I'll try for another 20lbs after that. Anything after 80lbs however will be a bonus.

Wait for hours, then 4 come along all at once!

Well I seem to be going in spurts on my blogging these days. Nothing for weeks and then bam - 3 or 4 posts at once (kinda like waiting for a bus)...and today's posts will continue in that vein. I have been busy with the camera again. So hang on to your hats ladies and gents, hopefully this wont hurt a bit.

On the "news" front - I finally have an interview date. October 29th at 0630hrs. (Yes folks, that's 6:30 in the freaking morning). Thank heavens I am a morning person. Seventeen of the eighteen candidates made it through the exam process (bunch of smarty pants) so the interviews are scheduled back-to-back over a few days (some apparently into November too!) I am on a week's holls next week over Thanksgiving, so I will sit down then and try to formulate a few responses to anticipated questions using the BEI format. I've even been out and bought myself a new suit for the experience (bargain, sale, and looks fantastic, couldn't resist). So cross your fingers and toes for me for that date.

In other news... quite out of the blue, a week ago last Monday, the boy decided to drop the bombshell that he is thinking of moving out. He'll be 20 in December and I guess he's keen to get out into the big wide world. Needless to say I am beyond words, but he knows the door is always open if he should fall flat on his face and need to come home. The heartbreaking kicker of it all is that my darling Cleo is technically "his" darling Cleo, and will be going with him. Just these few short weeks of having her around and I can't imagine life without her. *sniff* I have assured him however that I am available to doggy-sit whenever he needs me - and if for whatever reason he is unable to keep her, she is to come home here and not be given to strangers.

The current plan is for him to move in with a couple of friends and share a basement apartment not too far from where we are living now. The rent is disgustingly cheap when shared three-ways and the landlords are the parents of one of the aforementioned friends, who reside upstairs. Needless to say this makes the bitter pill of my "baby" leaving the nest a little easier to swallow. Mentally I am already packing spare dishes and plate sets, h'mmm he can take the two love seats from the family room...oh and the coffee table...and... Then I realise that come next spring (assuming all this "moving out" malarkey goes through) when I am ready to move to my new house, I will be moving there alone. That's when the realisation dawns...I've never actually lived on my own ....ever. Cripes!