Let’s play a game!!

TRUE or FALSE: 

This is a service dog.

?

(The correct answer can be found at the end of this post)

I had an hour lunch break at work today, so Andrew brought Luna and we went to eat at the Subway that is next to the library.  As we approach the door, the employee is waving us down to not come in.  When we open the door, this is the conversation that followed.

Employee: You can’t bring dogs in here!

Andrew and me: It’s a service dog.

Employee: It’s a service dog?

Andrew and me:  Yes.

Employee (with raised eyebrow): For who?

I point to myself.

Employee (rudely): Oh…you’re blind?

I direct her to Luna’s BRIGHT ORANGE VEST that is prominently on the center of her back, where the words HEARING DOG are clearly stitched.

Employee: Oh. It’s a hearing dog?

Andrew and me: Yes.

Employee: (BIG SIGH) Well…I’ll let you in this time.

Me: Um, no ma’am, you’ll let me in every time, as well as anyone else with a service dog, or we’ll bring ADA against you. *smile*

Employee: (pause) Well.  Yes.  You could do that.

Needless to say, I got her name.

After the other employee apologized profusely and gave us a discount, I filled out a comment card (more like a complaint card) and made sure the first employee wouldn’t be able to find it and throw it away (even though she had already left for the day).

Point #1:
Luna is a dark dog with a bright orange vest.  It’s very easy to spot.  Notice the picture above.

Point #2:
Many people who aren’t blind have service dogs.  Besides the fact that it is RUDE to ask someone if they are blind, or in any other way ask why they have a service dog, it is also against the law.

Point #3:
Who has the audacity to say “Well, I’ll let you in THIS time” ??

*EXASPERATED GRUNT*

Andrew thinks we should have left just so we could have sued them and possibly gotten free Subway for the rest of our lives.
I now think we should take Luna in there every single day just to prove a point.

A Friendly Note to all fast food restaurant owners and managers:

Please review current ADA laws, particularly those regarding service animals.
Then take the time to educate your employees on those laws, possibly including a test or some other form of assessment, just to be sure it sunk in.
And during the process, it might be nice to review some points of common courtesy.  It might limit the amount of complaint cards from disgruntled customers as well as limit the risk of law suits from ADA violations!  It’s a WIN/WIN!!

Sigh.  Rant over.

PS: The answer to the question at the beginning of this post is TRUE.  BUT! Believe it or not, it’s not true just because of the bright orange vest prominently displayed on the back of the dark dog.  It’s true because I said it’s a service dog.  Conversation ends there.  Thanks!

Okay.  Now rant is REALLY over.

I fully intended to write this blog a month ago on June 13th, but that week ended up being crazy busy.  I then fully intended to write it last week on July 13th, but we don’t have our own internet and are “borrowing” from someone else’s and therefore we haven’t had enough internet for me to upload pictures and blog.  So, instead you get my reflections on two months of marriage a few days late.

2 months (and a few days) ago, this is what I was doing:

Finally ready!

Then I waited and waited at the aquarium:

The whole day was definitely everything I wanted it to be, and more.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Quillen!

It’s so hard to believe it has already been 2 months!  We had a wonderful honeymoon in the Domincan Republic:

And then started a whirlwind summer!  We set up our apartment…

And I started 2 jobs – a summer school Special Education Assistant (working with the same student I had during the school year) and as an Associate at the Library!

We’ve been overwhelmed with generous gifts.

We’ve made new friends.

We’ve learned more about ourselves and how to adjust habits and expectations so that we can grow together and love each other better.

We’ve made a few mistakes, had some harsh words and hurt feelings, but we’ve come out closer because of it and know better how to handle such things in the future.

There has been so much love and laughter in the last two months.  I can’t imagine life any different.

The thing that surprised me most at first was how different marriage DIDN’T feel.  Someone said “I now pronounce you husband and wife”, we signed a marriage license, and headed off on a honeymoon with only ONE room and ONE bed!  It felt like we were doing something wrong!  We hadn’t changed, so it felt like our routine of saying goodnight and going our separate ways shouldn’t change either!  We had to keep telling each other, “No, this is okay now!  We’re MARRIED!”

The hardest part I think has been finally making some couple friends, really good friends, and then having them move away.  One is a deaf couple who are engaged and will be married in October.  The girl used to live here in Greeley (she and I worked together).  Her fiance would often come visit here and we would hang out for movie nights or frisbee golf dates.  She has since moved up to where he lives, so we don’t see them much anymore.  
Another is a friend of Andrew’s from bowling who got married about a year ago.  We have a lot in common and have really enjoyed hanging out at each other’s places ad going on double dates.  The wife, though, just recently lost her job, so they will both be moving out of state in a couple weeks.

My favorite part of the last 2 months has been settling into our apartment, turning it into a home, and becoming a little family with us and Luna.  We have gotten some wonderful gifts that have made the place homey, and we’ve had such fun cooking and baking together – especially making homemade ice cream!  And now the part about not leaving each other at night to go to our separate places (which was so awkward at first) has now become the best and most comfortable part.

It’s just been a crazy new fun adventure, and we’re enjoying every minute of it.  2 months down, many more to go!

As I’m in the process of moving things from my current housing over to the new apartment, many things have disappeared from my room, and the rest is all getting put in boxes stashed in the corner of the room.  This has left a huge chunk of my floor empty and free for Luna to stretch out to her heart’s content.  We moved her crate already over to the new place, but her bedding is still in the same place, and that’s usually where she spends the night and her naptimes.

This afternoon we decided it was a good time to take a nap.  I was in my bed, and she was in her “bed” corner.  An hour later I woke up and was shocked to find Luna nowhere!! She wasn’t on her blankets, she wasnt by the door, she wasn’t anywhere on the open floor – and the door was shut!  I know she has some Houdini tendencies – she’s magically gotten herself out of her service vest, and even out of her seatbelt, but she has NEVER gotten through a closed door!  I was just about to call out for her and check the rest of the house, when I found her.  She was curled up in the corner of my CLOSET!  To get to this place she climbed between 4 or 5 boxes and over 10 or so library books to squish herself next to my laundry basket. 

This is where she could have stretched out – look at all that room!

But no, she curled up in this tiny little space.  Guess I know she’s not claustrophobic!  Hope she doesn’t get attached to this little nook because before too long she won’t have it anymore!  I’ll have to remember to check the closet in the new apartment if I ever can’t find her!

Looney Luna.  Silly dog.

I recently got an email from The Stitchery that said “It’s the perfect time to start a new project!!”

Silly Stitchery.  Don’t they know I’m already in the middle of a project, I’ve got at least two more lined up after that, and that I’m getting married in just over a week?? Now is NOT the perfect time to start a new project!

Sorry, Stitchery.  I just can’t cave in this time, despite the wonderful sales you are having for Spring.  Maybe next time.

I can’t believe it is May already!!  Where did April go?  I blinked and suddenly there are only 11 days til the wedding.  Now if I could only blink again and it BE the wedding… *blink*…*blink*…*blinkblink*…  No such luck.  Last week the students at work and I were talking about how my name will change in two weeks and the teacher stopped suddenly and said, “TWO WEEKS?? When did THAT happen?!”  It’s certainly an exciting time.

This weekend was a busy one for us.  On Saturday we were able to start moving in to the new apartment.  Because May 1st was a Sunday, the apartment complex let us get our keys on Saturday, and because Andrew needed to be out of his place by May 1st, it was such a blessing to have that extra day.
Andrew had to work until 3pm, so I got started bright and early and did as much as I could alone.  I set up the kitchen, the bathroom, part of the living room, and built a piece of furniture for our TV to sit on.  When Andrew got off work, we borrowed a friend’s truck and moved all the big furniture and heavy things.

Sunday we kept right at it after church and were able to get all of Andrew’s stuff and probably 50% of my stuff.  Fortunately I can leave a lot of things at my current place and slowly move them over throughout June.  I keep panicking that I’m going to forget something majorly important and then I remember that I have until June to get it all, and it’s only 10 minutes away if there is something I desperately need after we’re married.
It has been so much fun to set stuff up and figure out where we wanted everything.  We kept reminding ourselves to really enjoy it because it will probably never again be this much fun to move.    The place is a perfect cute little size and is really starting to look like “us” (for example, Andrew’s big screen TV complete with Play Station and Xbox, right across the room from a cute little reading nook for me!)  We’ve agreed so well on colors, placement of things, and even air freshener scents, which was a nice surprise because I’ve heard a lot about how new couples often have a hard time finding compromises for things like that.
And interspersed throughout the day we read this week’s chapter for our Marriage Mentoring book (Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts by Les and Leslie Parrott) about Cultivating the Habit of Happiness, which was nice too.

The church Andrew and I have been attending has a Marriage Mentoring program, rather than typical Marriage Counseling by a pastor.  After we filled out a series of questionnaires, the program leaders paired us with a couple.  The couples have all been married at least 10 years and only work with one new couple at a time.  Our couple (Rachel and Bart) has been married for about 15 years and they have 2 kids.  We meet with them about 7 times total and go through the book together, one chapter a meeting.  It has been really wonderful to go through to the book with them and have very real, open, and practical talks.  Because our wedding is so soon, we will continue to meet with them 3 or so times after we’re married, which I expect will be very beneficial.  The book and accompanying workbooks have been very good for us, bring up things we never would have thought to talk about.

Pictures of the apartment will come soon (I know my mom is eager!), but we bought a fantastic over-sized loveseat for an amazing price at Goodwill, and it is currently sitting in a friend’s garage about an hour and a half away.  Andrew’s brother and his wife will bring it to us this weekend (they are coming to join us for this fun event!!) and once that is in place I’ll take pictures .  Right now it looks a little odd with just pillows on the floor.  Once we get it all set up cute, I’ll be proud to show it off!

So that’s all my big news for right now!  More to come soon!

And just to close with something cute:

This morning my 14 1/2 year old beagle, Minuette, had to be put down.

She was very old, and she was very sick. I know it was the best decision, but I’ll admit I’m incredibly sad. I wish I had been there with her last night, and had a chance to say goodbye.

She wasn’t the BEST of dogs – we didn’t know then what we know now about obedience training, but she was my best friend for a very long time. I got her when I was 10 years old as a result of forcing my mom to keep a promise she had made to me years before (that I’m sure she thought I’d forgotten!)

I remember going to pick her up, this tiny little thing, my favorite out of the whole litter. We had spent such a long time picking out names, and Minuette suited her. We bundled her up in a little blanket with sheep on it, and put her in a basket, and on the drive home the poor little thing got VERY car sick.

When I was losing my hearing, and dealing with migraines and TMJ and teenage angst all at the same time, she was my companion. I lost a lot of friends, and she would hang out with me, and play with me, and listen to everything I needed to say and would lick tears off my face. One year in high school when I was very sick for a very long time, she curled up on the couch and watched whatever I wanted to on TV with me.

She protected our house from everything that thought of moving around it, by barking ferociously at anything suspicious from chipmunks, to mailmen, to visitors and family. She made our house a landmark on the street.

She HATED the snow, especially when it was taller than she was!

And she had a favorite chair. Here she is recuperating.

These aren’t the best photos of her, but they are the only ones I have on this computer.

She lived a long life, and because I’ve been away so much towards the end of her life, I mostly only have good memories of her. I’ve never lost a pet before, so this is a new type of grief for me, but I’m getting through it. Luna and Andrew have been so helpful and understanding. This is a new type of Crisis of Life, which requires a new type of Crisis of Life project:

Rainbow Bunny Free Pattern

It’s so bright and cheerful, I figure it can’t do anything but make me perkier. I’ve been saving this pattern for a long time, and now just seems like the right time to make it.

I love you Minuette, and I’m glad you’re not in pain anymore. I miss you more than I thought I would, even from this far away.

I have decided that it is an absolute miracle that anyone in the word actually gets married.  By that, I mean that it is a miracle that any wedding actually gets planned and completed.  Kudos to the men and women who make their livings planning weddings, and hats off to all the people who have successfully gotten married.  Between guest lists, family grumblings, flower options, shoe crises, alterations, and details details details – I don’t know how they do it!  I certainly don’t want to have to have to plan any more than this one!

I’m just trying to remember (and remind!) that this is mine and Andrew’s wedding – no one else’s.  I don’t have to make everyone else in the world happy, although I do dread hurting anyone’s feelings.  Maybe not all of our decisions were the best ones, but they are what we want and we just have to pray that people will respect that, know that we had the very best of intentions, and simply be happy for us so that we can be happy.

I now understand why eloping is such a popular option!  Absolutely no one gets invited, so no one feels left out because EVERYONE was left out, there are no decisions to make, flowers don’t matter, any dress and shoes will do, and it’s legal and most likely memorable.  The best of all worlds!  Unfortunately the time for eloping has passed us.

Now, I’m just venting here.  I know that it will be a special day, and that it will be a beautiful day, and that all our family and friends love us and want us to be happy.  The thing is, it ultimately won’t matter where it was, or who was there, or what music was played or not played.  What will matter, and what is really the most important thing, will be creating a beautiful MARRIAGE that will last a lifetime.  And it WILL last a lifetime because goodness knows I’m never going through this again!

At least I’ll have shoes to wear

The next stage of my pity party is pain-related.  I have a kidney stone .  It happens every once in a while to me – I’ve had about 4 or 5 in the last 4 years.  It’s a vicious cycle in my life, because I get very sick if I don’t get enough calcium.  So, I intake a LOT of calcium, but that tends to create kidney stones with the chemical composition of calcium.  The pain is usually something I can handle with the help of pain meds – and it tends to come in waves, which gives me periods of rest.  Fortunately it is the weekend and I haven’t had to do much.  I’m very much hoping I can pass it before work, though, because staying in one position for too long usually gets uncomfortable quickly .  It is moving though, which is nice to know, even though it hurts.

The final stage of the pity party is for Luna.  She recently backslid in some of her obedience training.  We had two incidents where she decided that she didn’t want to walk by a neutral dog without reacting.  The first time I do somewhat blame on the other dog – I don’t think it was a truly trained service dog.  We were in B&N and Luna was relaxing under our table, when a woman in a wheelchair came in with her service dog.  The dog did not have a vest or anything, and when it saw us, it started approaching us, which is really a no-no in service dog world.  It startled me, and it startled Luna, and Luna started barking.  We immediately took her out and everything calmed down and was fine, but it still was not a good thing to have happened.  Then a second time we were in Denver and walking around, and other people were walking their dogs, all of which were perfectly well behaved dogs that had absolutely no interest in Luna.  These were very neutral dogs, just like we practiced OVER AND OVER in training.  But Luna was far from a neutral dog.  She was pulling on the leash, being almost vocal, ignoring all my commands. 

So, the Gentle Leader has come back into our lives.  It is a harness type thing that goes over the dogs mouth and clips behind their head, and the leash attaches to a piece that hangs down under the dog’s chin.  It provides the ability to quickly turn the dog’s head to remove their eyes from the stressful situation which is normally a significant part of the problem, and to lead them quickly way in an opposite direction.  Early in our training Luna needed the Gentle Leader (as do many dogs) and it was a great benefit.  It helped her walking next to me, it helped her ignore squirrels, and it helped teach her to be calmer around other dogs that made her nervous.  It also gave me much more control.  She has not needed it for a very long time, but now, when we go out in public, she’s back in it.

And she is NOT a happy camper about it.  She is so pitiful with it on!  She tries to rub it off, and she looks at Andrew like “PLEASE Daddy take this off of me!”  But I tell you what, it does the trick.  She is the perfect image of dog obedience!  She walks right next to me, looking straight ahead.  She lies down almost immediately in any store or restaurant.  She disengages quicker with dogs that bark around her, or things she notices that she wants to be a part of.  But poor thing, she looks at me with those eyes of hers and that sad expression and I almost just want to take it right off of her.  But I will be strong for a few more days of outings, and then I will only bring it as a backup for emergencies, and then maybe we can go back to leaving it at home.  But here she is from today’s outings.  How do you say no to that face?!

A few weeks ago I ordered a new project from the Stitchery – my mom told me to!!!!  It was an eBook cover with a coffee design, which is absolutely up my alley because I love coffee, and I LOVE my Nook which is an eReader from Barnes and Noble.  One thing my mom and I have learned, especially with items from the Stitchery, is that if you see something you really like, you should probably go ahead and buy it.  Because if you wait, it might not still be there.  So, being the obedient daughter that I am, I ordered it.  It finally arrived last week and I got started on it right away!  It was perfect timing because I just HAPPENED to be between projects. 

It was interesting, because I guess I didn’t read the explanation very well.  I was expecting cross-stitch for some reason, but it wasn’t.  It was something called a basket weave stitch I think?  There were not very many instructions, so I kind of had to wing it.  But I did my best and I think it turned out really well!  And Chip (my Nook) loves his new home

And then, because everyone always wants to see the back of my projects….

That’s just the back of the inside.  The true back part is brown suede and it zips around this part to make a full cover.

In other news, Andrew, Luna, and I returned on Sunday from a Silent Weekend in Estes Park.  It’s put on by a woman named Elizabeth, and there were hearing and deaf people there, most of which either are currently her ASL students or have been in the past.  Some were brand new signers, some were fluent.  Some it was their first weekend (mine…) and some had been there 11 times before.  It was at a family reunion house at a YMCA and it was a beautiful space.

We arrived Friday night after Andrew and I got off work and it is voice-off from the minute you pull up.  We found our rooms, and then had dinner and played games with the group.  Saturday morning was a series of workshops.  I helped teach one with a friend, Candiss, about Deaf Culture/Hearing Culture – How They’re Different.  There were 5 other workshops too and groups moved from one to the other every 20 minutes or so.  After lunch we had free time for a few hours.  Some people played games, went swimming, took a nap, etc. Saturday night the whole group came together and we told Deaf jokes, did some fun games, and performed little scenes of movies that we adapted for Deaf culture.

My groups’ movie was Wizard of Oz.  So I was Dorothy and started with the tornado and the house falling.  But in the fall my hearing aids fell off!  I came out the door and there was Luna, a hearing dog!  Perfect!  So I bring her along.  I tell the good witch I was supposed to go to Gallaudet, and she tells me to follow the yellow road.  I meet a deaf Scarecrow who wants a better education, because he was mainstreamed all his life with hearing kids.  I tell him to come with me!  We meet a Deaf Tin Woman, who wants to learn to fluently sign ASL, she only knows SEE.  So we tell her to come along.  We meet a Lion who wants to be involved in Deaf Culture, so we tell him to come along.  We meet the Wizard who says the Wicked Witch of the West doesn’t like deaf people, so she stole his deafness and made him hearing! If we can kill her and get his deafness back, then he’ll give us what we want.  We meet the Witch and overwhelm her with signing, and she melts.  The Wizard gets his deafness back, gives the Scarecrow an education, gives the Tin Woman fluency in ASL and tells the Lion to visit www.coloradodeaf.com To get to Gallaudet I just have to click my heels and say “There is no place like Gallaudet!” 

It was a fun night, although it had started to snow and Andrew was starting to get sick .  Sunday morning after breakfast we did a feedback session which was nice, and then cleaned up and headed out.

Luna had quite the weekend.  She was the life of the party – EVERYONE loved her (who couldn’t?  She’s too cute) and she got totally spoiled.  She was so busy playing and being petted and loved on that by the time we drove home she was knocked out in the backseat almost immediately!  Fun times all around!

The last two nights have been all about basketball in my neck of the woods.  It’s a good thing that I don’t think I have too many sports fans that read this blog because I’m sure I’ll get all the letters and teams wrong – but there is a cute picture at the end!

Andrew attends UNC, which is the University of Northern Colorado.  It still messes with my mind, because I automatically think North Carolina.  But I guess that its been very recent that UNC has entered the NCAA Division 1 (see? who knows if that’s right…not me.) which is the big deal of college basketball.  Two nights ago they played Northern Arizona (I think. Their uniforms were dark blue – I know that much!) which was basically the semi-finals.  If they won that game, then they would go to the championship, which would make serious history.  So, Luna and I head over to Andrew’s house and watch the game.  Well…I kind of stitched for most of it, and Luna took a nap.  It wasn’t THAT exciting of a game.  UNC was clearly on top of their game, scoring 3 pointers all over the place and were in the lead for most of it.  It got a little close at the end, but UNC pulled it out and came out with the win.

But that meant that they played in the championship game LAST night.  We gathered in my room this time.  For the first half or so, no big deal.  Everyone was casual, we were losing but only by two or three points every time and there was plenty of time to pull ahead.  They played Montana.  I think.  I know they were the Grizzlies!  We thought it was slightly funny that the Bears were playing the Grizzlies.  But then at about 9 minutes into the second half things started getting stressful.  Andrew was no longer casually lounging and watching the game.  We were still behind, and couldn’t hold a turn-over let alone a lead.  (Check that out – I’m learning the lingo!)  He was so tense he had to sit at the end of the bed.  By the last few minutes of the game he was getting so agitated and excited that Luna decided she needed to see what was up.  She sat right next to him, Andrew squeezing her with every missed free throw or bad pass.  I was sitting far behind them and my view was just hilarious.  I couldn’t help but snap a photo!

But WHEW!  We won!  So everyone here is happy – Andrew because UNC won the game, and Luna because she got LOTS of attention for 11 basketball minutes!

I had wanted to include some photos in the last post, but I completely forgot when I was typing it!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Andrew and me – when my parents and I came to visit Colorado and went to the Air Force football game.

This is a picture from Scrooge – my Stage Manager, Danny, me, and my Lighting Designer, Linz.  We made a great production team and I couldn’t have done it without them.  We made some great memories.

These are pictures of my ring, from when Andrew proposed after the opening night performance of Scrooge.

Here are some projects I’ve been working on since I’ve been here!  The first is a very small piece – it is one of three I’ve made.  It says “Getting married means sharing your toys” and it is a quote from a child at a wedding.  My other two are quotes from 8 year old kids that say “If you’re feeling blue, try painting yourself a different color” and “Sometimes you just need to take a nap and get over it”.

The second is a very large, very intricate piece that is of a European Bistro.  It has taken me many many months, and I’m just now officially halfway through.  This is it at the halfway point.  I’m taking a short break from it to do the next picture you see, which is a piece of holding hands, with my name and Andrew’s name as well as the date of our wedding.  I have one more similar to this (to make a set of sorts) and when I finish that, I’ll go back to the Bistro.

Luna has been adjusting well to Colorado – here is a cute picture taken recently of her snuggling with me on my bed, but she’s also snuggling with my teddy bear

And here is one more of Andrew and me, just for fun.  It was taken on the move here.