Twix update

Twix seems to be continuing to gain weight, which is good. We think he's still about a kilo under what he should be, but he seems happy and healthy enough. He used to only be really active if there was only one of us here, but he's used to both of us now. Yesterday Andrew had a bunch of guys over to watch a big football game and Twix hid for the first half of the game, and then slowly got closer and closer to the living room where they were watching it and would only run away if they all shouted or something. But at the end when they were leaving he was running around their feet. The office has become his playground. As soon as the door opens, he runs straight in and does his crazy jumps and runs into the walls. He likes to run really really fast and then slide to a halt, often running into the wall. Oh, and he's pretty much litter trained. He hasn't had an accident in a week. Even when we were cleaning out his hutch and put his tray in the hall. So that makes us very happy. :)

Twix is going in to get neutered on Wednesday. It's should only be a day thing, where we drop him off in the morning and then pick him up that night. Hopefully it all goes well. After that he has to get one more shot at the end of June then he's done.

research job

I finally got a letter about the research assistant job. I didn't get it. Which, although isn't very surprising, is still kinda sad. So the search continues...

Baby Sign Language = Baby Einstein

I know all of you guys know that Caleb signs, but I wrote a little bit about it on my blog.

Caleb's the smartest baby ever.

We've only just begun.....

So, the California Service Centre, to which we posted our petition for my visa has cashed our cheque!! From here, its a process which we can't do much about to speed it up, and there is no predictable length of time for the approval of the petition.....BUT.......it has started, and for that, we are glad.

If you want to read about what we have to go through, click here.

Its a long and difficult process, but we are looking forward to making quick progress through the CSC and then onto the National Visa Centre, (where we finally get to apply for a visa! At the moment we are just petitioning for the right to apply!!). Then, i finally have to undergo a scarily complete medical, have vaccinations, and have an interview in London!!

Nannie's continuing saga

About 1/2 hour after I did the last post I got a call from Auntie Colleen that Nannie had woken from being asleep with flu symptoms (possibly from the antibiotic she was on). She stood up from going to the bathroom, told Colleen she felt sick, passed out, falling straight back and hit her head on the toilet. Colleen called 911 and they took Nannie to Stanford Hospital because Kaiser doesn't have a trauma unit. Nannie, Colleen and I spent all night in the Emergency room of Stanford Hospital where they ran lots of tests. It turns out that there are no more fractures, all the tests came out okay, but they did put two staples in the back of her head where it was cut. At about 8 am Monday morning they transferred Nannie to Kaiser where they are observing her trying to figure out why she keeps passing out, and to keep an eye on the infection. Also this will keep her off her feet so her ankle will get some rest. Pray that we can find a home health care person if she returns home, or better yet that we find a good Sr. citizen's home that we think she would like, to move her to. She can have visitors at the hospital and is in room 618 at Santa Clara Kaiser.

Twix

We got our rabbit, newly named Twix. They came around for the home visit Thursday and all went well. The woman said it would be at least 4 weeks before we got him because he was getting neutered in three weeks. I was kinda thinking thats a long time to wait for a rabbit, but its kinda too late to back out now. So I said that would be fine. Then the next day I got a call from the animal sanctuary saying we had been approved and could pick him up anytime. I asked about him getting neutered and they said they would give us a voucher and we could just take him in ourselves in 3 weeks. So we went and picked him up Saturday. :) He's very fun. He'll run around for awhile and then come and plop down right next to you and want you to pet him. He hasn't gotten the litter training thing down but we're working on it. He's bigger than Orbit but not nearly as big as Skor. We'll put a picture up as soon as we find the cable thing to do so. yay! At the moment he's having fun jumping and running around the office/dining room and squeezing under the chair legs.

Nannie's Broken Ankle

Well, yesterday Nannie and Auntie Colleen were outside working and Nannie told Auntie Colleen she was feeling dizzy and was going inside. Colleen watched her walk in and then as she got to the top of the stairs she started to crumple. Colleen got there in time so she wouldn't hit her head but she twisted her ankle as she fell and it turns out she has two small fractures - one on the outide bone on both sides of her right ankle. They also found she had a urinary infection which is possibly why she passed out. They kept her in the hospital overnight and tonight Colleen and I took her home. She has a cast that goes up to her knee and isn't supposed to walk on it much but she keeps forgetting she even hurt it or was in the hospital at all, so keeps trying to walk around. She's in good spirits but the nurses were really glad when Colleen & I arrived. It turns out that she was trying to help them and wasn't happy when they took her stuff away (no telling what her "stuff" was), also when Auntie Colleen came there was a nurse telling her she needed to stay in her room and Nannie was trying to pay her to let her out!

Rabbits

We're getting a rabbit. Yes, I know I already have a rabbit. But since Orbit couldn't fit in my suitcase when we moved over here, we have been forced to find a replacement. So we went to the local animal sanctuary and picked a friendly brown one. His name at the moment is Robert, but that will be changing when he comes home. We don't have him yet, he's just "reserved." He used to belong to a child, who forgot to feed him so he was very underweight when he came to the sanctuary two weeks ago. Since he's been there he's been eating like a trooper and gained lots of weight but they want to keep an eye on him for a couple more weeks and he needs to get all his shots and get neutered before he can come home. Plus, they have to do a home visit to make sure we will care for him properly. I guess. Anyway, our home visit is on Thursday. And hopefully we will be getting our rabbit a couple weeks after that. More updates to follow...

UPDATE:
The home visit went well. "Robert" has had his shots and in 3 weeks will be getting neutered. Once that is done, then he can come home.

Commercials

This is my favorite commercial, possibly of all time....

CLICK HERE to see it

If that link doesn't work, let me know and I'll find another. Thats golfgti.mov at the end if you can't get the whole thing.

the end is near....

I officially resigned from my job. I was only required to give one weeks notice but i gave three to get me through to the end of May. One more month's pay would be good. I have no other job, yet. Its only Sunday and I find out about the research job tomorrow (i hope). But its time to go anyway. This job is driving me crazy. So, 3 weeks to go. And I'm kinda (just a TINY bit) sad. I like the people I work with and I think I'm actually going to miss them. Unfortunately they don't outweigh the negative bits. But thats okay because I'm out of there in 3 weeks! Thats only 5 sleepovers to go. WOOHOO!

interviews...

I had my research assitant interview Thursday. I was so prepared. I read the 80 page article and even had Andrew ask me questions from it to make sure i understood it and knew my stuff. I looked up loads of info on statistical analysis, on visual impairment (what the topic is), on organizations that deal with visual impairment, I got a new top and a new bag to make me look professional, I got up super early and even straightened my hair, I got to every bus and train at least 10 minutes early to make sure I wouldn't miss them, and I got to the interview place 30 minutes before my interview time. I didn't take any chances. Then I finally got called in to the interview. Four people were sitting there. One of them from HR, one from Guide Dogs for the Blind, who is funding the project, one from the research dept but not actually doing the research and the last was the person heading the research. Scary. And I was nervous as heck. Wanted the job too badly I think, made me too nervous. They each asked me loads of questions, which I answered to the best of my ability but it wasn't anything that I didn't already write in my application. I had loads of stuff I wanted to tell them and it just didn't come out. Then it got to the head of research persons question time. First thing she asks me: a stats question. Tell you what, thinking on your feet with four people staring at you is not an easy task. My brain wouldn't work at all. And I know this stuff! So i scrambled until she said I could keep thinking about it and if i thought of it later during the interview to let her know. I didn't think of it. Then more questions. Then it was over and I left. Without telling them all that great stuff about myself that I should have. Stink. I think it was possibly the worst interview I've ever done. They said I would find out Monday. So, if I do get this job, its definitely God's fault and not mine.

not like his shuncle

Today Caleb and I had quesadillas for lunch. They were only tortillas and cheese so I thought that he would like them because he likes those things separately. Caleb took a taste and threw them on the floor, so I picked them up and tried to feed them too him again because I knew that he was hungry. He spit them out and threw them on the floor again. I was putting salsa on mine, he pointed at the salsa. It was medium heat so I put a tiny drop on a piece and spread it around,he ate that one. So I put salsa on all the other pieces he would pick off the bigger pieces of tomato or onion and eat them and then eat the quesadilla. He ended up eating all that I gave him as long as I put salsa on it. It never seemed to bother him at all. So now we know that if the food is too spicy for Shawn we can always hand it over to Caleb and he will eat it.