Free books are the best thing ever

Meeting with the publishing lady was awesome. At first I thought that she wanted me to take some books home so that I could edit them, but she just wanted me to see what I'd be dealing with as an editor. She gave me like 10 books free to look at! One of them was even taken off of the shelves of stores because it was controversial. She said that she kept them around in case they were worth something some day. And she gave me one! And another was a brand new release, like just this month, from the author of the series Twilight that Potter fans have been buzzing about. This new book by Stephanie Meyer called The Host was released on May 6th and I already have a paper back in my hot little hands free. Anyway, all I have to do is read through them and give her some reviews. I got to pick through stacks of Advanced Reading- not for sale copies. So basically she gave me the ones that still have some mistakes in them, but I guess book companies send out imperfect books to book sellers so that they can read them and get excited about them. She said the best way to gain experience is to work at book stores, specifically independent book stores. But since I'm working at the Y full time this summer I'm going to have to apply once school starts because then I can put in 20 hours. She told me to put her down as a reference when I go to apply since the guy who I'm applying to is one of her employees. I told her I can do weekends now, but she said that I need to be in on a weekday to see when the actual book people thereere doing work, not just stocking shelves and stuff. Edward said I told you so when I got home, which I hate, but I think he was happy for me. I was beaming so big about free books that I don't think that he couldn't be happy for me. He's been telling me for months now to get in touch with her. At least I met with her and I plan to go back soon. She actually has a book signing to grant a wish from the "Make A Wish Foundation" for a girl who wanted to have a book published before she got worse. I think that's pretty cool, so I'm going to try to go out there to buy the book and get it signed. I'm sure that the owner will be there and I think that if she sees me again it'll help my "cause". Ah, I'm selfishly using someone else's wish to try grant my own.


Today I woke up early again because I saw a show called It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet that was completely awesome. It's about the dog trainer, Victoria, who goes and fixes the worst of dog behavior with positive reinforcement. She's like the Super Nanny for dogs. She taught a really OCD dog yesterday to break his habit and also how for him to not pull his owner on the leash. He had pulled his mommy into the street and broke her hand once. Yikes! Although I think everyone knows that Emmy is an Angel she does have some Second Angel tendencies, such as barking and getting really upset when one of us leaves. Today I worked at her barking when Ed left by using Victoria's "bap" system. When the TV dog got into his OCD habit she made a loud "BAP!"sound to get his attention. Then she would call the dog to her and praise him. So this morning I did that with Emmy and had her come to me on the bed and she only barked twice. I made sure to not scold her and told her how good she was when she wasn't getting so upset. So I guess now I have to wake up early everyday! I'm learning right now how to get Emmy to not feel so scared and anxious when we leave. This show is great! Maybe if I watch this enough I'll see how to get her to not chase bikes and bark at the doorbell. Since Edward and I started riding our bikes around her she's not so bad, but then again she knows it is us. So I don't know how else to train her. She doesn't need to be crated any more when we leave, which is great!!! I hated having to crate her. I know that I would like to be locked in a cage for hours on end. She was ruining her little doggy teach trying to get out. She no longer poops or pees, which Victoria said is a sign of stress, or makes a mess. I've noticed that when I leave her to go to work she barks until I go down to our gate and then she quiets down and just watches me. Hopefully this means that she doesn't bark when we're gone. I wish we had a video camera to leave on to see what she's doing when we're gone. I can't justify buying a video camera just for that though. We have no other use for that...unless you count Ed's desire to make a zombie movie.

Anyway, Emmy had a bath last night and was so good. She jumped right into the tub when she saw me take the bathroom mat out and then stayed in the tub until I went to open the back door for her to shake outside (I could hear if she shook inside the tub). Now she's very white and soft. I had to brush her before hand and it was a good thing too. She was shedding sooooo much. Edward said that the wad of fur in the trash can looked like a sock! Then she shed more in and after her bath. Hopefully she is more comfortable now. We're going to have to go have her groomed soon. Probably after we give her the flea and tick stuff. It's getting too hot for all of her fur and we like to cuddle!


Last night after meeting with the book lady, going to work, giving Emmy a bath, unclogging and scrubbing the nasty tub (there was cardboard in the drain! Where the heck did that come from?), and working on Melanie's invitations I was too pooped out to cook. Around 8pm I had a hankering for noodles and an egg so I made that for myself. I had some chicken marinating for a picnic that Ed and I planned on going on this weekend but was postponed because of rain. The chicken, unlike our picnic, was unable to wait for good weather. So I put them in the oven for 15 minutes for Ed's lunch. He got hungry however, and ate them before they made them in the tupperware. Hopefully I can continue on with my menu with this early morning schedule that I'm trying to keep, otherwise it's back to the Crockpot for us. I planned on going back to the trusty friend when I started working full time.