New blog coming Need help with URL suggestions

Hello everyone I am in the process of creating a new blog that is going to go in this section and I need help with url suggestions as the URL at Blogger is not taking what I am trying to put in I am not sure if I'm putting the address in wrong or what I'm doing it's been quite a while since I've created one of these So any help would be greatly appreciated

I've been here for almost two weeks and it doesn't seem like it's been that long.

My impressions of my new home

Something revealed

Sitting here in the Sharp's tiny kitchen this morning I learned just how easy it is to teach someone something just through setting an example. What do I mean by that, you ask?/> My mother told me once before she passed that I was always particular about where I put things and that everything had to have a place. I realized just what she meant this morning. /> As one who deals daily with living without sight everything in my world has to have a specific place.

Summer is here!

For the second Sunday in June it sure is hot. Summer is one of my
favorite times of the year. Barbecues, spending time with family and
friends, and catching up with people are a few benefits of summer.
During the summer as a child my parents and I would go up north on the
weekends. Sometimes I would go with my grandparents.

The purpose of this blog/book

The purpose of this blog and book is to talk about my disability and to hopefully help people make things accessible that aren't and to improve things that may be accessible to some people, but not all. A lot of people don't realize that not having things made accessible for their clients with disabilities can cause them to lose business. Books not made accessible for students can cause schools and colleges to lose students.
This book is to help people that don't know how to deal with someone with a disability learn how to deal with such a person, and to learn ways in which to do that.

Waiting in the shadows

I'm not a poet by any means, but this seemed like an excellent title for a blog post.
Waiting in the shadows is one who is still grieving the loss of her mother.
One who will also one day grieve the loss of her father. One who sits alone and wonders if she will indeed spend the rest of her life alone. Without knowing "real" love.
The definition of real true love is accepting someone for who they are, not what they drive or how they live.
Someone who has been alone for most of her life because of her disability has found someone who loves her for who she truly is and you won't accept him, because
you want to see him for what he was, not what he has become.
Is he perfect? No, not by any means, but this world would be a pretty boring place if everyone was perfect. We both try hard to be perfect, but we always come up short because we both know that we're not perfect. We're human.

Rosco and Teddy

I adopted Rosco on January fourth of this year (20119) from the Detroit branch of the Michigan Humane Society.
He is a German Shepherd, Australian cattle dog mix. I started training him for guide dog work shortly after getting him by taking him in to all kinds of places to socialize him with people and to expose him to different kinds of noises for work later on. Once he reached six months old however he began getting sick and having other problems. I can't use him for service work now because he has a floating hip and floating knees and I am unable to afford the surgery to reposition the knees properly, so he is just a pet now. I can't believe where eight months has gone though. He turned a year old this past Sunday.
The fourth of September.
He has grown so much in the past several months. He has turned into a big baby. :)
I also have a chocolate lab named Teddy who I adopted in May and I am in the process of training to be a guide dog since Rosco is unworkable. Teddy is around a year old and is also a rescue from a shelter. All three of my animals are from shelters and unless I'm looking for something specific in a particular breed all of my dogs from here on out will be from shelters.
I train my own, and I started with Rosco because with owner-training you can teach the dogs to do many more tasks than any of the schools do. The schools who train guide dogs train for one specific purpose and that is the guidework.
Granted you can teach the dog other things once you get them home if you go to a school to get a dog, but thank you very much, my theory is starting from the beginning is much easier than starting after they are trained for one specific task.
Clickers make wonderful markers for training.
I have several of them because they are plastic and they can brake.

A letter to Mom no. 2

Dear mom,
There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about you. There's so much going on down here that it's not even funny.
I had to send the Braillenote in for service and now I'm playing catch up.
I read at church this afternoon in a Lenten reflections program.
At the moment I'm trying to get laundry done so that I can get ready to go to church.
I'm now at Melissa's learning to work with Rosco and he's ready to start the training for guide dog work. Charlie Brown is also here.
He sleeps with me at night.
Hi Mom,
Well I'm home from Melissa's now for good. I'll be finishing the training with Teddy myself because Melissa didn't want to help in the first place I don't think.
I still have Rosco, but his hind end is acting up so his days as a service dog are done except for doing things around the house.
I'm hoping to start doing inservice work where I'll be going to schools and talking to kids about what it is like learning to live with a disability.
We'll see how that goes.
I'm hoping to get together with Collette this week or some time soon. She's moving back to Lansing from Flint.
I haven't seen her in forever.
I'm going to post this now.

Christmas 2010

I'm going to have Christmas here this year. It will be just my Dad and I but that's fine. I'll be making dinner. We're having ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing carrots and cranberry jelly.

I haven't gotten all of my shopping done, but i'll finish after Christmas, hopefully, when everything goes on sale.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year I'll be going to my grandmothers for Thanksgiving.
We ate around three thirty this afternoon. Things didn't turn out the way my Grandmother wanted them to, but dinner was good all the same.
We had turkey with all the usual trimmings. Mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, etc.

We have no idea how blessed we truly are

Good morning,
Thanks to a friend I came up with the title for this post.
As the title says we don't know how blessed we truly are, both as a country and individuals.
I am currently in the process of de-cluttering my house so that I can give to the porr and others who don't have much or are in need.
If a lot more people would get stuff together and start giving to those in need, no matter what that need may be this country would be in a much better state of affairs. But politics isn't my cup of tea, so I won't go there.
It's summer now, and after a couple of months of working with a guide dog and training a dog to do guidework, I'll be de-cluttering my house again soon as Fall is coming.
I'm blessed to be able to help people when I am able to do so, but I don't appreciate those who like to take advantage of the fact that I'm able to do this and they can get away with asking all of the time.

We need to "get back to basics", and start thinking of others, and not just ourselves.

A letter to Mom

Dear Mom,
It has only been five months since you went home, but some days it doesn't seem like you're gone.
I miss you so much, but I know where you are.
Starting in January I'm hoping to begin taking classes to get my batchelor's degree in human services
Once I'm done with my undergrad work then I'll work toward my Masters degree in rehabilitation teaching and counciling.
I love you and think of you often. I'm glad you're not suffering any more. Tell Rita and Irene and everyone else who has wondered what I've been up to about the journey that I'm now on.
I love you.

Monday morning

this is the start to a pretty busy week for me.
I've just made breakfast as I've got a busy day ahead of me.
I had an omlet for breakfast.

Making my way through the darkness

A few months ago someone came up with a line that included the fragment making a way through the darkness. I oculdn't believe it. That sounded like the perfect title for a book. I took that line and ran with it. Thus is the working title for my book.
BlindSight was going to be the title, but alas it didn't seem to root itself anywhere. Making one's way through darkness however did.
I have been blind since birth, and as a result all I see is light and dark and some shadows. This is also where the title of the book came from.
Making my way through the darkness is my story about growing up blind and my faith journey to the Catholic church.

Charlie Brown's story

My Charlie Brown came home with me last November from an animal shelter in Northern Mid-Michigan. I had gone up north to pick up some things that I had left there over the summer.
I wanted to stop by the animal shelter that was in the area where I was to see what they had available for adoption in the way of cats or kittens. I am so glad I did.
That's when my Charlie Brown came home.
I couldn't have asked for a better cat.
he's a red-and-white tabby cat and his fur is so soft. It feels almost like velvet.
Today is Charlie Brown's birthday.
I brought him home a year ago today.
Charlie Brown had a good birthday last Sunday.

My trip to Mexico

My dream of going to Mexico is getting closer to coming true.
I need to finish sorting things out here so when the good Lord tells me it's time to go I can pack up my car and go, leaving nothing here undone.
I'll write more as the time to begin this new chapter in my life gets closer.

Thoughts of Studying and Working Abroad: Part 2

(The first part of this post is in a previous post, but I'm reposting it here with an update.)

Here is the first part:
As I sit here tonight at the computer doing some research for some school projects my mind wanders to far off places. Places that only the paths of the mind can ponder. One of those places being San Miguel de Allende.
The more I read about Mexico the more my fascination with the country grows. The more I discuss it with people the more I want to go. It's important to me that all children be educated from the beggars on the street to the wealthy of the land. These children need a helping hand. These children need to learn so that money they can earn.
They won't need to beg for food or drink, they'll learn to use their minds to think.
My intentions for this idea of a school for the blind are strong, is that wrong?
Sitting here this morning drinking my coffee, I see myself getting ready for a day with the children.
I see the classes taking field trips in to the mountains and surrounding countryside. On to the ranchos and beyond. I've been corresponding with my contact in San Miguel today. There is a lot that I need to learn about traveling to Mexico as it is a third-world country. There are a lot of things that are done differently The culture is also different than what we're used to here in the States. The houses of the locals all share a common wall between them. To work in Mexico if you're not a citizen you have to have a permit.
than we're used to here in the US.

I need to get in touch with my contacts in Mexico and find out how things are going in San Miguel. I will be doing that as soon as I get home from my vacation.

Update: 2-09-2010
Things are starting to fall in to place so that I can make my long-awaited first trip to Mexico this coming summer.
I've made some additional contacts in San Miguel de Allende, and some contacts in the Lake Chapala area.

The grey stallion

The big grey stallion stood patiently at the top of the hill waiting for the young woman who was supposed to exercise him that day.
As Kelley trudged up the hill through two feet of soft, powdery snow to where he stood he whinnied softly at her.
She undid the lead rope that tied the horst to the solitary hitching post just outside of the paddock.
Kelley slowly walked the horse down the hill so that she could mount him easily without much effort.
when they reached the bottom of the hill Kelley felt his large head come to rest against her shoulder. Kelley stood there beside him and let him love on her. She clambered up on to his back and settled in to the saddle after a few minutes.
As Kelley walked the big horse to the paddock where he would be kept until the time of the pulling of the carts came she felt her feet go out from beneath her as she slid in some mud. She threw herself into the horse's side to steady her still shaking legs.

Thoughts of going to study and work abroad

As I sit here tonight at the computer doing some research for some school projects my mind wanders to far off places. Places that only the paths of the mind can ponder. One of those places being San Miguel de Allende.
The more I read about Mexico the more my fascination with the country grows. The more I discuss it with people the more I want to go. It's important to me that all children be educated from the beggars on the street to the wealthy of the land. These children need a helping hand. These children need to learn so that money they can earn.
They won't need to beg for food or drink, they'll learn to use their minds to think.
My intentions for this idea of a school for the blind are strong, is that wrong?
Sitting here this morning drinking my coffee, I see myself getting ready for a day with the children.
I see the classes taking field trips in to the mountains and surrounding countryside. On to the ranchos and beyond. I've been corresponding with my contact in San Miguel today. There is a lot that I need to learn about traveling to Mexico as it is a third-world country. There are a lot of things that are done differently The culture is also different than what we're used to here in the States. The houses of the locals all share a common wall between them. To work in Mexico if you're not a citizen you have to have a permit.
than we're used to here in the US.

I need to get in touch with my contacts in Mexico and find out how things are going in San Miguel. I will be doing that as soon as I get home from my vacation.

Looking forward to 2009

Hello everyone,
Happy New Year!
2009 is off to a good start.