Meanderings and A Few Pictures

“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.”  ~Vernon Howard

I'm employed by Western Illinois University as the Associate Director of the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood. Our work is all about lifelong learning. We provide workshops and webinars to teachers, other professionals, and parents for the purpose of improving education and opportunities for young children ages birth-5.

I was thinking about that this morning and about how so many people go through life blindly, as if they know it all, and refuse to learn anything new or to embrace new ideas that challenge old ways of thinking and doing. They enjoy the comfort of the status quo and don't appreciate change. Others purposefully pursue learning, many times because their jobs depend on them getting continuing education credits, but other times because they find a new interest, want to start a new career, or simply read something online that sparks an interest to learn more. Sometimes learning is accidental (e.g., touching a hot stove, overhearing a conversation, adding too much hot sauce, expecting x will produce y and finding out it produces z and wondering "why did that happen?").

Here's an example of accidental learning that happened to someone who shall remain nameless. LOL
She wanted to buy Diet Cherry 7-Up, so she took some off the shelf and put it in her shopping cart. However, when she got home, she discovered she'd purchased plain old Diet 7-Up instead. (What gremlin came along and switched bottles in her cart?) What to do? It seemed stupid to go all the way back to the store to exchange a $1.38 two liter bottle of soda. This person can be a creative thinker and problem solver, so she thought, "I know! I can add a bit of flavored Crystal Light to this soda and that will do the trick." So she did. And suddenly the bubbling began, and huge red bubbles started a rolling boil right out of the open bottle of soda, and they came and they came and they would not stop. Startled, she raced to the sink, attempting to get there before the bubble mixture hit the floor. She made it! The rolling boil continued for what seemed like ages until it stopped. Finally! What did our anonymous friend learn from this unintended science experiment? Don't do that again? Or perhaps it gave her a new idea, "What would happen if I poured out some of the soda and then added the Crystal Light?" She has yet to try that.

A good example of purposeful learning is happening with Helen, Mary, and Deborah, all of whom have recently become interested in showing Lhasa Apsos. Each purchased a show potential puppy from me. Helen bought Sassy, a litter sister to Josh, last year. Mary and Deborah each bought puppies from our last litter - Riley and Mysti. Each woman is in the process of learning about showing and all it entails, which can be confusing, and about coat care, which can seem complicated. I'm so proud of all their efforts!

I don't have any new news about Maggie. She has an x-ray appointment on Monday to determine how many puppies she will have.

Luna and I attended a training class on Saturday and she did so well. The class was small, so I am unsure how she'll react to being in an actual show ring. She has gone to shows with us before but has never been shown. We call her "Wiggle Butt" because her tail is always wagging, and her entire rear end gets in on the action!

Notes and Photos from People

These dogs are Mallory and Magoo. They are brother and sister and are offspring of Maggie and Rafe. They were both the only puppies in their respective litters to be gold and white parti-colors. (Thanks, Catherine, for posting the photo on Facebook.)

Helen posted this photo of Sassy and emailed, "Sassy is just a doll!  I love her too much... I groom her and as I finish and put her ponies in, her sweet face is just too kissable!"

Sassy

Carol sent pictures of Sadie, saying she wanted me to see "all her pretty colors."

Sadie

Nap time for Sadie

Marilyn emailed, "Just want you to know that Maci is doing so well. We have gone to 2 puppy classes, and she is sooo smart. She is learning to sit, to come when called (depending on her mood), and to walk on leash. She has a friend Daisy at class who she can't wait to see each week."

Maci

Violet wanted me to see Yogi's new dog bed. She commented that he is "very spoiled."

Deborah wrote,  "Mysti is so smart with loads of personality.  She had the last of her shots last week and this past Saturday had her first conformation class.  There were 10 other dogs in the class and she was the youngest.  She was fine with the trainer putting her hands all over her and looking at her teeth.  The trainer said she looked great and could almost show herself the way she strutted and pranced in the ring.  She is fearless."

Mary wrote,  "I took Riley to the conformation class this morning and had such a good time. The class was all big dogs who were seasoned in the show ring. Riley was unflappable. Nothing seemed to bother her and she just pranced across the  circle. I couldn't believe she was moving out for she had only been leading for about 3 days."

Back to the Beginning Topic - Lessons Learned??

"Each experience presents an opportunity for learning." ~ Joyce Johanson (wearing her rose-colored glasses)

My family room is bare. Well, not totally bare. To be honest, there's a recliner there, a couple of end tables, and a couple of grooming tables. What is missing is the sofa and love seat. See, I decided we needed new furniture in the family room. What was there looked great, but the sofa fabric was a dog hair magnet. After 6 years, I'd had it. My husband said that before I purchased new furniture I should get rid of the old. Okay, that made sense, but selling the old set might take a while, so I posted a picture and an ad on the Facebook group "For Sale in Macomb." It sold right away!

Being optimistic, before I placed the ad I ordered the new furniture. Since the family room is where the dogs hang out, I had some requirements: leather, not dog hair-catching fabric this time, and nothing that was over-sized, which is sort of hard to find when you look at most leather furniture. They seem to be inclined toward big rolled arms and heavily padded backs.

Now, what you have to understand is that the doorway to our family room is narrow so I had to find furniture that we were sure would fit through the door. Past experience, resulting in the door and part of the frame being removed, proved that is difficult to do. We were not going to go through that again! (I say "we" but really mean "my husband.") There was barely room to get the old furniture out, and it was low backed. Inspiration struck! Surely our house was not the only one with a narrow door. What about city apartments? What did people do who had walk ups with narrow stairways? So, using the internet to research the problem, I found many places made furniture for just those circumstances. The items were boxed to be assembled on site. Problem solved.

IKEA had a style that I liked. We do not have an IKEA nearby, so I called my daughter in Florida and asked her to go to the nearby IKEA to check things out for me. She gave the items a favorable review.

So I ordered a sofa and loveseat, received an email confirming the order and explaining that my items would be sent to a freight company that would contact me to set up a delivery date and time when someone would be home to accept delivery. What a good plan! I was very proud of myself. So, I sat back and waited for a call.

And waited.

And waited.

Then an email came the evening of April 21st! "Delivered" it said. What? What? Panic set in. I had no new furniture in my family room waiting to be assembled. Where was my ordered delivered? Who had my furniture? (Why do these things happen in the evening when nothing can be done about fixing them?)

The next morning I called IKEA's customer service line and was put on hold, so I waited and waited. Finally someone answered. She heard my story and put me on hold. More waiting. At last, she came back on the line and told me she had asked someone to look into the problem and that person would be calling. So I waited.

By mid-afternoon, there was no call. Irked as all get out, I went to IKEA USA Facebook and wrote a nice polite post about the problem and asked for help. Hurray! I got a response. Someone would check into it and let me know. I had hope.

More waiting. Nothing. So the next morning, I messaged them again via Facebook asking for a status report. The response was "We don't have an update yet Joyce." Okay, more waiting. I can be patient.

Except when my patience wears thin, as it did about 9:00 last night.

I messaged IKEA again this morning via Facebook. No response.

What have I learned? I'm not sure.

Patience? Nope.

Don't be so trusting? Nope.

Don't order online from IKEA? Getting warmer...

IKEA has sucky customer service? Warmer still...

I'll let you know how this turns out. (Yes, my credit card company has been informed.)

It's a Darn Good Thing That Life is Better When You Have A Lhasa to Love You!

Joyce