Wednesday, March 16, 2011

26 days. :)

That's it. 26 days till I'm off on my adventure. I can feel the excitement all the way down to my toes. I know this because I've started dressing for warmer weather and am quite stunned when I'm met with a blast of cold air as I leave the house. I guess it's not time to put away the winter coat yet.

On Monday, I began a three week business course at the local community college. Before I even had a germ of an idea in my head about going to Hawaii (or rather, others had that germ of an idea), I signed up for this. I figured I had nothing to lose, could do something to pass the time, and put something new on my resume. The course was how to begin your own animal business. Everyone who knows me knows I love animals. Dogs are number 1, but hell, I'll even snuggle with my cousin's rat or two.



Getting paid to do what you love? Why not? It's every one's dream. I will say that the class was kind of disappointing for me. I say for me because the instructor was wonderful. She told us about her dog walking business and how she got started 6 years ago. Through her hard work, she now makes enough to support herself and her three new employees. I got a cold, hard dose of reality however. She also told us of the sacrifice’s she had to make. She walks up to 11 miles a day with the animals. She now has bad knees and a bad back. She spoke of breaking up dog fights. Due to my Cerebral Palsy and Scoliosis, I already have a bad back and weak legs. She was concerned that I wouldn't be able to handle walking the dogs, although she did come up with a solution down the road for me: Hire employees to walk the dogs while I took care of their inside needs. That still left questions on what to do in the meantime. I'll admit, I get frustrated from time to time. When your mind works, and your body kind of doesn't, it's like a war. If it were up to me, I would have started something like this years ago. While she was going over networking your business I thought: "I already know this! This is great!" My mind immediately started spinning: Google, Facebook fan page to place clients’ dogs’ photos up. A wall where they could chat. Webcams, "Doggy/kitty of the week", Twitter. Fliers to place in vets offices. My mind was there. If it were up to me, I would happily walk those dogs, rain, shine, sleet, snow, whatever. I know this sounds crazy, but I LOVED taking care of my dogs. Feeding them, playing with them, making sure the bowls and everything was clean. Hell, with the little money that I had, Noah was on a special diet so his hypoglycemia wouldn't overcome him and his skin allergies wouldn't make him miserable. And I had to really SEARCH for that food. You couldn't get it at the grocery store. Hell, you couldn't even get it at PetSmart or Petco. It was either a mom and pop pet store, online, or from the vet.

At any rate, I knew that I would have to adjust my plans to work in the field. I wasn't going to write it off entirely, but if I did work with animals, it had to be where I wouldn't sacrifice my health to get there.

In other news, everything is drawing near, I keep forgetting that not only do I have the task of packing for a four month trip to tackle; I'm moving at the same time.

Things to do:

Wash the car, get oil change, get spare key.
Sell things I don't want/need (or give away, I don't care)
Organize and pack belongings I won't need with me. Put in storage.

Packing for trip checklist:

-Medication & Medical Supplies
-Toiletries
-Camera, video camea, laptop
-Clothing (I'm buying a lot of summer clothing because everything I own is just worn out or doesn't...um...fit well anymore)

Am I missing anything? Or do ya think I'm all set? :)

11 comments:

  1. My philosophy? If you've forgotten to do it, it's not that important in the first place =)
    Hawaii? I'm sooo jealous - ALWAYS wanted to go there!
    And trust me Katie - maybe it'll happen on your adventure or catch you unexpectedly a few months after you return to your apartment but you will realise that you've grown up. I moved outta home aged 17 but moved back in at 23 after a relationship broke down but it down 3 months of solo backpacking to really help me grow.
    I look forward to watching you enjoy your adventure =)

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  2. I'm jealous wish I could go on that kind of trip!

    -Sarah
    http://sarahcidal89.blogspot.com/

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  3. Hey Katie. What I don't get is why you would need to walk the dogs. If you had a fenced in area you could just let them out and they can walk themselves. If you have issues with dogs getting along with one another out there then make runs (not sure if that is what they are called, long open kennels for running back and forth). I don't know. Maybe I just don't get it.

    My advice for moving? Start now. At least start putting stuff in storage now. Time will sneak up on you and you might be surprised at how much stuff you actually own when you start going through it.

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  4. Besides, no one needs to "break up" dog fights. That is the perfect way to get bitten. They'll stop fighting eventually. Dogs rarely fight to the death. I'm sure the owners would be required to fill out forms that would help you understand their temperament. Don't give up.

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  5. Thanks Hayley! I won't. :) I guess the instructor was a bit of a downer with her lecture. She was talking about how she had to break up a fight between two pit bulls. Now, I love dogs, but I probably wouldn't be sitting for pits anyway. I think the insurance is much higher, and it would be foolish of me to watch a pit when they probably weigh more then I do.

    I've tackled a huge section of stuff and gave it to the salvation army today, so I feel acomplished. For today anyway. :)

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  6. Hi Toni!
    I agree that it will probably hit me sooner rather then later. Especailly since I'll be moving into a new place when I return and out of my parents house.

    -Sarah, I'll sneak people in my suitcase...whatdaya think?

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  7. Def jealous! I'm boiling over with envy! Lol jk! Found you on my discussion at 20sb! *travel blog roll call) you're newest follower! Hope you will check out our blog as well!
    -tiffanie
    http://jetsettingdivas.blogspot.com

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  8. I had no idea that dog walking could pose all of those health problems. Best wishes as you endeavor to find a solution! (Saw you at SITS)

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  9. I didn't read any of the other comments so I may be repeating something here. But when I was a kid I wanted to have a dog walking biz. I was going to charge $5 a dog! So I say, have your business, hire a bunch of spry young kids (have them sign waivers in case of bites) and pay them for cheap labor (I'd say $20 a day would make them very very happy!).

    Just a thought. And then you could bathe the dogs and babysit them etc. and reap all the major financial rewards yourself. Good luck and let me know how it pans out!!! Leave me a comment! But I'll be back too.

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  10. Yeah, dog walking is not as easy as people think ("people including me)

    Caity-That sounds like cool idea! (and I'll be back at your blog as well. :) )

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  11. happy for you - enjoy your trip & best of luck in your new endeavor! those will be some lucky pups to have you love on them!
    new follower- kelli

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