No this isn't just...

...Cheryl's blog. No we haven't split up. We are still happily married and going strong! I've just been too busy fishing and working on my blog to post anything here. Nothing non-fishing has happened in my half of this blog's life. I need to be writing, but...again, I'm too busy fishing. But where else am I gonna get material to write? I can justify going fishing a 1000 different ways.

I'm on day 11 of 30 days of fishing.

Thursday

This Thursday my supervisor Connie and I will be speaking at a training for the Crisis Intervention Team of the St. Louis County Police Department. Our topic is "Substance Abuse and Co-Occurring Disorders in Adolescents." Riveting stuff, huh!
Our presentation is supposed to last an hour and there should be about 35 police officers there. I'm kinda excited about it and a little nervous. It's weird to actually be a presenter. I've been to countless trainings and now I'll be one of the ones standing up front. I'll be an "expert." (I just laughed out loud while typing that.)
Honestly, the topic is not one of my strong points. I've had to research a lot for it and have learned some along the way. Maybe they won't realize that I really don't know what I'm talking about ;)
I feel like a little kid playing dress-up... although most kids don't dress up as mental health professionals... and if they did, I would be very concerned about them...

I'll let you know how it goes.

Girls' Weekend!

A few weeks ago, Maddie and I went camping with Amanda and Jackie. (Will was off on a fishing adventure with his fishing buddy, Chris.) We went to Sam A Baker State Park which is about 2 hours southwest of St. Louis. It was a great, relaxing weekend but was very hot. (Highs in the mid to upper 90s!) It was too hot to do anything other than lounge around, swim in the river and drink sangria.

Working Girl

Maddie is now (almost) officially a certified therapy dog. She took and passed the therapy dog test at the AKC Dog Museum on Sunday. We now just have to mail in her paperwork and she can start working. She will be getting a tag and bandana to wear when she goes to work. She can visit hospitals, nursing homes, etc. AND she can work with my adolescents as well. She's already been to work with me several times and has done really well. My clients love her! Well, all of them except for one. The 6 ft tall, 18 yr old that threatened me a few weeks ago is actually scared to death of her. Honestly, I'm okay with that.
Maybe he'll think twice before he comes to my office again to yell at me and threaten me ;)

Here's Maddie right after the test, standing next to a statue of a Newfoundland. (She has her summer haircut so she doesn't quite look like herself.)