I should have…

by ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ on March 11, 2010

…put this together last December.  Lily is much bigger now.

Grace is my son’s dog.  She is a whippet/shar pei mix about seven years old.  She came to us as a stray…

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I’m still at it…

by ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ on March 9, 2010

This is really a fun new hobby!

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I think it is an addiction…

by ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ on March 7, 2010

…when you’ve just finished one and you’re already thinking about another one.

iMovie, that is:

Surely I’ll soon be able to smooth those transitions…

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This afternoon Darling Hubby…

by ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ on March 6, 2010

…and I took the girls to the cemetery:

It was this beautiful all day long.

I promise my blog is not becoming just a dog blog — but would that really be so bad?

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… I receive catalogs and other such mailings directly marketed to particular ethnic groups, but not anything specifically to my ethnic group (e.g. "fat, white, and jewish lady") unless we’re to think of Lane Bryant as my ethnic group — and yet I don’t receive their catalog.  Uhmm…

Still…

You should see the beautiful clothes, jewelery, and other accessories being marketed to the black (and hispanic) women in my zip code.  Such rich colors and lively prints.  I mean, wow (and I’m not even much for prints)!  Are these the only lovely women left in town?

That’s like making me chopped liver.  Seriously.

Like "church suits."  Beautiful and oh so feminine skirts or dresses with suit type jackets for women.

These are not the mannish suits I see women wearing in downtown Lexington — but they should be.  Okay, maybe not all of these beautiful suits (as some are bit heavy on the embellishments) but certainly so many of them! 

What is so wrong with looking like a professional woman?

Why not a pretty fitted suit in pink or lavender with just a touch lace or embroidery?  If I were more of a "girly" woman and a business professional I would so be wearing some of these beautiful suits (some are even with slacks)!

And the hats!  So many pretty hats.  I love hats.

I wish men and women still wore hats as a staple of their wardrobe…

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There was this lady…

by ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ on March 1, 2010

…at the gym this morning who did her treadmill "2 minute cool down" walking backwards. 

Later, when I was doing some strength training, I spotted her at another machine so I just had to ask her what the benefit of walking backwards did for her.

She told me it was good for her lower back.  Then she told me I reminded her of her daughter.  Then she told about how Jesus will make everything right about this country again.  And on and on.

I wasn’t wearing my badge of religious persuasion (hey — I was just going to the gym!) but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.  I just did my usual polite nodding of the head without commitment.  It is the YMCA after all.  I know she meant well, you know. 

I don’t usually point out my being jewish unless someone else is being totally rude or has asked me specifically, and she was neither.  Just a sweet older lady carrying around a little green New Testament, which I did not even notice until I saw her later on a bike. 

Here are some doggie pictures to help you clear your mind:

 Mini working deliberately at de-squeaking a rhino:

Mini

 And Lily, just being her lovely self:

Lily

Oh, God, I love my dogs!

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I am going to the gym tomorrow…

by ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ on February 28, 2010

I haven’t been in three weeks.  The first two weeks was all about the snow that I love and the chaos it causes upon the streets. 

I don’t drive in iffy road conditions — unless it is to get home.  And in that case?  You do not want to be the person in the car behind me.  Unless you are driving a tank and will just roll over me in my car…

I even avoid walking in well trafficed areas because I am afraid of the car that might miss some random piece of slick spot and come careening up on the sidewalk and into me.

I also have a huge fear of falling.  Recovering from a fall can totally ruin my day.

And the third week?   Because last weekend I did something really STOOPID, which hurt my back and kept me down most of last week.

But back to going to the gym…

I was nearly up to my goal of hour and a half when working out so I’m hoping I can jump right back into that because what I really want to do is workout … twice a day … six days a week.

Seriously.  Because remember?  I AM FAT. 

AND I’VE GAINED LIKE 11 POUNDS SINCE I LOST MY JOB. 

That would be 11 of the 73 pounds I’ve lost since 2007.  WTF?  There’s not supposed to be any going backwards.  Ugh Ughn.  Nope.

That first workout would be in the morning, between 8 and 10 am, after I’ve taken Darling Hubby work.  That morning workout results in far less problems with my arthritis, makes and keep me strong, and allows me the endurance I need to to regular physical activities.

Regular physical activities?

Oh, you know.  The simple every day activities that most people take for granted.  Like going up or down a couple of flights of stairs; walking the dog; taking a shower; doing laundry; cleaning up around the house; or grocery shopping.

Not going to the gym, at least three times a week, makes all of these things very tiring and painful.  I don’t like feeling tired or being in pain all the time.

Going to the gym at least three times a week also gives me tremendous mental and emotional strength. 

I know!  I take meds for those!  But the time I spend in the gym helps me just as equally.  The meds and the gym complement each other for a better overall me.

So.  My morning workout of at least three times a week is just for my overall general health.  The second workout in the afternoon (before I pick up my hubby from work) would be just like the one in the morning.  Identical.  Except for it would be aimed at losing weight — as would the additional three days a week and two workouts a day.

I’m not interested in spending 6 or 8 hours a day at they gym like those poor pholks on The Biggest Loser.  I really do have a life I need to be living.  Nor am I considering the gastric bypass procedure.

Plus!  Did you know most of those people gain all the weight back and then some?  Hey, I read it on the internet and heard it on the news.  I believe it, too.

Wanna know why?

Because almost everyone I know that had the gastric bypass procedure have gained back at least half their weight, all of it, or even more.  And going by what’s on the internet and news, it’s pretty much like that for most of those poor pholks.

All that suffering.  And it is suffering.  Working out that many hours a day.  Losing all that weight so quickly from the bypass procedure (basically starving for the first 6-9 months after, seriously).

Now I’ve not lost as much as they said I could with my lapband, but, I did lose weight and I had also stopped gaining weight.  And at the alarming weight I was starting to gain weight?  Well, hell I’d probably be at 400 pounds or more by now!

Though there are times when I would have loved the side benefit of the bypass — no more diabetes.

I still have my lapband.  My little pouch is not stretched out at all.  If I eat something too fast or too much, I will either lose it or be really uncomfortable while it funnels its way to my stomach.  Ach!

So why have I gained 11 pounds in the four months I’ve been unemployed?

Ice cream.  Cookies dunked in my coffee.  Lots of ice cream and cookies.  Nearly every day.  Crap, but that stuff is so good!

And so I’ve come to the conclusion that since I don’t have a job I should make becoming as healthy and fit as I can my number one priority.  It’s not like I don’t have the time.  It’s something I should be hard at work with and sincerely committed to.

Besides, I have all the tools and time I need available to me.  Right? 

Exactly.

And in two or three weeks I won’t even need to drive to the gym.  I’LL BE BACK ON MY BIKE AGAIN.

Woot!

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Being the social animal…

by ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ on February 27, 2010

…that I am not, I was pleased to find an facebook message invite from S to meet at the cemetery and let the dogs play.  You want me and my dog to come?  I’ll so be there!
 
I only took Lily because Gracie and Mini get cold and want to go home too soon. 

S’s Dash, a min pin mix, is quite playful and likes to fetch.  Lily is not a fetcher, but she does love to play tug-o-war!

Anyway!

S is here to do a clerk position with a local judge.  She and her fiance (another "E") are staying with his parents while they get this year under their belts with local jobs (I think he may be an engineer) but they hope to settle in D.C. someday.  And it just so happens that these parents live nearby — we kinda met up through E’s mother.

S had told me that her E was hoping to get a Great Pyrenees someday.  It turns out his grandfather had one when E was just a boy and he has happy memories of playing with that Pyr.

And the point is — I may have talked his ear off this afternoon with all kinds of Pyr info. 

Lily was her usual shy self and would never get close enough to let S & E pet her.  Not even when they tried to tempt her with the cookies I’d brought along.  Oh, she’d approach them, but as soon as they would make a move to pet her she’d back off.

I swear, sometimes Lily looks like she is laughing at you for trying to pet her!

Still, I can’t blame anyone for trying:

Lily

 Who wouldn’t want to get their hands into that gorgeous warm coat!

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