ksylvan's Friends

Ran 3 miles today &  hope to get another workout accomplished today. I feel super lucky because my Aunt has a cousin who is an actress (I will leave her name out for privacys sake), but I am so excited because everytime she cleans her closet out, she donates her leftover clothes to me!!! My Aunt went to visit her in Beverly Hills & just called me to tell me she sent me a huge bag of clothes! Her trash is definately my treasure. She is so generous & one time she even sent a dress she only wore once on the red carpet. God knows where I will wear some of these treasures, but hey, I don't think a gal is ever done playing dress up!!!

As far as my goals are concerned there are a few consistent obstacles. The first being me not having any self control. I see a treat & I don't think twice before popping it in my mouth....how can I work on this?  I almost feel like I need a reminder to stop & think about it before I eat it.

Another obstacle is me planning to get a workout in after I work & then being too tired to actually do one. Everyday I work, it starts out with me being excited to get a workout completed in the evening. By the time I am leaving work my attitude usually is "to hell with it".  I think the only way to defeat this obstacle is to wake up an hour early & get the workout done then. I hate to have to wake up even earlier than 5 am, but I've gotta do what I've gotta do.

The last major obstacle seems to be a sweet toothe problem. Oh how I wish I hated sweets. It is awful. Yesterday I stopped by the gas station & bought 3 candies...yes 3 full sized candies & ate every single one while watching a movie. It is horrible & I fear that one day my teeth may rot out of my head, not to mention how horrible it is on the waistline.

Well I hope everyone else is doing great with their diet/fitness plan.

Dad is doing very well.  He only spent two days in the regular hospital, and is now in the Acute Rehab Unit.  He's doing great because he decided to go along with the program, so he is working hard to be in good shape when he comes home Friday. 

The reason dad is in the hospital is because he was unable to move his right knee a week ago Saturday, and on that Sunday the doc took 20cc of water off that right knee.  And that made him feel better right away.  But the hospital folk thought he would benifit from some time in the ARU.  They are getting him up and walking again, and working on his other skills. 

Also, I have seen a marked improvement in his attitude.  He is working hard, and wants to get back home ASAP.  So I'm pretty pleased with that.

As for me, I'm doing pretty good.  Had a touch of the flu last week, but I am much better.  I did miss Friday's workout, but just couldn't bring myself to do it, and I didn't want to spread my illness around. 

I also have an appointment with my Doc on Wedneday.  Don't think I'm going to see a lose on his scale, but I feel very fit right now, and after I go see my dad, it's off to the Y for a heavy workout.  Today I push weights.  So I'll be putting the hurts to my legs.  But it's all good.  Be back later this afternoon.

Training gloves: $15.99

Pull up tower: $100.00

Tae bo dvd: $10.00

The look on an old crush's face when he sees you without the 40 extra lbs you used to carry around?

PRICELESS.

The best part? "Face Drop" by Sean Kingston was playing on the overhead speakers.

This happened in a town about 15 min's from us. 

"I guess we're lucky we added a section to our health and safety manual for when someone leaves a pig in your washroom," Morelli said.


ROFL ... You mean this has happened before?

Art of the Season - Autumn. 

Autumn Landscape with View of Het Steen ~ Peter Paul Rubens, 1635

Bill and I had a nice visit yesterday.  He stopped at the store and got my milk and eggs.  I enjoy his company even more after all these years.  I had the windows wide open all day it was so warm and sunny. 

Plan for today:  Go to the produce market for a few fresh vegetables and salad greens, and maybe bananas.  I need to go to the bank yet again.  I'm feeling the pinch and want a readout of my account since the last statement to see what checks have cleared and how much is in there to the penny.  My Social Securitity doesn't come until mid month so it's important.  I might stop at the garden center and see if they have any bargain crocus bulbs left.

Menu for today:  Breakfast - Bran flakes and milk.  Snack - apple and almonds.  Lunch - soup and salad with cheese.  Supper - chicken, brown rice, french green beans and carrots with some kind of low fat cheese sauce.  Snack - Milk, rice cake.

I'm really going to make the most of this warm sunshine because I know it won't last.  I'll check on my car and make sure it's dried out inside.  I left a window cracked open so that when it heats up in the sun the moisture can escape.  No rain predicted so it's fine for today at least.  I swear, at least some of those bulbs are going to make it into the ground today. 

Bubba still is begging for me to let him drink from the bathtub faucet but he's having no luck.  At this point it's a battle of wills.  It's not like he's never seen a drinking fountain before - he had one for years before we moved.  He has drunk from it but probably not enough.  At least the noise has subsided and now it's just little begging squeaks instead of big baritone Mrrrowwws. 

Today:  Sunbathe! 

Update:  I have won the water war!  After shutting him out of the bathroom and any possibility of dripping faucets or toilet bowls, he took a healthy drink from his little bubbler this morning.  Since he never gets up on the counters in the kitchen, I wasn't worried about the kitchen sink at all.  I actually don't think he knows it's there.

After listening to Bubba complain all day and not use his new bubbler fountain, I gave in and let him drink from the bathtub faucet.  At lost the battle but at least I had a quiet night and the war is not over.

I did nearly nothing.  Again. I did bake a batch of pumpkin muffins just for something to do.  I'm so bored I became fascinated with my car insurance policy which arrived in the mail.  Nobody was around so I had no company.  However, I had no nasty symptoms, so maybe the rest is working.

Plan for today:  Bill will be here around 2.  He's stopping at the grocery store with my list again.  We have a bunch of videos we can watch, or, since it's going to be a nice day, maybe go for a drive if he feels like it. 

Menu for today:  Breakfast - fat free, low sugar pumpkin muffin, milk.  Lunch - turkey salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.  Snack - apple & peanut butter.  Supper - porkchop, brown rice, french green beans, pureed acorn squash.  Snack - milk, rice cake, maybe a hard boiled egg to get my protein up. 

It's a beautiful morning, expected to get to 65 F, 5-6 C with lots of sun.  It's a good day for a drive in the country to see the last of the fall color. 

Today:  Be glad for what's good. 

Week 3 weigh-in
Goal: 137
Weight: 139
Low: 136
Start: 140

Well.. it's up, but that's probably all the salt and crazy eating in the last couple days. I've been pretty good today, should go down.

Why exactly did I choose Saturday as a weigh-in day? It's always my heaviest day of the week. Really should switch to thursday - my lightest day.

It is however, one of those horrible worst acne ever days. I'm actually ashamed to leave my room. it is awful. A 22 year old girl shouldn't be dealing with this! That's what high school was for. grrrr

I guess ups and downs are par for life.  This morning is up I'm glad to say.  I slept great.

The little water bubbler I bought from the Miles Kimball catalog arrived.  I hooked it up thinking Bubba would react the same as he did when I got him the big Drinkwell fountain a few years back.  Instead he too one look at it and left the room. Then he refused to eat his dinner.  Now he's begging to drink out of the faucet in the bathtub and I even caught him drinking from the toilet.  I ended up letting him drink from the faucet so it would be quiet all night, but today the bathroom will be off limits.  He does seem to be getting used to the bubbler because I heard him in the kitchen crunching away at his food.

Plan for the day:  There is no plan.  I've been too tired to even think about it.  I need to go to the bank, so that might get me out of the house for a half an hour. 

Menu for today:  Breakfast - oatmeal with milk.  Lunch - leftover turkey from dinner and a salad.  Snack - tangerine.  Supper - dijon salmon, brown rice, peas & carrots.  Snack - milk, peanut butter.

It's a beautiful morning and I can tell it's not too cold because I didn't turn on the heat and it's not cold in here.  The past week I've had to turn on the baseboard heat in the bedroom in the early morning.  Since I'm on the top floor, I think I do get the rising heat from the lower floors.  Once it's really cold that makes no difference, but during the fall it does.  In the afternoon the sun streams in and really warms the place up.  It keeps my electric bill down.

There are more bare trees now.  I can see the distant houses and back roads going up the hill.  The sweet gums and oaks are still putting on a show.  I have to get out there and plant the last of the mystery bulbs before Thanksgiving.  Maybe this weekend will be the one.  I really should go to a garden center and get a few dozen crocus and snow drop bulbs too, but I don't last long when I'm gardening.  Half an hour is about my limit.  Can't get much done in that short amount of time.

Today:  Make the most of it because who knows how long it will last. 

Monday night

Got home from Oasis at 830, as we do every Monday evening. This one was different, though, as there was a kitty in our driveway, sitting there as if he were waiting for us. We had never seen him before (typically with strays, you see them hanging around off and on for a few weeks before they'll approach you), but we let him in the house for some food and water, then sent him on his way. We figured (and hoped) that he would mosey back on home.

Tuesday

He didn't mosey any further than underneath our shed. We let him in the kitchen while the kids were getting ready for school, so he could get warmed up a bit and have some food/water. He hung around inside the shed all the rest of the day. When I got home from work, I saw that the kids had set out a water and food bowl for him, and had made a kitty bed as well. He's very obviously a recent family pet as he is very friendly, not at all skittish, not undernourished, and knows how to beg for people food.

Wednesday

As now seems to be the regular schedule, he comes in the kitchen while the kids are getting ready for school. When it's time for the kids to head out, I go in the LR to let them know, and there was kitty, curled up beside Dear on the love seat, sleeping very contentedly. So I let him stay in while I get ready for work. The kids go back and forth between the names Ginger and Oliver, but in the end, we decide that Oliver seems a good fit (after Oliver from the Disney movie)
That night was a cold one. The inside was cold, so we figured it was just too cold for him to be out, so we got him set up in the cellar with a litter box and took down the food and water bowls.

Thursday

Spends his morning in the kitchen having breakfast with the kids. That evening, we let him in the house. He spent the whole time sleeping either on the love seat or the carpet runner. When it is our bed time, hub asks me what we're going to do with him. He mentions about putting him out. I tell him to go ahead. Which was a joke, because I knew hub wouldn't- Oliver was curled up, asleep with his paws covering his eyes, purring like a chainsaw. We get the litter box out of the cellar and put it in the kitchen near the food so he'll know where to find it should he need it.

Today

Oliver has spent the majority of the day inside. I did send him out for awhile, just to get some fresh air. Our kitty Molly seems to not mind him, except if they're in close proximity, and then she hisses/growls. He acts as if she's not even around. He'll be spending the night in here again.

Ideally, my parents will take him. I really don't want another cat. Especially not a male (not sure if he's fixed or not), since we have a female (who is fixed). Talking to my mother this morning though, I don't think he'll be living there. She's too into not having a cat to have one. So I think I'll talk to my next door neighbor, who has barn cats. Usually people with barn cats don't mind adding another to the mix.

So where did Oliver come from? No idea. My dad thinks that someone brought him here and abandoned him. I think that is probably what happened. And if so, it appears that someone recently was in our driveway and lost their cell phone charger...wonder if it belongs to the abandoners?

SPCA

We've been thinking about getting a little dog for over a year now. Yesterday I was at the SPCA and looked at the dogs. They were all too big for our families needs (we want a dog that is small, so we can take it with all 5 of us and a cat- maybe 2 cats- when we go on vacation). It just so happened that there was 1 little dog inside the buildig, separate from the other dogs. A little Shih Tzu. She was just brought in 30 minutes prior.

They placed my name on a list, saying that I wanted to adopt her.

I called back this morning to see what they had to say, and apparently, although I was the first person to speak up for this doggy, my name is waaay down on the list. Because there is a list of people who want small dogs. So whenever a small dog comes in, the person at the top of the list is given first crack, etc.

So. I understand, but at the same time, I don't. Whatever happened to "first come, first served"?

I went from being really excited to have found a perfect little doggie for the fam to giving up on the idea. I won't pay $400+ for a new little doggie from a breeder, but neither do I fancy the idea of being placed on a waiting list. And waiting. And waiting.

So we'll just let what happens happen. If a little doggie happens to cross our path, it was meant to be.

Feeling a bit better today. Scale went up 2 lbs to 138, but I expected worse. I feel like I got a binge that was building up for a long time out of my system and I hope that I can eat reasonably for a while now.

On a completely different note:

I want to get my mom a really nice Christmas gift this year. She always gets cooking supplies, and stuff for the house and whatnot, and I'd really like to get her something "just for her". She is truly an amazing woman, and I want to show her she deserves the world. But all the ideas I can come up with are the boring old cookbooks, etc.We have a family rule of no gift cards, and I'm really bad at guessing sizes/fit etc.

Please, anyone have any ideas?

she's 54, takes very good care of herself, dresses well, likes gardening and reading, is a big fan of coronation street and goes for a lot of walks. She's trying to lose weight, and only eats all natural non-processed food -- so sweets are definitely out.