Molly is four months old today! All things being equal, that would be twenty-eight months in human time. That seems about right. While she is obviously a joy, she has her “terrible two’s” moments.
Looking back through photos I have taken of her in the past couple of months, since she has been with us, it is amazing how she has grown and changed. She is still a baby, but she is getting bigger, more independent, and smarter every day! And… more helpful. She definitely likes to help! Last night she tried to help me take a metal splinter out of Dan’s leg. Somehow, having a big white fuzzy head between me and the magnifying glass did not help. 🤦
First Day HomeWith Her Toy Elephant. First Roadtrip – and she was excellent!In Her KennelThis Morning
Here’s to Molly and many more months – and years of her filling our lives with all the love and joy she brings to our home. 💞
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 🌞💞
Just another day in June!  We finished putting up our pool yesterday. With temperatures heading into the 30+ Celsius range on Saturday, we are right on time. We are supposed to see some rain this afternoon, but the sun is still shining so I may be helping nature out with the watering hose if things do not proceed as planned.
A few more photos that I took this morning:
Molly, snacking on a Cedar. Our first StrawberryDan’s Bleeding Heart is starting to bloom.My elephant Marigolds by my meditating chair
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day!
It has been a long time coming, but we are finally seeing signs of Summer in Saskatchewan.Â
These are a few of the photos I took yesterday while wandering around.  If I had a theme for our yard this year, I am not seeing it yet.  The bits and pieces of colour seem pretty random.
WildFlowers surrounding the bird bath.A Pansy A Petunia blooming in the welcome basket.Marigolds to keep mosquitos away. We’ll see?Petunias from Unique Garden Centre.A Primrose for our granddaughter ‘Primrose’More PansiesA perennial we have had for years. I have no idea what it is but I move it every few years and it blooms wherever it goes.A Petunia overlooking the pond. I am totally impressed with all of the petunias I startedfrom seed thisyear. 😉
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 🤗💞
Here I am, seventeen weeks since I started my fitness mission to get out of my rocking chair and into rocking my retirement lifestyle.Â
Notable tidbits from the pastweek:
Feeling good physically. Every week is just that bit better. 😊
Feeling fine mentally! On top of my game. 🙂
Emotionally, it has been a bit of a struggle. Nothing that I can’t chalk up to a full moon and a deeply embedded habit of stressing out. 🙄
After seventeen weeks in I have FINALLY lost a solid TEN pounds.  That is at least twice as much as I have ever lost on a fitness plan, so will take it as a win.
After seventeen weeks of dancersizing and two weeks of beet juice, my blood pressure is back down to normal +/- 120/80.
A few days ago, I added a tablespoon of sauerkraut (before supper) to my diet. Hopefully it will help settle digestive issues. If it works, thank you sister Elaine for the suggestion. If not, it is all good – I love sauerkraut.
On the Molly side:
Two weeks until we can start walking the neighbourhood – And not a minute too soon. Molly is BORED. We went out and bought her some new toys this morning, to mix things up a bit for her. We did not buy her the $20.00 rubber stick. Seriously! Dan did find a stick a few weeks ago, cleaned the bark off of it and filed down the sharp bits. We tried to teach her to fetch it but she just wanted to eat it. 😋
GOOD NEWS! Molly FINALLY quit trying to bite and scratch my arms. They may be scarred for life but I am no longer covered in peroxide and bandaids.
BAD NEWS! Molly’s sheep herding tendencies have reached a new level. Now she has taken up head butting and butt nipping. Since we lack sheep, my butt is the target. I don’t know what is worse, when she follows me around nipping at my butt or when she charges full tilt across the yard and slams her head into my butt. Neither is pleasant or particularly elegant. 🙄
Photos of Molly:
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 🌞💞
From all indications, Molly has reached the puppy equivalent stage comparable to human toddlers or teenagers.  I am not sure which, but she has been busy being adorable, obnoxious, and ‘helpful’.
In the past few days, Molly has:
Laid claim to the livingroom sofa
Chased a mouse onto a sticky pad mouse trap AND hovered around me as I disposed of said mouse and trap. (That was an ordeal – and yes I did get my rubber glove stuck in the sticky stuff of the trap, which the mouse was also stuck in. 😳)
Knocked over a speaker/stand while I was taking a bath.
Helped me pull dandelions by digging them out to the depth of their roots, leaving sizeable holes in our backyard.
Learned to get my attention when I am sitting in the garden, by sneaking up behind me, leaping on me and wrapping her front legs around my neck AND licking the top of my head.
AND – She has learned which cupboard holds our dishcloths and towels, how to get them all out at once and how to transport them to various yard locations before I can catch her.
Other than that, things haven’t been going too badly with Molly. I (finally) found a grooming tool that seems to work fairly well at dealing with matting in her nether regions. She has been pretty good about going to bed and sleeping through the night (as long as the night ends at 5 am). I bought her a crate this week, which may or may not prove helpful when I am getting some yard maintenance done in the next few weeks. And, our games of fetch are improving. Molly generally brings her ball or Frisbee back to me, she almost always gives it to me without drawing blood (maybe I am just running out?), AND I can sometimes throw her ball or Frisbee where I want it to go (and sometimes I just hit the eaves troughs).
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!💞
It has been sixteen weeks since my fight to get fit began. So far it has been going well and I have no intention or concerns about allowing myself to drift back to where I was when I started this adventure.
There have been positive results – surprisingly so, since getting in shape was never a winning proposition for me, unless you count ROUND as a shape – which was not what I was going for. This time there has definitely been improvements – physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Unfortunately, there are some issues that seem to defy my efforts. While my lung capacity and function has improved, I still get winded going up and down our basement stairs. Since our washer and dryer are in the basement, that mean several trips up and down those stairs on laundry day. It isn’t undoable, but it triggers that voice in my head that mocks me with a snickering “You are old and fat – and you cannot even breathe right!” 😋). That voice is so mean, trying to undermine all of the progress that I have made. 😧
Then there is the weight. Not just the weight, but the stubborn FAT that clings to my upper arms, waist, and thighs. I know from countless past experiences that cutting calories is not the way to go for me. I cut calories, feel like a dishrag, cut all unnecessary activity, and then snarf down a box of Smarties so I have the energy to change my socks. I have improved my diet – eliminating virtually all empty calories but replacing them with foods that provide the nutrients my body needs. But, cutting calories? No way! I am not a heavy eater, I eat healthy foods, I am gradually upping my activity level until the weight and fat eventually drops.
Despite the frustrating struggles, I am happy with the progress I have made so far. I know it has only been sixteen weeks since I started this journey. That is less that four months – and the first month was very tentative. So in three months – My strength, stamina, flexibility, and breathing have all improved. My muscles have toned up, so my clothes wear better and overall I am looking better and feeling better about how I look. Mentally and emotionally, I am noticeably healthier than I was. It is good, I am impressed and ready to journey on.
It is a nice day to sit back and enjoy the sunshine.
Here’s the link to a new You Tube video I tried yesterday. It is a bit longer than the last couple I shared but I enjoyed it and made it through to the end. 😉
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!
It is hard to book a day off when one is so comfortably retired, but I think I earned one today. I drove Dan and his friend across the city this morning to catch a bus tour to Dan’s company golf tournament at a small town golf course a couple of hours out of the city. Now Molly and I are free until they get back some time this evening.
It is hard to believe that three and a half months ago, I was feeling so feeble and miserable that I was spending the bulk of my time sitting in my rocking chair, wrapped in a blanket – with a shawl across my shoulders. LOL! 😂 Then, I started wondering how I was ever going to be fit enough to deal with all of the spring work that would come with the change of seasons!
Now here I am! Our garden is in, I paid one last trip to a greenhouse yesterday to get a few more flowers and herbs, the flower beds are planted, and the patios and patio furniture are cleaned off and ready to enjoy. I even mowed the lawn one time. Dan dealt with it this week (as he usually does). Molly has been taught to fetch, been kept reasonably well groomed, and most days are accident free – even when I go out for a bit and leave her locked in the house for a couple of hours.
I am so glad I decided to take action back in February to get myself in shape. 💃
A few photos that I took in the couple of days.
I love the colour of these Petunias that I picked up at Unique Garden Centre yesterday. And the pretty little Pansies I got there as well!Dan planted this strawberry plant in the hanging basket he fixed up for it.Molly guarding some of the tomato plants that I started in early March.A few of the peppers I also started in March.Genie (and her friend Alex) dropped in yesterday to say goodbye before she heads off on her summer adventure today. Molly made sure she got her share of the attention.
So that is about it! We still have a fair amount of work to deal with – maintaining the garden, painting the porch, raking the lawn and dealing with the dandelions, painting planters, and setting up the pool (if we decide to put it up this year). Whatever we decide to do, I know I won’t struggle to do my part. I am good to go and getting fitter every day! 💪😊
We often think of ‘Instant Gratification‘ as being a bad thing, but it does not have to be. If we get our ‘Instant Gratification’ from following Sean Patrick Flanery’s advice, it can be a powerful motivator!
“Do Something Today That Your Future Self Will Thank You For.” – Sean Patrick Flanery
There are countless things that we can do every day to invest in a better life for our future selves – and we can enjoying doing them NOW.
Yesterday, I went shopping for a few more bedding plants and came home to plant flowers and herbs around our yard. I know that in a few weeks I will be so glad that I made the effort. That thought made me happy as I shopped, dug out pots, worked up the soil, and planted my feeble little seedlings. Instant Gratification.
Molly seems to be enjoying the flowers already. 💞
What else have I done this week that made me feel good, knowing it was an investment in the future? There were too many things to mention but… I did my work out every day and drank my beet juice. I worked with Molly – training her to grow up one day to be a well behaved dog. I walked right past the potato chips and cake displays at the supermarket – that always makes me feel good. I made garlic toast for supper last night to serve with our Chicken Caesar Salad. I wanted cheese toast, but Dan wanted garlic toast, so I made garlic toast because it feels good making him happy now – as an investment in OUR future. I resisted the temptation to make some impulse purchases because it felt better to add a bit of money in our savings account.
Noticing what I do today, to invest in a better future, has become a habit lately and one that I really enjoy. It helps me to feel good and to make better decisions as I go about my day. It provides me with ‘Instant Gratification’. 🤗
Molly and I, anticipating all those fresh tomatoes to come. 🥰
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞
Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie 