Yesterday, I completed twelve weeks of my daily fitness workout. YAY! Of course, I started a new six week run because I have no intention of slacking off. It is the first fitness plan that I have ever found that works for ME. It gets me pumped and keeps me motivated all day instead of exhausting me and sending me to the snack cupboard for an unhealthy source of energy (or the sofa for a nap).
This morning I went to see my respiratory specialist. I drove myself – downtown – at rush hour, and parked backwards into a slanted parking spot. Yay me! The good news is there is no new issues with my lungs. The bad (questionable) news is that my blood pressure now seems to range on the (bit) high side. No doctor seems concerned enough to suggest medication but since they keep bringing it up, I have started looking for ways to bring it down naturally. 🙄
In Molly news, we are having a challenging week. I planted flowers around the base of the bird bath yesterday. I surrounded my little seedling with a wooden fence to give them a fighting chance. The plants are still hanging in but Molly ate the fence. She is also in hyper play mode. Between her teeth and her nails, I look like I have been crawling through barbed wire and rocks.
Molly with a new rawhide chew treat I got hertoday. It seems to have slowed her down. 😉
Anyway, that’s all I have for today. Take care and have a great what’s left of your day! 💞💛💃
My bedding plants are ready for transplanting, so I’ve been busy getting the garden ready for them. It is a work in progress, as is the front lawn, and the patio furniture. I am just happy that spring is here, the sun is shining, and our yard is once again ‘living space’.
Flowers, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and onions. 😊Site Super
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞
I am a little late on my fitness report but I have not slacked off on getting FIT. I am just behind on my report this week.
My dancersizing is still helping me to get into shape. I went for a lung x-ray on Tuesday and while I have not seen my doctor yet, I have seen the report. The permanent damage to my lungs is still there BUT there are no new issues so that is great! If I can stay where I am and keep my asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis under control, I can avoid having to use oxygen so that is huge motivation to get and keep in shape. My weight loss is still slow but the fitter and more active I get, the sooner that will improve. I did wear a pair of jeans this morning that haven’t fit for a year, so YAY progress. 🤗. I also carried a heavy bag of yard waste to the back gate this week. Dan was impressed that I was able to lift it, much less carry it that far. 💪😉
Working out is rather more challenging some (most) days, with Molly growing bigger and getting more active every day. When she stops running between my legs (which is challenging enough) she generally takes a nap in my workout space or starts doing something that requires intervention.
Playing ball outside with Molly this morning.Can’t see her ball because TO HER “Bring the ball, Molly” means “Go hide the ball in the bushes so I have to crawl around to find it, Molly.”
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day! 👍
There is more talk about mental health nowadays than ever before, but sometimes I have to wonder if the ‘talk’ does more harm than good.
This morning I ran across a short article regarding Camilla Cabello. I have no idea who she is. I know very little about Hollywood type stuff or the people involved, but I saw this article, read it, and felt I had to share it because it is so dead on right – in my mind.
In the course of our lives, we all struggle mentally and/or emotionally – at least occasionally, and at least severely enough that we need to address whatever issues we are struggling with.
That is exactly what Camilla Cabello discusses in this article. She offers no excuses, no blame, no explanation for how or why or where or when she came to develop anxiety issues. She talks about her anxiety issues, the pain they cause, and her efforts to deal with them. Period.
It is one thing to discuss the cause(s) of our mental or emotional issues with professionals and those closest to us as part of our healing process, but obsessing over the cause becomes more of a problem than a solution in my mind. Too often, that is where a lot of people seem to be stuck and what a lot of the current talk revolves around. It becomes more about justifying mental/emotional issues than dealing with them and recovering from them.
Anyway, this is a link to the article I read. It is short and well worth the time to read it.
Molly has been with us for one solid week! Only 94 weeks until she is out of puppyhood and into being the best all grown up doggy we could hope for.
We have had a few minor glitches – chewing is obviously going to be a big one for her to get over, but so far she has not destroyed anything major. Not for lack of trying, but hopefully she will get the hang of chew toys.
Our vet suggested a rope toy, soaked in water, and frozen, to help Molly through her teething. Another work in progress….
Other than the chewing thing, Molly is doing good. She has quit stealing shoes and the bathmat! And she is almost really good at doing her business outside. 💩
It is time for Molly’s lunch and a nap with favourite toy – her very own elephant (compliments of granddaughter Genie💝).
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!💞
I took Molly in for her Parvo vaccine and initial puppy checkup yesterday. I was a bit concerned about driving there alone because I had no idea how she would be in the Jeep, so asked granddaughter Genie if she had time to come with us. Fortunately she obliged!
First off, Molly was quite happy to have her first visitor. She bonded quite easily with Genie – and had her first opportunity to sit on the sofa. 😲
Everything went great. Molly was fine in the Jeep. She laid down in the back with her head poking through between the front seats. Out of the vehicle, she was quite happy to walk nicely beside Genie on her leash.
Molly weighed in at 10 kilograms (22.4 pounds). She let Genie lift her onto the vet’s table and distract her while she got a complete once over (including getting her temperature taken 😳). Everything checked out fine so she got her vaccine. The only ‘glitch’ is that because of the high risk of Parvo right now, she cannot go out of our yard until she has had the next two booster shots. (8 weeks I think). It isn’t a big deal now, but I was hoping to have her totally used to taking walks around the neighborhood before she got much bigger. At least we have a big yard to practice in.
We came back home. Molly and Genie played and cuddled until Dan came home – because Genie can’t leave without seeing Grandpa and getting her obligatory hug. 💞
Today, Molly has been a little under the weather. She had a bit of ‘intestinal trouble’ this morning, so I gave her a tablespoon of pumpkin which seems to have taken care of things. She is starting to perk up now.
Did I mention Molly likes to take things that don’t belong to her and chew on them? She is learning ‘leave it’ and ‘drop it’. It’s a work in progress. 🙄
That is it for Molly news today. Take care and have a great rest of the day.
Warning – This post will be lengthy and it might come off as being kind of ‘know it all’. So for the record – I am sorry and I don’t know it all. This post is written with my grandkids in mind, the ones who are old enough to read my blog. I am writing it because I love them, I want the best lives possible for them, and because they are more likely to believe what they read in a blog than what some grey haired Grandma tells them. 😊
It is ten weeks since I started my spring fitness plan. I have been meditating every single day and dancersizing almost every day. (I did substitute a healthy dose of snow shoveling a few times.) I haven’t been terribly consistent about having a glass of red wine every evening but since we got our new pup Molly, I have had one Caesar and another one is sounding good.
The bottom line is things are going really well. My fitness level is amazing and I have no doubt that it will get way better as my program is working and I cannot imagine giving it up anytime soon – or ever. It is a lifestyle – my lifestyle going forward.
I have realized so many things since mid-February, that I decided to share a few today.
1. Living a good life depends on having physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial fitness. The best fitness level in all categories possible. It is bizarre how little effort we tend to invest in our overall fitness. Especially, since it takes so little time and effort to make noticeable improvements.
2. Fitness is so important that we believe everyone deserves it. And somehow because we feel everyone deserves it, we often feel entitled to it. Feeling entitled to anything is bad, because then we feel we shouldn’t have to work for it. We have to work for the things that are worth having, and we have to maintain them, and we have to value them – even if we receive them freely from family, friends, or the universe. If we do not earn them, or maintain them, or value them – we lose them. And then we sit around being miserable because we do not have them and it is ALL so unfair because we feel entitled to them! 🤦
3. At any point (even when we are really old – like almost 67) we can turn things around. And, if we start working on one manner of fitness – physical fitness, or mental fitness, or emotional fitness, or spiritual fitness, or financial fitness – it affects the other fitness categories that are important to us. It is amazing how that works!
4. Everyone can do something to improve their fitness levels – excuses won’t do it, worrying won’t do it, blame games won’t do it, and pity parties won’t do it. It has to be something constructive – something like physically working out, meditating, praying, getting out in nature, breathing fresh air, reading self help books or websites or seeking professional counseling, making and following a healthy diet plan, making and following a financial budget, spending time with loved ones – or spending time alone. We are all unique, so we all have to find what works best for us. Others can help us, advise us, or inspire us, but no one can do it for us.
5. Trying TOO hard is counterproductive. If we are trying and trying and giving it our all and it isn’t working, we are doing the wrong thing or we are doing the right thing wrong. I did this physically for my entire life – and people told me I wasn’t trying (mostly phys-ed teachers, but… whatever). Nobody told me that I was trying too hard, that maybe I was not like everyone when it came to how I was built, that maybe I had to approach physical fitness in a different way. Finally, as a senior, I decided that I had to get physically fit – at least fit enough to get some enjoyment out of our approaching spring. I knew I felt best when I put in my earbuds and cranked up the tunes from my youth to do dishes or other household chores so I decided to put in my earbuds and do a bit of dancing each day. I have asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis. I am overweight. Due to a genetic collagen issue and a lifetime of ‘trying too hard’ I had the muscle tone of limp asparagus. But I finally took the right step in the right direction (for me). I will probably never be an athlete, but I feel better AND I have muscle tone in my arms and my back and my core and my legs. My flexibility, my circulation, and my balance are all better. I breathe easier and I have started to lose weight. And I have moved up from Buddy Holly to full on Zumba. My physical fitness has improved! Because I stopped pushing my body to do what it couldn’t, and I allowed it to do what felt right for me. This trying too hard can be detrimental to whatever type of fitness you are striving for – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or financial. Sometimes you have to ease off and rethink what you are doing and how well it is working for you.
6. One interesting (and totally unexpected) side effect of improving my fitness levels, is that while I am focused on improving MY fitness levels, I am way less concerned about judging or changing or fixing other people. 🙄
7. Finally, no matter how fit or unfit we are – life happens. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Life happens. The fitter we are, the better we handle it all. The good times are better. More opportunities come our way and we are ready and able to make the most of them. We are in the right mindset to appreciate and cherish them. The fitter we are, the less we stress the bad times – we are in a position to deal with them quickly and easily. And the downright uglytimes …. There will be heartbreak, disappointment, pain and grief…. When the ugly happens – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial fitness makes all the difference – for us and for those nearest and dearest to us. We have what it takes to get through such times and to help others through them. We get past them and move on to better times.
Getting and staying as physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially fit as possible is the most important personal responsibility that one has in this life. We deserve health, happiness, love, faith, peace, and financial security. But we have to work for it. It is never to early or too late to start or expand our efforts to empower ourselves through fitness. Do it – Your life will be brighter, your future self will thank you, and your loved ones will thank you. 💝
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great life!
Just a short update today on life with our new pup.
Molly did way better last night! We went to bed with her at 10, she slept until 3:30, I took her outside for a few minutes, and she went right back to her bed and slept until almost 6 this morning. Yay Molly!
Her potty training is going well. She has had two or three piddle accidents in the porch and one in the bedroom. That is ALL. Not bad for a puppy with no housetraining prior to coming here. 😊
She still isn’t into walking on a leash, but Dan went and bought her a harness today which helps. I also watched a You Tube video on leash training and read up on the leash biting issue, so I am ready for another session tomorrow. Gotta love You Tube and Google.
Other than that, Molly is busy chewing on everything and dragging anything she can shake loose (blanket, bath mat, shoes…). Standing on her hind feet she can see, if not reach, anything that gets her attention – and everything gets her attention.
Tomorrow is her first vet checkup and vaccine! That should be fun. Everyone in the vet’s office enjoys meeting a new pup. 💝
NaptimeI think she grew overnight. 🙄
That is it for today. Take care and have a great rest of the day!
