It is one year and ten weeks since I decided to get healthier and more active. I am still committed as ever despite the setbacks I have encountered. It’s definitely the lifestyle I embrace these days.
Since I was deemed healed from my broken arm, I have been working my way back up in my workout intensity. I am doing full-on two armed Zumba. (Which is way easier, graceful, and less confusing than trying to do Zumba with one arm).
I have been out walking with Molly as much as possible – which is when Dan or daughter Jen are available to hold her leash. I would love to walk her more but I can’t trust her if I am holding her leash. She was doing well last fall, until I was down with the flu followed by the broken arm. Now, not so much.
A few days ago, Dan and I were taking Molly somewhere in the Jeep. Dan went out to get ready, while I leashed her up and walked her out. She was fine. We got to the sidewalk and Dan opened the back hatch of the Jeep. We were ten feet away from it. Molly got so excited she jumped right in. The leash I was holding her by was six feet long. 🤦
She looks so innocent!At least our streets and sidewalks are finally free of snow and ice. Still unsightly, but nice for walking…
The good news is that I am crushing my evening workouts. This week I am back to using my five pound weights. Yay! I am not struggling with the heavier dumbbells. I have cut back on reps and sets, and I have switched things up to doing arm and back exercise one night, hips and legs the next, so I am not doing the same muscles on consecutive nights. 💪🌟🦵
We are also still working on improving our diet by consistently planning ahead. Dan is really helping out with that. He seems to find it easier to come up with one weekly meal plan on Sunday night, than he does offering up a suggestion for one meal that can be prepared and served in half an hour – five or six consecutive nights of the week. Go figure!
That’s my health and fitness update for this week. Take care and have a great sunny rest of the day! 💞🌞
Another week of healing, health and fitness has passed and I’m still committed to the program. 💪
This past week I did my morning Zumba workout every day, did strength training almost every night (missed one night), and got outside for some fresh air. Molly and I went walking a couple of times – once with Dan and once with Jen and her daughter Prim. The walk with Jen and Prim was a long one on Saturday – around Wascana Lake.
Wascana Park – photo from my archives.
Wascana Park is in the heart of Regina. With the warmer weather that we have been experiencing, it was a good day for the park. The pathways were busy with people, strollers, and DOGS. Fortunately, Jen and Prim walked Molly and she was pretty happy just to truck along with them and stay out of trouble.
Molly did manage to come home dirty and tired.
I also spent a bit of time outside putzing around our yard yesterday. I put out some peanuts for our neighbourhood squirrel(s) and swept some of Molly’s destruction off the back patio.
It is too early to start planting outside but our cactus bloomed and Jen brought me a new ivy and spider plant to nurture.
This week will be business as usual with my fitness plan. My biggest push is to get my evening strength training back on track. My plan is for six exercises – ten sets of ten reps with three pound weights plus 10 sets of ten reps for wall pushups Monday thru Saturday. If all goes well, I will be moving back up to five pound weights next week. Yay!
That’s all I have for this week. Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞
Molly was born into this world on February 16th, 2022. After spending her first few weeks with her Mom and siblings, we welcomed her into our home on April 22nd.
April 22, 2022Eating one of the many cedars we had pre-Molly.Molly’s first ‘official’ walk – 4 weeks post final round of vaccinations.Genie’s lap dog.Summer splash pool – I was trying to clean it and give her fresh water. She just couldn’t wait!Fresh out of responsible pet control. Christmas 2022 with Cason, Lucas, Bacardi, & CorneliusYes, Molly! You did this to me. 🙄
Our big girl is an entire year old. It hasn’t all been easy, it hasn’t all been fun, but every day is so worth it! 😁 Happy Birthday, Molly!
One week until I will be celebrating a solid year since I began my health and fitness journey. 🥳
I am not celebrating the strong finish that I had hoped for. With a broken arm, it is difficult to get as physical as I had planned. But, I am still doing my darndest to dance my way into Year Two and to finish Year One on as positive a note as possible.
I made a motivational sign for my fridge. What I lack in creative talent, I make up for in determination. 🤣
I have also been….
Getting lots of rest – as in eight to ten hours of sleep per day/night. (Yes, I have been having an afternoon nap. 🥱)
I have been meditating.
I have been reading and following my favourite motivational speakers on social media. Specifically, those who ‘walkthe walk’ and live the life they preach.
I have been eating healthy and have added calcium to my supplement routine of B12, Vitamin D, Lutein, and zinc. The zinc is another temporary supplement that I have been taking to help heal any lingering effects from my pre-Christmas flu.
I have been relaxing with loved ones.
I still love my dog. 💞
And I have been checking in with my Volley (online fitness group) every day. I couldn’t start my days nearly as well as I do without their enthusiastic morning messages. 😁
And of course, I have been doing my best to do all that I can in our kitchen and around our house. It is the least I can do to show my gratitude for everything my husband has done for me in these past few weeks – and the past twenty-four years. 💞
That’s it for this week. One more week until I begin Year two of this fitness journey I am on. I am excited to see where this upcoming year will take me. I can’t believe how far I have come and how beneficial this year has been for me – despite a couple of rather major setbacks.
Last Monday, Dwight from our Volley fitness group suggested that we each commit to focussing on one aspect of our fitness journey for each week. It was a great idea, and one we eagerly embraced.
For myself, I committed to getting more fresh air last week and to “giving it my all” while engaging in my workouts (or doing anything 🤗) this week. And… continuing to get a good dose of fresh air each day. 🌞
It was going great! Then yesterday, Dan and I decided to get my fresh air by taking Molly to the neighbourhood dog park. Great idea, poor execution.
While, Molly raced around the open field with a little Shiba Inu, Dan and I chatted with his human. And I took my eye of the ball – or rather the balls of fur racing around us. The little dog ran between us, with Molly right behind. I never saw what hit me. I went flying and landed face down on the frozen ground.
Fortunately, I was bundled up for winter and I didn’t hit the ground face first. But, I did twist my left arm going down and managed to pull something in my shoulder in the process. I got up, none the worse for wear, except for the excruciating pain in my left arm and shoulder.
The pain is still there and as excruciating as ever. Nothing is broken, and the shoulder is not dislocated. I don’t even have a bruise or much swelling. But there is no denying the pain.
There is no way that I am heading out on the snow and ice to get my fresh air today. Nor am I doing any Zumba or lifting any weights.
But despite the pain, I am staying on track
– By keeping a positive mindset. This is just a set back, not the end of my fitness journey.
– By moving (as much as I can). Every movement causes pain, but walking around, moving on my Yoga ball, and gentle side to side motion is doable. Anything to keep the circulation going and the adrenaline pumping – even a little bit.
– By showing my body some love and patience with Aspirin, CBD cream, a warm Epsom salt bath, and some cozy pjs.
– By exercising my mind (reading a good book and playing a mind game on my phone).
– By skipping the pity party and accepting the challenge. There’s nothing like a good challenge to help us dig deep and find out what we are really made of. 😁
So, that’s where I am at today. Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞
I just love this little candle Dan gave me for Christmas. It is filled with Black Onyx for Strength and Healing. It will be burning tonight. 💞
Molly and I are both celebrating milestones! I began my current health and fitness journey on February 14th, 2022. This past Friday marked eleven months since I got up, got active, and made a commitment to get healthier, stronger, and fitter. Coincidentally, our Molly was born on February 16th, 2022 which makes her eleven months old today. 🎂
This has been a productive eleven months for both of us. Molly came to live with us in April, when she was two months old. Her first ‘outing’ was a visit to the vet with me and her immediate favourite human, Genie.
Molly’s First Outing
Over the past nine months, Molly has chosen a few more favourite humans – and she has grown!
Molly and her favourite Dan.Molly at the dog park with AlecMolly watching tv with Cason, Lucas, Bacardi & Cornelius – favourite humans and favourite doggos.
Through my health and fitness efforts, I have also grown – in many ways. Fortunately, size wise wasn’t one of them.
Fitness wise, I have definitely grown. I started out struggling to dance to 60’s tunes for a few minutes each day. Through determination and perseverance, I was able to follow some beginner dancercise classes on You Tube.
The first classes were a challenge for me and I had to take more than a few breaks to make it through an entire session. But quitting was not an option, so I pressed on and graduated to You Tube Zumba classes.
This was the class I did this morning – spot on and NO breaks.
I am also spending a half, to an hour and a half, outside every day – walking Molly, playing fetch, or shoveling snow. And.. I am exercising with light weights (dumbbells) six evenings a week.
Eleven months in, Molly and I are both doing well, working on making the most of the final month of our first year, and happy with our progress.
Molly & Me 💞
That is it for Molly and I today. Take care and have a great day!
It is hard to believe that I have been working out and getting in shape for THIRTY-ONE weeks.
It is even harder to believe how far I have come in only thirty-one weeks. In Mid-February I was exhausted, cold, sore, sickly, flabby, and feeble. My mind was sluggish and I just felt blah.
With spring coming up in two or three months, I decided I had to do something to regain some strength and improve my health. I started gradually, and have worked up to an hour of dancing/Zumba every day (except Sunday), daily walks, and working out with dumbbells each evening (except Sunday). I drink six ounces of beet juice a day and take cold showers on a regular basis. I have also joined an online Volley group for support and motivation. Nothing I do is much of a time commitment and the only cost has been in maintaining my Daily Walk companion Molly.
High maintenance Molly. 💞
The difference in my health and fitness has been amazing! I feel good – physically, mentally, and emotionally. I look better than I have for years. I keep active all day and embrace new challenges!
This morning, Thirty-One Weeks from spending my days in my rocking chair in front of our electric fireplace, I strapped a harness on Molly (our now +/- 70 pound Pyrenees), set off for a walk, met up with a stranger in one of our neighbourhood parks and WE DID IT! Molly and I went to our first offleash dog park.
If anybody had told me seven months ago that I would be heading into an offleash park to hang with a group of strangers and a pack of BIG dogs, there is no way I would have believed it. But there, I was, hanging with the other dog owners, while watching our pups race around an open field, having the time of their lives. Occasionally, they would come back to check on their human, before racing off again tails flying and grinning eat to ear. It was just one of those moments that make it all so worth while!
It was just one moment of many, when I am so glad that I decided to make this health and fitness change. Every day, I have reason to appreciate the choice I made, reason to appreciate ALL of the people who have supported and encouraged me, and reason to marvel at all of those random moments that have brought me to this place – be it a random meeting, a chance advertisement on Kijiji for a perfect walking partner, or coming across the right article at the right time. That first step has led to so many more – and in only thirty-one weeks.
That is it for today. It’s time to go finish prepping the porch so I can get it painted this week. Just one more thing that I couldn’t have imagined doing back in February. 😊
I am not into astrology but I am a serious believer in the power of a full moon. From the goings on around here, I would say we are on track for a fullsome one this week.
First off, this spring when Molly was a pup she had a thing about small rocks. I had dumped a pile of them beside the house one day and they were her rocks. I picked them up and put them into a small flower pot on the back landing, but she was having nothing to do with that. Every time I went out, the rocks were on the steps and the pot was knocked over or tossed right off the landing. I finally gave up and moved the rocks back beside the house and put the pot in the shed. And forgot all about it AND Molly’s obsession with it. So, last week I grabbed said pot and planted a small Basil plant in it and set it on the landing. Yesterday, Molly grabbed the pot and dumped it all over the landing and the walkway that runs to the back steps. Dan cleaned everything up, I replanted the Basil, and forgot all about it. Molly did not. This morning she went out, got the pot, brought it into our kitchen, pulled out the Basil and dumped the dirt all over the floor. I cleaned up the mess, tossed the Basil in the garbage, and took the pot back out to the shed.
Are you happy now?
Next, there was a commotion across the street at the Native Gathering Place. I think it was a basic case of road rage. One person had stopped in the middle of our very narrow street to drop someone off. The impatient driver behind him was yelling at him to move it. A woman exited the vehicle and made it across the street, the first driver started to move ahead and the impatient driver booted it, swerved around the right side of him, swerved to the right of a truck parked in the right-hand parking lane and booted it down the sidewalk. Four or five guys, standing in the parking lot of the Gathering Place, jumped into their halfton trucks and chased after the impatient guy. Meanwhile, a couple of more vehicles came booting by. A few minutes late, the halfton guys came back and went into the Gathering Place. Finally, impatient driver returned and cruised by going really slow. Normally, none of this would bother me. But… On Sunday there were multiple targeted and random stabbings at a Native reserve north of here. It was one of the largest mass murders ever in Canada. Ten victim fatalities plus one of the two attackers and several injuries – with some still in critical condition. And one of the attackers is still at large and there have been credible sightings of him in Regina. People are on edge. Molly was in the house, so I closed and locked our doors.
Squealed his tires going between that truck and the fence. 🤦
Moving on, I went downstairs to change the laundry. Coming up the stairs, I noticed an electronic mousetrap – with a mouse tail hanging out of it. Not happening – the doors are staying locked.
Forgetting that I still hadn’t cleaned the burnt cheese out of the oven, I decided to try making Baked Oatmeal. I have been looking for a quick hardy breakfast that I could have before walking Molly in the morning. I do not like the consistency of Oatmeal Porridge but I like the taste of oatmeal so I thought this would be worth a try.
It is softer than I had anticipated – sort of like an oatmeal muffin. I am hoping the Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal will be better. (Dan just got home and he seems to like it. 👍)
Anyway… The baked apple oatmeal could be better in my opinion. Grating an apple is more difficult than I thought it would be. And… Our house was full of smoke from the burnt cheese.
THEN! The doorbell rang. Yay! I forgot the water heater guy was coming. I dragged Molly to the bathroom, closed the door on her, and ran to let him in to our house… which was in total lockdown in the middle of the day, filled with smoke, and the awkward sounds of Molly lapping up toilet water.
That is it for today. I am going to go get the last of the laundry up and folded, do my weights, and probably have myself a Caesar before supper.
Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞
Note: The lone suspect that was at large following the James Smith Cree First Nation has been apprehended. Thoughts and prayers for all who were affected by this weekend’s horrific events. May people of this province sleep easier tonight, thanks to the RCMP – particularly those directly involved in this operation.
It seems like it has been a while since my last Molly update, and since she is coming up on her six months birthdate, this seemed as good a time as ever.
The big news this week is that I got and started using Molly’s new training harness for our walks.
The face piece attaches to a collar and both pieces attach to her regular collar.
I did not like the idea of using anything that looked like a muzzle but it seems okay. We have only used it twice. She seems to be getting used to it and forgets she has it on at times. I have been using the clicker and giving her lots of treats to keep her motivated. It does seem to help a lot as far as keeping her at a manageable pace and walking nicely. It doesn’t really help her avoid distractions like barking dogs or free range cats, but mostly she just sits down and refuses to budge when we encounter anything that grabs her attention. We will see how it goes!
Molly has found her voice but I don’t find it that much of an issue. Her bark is really low-pitched and she doesn’t go on and on – or even use it all that often. In our yard she is fairly laid back.
She LOVES company and was in her glory when granddaughter Genie came by on Tuesday morning and then came back yesterday morning – with her fiance Alec.
Alec was trying to pose Molly.While Genie was losing it.Nailed it!
It is funny how dogs come into our lives with perfect timing.
Casey 💞
Casey was the first dog that Dan and I adopted together. She was so beautiful, so smart, and so empathetic. She was the perfect dog for us at a time when my aging Mother spent a lot of time with us and when we had young grandchildren here on a regular basis. She was the most devoted care giver and protector – to Mom, our grandbabies, and to our little blind cat, Suzie.
Kat
With Casey aging, we brought home Kat. She was never as responsible or serious as Casey but she made an adorable companion for our growing grandchildren, a great walking partner for me at a time when I was struggling with health issues, and a perfect travelling companion for Dan and I. She was such a sweet little dog.
Molly
After losing our little Kat so suddenly and tragically from congenital heart failure this spring, I was not anxious to have another dog in the house. I didn’t know if I would ever be ready to take on another such loss after Casey and Kat. Then… Dan suggested I needed the companionship and security when he was at work. I started poking around the want ads looking for a midsize dog – nothing as ‘vulnerable’ as Kat was. Just a good healthy dog.
I saw an ad for Molly and she just seemed right. She was destined to be MUCH bigger than Dan had in mind but I had been looking at sheep dogs for a long time and they have a reputation for being good, solid, easy going dogs. And Molly was so cute!
So Molly it was, and at a time when my priority is my health and fitness Molly is perfect. She is my inspiration to get up every morning, get active, and keep active. She is the epitome of affection and entertainment. She is a bit of a challenge at times but she fits our current lifestyle amazingly well. I look forward to many years ahead with her and seeing how far we can go together. The potential is unfathomable. 😊
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞
Molly and I went for our walk this morning and not to brag or anything, but it was an EPIC fail.
We did not get halfway to the Regent Park before we crossed paths with THREE free range cats. These beggars are big and cocky. Before we got back home, we came across two more. It is not what I need when I am holding onto a pumped up pup who was just looking for a rumble this morning.
She may look all meek and mild but she was running on all cylinders this morning.
We managed to get through the first park of the day none to worse for wear. Well except for the potty break. I don’t know what is worse – back in the days when Kat would stop to poo three or four times on our walk – or now with Molly and having to clean up a pile of sh#t three or four times the size of Kat. At least Molly likes to do her business close to a garbage can, unlike Kat who preferred to do hers in the middle of a busy intersection as far as possible from a garbage can.
Anyway… We got through Regent Park and made it across Elphinstone to Patricia Park.
Patricia Park looked fairly quiet. It was not! The trees were filled with CROWS.
I have no idea where all the crows have come from this year but Molly is on a mission to send them back there. We somehow managed to make it through Patricia Park, across the bridge and around Pony Park, and back to Elphinstone. It wasn’t fun but it was relatively quick.
Back on our side of Elphinstone, we headed for the ball diamonds. We almost made it around the first one before Molly had some kind of meltdown. She grabbed the leash in her mouth and tried running around my legs. Not only did she take me down with her but she tangled us up enough that there was no elegant recovery from this one. We make it back to our feet none the worse for wear, but the grounds keeper dude on his little tractor on the other side of the fence took in the entire spectacle.
Four or five ball diamonds later, and a relatively uneventful stroll across a field and and our little street and we made it back home. As soon as Molly was off her leash, she made a mad dash for her pool, tore around the yard a couple of times, sped through the house and dove into her kennel, where she has been sleeping ever since.
They are so cute when they are sleeping. 🙄
Meanwhile, I had my breakfast, relaxed for a bit, and did my workout. With any luck at all Molly will take it easy for the rest of the day and I will get something done this afternoon.
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞
Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie 