Same bat time, Same bat channel

Same weight. Some of you may be too young to remember the sign off for Batman. At the end of each show, you would get previews of the next and they would remind you it would be on next week "same bat time, same bat channel." And that's where I am today. Could have been worse - right? Right! After a day of yard work in the hot sun on Saturday, I kicked back with the husband, a few beers and some pizza. Sunday's lovely weather invited some wine. So, I wasn't following the plan exactly. Part of the plan has been alcohol avoidance. Too many empty calories. I also may be dealing with a little water retention. Anyway, this week the plan is....stick to the plan. It will be a challenge at times, but it's kind of key. I have a retirement party on Saturday, A's birthday is Sunday and our neighbor turns 21 Wednesday, which I'm sure we'll celebrate at some point. (She's celebrating every night starting Wednesday.) I'm hoping to get more exercise in than I did this week, which could offset a little cheating, but I really must keep the cheating to a minimum. I would truly love to be at my goal before I head off to my conference.

Boomer is....

....not at all a pittie! We had a DNA test done to see just what he is. We always thought he was a mix of American Bulldog and Pit Bull and maybe something else. So, now we know. He is 50% American Bulldog, 25% Whippet and 25% Redbone Coonhound. Wow! The whippet part makes some things make sense, like his deep chest and his tendency to sleep on his back. I don't see the coonhound much though.

Yarn Dilemma

It's a shopping dilemma too.  There's a yarn store about 30 minutes from me that is closing.  They are selling everything at 60% off at this point.  I went up there earlier this week, when they were at 40% off.  I had promised myself that unless I found something for a project that was planned, I shouldn't buy.  But now it's 60% off.  So tempting!  My stash is good sized right now and anything I bought would be simply adding to the stash with nothing in mind.  Part of me says "60% off - too good to pass up" and the other part says "Buying something on sale that you might not use is not saving money."   What to do, what to do. ETA: decided not to go shopping at the sale.

Happiness is...

a nice cold beer after a day of yard work.  On Sunday, I did a lot of planting.  Then I followed that up with mowing the lawn and trimming.  I did the trimming by hand - I'm not comfortable using A's gas powered trimmer.  When I was done, I was hot, sweaty and tired.  I had a beer.  Sometimes a cold beer just really hits the spot like nothing else can.

Almost there

I'm down another 1.5 lbs, so now just 2.5 lbs from my goal.  Yay me!  I think I have a good chance of making my goal before I head to my confence in two weeks - where I will surely gain.  So, then I'll hope back on the wagon and get back down.  After that, I need to work on how I stay down.  One thing I'm thinking about is to plan to diet on a regular basis - like one month on, one month off.  Keeping up the exercise will clearly be key.  I really don't want to creep back up - so I've got to keep an eye on the weight and never let it get more than a pound or two out of line.

back in the right direction

The scale is moving my way again.  Yay!  I expected it.  I think last week was an aberration.  Truth is, I was down a little more mid-week, but I cheated on Sunday.  As you might expect, Mother's Day is not the easiest of days for women like me, who went through so much trying to be a mother, but not ending up there.  So, on Sunday, I had what I wanted.  A bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.  Another one as a snack.  I do love bagels!  They are not a regular part of my diet, usually a treat, but I hadn't even done that in ages.  And I had cupcakes.  Those little mini ones.  At one point, I was doing pretty good and thought "I don't need any more of those cupcakes" - there were 8 left at that point - but then, well, something set me off and those 8 cupcakes went down.  And now?  They didn't really make me feel better, in fact I felt a bit guilty eating them, knowing they were doing nothing positive for me.  I didn't feel guilty about the bagels at all though!  So next time I need a little comfort food, it will be bagels.  Anyway, the upcoming week does not look to have any challenges.  I wasn't able to exercise last night and won't be able to tonight - but the rest of the week looks good for that.  I am trying to get some weight work in for my arms and I'm doing stomach exercises too.  I'm even - GULP - giving some thought to maybe buying a bikini again. 

Boomer in action

Last night, I was cooking my dinner on the grill, when I noticed Boomer nosing around in the garden.  I thought he was after the bunnies again, but it turned out to be a much more evil foe!  Our neighbor was watering his garden on the other side of the fence and Boomer heard the noise of the water when it hit the fence and he was trying to get it.  I started laughing - told the neighbor what was going on - he then amused us both by directing the water at different parts of the fence.  I happened to have my camera out - so I got some great action shots of Boomer chasing the noise.  What the pictures couldn't capture was the pathetic crying from my fierce doggie!

Blooms, Bunnies & Boomer

Some pictures of the bunnies, my flowers and, of course, my dog.

Happiness is...

...warming up by snuggling with my husband.  Last night, when I got into bed, it was a little chilly.  So, I just snuggled up to A to get warm.  It was nice, so nice.  Because of his job, I sleep alone a couple of nights a week.  Yeah, it can be nice to have the big bed to myself once in a while, but I always sleep better when he is there beside me. 

bummer weigh in

I gained.  It wasn't entirely unexpected, but still - bummer.  I cheated multiple times this week and I paid for it when I weighed in this morning.  So, back on the wagon, must do better.  I shouldn't be facing any major challenges this week, but if one does show up, I need to show restraint.  I also need to keep up the exercise.  I don't have that much further to go, which should be my incentive to stick to it, not a license to relax.

A dog's instincts

Boomer is a mixed breed.  We believe he's part American Bulldog and part Pit Bull.  Both breeds have hunting instincts.  Boomer has shown that in the past.  So, when we found a nest of baby bunnies in our yard, we tried to keep Boomer away from them.  He actually responded quite well to the corrections and stayed away from the nest.  So, on Sunday, when I called A out to come see that one of them was partly out of the nest, I thought Boomer would be okay on the porch.  I didn't expect that baby bunny to take off across the yard.  Then Boomer did what his instincts told him to do, he caught the bunny.  It will be a while before I forget hearing the bunny squeal.  I didn't know bunnies made noise.  I screamed no several times, I grabbed Boomer. He dropped the little baby bunny and it scampered off, wounded.  I was so upset with Boomer.  No matter how smart we think he is, how many wonderful, human-like characteristics we might ascribe to him, he is still a dog.  He did what his instincts told him to do.  So, we found little baby bunny hiding in the grass.  Boomer had been put under house arrest.  The bunny fled from the grass to the gardens.  In all the commotion, two other bunnies fled the nest and went under a rose bush and two more hung out by the nest.  When A started the lawn mower, those two fled to the garden as well.  We tried to put the injured bunny back in the nest.  He hopped right out.  We continued to worry about it all day, checking on him in his new hiding spot.  Then A decided we would create a safe haven for the bunnies until they grew up and left.  So, we now have fencing around the area of the yard where their nest is.  Mommy bunny can get in, big bad Boomer cannot.  The wounded bunny appears to be doing okay.  We watched last night as he moved out of his hiding spot when his mother came.  She cleaned him and tended to him, so we are hopeful that he's going to make it. 
Last thought - I wish I could communicate with the mother and ask her "WTF were you thinking, building a nest in the middle of a yard where you knew there was a dog?"  Strangely, according to the research we have done on wild bunnies, they don't consider dogs to be predators.  One little bunny knows differently now!

Highway Musings

I wish there was a way to let other drivers know when you see a problem with their car.  I was behind someone today who had only one brake light working.  I really would have loved to have been able to tell her - but unless I had the opportunity to pull up next to her at a light, how would I?  There needs to be a way.
I really get annoyed - said it many times before - by people who ignore stop signs.  The worst are those who don't even pretend to pause.  And the people who don't want to wait in the left turn only lane because it's too long - so they go in the center lane and try to cut over at the last minute.  I wish I had a sign that I could flash at them that said "ASSHOLE". 
I also don't understand how oblivious some people seem to be on the highway.  Driving in the left lane, not keeping up to speed, totally unaware of the line of cars building up behind them.
And lights on when wipers are on!  I'm not sure if it's a law in all states.  It's what I was taught.  I wish that my car would do it automatically - yes lazy, I know.  My car has an auto on thing for lights - it determines when it is dark enough outside that you need lights on.  If I turn them on when I turn my wipers on, I'm always afraid of forgetting to turn them off.  So, wouldn't it be nice if there was some way that when you turn your wipers on in the daylight, your lights went on as well? 

Happiness is....

....a doggie playmate.  Boomer has one now!  Last summer our neighbors adopted a rescue dog.  She was very skittish when she arrived.  She didn't seem to like other dogs and growled at Boomer at their first meeting.  We've tried to slowly get them to know each other.  It's been funny to watch.  They'll bring her over (our back yard is fenced in, theirs is not) and she would sit there.  Boomer would try to entice her to play, but nothing.  With treats, corrections, encouragement, at first we just got them to be in the yard together with no growling or anything.  Then a couple of weeks ago, Boomer was running with one of Jessie's owners and she started to join in - but would then stop.  And she would only join if her owner was running too.  Last weekend, Boomer tried to get her to chase him - and she did!  It was awesome.  He went up to her, made a move, ran off - and she followed.  Two doggies slept very well that night.  It's been awesome to watch Jessie come out of her shell.  She's a sweet girl and it's fun to watch the dogs play together.

Even Steven

No gain, no loss this week, it's just even steven.  I'm not complaining.  Having been down the weight loss path many times before, I know that if I weigh myself again tomorrow, I'll probably see movement.  I wasn't perfect on the diet.  In fact, on Sunday, I was just jonesing for something sweet - so I went and got it.  I also didn't get in as much exercise as I normally would.  I hope that isn't the case this week - though I know I likely won't get exercise today as it is pouring.  Well, I could do an exercise video after work - so maybe I will.  On the other hand, my left achilles has been a little cranky, so maybe I should rest it.
Now, another challenge I'm facing is getting A on the weight loss bandwagon.  He will do really well, watching what he eats and working out for a while, then something derails him and he stops and just goes back to bad habits.  I have to say that I don't think his eating is that bad right now - at least not what I'm seeing.  It may be portion size more than content, but he's not working out at all and he's gained back the weight he lost when he started cross fit last year.  I don't get it because when he's working out and getting in shape, he feels so good about himself.  I encourage him, things go well - then something gets in the way of his workout schedule and that's it - he's done.  It's hard not to nag.  It's hard to find a way to encourage him to lose weight without making him feel bad about himself.  But I've got to find a way.  I see the FDNY Lt who died in a fire recently and the man was overweight.  More so than A is, but A's weight scares me with his job. The Lt didn't die from burns or crush injuries or smoke inhalation, they say it was a heart attack.  I look at him, then I look at A and I'm scared that it could happen to him.  And I don't know how to get him to be more fit.  I may have to go on a sex strike again.  It's worked before - get right down to what drives a man!