Attempting to get into shape

I'm a curvy girl, always have been. The best shape I was in was my senior year of high school through my freshman year of college. My first job was at a clock and rug store at the outlet mall. Between lifting and hanging rugs, climbing ladders, drinking a ton if water and living off popcorn and crackers, I shed a lot of weight. So much weight that my boss asked me if I glad an eating disorder. I maintained my loss through my freshman year of college because I was so shy I refused to eat or even go to the cafeteria alone. 

When I met my ex I got seriously comfortable and put on the pounds. I've pretty much continued on this no exercise struggle since then. When I worked at the hospital I walked all day so I didn't want to come home and walk more. I would occasionally take the dog for a walk up the road, but we had a large enough yard he could get plenty of excercise with out a walk. 

Then I started school again and was way to busy studying to do anything else. Plus we had plenty of yard still for Luna to play in when we got her. When I graduated I was so damn depressed with our living situation and not being able to land an assistantship or internship that the best I did was hike once a week and volunteer with the raptor center once a week. 

Now I have no excuse. Sure I have a ton of stuff to work on, but I only have two classes two days a week. When I got back from field season I started strong, walking Luna every day, drinking more water and less tea. First I twisted my ankle, then I hurt my back and I started on my downward spiral again. I wasn't walking as much and tea was my best friend again. 

One of my lab mates is a trail runner. That sounds fun, I thought to myself. I like trails. I have NEVER been a runner. EVER. Even at my best I only jogged. So I downloaded the couch to 5k (c25k) app. I have heard wonderful things about the program and wanted to give it a whirl for myself. Basically what it does is slowly acclimate your body to running. You only do 3 days a week for 30 min each day. The first week is 5 min warm up, 60 seconds of jogging, 90 seconds of walking for 20 min, then a 5 min cool down. 

The first day I tried on trail. I followed all but two of the prompts and was exhausted afterwards. The next time I decided I needed to ease into trails so I hit the pavement. My knees thanked me! Pavement offers less resistance so my calves didn't cramp up near as much. When it came to do day 3 I had so much school work (midterms) that I missed a week. 

I started back on day 1 (it's also ok to repeat weeks which I like) the other day and it wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. My legs didn't cramp at all! So today I decided to go back on trail. Of course my second prompt to jog was mid hill (ugh) and the trail had a lot of hills, sand, and leaves (fall-duh) so there was much more resistance. My distance was only maybe 0.07 miles shorter than on pavement and I walked further after my cool down time. My legs cramped horribly and I thought about just walking the rest of the way after the third jog prompt. But I continued to do the prompts. I found that I was looking at my phone less and less to see how much longer my jog was and I would be surprised when it would prompt for walk because it didn't feel like I had been jogging for the full minute! 

I have decided to keep easing into trails so I'll only do c25k on trails on Fridays when I usually take a personal/errand day anyway. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesdays I'll either hike or do c25k on pavement. That way I'll have a "rest" day in between c25k but I'm still getting excercise and fresh air. 

As I get further into graduate school the more I realize how much a few hours of personal outside time is needed. It's good to get involved with your work, but not to let it consume you. Sometimes you need time to reflect on what you're doing and why. Zen moment! 

I hope you all have a great weekend, a happy Halloween, and until next time blessed be. 

My first aster bloomed after almost 2 months!!

Happy late birthday to me!

Buddy's been sick so I made us some hot spiked apple cider. It was yum. 

Back porch view while cooling off from c25k this morning. 

The Serenity saga continues...(and it's her birth month!!)

So, if you've kept up with the Serenity saga (starting here and updated here and here) we've had to keep track of here urinating on the floor, AGAIN. For about two weeks she was doing it every day if not twice a day. I can't stand even smelling a litter box, so this was driving me insane. I kept trying to catch her in the act just to make sure she wasn't hanging her ass out of the litter box or to see if she was straining. The first would be a behavioral issue and the second would be a medical one. But, every time I would stick my head in the bathroom to see what she was doing she would run out of the room.

Cats are both the simplest and most difficult companion animals ever. Simplest because if you give them food, water, and a litter box they are good to go. Hell, if you go one step further and give them a box with some cat nip, they are in heaven and may only bug you for some lap time snuggles or warn you that their food is low. Most difficult because they will NOT tell you when something is wrong with the exception of their food bowl being low. The only outward signs they show are weight loss or those that can be explained away as behavioral issues.

So, I called the vet again. I told them the meds worked wonderfully and she only had a few accidents after the meds were done, yet she was now urinating outside the box again. We were given 5 days of medications that only had to be squirted on the gums, which is wonderful for a cat who clenches everything up when you've got her held down in a head lock. All throughout the medication she peed on the floor! I was beyond exasperated! You can't punish them. It either makes them associate with the litter box negatively or just pisses them off.

Finally, on the last day of the medications, I did another total clean of the bathroom. Sunday is usually my cleaning day, but I went all out on the bathroom. I even emptied the litter box and sanitized it even though it had not been that long ago since I had previously did it. Instead of cleaning the floors with the usual floor cleaner I got the strongest "clean" smell I could find...Pine Sol. I HAND MOPPED the floor TWICE. When I put her litter box back I turned it catty-cornered so that the entrance was facing the entrance of the bathroom. I thought maybe if it's set up so that its easier to get in she'll do better.

I also grabbed a bag of catnip while at the store. Georgie was always the one that loved catnip while Serenity just sniffed at it and stayed out of Georgie's way. But she ate it up....literally. It's funny how cats change when they are by themselves.

YA'LL! I don't know which step actually did it, but it worked!! We went from every day while on medication to no days while not on medication! I am over joyed! It's crazy how finicky cats are. But I love them.

This month also celebrates her 7th birthday! She is officially a "mature" cat. I can't remember exactly when we got Serenity and Georgie, but I know its when the nights started to get cold enough for me to wear a coat outside, so I just sum it up to be late October or early November.

I hope you all are having as good a week as we are here! Here are some pictures from last time I left you. Have a great week and blessed be!
.

Things I didn't learn

Last week I had a button fall off on one I my favorite pairs of jeans. The original button had been replaced by my mother-in-law about a year ago because 1) I didnt have a sewing kit and 2) I had no idea how to do it myself. 

I couldn't just throw these pants away. They are a little too long, but comfy and slimming. Two things every girl looks for in a pair of pants. I also had a few pairs that have torn from my thunder thighs wearing that area thin. 

So I stopped at Hobby Lobby Friday during my usual errand run and picked up some pins and a small sewing kit. I've patched pants before, but had to YouTube a video on how to sew a button. 

I was so excited when I did it on the first try!! Then I got to thinking. Why didn't I learn this when I was growing up? I remember my mother replacing buttons for me and my brother growing up. I even used her sewing kit she left behind when we were living in my childhood home. Then I remembered, she didn't like me using her sewing kit before because I would mess it up and make a mess. 

I know I was a very independent child. If I didn't know how to do something I wanted you to show me and then let me do it myself. I'm still the same way. It's how I learn. 

I also know we were taught some sewing techniques in high school in some antiquated home making class. That has been, oh god, ages ago. 

Maybe it was because I didn't show interest in it or maybe because my parents thought I would burn down/blow up/destroy the house. Or maybe there are some things you just learn as a necessity? I'm not sure. What I am sure of is I will learn and then teach my own children (if/when I should have them). 

Anniversary #6

It seems like so much was different six years ago. 

I was working third shift at East Alabama Medical Center in the lab and Buddy had been working for Auburn's transit for a few months. 

Our wedding party consisted of people we barely speak to now. One is on purpose because she is an idiot, some are due to me being a hermit (I'll explain eventually), and the others are due to life I guess. 

That day flew by so fast. I am so glad for pictures because it feels like I just blinked and it was gone. 

We have been through a lot these six years: from loss of jobs, loss of family members and friends alike, to me going back to school an getting my bachelors, new friends, moving three times (once with my in-laws), new jobs, car troubles, new (to us) cars, family drama, loss of furbabies and anything in between. 

My husband is my rock, my solid ground. I tease him occasionally by saying he doesn't get excited about things (which he doesn't), but I believe it's this trait that keeps me grounded when I think everything is spinning out of control. Occasionally it is frustrating when I try to surprise him with something I think he might like. But we all have our little quirks that our significant others finds frustrating, right? 

We spent our day lounging around, watching football, and eating not so healthy queso, like we wanted to. He loves my queso and I don't make it often. Our teams lost both yesterday (Alabama) and today (Texans). I think it's cause it's the first year our anniversary fell on a game day since the day we were married. That day we were blessed with a narrow win over Kentucky (I was wearing team colors, which I don't do any more) and an Auburn loss to Vandy. So in 6 more years when our day is on another game day, it should be better again. I know, I'm superstitious....but this I only football. 

To celebrate our anniversary, here are some of my favorite pictures from that day six years ago and one from this mornings walk with Luna. I hope you all have a great and blessed week! Get outside and enjoy fall!!!

We were up before the morning glories. 

Things I don't like about East Texas

This blog post is coming to you live from my office! I'm being a big fat procrastinator right now, mostly because I've had my ass kicked by stats all day. So I've taken a few (read 2) hours to make some blog changes and now to make my post.

So keeping with my previous post, here are 5 things I do not like about East Texas in no particular order.

1. Humidity

I just took this screen shot and it says the temperature outside is only 91 degrees (F). Feels like 100 degrees (F) with only 55% humidity??? Yep, it pretty much feels like a sauna out there. We have had a few days of fall like weather and there were amazing! But, then we had this. I can't wear my hair in anything but a bun with this crap out there. It's just plain redonkulous.











2. Conceal carry laws

yelp.com; google image search

Alabama is an open carry state, Texas is not. To get a conceal handgun licence (CHL) you must take a class which can not exceed 8 hours. In this class you will have a written exam and a range test. Buddy and I had our class this past Saturday and neither were hard. I was not pleased with my targeting at all, but I passed.

The sign to the left is one that is posted outside of businesses and other public grounds in which you can not conceal carry. Back home they were posting signs prohibiting open carry, here it's conceal carry. Coming from an open carry state, this makes no sense. I can understand federal buildings, public buildings where voting is taking place, bars, and to some extent schools and maybe even hospitals. But shopping centers and grocery stores? Also, if you have a CHL and get busted carrying in a place that has a 30.06 sign, you will be penalized more heavily than someone with out a CHL because you should know better.

3. No one understands SEC football

Yes, Texas A&M are now in the SEC and College Station is only about an hour away, but no one REALLY understands what that means. The loyalty, the brutality, the trash-talk on Saturday but love you every other day-ness.... They just don't get it.

4. Distance measurements

This isn't so much a complaint, but a musing. We are ~2 hours from Shreveport, LA; ~2 hours from Houston; ~3 hours from Dallas and Galveston, and ~4 hours from Austin. Here distance is measured in how many hours it takes to get somewhere. If the speed limits were not as fast then they would be exceedingly high. I knew Texas was a large state, but it didn't really hit me until I was here. It's quite weird. 

5. Where's my Waffle House? or Zaxbys?

The closest Waffle House (WH) is in Tyler which is about an hour away. If I were FROM Texas this wouldn't be so bad (see #4). However, I'm not FROM Texas and an hour seems an excessive drive for food. And Zaxby's? My wonderful yummy favorite food? Not here. I think there might be one in Louisiana, but I'm not sure. 

I haven't really taken any pictures this week except this one. 

This was at the Gayla Mize Gardens and I let Luna go off leash for our walk. I was so proud! When I would call her to come she would and when I would tell her to wait because I couldn't see her she would! I guess now I can trust her to be a good trail dog.

Well, that's all I have for today. I've arranged for Buddy to come pick me up in a few so I need to get my stuff together I guess. I hope you have enjoyed and let me know what you think in the comments! Have a blessed weekend!