Holy cats (okay, not in reference to the previous post), another post? In the same day?
I have taken the challenge.
One of the Jaycee chapters is having a weightloss challenge. And I joined in. I thought I might need the push to get things in gear, because other things just don't seem to be working.
I started on Sunday. I have been journaling, and drinking water, and staying within my points (okay, so I used up all of my flex points on Tuesday at book club, after Kitty trauma on Monday), and I am still going.
Yeah. I weighed in at 195 pounds. Two days post-vacation, but still...
I will take the bull by the horns, and try and win the contest. If nothing else, I will win by virtue of losing the weight.
~a
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Kitty woes
Alex is getting old.
Well, she is almost 15 years old. And I have had her as a pet for about that long. My roommate (at the time) and I picked her up through a newspaper ad that was "free to a good home" in 1993.
So Monday night, I got home from work and she looked like she was in a pretty good funk, head hanging, that sort of thing. I was thinking it might be because she needed some food... I think she might be slowing down on the hard food somewhat, because it is getting more difficult to eat... just my thoughts. So she ate some, then laid down in the living room. I went for a run then, and when I came back, she was in the same spot.
She was walking funny, kind of uncoordinated, falling over, and he back all hunched up. We have not gotten a new vet since we moved (I know, bad kitty mom - but they don't really go outside...) so I called a place that is close. They were closing in 1/2 an hour and would not have time, so they told us to go to the emergency vet.
$600 some dollars later (x-rays, blood work, ultrasound, medication...) we went home. She has some small kidney stones, a bladder stone, racing heartbeat, perhaps something odd with her spine (hazy spot on the x-ray) that the vet there thought might be a tumor. And the start of a bladder infection. So we get pain medication and antibiotics.
Yeah. The cat hates the medications.
So I follow up as told with the "regular" vet who does not seem to think that there is anything wrong with her spine. But, she still has a really fast heartrate. Thinks that might be an overactive thyroid, and perhaps it caused her to throw a small clot which is affecting her legs. He did say that if she was a person, the equivalent heart rate would cause a medical provider to call an ambulance, and they would be admitted into the hospital until it was under control
More bloodwork, and she does have a slightly elevated thyroid level. But, there are no indications of cancer.
Yay. MORE medications.
But, she does seem to be moving around better now. She did miss and fall off of the bed on Sunday night, and that might be what is going on, to some extent.
But for now, she has been extra cuddly, even if I am "torturing" her twice a day to squirt medications down her throat, and now to stuff pills down her throat. I just wonder what is going to happen when I have to travel for work, and Eric has to take care of it...
She's my cat though, and when she was limping around on Tuesday, with me thinking she might have a tumor, I cried. I know things happens, but it is just so sad.
It's kind of taken up my whole week...
~a
Well, she is almost 15 years old. And I have had her as a pet for about that long. My roommate (at the time) and I picked her up through a newspaper ad that was "free to a good home" in 1993.
So Monday night, I got home from work and she looked like she was in a pretty good funk, head hanging, that sort of thing. I was thinking it might be because she needed some food... I think she might be slowing down on the hard food somewhat, because it is getting more difficult to eat... just my thoughts. So she ate some, then laid down in the living room. I went for a run then, and when I came back, she was in the same spot.
She was walking funny, kind of uncoordinated, falling over, and he back all hunched up. We have not gotten a new vet since we moved (I know, bad kitty mom - but they don't really go outside...) so I called a place that is close. They were closing in 1/2 an hour and would not have time, so they told us to go to the emergency vet.
$600 some dollars later (x-rays, blood work, ultrasound, medication...) we went home. She has some small kidney stones, a bladder stone, racing heartbeat, perhaps something odd with her spine (hazy spot on the x-ray) that the vet there thought might be a tumor. And the start of a bladder infection. So we get pain medication and antibiotics.
Yeah. The cat hates the medications.
So I follow up as told with the "regular" vet who does not seem to think that there is anything wrong with her spine. But, she still has a really fast heartrate. Thinks that might be an overactive thyroid, and perhaps it caused her to throw a small clot which is affecting her legs. He did say that if she was a person, the equivalent heart rate would cause a medical provider to call an ambulance, and they would be admitted into the hospital until it was under control
More bloodwork, and she does have a slightly elevated thyroid level. But, there are no indications of cancer.
Yay. MORE medications.
But, she does seem to be moving around better now. She did miss and fall off of the bed on Sunday night, and that might be what is going on, to some extent.
But for now, she has been extra cuddly, even if I am "torturing" her twice a day to squirt medications down her throat, and now to stuff pills down her throat. I just wonder what is going to happen when I have to travel for work, and Eric has to take care of it...
She's my cat though, and when she was limping around on Tuesday, with me thinking she might have a tumor, I cried. I know things happens, but it is just so sad.
It's kind of taken up my whole week...
~a
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Fuzz head
No, not because of a hangover, but I somehow managed to avoid that last week, somehow...
I took out the braids in my hair. And I am a big fuzz ball. I know, tourist thing to do, but I like getting my hair braided when I am on vacation in warmer climates.
And really, it had a purpose, because it kept my hair tamed when I was snorkling in the ocean.
It kind of sucks being back from vacation, but in other ways it is really nice. My own bed, which is queen sized rather than double. Seeing the cats. Not having to slather on sunscreen lest I burn my hide off (yes, very white girl here!)
But it was great to get away.
So the scoop:
Got up Friday the 15th - at 3am. It was -12 according to bank in downtown St. Paul. Get to the airport, on the plane. Slept some, read, etc. My friend (the one that arranged the trip for our group) cried when we landed because she was so happy to be on vacation. Customs, ride to hotel... rooms are not going to be ready for a couple of hours. So we went to the bar and had some beverages - because, of course, it was an all-inclusive resort! Met some people at the bar that we ended up hanging out with and doing stuff with all week...
So the seven of us got rooms all next to each other, which was great, even if they were on the 2nd floor. Dinner that evening in the Mexican restaurant, then off to bed.
Saturday - a day by the pool/ocean. It was funny watching one of the staff trying to recruit folks to go "stretch by the pool." My friend Kathy told him - "There is absolutely nothing that you can say or do to get me out of this lounge chair.... I am on vacation, and you might as well just walk away now." We had dinner at the Cuban resturant that night
Sunday - we decided to rent a Jeep, and explore some of the island when there were no cruize ships there. Looked at the San Gervais ruins. Tasted some Tequilla. Looked at the ocean on the Carribean side of the island. Had a couple of drinks at bars along the way. Got back 6-ish and then got ready to have dinner in town.
Monday - out again in the Jeep, since it was a 24-hour rental. A bit more traffic, and I'm glad that I got some practice driving the day before, since it was a little scarier. After we turned in the Jeep, we did some shopping in town. This is the day I got my hair braided. I got a really cool calla lilly vase. We got my dad a belt buckle as a present, but Eric really annoyed me because he would not let me bargain for it.... No kidding - he slapped me in the rear when I tried to make a counter offer. I was so relieved to have the Jeep dropped off, and a little irked because of the shopping, so when we got back I had a few too many beverages. I guess I poured myself into bed at about 7. I guess the phone rang to see if we wanted to go to dinner, but I don't remember it... I woke up around 3am, brushed my teeth, drank a bottle of water, and crawled back into bed. Suprisingly, I was not hung over in the morning.
Tuesday - three of us went to Chakkunab, which is a national park. A day of relaxing on the beach and snorkeling along the reefs there. Some really cool fish there. We had dinner in the Italian restaurant that night.
Wednesday - I went horseback riding in the morning with Betsy. Eric, Betsy and I caught the ferry to Playa del Carmen in the afternoon, where we did some more shopping. And when the same thing started to happen with the barganing, I took Eric aside and told him to quit it. Okay, so I yelled at him in front of the salesperson.... then we stepped aside to talk. When I told him that he was supposed to bargain, he said "Well, then I don't want to shop". Betsy had a bit of a chat with him, told him it was a game for the salespeople, and that if he liked something, he was supposed to hand it to me, and walk away. It worked! We got back around 8pm, had some dinner in the buffet, and watched the lunar eclipse.
Thursday - One of the folks we had met on Friday, had won a boat ride so we all piled onto this fabulous boat for a cruise up the coast up the island with a stop for snorkeling at an off-shore reef. REALLY cool fish there! Relaxing by the pool in the afternoon, and dinner again in the Mexican restaurant. Complaining about how we had to leave the next day.
Friday - *sniff* packing, and meeting in the lobby at 9:30 am to take a taxi to the airport. We upgraded to first class, so it was a little more bearable to go home, but still kind of sad.
It was fun, and relaxing, and gluttonous.... I bit the bullet and stepped on the scale this morning and was up about 10 pounds.
So, *thud* welcome back to reality.
Exercize and diet will commence...... tomorrow.
~a
I took out the braids in my hair. And I am a big fuzz ball. I know, tourist thing to do, but I like getting my hair braided when I am on vacation in warmer climates.
And really, it had a purpose, because it kept my hair tamed when I was snorkling in the ocean.
It kind of sucks being back from vacation, but in other ways it is really nice. My own bed, which is queen sized rather than double. Seeing the cats. Not having to slather on sunscreen lest I burn my hide off (yes, very white girl here!)
But it was great to get away.
So the scoop:
Got up Friday the 15th - at 3am. It was -12 according to bank in downtown St. Paul. Get to the airport, on the plane. Slept some, read, etc. My friend (the one that arranged the trip for our group) cried when we landed because she was so happy to be on vacation. Customs, ride to hotel... rooms are not going to be ready for a couple of hours. So we went to the bar and had some beverages - because, of course, it was an all-inclusive resort! Met some people at the bar that we ended up hanging out with and doing stuff with all week...
So the seven of us got rooms all next to each other, which was great, even if they were on the 2nd floor. Dinner that evening in the Mexican restaurant, then off to bed.
Saturday - a day by the pool/ocean. It was funny watching one of the staff trying to recruit folks to go "stretch by the pool." My friend Kathy told him - "There is absolutely nothing that you can say or do to get me out of this lounge chair.... I am on vacation, and you might as well just walk away now." We had dinner at the Cuban resturant that night
Sunday - we decided to rent a Jeep, and explore some of the island when there were no cruize ships there. Looked at the San Gervais ruins. Tasted some Tequilla. Looked at the ocean on the Carribean side of the island. Had a couple of drinks at bars along the way. Got back 6-ish and then got ready to have dinner in town.
Monday - out again in the Jeep, since it was a 24-hour rental. A bit more traffic, and I'm glad that I got some practice driving the day before, since it was a little scarier. After we turned in the Jeep, we did some shopping in town. This is the day I got my hair braided. I got a really cool calla lilly vase. We got my dad a belt buckle as a present, but Eric really annoyed me because he would not let me bargain for it.... No kidding - he slapped me in the rear when I tried to make a counter offer. I was so relieved to have the Jeep dropped off, and a little irked because of the shopping, so when we got back I had a few too many beverages. I guess I poured myself into bed at about 7. I guess the phone rang to see if we wanted to go to dinner, but I don't remember it... I woke up around 3am, brushed my teeth, drank a bottle of water, and crawled back into bed. Suprisingly, I was not hung over in the morning.
Tuesday - three of us went to Chakkunab, which is a national park. A day of relaxing on the beach and snorkeling along the reefs there. Some really cool fish there. We had dinner in the Italian restaurant that night.
Wednesday - I went horseback riding in the morning with Betsy. Eric, Betsy and I caught the ferry to Playa del Carmen in the afternoon, where we did some more shopping. And when the same thing started to happen with the barganing, I took Eric aside and told him to quit it. Okay, so I yelled at him in front of the salesperson.... then we stepped aside to talk. When I told him that he was supposed to bargain, he said "Well, then I don't want to shop". Betsy had a bit of a chat with him, told him it was a game for the salespeople, and that if he liked something, he was supposed to hand it to me, and walk away. It worked! We got back around 8pm, had some dinner in the buffet, and watched the lunar eclipse.
Thursday - One of the folks we had met on Friday, had won a boat ride so we all piled onto this fabulous boat for a cruise up the coast up the island with a stop for snorkeling at an off-shore reef. REALLY cool fish there! Relaxing by the pool in the afternoon, and dinner again in the Mexican restaurant. Complaining about how we had to leave the next day.
Friday - *sniff* packing, and meeting in the lobby at 9:30 am to take a taxi to the airport. We upgraded to first class, so it was a little more bearable to go home, but still kind of sad.
It was fun, and relaxing, and gluttonous.... I bit the bullet and stepped on the scale this morning and was up about 10 pounds.
So, *thud* welcome back to reality.
Exercize and diet will commence...... tomorrow.
~a
Thursday, February 07, 2008
The never ending week
I swear today was supposed to be Friday.
Spent the day in the office with a co-worker. It was kind of painful. He's trying to master pivot tables. Or something like that.
We have to run reports with huge batches of data, and do interpretation, etc. I started playing with the excel program probably a year ago, and now am trying to tell him how to sort things. He is not computer literate. He was having problems with cutting and pasting from one document to another. And with worksheets. Argh. I don't know how many times I have told him the same thing. And it does not seem to sink in.
Therefore, I didn't get a whole lot done today, after being out of the office for a couple of days. I suppose that's how the cookie crumbles, right?
That, and the exercise is just sucking this week. I was thinking I would go for a run yesterday after I got home.... When I stopped for gas in Alexandria, the weather was about perfect. But of course, it was another 2.5 hours before I got home, and by then the mood had left.
I set out clothes to work out this morning, but then I just could not drag my arse out of bed. So I packed clothes to go to the gym after work. And after all of the frustrations of the day, when it would have been perfect to go hit the treadmill, I just came home.
In one week, I will be on vacation, doing some last-minute packing for the trip to Mexico. I don't think it will ever get here.
Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.
~a
Spent the day in the office with a co-worker. It was kind of painful. He's trying to master pivot tables. Or something like that.
We have to run reports with huge batches of data, and do interpretation, etc. I started playing with the excel program probably a year ago, and now am trying to tell him how to sort things. He is not computer literate. He was having problems with cutting and pasting from one document to another. And with worksheets. Argh. I don't know how many times I have told him the same thing. And it does not seem to sink in.
Therefore, I didn't get a whole lot done today, after being out of the office for a couple of days. I suppose that's how the cookie crumbles, right?
That, and the exercise is just sucking this week. I was thinking I would go for a run yesterday after I got home.... When I stopped for gas in Alexandria, the weather was about perfect. But of course, it was another 2.5 hours before I got home, and by then the mood had left.
I set out clothes to work out this morning, but then I just could not drag my arse out of bed. So I packed clothes to go to the gym after work. And after all of the frustrations of the day, when it would have been perfect to go hit the treadmill, I just came home.
In one week, I will be on vacation, doing some last-minute packing for the trip to Mexico. I don't think it will ever get here.
Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.
~a
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Is is wrong?
Yeah, we leave for Mexico on the 15th.
I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to lose some weight so I would look "better" in my swimsuits. Notice I didn't say "good"?
So anyway, I have been doing a crappy job of not eating all sorts of crap. I guess my heart is just not in it, and I have been taking the path of least resistance. Traveling, snackig, eating the "eh" food they provide at meetings (I work for a railroad. Men ordering food = meat, fat, starch and beer)
I thought to myself the other day that it wouldn't be that bad, since I will still be the smallest girl in the group. Lovely thought. I think any photos taken might be mistaken for diet incentives. Not to say that the folks I am traveling with are not lovely people, but we all struggle with our weight. Well, the women anyway. Is it wrong to think this way?
I know when we get there, we will have a blast, and I will not let anything keep me from going out and enjoying myself, but I am a little stressed/obsessed with it right now.
It didn't help that I overslept on Tuesday, so I didn't exercise, and this morning the treadmill in the hotel was out of order - but I still got on the stairstepper for 30 minutes. And then destroyed my good intentions by eating a large carmel roll.
I gotta give up this "screw it" attitude I have about food.
That will be all.
~a
I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to lose some weight so I would look "better" in my swimsuits. Notice I didn't say "good"?
So anyway, I have been doing a crappy job of not eating all sorts of crap. I guess my heart is just not in it, and I have been taking the path of least resistance. Traveling, snackig, eating the "eh" food they provide at meetings (I work for a railroad. Men ordering food = meat, fat, starch and beer)
I thought to myself the other day that it wouldn't be that bad, since I will still be the smallest girl in the group. Lovely thought. I think any photos taken might be mistaken for diet incentives. Not to say that the folks I am traveling with are not lovely people, but we all struggle with our weight. Well, the women anyway. Is it wrong to think this way?
I know when we get there, we will have a blast, and I will not let anything keep me from going out and enjoying myself, but I am a little stressed/obsessed with it right now.
It didn't help that I overslept on Tuesday, so I didn't exercise, and this morning the treadmill in the hotel was out of order - but I still got on the stairstepper for 30 minutes. And then destroyed my good intentions by eating a large carmel roll.
I gotta give up this "screw it" attitude I have about food.
That will be all.
~a
Monday, February 04, 2008
An interesting turn of events...
Today has been weird.
Got up early this morning, because my work truck was at the office, and Eric had to drop me off this morning. It was there, because it would not start on Thursday when I got home from the mother of all road trips. (yeah, we were in Minot, ND when it was -24. Without the windchill. Seriously.) So I had to have a new battery put in it on Friday - but I had already driven to work, so I had a vehicle there.
So in the office, I'm about the first one there. Getting geared up for my three Monday conference calls, coffee, e-mail, etc. Someone walks by my cube and says "I see you won some money!" My reply: "Really?!?!" We had a pool at the office - put your name on a spot, pay $5, then they draw numbers. The guy that was running the pool told me on Friday that the numbers were up. I said okay. He wondered if I wanted to look at what I had. I told him why bother - it's not like I could do anything about them.... okay, so he thought I was weird. But - I had the correct numbers for the half and the third quarter, so I won $60.
After my calls, I got on my bank website, to see that I have a pending charge from Zappos"dot"com. For $241 and change. Um, I didn't order anything.... so I call them up to ask about it. They were actually really nice about it - great customer service for a person who was not purchasing anything. They cancelled the order (it was placed late at night on Sunday) and told me to call my bank to tell them my card number had been compromised.
So I called my bank to get a new check card number. And there's paperwork I will need to fill out - but I just checked and the charge has been removed. I'm wondering if they had just entered in the card number wrong, but better safe than sorry, right?
Then it was home to grab my suitcase, and head out again to North Dakota. I seem to be here way too much lately.
I stopped on the way to pick up something to munch on, because the soy nuts and carrots were not quite doing it for me. I did pretty well though - I avoided the cheddar puffcorn I like so much, and got sugar snap peas, some flat earth chips, Diet green tea, some 80% cacao dark chocolate squares, light string cheese, and gum. No I didn't eat/drink all of it, but I was content, had the salt and sweet and crunch I wanted, and was pretty healthy about it.
And the best part of the evening: I didn't slide into the ditch. Between Fargo and Valley City, it was kind of scary - I fishtailed across both lanes of the freeway for about 150 feet, where I could see the tow truck and the other car in the ditch.... but I kept turning the steering wheel, and I didn't hit the brakes, and kept trying to steer in the right direction.
Yikes.
Nothing like sliding on the freeway to get the blood pumping.
So I drove 45 - 50 mph the rest of the way. And I got here in one piece.
Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful.
~a
Got up early this morning, because my work truck was at the office, and Eric had to drop me off this morning. It was there, because it would not start on Thursday when I got home from the mother of all road trips. (yeah, we were in Minot, ND when it was -24. Without the windchill. Seriously.) So I had to have a new battery put in it on Friday - but I had already driven to work, so I had a vehicle there.
So in the office, I'm about the first one there. Getting geared up for my three Monday conference calls, coffee, e-mail, etc. Someone walks by my cube and says "I see you won some money!" My reply: "Really?!?!" We had a pool at the office - put your name on a spot, pay $5, then they draw numbers. The guy that was running the pool told me on Friday that the numbers were up. I said okay. He wondered if I wanted to look at what I had. I told him why bother - it's not like I could do anything about them.... okay, so he thought I was weird. But - I had the correct numbers for the half and the third quarter, so I won $60.
After my calls, I got on my bank website, to see that I have a pending charge from Zappos"dot"com. For $241 and change. Um, I didn't order anything.... so I call them up to ask about it. They were actually really nice about it - great customer service for a person who was not purchasing anything. They cancelled the order (it was placed late at night on Sunday) and told me to call my bank to tell them my card number had been compromised.
So I called my bank to get a new check card number. And there's paperwork I will need to fill out - but I just checked and the charge has been removed. I'm wondering if they had just entered in the card number wrong, but better safe than sorry, right?
Then it was home to grab my suitcase, and head out again to North Dakota. I seem to be here way too much lately.
I stopped on the way to pick up something to munch on, because the soy nuts and carrots were not quite doing it for me. I did pretty well though - I avoided the cheddar puffcorn I like so much, and got sugar snap peas, some flat earth chips, Diet green tea, some 80% cacao dark chocolate squares, light string cheese, and gum. No I didn't eat/drink all of it, but I was content, had the salt and sweet and crunch I wanted, and was pretty healthy about it.
And the best part of the evening: I didn't slide into the ditch. Between Fargo and Valley City, it was kind of scary - I fishtailed across both lanes of the freeway for about 150 feet, where I could see the tow truck and the other car in the ditch.... but I kept turning the steering wheel, and I didn't hit the brakes, and kept trying to steer in the right direction.
Yikes.
Nothing like sliding on the freeway to get the blood pumping.
So I drove 45 - 50 mph the rest of the way. And I got here in one piece.
Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful.
~a
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