kapachino

Tag: pets

  • dog park, farmer’s market, paint, and mothers

    It’s Tuesday and I’m still reliving my weekend. So what?

    I got a nice surprise on Friday when I was supposed to work until 7 p.m. and they let me off at 3. I was able to beat the traffic and convinced David to go on a mini-date. We went to Potbelly Subs & Sandwiches for dinner and then went back home to pick up the dogs. This part took a lot more convincing, because handling all three dogs at once is no easy task. But I recently bought these adorable tags for them, and now we could legitimately take Oliver to the dog park.

    It was Oliver’s first time there, so we were nervous. He’s still not neutered (I know, I know) so he has a tendency to act fairly alpha. He comes up to my waist and weighs around 100 pounds, but there was a dog much bigger than him there and Oliver had that dog’s tail between its legs just by sniffing. Overall he was very good, but he made other dogs nervous and we felt like we had to hover around him the entire time. I don’t think we’ll be going back until we get him fixed.

    On Saturday I was up bright & early to visit the local farmer’s market that I’ve been meaning to go to for ages. My sister-in-law and friend were supposed to come too, but neither of them could make it due to their respective babies so I was on my own. I found it easily and my first impression was that it’s small, but very cute.

    I walked around without buying anything once to see what was there, and I was happy to see that there was a big variety of food and other local, organic products. I had my eye on some tomatoes and peaches, but then I realized I had forgotten to bring a bag to carry them in. I ended up only buying some honey because I was too self-conscious. (Side note: has anyone ever tried honey in their coffee instead of sugar?)

    I must have really been in a food-buying mood though, because I ended up stopping at a larger organic store which was farther away. I was in the area since I had to get some blood drawn at a specific lab. The book I’m reading is completely changing my perspective on the foods I buy. David doesn’t know what he’s in for. :)

    For the rest of the day I had originally intended to drag David with me to the Art Car Parade, but when he told me he’d help me paint instead I couldn’t pass that up. My parents and father-in-law came too, and we were able to get the second coat on the front two rooms, paint the ceiling, and start on the trim. The trim and touch-ups are all we have left there, but it’s such a tedious chore. I can’t wait to finish and actually start decorating!

    Sunday morning found us at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Los Cucos, for breakfast with my family. I’d never had breakfast at a Mexican place, but I have to say the eggs were the best I’ve ever tasted. I was really excited to give my mom her gift, because it was so unique. You may not know this, but my mom was a hippie in her day, and I think the gene is genetic. For Mother’s Day I signed us (along with my mother-in-law) up for a class teaching us how to make soft cheese and other dairy products at home. I can’t wait!

    Church was a fluster of activity because my brother and I were leading the music and we were not quite prepared. It ended up going smoothly, but only because we grew up doing music together and know exactly what the other will do. On the way home from church David and I stopped by a local bookstore for an amazing sale. Here are all the books we got, all for $5.95!

    Can you guess which three are mine? ;)

    By the time we got home I had developed quite a toothache that extended into my sinuses and down my neck. I took a Vicodin, read a few pages, and fell into a nap that lasted until my mother-in-law called me to ask me a question. It’s a good thing she did, because we were supposed to meet David’s family for dinner and I would have slept right through it. Dinner was delicious and the company was lovely, and to top the weekend off I took my mother-in-law to the play Harvey at the Alley Theatre, which we both loved.

    Only eleven more days until my next weekend off!

  • My Return To Exercise: Wii Fit Plus Style

    Right before my miscarriage my doctor told me to stop exercising. Because two drastic health events followed that, I’ve been hesitant to start up again. But with a lot of rest, medication, and supplements, I’m finally feeling strong enough. There is a sprint triathlon in August that I’m shooting for, and I’ll start training for that in a couple months. Until then, I want to build up my strength and get back to my baseline of fitness.

    I mentioned before that the folks at Brand About Town chose me to be a Nintendo Enthusiast. I was extremely excited to find a Wii, Wii Fit Plus, and a book called The Triathlon Training Bible in the mail one day.

    Total score!

    I immediately hooked it all up, created my Mii, and did a body test. Then I started reading the book. This time, I want to have a thorough understanding of triathlon training before I begin.

    Last week when I had off work I decided that it was the day to begin exercising again. Due to my recent blood loss and stomach issues I’m at a healthy weight for me, one that I want to maintain, but I have lost all muscle tone. Here I am in my workout clothes for the first time in forever:

    I may or may not be wearing the shirt I slept in last night

    I thought that the Wii Fit Plus was the perfect way to ease back into working out, and it’ll be nice to have in the summer months when it’s just too hot to go outside.

    I started out by doing another body test. It weighs you, and then has you do a couple of mind and balance tests. I am TERRIBLE at the balance tests. I mean really. Terrible. Then based on a combination of your actual age and your performance, it gives you your Wii Fit Age. I did the body test three separate times before I got an age that I felt acceptable to display to the Internet.

    Much better than 38

    One of my 101 goals was to unlock all the exercises in Wii Fit, but the Wii Fit Plus doesn’t have any exercises locked. I am therefore editing my goal to read: try all the exercises in Wii Fit Plus at least once. I jumped right in a started playing around, although it was a little hard to do when I had this to deal with:

    Oliver needs to attend a 12-step program for codependency

    First I did a little jog. You don’t have to run on the balance board, you just hold the controller or put it in your pocket. I like to hold things when I run anyway, so I didn’t mind. Running in place is kind of awkward at first, and it works my calves more than I’m used to (which might be a good thing). I was sore for DAYS afterwards. It’s not a replacement for actual running, but it’s still a nice aerobic exercise.

    Awkward picture of me running in place, taken by my camera on self-timer

    Next I did some yoga stretches. One of the changes to Wii Fit Plus is that you can put together your own routines. So instead of just doing one yoga pose at a time you can kind of simulate a flow, although there is still some transition time.

    My ridiculous triangle pose

    And since I love to ride bikes, I tried this new addition called Island Cycle. You pick your feet up and down as if you’re riding a bike (but not really) and hold the controller horizontally to steer. You hit all the checkpoints and return to the starting point. It was fun!

    Wish I had a place to ride like that in real life

    The last thing I did was create a profile for my dog Cleo. I think it’s so cool that you can do this! (Works for kids & babies too.) Not only do you get to see a cute little puppy on screen that will show up in your activities (she followed me around when I was cycling), but you can track your pet’s weight. This is actually really helpful when you have a dog who is bordering on obesity and you need to know what dose of heartworm pill to give her.

    She's so cute!

    Looks a lot like her, don’t you think?

    Too bad you can't do the training with me, little Cleo

    So my goals are to do a body test once a week for at least 12 weeks, and try all the exercises once. I’ll decide which ones work best for me, and use those on the days where I can’t make it outside.

    Anyone else have a Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus? How do you use it, and what do you think of it?

  • a weekend like that

    Y’all. I had such a great weekend. I didn’t even realize how much I needed some time off where I wasn’t having my insides ripped out of me, puking my guts out, or recovering from either of the above, but I can tell you now that I needed it. I know because today I am happy, and I didn’t even mind getting up at 4:30 a.m. on Daylight Savings weekend to go to work. It was such a great weekend that I am about to relive it right here – not for YOUR benefit, per se – but for my own.

    After I got let off work early on Friday I unknowingly headed straight into a traffic catastrophe that put my commute home at 2 1/2 hours. I admit that my good mood faded somewhere around an hour into the drive when I had only made it a few miles. But the ease of driving my new car and a good audiobook made it bearable. I arrived awhile later, only slightly frazzled, at my in-laws’ house to meet my husband for dinner, and we enjoyed a meal that I realized was an exact replica of the one I ate immediately before I got sick a week ago. The fact that I did not, in fact, get sick again I took to be a sign of better things to come.

    After sleeping in on Saturday morning, I indulged in something I should be ashamed of, but am not:  Farmville on Facebook. Yes, I play it; I enjoy it because it is a mindless and soothing distraction. And did you know that there are more Farmville players than Twitterers? So I promise not to be annoying about my Farmville habits if you promise to just block it already and not make fun of me. Anyway, on Saturday morning I had some time and I made a lot of changes to my farm and now it’s pretty and yeah I can’t believe I’m actually still talking about this but that’s what happens when I’m in a good mood! I ramble!

    During this time my three dogs, who were quietly sunbathing in the backyard, suddenly went into an uproar. A stray dog had approached the gate, and they were beside themselves. They got so riled up that Cleo and Oliver transferred their fury onto each other and launched into a full-fledged battle, while Eddie stood by and barked. I know a person is not supposed to get in the middle of a dog fight, but my other option was to let them kill each other or at least injure one another to the point of very high vet bills. I hate to brag, but at this point I’m kind of an expert at breaking up dog fights. Unfortunately in my weakened condition I managed to stick my leg in the wrong place and ended up with a rather painful bite to the calf muscle. Don’t worry though! Not only am I okay, but we just kept the dogs apart overnight and they made up the next day.

    Next on the agenda was a couple of extremely satisfying errands such as picking up my Nintendo gear from the FedEx office (more on that later this week) and getting a new EZ tag for my car. The EZ tag lets you breeze through the tollways in Houston, and although I’m not in the habit of using the tollway unless I must, you can understand that I was dying for one on Friday night when I was stuck on the feeder road because I didn’t have any cash for tolls. The best part was that it didn’t cost me anything because I still had money left on my truck’s old EZ tag.

    Afterwards I met my sister-in-law for the much-anticipated pedicure, and I believe this sentiment sums up my feelings perfectly:

    Then David and I made good on a Christmas present we gave to his parents and took them to eat at Friday’s (the bruschetta chicken pasta was excellent) and saw “Shutter Island” which was an extremly well-done movie.

    After a lovely church service on Sunday morning a friend of mine told me she’s pregnant and I didn’t even cry! I allowed myself to feel miserable for just a little while, but then I channeled it and went on a surprising cleaning/productive spree that I hadn’t planned. In fact, I had purposefully devoted this weekend to NOT cleaning in order to simply relax, but it turns out that my idea of relaxing is doing laundry, sweeping and vacuuming the floors, shopping for groceries, washing my truck to get it ready to sell, and wiping down every possible surface in my home. I have to say that I don’t regret it, because a clean home is better than almost anything.

    David and I finished off the day by spending a couple hours doing our taxes, and let me just say that Turbo Tax is worth every penny. We are getting a rather large tax return, which is not only a blessing but a relief because going into it I had no idea what to expect. But it turns out that if you get yourself a mortgage, pay a ton of money in student loan interest, and give a lot to charity you get a bunch of deductions. When you look at it that way it’s not near as much fun, so I’ll just continue to think of this as free money.

    Why can’t it always be the weekend?

  • Friday Things

    Today was a hard day for me, emotionally. It started last night out of nowhere, and then when I received a package this morning that I had ordered for future baby, well, you can imagine how that made me feel.

    So in order to avoid being too depressing, here is some randomness from the week.

    My dogs can be really cute and sweet. Even Oliver.

    But then he goes and eats my books. Four so far, to be exact. Taken from the bookshelf.

    Oh, and I chopped off my hair. Why? I don’t know. Something to do.

    Other things I’m thinking about:

    • I think it’s time to start exercising again. There is a super sprint triathlon on May 9 that I think I could be ready for if I start now. It’s only a 200 yard swim, 8 mile bike, and 2 mile run.
    • I would like to finish learning how to solve a Rubik’s cube at some point.
    • This is the month of doctor’s appointments. I am going to more this month than I usually do all year. Also, I am going to demand to have my wisdom teeth removed, so that should be fun.
    • There have been some moments of real joy in my work this week, and then in a matter of minutes it would turn into chaos and stress. Work has been great to distract me and keep me busy, but this week it has been tiring to the point of exhaustion. Still, my better days are the days that I’m at work.
    • I made a Formspring page, and then promptly forgot about it. Sorry if I haven’t answered your question yet, but I will soon!

    Have a great weekend, friends. :)

  • Dog Days Of…Winter?

    So the whole three dogs scenario is turning out to be pretty tough. Let me preface by saying that I am crazy about dogs, but I in no way know how to train them. Not only do I not know how, but I am not interested in learning. I don’t have the time, energy, or patience. I don’t think this makes me a terrible person; I think it makes me normal.

    We were blessed that Cleo and Eddie are so well-behaved. Pretty much the only bad thing they do is chew the window sills, and Eddie has these random panic attacks that disturb our sleep from time to time, but overall they are very laid-back and sweet. We had a good life, a calm life. We had our routines.

    Oliver has changed all that. We have learned the hard way that he has to spend the night in his crate, along with any time that we’re not home to supervise him. Of course this makes us feel guilty, but it is the only solution at this point. Any time we’re home we let him out, but that means we can’t relax. He needs constant monitoring and attention. Gone are the days that I can just lounge on the couch after a 12-hour work day; Oliver is up there with me, in my face and on top of me. Gone are the days of somewhat clean floors; Oliver tracks dirt wherever he goes.

    We have had some good days. There were a few mornings that were SO good that I thought we were through the hardest part. I would let all three dogs out together and they would all do their business. I would feed them, and all three would eat. Eddie and Cleo would hop on the couch to doze, and Oliver would lie at my feet while I ate breakfast. Then I’d put him back in his crate and go to work.

    Today, I’m about to lose hope. Since the dogs have been getting along so well lately, I put them all outside to play while I cleaned the house. They were out there for a couple of hours, and when I glanced out the window they looked so cute together. I was in the middle of mopping the floors–furniture moved, water everywhere – when I heard barks that didn’t sound right.

    I ran outside to see Oliver and Cleo in a real fight. Thankfully I had already researched how to break up a dog fight without getting hurt, and was able to get them apart by pulling on their back legs. I got Oliver into the garage and promptly gave Cleo a bath with the hose. We were all muddy, and both dogs were bleeding from a few spots; nothing deep, but enough to alarm me. I cleaned the wounds with hydrogen peroxide as best as I could. I left Cleo and Eddie outside while I finished cleaning the house, then I let them in and shut them in my room with bones.

    Oliver wasn’t as dirty, but he wouldn’t let me clean his bloody ear. I let him in the house, and for a little while, with them all separated, things were calm. Then Oliver peed on one of my nice coats, which was hanging from the back of a chair, right in front of my face. Needless to say, he’s back outside.

    Many times have either David or I uttered the phrase, “We have to give him away.” But every time the other one says no. I can’t really blame him for all these problems. He’s just a huge, hormonal puppy with a bad leg who doesn’t know what to do with his energy. He’s adorable, and sweet if you give him a chance. I love him, but I don’t know what to do with him.