kapachino

Tag: pets

  • #97. Buy Another Leash and Walk the Dogs Simultaneously

    I’ve let my dog Cleo get fat. There’s no getting around it; she’s gained a lot of weight since I got her a year and a half ago. This is what she looked like then:

    dscf1096

    And this is what she looks like now:

    dscf2094

    She’s a good couple inches rounder, and look at all that back fat! It’s embarrassing. Back then she could run 5 miles with me no problem, and now when I try to take her on a run she can barely make it around the neighborhood. (Full disclosure: I can’t run 5 miles anymore either.) I chalk this change up to two things: 1) I live with David now, and one of his favorite things is giving dogs treats. He does it frequently. 2) Eddie lives with us now, and somewhere along the way one of the leashes broke, so we can’t walk them at the same time and it’s too hard to walk them separately, and I know that’s a lame excuse but that’s what happened, OK?

    Honestly, it was the leash that was the main thing holding me back from walking them. So when I went to HEB the other day I picked one up, along with a couple of choke collars. Turns out I bought the wrong size collars, but I still walked them anyway!

    dogs-after-walk
    Tired girls after their walk.

    So this was an easy one to check off the list of goals, and now hopefully we can start taking lots more walks!

  • On Starting To Exercise Again

    When I first got Cleo over a year ago, I was running a lot. I would take her to the park and we would run 5 miles together no problem. (Well, no problem after I purchased her a choke collar having learned the hard way that she loves to chase squirrels.) I was in pretty good shape then, and it felt good. 

    Now I look at Cleo, and there is a reason we call her our little sausage. She even has a couple of back fat rolls. And yesterday, my nurse mentor/friend Pat said to me, “I’m not saying this because you look like you’ve put a single pound on your body, but have you gained weight? I’m only asking because most newlyweds gain weight.” And later that day, two OTHER women I work with told me I look like I HAVE gained weight. Maybe it’s because I was wearing my pink scrubs for the first time in awhile, but still. Aren’t women supposed to know that we don’t say that kind of thing to each other?

    Truthfully, I’ve probably only gained 3-4 pounds since I got married. I don’t eat badly, even though I really REALLY love having chocolate after dinner. But ever since my indoor soccer team disbanded a few months ago, I haven’t been exercising. It’s thanks to my physically demanding job that I haven’t gained more, I think.

    I’m really getting the itch to be more active again. My new year’s resolution is to ride my bike and do a race at some point. I’ve decided that I don’t want to ride outside the neighborhood alone, however. My friend Sara said she’d ride with me, but I’m waiting for her to get a new bike. Until then, I’ve got to start doing something. I asked for a Wii Fit for my birthday, so maybe that will help on days I don’t want to get out of the house, but I need more than that.

    So, Methodist is sponsoring the annual Stride4Stroke 5K in March, and I signed up to be a part of our unit’s team. I’m going to run it. I used to be able to run a 5K in my sleep, but not so much anymore; I’m going to have to train.

    Which is really the point of this post, to tell you about a great website that I found to help me: www.djsteveboy.com. On it are free podcasts that you can download to listen to while you run. I chose the one called “First Day to 5K.” The podcasts have upbeat music that you listen to, and then there is a chiming sound that lets you know when you switch from walking to jogging. They are designed by a coach, and you just need to run to them 3 times a week for 9 weeks. I’ve found that running at intervals like this is really the best way to get started. It’s not too overwhelming, you feel good, and it helps you ease into running shape again.

    Cleo and I ran week one today, and although I’m not too winded, my legs are definitely tired. Poor Cleo was huffing and puffing right alongside me. Hopefully we can find time to complete the program together.

  • One Hazard of Marriage

    I absolutely love being married. I don’t have anything to complain about, except this: it has become exponentially harder for me to wake up in the morning. Over the course of these few months of marriage, I have gotten into the bad habit of pressing my snooze button for 30 minutes, which is just not acceptable! I believe this is for a combination of reasons:

    1. Being married and having two incomes allowed us to buy something I’ve dreamed about for years: a Tempur Pedic mattress. In my opinion, it is amazing. Perfectly forms around my body, with just the right amount of give.

    2. Although for awhile my dog Cleo was too excited about the prospect of an entire house for her to explore and a new sister to share it with that she had taken to sleeping elsewhere, I have since forced her back into my bed at night and hopefully brainwashed her into liking it. I now wake up almost every morning with her stretched out beside me as close as possible.

    3. Finally, how can I be expected to hop out of bed at 4 a.m. when there is a warm, soft, deeply breathing body next to me? I’m not talking about Cleo, but a human who gets to sleep for at least 3 hours more and looks incredibly adorable doing it? All I want to do is cuddle up next to it.

  • It’s Not Just For Looking Pretty

    Oh right, I have a blog, and it’s something I’m supposed to WRITE in. I guess I’ve given myself kind of a break, because of the whole my-husband-had-surgery-right-before-we-moved-into-our-new-house business. We are having a lot of fun being there, but it sure is a lot of work. We still have a lot of walls to paint, fixtures, furniture, and other necessities to buy, as well as unpacking and organizing to do. There are times when it’s overwhelming, because I simply don’t have the time or energy to get it all done anytime soon, which is what my personality dictates. David told me the other day, “You know how I can tell that you’ve been really tired lately? I can leave a mess in the living room and you don’t even say anything.”

    Anyway, my sister-in-law gave me a hard time about neglecting this thing yesterday, so please accept my apologies. I will try to do better. SO…here are some things that have happened:

    >My husband had surgery for a condition he has in his hips. It’s going to be a long, difficult process to fix, and please pray for him because he’s in a lot of pain all the time.

    >One of our dogs, Eddy, probably tore her ACL. The vet said it could just be sprained, but after two weeks of rest and a week of anti-inflammatories, she’s still not putting any pressure on it. Poor girl wants to be just like her dad.

    >I was the matron of honor in a wedding, and I gave my first toast. I was really nervous, but it went well. David danced with me on his crutches, and it was cute.

    >Christmas came and went. I worked on the 25th, and it was the busiest day I’d had in weeks. Only the sickest of the sick don’t get to go home for Christmas. No fun.

    >BUT, we celebrated the night before with David’s family, and the day after with my family. It was all very merry. I don’t have any pictures because my camera is dead, I lost the charger somewhere along the way of the 5 houses we stayed in, and the new one I ordered doesn’t work.

    >The book we’re reading now for book club, The Pillars of the Earth, is excellent.

    One more thing: If you are a friend of mine, and you are a female, and you live somewhere in my vicinity, and you are interested in being my bike riding buddy, please let me know! This year I am resolving to use the nice road bike I have, and enter a race at some point. But I won’t ride alone, so that makes it difficult.

    Alright, that’s what I’ve got for now. Happy Sunday!

  • Happy Birthday Cleo!

    Today is Cleo’s adoption day, the day that will forever after be known as her birthday. When I got her one year ago, they told me she was about two years old. So today, Cleo turns three!

    Here she is before we named her, when she was known as “Baby.” We knew that would have to go. We chose her because out of all the dogs at the pound, she was the only one that wasn’t barking. Little did I know that one year later, barking would be her major flaw.

    When we first brought her home, she was so scared she wouldn’t eat. When she finally did, I was so excited that I captured the moment. I didn’t care that I had to bring her bowl right out into the living room.

    After awhile we decided she needed a bath. We gave her exactly one before deciding that $20 at the groomer would be money well spent. She never got over her fear of the bathroom after that.

    Cleo’s made a lot of friends over the past year. I’m not the only one who’s getting a new family soon!

    Cleo still misses Molly…

    But she gained a cousin, Bentley:

    Cleo and I have discovered that the dog park is one of our favorite places. It makes me incredibly happy to see her so happy, and I find it so relaxing to sit on a bench and read while she runs (and swims!) her little tail off.

    But my favorite time of all with Cleo is bedtime. We have our little routine – she starts out underneath the covers, licks my legs and feet for awhile, then crawls out and settles at the foot of the bed. I’ll fall asleep, but after awhile I’ll feel her stirring, wanting to climb back underneath the covers. Sometimes she sprawls out next to me and lets me sleep with my arm thrown over her. She never wakes me up in the morning – I’m the one tossing her out of bed. This bedtime routine is ending soon, but that’s OK with me because I’ll have a new bedmate, and I think it’ll be OK with Cleo too because she’ll have her new sisters to play with.

    I love you Cleo, you’ve made the best year of my life even better!