These Shoes Were Made for Walkin'...

Lately, I've hit a wall with losing any weight, but I'm pushing on.  I'm trying to do what I know I need to do, and remember how much better I feel when I do it.  Exercise is hard for me.  Really hard.  I hate it.  Unless it's swimming.  And then I love it.  But even with our above ground pool, there is only so much you can do in 4 ft. of water, and I don't have a swimming buddy to go with me to the one on base, since my family has declared a no swimming alone policy for me.  Well, I think I've hit on something that I can stick with.  I'm walking at home with Leslie Sansone.  These workouts are actually no joke.  Ask Jason..he did one with me over the weekend, and he was for real sweating (and he's a marine who is used to working out!), I felt a bit justified after that.  I typically try to do a 3 or 4 mile video for 3 days straight, and then I take a one day break and start again.  I've been doing it for a little over 2 weeks, and I don't hate it.  I feel better, better blood sugars, and I'm sleeping better.  Plus, my back is feeling stronger, and my right foot has stopped hurting me (heel spur or something?).  I was able to buy several at Target and Amazon, so switching it up helps too because I'm not doing the same video, watching the same people, and doing the exact same moves every day.  I have workouts that are 1-2 mile if I don't have a lot of time, all the way to 5 miles.  I'm slowly getting to where 4 miles doesn't cause me to collapse at the end, so hopefully the 5 miles is not too far away.  Plus, J took me to get new shoes.  Shopping for anything always motivates me a little more.  Plus, these pretty blue and pink shoes are just so bright and fun, that I look forward to wearing them.

So, I've been starting my days with a Tinker Bell mug full of coffe, and I'm striving to get back into devotions every morning.  Then I strap on those pretty tennis shoes, and walk.  Even if I'm not seeing it on the scale, my body is feeling it.  And that's what I keep reminding myself of!

Piggy McFatterson

That's my dog.  Kojak.  A.K.A. Piggy McFatterson.  I was looking through my phone and realized I had several pictures of him that I haven't blogged about, so this is a post all about him.  Anyways, he acquired this name because he has no self control.  He eats all of his food, hardly ever leaving a single piece, and even if he has just finished off his bowl, he will finish off the neighbor dog's food, his love/hate relationship girlfriend's bowl (even though technically, they are dog cousins since Lola is Ashley's dog), or any object on the floor resembling food.  Last vet visit, he had gained 5 lbs.  Apparently, that is not good at all for animals (we have had to cut his food back).  Me...heck...I can put on 5 lbs. in a day:/ #womanproblems.  It doesn't help, either, that my mom loves him and feeds him popcorn, and chips, and scraps from cooking, and says that he looks good with a little weight on him..he super duper loves her.  Aaaanyways, now that I have explained the reasoning behind his nickname, Kojak has been the best dog we have ever had (besides my childhood dog, Abby, who lived to be old and feeble, and faithful to the last day).  He has such personality, and makes us laugh.  A lot.  He thinks he is human.  And he thinks he weighs 10 pounds.  Add about 50 more to that 10, buddy.  He really wishes he was a lap dog.  And he tries to be.

 

After this late-season cold front moves out, and it warms up again, he's getting shaved.  We leave his fur long for winter, and while I love him furry and think he's so cute with lots of fuzz, I hate. HATE. the fur cleanup.  I vacuum up fur pretty much every dang day.  J has gotten better about brushing/raking him, because it's his decision to leave him furry in the winter (My vote was to keep him shaved and buy him sweaters.  My vote was vetoed.), so therefore it is his job.

 

This was last week.  We get this much fur everytime we brush him.  I do not know how it is physically possible for him to still have so much!

 

See, even Kojak is shocked at the amount of fur!  This picture gives you a better idea of just how much fur comes off of him, as you can see it is the size of another dog.  And no, it's not actually another dog.

Another thing you should know about Kojak, is that he thinks his sole purpose in life is to play fetch (and to follow me everywhere, and eat, and try to herd cats--that always goes well--and children, but you throw a ball, and everything else no longer matters).  His favorite toys are his rubber ring, and his ball.  The ring is for indoors, the ball is for outdoors.  Although, he frequently tries to tote them everywhere.  He can only have rubber (the kong type of rubber) toys because we have yet to meet another toy that can survive him.  I'm just glad that destructiveness has never been shown towards our house or furniture.  He is so stingy with his toys, and J loves to annoy him.  This particular night, he was wearing his ring as a hat, or a halo..but that's not very fitting;o)  You can just see the spitefulness in his face...

Kojak..not pleased.  He did not stop staring him down, and when he didn't throw it for him, he stalked him.

 

And stalked him.  This went on for a good while until he became really annoying and wouldn't stop circling, whining and grunting.  Spoiled brat, he did finally get what he wanted.

 

And we wonder why he is like he is...

 

 

What A Week..

First, I want to say how blessed I am that yesterday marked mine and J's 8 year wedding anniversary.  It came and went, and wasn't the best one, but it is not just about the day.  It's about everyday of the past 8 years.  I have found my true love, and I was fortunate enough to be able to marry my best friend.  Not everyday is easy, not everyday is fun, but I wouldn't want to do it all with anyone else, and we work at it, we love, and we keep God in our marriage, and for that, I feel we have been blessed with such a wonderful and strong relationship and bond.  He is always, without fail, there for me.  He's my rock.  Growing up, I saw that firsthand with my parents.  They supported each other, and my mom could always depend on my dad.  They were each other's biggest fans, and nobody could come between them..they were always united, and from then on, I knew I wanted that.  Needed that.  It took some time, and there were a few frogs before I found my prince, but just like the song says, "God blessed the broken road".  A lot of times, daughters with good dads look for men like their dads, and I found one.  Jason is funny, smart, driven, brave, strong, not afraid of hard work, a provider, and so durn handsome.  I am so thankful for him and for our marriage, and I look forward to the rest of my life with him, and what our future together holds.

With all of that said, this week my sugar britches has what the docs think is E. Coli.  SHRIEK!  You hear so many bad things about this mess.  It's true.  We are waiting to hear the official results of the tests hopefully tomorrow, but he has all the signs and symptoms.  It started Sunday night, and here we are on Wednesday still battling it.  We think it may have been from the sushi he ate over the weekend.  I stay away from that stuff like the plague (plus I think it's nasty), and hopefully he will from now on too!  He has been soooo sick. Yesterday, he tried so hard to feel better, and he did for a little bit, he even tried to go to dinner (against my warnings), which ended in to-go boxes, and rushing home.  Without too many icky details, it's been like the worst stomach virus you can imagine.  Add on top of that, horrible cramping, fever, and dehydration resulting in IV fluids today.  Who knew symptoms can come and go...he thought he was on the mend yesterday, and then he started all again last night.  Being in the military, you can't just call in sick (dumb, if you ask me), so he had to go report in and go straight to BAS (the base doc), but now he's home again (he insisted I stay home and not drive him because he was feeling some better this morning, and I didn't sleep but maybe 2 hours..I still feel like a bad wife for that).  I am sitting here typing this as he sleeps on the couch.  I feel so sorry for him, so helpless.  Plus, I'm pretty sure he's ready to throw his bottle of Gatorade at me if I tell him to drink one more time, he'll thank me later.  Maybe.  He's feeling better today than he has yet, and no more throwing up today (crossing fingers!)..he has extremely low energy, but his appetite is coming back.  He was starved when he got home, and so I researched the best things to try and made him some toast and scrambled eggs...so far, so good.  It settled and that has been about 1 1/2 hours ago.  Please pray that this is the end, and he can recover.  We are supposed to celebrate our anniversary with a few days at Myrtle Beach starting Sunday, and hopefully he will feel like going, we are really looking forward to a little getaway.

This is where Kojak has been every minute that J has been home.  Right by his side.  And when he's in the guest room, he's outside the door, and when I go in to check on him or help him, he is hot on my heels, crying.  He does not like when one of us is sick, he is super intuitive.  Last night, I was watching t.v. when I heard a bang/boom noise, and thought chalked it up to the nearby ranges doing bombing drills last night, but then I kept hearing a strange noise I wasn't sure of.  Kojak, who was surprisingly laying by my feet last night, got up, went to the bedroom door, and just stared and kept sniffing at the door jamb.  I got up with the quickness then, and J had fallen out of bed and was throwing up.  Thanking my lucky stars that I put a trash can by the bed.  J said he is our modern day Lassie;o)  

So, Kojak and I are holding down the fort.  I'm ready for this week to turn around.  But, I will uphold my part of the vows, and this is definitely putting that "in sickness" part into practice!