Category Archives: Emotions

March Beginneth a New Routine-eth

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Perhaps I’ve finally learned that no matter how much I try to forget you, Blog and Its Readers, I’ll never be able to pull myself away from you completely.  So here I am, ready to jump back into this blogging game.  I have to keep telling myself that I don’t have to tear out hours of my day to feel fulfilled by writing here.  I just need to sort out a few thoughts that are swimming around in my head, type them out in a hopefully cogent format, and spice it up with some photos and gifs that keep at least myself entertained.

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The truth is that this blog and the process of maintaining it is quite therapeutic, which is what I need right now.  I’m knee-deep in some emotional issues, which are manifesting themselves in some self sabotage of the general progress that I’m making in other areas.

Example #1:

1.  A friend of mine that I thought was becoming one of those “we met as adults and became besties” is turning out to be not quite that.  I feel a MAJOR teenage insecurity relapse right now, and I’m trying to keep all of the adulthood lessons I’ve learned/maturity in mind as I try to meander my way through it.

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What does Example #1 do to me?  It causes me to feel insecure and out of control.  What can I control?  The junk that I eat!  I am falling into some counterproductive eating habits lately, mostly mindless eating.  ”What sounds good?”

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So clearly I need to follow the credo that has gotten me somewhere in the past, which is not just in the fitness department but in life:

Control what you can;

Let go of what you can’t.

Have faith that life is good;

Look for the light.

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So with that being said, I am going to set some new goals for March:

Emotional Harmony

  • Use this blog is a therapy session, and own the feelings that I have to write about.
  • Make a list of at least five things that I LOVE about my life and the people in it.
  • Do something for me, even if that means that I take an hour away from the madness to talk to you =)

Fitness

  • Continue my strength training progress (more details to come) by maintaining my four-day split schedule
  • Run five days a week
  • Chart my workouts to see the progress that I’m making on the paper

Food

  • Preplan what my day is going to look like
  • Don’t bring anything into the house that I wouldn’t want to put into my body
  • TRACK TRACK TRACK!

What are some new things you’re going to try this month?

 

Puppy Drama

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Hi Bloggy friends.  Sorry I’ve been MIA for the past week or so, but I’m getting back into the being a student mode, and we’ve had a little puppy drama over here.

Drama

First of all, Dan and I are huge dog lovers.  We knew that we wanted to adopt a rescue dog when we were finally in a place in  our lives that would allow us to properly love and support one.  Dogs are the best, aren’t they?

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Monday night, Dan and I decided to take our poor Sophie girl into the vet because she has developed quite the nasty cough.  She’s always had a slight raspy cough that she would do maybe once a week or so, just enough to gross us out.  However, Sunday night, Sophie began coughing and it got so severe that she would cough, gag, then cough again for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.  As soon as we could, we brought her into the vet’s office after work on Monday.

We were disturbed to be told that there was a very high chance that the cough was a symptom of heart worm.  When we adopted Sophie from the dog rescue, we knew that she had a very mild case of heart worm.  For those of you who are unfamiliar:

The parasite is commonly called “heartworm”; however, that is a misnomer because the adults actually reside in the pulmonary arterial system (lung arteries) for the most part, and the primary effect on the health of the animal is a manifestation of damage to the lung vessels and tissues.[2] Occasionally, adult heartworms migrate to the right heart and even the great veins in heavy infections. Heartworm infection may result in serious disease for the host.

(Via Wikipedia)

From what we understood, the medication that Sophie was already prescribed was (in theory) supposed to knock out the mild case that Sophie had.  So you can imagine our panic and distress when the vet told us that she suspected that her case of heart worm was much more severe and advancing, causing her cough.

The treatment of heart worm is actually quite successful, but a lengthy and expensive process.  According to the ASPCA’s website, the treatment of heart worm consists of:

How Is Heartworm Treated?

After diagnosis, a thorough examination of the infected dog should be conducted to evaluate the best course of treatment and the potential risks involved. The most common course of treatment is a series of injections of drugs called adulticides into the dogs’ muscle. This cure has a high success rate and usually requires hospitalization; in certain circumstances, however, it may be performed on an outpatient basis. However, all treatment protocols require several weeks of exercise restriction after treatment and are not without risk. 

Leaving the vet’s office, fully suspecting to hear the worst confirmed with Sophie’s blood test, Dan and I went home and just loved loved loved on our sweet puppy.  The idea that she was going to have to endure such a lengthy and stressful and painful process was absolutely heart breaking.

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Our Sophie Situation weighed heavily on me all day Tuesday, checking my phone in between each class period to make sure that I didn’t miss the call from our vet’s office.  Finally, around 4pm, Nurse Kelly called us with the amazing news that Sophie’s heart worm test results were negative!!!!

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Nurse Kelly told us to come pick up some heart worm preventative medication and antibiotics for Sophie’s cough.  You cannot believe how happy and relieved both Dan and I are that our sweet girl is ok.  She’s only been in our lives for a little over four months, but we have come to love her with our whole hearts.

Innocent

 

Resolution Week One Check In

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Raise your hand if you’ve already found your Resolution Eyes to be larger than your Get it Done Brain?

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I created five resolutions for myself, five that I thought to be very achievable.  I purposely didn’t make them quantitative because I usually over-stretch with the figures, leaving me feeling depressed and discouraged.  So this year, any improvement that I see in the five areas will be a boost to my motivation.

1.  Quality workouts – SUCCESS!

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I have run everyday since January 1st, even on Friday after I skipped my morning workout (see above statement).  I ended up having more time than I thought before heading out for some dinner and cosmic bowling with friends, so I did a quick 5 miles on the treadmill.  I’m also preplanning my workouts, at least for the week ahead.  The changes in my body have helped to keep me motivated.

2.  Reading to Replace TV – Iffy

I have been doing more reading, but it’s all school-related, which isn’t bad because I’m test-driving some novels for the fourth quarter group work.  I broke down and downloaded the third season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on iTunes, so I don’t know if you would call that a step forward or not.

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3.  Take better care of the house – Check

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Laundry was done, which included sheets.  For some reason, I really REALLY despise having to wash sheets.  It’s probably because I hate making up the bed.  I can already hear my husband saying, “Then why do I have to do it every morning?!?!?”  There’s a difference between making and bed, and making UP the bed.

Making the bed = pulling the sheets and comforter back into place after a night of sleeping

Making up the bed = putting the sheets on a mattress, followed by comforter and pillows.

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Mind blown?!?!  Oh yea!

4.  Slowing down to enjoy the present and

5.  Be Happier- mostly yes

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While I’ll never be one who can ignore the urge to plan and preplan my life, I have found small ways to enjoy the “now” more than I was.

Example:

  • Last night, Dan and I helped to chaperone the Homecoming dance at our school.  Instead of looking at my watch and counting down to how soon it would be that I could be back in my natural state of pajama pant-ness, I enjoyed the time with my students, appreciating that this was a time in their lives that they would look back at as a peak, not something they wished would hurry up and be done with.

How are your New Year’s Resolutions going?