Monday Musings: Dog Drama

Y'all... the dog drama just keeps on going around here.  And on Sunday morning it really kicked up a notch.

Last Tuesday I started trying to transition him back to his regular food, but we had some more bowel issues.  (I won't get into the gross details for you) So after chatting with the vet - and yes, showing them a picture of the poop - I was told to keep him on the bland diet for a few more days and keep an eye on him.  He's been eating well and his activity level has been normal.  

He seemed to be doing well, and I fully expected to start the slow transition to regular food again today.  Until the bloody diarrhea started.  Yes.  I said it.  Believe me, I was a hundred million trillion times more shocked to see the actual thing than you are to read it.   I started to chat with the vet again, but decided  - Nope!  We took him straight to the ER vet.   

We had to leave him there all Sunday afternoon.  They suspect gastroenteritis, but we had to wait on blood work and a fecal screening to rule out a few other things.  We did finally get to go pick him up Sunday night about 8:30.  He's going to be on some meds and a special prescription food for a few days.  But I'm praying this sorts him out and we can put this behind us.

It's crazy how attached we get to those little furry family members.  I have been so stressed out.  And shed a few tears with worrying and feeling guilty that maybe I could have done something to prevent this or head it off sooner before it got to this point.  

In other news, I made good progress on my goals for last week.  There were a couple of things I didn't get to.  For example, I did clean out the fridge, but I didn't get to the freezer.  I'll do that this week. I also didn't work on my crochet top every day because I got distracted by another project I was working on for the Etsy shop.

Goals for this week:

• Clear out the last few random boxes my home office
• Clean out the freezer
• Set 3rd quarter goals
• Set monthly goals for July
• Take pictures of new listings to Etsy shop
• Write 1 blog post for the shop blog
• Prep Sunday and Thankful Thursday posts for 3rd quarter

What are your goals for this week?

Sunday Inspiration: Creating

 

Thankful Thursday: June 24, 2021Th

 "if you want to find happiness, find gratitude" - Steve Maraboli

I have had a few conversations with the grandkid recently about being thankful for things and focusing on the positive things that happen to us.  We've talked about how when we're having a bad day, if we try to stop ourselves and take a minute or two to think about all the things that make us happy, it can really improve our mood. These discussions have been a great reminder for me!

I Am Thankful For:

Starting a new book

When the grandkid makes me laugh

A day with cooler temps

A chance to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee

Banana pudding

Dinner at the Female Offspring's house

Playing card games with the family

Renewing library books online

The dog chasing fireflies

New curtains in my office

A Father's Day lunch with my dad

Picking blueberries

My dad

My husband

Barbeque dinner and a beer

What I'm Reading Wednesday: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Out of sight, out of mind. We've all heard the expression.  But imagine truly living this to the extreme.  Imagine that as soon as you were out of someone's eyesight they completely forgot about you.  That's the case for the title character in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name. (description via GoodReads.com)

It is fascinating to follow along as Addie learns to navigate a world where no one remembers her once they leave the room, or fall asleep.  Making it impossible to make friends, get a job, or even rent a room for the night.  I ached for her in parts and felt frustration at her for some of the choices she makes along the way.

There were a few details of the story that kind of made me pause.  For instance, Addie can spend an entire day with someone - drinking coffee or at a bar - but no one ever had to go to the bathroom or anything else that would cause them to leave her for all that time?  Ok... (shrug).  It's not a big thing, and easily forgotten. (kind of like Addie herself)

Over the centuries, Addie's focus becomes finding a way to leave her mark on the world.  To tell her stories. And in a way, deep down, isn't that what we all want?

All in all, it's an interesting premise for a novel and I enjoyed the read. 

 

Monday Musings: The Past Weekend

It has been a weekend.  We were dog-sitting for our daughter and things seemed to start off as well as can be expected when you bring three dogs together.  Until about 5 AM on Saturday morning.  That's when our dachshund, Max, started whining at the bedroom door to be let out.  When got up and took him out, he had some bowel issues.  Then on Saturday morning, he was refusing food and had a bout of diarrhea.  I had an online chat with the vet and he was (of course) put on a diet of boiled chicken breast and white rice for the next 2 to 3 days, with orders to call if he got any worse or if he wasn't better by Monday. 

Fortunately, after a tense day for this dog-mom, he started taking some of the chicken and rice on Saturday evening and seemed to be filling better on Sunday.  He did vomit a little on Sunday, but it was that foamy, yellowish "my tummy is too empty" type of vomit. This makes sense, as he hadn't eaten anything except a quarter cup of chicken and rice and a couple spoonfuls of pumpkin all day on Saturday.  As I write this on Sunday evening, his appetite seems to have returned  He has eaten the bland diet well.  At dinner, on Sunday evening he even gobbled up the chicken rice and was trying to steal his brother's "regular" food! 

Despite all of the dog drama, we did manage to get in some celebrating of the dads over the weekend.  

On Saturday, the Man of the House took lunch over to my father and visited with him for a while. Talked about making plans to go to a baseball game, which we haven't been able to do since about two years ago. (thanks Covid!)  Even picked some blueberries while we were there. Yum!  

After that, we went to the outlets to see if we could find the Man a new pair of work shoes and stopped off at 12 Bones Brewing on the way home for a few beers and a little couple-time.  We didn't eat there, but the barbeque smelled so good, the Man decided that's what he wanted for Father's Day dinner.

Sunday, I made breakfast for the Man of the House. A huge breakfast - eggs, bacon, and pancakes.  Used a few of those fresh blueberries in the pancakes.  And, yes - we did take him to 12 Bones for dinner.  It was my first time eating there and it was just so good y'all!  Recommend. Would eat there again. 

After all this, I didn't leave much time for setting weekly goals.  So, here are a few just off the top of my head...

• Clean out fridge and freezer
• Post new listings to Etsy shop
• Write 2 posts for the shop blog
• Write 3 posts for this blog
• Clean in office 30 minutes per day
• Work on crochet top every day

What are your goals or plans for this week?

Sunday Inspiration: Fathering

 

Thankful Thursday - June 17, 2021

William Arthur Ward said, "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."  Embarrassing confession - unfortunately, I have done this - more than once. And I mean both not expressing gratitude AND wrapping a present and not giving it.  

I Am Thankful For:

Afternoon thunderstorms

Running into a friend at the store

Starting a new book

Hugs from my husband

Houseplants

When the pups are wanting to cuddle

Building Legos with the grandkid

Summer fruits

A sweet treat

Baking cookies with the grandkid

Make your own pizza night

Honeybees in the yard

Breakfast made by the Man of the House

My marriage

A dinner invitation from the female offspring

My adult kids choosing to hang out together

Weighty Matters

I have seen a lot of posts on social media recently about loving yourself no matter what your weight and how being overweight doesn't equal being unhealthy.  These have brought up a lot of thoughts and feelings for me.  

First - I one hundred percent agree that you should love yourself no matter what your weight is.  Your value is not equal to how much you do, or do not, weigh at any given time.  You are SO much more than that.  No doubt about it.  

Where I start to struggle is the insistence that weight doesn't affect health.  Maybe, for you, that is true.  If so - that's awesome and I am truly happy for you.  You carry on being your amazing, beautiful self!

But for many of us (me - for example), our weight most definitely has an effect on our health.  As I have seen the numbers on the scale go up, there has also been an increase in numbers that are hurting my health- such as cholesterol and A1C.  There is a history of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and kidney problems in my family, which can be aggravated by being overweight and those numbers are a warning sign that my risks are increasing.  

So - Yes, for me, being overweight does equal unhealthy.

I also notice other, less concerning, problems with my feet, legs, and back aching, my energy levels decreasing, and even my asthma seems to flare up more when my weight goes way up.  

This is why I am trying to lose weight.  

No, it doesn't mean that I don't love myself.  I'm not doing it to meet some ideal of the perfect size or to have a hot bod.  And if I only managed to get the other numbers where they need to be and didn't lose all the weight - I would be ok with that.  

I choose to write and post about my journey to share my experience and keep myself accountable.  It also helps me to feel that by sharing my story,  perhaps I can give support to others going through the same experience.

If you are on a similar journey to lose weight and get healthy, I would love to hear from you in the comments!  Share what is working for you, or tell me a little about what you have been struggling with.

Monday Musings: Three AM

They say nothing good happens at 3AM.  (Having given birth to my first child just a couple of minutes before that time of the night - I would strongly disagree. But that's not really the point).  In Folklore, 3AM is sometimes referred to as "the witching hour". 

 If I had to guess, I would think that the person who began calling it that was a woman at some stage of menopause. Of course, that's just speculation. What I do know is that after reaching a particular stage in my life, it is now perfectly normal to wake up sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 AM on many (most?) nights during the week.  

Last week was especially bad for the early morning wakings.  It apparently wasn't just me as I saw someone else mentioning this same thing on Instagram.  Which had me thinking about the phenomenon and why it happens. 

Most of the time, I wake up needing to pee.  On a few occasions, mostly since allergy season started back up, I have had a headache and needed to get up for some ibuprofen and a glass of water.  On more than a few times I have woken up pouring sweat out of my body as if I just ran a 5k.  And then there's the oh-so-fun "why in the world am I awake at this hour for absolutely no reason?" wake-ups.  

Whatever the reason for waking up at that hour may happen to be - it's never simple as taking care of the cause and going right back to sleep.  Oh no.  There is going to be a good hour of drifting in and out of sleep.  If I'm lucky.  If I'm not lucky, there will be an hour or more of staring at the darkness around me while I wonder if I should just get up and start my day at that ridiculous time of the morning.  If the wakefulness goes on for more than 15 to 30 minutes, I will usually try reading to get back to sleep.  

Then, of course, there's the next morning when my energy levels are not where they should be thanks to the long period of wakefulness in the wee hours of the morning.  Which makes it difficult to find the motivation to get much done that day. 

Speaking of getting things done - I did so much better last week when it came to accomplishing my goals! I didn't get the boxes taken to Goodwill for donation.  And 15 minutes of physical activity didn't happen.  But other than that - I checked everything else off the list.  

That's a good week.  And I plan to keep the momentum rolling this week!

Goals for this Week:

• Take donation boxes to Goodwill
• Write 2 posts for Etsy shop blog
• Write 3 blog posts for this blog
• Hang curtains in home office
• List 3 new items in the Etsy shop
• Work on the crochet top I am making for myself for at least 1 hour every day
• Pick up Father's Day presents
• Stay within daily WW points every day

What are your goals for this week?

Sunday Inspiration: Tomorrow

 

Thankful Thursday: June 10, 2021

 The days since Memorial Day have been flying past.  The grandkid is out of school, which means we get to spend a lot more time together, and that gives me so many things to be thankful for. 

I spend a few minutes each and every morning writing down a couple of things that I am thankful for from the past day.  It helps put me into a mindset of gratitude and gives me something positive to focus on as I begin my day. It's a lovely habit that I would highly recommend to everyone. Let me know if you keep a gratitude journal in the comments!

I Am Thankful For:

People willing to serve our country

Planning a summer reading list with the grandkid

Ribs cooked on the grill

Taco Tuesday

Cherries

Hugs from my husband

The grandkid's laughter

Good Etsy shop reviews

Summer projects

Summer rain

Afternoon reading time with the grandkid

Groceries delivered

The start of the weekend

A little extra sleep

Spending time with my husband

Family dinner

Relaxing Sunday mornings

The cool down after the rain

Chicken kabobs cooked on the grill

What I'm Reading Wednesday: Transforming Your Thought Life

If I had to guess, I would think that most (all?) of us probably feel overwhelmed by negative thoughts from time to time.  Guilt, anxiety, fear, guilt, regret, anger... the list goes on and on.  What's a person to do?

Perhaps the answer can be found in the book I  finished reading this week:  Transforming Your Thought Life: Christian Meditation In Focus by Sarah Geringer. 

Thousands of thoughts fly through our minds every day, many of them negative. And Satan knows how susceptible we are to these negative thoughts that leave us frustrated and feeling defeated. However, the time-honored practice of Christian meditation can help us find victory in these spiritual battles.

Transforming Your Thought Life offers guided meditations and personal examples that will help you train your mind to stay grounded in God’s Word. Each chapter examines a particular kind of negative thought pattern and provides key Bible verses and prayers for standing strong against it. Day by day, as you hide God’s Word in your heart and mind, you will move closer to the heart and mind of God. (Description via Goodreads.com)

I've spoken before about how as we have repeated thoughts, it creates and strengthens neural connections in the brain, making it easier and easier to have those thoughts in the future. (See HERE) The Bible says much the same thing in Romans 12:2 when it tells us to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind".

In Transforming Your Thought Life, Ms. Geringer divides many common types of negative thought into individual chapters and discusses ways to meditate on the truths found in Scripture in order to transform our mind - spiritually and physiologically. Along with practical tips, advice, and personal stories - She also provides a list of passages from Scripture which relate to each topic that can then be used to meditate throughout your day. 

Whether you choose to read the entire text or select chapters relating to which negative thoughts you are struggling with, this book is a good read for the Christian wanting to overcome negative thought patterns.

What are you reading this week?  

The Early Fox Gets the Bird

 You may remember a couple of weeks ago, I told you about seeing a fox on the road behind our house one morning. As I said then, it's one of the things that comes with living in a more rural area. We spot many different types of wildlife from time to time. Usually, we see them from a distance - out the window or from the car as we drive past. 

But not always,...

Yesterday morning, I was outside in the side yard with the dogs for the morning potty walk, when something caught my eye trotting around the corning of the house.

It was a fox!

This isn't the same fox. 

(stock photo courtesy of pexels.com)

It was right there at the side of the house, maybe 50 feet from where I stood!  It spotted me about the same time I saw it and after a split-second pause it took off down the yard toward the road.

Fortunately, the dogs were occupied by other things during those few moments this all happened, so they didn't go crazy barking or trying to pull away from me.  That could have ended very badly.

This is the third fox sighting by a family member near our house within just a few weeks.  So clearly, this fox is very active.  Or (perhaps more likely) there is a pack living nearby. 

Now that I've seen it so close to the house, I'll be extra careful when taking the dogs for potty breaks or walks. 

Do you have many wild animals living near your home?