Exciting News!

For my birthday in August, my wife gave me some great news. She said that I could finally get a dog. Because of where we lived and how soon we were moving, we decided to wait on the dog. Since then I've been looking for a dog on petfinder.com anyway.

Recently, since we've moved, I found the dog I want. For the last week or so we've been getting ready for her. Looking at all the stuff we need to get. Learning about training. Figuring out where she'll sleep. Talking about all the rules (No dogs on the furniture!). It's all really exciting to me. It's even exciting for my wife who, until recently, I thought didn't care much for pets.

Before you get to see her, I'm going to show you what I've been doing to get ready.

I've spent lots of time on petsmart.com because that's the closest chain pet store around. We support local stuff generally, but pet supplies are expensive! I wanted to get a bed for the dog since the house is all hardwood and tile downstairs. But those were expensive too! So I decided to make one.

Our friends Jill & Eric have a couple of dogs and they posted recently on their blog about creating their own dog bed. I had to do it... it would save at least 30 bucks. So I did. Two actually.

I used two old pillows and an old curtain. I sewed the pillows together and then basically made a big pillow sham so we can wash it easier. The other bed it just a large pillow stuffed with batting. I think we spent less than 5 bucks for both beds. Here are some pictures of the bed creating...

 

 

 

I had to test it out...

For my birthday my wife got a collar tag with the dog's name on it, a training book, a bowl, bone, etc. We also got a crate the other day and are waiting until Friday to go grab her food and some other stuff. 

You're less interested in the dog "stuff", though, than you are in the dog.

So here she is...

 

Her name is going to be Yahtzee when we get her. I have no idea what kind of dog she is, but I freakin love her tongue! She's about 40 pounds and just shy of 6 months old from what I know. She's a rescue. I don't know much about her history, but I do know that she was rescued about a month or two ago from this place down in South Carolina. They picked her out of a kill shelter just hours before she was to be euthanized. I'm glad that we're able to support a place like this because I admire what they're doing.

We're getting her from All For The Love Of Animals Pet Rescue. They get dogs out of high kill shelters and adopt them to people all over the country. Apparently the shelters down south do a lot of euthanizing because there is an overpopulation of dogs down there. They don't have spay and neuter laws like we do up north. This shelter spays or neuters the animals and then ships them to their new homes. There's a lengthy application and the woman who runs the place doesn't just give a dog to anyone. She'll use your application to see if there is a dog who would fit with you. After speaking with her, Yahtzee was definitely the dog for us. She told me that she's got a great personality, very easy going, not very needy, and calm. She sounds like the perfect dog to train for a therapy dog, which we would like to do.

My wife will soon be working in a geriatric rehab facility as a Physical Therapist. Once she's there and the dog is trained, we're hoping to get the dog in on weekends to do dog therapy with some of the patients. 

I'll keep you up to date on Yahtzee, because I'm super excited about getting her. She's supposed to be coming the first weekend in December. Early Christmas present for us! 

Start of Week 2

One of the best things about writing this blog for me, especially this time around, is showing people that you can totally eat real foods and lose weight. This week I lost 2.5 pounds and I can't say I ever felt hungry. I'm also not filling my plate with boiled chicken and broccoli night after night.

I'm not completely thrilled with only losing 2.5 pounds, but that's what I need on a weekly basis to meet my goal so I'll take it. I wanted more than that. A few days this week I was down to 248, which is what I was expecting this morning. I think the sunflower seeds I was munching on last night is what did me in. All that salt helps hold a lot of water.

Also this week, I realized that I was drinking too much diet soda. I bought it to help me with the urge to have alcohol. I ended up having 3-4 in a night, after I finished my water of course. I realized the mistake, but I have a little bit of an addictive personality, I guess. I also prefer to drink things with flavor over water.

Because of the amount of soda I was drinking, I made a new rule. I can't have a soda until I'm done my water. When I have a soda, I need to drink another glass of water before I can have a second. At least now if I'm drinking 3-4 soda's in a night, I'm getting an extra liter or more of water in me too.

Of course... now that I think about it, the amount of water and soda I had last night in the two hours before bed would really make me have to pee a lot, normally. I went right before bed and then not again until morning. Before I started eating seeds this week, I was waking up between 2:30-3:30 a few nights a week to go to the bathroom. I guess I found the culprit.

Enough of that. I need to get my workouts done this morning. We've got errands to do and I have work to do!

249.5 this morning.

Have a good day!

Day 7

Pretty lazy Sunday. Woke up and did my Stretch X workout for p90x. It wasn't too bad. I don't even think I broke a sweat! Really, though, it felt mostly like the type of yoga you would normally think of. Lots of strange poses and twisting. I enjoyed it, though, because I was really tight and it loosened me up a little bit.

My wife had her second craft show of the weekend today and I know how hard it is for her to eat anything while there. I made us both a huge breakfast. Eggs with broccoli, steak, and potatoes.

I went with her to the craft show for a while. I helped set up, which was pretty hard, because we had lots of wind and the craft show was outside. It was on a horse farm which was pretty cool. There were TONS of people. When I left to go watch the Eagles, I passed about 10 cars coming in.

I got home and watch the Eagles lose. Again. I did enjoy my game beer, though. When my wife got home we watched a little more TV and then made dinner. Veggie stir fry.

After dinner we finished a movie we started last night and then watched the Walking Dead before bed. What a great show!

Day 6

I woke up alone this morning. Wife got up at 6 or something to go do her craft show. I set my alarm for 7, but realized when it went off that it's Saturday and I should be able to sleep a little bit later if I want to. So I did. Until about 7:45.

I got up and had some breakfast, about a cup of Cascadian Farm French Vanilla Almond cereal. This stuff is fantastic. I'm not so confident on the nutrition facts, but it's delicious and organic. I had it with almond milk again. We haven't made it to the grocery store for my 1% yet.

After breakfast I banged out my Kenpo X workout. I got really sweaty, but can't say I felt like I was out of breath very much. I think I was supposed to be, but it's hard to do that workout on an area rug that moves. When I finally got sick of sliding around, I pulled up the rug to do it on the hardwood floor. I found piles of sand. People over the summer must track sand into the house a lot and this is what's left of it. I was sliding all over the floor on the sand, then, which was worse. I put the carpet back down. I'll have to do something about that this weekend.

When I was done, I showered and then got into the office to do some work. I didn't do much work yesterday, so I figured I'd do some today. Having my wife out of the house is beneficial for my work. Not that she's overly distracting, I would just prefer to be with her than sitting at my computer doing research.

I had a really weird lunch today. Leftover sweet potatoes, a shredded chicken sandwich with lettuce, muenster cheese, and a little BBQ sauce, and a side of... shredded chicken. There wasn't much left in the baggy. I also had an apple and some pistachios for snacks later in the afternoon.

When my wife got home, we ran to church and then over to a local restaurant for a drink and some dinner. I went into today knowing that it would be a "cheat day." I don't really know what else to call it other than that, although I'm not cheating so much as eating more calories than I allotted for myself. I'm allowed to eat what I want if I stay in my caloric range. I had a burger and fries. The burger came with chips, but I didn't even touch them. Plain potato chips aren't really my thing. Not worth the extra calories.

After plugging my food into fitday.com, I realized that I'm not that far over my calories for today. I'm not going to count it because I can't know for sure how many calories were in my food for dinner, but I'm pretty confident that I'm still under 3000 calories. So if I ate an extra 500 today, it's not gonna kill me.

We came home and watched some TV before bed. Nice relaxing day, but a little bit lonely. I'm sure there will be many days just like it in the future when my wife starts working at the end of the month.

Day 5

This morning sucked. I looked at my training schedule to see what was up for today and realized that I had a 4 mile, not a 3 mile, run to do. I also have legs & back for p90x and Ab Ripper X. Doing a leg workout and the longest run of the week on the same day sounds not so fun. It feels much worse. And then add the torture of Ab Ripper X. OH YEAH! Don't forget the 25-35mph winds in 45 degree temperatures.

Needless to say, I hurt.

The run was pretty miserable. I took my sweet time doing 4 miles in 42:15. It started out cold. I was wishing that I had worn gloves. I did have a wind breaker on, though, which was a good idea. After about a mile, I started to warm up. I realized at about mile 2.5 that most of the way so far, the wind was at my side or behind me. Then I realized where the wind was coming from. Home. Sonofabee.

Once I made that turn towards home, I felt like I got smacked right in the face with cold glass. My eyes started gushing water and my face froze. Not to mention I leaned into the wind and still felt like I was going about half a mile an hour. But whatever, I made it home.

When I got home I grabbed some cereal with almond milk (my wife drinks almond milk and my 1% was sour) and rested for a little bit before attempting my p90x workout. The workout was fine. Better than I expected. It definitely hurt, but which one doesn't? My legs felt thoroughly toast for the rest of the day.

For lunch I had a stir fry. It was awesome.

 I did some odds and ends around the house for most of the rest of the day. We walked around town running errands later in the afternoon and then came home to have dinner. My wife used our leftover london broil and made some amazing sweet potatoes. She put some broccoli on the plate to balance it out a little. It was a great dinner. I forgot to take a picture though because I was so hungry!

We worked on a puzzle later in the night and I had two beers. That means I've got two left for Saturday. I also stayed within my calorie limit for the day. Yay!
 

I couldn't decide between pictures, so you got two. I used my Weyerbacher tulip glasses to have a Weyerbacher Merry Monks. We went to the Weyerbacher Brewery a few weeks ago, right before we moved. It was a pretty cool place.

In honor of Veterans Day, My wife and I sat down to watch Saving Private Ryan. I love that movie, although I think that if you really stop to appreciate the struggles that those men went through during WW2, it can be a lot to take.

Thanks to all those who have served and are serving.

Day 4

I have got to tell you that p90x Yoga is NOT your typical yoga. I've done yoga workouts "On Demand" and they were not nearly this difficult. This morning when I put the DVD in, I knew I was in for it. I've tried p90x before and have NEVER completed the Yoga workout. Normally I get about 45 minutes in and then stop. Apparently I was missing the best part.

The workout starts out with a lot of movement exercises, then goes into balance moves, some ab work (Ugh!) and then relaxation poses. The movement stuff is incredibly difficult. I enjoy the balance moves, the abs are awful, and the relaxation poses are fantastic.

Here is me doing one of the movement exercises. Probably the move I'm most proud of being able to do.

Yes, my left arm is under my left leg and my right arm is wrapped around my back and I'm holding my hands together. I'm not sure I'd have been able to do this cold, but it was at least half an hour into the workout.

After yoga I made some breakfast for my wife and I. 2 eggs, about a cup or so of broccoli slaw, cooked, and then some left overs: half cup each of kidney beans and tomato and about a quarter cup of chicken breast. That was just one serving. I made two. It came out to just under 450 calories. Perfect breakfast size for me.

When I was done eating, I rested for about 15 minutes and then did my run. 3 miles in 30:04. Perfect 10 minute mile pace. My wife came with me. We both had a tough run. My legs were really heavy for the whole run. Not too surprising. I did just finish an hour and a half of yoga!

After the run it was shower, snack (yogurt), and up to the office for some work.

While in the office, I remembered that we had purchased some sugar free gum last night when we went grocery shopping. We got this new Extra Dessert Delights stuff. Both the Key Lime Pie and Apple Pie flavors. I grabbed a pack of both and brought them up with me. They are both absolutely delicious. They lose flavor quickly, but if you keep chewing for a while, it comes back. Fantastic buy.

For lunch I had the same salad I had yesterday. Not much to write home about, but filling and pretty good for me.

I got stuck working so I went to Michael's with my wife. She got some stuff for her upcoming bead show. Check out her Craft Show Schedule if you want to see some of her stuff in person. She even got contacted today for a local craft show in Cape May. The woman who called apparently found my wife on Etsy.

We came home and I got back into the office for more work. I had a breakthrough and get a lot done over the next couple of hours. I told myself that I couldn't have dinner until I finished what I wanted to finish. I got done at 5:05. I ended up doing dishes for half an hour before cooking dinner.

We're thankful to finally have a grill! When we went shopping the other night, we got a london broil. I'm pretty sure this is my wife's favorite kind of beef. It's also really lean, so it was great for me. We had it with potatoes and broccoli, both done on the grill. The steak turned out AMAZING! My wife did a great job with the marinade.

 

I finished dinner at about 2150 calories.

After dinner, we were locking up and noticed something unusual under the grill. By the time we got the camera out, it had moved, but I'll put a picture of it so you can see...

IT'S A POSSUM! If you can't see it, blow the picture up and look under the stack of chairs. I assume it came up to get some warmth under the grill. That must have been what went through our trash the other night. Oh the things that happen in Cape May.

The rest of the night will be spent watching some TV and doing some craft-stuff. Now that my wife has two shows this weekend, she's got a lot to do!

Day 3

This morning I woke up in so much pain. My hamstrings were so tight that they were pulling on my calf muscles. I could hardly straighten my leg and when I tried stretching them, I struggled to touch my knees. Holy cow.

Thankfully, today was arms and shoulders for p90x and I had no additional cardio to do. The workout went well. Arms and shoulder is one of my favorites because there are no push-ups,pull-ups, or squats. Not that squats are all that hard for me, I just don't like them very much. I do enjoy shoulder and tricep lifts. I'm a little bit in the middle as far as bicep lifts are concerned.

The worst part about the morning workout, Ab Ripper X. I can sum up the workout in one word. PAIN. Every single exercise hurts. When I did it on Monday, it sucked, but not nearly as bad as today. Today was worse because I was already hurting. My obliques feel like they're about to explode and my upper abs are killing me. Every exercise today was horrible. Some of them I couldn't even do.

After the workout (which my wife did with me!) I cooked a nice healthy (and reasonably large) breakfast. We each had two eggs, scrambled, a cup of broccoli florets, 3/4 cup of potatoes and 1/4 cup of onion. My wife threw a little katsup on the potatoes... she's still getting used to them. Delicious, nutritious, well balanced, and only 420 calories. I do need to point out that this meal is on a small plate. It is not the normal plate I use.

Once breakfast was over I grabbed a shower and did a little bit of work. I took a break for a haircut and some lunch. Lunch was a large salad with a cup of chicken and 3Tbsp of ranch dressing and a 100 calorie bag of popcorn.

When I was done eating, I went back to the office to do some more work. I spent a few hours there while my wife went out to run some errands. When she got home, we ran a few more errands, came home, and grabbed some dinner. She made us some wonderful lettuce wraps. It was basically taco wrapped in lettuce. Delicious.

After dinner, I'd eaten just over 2000 calories. I might grab some more food before bed if I can stomach it.

An impression that I have from today is that my lack of a second workout was noticeable. Although I did not by any means want to run today because my everything hurts, I still felt like I needed to do something else. Interesting.