What A Weekend

I needed a cheat meal SO BAD last week, so Friday night BF and I went to Chevy's and I had some amazing mexican food.  After our lovely dinner we met up with friends at Big Al's and played arcade games and cashed our tickets in on some funny things.  It was a much needed fun night and the perfect ending was the waffle cone of birthday cake ice cream, complete with sprinkles and ribbons of blue frosting mixed in.  I was in heaven.


Saturday morning came and BF still was not feeling well- he hasn't been feeling up to par for about 2 weeks.  I think I fought off this cold-thing two weeks ago while BF's kind of hung around. His throat has been bothering him, but he's not running a fever so we know it's not strep.  We ran errands and sort of cleaned around the house.  The dog jumped on my face (not intentionally) and gave me a fat lip, so I look ridiculous right now because the swelling hasn't completely gone down.  When BF and I sat down for dinner I got a text message from my mom asking me if I would go to the ER with her.  I HATE it when she does that!  If there's an emergency I want a call, not a freaking text message, but oh well.


Anyhow, so we raced around the house and packed an emergency bag with snacks, books, etc as we didn't know what was going on and I called my mom back.  They thought my dad was having some heart problems so the doctor advised them to go to the hospital immediately to have an EKG and labs done. 


We picked up my mom (my dad got an abulance ride) and rode out to Clackamas.  It was nerve-wracking AND boring, (if that's possible) to wait in the ER waiting room.  We were only there for a few hours but being there at all was mostly crappy.  Turns out my dad tore a muscle in his back, but the pain was in an area that they use as a red flag for heart attacks, etc.  I'm glad they took the precaution and did their due diligence at the hospital to see what was going on, but I'm mostly glad my dad is ok and it's just a muscle tear, not a more serious problem.


After that drama BF and I went home and crashed!  Sunday was a boring catch up day for laundry and what not.  BF is feeling much better, my lip swelling is going down and I'm down a total of 8 lbs since the beginning of the year!  That averages to about 2 lbs per week which is just right.  I am aiming to get to an intensive cardio class this week so hopefully that will help with a few extra lbs!

Dear Dani,

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

I cannot freakin post a comment on your blog (even though I try to comment on EVERY POST, EVERY TIME, WITHOUT FAIL) but whatever.

So I'm posting what I would've commented on your blog as a post on my own blog- that's how much I like you.

I agree with your whole post.  ALL of it.  I feel exactly the same way and it's super frustrating.  We are starting an annonymous blog that you can use to rant and rave and complain about people and things as much as you want- and by "you can use" I mean we all can use, just annonymously.

Also, I love my puppy too and we need to have a puppy play date.

You should call me or I should call you.  We alway say that but we NEVER do it mostly because we are old and lame these days, but that will change when I get my iPhone this weekend. 

Now to start brainstorming names for our burn blog or whatever we want to call it.  It's like therapy in blog form.

Somebody Send Me This

I was at home being lazy the other night watching MTV's Cribs.  That show is pretty dang lame, but this particular episode featured The Flaming Lips' frontman, Wayne Coyne. 

If you know nothing of the Flaming Lips I emplore you to google them.  They sing that song, "Do You Realize" that was popular back around 2005.

Anyhow, so they show his ridiculous house (in an awesome nerdy "ridiculous" way), but the best part of the whole home-tour was what he was wearing.  A red Christmas sweater with SKULLS on it.  I immediately starting searching for one to buy BF.  He would TOTALLY wear it all the time.  To school to teach the childrens, even. 

The problem is that I cannot find one, or even one similar to what I want.

Here's a clip of Wayne talking about some ornament thingy they had for sale a year or so ago, but he is wearing that totally amazing sweater so you can kind of see it:

A. MA. ZING.


I found these:

The last one is a kid's sweater, but you get the idea.

Anyhow, if anyone can knit a sweater similar to what I want, I will totally trade you something super awesome for it.  Or if you find a really cool sweater similar to what I'm looking for tell me about it ASAP and where you found it so I can figure out how to procure one for BF to wear the rest of the winter... and maybe one for me.

And Then My Head Exploded!!!

You guys... I am SO EMOTIONAL and AGRESSIVE this week.  What is up?  I feel like I'm on the 'roids or something (I'm not, don't worry).  It's insane.

BF says that this means I'm doing the diet and exercise thing correctly.  It's "80% mental right now", he says, so here's to my mental fortitude and hoping that it lasts until March. 

Yesterday seemed to be the height of my craziness.  Everything pissed me of and I felt all worn out and cruddy and I had virtually no energy for anything other than sitting and staring off into space.  It was also a very odd day because there were a few medical emergencies at work (none of which had anything to do with me) so the mood was just off and somber.  I didn't get a lot of anything useful done and then I went home and crashed on the couch for like an hour and a half.  I woke up to BF making dinner, which strangely upset me a little because dinner is my  job, darn it!  But I caught myself being stupid and upset before I said anything to BF so that was good.

After dinner we went to the gym and something horrendous was happening.  The women's locker room had flooded.  I am assuming it was because they had replaced some of the facets on the sinks and something must have gone wrong- I assume this because we have had 2 broken faucets for the past couple weeks in there.  Anyhow, so they had a big sign as you walk in the gym saying , "Caution, Women's Locker Room is Flooded".  They weren't joking.  Every inch of the floor was soaking wet so I went into the bathroom part to change instead of the carpeted area with the lockers.  Also, there were GUYS in the ladies locker room!  They couldn't find a lady that could run a shop vac and suck up the water?  COME ON!  So even if I wanted to change in the regular area, I couldn't.  It was pretty dang uncomfortable. 

Also, I felt like people were looking at me strangely while I was working out.  I was probably being paranoid.  But then there is a middle aged lady at the gym that sometimes "follows" me when I work out and will blatantly wait to use machines right after I use them.  One day I was running on the treadmill and she came upstairs and got on the treadmill RIGHT NEXT TO ME, even though there were only 2 other occupied treadmills with plenty of open machines all over.  During my interval run I noticed that she kept looking over to my machine and then changing hers depending on why mine was doing.  It was super annoying.  Anyway, that lady was there last night so I felt like I was hiding from her going all over to different parts of the gym so she wouldn't see me and follow me again. 

Here's where you realize that I am crazy.  Go ahead, I already know this.

So to deal with my crazy feelings of agitation and hatred I decided that I would try to wear myself out while doing cardio so that I would be too tired to be mad anymore.  And that's when my body told me that it was too tired to go as fast and I know I can go.  My legs just wouldn't move the way I wanted them to!  Which, of course made me even more upset.  I tried talking myself out of being so upset, thinking things like, "You don't hate other people, you are just tired and hungry".  When we went home I was completely exhausted and felt sick.  We went to bed after watching I Used to Be Fat (which is a great show) and I was so upset about being upset and tired. 

BF did a pretty good job of trying to make me feel better.  He just let me talk about how I was feeling and he listened. He also knows how I feel because of his body building stuff. 

Today I feel better, but I'm still super tired.  I wanted to take a sick day and just stay home, but I have to get a few things done at work so I didn't. 

On a side note, I'm awesome and found some workout DVD's that I want at FYE that were USED so I am sticking to my "Nothing New" strategy pretty well!  Only new stuff so far this year are dog things (because they were necessary since we previously didn't have any dog stuff) and freebies I got from work which I didn't have to purchase, so no money was spent.

I'm worried about how long my clothes are going to make it.  I'm wearing pants that were tight a few weeks ago that now no longer stay up without a belt.  I haven't weighed myself this week, but BF says I'm noticeably smaller. 

Here's to being happy and stable!

Going Backwards...

In a sense.

Today I popped my headphones in and listened to my iPod on shuffle to see what came up.  I have quite a mix of music and it's been years since I listened to Death Cab for Cutie in large doses, but after hearing the song "Title and Registration" I had to switch from shuffle so I could hear the rest of DCFC's "Transatlanticism" album.

It was like going back five or six years.  I wanted to sing out loud to almost all of the songs and when I was done I continued on and refreshed myself with some Nada Surf. 

Oh you guys, I just love it when I remember music I loved so much at one time.  It brings back all of the feelings and memories from the first go-round. 

Also, why don't I play my guitar anymore?  That's going to start happening again.  Fo' sho. 

I shall continue my journey backwards as the week progresses just to see what I find.

Too Big is Better Than Too Small, Right?

I bought a really nice pair of jeans online this past fall.  I knew they'd be a little tight but I also knew I was going to start getting back in shape and lose a few pounds.  When they arrived I tried them on and they fit in length and waist, but the legs were SUPER TIGHT and the behind was a little snug.  I was sad, but since they were so nice I figured I'd keep them instead of returning them.

Today I decided that I would try those nice jeans on since I've lost som weight and tightened up.  They totally fit in the legs and butt!  However, now the waist is a little to big. 

I feel like this happens a lot, I find jeans I like, try them on and find that the cut is just no made for my body type. I've tried many different styles and cuts of pants, but the only things that seem to fit me well are old lady jeans and I hate that.  I think it's because I'm curvy but modest.  The super low rise jeans fit me well, but I don't want to have to worry about what's showing when I bend down .  I also have an irregular length- 33", so regular length pants are usually just slightly too short while the long lenghts are just a tad too long (because I've found that most inseams are 31-32" for regulars and 34"-35" for longs). 


So today I'm wearing a longer shirt to hide that my awesome jeans are too big in the waist, but they look really nice everywhere else.

If anyone has a favorite brand that fits them well, let me know!  I'm game to try anything. 

I won't be buying any new jeans yet (until I reach the goal weight), but it doesn't hurt to start looking and planning ahead!

What Good Is A Diagnosis...

... when you cannot treat the symptoms?

When I was in 5th grade I was ready for the summer of my life.  We were moving to a new town and my parents were busy building our new house 2 hours away from where I had gone to elementary school.  I had made some grand plans to see my old friends before moving on to better, brighter things.  The summer started with the usual activities- squirt gun fights, endless days spent running around the neighborhood, going to the waterpark in Denver... and then one day I noticed some itchy spots on my stomach and back.  My mom assumed I had developed a rash from my severe allergies and running around outside in the weeds certainly didn't keep me safe from pollen, dirt and dust.

A few days went by and the rash spread all over my back and a little to my upper arms.  It stopped being so itchy, but the rashy spots were bright red and after a few days they would get scaly and dry.  I felt like a lizard.  My mother quarantined me to the house and slathered me in calamine lotion. I was not to go outside, I was not to touch anything, I was not to get to participate in anything fun until this rash cleared up.  A week or so went by and when nothing changed my parents decided to take me to the doctor.  My mom was sure I had some crazy contagious rash and I was handled like a leper, kept away from the family and everything I touched or used was promptly washed. 

The doctors thought it was just an allergic reaction, but assured my mom it was not contagious.  I was to avoid anything I was or could be allergic to and I was to avoid the sun and swimming.  UGH. 

A few weeks went by and I stayed mostly inside, but got to have friends over and go on some fun outings.  Still, the rash persisted.  I went to the pool with my family but brought books to read and sat at the edge fully covered and not enjoying the heat from the sun or chlorine smell I once had loved.  My family lovingly called me Lizard Girl for a while and I stopped crying about it after a few days.  Right before we officially moved my mom took me back to the doctor who had me see another doctor who told me, "I bet you have Pityriasis Rosea," which meant absolutely nothing to me.

He explained to my mom that it was a skin condition that came from who-knows-what and would either get worse or get better, but really there was no telling and there really was no treatment for it other than hydrocortizone cream if it was too itchy.  It would, "Clear up on it's own," if we just waited it out which could be, "a few weeks or a few months" away. 

So now I was moving to a new town and starting a new school a lizard skinned freak.  I thought my life was over.  But sure enough a week or so after that doctor's office visit the red spots started disappearing and before school started my skin was a perfect as a new born's. 


This was 1996.  It is now 2011, fifteen years later and I had pretty much completely forgotten about that summer being Lizard Girl.

Until today.

I've told you about the weirdy rash thing on my face/neck/chest/torso (it has spread), and I've been covering it with ointments and looking up naturopathic and homeopathic remedies to try.  Nothing has really worked.  I called the doctor a day or so ago and explained what was going on, and she told me to come in on Friday (today) and she would take a look.

I've been researching what this could be and what the cause of it could've been and I had a whole long list of possibilities.  Upon my arrival to the Dr. office I started telling her what I'd researched and what I'd already tried and how long I'd had the rash and where it started and where it had gone and where it seemed to be headed.  She took a look at the rashy bumps and said, "I've seen this before and it is not what you think it is.  It's nothing on your list that you researched and it's not contagious so don't worry too much about it."

Pityriasis Rosea.  Ah!  Mystery Solved!

Now I know.  It is not really treatable, per se, however there are some things that may help aid in soothing the skin.  Cortizone cream, UV light treatment* and warm baths.  OMG, I'm going tanning!  Not really, but maybe.  And then I'll sit in a nice bubble bath and slather myself in Cortizone 10 cream.  Awesome. 

Until then you can call me Lizard Girl if you want, I don't cry about it anymore.

*UV light treatments don't really refer to tanning, it's a special UV light laser that a dermatologist can use to help lessen the redness that occurs with some skin conditions.

It All Started Yesterday...

I was all happiness and love and rainbows last week because I weighed myself and found that I had lost 4 whole pounds, plus we had Rudy to play with plus I was eating healthy and sticking to my exercise routine.

The weekend wasn't so bad.  I was fighting off some sort of bug and had a sore throat and body aches for most of Saturday, but I still went to the gym and ate well.  Sunday and Monday were errands days and we took Rudy to his first vet appointment.  He is healthy and everything went well (except for a fecal sample, which apparently he didn't have anything to give them so we have to collect one and bring it to them, FUN!). 

Yesterday was MLK Jr. Day so neither BF or I had to work!  SLEEPING IN!  WORKING OUT!  MOVIES!  It was going to be an awesome day.  Then when I actually woke up I felt all yucky and bloated and... get ready for TMI... I started my period.  Don't ask me how I forget that these things happen, but I do sometimes and so I was instantly in a bad mood.  Then I decided since it was Monday morning I would weigh myself and wouldn't you know after another week of eating PERFECTLY and working out PERFECTLY I had lost... nothing.  I was still down only the 4 lbs from the previous week.  ARE YOU JOKING?  I almost cried.  But BF tried to console me and told me that usually your body will average your weight loss to about 2lbs a week (which I knew, but come on, I AM superwoman and my body can lose 10 LBS A WEEK!!!!) and that I probably had lost weight but water weight from my Lady Days could be putting me back up to my previous weight.  He's so sweet.  I still felt like crap. 

Then, great news, I found out that two different couples I know got engaged.  This is awesome news!  I'm so happy for them and I'm excited I get to go to their weddings (hopefully) which are sure to be amazing.  Other people heard the great news and then we'd talk about it and they'd inquire, "So when are you getting engaged?" which is a perfectly reasonable question and I'd have to answer that I don't know and that nothing has been planned and I'm pretty happy with the way things are now so no rush.

... and then it carried over and started happening at work...

Everyone today has been asking me, "So... when are you and BF getting engaged?  You guys got a dog together... that means you are going to get MARRIED!!!" and I'm all like, "How does a dog equal marriage?  And what? Why is everyone on this bandwagon?"

Seriously, about 3 times in the span of an hour this morning I've been asked about it.  It didn't bother me at first, but now it's bothering me and it also makes my head do one of those, "Oh wait, why aren't we engaged?  Why is everyone else engaged?  I'm NEVER GOING TO GET MARRIED BECAUSE I'M SO LAME!" crazy girl-thought things that happens when you are a Crazy Girl on her Lady Days. 

When I'm in my right frame of mind I don't even really think about being engaged because I know it will happen when it's supposed to and when I'm ready for it.  I know that.  BF knows that.  I'm not worried. 

People, stop asking me dumb things because I don't think I can handle it this week. 

Also, the weirdy rash on my chest is still there.  Did I tell you about this?  I think I did, but to refresh the memory I got this odd rash thing when I got the strange face rash (which is now mostly gone) a few days before we got Rudy.  Maybe it's from the humane society?  I'm thinking they HAD to be from petting and playing with the puppies there because that's really the only "new" or different thing I came into contact with.  Anyway, it's not so itchy anymore and I think it's going away, but I'm bombarding my body with all sorts of remedies to "cure" rashes.

I'm tired.  

Think positive thoughts:  I will lose 2 lbs this week.  I will be sane.  I will continue to eat to my healthy plan.  I will make it to the gym for my workouts.  I will get enough sleep each night.

Something to Try in 2011

Ok, a lot of people I know are jumping on this bandwagon, and I get it so I'm going to try it as well.

I'm talking about the Nothing New 2011 challenge found here.  These women are awesome and I'm so glad they are sharing their journey with this challenge.

Basically it's a challenge to not buy anything new (with a few exceptions) for the year.  The goals and benefits are added savings, less clutter in  your house, less waste, and creativity in finding where to borrow things or where to get used things or what you can use in place of things.  I like the general premise of it so I dedcided that it would be a fun challenge. 

This past year I've been trying to be more organized and get rid of the clutter and waste anyways.  Of course there are exceptions to the general rules... all found on the above mentioned (and linked) site.

The rules and purchasing filters are below:

Purchasing Filters:
1.  Can I borrow it instead?
2.  Can I buy it second-hand?
3.  Do I really need it?
4.  Where will it go?

Exceptions: 
1. First Aid and Safety
2.  Hygiene and Beauty Products
3.  Undergarments
4.  Groceries
5.  Business Expenses
6.  Experiences (travel, museums, theater, etc).

Now, I have to add some of my own exceptions because I had already agreed and planned for them before I decided to do this challenge. 

1.  New car- I've gotta get one and I promised myself my next vehicle would be brand new, not pre-owned.
2.  New Clothest that fit correctly.  I've got a couple things that I can wear, but during my Biggest Loser competition I'm hoping to lose 15-25 lbs and 2-3 dress sizes so that doesn't leave me with much to wear to work.  I am comitting to myself to only buy necessary clothing items ( a couple pairs of jeans, a couple nice shirts and sweaters) and then to stop there.  I can supplement everything else but the quality staples from second hand shops (we have some pretty cool ones here in Portland anyway). 

I'm still getting rid of things as I go through them at home, old stuff that I don't need anymore, things that are useless at this point in my life, etc.  I'm addicted to watching "Hoarders", that show about the people that fill their homes up with so much stuff it becomes dangerous and I'm amazed at how they even function!  I can't stand it when there are a couple papers left on the dining room table, let alone stacks of it in my home!  But it motivates me to keep things clean and organized.

Anyway, I'm hoping that by trying this challenge I'll save some extra money this year and can take BF and myself on a nice vacation somewhere neither of us has ever been... hopefully somewhere in Europe, or maybe somewhere tropical.

What the What? It's Only Wednesday...

Are you kidding me?  Slowest week ever.  Probably because I'm feeling the effects still of no sugar and treats, but whatever.

I'm getting tired quickly this week, so I better figure out something to get me out of this funk. 

This morning I think the dog got confused.  You see, we always give him a little treat when we take him out to go potty and he goes; you know, to reinforce that he is doing something good when he goes outside and not in the house.  This was working.  And then the dog was playing with his toys and I wasn't paying too much attention (mostly because I had JUST TAKEN HIM OUT 10 minutes earlier) and he comes running up to me all excited and barks and then jets off to the living room.  I was walking to the living room anyway and he had this cute excited look on his face and runs to a... spot... on the floor and looks at me and then looks at the spot, then back at me, as if to say, "Look how awesome I am!  Give me a treat for being so AWESOME!".  And wouldn't you know that he went potty on the carpet.  Are you joking? He definitely thought that he was getting a treat JUST for going potty, not going potty OUTSIDE.  We'll get there.  He hasn't had too many accidents anyway, but I was a little disheartened because I thought he was doing so well.  He is, but, you know... cleaning up puppy potty always puts me in a mood.

On the Biggest Loser competition front at work... I had lost the most weight in the first week until our last person weighed in.  UGH!  But, to be fair, that person has far more weight to lose than I and is also a guy so the weight loss ratio is a little skewed in his favor.  Whatever.

But I've successfully made it to the gym according to my schedule and I've been eating perfectly to my plan (which is why I'm a little grumpy and tired).  Not that I'm not getting enough calories, but I'm getting them from fresh healthy foods instead of bread and sugar.  Again, not that I was just eating bread and sugary things... but ... yeah.

Also, we didn't get any lasting snow.  What is going on, Oregon?  No white Christmas, no crazy snow storms.  I just want a snow day or two. 

So it's Wednesday and I feel like it should be Friday, or at least Thursday afternoon, but here we are.  I hope everyone else's week is progressing nicely.

And Here We Go

It's Monday.  The weekend just flew by!  I just want to stay home and play with Rudy.

On the dog topic; he's getting really good with the house- training.  We rarely have accidents and usually when we do it's because we were trying to get our shoes and coats on to take him out and he just couldn't hold it long enough for us to get out the door!  I'm amazed at how quickly this dog learns things and how well behaved he is when we take him out in public.  He's discovered that cats are not that friendly to him (thanks to a trip to my parents' house) and that sticks are toys when we take walks.  He's a little bitey because he's still got some teeth coming in but so far he hasn't chewed on important stuff **knock on wood**. 

We didn't have a lot planned for the weekend, just the usual stuff (cleaning and organizing, running errands), but with my car out of commission we had to plan a lot of trips so we could get it all done with one vehicle. 

I was exhausted most of the weekend because last week was my first week eating perfectly healthy, getting on my workout schedule, training the puppy AND coming back to work from a few weeks' vacation.  That's a lot for one week!  Friday I came home and just died on the couch.  I was going to get up and clean and get laundry out of the way but that just didn't happen.  Saturday was our last indoor soccer league game so we ate some KFC for our "cheat" meal and had some gelato before we headed downtown to play.  We are the WORST team in the league, but it's still fun, and a good workout.  We had BF's parents dog-sit since we knew we'd be gone for a few hours.  I feel so OLD having to be responsible for another being and planning out my stuff around them, but it's good.  Sunday we ran our errands and played with the dog, then had dinner at my parents' house- my mom made chicken cajetore and home made foccacia bread.  It was delicious and I'm going to try my hand at the recipe soon.

On another note I've had a weirdy rash on my face since last week.  I have pretty severe allergies so rashes are nothing new to me and I have every allergy remedy on hand at all times, however I just don't know what this one came from.  I haven't eaten anything new or strange, I haven't changed any of the products I use (hygiene or house-hold cleaning) and I haven't really gone anywhere new.  BF thinks I'm allergic to going back to work... could be!  We know for sure it's not the dog since I got the rash a few days before we got the dog.  I called and spoke to the advice nurse at my doctor's office and he said to come in if it starts spreading or doing odd things (flaking, bleeding, getting hot, etc) but he thinks it's just contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis is when you get hives from something you are allergic to and then it stays even after you've gotten away from the allergen.  You can get it from touching something you are allergic to... like perfume or lotions. YAY!  It's going away but SUPER SLOWLY, so everyone thinks I'm terrible at doing my make up because it looks like I let a three year old put fuschia blush on my face in random spots!  I keep taking my temperature because the last time I got a rash like this I had scarlett fever (not fun),but everything seems to be normal.  Hopefully I'll figure it out soon and the rash will go away.

Happy Monday!

Friday's Week In Review

I woke up this morning and I was like, "It's freakin Friday?", and at the same time I was like, "It's not Saturday yet?".

This week has been a doozy. It was my first full week of work back from the holidays so that was a little challenging trying to get back into the swing of things.  Add to that starting my new diet/exercise program (because I'm going to WIN our work's Biggest Loser competition) and you have one exhausted girl.

Oh yeah... and we got Rudy!  He is a ton of work, but so much fun.  He sleeps through the night and is a really good puppy, but he has a ton of energy and 5-6 hours of sleep a night isn't cutting it for me!  I can't even imagine how a new mom would feel with an infant. 

Yesterday my car decided that it was done (again).  I'm so tired of fixing this car, so I'm looking to get it fixed on the cheap and then I'm trading that sucker in!  BF and I had already discussed me getting a new car this spring, to give us some time to save up a good down payment... but that plan is now shot because I don't want to keep driving my POS car around any longer. 

The cars I really want will have to wait so I looked into some other options.  Everyone at work, it seems, drives some sort of Nissan and they LOVE them.  I was considering getting a Juke (which I posted before), but without a down payment I don't want that car payment.  Instead I'm looking at the Versa hatchback.  Not the cutest car, but useful.  I was also looking into the Honda Fit.  Again, smaller, but with a hatchback and it gets better gas mileage than the Subaru.  Both companies seem to be pretty reputable and in doing my research they both get pretty good ratings for cars in that class. 

Any ideas of what I should get? 

My heart longs after the Mini Countryman, but that will have to wait a bit longer...

So here's hoping that I can find someone to fix my radiator quickly and inexpensively and that I get some much needed rest (and house cleaning)- time in this weekend!

Meet Rudy

This is our adorable new puppy, Rudy, who has completely stolen my heart and now I know why people have bratty children... because I'm pretty much willing to give that dog anything.  But I won't, mostly.

BF found Rudy online from a nice family down in Southern Oregon.  They had posted an add with the newspaper to find homes for their litter of  Mini American Eskimo/ Yorkshire Terrier/ Maltese mix.  As soon as he saw pictures, BF called me while I was out running errands to tell me about this cute pup. We called the family and they agreed to bring him up to us while they were on their way to deliver one of his siblings to another family.  

We spent our whole weekend trying to keep it a secret from our families and gathering all of the necessary puppy supplies.  Man, having a pet is expensive, but totally worth it.  

Yesterday I got to pick Rudy up and I took him to work so I could grab my laptop and work from home the rest of the day.   Before taking him home I stopped by BF's school so he could see him first.  The class went wild so we had the kids wash their hands and then take turns petting Rudy.  I took him home and he explored the house for a couple hours and then we took a nap on the couch together. 

Last night went pretty smoothly.  I expected that he would be up most of the night since we are crate- training him and he is not used to sleeping alone in a crate, but he calmed down after a few minutes and only woke us up around 2am to be let out to go potty.  He slept until 6 this morning so we got a mostly uninterupted night's sleep. 

You may be wondering why we named him Rudy.  His original name is Sparky, which suited him fine, but BF and I decided a while back that if we got a pet we would name him Rudy and when BF saw his picture he knew that this was our Rudy.  Why Rudy?  Mostly it came from a joke.  BF and I were discussing movies one day and he was trying to think of  the actor that played Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings, who also happened to star in the move "Rudy".  While wracking his brain for the actor's name (Sean Astin) he blurted out, "Rudy!  You know, Rudy... Sean... Ganjes...?"  I laughed so hard at this and teased him about it for a while. 

He's doing pretty good with housetraining (even though it's only been a day) and he already tries to warn us when he needs to go outside by whining and trying to get our attention but not wanting to play.  It tooks us a minute last night to realize that he didn't want to play but that he was trying to get our attention for some reason... and then we figured out why!  So now we know what to look for.

Rudy is a very intelligent little dog and we've already noticed some of his funny traits.  He knows who plays what role in the house and will run behind my legs when we meet new people.  He doesn't like linoleum floors and will avoid the kitchen as much as possible which I think is because it's a little slippery for him. 

We are so excited to have him! 

Disneyland in Pictures

I'm almost inside Disneyland!



A Ginormous Tree



Main Street decorated for the holidays



Even the wreaths are shaped like Mickey Mouse




Haunted Mansion, decorated as well



A bread bowl of chowder for lunch



It's a Small, Gray, Rainy World



Standing in one of the only lines we had to stand in the whole time



The castle all lit up




We met Buzz Lightyear! He's kinda quiet.

 Ok, so we went to Disneyland/California Adventure for a few days before Christmas and guess what... the usually mild sunny California weather was replaced with crazy tropical monsoons.  We got pretty soaked every day, but the crowds were minimal and the lines few so we toughed it out and had a great time. 

This just means we have to go back when it's not raining so I can experience the fireworks and parades... all of those were cancelled due to the rain. 

It's 2011, and I've Got 2011 Things on My To Do List

Holy Moly, where did December go?  Last time I posted I was getting ready for Disneyland and Christmas and all of that seems like it happened months ago. 


I haven't even uploaded our Disneyland trip pictures and I was terrible and didn't take a single Christmas photo.  I should back up and tell you how everything went in Disneyland and Christmas, but I think I'll save that for a separate post with pictures so you get the full effect.
Anyway, so I've got that to do.  And I've got to get started on my Bikini Body that I've resolved to have this year.  I got close last year and then I let work and life craziness get in my way and slow me down.  Not this year.  Which reminds me that I have to post my WMM info here for the ladies.  This is a site where a few of my friends post their fitness goals and pictures and we can track how well we are doing.  Most of the girls already have their pics and measurements up but I didn't even think about it until this morning.


Besides having an insanely long list of things to get done in 2011, we have a few fun things going on as well!

Tomorrow we get a new member of the family, Rudy!  He is a toy American Eskimo/Maltese/Yorkshire terrier mix puppy.  BF found him online because we were devastated that the dog we liked at the Oregon Humane Society had been adopted.  Initially I had seen a story on the news about how OHS got a bunch of dogs and cats from a California shelter as part of a second chance program.  We waited until they were available and then found out that they had gotten a Scottish Terrier, which is what we wanted, as well.  So we made our way to OHS last Thursday to see the dogs and found that the scotty had a couple of holds on him, but animals can only be held for a day, so if they people didn't show up to adopt him before the next day he would be available.  We looked around and found a few other puppies we liked, including a terrier mix puppy.  You cannot put puppies on hold and they weren't available that day because they had just been spayed an neutered so we figured we would come back on Friday as soon as OHS was open.  Everyone else had the same idea as well and it was super busy.  We found out that the scotty we wanted AND the puppy we wanted had been adopted, so we went home bummed out and chalked it up to fate.

We couldn't get the puppy/dog idea out of our head so we looked online at other shelters to see what was out there.  There are a ton of big dogs, but not a lot of smaller dogs so no luck.  Then late on Friday afternoon BF found him in the Oregon classifieds online.  We called the owners to see if he was still available and he was!  They emailed us pictures and home videos of him and the rest of the litter and we were IN LOVE.  BF and I told the owners that we would take him and arranged to have him brought up to us on Tuesday (this coming Tuesday).  The rest of the weekend was spent shopping for necessary puppy supplies and keeping it mum from the parents.  We want to surprise them on Tuesday night and take him over for a visit.

Pictures will DEFINITELY be posted of our new baby Rudy.

Happy 2011!