[Talina]

The dog park might be your best option. Taking her there consistantly will help with socialization. Your 'walk' could be just walking around the dog park with her. Just try to remember to keep moving and your getting your exercise in. Sometimes when I am at the dog park I'll start walking laps around the edge.

[Iconised Ghost]

yeah you can do laps around the dog park, or you could go to the dog park and gradually move further away, to increase your walk and to gradually get Molly used to new people and places and dogs.

My cats called molly All the cool animals are Mollys

[Arthwen1985]

lol Her given name by her abusive family was Pyra. I tried calling her that several times and she would not look at me. I then decided that can't be her name and went in search of a new name for her. I opened up my book I am still reading and scanned it until I found a female name easy to pronounce and it was Molly. So I thought, what the heck... I'll try it out. I said Molly ONCE and her head snapped around, she looked at me and wagged her tail. So, all the cool animals ARE called Molly. lol

Yea, I tried taking her on longer walks and if she gets spooked in the middle of a street she tries to go back the way we came and that is not safe if we are in a busy crosswalk. I have a 4 lane road nearby me and I had to cross ONCE and she was going in all directions and so I have not yet taken her back. I am trying to train her to walk close to me going across streets but once I say OK she darts then comes back (mostly when I tell her too) or stops sorta in the middle.

But I agree with doing laps. I'll have to figure out somehow how many laps around the block that is... since the park is shared with a school.

[mayness]

This is kinda long, but I definitely get where you're coming from, even if my life is quite different from yours (I'm a graduate student, I work 9-10 hour days, have a husband, and a big apartment and all the financial and housekeeping responsibilities that come along with it).

As for keeping track of things you want to do each day, do it all online! Or on the computer, anyway. If I write things down, I lose them, or forget to look at them. (I don't care if it's right in front of my face, I'll ignore it somehow.)

I use google calendar to keep track of events (I set it to e-mail or text me reminders, otherwise I'd forget to look at it), excel for my grocery lists and meal plans (though I might switch to google documents so I can keep them online), and an alarm clock program I downloaded that pops up alerts AND plays sounds.

I used to use rememberthemilk.com for to-do lists, and I think I want to get back into that, because lately I've been flaking again. It's like I can make a detailed list while I'm at work/school of what I want to do, figure out how/when to do it most efficiently, and then I get home and all I do is play WoW or watch TV or watch a concert DVD that's over 2 hours long (that was last night ).

Truth be told, I'm not always much better at work... I could get a lot more experiments done (I'm a scientist) if I didn't get distracted by stuff on the internet. (As soon as I'm done writing this I'm gonna go do something productive, promise.)

My old way of coping was to eliminate all things that could be distractions (I've quit WoW I don't know HOW many times), but my husband pointed out that's really fixing the symptoms, not the underlying problem. To fix the problem, I've been forcing myself to constantly think, during any activity, "Is there something else I should be doing? Is this the best use of my time? Which of my goals is this helping me accomplish? Do I really WANT to do this or am I just doing it because its here?" Maybe that's what all adults do, and I'm just figuring it out now. It's not HARD, but it takes a lot of effort. But, I get stuff done faster, and have time for fun and games.

Oh, and keep track of all the things you DO accomplish! I found a calendar template for excel where I keep track of my exercise (in pretty colors) so I can see how well I've done. Well, I used to, until I forgot about it a few weeks ago. (See what I mean?) You could put stickers on a chart for the things you accomplish each day, like people do for little kids. It's just nice to see what you have done, instead of feeling like there are a lot of things you should do.

[stellarosa27]

I really like everything Mayness said. I use my iPhone for a lot of this stuff - I schedule things on my calendar with alarms, use the alarm clock feature when i have to go to the store, and keep various lists in the notepad feature. At work I use my email inbox as a to-do list - that way I can't lose it

Your poor puppy - the dog park sounds like a really good idea - it will help her get used to other animals. Maybe just try to increase your time outside week by week to get her accustomed to the noises? Our beagle was very shy - she lived on a farm for the first few years of her life - and we had to gradually introduce her to the city world. It took a few months, but 10 years later you would never know she was once afraid of someone walking across the room.

As for what I do on a regular day -

5-7am - wake up/work out/eat breakfast/make lunch for work
7-8:30am - get ready for work/drive to work
8:30 - 5:30pm - work
5:30 - 10 pm - Whatever I want!

Different nights of the week have different things - when its not summer I take an Italian class one night a week. One night is usually devoted to watching everything that's DVRed the past week. I go out for a movie and dinner with a friend at least once. Now that its warm out, I'll sit outside and read or take a walk around the neighborhood. I also like crafty stuff. I knit, paint, draw, color or paint pottery.

My roommates are all very into computer games - not WoW but things like Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, etc. so I have to find something to do or I just sit bored and alone. I'm thinking of volunteering in a soup kitchen on the weekends, or maybe getting a second retail job - really something to just get me out and meet more people.

[Arthwen1985]

Hey Mayness! I think I remember you from before... Wow, that was a lot of really good ideas and one idea you put in there that I was thinking about doing a long time ago and didn't cause I thought it was silly after a while and that was the sticker for everything you've accomplished. I may be 23yrs old but I still have two fascinations that have carried through my childhood into adulthood and they are: BUBBLES ( ') & STICKERS!!!!! I have a box of stickers that I want to put into use but end up just stuffed out of the way and only brought out when I mail a letter or card to someone. I did start stickering my calender for if I have taken my meds that day (before I found out I was allergic to the meds I was put on). I think it would be fun to go and make a nice chart and put it somewhere that's obvious to remind me that I had(n't) done it that day. I don't really know how to use excel on Vista (cause they changed everything around.... I HATE Vista) but I can fiddle and figure it out. I have a gmail account so I should be able to use the calender feature there if I can find it... Lot of really good info. Thanks! A lot of people really put in some good ideas. I'll gather them all up and see which ones work the best. Thanks again.

[Arthwen1985]

Oh, hey... went to look at the google calender and they have a task panel thingy too... Didn't know if you saw that or not...

[Extasee58865]

Arthwen1985, please don't take this the wrong way....

Several people have given you suggestions, the best in my opinion, getting of WOW.... But besides the point.... Every suggestion that has been given to you, you come up with an excuse as to why you can not do that particular suggestion.... If you are going to be successful with this or with life in general, you need to stop making excuses for things & JUST DO THEM! You know that your WOW habit & spending all day in front of the computer is not a good habit, so KICK IT! Get rid of the damn game & do something!!! One lady said take a walk with your dog, great idea! Gets you out of the house & gets you some exercise while still being able to enjoy the company of your pet. My concern & reason for maybe being a bit harsh, is that if you can make all these excuses now, what will you do when a piece of pizza or some other unhealthy item comes your way? make up an excuse as to why it would be ok to eat it, totally forgetting about your diet & weight loss goals? To be successful & reach your goals, you must make sacrafices as well as change your life style. Sometimes that means changing things you don't want to change, but realizing that you have to in order to accomplish your goals.....

[zinkemomx2]

I was going to suggest Flylady.net but it seems the site might be down right now.

[Arthwen1985]

Funny what people call excuses...