gary Go with what you think will give your family the best memory of the day

What a great piece of advice and such a cool story about your son.

Dagmar :)

Happy Hump Day everyone!

I'm feeling a little better about life this week. I feel I'm juggling work, exercise, dog, food, home a little better. And even though the weather is still warm, it feels sooo much cooler than the dog days of August and my mood has been much improved. I'm hoping to go scalloping 2-3x later this week as the season closes after this weekend!

Michele, I've got to agree with everyone else about not forcing on DD to go to the other's graduation. If they are going to fight about things in the future, they will find something to fight about no matter what. I'm sorry about the stress their not getting along causes you and DH, though.

My DS and I squabbled when we were younger. Getting separate rooms helped a lot. We had a mutual friend when we were 11 and 13, an only child, who couldn't understand why we couldn't get along. We were so lucky to have each other, she said. Yeah... fortunately by the time my DS went to college we were much closer and have stayed a lot closer since them. In our case we were just total opposites - I'm neat, she's messy, I tried to do things efficiently and quickly, she dawdles (ok, ok... but she does!). Getting separate space helped our relationship a lot.

Dagmar, at least DH had an interview and is getting his feet wet, moving forward and making progress towards a new position. Beanybug sounds very cute! Funny about Bella and Stella getting their names confused. My good friend also has a dog named Emma. When they're together and we call one of them, they both turn. (Of course this would be the time when my Emma chooses to listen, as opposed to other times when she blatantly ignores me.)

Saef, I hope you get the cable equipment figured out. If they don't accept your insurance claim, I would emphasize the sewage all over your apartment... "Listen, sir/ma'am, do you want me to put the poopy modem in a box and mail it directly to you?!" They can't seriously want it in that case!

Have a good day all.

dog talk - separate thread?
 

I've read several entires now from people who post in this forum and who don't seem to be too pleased with all the talk about dogs on this thread. I can see how talking about dogs is not interesting for some people who don't have them or don't find them cute or interesting.

Dogs are a big part of my life. I post a lot about them as that's who I'm with all day long, every day. They influence and contribute toward my maintenance.

Would all of you prefer that I start a separate thread for "dog people"? I can try to separate out the dog stuff from my regular posts about maintenance here and put it there. I guess I can put the cat stuff there too.

So it would be the "pet people" thread.

Dagmar :ziplip:

Dagmar - I made a joky comment to LovesBassets about the dog component in this thread because I thought it might interest her. I know that joky comments don't carry well on the internet but I did it anyway! :p I certainly don't mind all the canine carry-on; it's an integral part of some people's lives and that's interesting. I'm also very appreciative of being able to learn new things from you, despite not having a dog.

Thank you Dagmar :hug:

my son and daughter have always been close, probably because of the divorce when they were 6 and 8 I 'spose. But not sure, they were close before. Ryan always loved his baby sister and she adored him. My son required so much of my time but "we" always included her in the sports...and I always took time to have special daddy/daughter days...still do today if the kidnapper allows it :D

My son was always at a game, my daughter always had the option of staying with her cousins and grandma....she never took the option...she loved watching and supporting her brother...all through high school and college games too...and he the same, right through her college tennis years.

They are probably still "best" friends today, they go as couples to a lot of things together and at the same time have many other friends.


They share a special bond most siblings don't I think....I am so blessed for that! :)

I don't think anyone here is offended by dog talk...and if there is well I am sure they can skip right on past it...I think about 9 of 10 here have dogs!...I think there may have been a slight misunderstanding :hug:

Dagmar , are you trying to tell me that pets are not people ? What ? Some pets, are smarter than two legged people.

It's very hard to read tone from the net, isn't it? Yours hasn't been the only comment however. And I DO realize that I AM a "dog bore". DH has a facial expression that settles in when I go on at length about my day - eyes glaze over, mouth opens slightly, etc. Kinda the same thing I do when he explains bank recs to me :p.

I can visualize people reading my posts and rolling their eyes. We all do that with some posts. Not every aspect of everyone's life is of interest to everyone else.

I think I will try to limit my "dog" stuff to posts entirely about it and warn :yikes: people in the title :lol:

Morning all,

It's a stormy, rainy rainy morning here. I would much rather have snuggled in bed and slept in, but alas, here I am at work. It's definitely a hot tea morning. We are supposed to get ready for a big public event here tomorrow but I don't think we can set any tents up outside for a few more hours, at least.

I'm getting tired of salad and raw carrot sticks & green peppers at lunch. I'm thinking roasted acorn squash, sweet potatoes (gotta watch the roasted root veg bc I tend to want to each more than one portion!), roasted carrots & broccoli, sauteed kale & collards. Does anyone have any good ideas for seasonal side dishes to change up my veggie routine? I will eat just about anything but fennel, but I like to try and buy things in season so they're less expensive.

Dagmar I'm obviously a biased gauge when it comes to pet conversation. You know I love to talk about my Emma! Wherever you talk about pets, I will listen. I also like to hear your tips as you have a great deal of dog experience to share! At the very least I think talking about walking dogs as a context for your exercise for the day is very relevant - exercise is a relevant maintainers topic, after all. I was going to mention how funny it was we were all late to work today bc our dogs would not go outside to "go" in the downpour and thunder.

Gary, it's nice your kids are so close!

Michele, any progress settling activities w your DDs?

Have a good Thursday all. Stay dry if it's raining where you are!

Megan-- all of your roasted veggies sound delish to me!
Last week my dh took poblano peppers and make a yummy veggie mixture to go in them-- not sure what was in there except mushrooms and some sort of cheese.

Dh is going to feel older dd out about her graduation to see if she even CARES whether or not younger dd goes. Our suspicion is that if we approach it properly, she will probably not care. Dh is now in China with a 15 hour time difference so communication is limited. He'll probably chat with her on the weekend.

I don't get sick often but when I do it sure hangs on. I'm still hacking up a lung and having trouble sleeping. I made it to Bikram Yoga yesterday and felt dizzy and nauseous, but finished and didn't feel any adverse affects afterwards. I still have little appetite, but I always manage to eat anyway! I'm hoping to make Zumba today but I'll have to see how I feel later on today.

Gary-- I am happy for you and your kids, though admittedly jealous.

Not raining here-- been hot this week (around 100) but supposed to cool way off this weekend with a chance of rain.

Animal conversations don't bother me at all! What does bother me is when MY animals wake me up too early! As in Ringo jumping on my butt this morning and sitting there for 5 minutes, which also made Chico upset and he got off the bed, which then woke up DH...never ending cycle!

My office assistant called in sick this morning. Apparently she threw out her back and she wants me to call her--DH said she wants medical advice since I used to work "in the field." Ummm, I worked in the medical BILLING field and am not one to give advice. Yet I'll call and tell her that if it hurts she should go see her doctor.

Looking forward to the weekend already. It's supposed to be cooler (like 98) and we want to see a movie or two. We can't golf yet as the golf courses have started the transition from summer grass to winder rye. (Which means letting all the grass go dormant--no watering--and then "scalping" up the dead grass. It's a messy job.)

I'm thinking that a hike this weekend would be fun. We have a lot of trails, but only one that allows dogs. I may have to check it out.

Reposting in the correct weekly thread:

Well, I'm back, probably just in time.
I wasn't sure whether to start this post with "My oldest son is now a bar mitzvah (son of the commandment)" or to announce "2000 calories in 90 minutes (what I just ate)." Both are equally true, and definitely not unrelated to one another.

I've been largely absent from 3FC for the last 2 weeks, as the stresses of party planning and bar mitzvah preparation moved into last-minute high gear and every spare minute was spent talking with caterers, cross-checking rsvps against the seating arrangement, ordering balloon bouquets and attending rehearsals at the synagogue (among 100 other tasks). Whew. The big event was this past weekend, with the service itself on Saturday morning, and our party/reception the day after at a local Japanese restaurant (why Japanese you may well ask. Not exactly the typical venue for Jewish life cycle events. Indeed. But the son whose bar mitzvah this was has studied Japanese for 4 years, and is infatuated with Japanese food and culture). The whole family has been stressed and irritable for several weeks, culminating in a huge fight between said DS, my DH and I on Sunday morning, just 2 hours before the big party. Luckily, it blew over relatively quickly and didn't entirely spoil the occasion, but I've had insomnia and post-party stress ever since. Finally, today, after not packing enough food for lunch, having a long and challenging day at work and feeling sleep-deprived, let-down and HUNGRY, I walked through the door at dinnertime to find that DH had ordered pizza because he didn't want to cook and the kids had asked for it. Too much pizza was followed by too many chocolate-covered almonds.

I now have a stomach ache and am now completely disgusted with myself. I had actually been doing quite well with maintenance despite all the stress and drama (up about a pound compared to the end of August, but still well within goal range). Not after tonight though. Can't face weighing myself tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll be battling the salt-sugar-fat cravings for the next week. Ugh.

And I add this link from the Science section of the NYT this week, about an issue near-and-dear to most of us; weight maintenance challenges:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/he....html?emc=eta1
If you want to read the actual study, the Lancet has made it free to the public with an embedded link in the article by Jane Brody. Warning: it is not for the scientifically challenged.

Megan, practically every week, I roast the same mixture of vegetables and use it in salads. That would be a mixture of sweet onion, red pepper, yellow squash, zucchini, and eggplant chunks (salted & sweated beforehand) and sometimes pieces of mushroom. The seasoning is just a little basil and thyme, and then a half hour into the roasting time, a very generous sprinkling of garlic powder. (You can also stick in whole garlic cloves, but I tend to save those for dishes that start with sauteeing garlic.)

I had an unpleasant argument with my mother last night. She's appalled at the eBay packages starting to arrive at the house, just as I'd predicted. (They are a sign that I'm in some kind of psychic distress. I'm buying back what I lost, basically, though second-hand, like $12 for a Ralph Lauren shirt, $60 for the same wallpaper border that I had in my living room before the flood.) My mother is made uneasy by witnessing any spending. I was still reverberating with the cruel words on both sides when I got to yoga class. Yoga is indeed restorative. I came back and had a calm explanatory discussion with my mother, ending the tension caused by the fight. So we're okay. For now.

So why then did I have disrupted sleep? After I woke at 3:30 AM, I knew I wasn't going to fall back asleep again. I had breakfast, baked a batch of healthy muffins to freeze, roasted vegetables, picked up things around the house & headed to the gym early. But now, at nearly 1 PM, despite having had lunch, I'm dragging. I can think of at least two important phone calls to make, aside from work I'll need to do when lunch hour is over, and I don't have the energy to make either call.

ETA: Oh, and add me as someone who doesn't own an animal -- though my mother's cat has staked a claim to my heart -- but who nevertheless enjoys the dog talk on the thread. I'm an interested observer of people and animals both. Motivation and behavior interests me no matter who or what exhibits it.

Andrea, thanks for the article link! I downloaded the study but haven't read it yet. I know it would mess up their cost model, but I would love it if all academic publications were free to the public.

Saef, glad you worked things out with your mom.

I am too behind to comment on everyone else. I'm having success with my current weight loss regimen and am hoping I can keep it up long enough to get where I want to be. I'm back at a comfortable weight now (136) but would like to lose a few more pounds.

Speaking of pets (I missed wherever this topic first came up) I have two things to report. First is that when I took Carter for his powerwalk this morning I got him to stay in his correct trot for quite a while. By "correct trot" I mean where his left front & right back foot move together and his right front & left back foot move together. Since his surgery he alternates between the correct trot and what I like to call his "goofy trot" where he moves his right front & back together and his left front & back together.

In any case it seems like he uses his correct trot when he's excited and doesn't have time to think about how he's walking. When he's thinking about it or is not super enthusiastic, he uses his goofy trot. Usually he uses his goofy trot on walks. In any case this morning we were walking fast and I noticed he was doing the correct trot. I tried to keep up with him since sometimes changing his speed will screw up his stride. Eventually he got distracted (by coughing on his own drool, what a dog) and it devolved back into the goofy trot. But I was able to bring back his correct trot several times throughout the walk (usually by making him stop, and then saying, "Are you ready??? Let's go!!!" which gets him hyped up). Maybe if I can keep doing this he will start using the correct trot more frequently. I've seen him doing it a lot when he's alone in the backyard.

Relatedly, I ordered custom thank you cards to send to my vets that have photos of Carter's recovery on them including a great shot of him fully recovered on our vacation.

The other doggy news is that starting today we are dogsitting for Ms Booboo (in-laws' dog) again, for two weeks this time. Fingers crossed that she won't do any business in the house!

The research published in The Lancet was also reported by the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14882832

Also with embedded link. A slightly different angle from the NY Times, of course.

I've been reading this thread but haven't managed to actually post anything...

Michele - agree with the others on the graduation advice.

Dagmar - I'm not bothered by the dog talk. I actually thought about this thread, and Carter, last week when I passed a new Veterinary Rehabilitation and Therapy Center near my hairdresser's office.

Neurodoc - welcome back. Sorry for the stressful weeks...

Jessica - I love the thank you cards. :)

Saef - I'm glad that yoga gave you some peace to address the issues with your mom. And that you are starting to replace some of your things.

Megan - raining here, too. Blah.

Allison - funny that you get medical calls from working in billing. I get a lot of prescription questions because I work in HR and am our insurance plan administrator.

I've been busy busy busy this week. I've been pretty solid with my exercise this week, and am worn out. I'm almost hoping it will start to rain so I don't get to run this afternoon. My bootie hurts from yesterday's leg workout. :)