I am not athletic...not a shocking statement. I've always avoided exercise--for a variety of reasons. It's always been easy to find one excuse or another--it's "hard" because I have no stamina; I'm too tired; I get headaches (this was especially relevant whenever any exercise involved outdoor activity--the sun gives me headaches); my asthma acts up and I just don't want to. It's always been easier to just sit down and be lazy. But recently for whatever reason I've finally found some kind of resolve to lose weight and be healthier. I know I have a long road ahead of me...as much as I want to lose 50 lbs. overnight I know that the only way I'll be able to do this in a way I can retain it is to do it gradually and change my habits relatively slowly. I can already say that I have become much more conscious about what I've put into my body. I still have my moments (I think I had three chocolate-chocolate chip muffins a friend made for me for my birthday yesterday...at least they were Cooking Light muffins!). Weekends are hard because I'm home most of the time and/or more likely to go out and it's easy to snack all day. That's definitely an area I need to work on.

The exercise is slowly coming along, which is to be expected. My stamina really is pathetic, but instead of whining about it and avoiding it I'm trying very hard to work through it. I had a rocky few days of avoidance last week/weekend. I got some sort of chest cold and could barely lay down without my asthma acting up and coughing so I didn't get any exercise. But yesterday I made myself get back at it. So far this is probably the longest I've gone since "resolving" to be healthier and lost weight, but I am determined to work through this this time. I need to do this to help myself feel better. I have already noticed that I feel better and don't quite feel myself falling asleep as early in the evening on the days that I get exercise. I know this shouldn't come as a shock, and it doesn't really, but it's nice to know that I can feel a difference. I am too young to have no energy and not be able to be active. I am proud to say that I worked through 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the elliptical today. For me that's an accomplishment. More importantly I wasn't completely dragging at the end. I was tired and ready to be done, but I was able to finish while also still going at pretty much the same speed I started. I can't run for very long at all but I'm working toward that. Much as I HATE running, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to.

I even told my dad of my intentions, which is a pretty big step for me and I am counting on it be a motivation to keep this going. He always pushed me as a kid to be healthier and get more exercise and to be honest, I always resented him for it. I knew he was just trying to be a good parent and help me get into better habits, but I didn't like disappointing him or looking weak around him...he's always been a healthy weight and loved running...it was hard not to fit into that pattern. And he doesn't always have the best manner of delivery and I've always been a soft person, the combination of which always led to me feeling like crap about myself instead of motivating me. I think while I was in college he finally decided he couldn't push me into it because he started to let up on me...he still asked if I was getting exercise and eating healthy but he stopped "lecturing" me for the most part. Slowly I think that helped me work on getting to the place I needed to get to today to make this happen. I have a LOT of bad habits to break, but for whatever reason I feel more determined than I ever have been to do it.

The kids at my school have a program called Girls on the Run and they have a 5k race every fall and spring. They always ask teachers to be buddy runners for the girls and my goal is to be able to do that. Now I just need to work on avoiding the constant temptation of delicious snacks always brought into work!

Correct me when I'm wrong

I don't mean to be a grammar snob. Really, I don't--especially when I know I make my own mistakes--but sometimes I just can't help it. One of the car salesmen I was working with at one point went off on how he hates the use of bad grammar in emails and we had a little rant fest about that...and then he sent me the following 2 emails...STUPID.


Kia hold there value poorly- your initial investment return will be much lower on there brand.

and


Thank you for your interest in our line up, it's been a great month for us here at Manassas Hyundai. To share our appreciation with you we will have a spontaneous in store sales specials this week; price will be less of a factor and a full staff will be a available to assist you with the vehicle that you want. All prices being considered- write your own deal.


Sadly, he's not the only person who sent me an "official" email in the past week with bad grammar in it. Grr.

Educating Woes

Been having a lot of "thoughts" about education lately. Surely, every teacher (and many others) does, but now that I'm in my first job as an educator where the pressure is all on me, all the hoops I've seen people jump through have made me start to think about my opinions on the matter. I wish I knew the solution...I wish I believed a certain person in a position to change things had it, but we are so far bass ackwards that there's no telling what we're going to have to go through and if or when there will be a change that actually rights the system as a whole. It's all just one big mess.

Buying cars is a pita

I hate buying a new car. Seriously. Can I hire someone to do it for me? Salespeople are ridiculous and I just don't understand the slime and the inability to just be straight.

Obedience, round 1

This definitely will NOT always be about dogs or obedience classes...but that's where I am with the blog for now.

Tonight was our first obedience class, but also the last for Merlin, at least for now. He did great, but Bean is coming back this weekend and Merlin is going back to Ohio, so next week, and the rest of the obedience sessions will be with Bean. I'm excited about that because originally I wanted to do the class with Bean, and this will get us one step closer to agility.

Merlin was very impressive. He actually took treats the entire hour which for him is seriously unheard of...I was truly shocked. He did well with most everything that was asked of him. As expected he was totally enthralled by the agility taking place on the other half of the building but for the most part I was able to get him to ignore it. The recalls though? That was tough. He was his talkative self when other people were calling their dogs in loud, shrieking, distracting ways and when it was my turn? Oh I think I'll try to blow by you and check out that agility class...sigh. But we got past that somewhat.

Downs are also a little more difficult. He can do them, don't get me wrong, but he is s-l-o-w when it comes to completing the task. He is the slowest sitter and downer and we need to work on less of a sit-down and more of a boom-down kind of thing, but he'll be okay. I can't wait to see what Bean does next weekend with his over-dramatic plop-downs and adorable attitude. :-) Here's hoping he ignores the other dogs he'll surely want to play with!

First time obedience adventures with a conformation trained dog and handler.

On our walk this evening Merlin was a rock star while practicing some of our obedience class maneuvers. Thought I would expose him to some of the outside distractions to see what happened. While he lost focus of me by looking at the cars coming in he maintained his sit most of the time. When he did get up I was able to get him back very quickly and after about the second time he realized that a continued stay meant more cookies (yay!). And on our walk back to the apartment the neighbors Boston was out. Merlin of course perked up as it was the second encounter with neighbors dogs that evening and it was a little dog. If you've ever met Merlin you know that he LOVES other dogs and goes absolutely bananas if he sees little dogs. The first encounter wasn't particularly close to us but he could easily see some other dogs greeting and beginning the posturing dance. Nothing evil, just checking each other out. Merlin wanted to try to join but a quick leave it and there was peace at the end of his leash. The encounter with the Boston was much closer and a truer test as we had to walk by him. He definitely wanted to play with him and the Boston went flat to the ground in his own playful gesture. I told Merlin to leave it and he really did without argument. Normally he'd be play bowing, jumping up, desperate to play with the little guy. Success! Guess maybe at 9, he's decided it's time to grow up. Love.