Tag: dogs

Sleep, ASAP

Despite the immense frustrations my man was feeling this afternoon, and my resulting increased stress for him, everything went really well tonight for our family dinner. Sure, we still have no gas, so no hot water or easy heat or effective dish washer, etc. My mom had to do some in-the-moment utensil-washing when we ran it of forks and spoons at one point, and she helped wash most of the plates after dinner. I was just grateful that I didn’t have to do it for once.

I was a touch annoyed at how my brother clearly hasn’t gotten a handle on his dog’s full training, evidenced by the craziness of the dog’s first seeing all of us and our little-in-comparison to his 150 pounds dog. Also, I just had to trust that my man will mop the floors tomorrow, and wipe down the sofa and the rug and the coffee table to clean up all the slobber that the big dog got everywhere. I love dogs, yet it was a lot. Kind of gross, actually, which was a bummer, as I’d really been looking forward to rubbing all over the puppy (yes, he’s technically still a puppy). Once he chilled out and started getting sleepy, though, it was much easier to pet him without getting totally slobbered all over. I also thought our dog might have an actual heart attack based on her initial reactions to the dog that weighs six times her weight, and is yet a puppy – annoying for her old, 14-year-old self – shoving into her personal space with such excitement. However, as he chilled out, our dog calmed down. And a bunch of treats helped them both be easier company. Our dog even got brave enough to walk through the living room past the other dog multiple times before the end there. It was cute, and I’m glad she eased down from her clearly stressful place.

Anyway, I have to sleep immediately. I have to leave for work in five hours and ten minutes. 😦

Thank you, God, for everything. It was a really good night. Please, help my man realize that it really was great for us all. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Getting ready

Family is coming over tomorrow for dinner. We spent today doing things on each of our to-do lists (which I had made the day before yesterday). Still no gas, so we have new oil space heaters from The Home Depot that he picked up during his several errands today. We have cute, seasonal-ish tissue boxes around the living space, now. I reasonably handled everything that I’d brought from the apartment, and so the dining room is cleared out and cleaned up. I handled whatever else I’d had sitting around the living spaces. I got my man to help remove the broken tiny lightbulb in the little chandelier in the dining room, and then replaced it with the brighter bulb and put the thing back together – looks and works great now. I set up the red and white towels and napkins and dish towels and rugs my mom dropped off yesterday for us to use as Christmas decor… and then I took most of them back down and out them in the washer, as they had obviously been in the storage unit for a few years (or more), based on their feel and sniff-scent (which is when you only can smell it up close, not a radiating scent). I poured the kettle of boiling water into the freezing cold wash, just to help however I could. Then I hung them all out to dry overnight. The big towels are resting atop parts of the oil heaters now, as they are big fluffy towels that likely wouldn’t be dry by tomorrow afternoon otherwise. (And yes, I know what I’m doing here, as I spent years drying my clothes on such heaters. Never cover the front part.) I set up the decorations I liked from the tubs my man pulled down from storage in the garage, including a little village and two tree skirts – yes, I did the one, then found a nicer one, and so put it just in top of the other, saving the effort of picking it back up – and a funky punching-bag-looking, triangular sandbag Santa and a few other little things to put around the house.

I also made a wreath from the scraps I’d picked up the other day at the Christmas tree lot. Hopefully, we can find the old door hook and hang it on the front door tomorrow.

And I wrapped all the little gifts I’d had stashed for my man, and I put them under the tree, atop the pretty little skirt.

I set up the two power strips for the village and for the lamps and internet extension and tree lights. And I put lights on the tree, as well as a single ornament I’d found of a red fire truck, old style, and a few candy canes. I left the rest of the canes for my man to dress the tree, though. I’d wanted to decode it together, but realized that neither of us has any ornaments, anyway. So, candy canes, down separately will do. He was in the room when I did the lights and candy canes, anyway. Sure, he was vacuuming, but it counted well enough for this hurried night of to-dos.

Oh, and I also put away and tidied some clothes in the spare room, put some things away, put some things in the give-away pile, made a Santa hat for our St. Francis statue in the kitchen, put various beverages tidily in our outside fridge, cleaned up the drink area of the garage, and fed us a bit.

My man ran a bunch of errands, handling a lot of important stuff for us both, and giving the dog a fun adventure. He put the stove back in its nook against the wall (even though it doesn’t have any gas yet). He built what I estimate to be about 35 feet of fence on the side of the house – and it looks good. He pulled out all the Christmas lights for the house, starting to sort them and ready them. He tidied his stuff a bit on our back patio, and a bit in the house, too. He helped me light our Advent candles on our newly-placed-out advent wreath from my mom, while I sang the lovely German song for lighting the Advent candles (and he joined for the last chorus!). And now he’s at the gym, working out and then taking a hot shower.

Tomorrow, I have to tidy the office, especially my desk; put away the hang-upside-down board (obviously, the right words are not coming to me so late at night right now…Inversion table! Got it!); wash dishes with my ridiculous boil-pour-dip method of using the water kettle to handle our lack of hot water; set up the German cookies and chocolates I got; clean all surfaces; work – yep, still have to get those few hours of coding stuff in!; take a nap; fold the napkins and put all the towels back, once all are dried… and that might be it…. Oh, and hang up the wreath on the front door! I also would like to tidy more in the spare bedroom, and handle finishing touches on everything.

My man has to work his whole work day – he’d have taken the day off, but his boss is already off tomorrow, so he’s just rolling with it – and he also has to put up the Christmas lights on the house, finish tidying in the back, and finish tidying his things inside the house. Hopefully, he’ll also get a nap!

We can do it. I know we can. God, please, help us do it with grace and ease, if you will. Thank you for everything. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Such a guy

“Your girls, sunbathing by the boats,” I sent.

He replied, “Nice”.
“We miss you,” I said.

“She got a good roll in,” I said.
“Haha nice,” he replied, “I miss you too”.
And then he said, in reply to the first message, “She’s naked, why aren’t you?”
::face palm… idiot… such a guy…
And I love him.
Thank you, God, for such a man period, and especially for his presence and role in my life in particular. In gratitude, I pray. Amen.
Post-a-day 2022

Bugs

Right about now, I am missing my old Golden Retrievers. It has been roughly 16 or 18 years since the father died, and a handful of years fewer for the sun… and yet, here we are, missing them, almost suddenly.

I want those hugs and loves and belly rubs. That was an amazing time in life.

And I want something more nowadays, please.

Post-a-day 2022

“Fit”ting it all in

I had wanted, at the start of this week, tog et in three more workouts before the end of the year. You see, I keep track of when I do them and how many total I have done throughout the year. I started that two and a half years ago when I started at the gym, because I felt it was important data. Sure, you’ve been going to the gym for four years…, but how many times did you actually go to the gym? I wanted to help keep myself accountable as well as see how results lined up with my class attendance.

I keep both count of how many workouts I’ve done per calendar year and per year of gym membership (I started the second week of April in 2019). My first year, I managed 190 workouts, I believe. (It’s all listed on my computer.) Of course, that ‘year’ ended with the gym closing and whatnot with the COVID shut-downs. Then I had major struggles for a while with no gym to attend, and the workouts died away. But, last December, I got myself back at it, after the gym had closed permanently and then re-opened (with higher prices :/…). So, this calendar year, as of Monday of this week, I had done 55 from 1 January to 7 April, and I had done 132 after that. So, I was at 187 for the calendar year so far. I figured, It would be nice to reach a round 90, meaning 190. Still not 200, but I can still make that 200 happen for the gym membership year, which is what matters most to me. For the calendar year, I wasn’t going to be able to make it happen, what with being out of town for moving my grandma last week, and then suddenly having to move myself this week. But I could challenge myself and get that 190 with the remaining days, especially since I intended to be done moving by Wednesday at the latest. (I was clear that I needed all my sleep and energy for moving on Monday and Tuesday, and so was clear that I was not going to the gym early on in the week this week.

But, today, Thursday, I got up (later than usual) just after six and did a running and core workout in the crazy fog and dark that was my mom’s neighborhood this morning. Then, I met my brother on a walk to see his dog again before he left town – yes, all I wanted was to be able to play with and hang out with the dog, but all I was allowed was walking with him twice… so it goes – and walked roughly two miles with them. Then, as a means of heading home after the walk that ended at his dad’s house, elsewhere in the neighborhood, I did the same running and core workout again. Nuts, I know. So, I racked up roughly 9-10 miles today from running and walking. And I could barely hold myself up for the second round of the core work. And I’ve got a blister between two of my middle toes on my left foot, which is annoying but healing somewhat quickly. (Of course, I poked it with my knife, because it was too much with all the fluid in it earlier… Anyway…)

But I’m glad and relieved I managed the two workouts today. And my other brother, who has been very not-active in life lately but who has just moved back from Japan, has agreed to go to the gym with me tomorrow morning. It’s a good 35+-minute drive into town for that, but it is worth it for my brother to go do it with me. I think he could really use the physical workout and the mental and emotional release it has to offer with it. If he ends up liking it, and he finds a place close to the gym, I likely will get him a punch card for him to be able to go several times without the high price tag.

Anyway, I’m excited for him to go with me in the morning. And I’m excited to round out the goal of 190 for the year and 135 for this leg of year gym year. And I’m nervous but glad to be going at all. The past two weeks have been bizarre for me, and I miss my gym and its people and energy and release and health. I don’t know how the next six weeks of my life will look, but I am glad to have tomorrow morning sorted somewhat, and positively so.

Thank you, God and Universe, for the help and support and courage for all of this lately. Please, help me to be Your love in all that I do and in all that I am, as Your creative expression in this world. In your name I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2021

We hiked!

Yay!

We hiked today, my mom and I (and a small group of dance people I don’t know very well, and my mom didn’t know at all).

It was faster than my mom and I wanted to be hiking, leaving us almost no time to look at anything other than the be-knotted ground at our feet (to keep from falling), so we didn’t exactly like that part.

But it was still a nice activity, and the few times that we did purposefully stop to look around were great.

We found the cave where Ayla must have stayed when she visited the continent…

(And a closer view… I didn’t want to get too close and bother the spirits guarding it…)

… and Rafiki’s tree(!)…

… and lots of other great bits of water and wild-life.

Totally great, right?

Right.

And then, to finish out the day, we all converged from our various activities – not everyone is up for hiking, as we all know, so there were other outdoor activities for the afternoon – to watch the sun set from a balcony at a fancy brewery that overlooks a lake.

It was beautiful.

It all was great, and it was especially lovely that this was part of a dance event – doing something outside of the dance hall / hotel / ballroom for once, and enjoying the fabulous weather together, and just being people who share a passion yet are not overtaken by it (that is, we can go do something else from time to time, and enjoy the something else together, too).

So, yeah… good day today… good weekend overall…

Despite that panicked anger that sprung up on me when I thought the beginner dancers were supposed to be considered to be of my level. 😛

(I admit that I grew very judgy and angry in those moments of misinformation…)

But, yeah, it was a good weekend, and the first time my mom tied in to a dance event’s events with me – and that was really cool. 🙂

P.S. Ayla is from the Earth’s Children books, and Rafiki is from “The Lion King”.

Post-a-day 2020

20:35

Did I mention that we saw an eclipse the other day?

Didn’t even know it was going to happen – my brother just happened to look up and notice while he was out from under the hut-bar, taking photos of the sky and stuff.

It was awesome.

Separately, I learned a Tagalog term today: Askal.

Think the British “ask”, combined with “Jal” from the Spanish “Jalisco” (a rather silent English H sound).

My mom asked a lady what the kind of dog was that we kept seeing everywhere around the Cebu area.

We are somewhat convinced that they are all just the same dog in disguise… at the furthest stretch, they could be all just related to one another… very, very closely, and with minimal cross-breeding, though they are definitely mutts.

Anyway, my mom asked the lady what kind of dog it was and the lady replied with, “Askal.”

I then learned how to say it, and asked about the word.

She explained that “as” comes from “aso,” which means “dog,” and that “kal” comes from “kalye,” (pronounced much like the Spanish calle, if you only pronounce it with one l, and change the second to an i), which means street.

“So, it’s ‘street dog’,” I say.

Yes.

We then proceeded to laugh heartily that the Cebuano dog is not a specific breed, but really just a street dog. 😛

(You might not doke this entertaining, but we certainly did, and I still do.) 😉

So, yeah… lots of askal around here.

Post-a-day 2019

Hipster Imposter

We went to a donation-based fundraiser yoga class the other day, which was focused on raising funds for a certain local pet shelter, while giving practice to some newer yoga teachers.

The class took place in a brewery.

I did not always understand what the teacher wanted me to do, and the people around me weren’t always too helpful with what they were doing, so I was behind at times, and I did some guesswork at times.

I generally feel that yoga teachers keep students in downward dog for far too long – like, I’m about to pass out by the time they start to mention maybe moving out of the position… and this is just about every time.

This brewery yoga class was no different, and even a bit worse at times on the downward dog front, so I regularly switched into child’s pose or baby pose, and then returned to downward dog whenever the teacher began whatever was next.

I also breathe so much more slowly than teachers seem to believe long, deep breathing takes… approximately three to five times slower.

I did a decent job of everything, especially considering how I didn’t know what was going on throughout half the explanation time, because I didn’t know the names of postures, and the teachers kind of took a while to clarify what I was supposed to be doing.

The class was enjoyable, nonetheless.

There were discounted draft beers afterward.

I, of course, drank my water, but we hung out for a bit so my friend could mingle with her friends, and I could be distantly social,… kind of like being social by association.

At one point, a yoga teacher came up and talked with us.

“I really like your practice,” she said directly to me.

…..

I graciously accepted the comment and, I imagine, compliment, and aimed not to laugh or be ungracious or ungrateful.

Since then, I haven’t really stopped wondering what on Earth she could have meant – I mean, did she like how I basically did my own thing every time we went into downward dog?

Because that’s kind of the only thing I did differently that could potentially be a positive….???

Haha

I have no idea, but the comment was positively hipster, and it alone made me want to burst out laughing.

Yes, I know that I am all sorts of hipster with all sorts of things in my life… I’m just not that level of hipster, you know?

But, who knows?

I did just complete my yoga certification exam today, so, I’m well on my way to achieving yet another level of hipster in the very new future… oh, and didn’t I buy a bright red scooter just the other day?

So, I guess I’m not exactly an imposter…

Like I said, I’m hipster, but I’m not beyond finding the hilarity of hipsterhood, and laughing heartily at it all. 😛

Post-a-day 2019