Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A Tail of two cats named Buddy

yeah, I know that's for the animal tail, not a tale.

The house behind mine is a rental.  Folks usually live there for at least a year, so we kind of get to know them over the fence.  A few months ago we noticed a new cat roaming our neighborhood.  She is a very pretty calico, very smart but pretty timid.  I assumed that she belonged to my next door neighbor as she hangs out there...but there is more to her story.
See Buddy (as she is known now because my neighbor didn't know that calicos are all female) used to live in the rental house behind us.  But when the renters moved out they left her and a bunch of their stuff behind for a month.  Leaving poor Buddy to fend for herself.  When they finally returned to get their things my neighbor asked if she belonged to them.  They "graciously" said that my neighbor could keep her.  My neighbor told them that he wouldn't give her back to someone who would abandon a pet.  She's a happy girl now and waits on the front porch to greet my neighbors when they come home.  She likes to hunt so we don't have any rabbits in our flowers this summer.  That's okay.

The second Buddy I just met today.  He is a very friendly boy.  And like Buddy the girl, he too was left behind.  Buddy is the resident cat at the new groomer that I took Lilly to today.  He doesn't quite get it that he is a cat, so he gets along with the dogs just fine.  Even Lilly who normally chases cats got along well with him (she ignored him!)  Buddy's story is that his former owners asked the groomer to cat sit for them while they were gone.  It was supposed to be just a month.  Buddy has been at the groomer's for 4 years now...and it is his home.

For every Buddy who has found a new forever home out there, there are too many others who aren't so lucky.  Pets give unconditional love to anyone who treats them well.  Don't abandon your Buddy!

Thursday, August 08, 2013

thoughts and ponderings on losing weight

After quite a long time of being a sloth and mindlessly eating and being up to the most weight I had ever weighed in my lifetime (including being pregnant)... I decided to make a change in my lifestyle.

When hubby and Darly were away for nearly 2 weeks each, I did some "radical" changes to my diet.

I cut out carbs as much as I could.  I had noticed that I am very addicted to carbs.  I could sit and eat half a box of crackers without giving it a second thought.  That was bad!

So I did things like no bread, no pasta, no rice, no potatoes.  :'(  Instead of pasta, I would have zucchini.  Instead of rice or potatoes, I would have cauliflower.  and instead of bread...well I just wouldn't have any bread.  I haven't really figured out how to do a sub for bread yet.

I also added a supplement to my diet.  I really have no idea if the supplement is working or not.  Online articles claim it doesn't work at all.  What I noticed is that when I take it, the scale moves.  When I don't, the scale doesn't move.  So for now, I'll take it.  It doesn't cost too much, isn't harmful and doesn't taste bad.  Raspberry Ketones in case you're wondering.

For lunch I have a really big salad.  It is full of veggies and instead of bottled dressing, I pour the vinegar from my banana peppers on it.  Sometimes I have some cottage cheese with it too.  It fills me up nicely and I don't really get any cravings for anything else.

For dinner I have what the rest of the family is having...only instead of their starch, I have more veggies.

Sorry start of rant here!

I don't know why exactly, but this seems to bother hubby... A LOT!  This man has some really weird and conflicting views on weight.  For him, he can eat pretty much whatever he wants and not gain an ounce and he thinks that if everyone would just eat normal portions they would have the same results.  He doesn't understand that hormones make weight fluxuate.  (he also doesn't seem to get that women are built differently and have different requirements for other things either!...but that's another rant!)  I know that some of hubby's issues stem from his parents who didn't get it either.  At one point he'll say that you should eat small portions but on the other hand he'll say you should clean your plate and it isn't right to throw out food!  I can't tell you how frustrating it can be.

We had a servant auction at our Church and one of the items for bid was lessons on how to make cinnamon rolls.  I already know how to make cinnamon rolls, but I don't because trying to get bread to rise in my kitchen is a royal pain and I'm not a fan of baking anyway.  Hubby LOVES cinnamon rolls!  So he bid and won the lessons.  He took the class and came home with not just the two 9X13 inch pans of rolls, but also some left-over chocolate cake that the gal wanted to get rid of.  Hubby expects Darly & me to help him eat all these rolls and is bothered that these rolls are not part of my diet.  grumble!

Okay rant over if you wanted to skip it!

So after a month, I've lost 10 pounds.  I'm feeling great and except for a few times when I would CRAVE potatoes, I'm doing really well.  I did "cheat" back when we had chili and tortilla soup, but I only had a tiny bit of carbs with them (corn bread and tortilla chips) and held steady on those days.

I'm really sure how much more weight I would like to lose.  At this weight, I am where I was back when I was working out regularly and wanting to lose 11 pounds.  But I'm not so sure I still want to lose 11 pounds now.  There's a lot that factors into that though.  One being that finding clothes that fit me at the smaller weight is really hard.  I can just alter my clothes though, but it seems a pain to pay for something that I know I'll have to fix.  Another is some areas tend to be really floppy without the extra weight.  So for now, I'm just going to try for another 5 and see how that looks on me.  If that helps the body areas that I don't like still, I'll stop there.  Course it will be interesting to figure out what it takes to maintain that weight also.

hummm