Monday, March 25, 2019

A Thing a Week- Week 2: DOG TRICKS/GAMES

First, a wrap up of last week's challenge, which was drinking at least 64 oz of water daily.  DONE and DONE. It actually wasn't all that challenging and I easily drank 64 oz, no prob. 

I continued to read more about recommended daily consumption of water, and over and over it was recommended to drink anywhere between 1-2 oz of water PER POUND OF BODY WEIGHT.  So for me, that was 50-100 oz.  That's a huge variation.  But because I walk outside many miles each day in a dry climate, I decided it's probably better to drink more than that goal I had set of 64 oz. I ended up averaging about 112 oz a day.  Yay, Me!
my weekly tally sheet of 8 oz water glasses i consumed daily
One thing that made it easy to do that was using a glass that holds 8 oz.  I drank one whenever I thought about water.  Gulp, gulp, gulp- and after about 10 gulps- It was gone.  And I felt a sense of accomplishment each time I would get to mark a new tally on my little Post-It.

I'm not sure I felt different drinking all this water, and I actually still drank a Diet DP each day.  But I know making sure I get all that water in can't be a bad thing!  I think I generally consume a lot of fluids.  Fortunately, most of them are water.  And very fortunately, I rarely drink alcohol.  I'd probably be a huge lush if I did.  Because I'm not a sipper.  I'm a gulper.

Week 1 was a great start and made me feel successful. So now, I'm ready for Week 2.

I thought this past week, "What do I want to do next?" I had several different ideas cross my mind, all of which I'll eventually get to.  But I thought, besides drinking a healthy amount of water daily, what else is super important in my world?  And the easy answer is MY DOGS!!!!!

Lucy and Ricky are both Super Smarties.  They LOVE playing games like Hide and See, Fetch and they love learning new and practicing old TRICKS!  I used to spend a lot of time training them when they were babies.  We still do it occasionally and they always love it.  (Because learning tricks equals getting treats and kisses!) I always think to myself, "Why don't I do this with them more often? They love it and so do I!"

So, my commitment for this week is to spend a minimum of 5 minutes a day (per dog) practicing tricks with them.  Just 5 effing minutes!  It doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a great start.  This week, just fun stuff.  There are some things I KNOW we need to work on, like not barking at strangers (people and dogs), and getting better about going places together. (Currently, they act like monkeys if we attempt to take them anywhere together.)  But, this week: JUST FUN STUFF.    Brushing up on old tricks and maybe learning a  new one.  We'll see.

Dogs have short attention spans, and I know it works best to keep things short, and sweet, and most of all, FUN.  So 5 minutes, per dog, it is.  I KNOW we got this.  I'll report back next Monday with the results!
The rare occasion of walking in public together, and acting civilized!  The long term goal is MORE OF THIS. ❤️

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Hildebrand Ranch Park

After spending the bulk of our Saturday watching the 20/20 special on the horrifyingly evil Diane Downs who attempted to kill all of of her children back in the early 80s, we then became obsessed and went on to...
1. watch the 1980s ABC Farrah Fawcett mini-series called "Small Sacrifices" about her (Damn! Farrah was actually a good actress.  I'm sure Diane was flattered (barf!) that she played her in the movie.)
2. watch some clips of interviews with Diane we found on YouTube
3. Google all things Diane that led us down a few different rabbit holes.

Ricky looked at me and said, "HEY! Enough is enough! Let's do some real-life stuff!" Where would we be without our dogs to remind us about the BEST things in life?!
"Enough of Diane Downs!"

So, late Saturday afternoon, Ricky and Lucy went with us on a hike within our neighborhood.  Which is ALWAYS great fun.

Sunday afternoon, after Ricky had his own 3 miles walk close to home, Lucy got to hit the big time! We took her to a place that was new to us.  Hildebrand Ranch Park.

We saw it last weekend, when we took Ricky to another hiking area nearby.  We had promised Lucy all week she would get her turn next.  And next time just happened to be today.  It was a beautiful day- nearly 60 degrees.  We knew rain was coming much later in the afternoon, but we had plenty of time for tacos, and then the hike!

Lucy LOVES trails.  She walks at an entirely different pace when she's in a new place.  Never trailing behind, but always forging ahead to be the leader! She wasn't sure where we were taking her at first, and doesn't love car rides- even when they're short.  But the payoff was definitely worth it.

I didn't love this hiking spot as much as some others, but on a crisp, cool day, it was great.  I loved that we could see the weather rolling in way off in the distance. This would probably be hot on a warm day, but for 50/60 degrees, it was perfect! There were other walkers and dogs, and also cyclists.  But it wasn't too crowded at all.  We'll definitely go back again soon.
Lucy and Fermin- and that big, beautiful sky.

see the rain off in the distance?

❤️

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

SPRING!!!

Ahhhh.  I FEEL it.  Spring is more than just in the air today.  It's officially HERE. 

And although we have some snow still on the ground, there isn't any more on the way in the 7 day forecast.  I have a feeling the snow isn't quite over for the season, but since the days are longer, and the temperatures are getting a little warmer, I think any snow we get from here on out won't stick around too long.

I LOVED our first real Winter here in Colorado.  Loved it with a capital L. So much so, that I'm a little sad to say goodbye to it.  However, this will be our first Spring here.  I can't wait to see what pops up flower and plant-wise. I'm pretty sick of my winter clothes at this point, since I Kon Marie my way to such a small wardrobe. I'm ready to change that up already!  I'm also looking forward to warmer temps, so that I can head out earlier in the days with Lucy and Ricky for some good long hikes. 

I've been so conditioned during my 40+ years of living in the sweltering heat of Dallas summers (excuse me, but... BARF) that this will be my first time to fully soak up the joys of Spring.  Spring in Dallas is actually nice. However, I always have the knowing dread of what's ahead. We arrived in Colorado in June of last year, so I know what the summers are like here.  And although it's not my favorite season (it's still a little hot during parts of the day, and those f-ing rattlesnakes scare the crap out of me), I still like it!

So I am fully welcoming Spring this year.  Completely.  I'm ready to soak it up. 🌼
oh, and yep, this pretty Warner brooch is up for grabs in my ResparkableVintage Etsy shop- the first flower of SPRING


Monday, March 18, 2019

A THING A WEEK Week 1: 64 oz of Water Daily

There are so many little things that I always intend to do more regularly.  Things that would be relatively easy to do,but I just don't do them. I think, "Oh, I'll start that tomorrow." But I don't.  Or, I do it for a day here and there, but I'm not consistent.

I was thinking last night, maybe if I committed to one of those little things each week, it wouldn't feel like a big committment and I wouldn't shy away from it so hard. I mean, a week of nearly anything can't be too bad, right?

And the things I have in mind are things that I actually want to do, and/or they're actually good for me.  So really, this ishould be great.

I want to be a success at this, so I'm going to make this as easy on myself as possible.  Each Monday, I'm picking what my "thing" is for the week and posting it here. Most Mondays, I'll pick a new thing to focus on. Some weeks, I may do a repeat of a previous week. Every now and then, I might decide to take a week off from this.  But as long as it feels like a pretty fun challenge, I'm in.  I figure, by being allowed to pick a new thing each week, it will feel fresh and exciting, like that Kool and the Gang Song...


Monday's will not only be me picking my new thing for the week, but I will recap how I did the previous week, and make a brief note of how it impacted my life.

This week, my very clear and concise challenge is to drink a minimum of 64 oz of water daily. I read somewhere that to calculate how much water you need to drink, you just divide your weight (in pounds) in half.  I weigh 100 pounds, so if I use that calculation, I could get away with 50 ounces.  BUT, I'm active AND I live in a really dry climate, and 50 oz just doesn't sound like enough, so I'm upping it to 64 oz.

I have a little 8 oz glass and I find it's really easy to chug the whole thing in one swoop. At first, I was thinking I would set an alarm to go off hourly to remind me to gulp down that cup of water.  But that's setting myself up for failure because I don't intend to be at home, near that glass, every hour on the hour.  And I don't even NEED to drink that much.  That would be well over the 64 oz if I started that around 8am, and kept it up until I went to bed.

Instead, I'm just going to keep a little tally sheet, and see how many of those glasses of water I can drink throughout the day. Assuming I drink water when I'm away from home, I'll make note and estimate the amount. A MINIMUM of 64 oz of WATER each day this week. Sounds fresh! And exciting!

I'm sorry to admit, I still drink Diet Dr. Pepper.  It's my bitch, for sure. I've given it up before, and thought I'd kicked the habit, only to eventually return to it. (I've done that several times.) And to be honest, I HATE thinking about giving it up yet again.  Instead, I'm going to focus on GIVING myself lots of water, rather than DEPRIVING myself of the Diet DP. Maybe I won't have room for anything but the water in my belly.  That COULD happen. It's possible.  But again, it's not about that.  All I'm aiming to do is drink down the 64 oz of water each day.

Here are all the pros on why I think drinking the water each day is a great thing:
1. I'll have more energy.
2. I won't ever feel "thirsty" so maybe my craving for Diet Dr. Pepper will diminish.
3. My skin might look better.
4. I'll pee more often, which I consider a good thing.  That's how you move toxins out of your body, I'm pretty sure.
5. After this week, I'll have this one challenge under my belt and I'll be ready to take on the next thing!

That sounds pretty FRESH and EXCITING to me!

I'll report back on this next week.
Cheers.