Birthday

I just realized today is my dad's 67th birthday. The last time I saw him he was 45 years old. I don't know if I would even recognize him if I saw him. I have no idea how he is but I am pretty sure he is still living. Sad to think about it, sad that he has never seen any of his grandkids. I could say it is his loss, which it is, but really we all lose. Still don't know why he just cut all of his family off. Guess I never will, but it makes me appreciate the people I have in my life even more.

Tis the season

Ah yes, tis the season for spending all my money, eating and drinking too much... oh wait, that has been my MO for a while so what's the difference now? Well, everyone else gets to join in! Oh what fun it is to...

I have already started the Holiday shopping, I will never get it done if I don't start now. I am trying to be conservative this year, the girls have PLENTY of stuff so this year it is going to be more practical gifts, I know a bit boring but our little miss Miley was not a cute puppy in a cardboard box that said "Free!" she is the gift that will keep on giving for years to come. Incidentally, she chewed up my very nice Sony earphones over the weekend, my fault, anything I don't want to become a chew toy I need to keep out of her reach, I got it. I avoid malls at all cost most of the year, now is not an exception but every year there is something I can't seem to get for someone anywhere but a department store or mall, ugh.

Thanksgiving was great, I had friends and family over, we had a great dinner and played guitar hero and pop singer ( not sure if that is the right name) until midnight. I am not into video games but this is actually really fun to play, especially the singing, I would not sing in front of my friends if it was not for the game, guaranteed they thank me for that now that they have heard what I am capable of.

I didn't manage to get any time to ride my bike all weekend or do any other form of exercise besides hiking around Discovery Park. Not only do I feel fat the scale confirms it for me. Worse yet, the lack of exercises sent my back into a downward spiral of pain. I went to my chiro today and it feels better, it is only temporary and will just go back to hurting if I don't strengthen everything around it. I get a deep tissue message tomorrow. 1st one ever, not sure what to expect.

OK I am doing it... I am making a Thanksgiving resolution, (can't wait for New Year to do this) Keep up on the Daily core exercises, ride my bike to work, eat less, no more beer (it is wine season anyway). I want to lose 4 lbs by Christmas, this is a reasonable goal, at this time of year just not gaining is a good goal so I will be very happy if I can dip the scale back even a bit in the month of December.

Broken, stopped up, can't find, not mine

This is my day so far.

I have a broken instrument that is heavily overbooked and now needs to be fixed while people are breathing down my neck. Wouldn't be too big of a deal but this whole week has been hectic and my one employee was "sick" yesterday and is on vacation today. Even my 8 year old said he didn't look sick, why is he leaving. Trying to get everything set up and working while constantly being interrupted today is not helping. All fixed, whew! now I can blog ;) kidding... well sorta.

Got a call from home (my youngest doesn't have school all week and has been coming to work with me but today would have been too much for both of us) the shower and toilet in the basement were backing up with bath water from upstairs. Not sure how this is possible exactly but the drains do eventually meet up. Could be worse, could be raw sewage backing up right before I host T-day.

Drove to work, should have biked. Couldn't find my card to park in the garage, made me late with people waiting for me when I got in. I hate being late! Worse yet I found my card at the bottom of my bike bag!

Shopping cart hell, that damn cart won't go away. I called Safeway and they never came and got it so last night we walked it back to the church parking lot, this is also a soup kitchen and I am thinking that one of my neighbors didn't walk home from Safeway with a cart and someone who comes for soup brought it to the street and left it. When I went to work this morning it was still there but I got a call telling me it was back in front of my house! I should be able to laugh at how crazy it is that I have a shopping cart problem but it actually is not that funny some one took the time to walk it back up specifically to my house and put it in my driveway. It actually creeps me out a bit that someone is that aware of my house who I am sure doesn't live here and would take the time to replace the cart once it was moved. I hope they are not staking out my house for more fun filled pranks. I called Safeway again and said it has to be picked up today. We will see.

Tomorrow is Turkey Day and I have lots to do. Here is hoping that all my bad juju has been used up for awhile.

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat, drink, and ride! (not in that order necessarily) :P

Randomness

Feeling fatter, got my body fat analyzed and was told I could stand to loose some, 19.6% yes I suppose I could.

Halloween candy, brought it into work in the hopes that all the people there... um here (opps, am I supposed to be working right now?) would eat and save me from binging on excessive empty calories and carbs. I have beer for that! :) No dice it sat outside my office in the computer lab calling to me every time I got up to help someone. I guess the alternative was to have it sit on the counter at home all 5 lbs from Costco and eat it all by myself over a greater time continuum. It is gone now except for a couple tootsie rolls, a couple of those couldn't hurt me...
20.1%???

Have to start Pilate's, this is going to be a home program. I am using up all of time away from the house now with little Miley I am on a shorter leash. Hmmm is that the way it should go?

Puppy kindergarten, she is doing great, I am fumbling with holding her lead, treats in both hand and a clicker while making kissy noises and trying to get her to come even amidst distracting fun puppy's. I think we have the potty training in full forward momentum which is a relief.

Shopping carts. What does a person do when a Safeway shopping cart parallel parks in front of her house? Options:
1. (the not an option) My neighbors have undoubtedly seen it there so rolling to another house is out.
2. Wait several days for someone going to the Church to shower and get soup to claim it as their own. Its been 5days, hasn't happened.
3. Return it to Safeway. The closest Safeway is 36 blocks away I am not too keen on pushing that damn thing back up there.
4. Joy ride. I am on a hill slight hill I could jump in and go for a Jack Ass type whirl.
5. Craigslist or the like. Put a sign on it that say "Free" (it is amazing what people will take with them off the curb if it is free).
6. Call the Safeway manager and ask them to come get their property. I may do this it has got to be good for a little entertainment if nothing else.

Magic Bullets

Just as there are no free lunches there seem to be no magic bullets either at least for me.

Potty training a puppy, consistency, perseverance and sleepless nights. Miley is doing better but she caught a bug and I have spent the last two nights up every 1-2 hours with a puppy rushing to go out and relieve herself in the worst way. At least it has been outside, well mostly. Got to love Natures Miracle for stain and odor removal. So no magic bullet for puppy training, it is work but in the end it is worth it.

Other magic bullets I was so kindly made aware that do not exist are for my back. Injections won't do much is seems and I am not fusing my vertebrae. This leaves me with work. Work to further strengthen my core and work on patients for the natural healing process to continue as I relieve irritation by stabilizing my spine. It is up to me to get better that was the message today. I did get the OK for deep tissue massage and will pick up with my PT again. I will be happy to get stronger and ultimately it should make me a better bike racer (I can hope ;) )

Outside in November!

Got to love the sunshine! What a treat for November. Today I road in and get to ride home at lunch to let out little miss Miley, then ride back to work then home again at 5PM. If it was raining I might not be so anxious to commute twice in the same day. But for my new little gal it is worth the extra trip home.

Spent yesterday doing some yard clean up and mulching, it is amazing how mulch makes the garden look better. Miley spent the afternoon outside helping mostly like a union worker, sitting back and "overseeing" what I was doing.

We started puppy-kindergarten, she did great. She already can sit, sit stay, and come. All for treats of coarse!

Between commuting and spin class I am getting in more hours riding this fall than last. That is a good sign. My back is not improving but I don't expect that it will until there is some kind of intervention medically. I go to the spine doc on Thursday, keeping my fingers crossed that he will have a plan to make it better or more manageable. Sleeping is interrupted every night because of pain. Maybe the Temporpedic bed is in order, although I can't afford one now with vet bills and dog food. Oh well, I wouldn't trade my Miley.