16 Weigh-In Wednesday

Good morning fellow shrinkers! How was your first week of the Shrinkvivor challenge? I am happy to report that it was a good week for me, despite being stressed out about getting a new dog (whom we have named Ellie.) I stayed within my calorie count 6 out of 7 days and got in my water and miles for Tribe Burgundy Babes! Hoping to see the scale inch further to the left as a result!

Total Water=496 oz
Total Miles=8.625 miles

Change This Week: down 1.0
Total for Shrinkvivor Challenge: down 1.0



I leave for Chicago tomorrow to visit a friend for the weekend, so I’m sure that it will be filled with lots of edible temptations, but I am going to try my best not to splurge on something unless it is totally worth it. Kinda nervous about flying, haven’t been in a plane since 2003. Seriously, that’s forever ago. Add that to the nerves about leaving Emma at home with the new dog, and I think I may need to have a cocktail or seven in order to get on the plane.

*Update on Aunt Debbie.  She went to Cleveland Clinic last week for her first Avastin treatment and she did great with it.  She has been walking a little more the last week, so that is great news.  She has her moments when she will slip away and pour water on the pillow and play in it like a child would do, but for the most part she is doing better then before the treatment. She goes back in another week for another treatment.  Tomorrow night is our local Light the Night walk and my family will be pushing Debbie in a wheelchair.  I am sad that I won't be there, but I will be in spirit.  If anyone of you plan on walking or running tomorrow evening, can you do it in honor of Debbie or for someone you know who is fighting cancer? The support of friends and family is such an important part of this journey. Thank you.

8 Our Pound Puppy

We have been talking about getting a black lab puppy for a while now, and a few weeks ago my husbands grandmother made us aware of a female lab at the county dog pound that had limited time left.  She felt drawn to this dog and that we would be a perfect fit for each other.  They said that she had been at the pound since June, when someone turned her in because they lived in an apartment and the dog had gotten too big. (Hello....its a Labrador Retriever..what were they expecting!)  She had a good temperament and is spayed, weighs about 30 lbs and is roughly 1-1.5 years old.  So after several phone calls and a handwritten letter from an sweet little Gram in her 80's (along with the picture from the paper) pleading with us to help this dog, we went to see the dog last week and we both were drawn to her. She deserved a shot for us to try and see if she could fit into our family.
For now she is being called Big Girl. (we are still deciding on which name fits her personality)

My husband and his friend picked her up from the pound late yesterday afternoon, took her to get microchipped before bringing her home. Brought her into the backyard to get used to it, first on the lead then free to run around. She sniffed around the whole circumference of the yard with my husband and left her mark a few times. Then we brought Emma out to meet her. Big Girl was jumping and excited when we both came out, partially because of me, but I know mostly because of the little dog beside me. Emma was excited and ran up to hubby, which of course got Big Girl more excited. Then Emma was like, what the heck is in my yard by my dad? Big Girl kinda jumped around a little, excited, but never growled or anything. Both tails were wagging the whole time. That is until big girl went and swatted her paw at Emma to play, and Emma’s hair stood up on her back, kinda like back the eff up! It was not a good situation, I was instantly like, take her back this isnt’ going to work.

So Emma kinda hide behind me for protection while hubs held Big Girl back. But they kinda looked at each other every now and then, but basically Emma wanted nothing to do with her, and I can’t say that I blame her. This dog is easily 3 times as heavy and 5 times as big as Emma. Once when hubby was holding Emma and I had Big Girl on the leash, she sniffed Emma’s butt, you know like dogs do, and Emma kinda growled and nipped at her and then she walked away. So that was good, and the other one didn’t seem to feel like retaliating so that was good. I didn’t see any ill intent on either of their sides, so that made me feel better. Big girl was just curious and wanted to play, Emma was like what the heck is that big thing doing on my patio!

My husband was tossing the Frisbee and she was bringing it back, she is a smart dog and really sweet. A few times she was laying on the grass with her legs sprawled out and head titled letting us rub her belly. She’s really submissive so that’s great sign I think. I think once she gets over the excitedness of a new home and new people parents, she’ll be great. Didn’t hear her bark once, just kinda tilt her ears when the neighbor dogs barked but didn’t follow thru on it.

We brought her in after an hour or so and kept her in the kitchen in a gated area, we borrowed a big circle fence from my in-laws and hubby sit with her and petted her for a bit, she leaned against me on the fence when I walked by to pet her. It was clear, she just wanted love…and I’m glad we could give it to her. She could easily jump the fence, and we aren’t giving her free range just yet, so after a bit, we sent her to her crate, which she didn’t fight us on. She was content being there for an hour or so then we got her out again and played for a bit, went potty and so on. Me thinks she was pretty warn out from the Frisbee game….she was happy to be sitting down. It was so funny at one point, she stopped panting and tilited her head, my husband motioned for me to turn around...and she was staring out the backdoor...listening to the crickets!  It was adorable!

We heard no whining at all last night. Didn’t hear a peep from her and she didn’t mess in her cage so that’s awesome!  This morning, I let Emma out to go potty and brought her in, then got Big Girl (who was wagging her whole cage with excitement) and put her on her leash to take her out (I smelled a skunk and didn’t want her to be any part of that, otherwise I would have just let her run). She went potty I said good girl (gotta have that positive reinforcement) and she proceeded jump up on me, getting my shirt wet and grassy. With Emma, I only had to worry about maybe getting my shins wet, but this girl can put her arms on my shoulders so now I have to worry about my shirt. So lesson learned, if I am taking the big dog out in the morning, wear a smock. Had to change before I left. But when I left, she was back in her cage just chilling. So praying today goes well for hubby with the two girls getting used to each other.

We are just going to introduce them for a little bit at a time, hopefully then they will become BFF’s. She’s a beautiful dog and really sweet and I don’t feel like she would hurt Emma. She doesn’t seem like the attack kind of dog you know how sometimes you can just see that in a dog. She wanted to play and was excited to be out of her concrete cell she used to call a home. But Emma is pretty chill and used to being on her own, so it will take some time to adjust to that. You can tell from the image below, she was less then thrilled. But Emma is the alpha dog, it is her domain and we want her to be the leader and put Big Girl in her place, and I think she will be great for that.  She would have been a great mother.

So this morning, I feel like it’s going better then I thought it was when they first met, Emma was wagging her tail and whined when Big Girl started to wiggle and want out of her crate this morning. Granted they aren’t cuddled up together now, but they’ll play together one day, it just might take a few weeks. Slow and steady.

PS…I’ve never had a big dog, well we had a German Sheppard when I was little but other then that, I’ve only known doxies or beagles. So this is a big change for me and a little scary to be honest. But I think she’ll be good for all of us.

PSS…any of you lab owners out there that have any advice or training tips, please pass them along. We’d appreciate them!

2 Saturday Cell Phone Mosiac

It was a busy Saturday for the Ladybug house....big day indeed.  We headed down in the morning to our hometown to hit a few stores.  Grabbed some cool Buckeye shirts and a handbag.  Then we headed to the local dog pound to look at a dog that we have been thinking about adopting.  We wanted to get her out and play with her a little bit to see how her temperament was.  She was very excited, but who wouldn't be after being stuck in a concrete cell for the last few months.  Once she got some of her energy out, she was leaning against us and cuddling and just being happy to be paid attention to.

We talked with the guy working and he stated she had been dropped off a few months ago because someone couldn't keep her in their apartment.  She has been spayed and has her shots.  She knows kinda how to sit and shake, so we think she will be easy to train.  We have talked in the past about getting a black lab puppy, but when we heard about this dog, from my husbands grandmother (who wrote us a letter and sent us the dogs picture from the paper) who just knew this dog would be good for us and we would be good for the dog, it just seemed like it might be better to save a dog who probably won't be picked and not have a choice to have its life ended.  Its just heartbreaking to think about the alternative for such a sweet dog with great potential.

So tomorrow we are going to start prepping the house for the girl, who is yet to be named.  My husband will go pick her up on Monday after we get her chipped.  We are hoping that Emma is excited and will get along with her new sister.  She is our top priority and we don't want her stress out about someone else coming in, but we think she will quickly enjoy having the company of another dog.  So please say a prayer that happens.

Aftrer that. we came back home and watched Ohio State dominate Ohio Univeristy.  Then I went and walked 2.25 miles and got ready to head to my inlaws to pick up a few things.  When we got to their town, we saw a police car and flashing lights and the bombsquad.  Heh?  Yeah we stopped at Subway to get a sandwich and ended up being right beside the action.  Ends up that a man found some old artillery shells in his basement and then weren't sure if they were safe or not, so that was interesting.  We evenutally got our dinner, picked up our stuff and then headed our my husbands brothers where they had a fire.  It was a great chilly night for a fire!

Click on the image below to skim thru my day and see pictures of the soon to be new member of our family.

16 You Capture-Hidden Happiness

Sometimes happiness can be hidden, but its there if you just look for it.

A bright dewey red honeycrisp.  We picked over 50 lbs of apples from our local orchard last weekend.
We have done this for the past 3 years, its a tradition we hope to carry on for years to come.

One of the final blooms of summer poking its head out amidst the garden vegetables.
The only kind of petunias I like are the striped ones.

Grandma's smile always makes me happy....see that twinkle in her eyes?
That twinkle makes me believe everything is going to be ok.


Where did you find happiness this week?
Stop over and share with Beth at I Should be Folding Laundry.

15 Weigh-In Wednesday (Shrinkvivor Style)

It’s weigh in day! Also known as It’s time for me to get my chunky butt in gear and start focusing on myself and losing weight again. The last month has not been a good one on the scale and I can really tell my clothes are getting tighter and I’m more sluggish then I have been in a while.
When I stepped on the scale last week, I was higher then I was at the start of this year. Wow that was a slap in the face….even though I was running more then I ever have, I weighed more and was visibly fluffier. I vowed to stop it right then and there and not let me continue slipping back to being the heaviest I have ever been.

This week I am down 2.5 lbs. High Five!

Granted I’m still almost 25 lbs lower then my heaviest, which I am proud of. BUT…I’m up almost 25 lbs from where I was at this time last year. WTF? I didn’t really think it was that bad, looking at it go up a lb then down half then up another two lbs and down one. But I looked back into my old WI posts and it was staring me right in the face. How did that happen? How did I let myself slide that far back to my old ways? ( oh yeah I stopped counting calories, ate whatever I wanted and would start tomorrow, didn’t make myself exercise consistently, etc.)   But I did and now I’m stopping it. I CAN DO THIS!

Today is the official start of the latest challenge over The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans…bring on SHRINKVIVOR!  I am a proud member of The Burgundy Babes Tribe…and we are all excited to start shrinking! So bring on SHRINKVIVOR…lets do this together shall we?

*My Aunt Debbie goes to Cleveland Clinic today for a Brain CT Scan and hopefully gets her first injection of Avastin today at 2:15 EST. Please keep her in your prayers and lift up her spirit as she continues her fight against brain cancer.

4 Update on Aunt Debbie

~~UPDATE~~

Just got an email from my uncle.  They go to Cleveland Clinic Wednesday. Debbie has a CT scan to see if she has any bleeding on the brain, then she sees her doctor, and at 2:15 she receives the Avastin.  Please pray for them as they travel and that all goes well for Debbie. Thanks

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers over the last few weeks for my Aunt Debbie who is battling brain cancer, they are much appreciated.

At the beginning of August we set up a schedule to help sit with my aunt.  We are blessed with a big family that lives close so it are blessed that there are lots of people to help out when we need to.  It was getting too hard for one person to help get her up the stairs alone, and they were working on getting her master suite downstairs finished so she didn't have to climb up to bed.  That was finished a few weeks ago just in time because her brain isn't communicating very well with the left side of her body and she can't hardly move her left leg.  She was forced to start using a walker to get back and forth from the sofa to the restroom, but still had some strength and would help us along with baby steps. The doctors at Cleveland Clinic put her back on a steroid because they thought maybe that was what was causing her to loose strength.  So she went back on that a few weeks ago and while it helped her a little, it didn't seem to last too long.

They hired a full time nurse to be there with her, but family still is alternating visits with her and keeping her company even when the aide is there.  But its nice to have someone there with her at all times, especially when you need to get her into bed and such.  The last few weeks she has been losing strength and has lost her ability to walk and hold herself up.  So now she is using a wheelchair to get around, and go back and forth to church and family events.

She went back to Cleveland Clinic on 9/8 for another MRI to see how the tumors ware looking.  With her type of brain cancer, they can't remove all the tumor because it kinda has fingers that are intertwined with her brain.  So they removed one a few years ago, shrunk the other and it was been stagnant for a few years, and the new one that formed had surgery earlier this year.  Ther MRI did not show problems with the tumor but from the effects of the radiation and treatment she went thru after her last surgery. The difference from the last MRI they had a few weeks earlier was significant, a fuzzy white cloud around her tumor that was growing.  They have a drug called Avastin they can give her with about a 60% chance it will help her get some of her strength back. There are some possible side effects, that may include bleeding of the brain, blood clots, and long term memory problems, just to name a few. So she and her family need to weigh the risks. The Tumor board at Cleveland Clinic has been reviewing her case since her first diagnosis so they were going to discuss and recommend what they thought was best.

We gathered at another uncles house yesterday for my cousins 12th birthday party.  Debbie and her husband Jim came a little later.  As soon as I saw her being pushed in the wheelchair I almost started to cry. She looked so scared and vulnerable as she leaned towards her weak left side.  She laughed and the men pushed her over the hump into the garage joking that she didn't know she was on an amusement ride.  She laughed a little before gazing back into the darkness again.  She would have moments of normal conversation scattered with moments where you weren't sure if she was understanding anything, then right back to answering your question when you asked it of her.  Damn that cancer, sucking the life and zest from my sweet wonderful Aunt.  I know she was so frustrated that she wasn't able to move about on her own and keep focused on what we were all talking about.  Of course, neither could we really, but we tried to keep the atmosphere light and happy.

When they got ready to leave, we all hugged and said we'd see her later.  I walked over and gave her a hug and told her I loved her and I would see her soon. She said she loved me too and I noticed a tear in her eye.  I squeezed her hand a little tighter and we talked about what she would have for dinner at the BBQ place (she likes brisket).  She kept ahold of my hand for what seemed like 5 minutes and just kept looking at me.  It broke my heart, I didn't want to let go.  I so wished I could help her in some way. I can't even imagine not being able to control your body and lose pieces of your mind a little more each day.  The last week, she has mentioned some things to her husband and around some of her sisters and my Grandma that lead us to believe she is feeling her journey may be getting shorter.  I choose not to share them out of respect for her, but it kills me to even think about her saying those things.  She feels helpless and knows that her days are limited, even if we all try to keep her focusing on what she still can do, I think her ray of hope is starting to loose its glimmer, and that is taking a bigger toll on me then anything I think.  We always say that we have to be strong for her, but she actually is the one being strong for us.  And to see her start to doubt that strength leaves an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know it's reality, but it is too hard to accept.  Too hard to imagine being the only outcome.

But thru it all, she keeps smiling, though not as much as before, but its still there.  And when she laughs you can see the sheepish grin that makes it seem like she is up to no good, even though Debbie has never done anything sneaky in her life. I just hope she keeps that grin, even if its only internal, at times she feels like she is losing hope. I will try to keep my grin if only to make her smile when she sees it.

My uncle sent out an email last night and he talked with her doctor.  They are going to try to get the Avastin started this week. It will take about 2 or 3 treatments before we may notice any improvement. The treatments are given every 2 weeks. The first one will be done at Cleveland Clinic and hopefully every other one can be done in her hometown.

Pray that these treatments will work and that Debbie can tolerate the treatments without the horrible side effects. She is a miracle and I know she is tired and frustrated, but I hope that the glimmer of hope she has held onto for the past 4 years comes back.

1 Saturday Cell Phone Mosiac

Hello all...its been a long busy draining week. I just realized I haven't posted since last week's mosiac.  wow that hasn't happened for a while. I'm hoping that this week is less stressful.  Fingers crossed.

So today was a fun day around the ladybug house.  It was a beautiful morning, started out kinda cool.  We started the day off going to the Farmers Market.  Got some spice mixes to make a few things.  We were walking past the gourmet cupcake booth and they had come Buckeye Cupcakes sprinkled with red and silver jimmies, I pointed them out to my husband and the lady asked if we liked Red Velvet Cake.  We said yes, and she gave us a box with a slice of their famous red velvet cake to eat as a victory treat when the Buckeyes win.  How thoughtful...those cupcakes looked awesome.  Chocolate with peanut butter cream filling and icing.  YUM.

After that we went to the local orchard to pick some honeycrisp apples. Its a tradition we have been doing for the last 3 years.  They are the best apples ever.  And by the time you fill one of the large bags, you have about 20 lbs of apples!  Not bad for $25!  If you keep them refrigerated or cool, they last until November or December.  We got 3 large bags full, and will give them to various family members and friends.  They normally are picked out in the first day at the orchard, so we get a lot.

Then we came back and got ready to watch Ohio State tame the Miami Hurricanes.  They won so that was awesome.  A few field goals when there should have been touchdowns, but I'll take the points and it ended in a win so all is well.  Did some laundry and now we are watching Alabama dominate Penn State.  Not sure if I'll enjoy any of the cake tonight or let the Mr. enjoy it all.

How was your Saturday, link up below then come back and click on the mosiac above to walk thru my day.

4 Saturday Cell Phone Mosiac

Hope everyone had a good Saturday. It was a beautiful fall Saturday here in Ohio, the temps were in the low 70's all day and today looks to be about the same.  Soo looking forward to fall weather...jeans and boots...can't wait!

We had a get together at a friends house yesterday afternoon so I spent some of the day getting stuff for my dishes that I was going to bring to the party.  A few trips to the grocery store and we were on our way.  They live in a small town and alot of the nieghbors were there.  It was fun...they had a bouncehouse for the kids...they were loving it.

I am going to be hosting Saturday Cell Phone Mosiac for a while (thanks Ace!) so be sure to snap pictures thoughout your Saturday and hook up next week if you missed out this week.  I make my mosiacs in Picasa, but you can do it in any program.  If you need directions on how to do it, let me know and I'll email you directions.  Its fun to walk thru friends day and see how their weekends went.

Have a great holiday everyone...be safe and enjoy it with family or friends!

7 Weigh-In Wednesday

Good morning…time for the last weigh-in for the Down and Dirty Challenge over at Shrinking Jeans. I’d like to say I ended the challenge with a bang, however that would be a lie…and I’m not about lying. So here we go.

This week's change: +1.1 lbs

Challenge total: -0.4 lbs

I did exercise, but I also enjoyed some tasty beverages and not so calorie friendly food during Buckeye Retreat…which is just fine because I don’t do it all the time anymore. And I won’t continue it, if I do then I’ll be right back to where I started, 35 lbs heavier then I am now. And that would suck. Big time.

I have been doing good with my C25K training, which starting today I am just calling running. I got up to doing starting with an 8 minute interval last week but never could get up to 2 of them, I was soo winded. The girls suggested trying to cut back on the length of both intervals, and decreasing the walking instead of increasing it like the plan said. I started this on Saturday when we ran and it worked much better, I finished the whole 2 miles in under 30 minutes.

So starting with my next run, I’m going to work on 4:1 intervals and see how that goes and work my way up from there. Maybe once I get to feeling more comfortable, starting shooting for more mileage each time. That’s exciting!