Pics of the pups

Just to make everyone smile. :)

Last night we gave each of the pups treats. Shaggy finished her bone in record time, but little Scooby took much longer to eat his. (It took him a few minutes just to figure out what to do with the thing!)

























Once Shaggy finished, she was anxious to steal Scooby's bone, but to her great credit, she didn't! She waited him out, probably hoping that he'd give up on it, providing her with an opportunity to pounce.

So she waited.




















And waited.




















And waited.




















Finally, Scooby finished, leaving a trail of bone crumbs and pieces for her to lap up. She scarfed down whatever bits he'd left behind and spent the next hour plus sniffing the entire living room floor for more bits. :)

I was very proud of my girl last night for not aggressively stealing his bone (even though I knew she wanted to).

Just another night

I've posted here, on FB, and elsewhere about my long-term and chronic insomnia problems, but I try not to whine too much because, frankly, no one likes a whiner. :)

Last night was a typical night for me. I went to bed later than normal because I was at the Flyers game, and due to the tv broadcast schedule it was a later start time.

Went to bed at 12:00
Still awake at 12:30
Fell asleep sometime shortly after that
Woke up at 1:00
Woke up at 1:33
Woke up at 2:12
Woke up at 3:00
Still awake at 3:34
Fell asleep sometime shortly after that
Woke up at 4:24
Woke up at 4:53
Woke up at 5:25
Woke up at 6:04
Alarm went off at 6:26

Yup. Just another night in Theia World.

This is what a bad dog looks like

Sure, she looks all sweet and innocent, but don't let that fool you. Lurking inside that fluffball exterior is an ornery, misbehaving, stubborn jerk!

(But I love her dearly!)

This morning for the second time in less than a week, Miss Shaggy managed to escape from our yard. Keep in mind that the entire back yard is enclosed by a 6' wood stake privacy fence. Somehow, Shaggy is finding small openings and either chewing or breaking her way through. D keeps blocking or fixing them, but she finds another way out.

Last week, D found her and Scooby in the neighbor's yard, just hanging out. This morning, after a long walk and some playtime, D let both dogs out for some Vitamin D in the sun. After 15 or so minutes, he opened the back door to let them in... but only Scooby came in. He grabbed their leashes and ran out front to find Shaggy. Within a few minutes, apparently, she came trotting down the street -- from the direction of the MAJOR road, unfortunately -- and broke into a full sprint when she saw him and Scoobs. But instead of running to him, she ran past him and went straight to the front door. When he let her in, she ran to her water bowl and drank it dry.

All's well that ends well and all... but this cannot continue! We would be devastated if anything happened to our girl. Or any of our babies, for that matter.

Speaking of which, Mikka has come upstairs on her own a few times. She doesn't stay long, and she runs back to the safety of the basement when she sees the dogs, but at least she's making progress!

MP Quote of the Week

"I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism. And I have a communications degree." ~ Sarah Palin

Ummm, what??

Oh boy

What did I just do??

I received an email today from one of my favorite running stores. They are starting an ambassador program where they will select and feature six runners while they are training for the Hamptons Marathon in September and raising money for a charity of choice.

I applied.

I probably won't be selected, but the fact that I applied is pretty major, considering the fact that I tell anyone who will listen that my marathoning days are over after that one painful day in June 2005. The few times I've attempted to train for a marathon since then, I've always given up after just a few weeks. I see all those miles in my training plan and freak out. Or I miss one workout and think it's no use because I'll never be able to get all the training in.

If they pick me, I will have to go through with it. I will have to conquer 26.2 miles once and for all.

Very cool picture

The only bad thing about this picture is that I wasn't the one who was there to take it!

Last week the Flyers practiced at the outdoor rink in Central Park prior to a game at Madison Square Garden. Can you imagine being in CP and seeing a professional hockey team running their practice? How cool is that??

Ah yeah

149, baby.

You don't know how happy it makes me to see a 4 instead of a 5.

Still no swim last week. Another fail. Maybe this week?

Scooby Scooby Doo, where are you?

You're at my house!

Everyone, meet Scooby.

























On Christmas Eve my cousin told us her coworker had to give away his Shih Tzu, Snoopy. Of course, sucker Theia emailed her a few days later to ask for more information.... and a few days after that we met Snoopy (and changed his name to Scooby, of course). He and Shaggy get along pretty well with a few little issues so far, most related to either jealousy or food aggression. Scoobs is quick to growl, and we're working on curing him of that. He's not the alpha dog -- Daddy is! -- and he needs to learn that. He seems pretty content to let Shaggy be the dominant one on walks, going outside for playtime in the yard, and eating. But a few times he's definitely been aggressive toward her or us, so we'll have to keep an eye on that.

The only downside is that Mikka, cat #1 who has been with me for 8 years in March, is hiding in the basement. It's been nearly 2 weeks, and she just will not come up. If I bring her up, she runs back down at her first opportunity. Of course, if either of the cats move quickly, BOTH dogs get riled up and chase them... so Shaggy is not helping the situation! I just wish Mikka would give Scoobs a chance. He won't hurt her; he's just curious about her. Even little Maximus, who is a total wimp!, has come up on his own every day. He avoids the dogs, but he's coming up to be social with us and go about his regular routine.

I miss my girl, though.

MP Quote of the Week

''I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'' ~ Sarah Palin, as quoted by former City Council Member Nick Carney, after he raised objections about the $50,000 she spent renovating the mayor's office without approval of the City Council

- 1.8

I lost the extra weight I'd gained last week, so now I'm back to 150. While I'm relieved about that, I'm also kind of bummed that I basically wasted two weeks gaining and losing the same 2 pounds. Grrrrf.

Anyway.

Next weigh-in ought to be interesting. I was really sick last week and didn't have much of an appetite (nor the energy to work out), so I'm curious to see what a normal week brings after all that.

GOALS:
- Get in the pool one time. Just one little swim to get me back in the groove. That's not too much to ask, right?
- Lift weights 2x.
- Run 3-4x.
- Stay sane at work. Sad that this needs to be a stated goal, but it does.

Have a great week, everyone.

New design

What do you think? It was time for a change, I think. Plus I love orange, so I got that going for me. (Which is nice.)

BTW, can everyone else see the picture slideshow at the right? It doesn't show up on my laptop, but I'm not sure if that's just the firewall at work or if there's a problem.

MP Quote of the Week

"All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years." ~ Sarah Palin, unable to name a single newspaper or magazine she reads, during an interview with Katie Couric

Year in review ~ Year in preview

Another year has come and gone. How is it possible that the years go by so much more quickly nowadays? It seems like just yesterday that I was setting goals and looking forward to 2010... and now it's gone.

It's silly to say that 2010 brought a lot of changes, because what year doesn't? But there were some big ones for me last year, chief among them a new job and a new roommate. :) I started my job on February 1, 2010, and have loved pretty much every minute of it since then. I went from a job I liked and truly believed in to a job that's really a perfect fit. Best of all, I still get to volunteer at the old job.

The new roommate... Well, all I will say about that (again!) is I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Last year at Christmas my mother wrote in my card, "Life is a series of doors. When one closes, another one always opens. You may finally be standing in front of the right door." There was more (very mushy, Mom of the Year stuff), but how true those words are. I finally am standing in front of the right door, and I'm holding it as wide open as I can. Thank you, D, for giving up everything to be with me. I can never, ever express how thankful I am.

And now onto 2011. This is the time of year when we typically set goals, make resolutions, vow to change/lose weight/get healthy/be a nicer person/etc. I rarely make resolutions because I try to behave a certain way all year round. Resolutions seem to involve changing something and imply a negative.

Goals are another story, however, so here are some of mine.

LIFE GOALS
Stay healthy. Stay happy.
Be a good person.
Give more to charities.
Funnel more money into the beach house fund.
Appreciate all of my many blessings.

I think I do a pretty good job at all of those (except saving enough money!), but there's always room for improvement.

ATHLETIC GOALS
Break 3 hours in an Olympic distance triathlon.
Break 1:50 in a half marathon.
Break 50 minutes in a 10K.
Stay healthy. Stay happy.

+ 1.8

I am not pleased.