Hitting the floor

I've been hating the carpet in my living room and dining room for some time. On top of that, Buddy really did a number on it when he'd go tearing through the rooms. My allergist told me years ago that I shouldn't have carpet, so I've mostly been staring at my carpet in loathing. I have made a few half-hearted attempts at pulling it up, but I was a little afraid of getting aggressive. I was afraid that the carpet was glued down the way it was in the porch. I was afraid there would be plywood or worse yet, linoleum underneath. So, when my brothers were here for Thanksgiving, I asked them to pull up a corner. And you can see from the picture above that we struck gold. Already last night, I started pulling up staples from the padding, and I'll probably work on the tack strip soon. I'm getting very anxious to see what these rooms will look like with the hard wood floors.

I also hope I have hit the floor with my dieting and weight. I've had a bad couple of weeks. I've been very achy since the weather turned cold. Going up stairs has been a special agony. I've only been comfortable under the heat of my electric blanket. I suspect that it's arthritis. So, not only has it taken a toll on my exercise, it's also brought me down emotionally, and I gave up there for awhile. But, I've made an appointment to see my doctor later this week. Hopefully, he'll give me a prescription to help the pain (I tried just about every product on the market and nothing has brought me any relief). Also, if my doctor thinks that I need to focus on low impact exercise, I'll get a membership at the Regional Wellness Center, and use the walking track and do some swimming. I really enjoy swimming. I just don't enjoy being seen in a swimming suit.

So, now I have plans for my floor and for my body. I hope I can accomplish both.

Happy Thanksgiving and Toilet Seats

I'm having Thanksgiving at my house tomorrow; therefore, I spent today cleaning. Well, this morning, while I was running errands, I decided to get a new toilet seat for my upstairs commode. I have to make a confession at this point, and because of Catholic guilt and the guilt my mother programmed into me, I find this very difficult to say, but I must. For you see, I am not a very good housekeeper. Oh, I've learned a few tricks, like always have a place to store things so the house doesn't appear to be very cluttered, but when it comes to deep down cleaning, I fall terribly short of the mark. So, undoubtedly because of my poor housekeeping skills, the underside of my toilet seat upstairs was stained and looked nasty. I tried all sorts of things to clean it and nothing did the trick, so this is what led me to think a new toilet seat would be a good idea.

I wasn't at all concerned about the installation, I had done this before and it was no big deal. So, on one of my many trips upstairs, I decided to tackle the toilet...more like the toilet tackled me. I could not get those damn plastic nuts off to remove the old toilet seat. I used every kind of wrench and pliers I could find. It would not budge. Then I got the brilliant idea of unscrewing the lid and seat from the hinges, which would allow me to turn the screw from the top as well as the bottom. That was actually a pretty good idea, and it did give me more access. It also committed me to the process. On one side I was able to hold onto the bolt from below and put a screw driver through the hinge hole and unscrew it from the top. However, on the other side, the bolt just kept turning in whatever I was gripping it with. After about an hour of this knee killing pain, I decided to take Joey for her evening walk. That was just what I needed. I remembered the small pipe wrench I had in the basement but had never used. It took me quite a bit of work, and figuring. I remember "righty tighty lefty lucy" but when I'm doing it at weird angles, I get very confused. But I eventually got that sucker off there. I would have made the most hardened sailor blush if he had heard the language I used on that toilet seat. But my throne is once again intact and I am proud of what I've accomplished.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I can tell you that right now, I'm very happy and thankful that my upstairs toilet is once again functional.

Lost and Found and Diagramming Sentences

I've had a strange week this last week. I've been losing things. I lost one of my favorite earrings, and more troublesome yet, I've lost the ring I always wear. I haven't been able to find either one. I've been known to take my ring off while I sleep, but I've searched my bed multiple times. It's very frustrating.

However, I was able to find the weight I lost last week. That of course was easy for me to find. But then, I went about looking for it too. I've been having a rough time sticking to the diet for the last couple of days. Part of it is because I'm very achy. Part of it is that I'm overwhelmed with work. And part of it is that I've grown a bit tired of the diet in general. I need to get motivated again. Sometimes it's really hard to force yourself to be in the right state of mind. Will-power isn't all that's needed for this kind of thing. If it was, no one would have to struggle with his or her weight. It isn't about will-power.

On a positive note, I'm very excited about a new project that I've started working on. The Web Design and Development program is working with me to develop a sentence-diagramming program. This will essentially be an interactive tutorial that will teach students how to diagram sentences. Hopefully it'll help me teach my students relationships between words in sentences. So far, I've only written the first unit. It'll be interesting to see what we can develop.

Joey's dilemma

Mom and Dad got a new puppy this week. A Pembroke Corgi that they've named Heidi because she likes to hide under the apartment heaters. She's as cute as can be as you can see from the picture here. However, I took Joey to meet her yesterday, and Joey simply was having none of that. Heidi would constantly chase after Joey. Heidi is a VERY friendly puppy. And Joey would stand her ground for a short while and then she'd leap up into my lap in order to get away from Heidi.

Joey wasn't frightened by Heidi. I think more than anything, Joey was exhibiting annoyance. Mom and Dad's neighbor's adult Pomeranian was acting just like Joey when around Heidi. I think the adult dog recognizes when a dog is just a puppy, after all, we can identify that puppy smell. They, with their superior sense of smell, certainly can tell. And when around a puppy, they aren't compelled to establish dominance or submission as they would with an older dog. I noticed, there was no butt sniffing at all. There were a few times when Joey would growl, and almost pretend to snap, but mostly she spent the entire time avoiding Heidi. Thanksgiving at my house should prove to be interesting this year.

Yesterday, I checked my weight and I lost 4 pounds last week. I'm not where I was last fall, but I'm getting there quickly. I'd really like to be there by the new year. After that, I'll proceed on to my goal. I'm very goal-oriented, and I really enjoy progress.

Shortest walk in history

I knew what I'd see when I woke up this morning, but of course, little Joey didn't. I knew it would be warm enough to walk, so when I woke up, I bundled up and hooked Joey to her leash and we stepped outside to see the scene above.

We stepped up onto my drive and didn't even get a quarter of the way down before Joey turned around and literally high-tailed it to the back door. I coaxed her out to the drive once more just to make sure she was really telling me that she wasn't interested in a walk in this stuff. And of course, once again, she turned right around. I'm afraid that Joey's going to get tubby again over the winter, which isn't so bad, but we'll also have to deal with the pottying issue. She's going to have to learn that if she's going to go potty indoors, it MUST be in the basement on the cement floor, preferably by the drain. We'll have a little lesson in that later this morning.

Although I already miss our walk, I'll go out later this morning and scoop my very long drive by hand. It's not that cold and it'll be my exercise for the day.

Last night, I did my Zumba DVD. It didn't seem as intense as what we do in class, but I think part of that is that there's no one else seeing me. I probably don't lift my legs up as high and I'm sure I cheat more. However, it was exercise. I decided that just the two nights a week wasn't enough and since I'm not walking to school...I'm sure shoveling snow will be a more than adequate substitute to my walking though. I'd love it if I could get guns like Mari's. (For those of you not familiar with the lingo, that means well-developed, strong arms).

9:21 - I just came in from shoveling snow about 10 minutes ago. It's a very wet and heavy snow. Ken thinks we got about 6 inches, which sounds right to me. In that hour I cleared 3/4 of my drive. I have a very long drive. Don't get me wrong. I have no intention of shoveling snow by hand all winter, but why not do it for exercise now and then. Besides, it's not such a chore if you think of it as exercise and not a hell of a lot of work. It's all in perspective.

2:00 - Well Joey and I just came in from a short walk. Now that my drive and sidewalk are cleared and all we're getting now are some light flurries, she found it much more acceptable for walking. We had to walk on the street some and occasionally through sidewalk that hasn't been cleared yet. She did a great imitation of a bunny leaping through the snow where the walks weren't cleared. We only went around the block but that was enough.

While we were out I inspected my fallen trees. It looks as if I'm going to lose quite a few lilac branches, and this is just the first snow of the season. It'll be interesting to see how they look in the Spring.

By the way, I was very proud today. When I came in from shoveling snow, I eventually went down to the basement, and Joey had both pooped and peed down there right where I wanted her to go. Maybe it won't be as much of a struggle as I had envisioned this winter.

Bi-polar Day

Today started out to be miserable...nothing traumatic happened or anything like that, but it was one of those icky days that results from institutional politics, and I just get frustrated and down right angry.

I even had apocalyptic dreams last night...what does that say about my day!!

But then
my day turned around. Would you believe Zumba and some very good company did it? Not that kind of company, but the kind of company when you can be goofy and have fun. So what if I can't do the steps. I had fun and I really burned the calories...ok, the endorphins have probably kicked in, but I don't care what the source, I feel great. On top of that, I didn't come home and drink pop and eat brownies. I ate some carrots and drank some V8. I probably lost 5 pounds of sweat in the process. I have to remind myself to drink more water.

In addition to bad dreams. I've been forgetting my cell phone at school. I don't have any other phone. Is it just forgetfulness? I wonder what Freud would have to say about that? Oh, hell, I know what Freud would say about that. I need to make some time for myself and not be so accessible to everyone. I think that's pretty self-indulgent of me. After all, it's not like I'm a mother with half a dozen kids making demands on me. I guess I just need more "me" time than a lot of women. Maybe rather than analyzing and criticizing it, I should just do something about it. Hmm? Once I get caught up on papers, maybe I should insist on a weekend moratorium, no papers, no calls, just me doing whatever I please.

Orange and Balsamic Chicken

Yesterday, we celebrated Ken's birthday at his house. A large portion of my family was there and his sister Laverna was there as well. It was a good time and Ken put together a great spread. I baked him a chocolate cake Friday night. I wasn't feeling well most of Friday and we decided it was an allergic reaction to some mold I ran into. So, I baked the cake and that was about all I did. In other words, I pretty much left the kitchen a disaster. I'm not a neat cook.

Then today, I knew I needed to make some more ratatouille. It really has become a staple for me. But I ended up with quite a mess. So, rather than stopping there, I decided today, to try a new recipe Orange and Balsamic Chicken. Although it looks good, it was pretty bland. The more orange juice you can get into the bite, the better, but still I doubt I will ever make it again.

I've just scraped off the outer surface of the mess in the kitchen from all the cooking, and there's quite a bit left to do yet. I also have to get some grading done...I always have to get some grading done, but at least today, I have an extra hour because of the end of daylight savings time.

Here's the recipe for Orange and Balsamic Chicken. It came from page 19 of the November 2010 edition of Everyday Food . I put it on a bed of rice. Maybe that's where I went wrong. If you try it, I hope you have better luck with it than I did.

Ingredients
4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (about 1.5 pounds total)
Course salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 unpeeled orange cut into 8 wedges
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 450°. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large ovenproof skillet(I used a cast-iron skillet), heat oil over medium-high. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook until golden and crisp, 7 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and pour off fat from skillet. Return chicken, skin side up, to skillet and transfer to oven. Bake until cooked through, 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.
2. Heat skillet over medium and add vinegar and orange wedges. Cook stirring and scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, until orange begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter. To serve, return chicken to skillet and toss with orange and sauce.

Just the chicken alone makes 4 servings with 279 calories, 20.7 grams fat,and .08 grams fiber. That equals 7 weight watchers' points. It wasn't worth it.

More Zumba

Last night was my second night of Zumba. I didn't get any stitches, but I did trip over my own feet once. It was a really good workout. I tend to be very goal orientated, and that's not always a good thing. I think I'm going to stop worrying about the steps and move around however I can with the music. My purpose in taking this class was not to become a dancer. It was to get exercise and have fun doing it.

On the positive side of things. I did not eat brownies and drink pop afterwards. I drank water and chewed some Big Red gum, my personal favorite. Also, I was able to sleep. I tried writing this blog last night, but I was just too darn tired. But then, I do tend to get worn out by the end of the week. Although we'll be celebrating Ken's birthday, which is today, on Saturday, I am still going to sleep in. If it wasn't for the weekends, I don't think I'd ever get caught up on my sleep.

So Much for Zumba 101

Well, tonight was my first Zumba class. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, but the steps and the songs were entirely different than the video's. That's ok. I'll use the video over the weekends and snow days etc.

But boy was it a workout. I think the scale will show me 15 pounds lighter tomorrow. Hell, I earned 9 points in activity points at one go. I usually earn 1 point for every time I walk the dog for 20 minutes. This is going to be really good for me, even though I'm the biggest dork out there. At least Mari has a natural sense of rhythm. But I don't care dork or not. Someone's got to make the rest of the group look good, and I'm going to lose a ton of weight (which is just a little too close to reality than I care to admit), and I'm going to have fun doing it. Besides, maybe I will acquire the grace I've always been lacking.

And although I got some stitches in my chest and with one pelvic thrust something popped (it felt good afterwards), it wasn't too demanding. I'll take a couple of Tylenol before bed, and I don't think tomorrow morning will be too rough.

The only thing is, I rewarded myself with an 8 oz. can of Dr. Pepper and one of those fudgy brownies. Still, it didn't burn up the entire gain, but I can't do that every time I work out. Oh, and the brownies are just as good frozen as I thought they would be. Wednesday, I reward myself with a nice juicy apple.

On the positive side, I know I'll gain back tons of energy. I'll have to come up with projects so I don't get bored. I may just end up painting the house, or redoing the floor in the living room and dining room. Who knows?