dog – Sweat & Sparkle

Stop and Listen

This has been an odd week, very hectic and crazy at a time that much of the rest of the world has come to a standstill. I have ventured off my healthy path a bit, eating too much, guzzling soda like my life depends on it, but I asked myself yesterday just what I think I will accomplish by gaining weight right now. It’s quite silly to just not take care of myself because the world is a messed-up shitball right now.

I just got back from taking my stepson’s dog for a walk, and I watched him sniff grass and turn his furry little face up to the sun and take such pleasure in simple things. When he stopped to stare at a loudly singing bird, I stopped with him instead of impatiently yanking his leash and urging him to come on already. We stood in the warm, comforting sun and listened to that bird belt out her song like she was in Madison Square Garden with thousands of cheering fans.

No, we can’t stop the world or change a whole lot of the issues and problems, but we can certainly at least not add to them.

The world has enough assholes. I see them every day: people who are percolating in their own putrid venom, coiled up and just waiting to lash out at someone, never pleased unless they are making someone else unhappy. Rotting away a little more each day from the inside out, until their hearts and souls are empty, and they don’t even know it, or care, or understand that life doesn’t have to be that way.

I don’t want to be like that. I want to never stop enjoying the simple things in life. I want to add something to the world, not take something from it. I want to look at the challenges in my life and say “You’re on” and do my best to make it on my own, not blame others and expect others to fix things for me.

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I don’t bury my head in the sand and pretend there are no problems in the world around me. But even on a rough day, I have so many things to be happy about. I am still working, my husband and I actually enjoy all of this time together, we have a beautiful home, and all of us are still healthy. I am loved. That is a lot.

Now, no one who knows me in real life would say I am an eternal ray of sunshine, or that I always have a smile on my face. I’m not perfect, don’t pretend to be, don’t strive to be. But I do believe my life is 100% my responsibility. I give the power to manipulate and control my life to no one but me.

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So the world will keep ricocheting a bit wildly for a while longer. Complaining about it, bitching about it, raging over it won’t change a thing. What is in my control? My feelings, my actions, how I treat others, how I take care of myself. So I will get my focus back on those things and take a lesson from a wise dog who taught me today to not only stop and smell the roses, but stop and listen to the singing birds too!

Be Different

A week ago, I was bragging about barely surviving Spinning class. Today, I am working from home, watching incredulously as people mindlessly hoard toilet paper and wrestle each other to the ground for hand sanitizer.

Here’s my thing: why weren’t people washing their hands, disinfecting, and cleaning before now? Why does it take the impending doom of a malevolent virus to nudge people to do things they should have been doing all along? I see people tearing stores apart to sniff out the last bottle of Clorox wipes or hand soap, and I really have to wonder, why weren’t you already using those? Cleaning products and hand soap should not be foreign objects in your home, people. Now go wash your hands.

At first I was very resistant to working from home. All my files are at work, and I didn’t want to drag a bunch of crap home. And, admittedly, I am not a fan of change unless I am the one orchestrating it. But so far it’s been kind of nice. I can sleep in a lot later, since my commute has been reduced to walking across the house, and a later alarm means more snuggle time with my husband (and my jealous cat).

It also means I have zero excuses this week. I can work out during lunch, before work, or at random times during the work day. Who’s going to stop me, the work-at-home Gestapo?

Yesterday I walked my stepson’s dog 327 times. Okay, maybe it was only two or three times, but it felt like a lot. Today I will do a real workout, though, you know, actually follow along to a certified instructor on a DVD, or hit the gym, if it’s open.

It’s sad to me to see so many people hell-bent on making an already bad situation even worse. It’s not bad enough there’s a virus to contend with. People have to make it worse with drama, panic buying, hoarding, selfishness, instead of showing any concern or compassion for the people around them, sharing this planet. This happens with every crisis, from hurricanes to illnesses. True colors come out loud and clear, and more often than not, they are far from pretty.

So be different. Be better. If you have extra hand soap, offer some to your neighbor. Check in with elderly friends, relatives, and neighbors. Don’t buy more than you need. Leave some for others who also need it. If you have more than enough, share.

Be informed, be logical, be prepared, be safe, and be a good person.

Duty Calls

I have a confession to make: I did not work out last night. Not one second. I thought about it, if that counts for anything. But I get so little free time anymore that I just wanted to hoard my evening with my husband and stepson, and I simply wasn’t willing to give up a second of it.

This morning I had to meet someone at the house, so I didn’t have to be at work until after lunchtime. I decided to make up for the skipped workout last night, and I took my stepson’s dog for an extra-long walk. We even jogged here and there, trying to burn off some of his energy! We played with a large stick he discovered and instantly claimed. When I picked it up and spun in a circle with it, he eagerly raced in circles with me. Anything to tire him out! He’s like a toddler on crack and energy drinks.

The weather was perfect this morning, chilly but not cold, with a crispness in the air that felt so good. It would have been a perfect day to head to the trails and just get lost in the woods for a while.

Alas, work called, and I knew I had a meeting at my office coming up. So the hyper dog, now panting and at least a bit less wound up, and I headed back home so I could get ready for work.

I met up with my husband for lunch before heading to work, which made it even harder to leave. Lunch flew by, just chatting and having fun. I didn’t want to leave. My bad-influence husband tried to persuade me to play hooky and just escape back to the house with him, which was incredibly tempting, but I had to give him a few kisses and then head to the office.

So…I didn’t work out as promised last night, but it worked out pretty well for the dog today!

And now, duty calls, and I am wanted in a meeting. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Mutt

I had set a goal last week of working out at least 20 minutes each day. Believe it or not (I barely believe it myself), I stuck to it and made time each day to do something, as long as I was moving.

After skipping weigh-in last week, I weighed in this week to a nice loss. Then I kept it up over the weekend and had a very active weekend: yard work on Saturday and then a long hike with my stepson’s dog on Sunday. I can’t wait until the weather finally cools off here, and we can hit the trails and not worry about heat stroke or melting.

Since it was just me and my four-legged partner in crime, I decided we would jog a little here and there to burn off some of his extra energy. He loved it, and he got wound up like a hyper puppy, even showing off a bit since he is so much faster than me, darting what suspiciously appeared to be smug glances my way when he had to wait for me to catch up. I am still a certified cat person, but I admit to a soft spot for this stubborn, hard-headed, clumsy mutt.

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Our Trail Walk

Dog Walk Being the clever, efficient person that I am, I decided to kill two birds with one stone last night. I need exercise, and my stepson’s dog needs to go for walks, so why not combine the two? A trip to the park to stroll the trails seemed like the logical thing to do.

As I was changing clothes and braiding my hair, my husband said he would go with me. I was surprised. He works outside in the heat all day, so I didn’t think he would want to go back out in it. I was happy he was joining us.

We set off with our four-legged sidekick, who was mesmerized with every squirrel in a ten-mile radius, like he hasn’t seen a million squirrels in our own backyard. We weren’t quite sure how he would react to other dogs or other people on the trail, but he did really well, curious but not aggressive, sniffing everything in sight so hard I thought his nostrils would turn inside out, but chugging along, wagging his tail, tongue happily hanging out.

My husband started teasing me that I was lying about the water fountain I swore was coming up, but I wasn’t making it up. One of the reasons I love that trail is that there is a water fountain at the trail head, and another one about 1.5 miles into the trail. We stopped there to fill up the dog’s water bottle (yes, we carried equipment and provisions strictly for the dog, like good little well-trained human servants).

By the time we reached the parking lot, we had covered 3.5 miles! My goal had been 1.5, so it was way more than I had planned for the evening. Mission certainly accomplished!

Later, in bed, my husband told me that he had fun on our walk. I hope we do it again soon. I liked sharing the trail with him, walking with him, laughing at the dog’s reactions to the world around him.

I got the week off to a good start and can’t blow it now. My goal this week is to work out at least 20 minutes each day the rest of this week.

Another goal is to take time each day, even if it’s just five minutes, to do something just for me. I need it. I am getting worn down, crushed by the take-take-take all day long: constant interruptions at work, questions, can you do this, I don’t know how to do that, adapting to rapid-fire changes at the blink of an eye. Then I get home and have a never-ending to-do list there, too.

By the time I sat down last night (after our walk and after making sure the dog had a big bowl of water, making sure my cat knew I love him and am not cheating on him with the dog, cleaning up the kitchen after dinner since my husband cooked, assuring my stepson that his minor stuffy nose and barely perceptible cough are not fatal, setting up the dog with a blanket and a chew bone, and folding clothes from the dryer so I could toss in another load), it was well after 10 PM.

I finally sank down into the soft, blissful comfort of the sofa, and snuggled up with my husband, our little ritual in the evenings that we look forward to. It was time to let the day’s stress melt away, relax, unwind…and even if there had been an earthquake, a flood, or another natural disaster, I absolutely was not getting up again until bedtime, dammit!