Shoes

Recently I have gone out on two separate occasions with the intent of buying some shoes for work. Normally I wear kitten heel, black pointy toe shoes to work, because I drive a lot they are more comfy than high heels.

But do you think I can find shoes that fit this description, that I like??

On both shopping trips I have come home with a pair of shoes, but not the ones I went out to get!!

Came home with these:

... which I'll probably wear to work anyway, and these:

which are Ipanema's (Gisele Bundchen) and I could't resist!

Last night we went to my Step class' Christmas dinner, it was nice to catch up with everyone dressed in normal clothes, with make up on and without the red face that accompanies every class! Tonight I think we're staying home - might be nice to have a DVD night and get to bed early - I need to catch up on some sleep.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

How is it possible...

How is it possible that I can go to gym this morning, have indigestion and feel exhausted because insomnia is rearing its ugly head again, and STILL beat my effort from last week on leg press?

After that though my legs were shot so I changed my next two leg exercises at the last minute, to something a little easier than front squats (which I was dreading!). Oh well, I guess with very little sleep its ok to slacken off occasionally :)

I've been very down in the dolldrums this week, and sleeping issues are starting to happen again. Not happy!

Anyway, I got my hair cut on Saturday, and got a lovely purple slash of colour down the left side. She's layered my hair quite heavily, so that when I tie it back for gym now, the pony-tail is about as thick (or thin!) as my finger! I'm trying to grow my hair because OH likes it long. But I dont like it now with the layers, and I think it wont be long before I get it all chopped off into a bob again.

We're surviving the wild storms that have hit Brisbane lately- we seem to be in a really good little pocket on the southside that misses the worst of it (touch wood!) - its still raining though, and we had some wicked wind on the weekend. Our driveway is just littered with debris, bark, tree branches etc. The really good thing though is that I haven't had to remember to go water the veggie garden! AND the rainwater tank is super full!

Only 19 more working days til Christmas - yahooo!!!!

Staying strong, and hormones

Thanks for all the suggestions re my fish dilemma! Looks like thai fishcakes are the clear winner - will have to give them a go this weekend. Although OH is not a big fan of thai flavours, so we'll see how we go.

I'm having another fantastic week this week and staying strong, despite being hugely hormonal. PMT has hit big time, and aren't I just miss-cranky-pants! I spent the whole day yesterday scowling. Its not so much that I'm having mood-swings, for the last few days I've pretty much constantly been in a foul mood.

BUT - I have been training my arse off! Yesterday did a PB on leg press (woohoo!) and this morning, (although I almost talked myself into staying in bed) I did an fantastic cycle class. We've had this substitute cycle instructor for the last few weeks, and he does things a little differently. He doesn't tell you how hard you should work (ie the others tell you that the tension lever should be 8 out of 10 etc) - he just tells you that "if you feel like it - PUT SOME MORE ON!!" - so you can work as hard or as easy as you like.

This morning after the class he told me that I had awesome power. I left gym feeling all chuffed with myself! LOL!

I've also been really pleased with myself that I've been eating totally clean all week. The last two nights I've had to do some SERIOUS self-talk to keep myself away from the Lindt dark chocolate that's in the fridge. I have to ask myself "will you really feel any better AFTER you eat it?" "Will it really taste as good as you think?"... NO! I also could have done with a glass of wine last night, but I didn't cave in! Go me!

Fishy

I'd like to eat more fish. I like fish that is really mild in taste, without that "dirty" spot that they all seem to have.

Yesterday I decided on a whim to have tinned pink salmon with salad for my afternoon snack. One girl at my work seems to have this every day for lunch, and it always looks nice. So I thought I'd try it. After I dumped the salmon on top of the salad I started to have regrets. The first few mouthfulls were ok, as long as I paired a morsel of salmon with something strong tasting, like a bit of cherry tomato. Then I struck something crunchy - a bone ...shudder... ICK! Almost gagged then and there.

So I ate the rest of the salad, and dumped the salmon. Bleurgh, wont be doing that again. I felt sick all afternoon just thinking about it!

I used to like Basa, until I found it that its Vietnamese Catfish. After that, every time I tried to eat it, I kept mentally picturing whiskers. So I dont eat it anymore.

I can stomach tuna in small doses. Barramundi is ok until you strike one of those "dirty" patches that all fillets seem to have. Dont like smoked salmon. Have tried to cook fresh salmon fillets, but its too strong in flavour - again - yuk.

Anyone got any ideas or suggestions?

I've had an awesome week this week, I've trained hard, done 6 cardios and 2 weights - just gotta fit in a chest/tricep workout this weekend and I'm done. Food has been spot on this week too, which I'm super happy about! Now I just need to be consistent, and keep it up. Cant wait to start seeing some results!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend - we're having a low-key one - I'm about to go weed the veggie garden!

Spoiling myself...

Look what I got! I just fell in love with this Guess handbag at Harbour Town yesterday, so I had to have it! It was on sale too, so there was no way I was going to walk away without it :) Its a little small for everyday use, but good for going out. Last night we went out in the city for some drinks so I had to take the new bag with me - I even kept it on the top of the table all night so I could keep looking at it LOL! Sad aren't I?

I had a great girly day shopping yesterday with one of my closest girlfriends, a long lunch and lots of retail therapy - long overdue!

I'm having some blood tests tomorrow - one of them is a glucose tolerance test which I've had to eat a diet high in carbohydrates for the last 3 days for. I'm feeling a bit bloated from all the carbs I've been eating, but if you dont do it apparently it can cause a false test result.

Anyway I'm off to get dinner organised and go look at my handbag some more... :)

Check out the shiner...

Isn't she a beauty!!!

This is my knee this morning, after I took a rather embarrasing stumble at work on Thursday. I was out at a customers site, walking back to the car. My (male) boss was walking behind me, and there were two tradies sitting having smoko - they had a front row seat for my spectacular stack!

I slipped on the driveway (no it wasn't wet, I'm just a klutz) and went sprawling... ended up looking like a bit of a contortionist but managed to land rather heavily on my right knee cap - ouch.

Of course I got straight up and started laughing it off - "oh THAT?? Naaaaah- doesn't hurt a bit! Dont be silly, I'm fine, REALLY!" and started limping to the car.

All the while my knee is screaming and felt like it was burning. SHAME. So embarrassed! I've been using Arnica to bring out the bruising, and its starting to go a little yellow around the edges already, so thats good.

This afternoon I'm having another massage - cant wait. Hoping she can really get into my shoulder and loosen it up some more, and also I'm suffering DOMS all over from a super effort at the gym this week. Cant wait to see a little more arm definition come back, I've missed it.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

Buns...

I love it when you train legs and then for the next few days you feel like you've got buns of steel... unfortunately its only a feeling, my buns look more like jelly than steel at the moment!OMG my butt is so sore today, after my awesome leg session yesterday. I switched a few things around, and boy am I feeling it. Also tried out the Dumbell Iron Cross for legs and shoulders, good to try out new things. I love training shoulders, its my fave.

Last night I had an awesome 7 straight hours sleep, ah it was heavenly! When I got up this morning, OH said to me: "Wow - you actually look refreshed! Did you sleep?"

Hopefully the dark circles and bags under my eyes are starting to shrink!

I had 4 nights last week without sleeping tablets, and while I was a bit sporadic with sleep, I felt like I was finally getting somewhere. But then I had a dreadful night on Sunday night, so I reluctantly put myself back on half tablets. Its just a matter of getting a routine established I think. I'm trying to get back into taking my glutamine, as I feel that helps a bit too. I think the worst thing is the fear that you wont be able to sleep - once you've lost that confidence that you can fall straight to sleep its hard to get it back.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to thrash it out in a cycle class, Thursday morning cycle is always a good one. My goal at the moment is consistency and re-establishing routines; and I have to say it feels good. I felt fantastic when I left gym this morning, and this is the feeling that I need to focus on. Cant wait to start feeling my clothes get a little looser!

A good week...

I've had a good week!

I sleeeeeeeeeeeeep! Whatever it was seems to be out of my system, my sleeping patterns have been improving every night this last week. To the point where on Friday night AND last night I slept 7 or 8 UNINTERRUPTED hours - and I cant tell you how amazing I feel! Now I've just got to do it without the sleeping tablets. Last night I only had a half, so I think I'm on the mend. YAY!

I also trained 3 days straight last week - go me! Suffering some big time chest DOMS now though, even though I only lifted piddly little weights :( Thats my punishment for not training for a few weeks... although at the time I DID think that trying to sleep was more of a priority!

I did have some upsetting health news this week, but I'm not going to go into that just now. Nothing life shattering, just a little upsetting.

Yesterday I went to the INBA Nationals, I think its the first time I've been to a comp where I didn't really know many people competing. It was a HUGE turnout - I couldn't believe how many competitors there were! For the first time I actually enjoyed watching the guys too, some of them were real showmen - good to watch, especially the open classes.

Got to catch up with Sue, Carolyn and Eleni again, and also meet Kristin and Kerry! What a great bunch of ladies to spend an afternoon with...

It was also good to catch up very briefly with everyone else - the venue was quite jam-packed with people though, so it was hard to spot the familiar faces in the crowd!

Oh yeah - I must post some pics of our veggie garden - we have actual cucumbers, and zucchini (as in the vegetable bit, not just the plant anymore)! So exciting, and the amount they grow every day is astounding, - cant wait to eat it!

Sleep Glorious Sleep

Hallelujah! Last night I got a decent amount of sleeeeeeeeeep~!

I've been at my wits end this week. Not being able to sleep because of stress or anxiety is one thing, but 3 weeks of insomnia for NO APPARENT REASON has been driving me up the wall.

I even caved in and went to the GP and got some very mild sleeping tablets. Which did nothing. I hate taking medication like that, so believe me it was a last resort.

I have had three chiropractic adjustments this week, and I also tried acupuncture. I wasn't totally sold on the acupuncture, it was a chinese lady who told me I had too much "fire" in my system, too much acid. She said if I sort the acid out (ie go on an alkaline diet for a month) it would sort out the sleep situation. I've kinda thrown her suggestions out the window - I'm all for natural therapies, but I think a big part of it is believing in it. And I didn't believe her.

So I took some suggestions from my chiro on board, he said we need to break the cycle, so he told me to get "bombed"!!! And it worked to a point - I slept for 5 hours straight on Wednesday and Thursday nights. But then I woke up at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep.

Last night the 5 hour thing happened again, but I was able to get back to sleep - and slept until 8am. I cant tell you the relief I felt!

Today I went and had a deep tissue massage of my back and shoulders, and it feels amazing. They have a floatation tank there which I'm going to try next time, it sounds heavenly. Apparently an hour in the floatation tank is equivalent to 4 hours of REM sleep.

Psychologically I'm working on letting go of a few emotions. I'm setting myself some new goals, and the main one is getting back to my happy self, which is something that's been missing for the last 6 months or so. I'm also going to work on letting go of the pressure I've been putting myself under, and just go with the flow. Getting myself back to the gym is also high on the list of priorities. The last 3 weeks my training has been either sporadic, or non-existant.

So wish me luck that my sleep patterns are on the mend! Its amazing how having a good nights sleep can make you feel like a new person!

Awake is the new sleep...

...at least it is for me anyway.

I'm cursed with insomnia lately.

Its been an issue now for two weeks, I'm so sleep deprived that I dont know what to do. Its taking me at least 2-3 hours to fall asleep. Then I cant seem to stay asleep for any more than 3 hours. Once I wake up, it takes me another hour or more to get back to sleep.

The stupid thing is, my mind is calm, I'm relaxed. I'm not stressing over anything (other than not sleeping, that is) - it seems to be a physical thing. Its like, I'm simply too physically alert. The lights are on in my brain, and although I can easily still my mind, I just can seem to slip under into sleep. The longer this goes on, the more frustrated you get - then you start tossing and turning, cant get comfortable, get more frustrated, get upset...

I have tried meditation, I start to nod-off while I'm doing it, but then go to bed and just lie there for hours not sleeping. I tried counting backwards. I have got some herbal insomnia tablets, I have tried drinking myself to sleep, and muscle relaxing techniques... why cant I sleep?!

I went to the naturopath yesterday, she thinks its a reaction to some herbal remedy she gave me last month. She believes I'm sensitive to alcohol (which is highly concentrated in the herbal liquid) which would explain why when I do drink wine etc, I feel the alcohol coursing through my body. I just assumed that everyone got this - apparently only about 1 in 1000 people experience this. So this is effecting my liver function, which is also not helping my sleep situation.

Whatever... I just want to sleep.

Last night I was sooooo tired, and the neighbours rudely decided to have a party. Lots of "doof-doof" music. We put the air conditioner on to drown out the noise, and I also put in ear plugs. This time it only took probably an hour and a half to fall asleep - but then I woke up again at 3am when the A/C went off - it was so hot, and then couldn't get back to sleep again.

So now its 4.40am, I've had 3 hours sleep. Today we are going to the Amberley Air show, I dont know how I'm going to make it.

Sorry for the whinge.

Ugh

Feeling very tired and emotional lately, I haven't been sleeping well at all. Last Sunday night I got 3 hours, Monday night got 4 hours, Tuesday 5 hours etc - I was on a roll and by Friday night I had worked up to 8 hours sleep - bliss!! OH thinks its a bit strange, but hey - I dont deliberately NOT sleep, I'm just having so much trouble dropping off lately.

Despite the tiredness, I still managed 4 days at the gym last week, and had a really clean week food-wise. I had a few aches and pains though - on Thursdays cycle class my lower back was pinging, and my right knee was hurting. Then on Friday morning at Step my lower back was still hurting a little. I tried to take it a little easier, and stretch, but it didn't help much. I dont know what I've done to it.

Come Friday though I was knackered (as you would be on so little sleep) and so decided on a whim to crack open a bottle of Moet that I've had sitting there for AGES. I'd been saving it for a 'special occasion' - but that never seems to happen, and I'd never ever tasted the stuff before, so I thought 'bugger it' and opened it. I dont drink much anymore (it really makes me feel ill lately) so by the second sip I felt quite giddy! I could feel the alcohol coursing through my veins - I cant believe I've turned into such a cheap drunk! Well, not cheap on Moet, but you know what I mean! I finished the bottle off on Saturday night, and felt quite disgusting for doing so - I felt drunk but in a horrible queazy way.

I'm still not sleeping well this week - as witnessed by the staff at the specialist centre where I went yesterday morning - at 7am, for an appointment. Turns out I got the date wrong, the appointment isn't for another two weeks! D'OH!

And then this morning I accidentally put black eye-liner on my eyebrows (I thought I had picked up the brown eyebrow pencil) so I had to go wash my face because black eyebrows aren't a good look!!

I think I need a holiday!

You know you're getting old when...

...you get excited about kitchen-ware purchases!

I've been down in the dumps all week, so on Saturday OH and I went shopping. He got a new mobile phone (Nokia E71) and I got some kitchen stuff from a Kitchen warehouse near us.

We were like kids in a toy store - I couldn't believe how much cool stuff there is in a kitchenware shop! OH got some new drink shaker bottles (for protein shakes etc) and he was quite obsessed over a juicer, and some potato slicer/V slicer thingy - he never cooks, so I dont know why - I think he just likes gadgets!

I bought a new chopping board, my old white plastic one has needed retiring for ages now, so I bought a spiffy new bamboo one, very similar to this one: AAAAAND I got a new frying pan - its a Scan Pan 32cm 'saute' pan, we opted for that one over the regular 'fry pan' because the saute pan came with a lid and had slightly deeper sides.
I cant believe how confusing it is to buy a good quality non-stick fry pan, we stood in that shop for about an hour, quizzing the staff on this one or that one, picking them up and comparing... OH is good at this kind of stuff! So now I have a super-duper pan that should last a LONG time.

Apparently all this time I have been doing the wrong thing by my old non-stick fry pans. Apparently Olive Oil is one of the worst things you can cook with (in terms of wrecking your pan) because it has a fairly low 'burn' point. Its better to use Grapeseed or Avocado Oil instead, as it has a much higher burn point and wont leave a residue on the non-stick surface as much. Also, apparently spray oil is bad too.

I cooked a few things on the weekend (had to try out my new toy) and only used the smallest drop of Grapeseed oil - I was amazed at how the food just slid around the pan LOL!

I'm super tired today - I think I had about 3 hours sleep last night. I feel like a bit of a zombie.

I love Spring

It is such a beautiful day in Brisbane today, the sun is shining, and I'm actually wearing a singlet outside and its HOT out there! Summers not far away!

I forgot to post a pic of Shavez without his tail, this pic was taken not long after the op, so he still had his bucket on... he's going great now, doesn't seem to miss it at all, and that funny little "bunny rabbit bum" is just too cute!

Also, as promised, heres a pic of our new vegie garden, this was taken just after OH had completed it, before we planted anything...



And here's some pics from today - that is pumpkin sprouting in the background, and beside it to the left you can just see some little tufts of carrot. In the front is zucchini and cucumber...

And here's some snow peas starting to climb the wire...

We've also got tomato and lettuce starting to sprout... . So far the celery and capsicum have yet to show any signs, I have my doubts that they will now.

Beside the vegie garden we've got this great big mulberry tree - it grows like crazy, OH is constantly lopping it back, but right now its laden with berries, I've picked a few - they are delicious, but now I'm wondering what I'm going to do with them! Might have to do some internet research on what I can cook them into...

Well I'd better get back out there and enjoy the sunshine, might go wash the car soon - enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Busy!

I was Wonder Woman last weekend, trying to fit everything in! Life just seems to be getting busier and busier for some reason, or maybe I'm just getting old and not adapting well to fitting everything in! Anyway, hence the lack of blog posting.

The weekend just gone was a blur... late Friday afternoon I got my groceries done, then had a Naturopath appointment which ran late, then I went straight to a Partylife Candle Party - dinner ended up being crackers and cheese and dips... not good, but it was that, or starve!

Saturday morning was housework and washing, and then we had to head to Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast for a wedding... which we were late for, but luckily the bride was traditionally late too so we didn't miss a thing! After that we had to go check in to our accommodation - we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Coolum which was just gorgeous - we got a great deal on Wotif and scored a King suite!! The weather turned out to be spectacular too... then we headed straight back to the wedding reception at Twin Waters... didnt get back to the hotel until 11.30pm - very late for us early-birds!

We didn't even get a chance to enjoy the resort facilities either, because after breakfast we had to head straight home because of Fathers' Day. So Ma and Pa came over and had a cuppa, and we showed off our new vegie garden, which is sprouting now after 2 weeks, which I'm very excited about! I must remember to post a pic so you can see!

Then after M & P left we had about an hour to ourselves before we had to head to OH's parents place, and then out for dinner with them.

Phew!

So after a lot of crap food over the weekend, I was feeling VERY bloated and horrible on Sunday night. I feel a lot better now that I've got a couple of clean eating days under my belt. I've got leg doms today after I changed my leg training session again yesterday, and my triceps are screaming nicely after Monday's session too. This afternoon I'm going to take my poor neglected doggies out for a nice walk, might try to convince OH to come with me.

And I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend this weekend!

Late night humour...

One of the many things I love about my other half is that he can always make me laugh. Sometimes, he makes me chuckle when he's not even trying... I'm sure this wont be funny to anyone but me, but here's what happened anyway:

Last night OH went to bed around 9pm, he was pretty tired. I stayed up to watch this strange show on SBS called "The Mighty Boosh", which my TV Guide appropriately described as "like The Goodies on acid"... very accurate description, but I kinda liked it... this is not important to the story, just a piece of trivial information for you. :)

When I went to bed after this, I crept quietly into the bedroom as I normally try to do, and as I approached the bed, OH turned on the bedside lamp and sat bolt upright. Then he leans over his side of the bed, and peers at the floor. Up and down, left and right, he is clearly looking for something on the carpet.

I said "whats the matter, what is it?" remembering that a couple of nights ago he had to squash a spider that had found its way into the room.

He says nothing, but looks up at me with wild eyes... and a look of utter bewilderment and confusion on his face. Then he looks at the floor again, even leaning over to peer under the bed.

Again I say "Whats wrong, whats is it?"

And he says "There's a fish down there"...

I fell apart into giggles, that took me some minutes to contain! He promptly went straight back to sleep!

I was still chuckling about it this morning, and OH had a very sheepish laugh about it himself.

***************************************************

I'm really glad to have my mojo back with regard to training. I missed it. I'm into my second week of training hard and tightening up my nutrition, and I feel much better. I'm even getting out of bed early with no problems anymore. Maybe I just needed a bit of a rest?

Tomorrow is leg day and I'm incorporating some burpees into the session. I dont normally do things in the gym that draw attention to myself, so I'm a bit apprehensive about doing these, especially as I know I'll be gasping for breath afterwards!

My calves are suffering some really bad DOMS at the moment, that's what I get from not doing Step class for so long! My finger is also still numb from when I crushed it in the door jamb last week, but somehow I avoided getting any bleeding under the nail. So hopefully I wont lose the nail, fingers crossed eh?

Sooky-bum

I've been a real sooky-bum this week - lots of emotional stuff, coupled with hormones and not enough sleep in the last two weeks is catching up with me.

I think if I could catch up on sleep, the world would be a much nicer place! Yes a bit of it is my fault from staying up a bit later to watch the Olympics (and I'm a sucker for watching any of the gymnastics - to the point where you forget what time it is) but we've also had neighbours having mid-week parties (HOW RUDE!) and dogs barking, as well as some personal stress at the moment, which means my brain wont stop churning when I go to bed.

Last night OH was starting to come down with a bit of a cold, so when he went to bed he spent the entire night clearing his throat, or coughing. When he finally DID get to sleep, he was so blocked up that he snored... I ended up putting ear plugs in. Then at about 3am my cat decided to start howling in the hallway, and because he sounded like he was sick, I got up. (There is a definite difference between Connor's "I want some attention" yowl, compared to his "I dont feel well" one - other Siamese cat owners will know what I mean!)

So I tiptoed out of the room and very quietly tried to close the bedroom door - because it was dark and I was tired, I didn't realise that I had my finger resting in the door jam (opposite side to the handle), so as the door closed over, my finger got crushed... aaaarrrrggghhhh! I was hopping around in the dark, silently screaming "F**K!!!!!!!!" - and wondering to myself why I was trying to be so quiet - when every other bastard in the house had kept me awake all night!

Then I had to go clean up cat vomit, and go back to bed with a throbbing finger. So I had me a little pity-party right then and there.

Quick reality check: this is probably what its like when you have kids, except it probably happens quite regularly. Get on with it.

So I got up at 5am and went to step - and burned 744 calories. So there.

Stumpy…

“Stumpy” is Shavez’s new nickname :) Who knew that a dog could cope so well without his tail? I had visions of him falling over because he’d lose his sense of balance, but apparently that’s more of a cat thing. Dogs, well, its more for social signaling. Now when he wants to show he’s happy, he’s just going to have to learn to smile more, or wiggle his new “stump” LOL.

Both OH and I have calmed down considerably since last week, particularly since Shavez seems to be back to his old self. Well, as normal as a dog can be with a big plastic bucket on his head. He has been getting spoiled rotten of course, which has set off some jealousy from little miss Elke – when we brought Shavez home from the vet on the day of the amputation, she growled at him all night! I wondered if she didn’t recognize him without a tail :0 I’m doing my best to shower them all with affection (cant leave the cat out either can we?) in the hope that they will all start to play nicely again.

We had a nice weekend, we went to a friends wedding at Sanctuary Cove on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, and quite emotional too because the groom spent most of the ceremony in tears (of happiness!!), which set off the bride and the entire gathering – not a dry eye in the house! It was nice to get frocked up too – I bought a new Cooper Street dress for the occasion, OH was most impressed (he loves it when I dress up) – wanna see?
Yesterday I caned my legs at the gym, so as expected, I wasn’t able to walk properly today. It felt good though, its nice to get back into it after a little break.

Thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments of support over our beautiful pooch too – very much appreciated!

Vet update

We took Shavez back to the vet on Monday and had the bandages removed. Unfortunately because he'd been licking the bandages so much, they were wet through - which meant that the wounds hadn't healed properly from being wet. Also, the bandages had stuck to the wound, which obviously made it very painful to remove. We had to have OH hold him in a headlock, I held his body, while the vet tried to cut the stinking bandage off.

I have never heard a dog scream until that point, and I never want to hear it again. He screamed at the top of his lungs, and it seemed to go on forever. Then the poor bugger had to have an Elizabethan collar put on to stop him from excessively licking his tail.

The last 2 nights none of us have slept, poor Shavez not only has to contend with this E-collar, so he bumps into everything, but he's been in a lot of pain so has cried non-stop for 2 days and nights. Its heartbreaking, since there is nothing we can do for him.

This morning his tail was looking worse, the skin was going blue, the black spots were getting bigger, so OH took him back to the vet, and the decision has been made to have his tail removed - tomorrow.

The vet seems to think that this is the best solution and will heal much easier due to there not being so much stretching of skin. And hopefully it stops the spread of any further cancer.

Exercise has been a little sparse this last week - I managed to do a weights & cardio session on Monday, and 25 minutes on the cross trainer tonight. Hopefully once I'm able to get some sleep I will have the energy to train again. Eats have been on track though, so I guess that's something.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Bad News

Its bad news from the vet. They took a biopsy of the tissue they removed from the back of Shavez's tail, and its turned out to be a malignant tumour.

We go back to the vet on Monday afternoon to get his stitches out, and also to find out what we can do. Basically I think we have to wait and see if it grows back or if it has spread. Of course, our animals are like our children, they are so much part of the family - we dont want to think the worst, but its hard to keep the fear out of your mind. I'm finding it difficult to stop getting emotional about it, there's been lots of weeping this week :(

Time for an update!

This is a bit of an update/rambly post about nothing much!

Hmmmm ok so I had a bit of a light bulb moment last weekend. The last few weeks its been a bit colder than normal, and I’ve struggled to get out of bed at my normal 5am. Its cold, its dark, and I just didn’t want to get up! At my old job I had to be at the office at a certain time, so I trained at 5.30am because of this. For some unknown reason, when I started my new job (6 months ago) – I never changed my schedule. So I've suddenly realised that, because I go visit customers and drive around all day, I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn any more to fit in my training. Derrrr.

So now that I’ve had that little revelation, I’ve been getting up at 6am instead, and getting to the gym for 6.30. Much more civilized. Its also not as dark or cold. Brilliant! I’ve also decided that I only need to go to gym for weights or cardio classes, since we have a cross trainer at home. So I’m doing 3 mornings at gym, and 3 mornings of cross trainer in front of the TV in the comfort of my living room. Niiiiiiice.

The other thing I’ve realized is that I’ve always classified myself as a “morning” person. Truth is, I’m not. Out of habit I have forced myself to be a morning person, but the reality is, it takes me ages to wake up properly and I’ve usually got puffy eyes for the first half hour. I also tend to grumble words rather than have actual conversations at 5.30 in the morning. Bright and chirpy I’m not. In the evenings, although I SHOULD be tired because I got up at 5am, by 10pm I’m forcing myself to go to bed – because I’m just not sleepy. So that's been my other 'revelation' this week.

Last weekend when we had the dogs bathed, the dog-wash lady found a sort-of fluid filled sac underneath Shavez’s tail. For the last 2 years, he’s had a sore/spot on the top of his tail near the base, about the size of a 50c piece. He licks it until it bleeds, so its been ongoing with the vet for the last year. Antibiotics make it go away, but then it keeps coming back. Anyway, so with this new “sac” we took him straight to the vet. They were completely unconcerned about this new growth, they were more concerned that the spot on top of his tail had come back AGAIN. They started throwing horrible words around like “tumour” and “cancer” and “biopsy” etc. They did say though that the worst case scenario would be that he loses his tail.

So poor Shavez, 12 years old and never had anything more than an injection in his life, had to go under the knife on Friday. They completely removed both the new growth and the gland spot on the top of his tail, and we’ll have the results next week sometime. OH was pretty freaked out, he took the day off work so he could stay home with Elke (she stresses when Shavez isn’t there – she becomes Houdini) and also so he could be close in case he had to rush up to the vet. Poor Shavez was a bit dopey last night! He looked totally stoned! They’ve shaved his tail and bandaged it, so he has this Lion’s tail with a fluffy tuft of fur at the end LOL! Today he’s back to his old self, but very whiney. I suppose it must hurt, the poor puppy. At least if you’re human you can have panadol to ease the pain!

Keep your fingers crossed for him! Here's a pic of him enjoying some 'treat' time in the house the other night, destroying an empty milk carton:

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of meeting Pip! It was lovely to meet her and hear all about her experience at the Gold Coast Half Marathon - I'm in awe of anyone that can run for more than 5km! Pip is such a lovely person and has some really great goals for the future! I felt all motivated after our cup of tea!

Finally, we have decided to get cracking with the house renovations. We've been putting things off and not doing much lately, mostly because OH is stuffed and hasn't wanted to spend his weekends working on the house. But we've really got to get our buts into gear, so today we got stuck in and finished one of those jobs that's been waiting to be done for months.

I was the official helper today - we put the stainless steel wire on the stairs - I attached all the swages to the ends of the wire - go me!! Here's the before:

And the after:
And the finished product from a distance!

Right! I promise I wont leave it as long next time so you wont have to read so much rubbish all in one hit! (that's if you made it to the end LOL). Have a great night!