The Den and Attic

Maybe you remember the big, and heavy, and very old window AC unit in the Den?

Well it is GONE, baby, gone!
[picture to be added soon hopefully, can't figure out why i can't upload anymore, maybe it's a 24 hour limit]

Do you remember the metal cover over the hot water pipes in the den? They used to be a sort of ugly, dirty, beige color. Well not anymore. Now the metal covers and the walls are painted in Benjamin Moore's Polar White. It is a white paint with a faint hint of lavender. In the picture the lavender is more obvious than in real life, kinda odd...but I LOVE it! [picture to come soon]
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Pooper's attic (aka Stamp Room) is painted his favorite color: Blue! I think he prefers a darker blue in general, but for this space, the light blue works best, don't you think?
[would help to have a picture i know, but blogger won't let me add anymore today]




poodle

Just Need the Faucet and Pendant Lights

Well, ok, so maybe that's not ALL that's needed, but today the marble island top went in, last night the granite countertops went in - with some significant heavy lifting I should add - and it is looking like a house you could ALMOST live in now. Of course, it still needs some toilets and other important fixtures installed, but hey, the kitchen is coming together!

Finally, the granite countertops and marble island top are INSTALLED!!! (Please ignore the dusty hand print on the island cabinet. Everything is still very dusty. And just like this Blog, the house is a work in progress!)

But before it was installed, some very strong men had to haul one of the slabs through some deep snow and slippery ice. This piece weighed over 400 pounds!


So much for blogger let me upload 4 pix. I did, then I deleted two and tried to upload two more. No go. Looks like a third entry. When this house is done, and we have internet at home, I'll be able to figure out how to do this. But I don't have time on library hours and user time limits....

Here's a view of the k/d looking over the microwave in the island.

The sunroom gets a new tile floor, nice and light.


Another post to follow soon, I hope...
Poodle

Getting Closer

Our GC didn't make his goal of having the house 95% done by Christmas, but we are slowly getting closer and closer!

I will post two entries today so I can hopefully upload 8 pix. I don't know about you, but i am ready for the holiday rush to end!

In this picture the granite company makes a template of our counter tops to take back to the stone yard to cut our slab to fit. He used little thin pieces of wood sticks - sort of like paint stirrer sticks, but not exactly.


Here is a picture of a gorgeous antique brass and crystal chandelier I found on Craigslist for a steal. This picture doesn't do it justice, it has 8 arms and is really very pretty. I hope it will brighten the front foyer in shining light.

In this picture one of the reno crew (one of 5 Johns, believe it or not!) installs the ceiling spot lights in the kitchen.



And finally the green granite tiles I purchased for the master bath are being cut to fit the shower floor. What a job!



I will post some more EXCITING pictures of the granite and marble counter tops installed in the next entry.

Poodle

More pictures

Greetings from Panera Bread - gotta get online wherever, whenever I can. Being at Panera's brings back memories of writing my book a few years ago. Most of it was written here, in this same Paneras. Seems like a lifetime ago, when in fact it was only 4 years ago. But coming back to the present, the all time consuming project - The House.


The house is about 2/3 done now and beginning to look liveable. The house seems to have a water curse though. I've already told you about the leaking chimney, but now that the den is all newly framed, insulated, dry walled, hardwood floored, and primed with paint, would you believe the walls in there leaked after the last rain?!? No, it never leaked once during all those processes, and yes it rained several times while all of that was being done, nope it had to wait to leak until all those were done.


And the sewage line backed up - twice during this project. Thank goodness we had the forethought to have them add a one way valve to the sewage outlet at the beginning of this project. You wouldn't believe the huge clump of tree roots they pulled out the pipe! Eewww!

The guys who did the dry wall install were pretty talented. Here is a picture of one of the dry-wallers walking down the steps in STILTS!

Here's a picture of the refrigerator being delivered. Luckily everything, even the Super Lazy Susan fit through the front door without a problem.

And trying to pick out paint colors was very challenging - especially for the kitchen/dining room. As you can see in this picture - I basically went through the colors of the rainbow - small areas painted in different colors on the wall - before finally deciding on a color by Benjamin Moore called Ice Cube Silver. I know my painter doesn't think we're going to like this once it's all done, but of all the colors we tested I definitely liked this the best. And it's not green - everyone wants a green kitchen now it seems.

That's about all for now. Blogspot only lets me upload 4 pictures per entry anyway. Hopefully the next pictures will be of the kitchen cabinets, counters and appliances all installed, the hardwood floors sanded and sealed, the tile floors in the bathrooms and the paint done! Wouldn't that be the bees knees?

Dad is finishing up his trip Down Under and is sad to see it coming to an end. But for his birthday he wants a book about his next travel adventure - Argentina! Something to look forward to!

Until later,
Poodle

Falling exponentially

Hmm, my blog entries seem to be falling exponentially on a monthly basis. That must be because I am getting busier and busier.

First I will give you the promised updates on Dad's trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Evidently he's quite the social butterfly and is getting invited to peoples homes and out to dinner, and even proposed to. Yes, proposed to! Dad fell in love with Fiji and a Fijian woman proclaims her love for Dad by asking him to marry her. So far, Fiji seems to be the highlight of his trip. Of course, he has yet to get to Australia. Today he is in Ridges NZ, that's the farthest south he'll be on his trip. So far, he's had a private wine tour, a weeklong cruise in Polynesia, and he heads to Sydney on Sunday. Hopefully we'll get to see some pictures soon. Must be some technological problems with internet connections on the other side of the world preventing us from getting any pictures, yet.

And since my last post we've celebrated our nephew, Topher's, birthday. I've gone to MI and back for some apple cider and the Twilight New Moon movie release.

My two beautiful nieces in Michigan at Uncle John's Cider Mill the day after the opening night of New Moon.

And still looking for that job...

Speaking of jobs: enter The House Project. Things are getting exciting now! The cabinets arrived, the cabinets arrived! The delivery occurred yesterday, a sunny, cold day. The delivery guys had the best weather for moving the HEAVY and BIG boxes of kitchen cabinets. I will try to post pictures before I leave the libary today.

The hardwood floors are installed (despite the radiators causing all sorts of technical difficulties - connections are too short to fit the wood underneath the radiatos, but our plumber eventually solved this headache with some "nipple" attachments), but not sanded or sealed yet. Hope this is ok. Our general contractor says this is ok.

The painting has started, well the priming at least! And I have been scouring Craigslist for dining room and living room furniture. I'm enjoying doing this (on my little phone-for-a-computer) more than you'd think. Luckily, craigslist's webpage is mobile-browser friendly and I can zip between posts pretty quickly. Now, if the posters would just reply to my inquiries!

Now to download some pictures. Wish me luck.

Poodle

Insulation and dry wall with pictures

No time to write, just pictures. Hopefully they speak for themselves. By the way, Dad is having a blast on the other side of this planet!
Take care,
Poodle
Den dry walled

Master bedroom insulated:

Kitchen/Dining room insulated and dry walled:

Living room partially insulated:

Attic insulated and dry walled!:

Poodle

And He's Off

To Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, that is!!!

Dad left yesterday for his long dreamt of and planned for trip Down Under. I'm so jealous! I'll keep you posted as I get his updates. I hope he sends lots of pictures of coral reefs, the outback's bush and stars. In fact, about the only thing I hope he doesn't send is any recipes for Wallaby Stew he comes across.

On another subject, we thought we lost Simba this week. Simba is the cat Poopers rescued about 4 years ago when he was morbidly obese, had a nasty skin disorder and was a day shy of being euthanized. After living with Poopers for a little while he got all fit and trim and treated with cyclosporin, put on a special diet for his skin and he was like new. But Tuesday night he wasn't eating, had vomited and started falling over, so I took him to the emergency veterinary hospital. That hospital is excellent and they saved his life. He was hypothermic and hyperkalemic and had/has bilateral kidney stones, ureteral stones and bladder stones. Poor Simbers. Now he's feeling good enough to eat, but he has a bunch of lines and catheters hooked up to him and he still has those stones in him and they could cause infection or other obstructions even lower in the urinary tract or again in the ureters. So we'll have to take it one day at a time. I think animals are like people in that their true personalities emerge when they are sick or down on their luck. Simbers was a sweetheart who only wanted to snuggle. Even when he was dying he wanted to give love. He's a Love. Hopefully he'll be home with us soon!

Wow - all the big decisions are practically done with the house now. Yesterday I bought the tiles for the sun porch and back entry/powder room and that only leaves the tiles for the backsplash that I need to pick out yet. But all the electrical is in - for ceiling fans, bath vents, outdoor lights, built-in ceiling stereo-speakers, floor heat for the bathrooms, and the cat-5 things (for cable I think??) are installed. Insulation goes up today, dry-wall / sheet-rock next week, then the floors, then the kitchen cabinets, then the kitchen appliances, then the paint. Just when I thought it would never end, it proves to be moving right along!

Hairy (aka Little Shit) just turned 1 year old in October. I was lucky one day and actually caught him napping - a rare event to ever find him asleep - he is always going at 100 mph. He's using his pink octopus as a pillow in the picture of him asleep. Less rare is to catch him in trouble - this time trouble was tearing up and gutting his pillow-bed. See why we call him Little Shit?







Hasta luego,
Poodle

Toto-ly too much info!

Arghhhh!

I'm sure you can think of a friend, neighbor, or relative who you listen to as she talks and you think to yourself, "Please God, don't let me ever get that obsessed with anything the way she is with - xx." And as you politely stand there and listen to her go on and on, your eyes glaze over with boredom. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I've become that way over toilets! You would be surprised and perhaps alarmed by the amount of information I now know about toilets, the Buy America Act of Congress, and the country of origin labelling practices of toilet manufacturers. I've spoken to people in Seattle, Georgia, and California about toilets. And I can only say, you can research something like this until you have the volume of knowledge that would earn you a doctorate from graduate school and still not know if you are making the best purchase. That said, I am going to keep what I have, after buying 3 toilets, returning two in order to get models that have a special "sana-gloss" finish, only to find out that two toilets from the same company, with the same style name, exact same model #, were manufactured in different countries and may or may not have the sana-gloss finish. Hence the Arghhhhh! You would not believe (ok, if you know me, you would believe) how close I was to calling the US Attorney General's office and the Georgia Attorney General's office over this. Get this, the two toilets I mentioned, are NOT made in the US, but do qualify for the Buy America Act!!! But in my own defense, if we are putting in 3 brand new bathrooms, tile floors and all, I don't want to put in toilets that need constant plunging or replacing in a year or two. I want them to last forever, conserve water, and never need plunging!

Quick update on The House. Long story short, part of the house was flooded - AGAIN - when the work crew disconnected the radiators (picture open water valves here), charged the plumbing pipes and turned on the water. The water to the radiators gushed gallons into the masterbath, and maybe other rooms too, and flooded the downstairs entry way. The one ceiling that remained from the original flood, has now been demolished. We will make sure the contractor does not charge us for replacing that ceiling.

We had the roof replaced in 2008. Now the roof is leaking around one of the chimneys. More water is pooring into the house. Called the roofer, he checked it and said we need a chimney person to fix it. Called our chimney sweep, he said we need a mason to fix it. Called 4 masons - they are all overbooked with work, or just had a baby, or some other reason they can't get out here fast! Meanwhile, the leak is getting worse with each rain - and the attic is getting wet - AGAIN!!! Arghhhh #2!

However busy masons are now, fence companies are begging for work. In the last two weeks I've gotten calls from two fence companies I had come out and give us estimates for the fence work, asking if they could work with us on a price to do the job!!! Ha, they are a few weeks too late.

I think I found the tiles we'll use in all of the rooms to be tiled now! A terra-cotta (reddish-orange) tile for the back-entry/powder room; a green marble-like granite for the master bath, an onyx-like porcelain tile for the hall bath, and a white porcelain tile for the sunny sun porch. The rest of the rooms will be hardwood. If my contractor had been sitting down when I told him the price I got for the green granite tile, he would have fallen out of his seat. He was shocked at the price, it is a beautiful stone! But I stumbled upon this tile and the onxy looking one (by the way, this onxy is creamy with white marbling, not black like a lot of onxys; I know, I know, I fell into the bland, beige and boring color I was belly-aching about a little while ago, but at least it is a pretty, bland, boring, beige color!!!) while out looking for a bathroom vanity. I had been looking at quite a few vanities on craigslist, ebay, homeclick, overstock, etc, etc, when I drove by a shop and decided to stop in and see if they had anything I liked. Bingo! I bought the vanity - it comes with a granite counter top, undermount sink, backsplash, and a mirror all together and I loved it immediately. And it really helps having it all come together as one, that means I don't have to find a sink to fit the counter, to fit the backsplash and a mirror to go with the vanity. It's a package deal and comes delivered, already assembled, rolled in bubble wrap and styrofoam in one box. Can't beat that!

Poopers and I have been feeling under the weather the last couple of days. There's so much H1N1 going around here now we were worried that was what we had, but I am feeling much better today so I doubt that was it.

And I have to tell you I have the best sister in the world! She used her frequent flyer miles to buy me a ticket to Michigan. I'll be there when the next Twilight sequel hits the theaters - I am looking forward to seeing that with my nieces. And hopefully we'll be able to get some apple cider and doughnuts while I'm there, too!

Stay healthy and be well!
Poodle

House renovations with pictures!

I was at the house today without any of the construction crew so I could take lots of pictures. This first one is of the new fence with a seasonal display of mums and pumpkins I placed beside the new fence in celebration of autumn. Some losers in the neighborhood have since stolen some of the pumpkins. It's a post and rail fence with a hardly visible green wire mesh stapled to the back side of the posts. I think this type of fence is also called split rail. Looks kinda country doesn't it? I hope it keeps Hairy confined!




This next picture is of the new ceiling frame in the kitchen slash dining room. That pipe-looking pipe passing through the right of center of the picture is the old central vac piping. It will obviously need to be repositioned agains the outer wall. Where it is in this picture is where the old wall was between the old kitchen and dining room. The wall has been removed to make one big kitchen/dining room. I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!!!





In this picture you can see the plumbing and shower floor (odd shape and all) for the new "Master Bath." I think a more appropriate name for this itty-bitty bath is the Junior Bath. Oh well, it's a helluva lot better than the old one. I like how our contractor described the old master bath: Not even big enough to change your mind it that!



Here is a picture of the "Hall Bath" with the new and very heavy enamaled cast iron Toto tub.

In this picture you can see the plumber's equivalent of an electrical panel in our freshly thermosealed (painted white is what that looks like to me) basement. I called it a medusa of water lines the other day and I think I hurt his feelings. I didn't mean anything bad by it. I guess I have to remember this project is their work and they take pride in it being well liked by the home owners.

Well I took a thousand more pictures, but I thought this was a good amount to share today. Please let me know if you have any feedback on any of the construction progress so far. Poopers and I are taking our contractor's opinion on practically everything. Because we don't know what is the best (fill in the blank) when it comes to AC, plumbing, framing, etc, etc.

Until next time,

Poodle

Where to start?

Thanks for your comments - I think. Why are you all still posting anonymously? It's not like this blog is popular and everyone will know who you are - no-one will know, you're safe here. Post away - be brave - identify yourself!

So, just got back from an animal health conference. Heard lots of good speakers. But, as usual, ask two experts for their opinions and you'll get three answers. No kidding. I went to two lectures on the Canine Influenza virus given by two different experts and their info couldn't have diverged more. One said it's a huge problem. The other said no problem. One said it primarily infects dogs housed in outdoor kennels, like racing greyhounds in the south. The other said it is really only a concern for dogs housed indoors where they are within 20 feet of other dogs.

Of course, I was worried about poor Hairy (you may know him as Little Shit) the whole time. He was being kenneled with other dogs while I was away. Would he get the Canine Influenza virus? Was he kept within 20 feet of the other boarding dogs? Probably. He's so little and when you pet him, his small size is made more obvious when you can feel how small his little bones are. His fluffy coat makes him look bigger than he is, and his Big Dog 'Tude makes him seem bigger too. But the guy at the kennel made the right call, when he said he has the Napoleon Complex of Dogs, aka, Little Man Syndrome. Evidently, little Hairy wanted to take on all the big dogs at the kennel.

But the best thing and the oddest thing at the conference were some key chains one of the vendors was handing out. They were little soft plastic dogs, that when you squeeze them some brown goo pokes out of their rear ends. I had to get two, for Poopers, you know! GROSS.

The weather is getting cold. In fact they had to close one of the major streets in the city today because of ice build up! So of course this made me worry about the house, and the pipes, and frozen pipes, and nightmares. Of course the plumber is working on the water lines so all of the radiators have been drained. I told them to get them working ASAP!

The new fence is up at the house now, too! Yeah! Hairy had a chance to run around and explore last weekend. And he didn't jump out! The fence is 4 ft high. But I think he has springs in his legs and he could easily jump over if he decided to try.

I almost forgot! I ran in the 5k run on the grass course the other weekend. I didn't meet my time goal, but it was fun, and the weather was perfect. I will definitely run on that course again.

Toto toilets anyone? Does anyone have Toto toilets? I could tell you so much, but I'll try to keep it short. First of all, let me tell you, evidently they are the HOT thing to have in your bathroom now. You can get the eco friendly dual flush type (one for #1, another button for #2), or the Drake or the Neorest with a washlet, etc, etc. Well, evidently this is a Japanese company. The Dual Flush toilet is made in China. (Thank you Terry for the warnings on the dual flushing toilets!!!) The Drake's bowl is made in Vietnam and the tanks are made in Mexico. I bought one of the Dual Flushing toilets for the downstairs bath with an ADA height seat (higher than usual), and two Drakes for upstairs. One of the Drakes (note: both had the same model number) had a sanagloss finish according to the sticker label, and the other didn't. I returned the one that didn't have the sanagloss. Don't want any skid marks, if you know what I mean, and the sanagloss finish is supposed to prevent that.

Ok, enough toilet talk. I suspect tiles will be next. What colors would you use in your high traffic entry/mudroom? Bathroom floors and walls? Sun room? Please let me know your opinions of ceramic, porcelain, stone, etc! ASAP!

Thank you!

And the countertops are...drum roll please...

After much agonizing, a lot of fretting, too many trips to too many granite and stone yards (think slaughter plants with a little less blood), reading lots of reviews, forums, and three home shows later, I finally bought our countertops today!

And guess what I got?

First a review: You may recall I've wanted soapstone. I love the look and warmth of soapstone. People would advise against it because it requires frequent maintenance - primarily oiling. I also love marble, but everyone warns against it because it stains so easily - due to the fact that it's so porous. But marble lovers also love Miracle 511 Porous Plus on their honed marble - prevents staining for years and years. Granite was a possibility mainly because of its relatively low maintenance requirements, but I couldn't stand the cold feeling from the shiney-polished surface so many granites have.

Enter - Black leathered granite!!! Yes, that is what I purchased. I think it has the feel and warmth of soapstone, without the maintenance requirement and it was much more affordable than soapstone (from any place other than the one stone yard that had it cheap, but was rated an F on the Better Business Bureau).

Here is a picture of the slab I bought today and the salesman is standing next to it:

Of course, it helped that when I walked into this huge granite yard today, it was the owner who asked me if I needed help and it also just happened that the salesman we met at the homeshow last weekend was eating (inhaling) his lunch. So the owner showed me some stones and must have been in a good mood, because he gave me a level II pricing for a level IV granite. Evidently the "leathered" treatment normally costs quite a bit more than the polished, shiney look.

Now, for those of you who are disappointed or even maybe disgusted by my pick, that's ok. In fact, I can remember the first time we went to a stone yard and looked at granite for the very first time. That was back when I didn't know what a "backsplash" was, muchless the difference between laminate, soapstone, corian, quartz, quartzite, granite, marble, cultured marble, leathered finish, satin finish, antique finish, honed, polished, etc, etc, and I didn't like black counters then either. Too dark. Who wants a dark kitchen? Not me! And then I read, touched, talked, drove all over creation, read some more and yes, I picked a black leathered finish granite for my countertops! And I'm excited about it, so in case you are like me and didn't like the idea of black countertops at first, that's ok.

(Officially, the color is called Steel Gray Leathered Granite. That is to avoid confusing it with any of the following black leathered granites such as: Absolute Black, Jet Mist, Premium Black, Virginia Mist, Nordic Black, Angola Black, Cambrian Black; I think you get the picture!)

Also, for those of you upset with my dark choice, you may get some relief knowing that we have 3 large windows in our kitchen, we will also have undercabinet lighting, and oh yes, we will be getting a white marble island top and white marble full height backsplash. All this white marble (with gray veining, or "movement" I think is the technical word for it) will add some depth and lightness to the room, too.

Now I have to send a follow up email to our kitchen cabinet / kitchen designer lady. She came out to the house this morning for "final" measurements. We will order our cabinets Tuesday! This is getting so exciting.

Enjoy your weekend. And hey- this is the time for renovating. There are some great deals out there - our granite price was great, but we also get a sink and faucet in our package, too.

Poodle

Fall is Here

Hello All and Hello Fall!

Finally! The house repairs / redo has officially started! The contractor started working yesterday.

Now the fun begins - I hope! I have read about so many nightmares with contractors, stone fabricators, etc, that I am holding my breath. But I'm feeling pretty optimistic that we found an excellent contractor - touching wood! I'll let you know if we experience any nightmares, you can be sure of it!

What ever happened to individuality? I swear to god, everyone is a wimp, wimp, wimp when it comes to decorating their baths. Baths are like cars today - they all must look alike. I drove all the way to another state to go to a tile store, because I was looking at "Bathroom" books at Barnes and Noble this am when a woman came up to me and asked if I was redo-ing a bath. Then she told me about her redone bath and the tile store she absolutely loves and I just have to go there because they have the best prices and biggest selection of anyone around.
Uhm.
Not really. And their selection of stones? Huge selection of, um, various shades of beige - not kidding, probably close to a thousand different shades of beige. But you can get 1 in by 6 in, to 18x18 in, to 1 in x 1 in sheets in any shade of neutral beige you could imagine! Everything was some shade of neutral. Boring!
I mean I was really excited to go there based on her description, I even brought my tile design book I borrowed from the library and pictures of tiled baths from the resort we went to on our honeymoon - which had a vibrant blue mosaic with a dragonfly designed into the mosaic.
But even worse than the limited color selection for me, was that every single stone - except their slate - was from China. I think even Home Depot's 99 cent per square foot porcelain tiles are made in Thailand, or somewhere other than China. What do you think? Should we avoid products made in China in reconstructing our house?

Enough about the house redo. Hablamos Espanol! I've been watching Sex in the City in Spanish lately. Haven't done too much reading. But am picking up some phrases here and there - aqui y alli. (??) En serio? = seriously? Si!

And for some reason eating lots of fnv's has been easy and very satiating the past few days. And I just sleep so much better when I eat a salad for dinner, and don't eat within 4 hours of bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime, the library will be kicking me out soon. Buenos noches!

Hasta luego,
Poodle

u heard it here first

Hello!

Remember back a few posts ago when I asked if any of you had noticed any changes at your local Walmart? Well, turns out Walmart is doing a national make-over, which includes some big hour long TV ad or informercial to air next week and I saw an article in TIME magazine last week about it, too. Guess they are really serious.

Ok, ok, ok, i think it might be time to get serious about the 10/day thing. Or to revise it. It is just not working. Maybe I need more guidelines or something. I was talking to my neighbor the other day about people we've known who have quit smoking, and what it was that FINALLY made people quit, for good. I guess I was kinda hoping this blog would be a force to keep me on track with eating better. So far no good. I don't really want this to be an all food blog, but maybe that's what I should do for awhile to see if it'll help. What do you think? Would you read and post comments if this became an all food blog?

As far as the learning Spanish goes, it's going pretty well with my latest project. I got the easy to read and hip book Twilight in Spanish from the library and I bought the English version so I can read them side by side. It is going slowly, but I do some every day. Por supuesto, at this rate I'll only be on page 4 by the time the spanish version of the book is due back at the library.

I also want to figure out why it is that towards the end of each of my blog entries, the paragraph spacing disappears, even though in the HTML version the spacing is present. If any of you have any ideas or helpful hints, please send them.

Exciting news! The permit came from the township office so our contractor will start work tomorrow and I need to order the kitchen cabinets this week!

In case you were wondering, I didn't sign up for FiOS - I let the promotion deadline pass. Hopefully they'll have another promotion once we move back into the house!

Until next time,
Poodle

Dinner with Friends

Getting together with friends, who I know read this, is interesting. My friend asked me if she would be a topic in here, almost as if she was hoping she/they would be...hmmm. I guess she already is, even though I haven't named names. We ate at a local restaurant, we were the first table to be seated and almost the last to leave. Obviously we had a lot of catching up to do. I'll leave it at that for now! Of course, she - or her husband - could send a post with their own comments about the dinner. Now there's a challenge, lets see if they take the bait...

I haven't mentioned the 10 per day lately. Probably because I haven't been very successful at eating 10 fruits and vegetables a day. That is a lot of food - especially when you're already full from eating cookies and pretzels, etc. But, today was different. I definitely ate 10 fruits and veggies today. I made some carrot juice. I NEVER thought I would ever drink carrot juice. But, surprisingly this is really very good. The first picture is the ingredients to make one glass of delicious carrot (and celery) juice.

The second picture shows the amount of juice and pulp you get from the 6 carrots and one stalk of celery it took to make that glassful of juice. The pulp is very good when mixed with pure horseradish and vegan mayo spread on toast! Yum!

The other veggies I ate today were in some leftover vegetable soup I made using the Vitamix (high speed/powered mixer) yesterday, and a huge green salad. If only every day could be so good! And not a single cookie today, though I did eat some cashews with some chocolate chips (vegan variety, of course!) for a sweet snack.

As far as exercise goes, it's definitely better now that I can finally run again! I feel a little guilty writing this in here, when I know Poopers, who is a true runner and competitive marathoner reads this and can not run at the moment, and will not be able to for some time. But, I know how important he thinks it is to exercise, so I'm hoping he'll be magnanimous about it for my sake.

There is a running club that is hosting weekly training runs on a grass course in preparation for an October race they are hosting. So far I've run in two training runs and it is great. Running on grass sure beats pounding the pavement! And last week I ran about a half mile in my five finger shoes before the 5k training run, with no painful calves or new blisters. And today I ran a full mile in them on the treadmill before switching to my regular running shoes for the final two miles. Yesterday I ran the 4 + mile loop around the neighborhood that I also call the Hilly Loop. And after the run I took a pilates class.

I just started taking pilates and I think it is good to add some variety to shake up my muscles, and yep, pilates does that! But the best part was after the pilates class the instructor gave me a private pilates lesson on the "machines:" one was called The Reformer and the other was called The Cadillac. I felt very honored to get a private lesson.

Since no one commented on verizon vs comcast after my request for help regarding FiOS, etc, I have a lot of research to do, and quick like. The discounted promotion ends this week!

Please let me know if you know anything about FiOS, good or bad, ASAP!

Until next time,

Poodle

Good News!

Exciting News! Poopers was riding the train home from a long day of work late last night and his right thigh started to burn and felt hot. He tried to extend his leg and it moved!!! Once he got home, he had to try it again to make sure it wasn't some freaky swaying of the train moving his leg, but I saw it, too. He could actually move his leg about 6 inches! This is good news indeed! Since there is a definite temporal relationship between his starting his Omega 3 fish oil supplements and a significant improvement in his motor control and sensation in his leg, I am going to credit the fish oil. Shoddy science? Well, what kind of science was it that caused the paralysis and atrophy in the first place?

It'll be interesting to see if he can reproduce the movement and extension again today. He is not looking forward to the burning/pins and needles that will likely accompany his regaining motor function and nerve conduction to the muscle, but I think he's thinking it'll be worth it, if it means he'll have normal use of that leg again!

I'm at the library and dealing with the headaches of modern technology. Since we don't have a printer or internet at home, I decided to come to the library to print off a cover letter and resume for a job I wanted to submit via email today. Thinking it would be a good idea to proof them on the printed page prior to submitting them, I tried to print them off. But wouldn't you know, the "upgrades" they installed on the library computers will not allow anyone to print emailed documents from them! Great. But it gets better. Yahoo also just activated some upgrades to their email accounts, and I couldn't attach those documents to them to send them in the first place. I'm thinking I'm not supposed to apply for this job today.... Remind me again, why I, who's someone who hates computers would ever wanna blog on one? Right, I thought I should learn this. Learning is not always fun, is it?

Speaking of learning. I found a way to learn some Spanish that's pretty cool. There are some movies that have Spanish language option and then I select the English subtitles. This way I can hear the Spanish and follow along by reading the English. I suspect some of you are way ahead of me on this little trick, but hey, I still think it's kinda cool, even if I did just figure this one out. I've noticed this technique for learning Spanish is easier with simple movies than with clever, fast-speaking, intellectual type of movies. Twilight, for example, was a great movie to listen to in Spanish. Any other Twilight fans out there??? Which was your favorite Twilight book and which do you expect to be your favorite movie of the 4 books? I can't wait for the second of the series to come to the big screen, any day now, right?

I've had some sad news from a friend of mine who has had a run of bad luck and major life changes all packed into a short period of time. I know she's not reading this, but I am sending her blessings and well wishes from here - positive energy (thoughts ARE energy) can only help her!

And Happy Birthday to all my friends and relatives who have birthdays this month! There are a lot of you!

Feliz cumpleanos (sp??)
Poodles

Feels Like Monday

Hello!

It is Tuesday, but it sure feels like Monday to me! Does it to you, too? Despite a low cloud ceiling and a chill in the air, Labor Day Monday was dry yesterday. My street was closed to traffic for a neighborhood block party for a few hours. Looked like they were enjoying themselves. What did you do this Labor Day? Please send a comment so I can be jealous!

After teaching yoga this a.m. I walked over to my local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Finally, they have free wi-fi internet access! I wonder if that is nationwide? Can anyone report from other states? Please send a post so we can all know.

Since all of the local libraries were closed all weekend for the holiday weekend, I went to Panera Bread to get online (for free, thank you Panera!) over the weekend. Found out they "kick you offline" if you've been hooked up for more than a half hour during their rush hour over lunchtime. So I didn't get to blog this weekend, but I was thinking of all of you!

But back to Barnes and Noble. I checked out their Spanish Language section. I was impressed! They even had some dual-language (english on one page, spanish on the facing page) books that I've noticed are extremely hard to find. And they had some top best sellers that were completely in Spanish; but not, unfortunately, the Twilight series. They had a huge selection of Spanish / English dictionaries. I've been looking for a complete dictionary that also has phonetic pronunciations and found a nice one, that is not too big/heavy, and has a laminated/sturdy cover for less than $12!! The same publisher had a larger/heavier dictionary and an envelope inside the back cover with some way to download their dictionary if you bought that one. I was tempted, but decided to go with the smaller version. I even found a book that had an ad in it for a subscription to a spanish magazine that comes with a monthly CD to help you learn Spanish. I haven't seen the magazine, but it sounded pretty cool. Have any of you seen it??

As far as exercise goes, I tried to go for a run on the sidewalk yesterday. Not gonna happen. My calves were still too sore. That really says something. I can't remember a running injury that lamed me for that long. When I ran very slowly the other evening last week, it was on grass, a much more forgiving surface. Have since discovered that the first time you run in those five finger shoes you should only run a half to one mile max for the first few weeks. Ha! Now they tell me...

So, coming up in a few days is Poopers and my second anniversary. He has to be one of the hardest people to buy gifts for. Please send suggestions - you can post them here, as he won't be reading this for a few days, since he is very busy at work. And I need suggestions!! Quick!! I already know what he is giving me. It's one of his favorite gifts to give me - a coin. I think it is a classy gift, and it's doubley good because it's something he enjoys picking out, too. But what should I get him?

Marble, marble, marble, I think I'm losing my marbles with all these kitchen counter top options. And I must say I think slaughter houses and stone importer/fabricator warehouses have a lot of similarities. It's no wonder there are so many layers of middlemen etc in the stone business (with their corresponding layers of increasing prices), it is a rough world filled with a lot of workers who are about as rough around the edges as their stones!

Happy Tuesday everyone!
Until next time,
Poodles

OMG - I have a follower!

Wow - you are reading and joining! I don't even know what it means to be an official blog follower (never done it myself). Maybe my follower will post a comment about what you have to do be a follower?!?!

Thank you!
Poodle

pain in the calf

Long time no hear, eh? Sorry about that. I could blame the lack of internet at home on my missing a few posts here, so I will. Can't wait til we get internet. Thinking about FIOS - both verizon and comcast are offering competitive rates for their new FiOS packages. Have any of you tried or been using FiOS? What do you think of your internet services or phone service in general??? I generally hate dealing with verizon, anyone have an opinion on comast?

Update on my lameness. Still lame. I'm beginning to think this is more than just from running in those funky five finger shoes. And I'm also wondering if some of Pooper's complications following his recent surgery could be related to vitamin and essential fatty acid deficiencies. Yesterday I was able to run again - though extremely slowly, and those of you who know how slowly I run normally would realize when I say "slowly" means it was painfully slow. And I realized I had a tingling in my toes and felt "flat footed" (the way cats with neuropathies or electrolyte imbalance walk in a plantigrade gait or stance) even when I walked, especially when I walked. And Poopers just had an EMG that showed he has minimal to no nerve conduction to his quads from his femoral nerve and an ultrasound of his femoral nerve showed inflammation (but it was not transected!!!). Needless to say, I will be going to the health food store to get some supplements. And we will be eating more Omega 3's (i.e. walnuts, flaxseed oils, algae derived DHAs), less Omega 6's, (i.e. less vegetable oils), and taking more B12 (for vegans this HAS to be supplemented)! It is odd how I just kinda forgot about the Omega 3's. I had been using flaxseed oil as the oil base of our salad dressing for a while, but then I decided to just use vinegar for my salad dressing, and bye-bye went my source of Omega 3s! Yikes!

Needless to say, with the painful calves, and I mean, painful, I have not done anything aerobic until yesterday. Other than how slowly I had to jog yesterday, mentally it felt good to exercise again!

In terms of the house repairs, it is really gearing up! I may not have been blogging these past few days, but I have been web surfing. I found the best blog with pictures of finished kitchens at, yep, you guessed, "finished kitchens blog." I'm most excited because I think, I hope, I found a source for marble slabs for countertop and backsplash that is affordable. I'm waiting for a call back from the wearhouse, to see if their add was correct. Hope it's not too good to be true! I've wanted marble from the beginning, but was advised against it by all the sales people, and turned against it by the price. But here's hoping that price is right!!!

Please post a comment to tell me what's going on with you! Just click the "0 Comments" link below! I need your help to keep blogging, and if you comment then I'll know you're reading...right?

Until next time,
Poodles

Lame!

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!

You would think I would know better than to go out for a run for the first time in new shoes expecting to be able to go as far as usual without getting sore or blisters. Nope! I am not that smart! I tried the new five finger shoes (see yesterday's blog) and my calves are killing me! And I have some doozey of some blisters, too. But I am still hopeful that they will be good for transitioning to barefoot running.

Did anyone else hear the health report in the news today that said that moderate to heavy drinkers tend to exercise more regularly and strenuously than their tea-totalling peers? Hmmm, this ought to get a response from Poopers...

Yesterday's 10/d went well and as you know I ran yesterday too. My fnv's from yesterday included: corn on the cob - 4 of them!!!, pine apple, bananas, red bell peppers (dipped in a delicious Tex-Mex dip I made using walnuts and cumin and chile powder), tomatoes and basil, and of course some fruit juice.

In yesterday's newspaper there was an article about ancient man's diet, I think it's also called the paleolithic (??) diet and how comparatively healthier man was back then. If I understood correctly the ancient diet consisted of primarily game meats, nuts/seeds, and vegetables. The article said that as agricultured grains and meats increased in quantity in the diet that man became less healthy over the years. Interesting. As Grandma would have said, "that's progress for you!"

I tried to do yoga this am, but it is really hard to stretch much of anything when your calves are as tight as a tick on a dog. Ouch, ouch, ouch! This is even worse than the soreness you get after going horseback riding for the first time. I can't remember ever being this sore from exercise - and never this sore in my calves. And this is with a good dose of ibuprofen, too. Suggestions? Please post them! It really makes me wonder how horses can get all new shoes (elevated heels, or whatever), go out for some exercise and NOT come back lame. It is really amazing how sore I am.

My dad mailed me an article from Smithsonian Magazine on Argentina. I am looking forward to reading it and need to do some more Spanish this evening.

Until next time,
Saludos,
Poodle

It's a New Day

Ok, so this weekend I was not very good with keeping up with my projects. Did not eat 10 fnv's per day, not even 5/day. Didn't do enough Spanish. Didn't exercise, and didn't blog at all. However, all was not lost; Poopers and I went to Sears and looked at kitchen appliances and found out they are going to have a big sale at the end of September. But not wanting to wallow in guilt I am glad it's a new week. Can start fresh!

This week is definitely starting better than last week ended! I've already run 3 miles, did an hours yoga class and have eaten 3 fnv's - and it's not even noon yet! But the most exciting thing is my new running gear.

Some of you know I was really curious about the woman who won the 5k road race held in Northport this past July, because she won it running barefoot! Then a little after that race I heard an interview on the radio about a guy who wrote a book about barefoot running and so I started walking Hairy (aka Little Shit) barefoot around the neighborhood. As much as I enjoy walking barefoot, I could not fathom running barefoot. There's too much gravel, broken glass and other dangers to feel comfortable running barefoot.

Have any of you ever run barefoot? What did you think?

And then I remembered the guy who wrote the book mentioned a particular kind of shoe that is helpful to transition to barefoot running: The Vibram Five Fingers Shoe

To make a long story short, I finally found a pair and tried them out on this morning's run. If they - and running barefoot - do all he claims they do to prevent running injuries then I will be very happy. I will tell you this much - they make you run on your toes! At least I don't want to land "flat-footed" on something sharp. But my calves were not happy with me this morning. By 1.5 miles they were burning and by 2 miles they were screaming at me to put my heel down on the ground with each step.

Do any of you have these shoes already? Or tried them on? What do you think of them?

This month is the also the month that weekly training runs in a park (not the one with all the recent rapes!!!) begin in preparation for a 5k race in October. The training runs and the race involve running through some streams. I'm hoping these new five finger shoes will work out for that - they advertise that they are good for water sports. I'll keep you posted.

Until next time,

Poodle

Introducing Little Shit

Hola!

So exciting! We met with the kitchen designer last night. She is very good and had lots of excellent suggestions. Looks like we'll be getting a maple wood cabinet with what's described as a contemporary design to the door. And the microwave will be the drawer type in the island, and we'll have pull-out trash bins - so no more having to triple check that the trash can is covered to keep the dog out of it!

Speaking of the dog. (Does my tone sound harsh? GOOD. Unfortunately my introduction of our dog Little Shit - that is not his real name, but it is his nickname for now - to this blog is not one I can be proud of.) Yesterday, as you may recall, I cleaned the house, which you know is my favorite thing to do just after running barefoot over shards of broken glass. And late last night, after a long day of back braking scrubbing and cleaning, and just as I was preparing to go to bed, I realized I had to put the clean linens back on the bed. I had just finished making the bed when Little Shit, who knows he is not allowed in the bedroom snuck in the bedroom while I was distracted helping Poopers. Just as I came back in the room, Little Shit jumped on the bed and proceeded to show me how proud of himself he was for sneaking into the forbidden room and urinate on the clean sheets! Right there in front of me - like he was waiting to show me! Pisser! Maybe someday, or another lifetime, I will be able to speak of this dog in my proud, high pitched, baby-talk voice again. For now though he's a little shit.

As far as the 10 fruits n veggies (fnv's) per day went yesterday - they didn't. I drank a lot of juice and had 1 serving of vegetables. Why so bad? Well, my favorite, unhealthy, fast-food type of vegan restaurant happens to be between Pooper's office and the kitchen design place. So we ate vegan fast food for dinner last night - including fries and other not very good for you food, but oh so good tasting. And unfortunately, I don't think i can count fries as a veggie! Unfortunately today doesn't look much better, either. I still drank a ton of juice (100% fruit juice) and had some of the homemade potato soup, but that's about it as far as fnv's go. However, I did do more traditional exercise today than yesterday's exercising while house-cleaning. Before teaching a gentle yoga class this am I ran 4 miles on the treadmill at the gym. It's embarrassing to admit how poorly I've eaten the last two days, but tomorrow will better, I know! As soon as I'm done here I'm going to Whole Foods to stock up on some fnv's and tomorrow am is the farmers market! Can't wait for some more of that mouth watering corn on the cob and juicey garden tomatoes!

Hasta manana,
poodle

Exercise or clean house? Both!

Yippee! Thank you for the comments jakeone and anonymous! Finally, it looks like everyone can comment! Sorry for the frustration to all of you who tried but weren't able to. It took me a while to figure out how to open up the comments section to all. See, I told you I am not a computer person.

Onto those projects!

Despite not starting to eat until well afternoon yesterday, I still managed to get well over my 10 per day of fnv's! We are very fortunate to have a produce market nearby that sells fnv's in bulk on the cheap, and I mean, cheap! Of course, it's cash only, non-organic and who knows where from? It appears to be a Latino owned and operated business, so maybe eventually I will be able to speak to them in Spanish and find out where the fnv's come from. But for now your guess is as good as mine. But look at all of those fnv's! Don't they make your mouth water?

Here's a picture of the salads we ate for dinner last night. Poopers prefers pecans and I prefer pine nuts, but otherwise they both have cukes, fresh figs, spinach, capers, sundried tomatoes, Italian parsley, fresh basil, dill, onion, and I sliced half of a cooked potato onto each of them. His dressing was a poppyseed dressing and mine had balsamic vinegar on it. Very yummy!

After dropping Poopers off at the train station - yes, train station, he decided to try the train for the first time post-op today - i went home and struggled between deciding to clean the house or getting some exercise. Hmmmm. Would really rather do anything other than clean house, but the house is pretty disgusting at the moment. And when there's picking up, putting away, sweeping, dusting, vaccuuming, laundry, a bathroom and a kitchen to clean, and mopping, etc, to do, I decided that is exercise.

So let the cleaning commence. Where to begin? How about with an experiment. Has anyone tried the non-toxic drain cleaner concoction of 1 cup salt, 1 cup baking soda followed by a kettle of boiling hot water? I wonder if your experience was the same as mine? There was no way a cup of salt was going to go down that drain. After, oh, about a millenium of poking my finger down the 4 little holes in the drain, trying to shove the salt into those holes, scraping my fingers, rubbing them raw on salt no less, i decided to stop after about 1/3 cup of salt. But it called for a whole cup! One thing was clear, that was not going to happen, no way, no how.

So over the salt I poured 1/3 cup baking soda and pushed and scraped for another eon. Eventually I decided more of the white stuff was in the drain than around the drain and I poured about a 1/3 of a kettle of hot water over the drain. Nothing happened except that the water pooled around the drain.

Rut-roh. This is not good.

About then i envisioned having to call a plumber to the house and explain how i didn't want to use toxic drain cleaners when all of a sudden the puddle began to fizz and bubble and swoosh!! The drain was cleared!! And with 1/3 of the ingredients to boot! I chased it down with the rest of the boiling water and all of a sudden my sore and tender fingers weren't quite so sore anymore. And by the way, the denture cleaners made the toilet bowl sparkle! Maybe this non-toxic stuff is a good idea after all! I would love to hear any suggestions you have for tips on how to save time cleaning house, or any experiences you have with using non-toxic household cleaners! Please post them in the comments!


Yesterday I read a few pages in my Easy Spanish Reader. That's the title of a book that is actually a lot of fun to read. Each entry is a one page short story in Spanish followed by a page of questions about the story to see if you understood. There are usually 4 or 5 short stories that are related by topic and build on each other and then a finally summary page, before another topic begins. I highly recommend this book if you can get it from the library or bookstore. What books (Spanish or otherwise - who can resist a good book?) do you recommend?? Please post them to the comments!

Poopers and I are meeting with the kitchen designer tonight! And yes, we will definitely have an island in the kitchen and hardwood floors in the kitchen as well. At the moment we're thinking about a drawer microwave in the island, so it is not over the range. And we were told it is a code requirement to have electrical outlets on the island. Do any of you have any comments about a side-by-side (frig on one side, freezer on the other) vs. a french door frig on top with freezer on the bottom style preferences? Please share them!

Happy cleaning, speaking Spanish, and eating to all my friends!
Poodle

Have No Technofear

Hello!

Wow - I got some more great emails and phone calls! Thank you! But no comments here yet, bummer. Just so you all know I just tried to post a comment myself to see how it's done. It's telling me it worked, but i will have to close this editing page and check the website to see if it actually did. I may have to fidget with some of the widgets to make it work....

It seems that this blog is helping some of you explore some computer techniques on your own - some of you created desktop icons to open this - Thanks and congrats for figuring out how to do that! Some of you are figuring out how to appear anonymous - isn't it funny - how we all want some degree of anonymity on the web? Have no technofear! I can't imagine any of you would send anything that's more embarrassing than all of my grammatical errors, cursing, and revealing private nicknames that I've already done!

So onto those projects - so far today I've listened to Spanish radio for about an hour. And I think I can now make out every 90th word, instead of every 100th word. But do they have to speak so fast? I'm about 2 minutes behind them, still trying to figure out what "ocho-ocho-ocho" means when they're already onto the next song. I was tickled pink to figure out that ocho-ocho-ocho is the beginning of a toll free phone number 1-888-????. Unfortunatley, i have no idea what the phone number was for or any of the other digits in the number. I think i figured out that the Spanish equivalent of our "dot com" is pronounced "punta com" or "punta net" for the English dot.net. I'm sharing that tidbit just in case anyone else was wondering. And as a result of this blog I found out that a few of you may in fact be wondering about that, because a few of you are also students of Spanish. Wow! I had no idea there were so many closet Spanish speakers. Why is that? And if my attempt at translation is way off, and punta com is something else completely, please correct me asap!!! And if 3 ocho's in a row is not the beginning of a phone number, please correct me here, too!

Not doing too well on the 10/d project so far today. In fact, haven't had anything to eat yet today. I am looking forward though, to eating a peach and some more watermelon as soon as I get done here at the library. Ohh, I'm hungry! The reason I haven't eaten anything yet is because after dropping Poopers off at work this am, I went to Wal-Mart to buy some Tang and denture cleaner. What? Why tang and denture cleaner? I read that they are great, non-toxic household (specifically toilet) cleaners. Though I suspect Poopers would be pleased if I just cleaned the house, toxic cleaners, non-toxic, who cares, just clean the house! He would never post that here, and he wouldn't ever say that to me - or live to tell if he did, but I can't blame him for wanting to assign that project to me. I think I would rather pull up the poison ivy from the side of the house or go for a run in 90 degree hot, humid weather, barefoot on broken glass than clean the house. Or go look for Tang at a scarey Wal-Mart. Anything but clean house. Ugh. And i guess that can be another one of my projects - cleaning house (with non-toxic cleaners). But no Tang to be found in my Wal-Mart. And wow, has anyone else noticed a facelift at their local Wal-Mart? The one I go to is not in the nicest part of town and I dread having to go there, it's usually a mess and understaffed, but today it was spotless, organized, with lots and lots of busy-workers stocking shelves and they were very helpful, despite that no-one could locate any Tang for me. Dang, no Tang!

After Wal-Mart I went to the gym and ran a 5k on the treadmill and then taught a yoga class. The gym is undergoing a renovation and it is just a little distracting during a quiet, centering meditation to hear - BANG - BANG - BOOM -drilllllllllllllllll, followed by the buzz of an accidental fire alarm. Ommmm! Still om-ing. So that completes the exercise portion for today's entry.

I know a lot of you are getting going on the techno part of following this blog - please try again to send a post, and if it doesn't work, please let me know the specific error or other message you get on your end so I can try to figure out how to help! And let me know what else you're doing in addition to exploring technology, learning Spanish, etc - by posting a comment! Who will be first?

As far as the house repair project goes, we got some kitchen design layouts from a kitchen designer yesterday and it's so much fun to see what could be! I'd love feedback on your preferences for brands of kitchen appliances (or advice of which to avoid if you have that), types of preferred countertops, or any other advice you can give. Now is the time! And you can send them right now by clicking on the "0 Comments" link at the end of this entry.

Thanks!
Poodle

wah-wah-wah-Hola!-wah-wah-wah

Hello!

Thank you to everyone who wrote to me about my blog - via my other email address! From now on, please send them to the comments section here.
And yes, others can read your comments (but I can delete them - or so I was lead to believe...) that you post as comments. But all of your emails would have been great here!

Poor Poopers - some of you were upset by my nickname for him. Oh well! He named me Poodle which I didn't like too much myself at first; I'm hoping Poopers grows on him. It's just so inappropriate to call someone like him Poopers that I think it fits. Oh, and yes, he is back to work. There's no holding him back - he went to work 4 days post-op. I've been driving him into the city early every morning and picking him up late every evening. There's no way he could climb those steps to get on the train or "crutch" around those city blocks to get from the station to his office. The city is a bitch to drive in during rush hour - some of those pot-holes, man, my whole Civic could disappear in one and never be seen again. He is extremely frustrated by the lack of use of his right quads, and justifiably worried about it, too. I'm sure he is sick of having to use all sorts of gadgets to pull his socks on and otherwise dress himself. Though I must say that sock-puller-upper is pretty slick contraption. However, Poopers said he was going to post his suggestions for more projects for me. I'm waiting...

One of you suggested I join Facebook - well it was that site that your daughters told me was for "old people." I know, I know, I'm no spring chicken, but "old"??? But I wonder why that suggestion? Is the blog no good?

And one of you called to tell me you will be checking it every day and sending in your favorite exercises as suggestions - well, please post them! You could be the first!

So, now on to all of those projects. I've decided to condense them into one, long, run-on post, with the intent of keeping it a wee bit shorter than yesterday's. Here 'goes...

All those trips to and fro the city I discovered is a great chance to listen to Spanish on the radio. Of course, my Spanish is so just-not-ready-for-prime-time that all I hear is, oh, about every 100th word. I hear: "wah-wah-wah-MUSICA-wah-wah-wah-RUMBA-wah-wah-wah-NEW JERSEY." But I guess more realistically with the Spanish accent it sounds more like: los-nos-dos-MUSICA-las-ras-das-RRRRRUMBA-ros-tos-mos-NEW JERSEY." Hmmm, well, I may only understand those cognates, but I feel righteous listening to it! Luckily, I also have CD's from a Learn Spanish book I just bought and it's more my speed. And luckily I have a few months until I go to Argentina.

The second project - to eat 10 fnv's (fruits n veggies) - is going well. I can't believe I forgot all about the most delicious corn on the cob we had the other evening before our spinach salads. Ohmygod it was soooo good. Will have to go to the farmers market again this weekend for some more! Easily ate 10 today with watermelon, apple juice, repeat spinach-dill-cilantro-basil-tomato-olive-caper-pine-nut-balsamic salad. Grape juice, pine-apple chunks.

Just as I was finishing my blog yesterday I got a call from the gym asking me to sub, last minute, again, two more yoga classes - so lots of exercise yesterday!! No time to eat before those classes, so I ate about 3 handfuls of grapes, two large bananas, and some cashews during my drive in to pick up Poopers last night. This whole week I am subbing a bunch of classes - will be teaching 8 yoga classes this week. So I taught two classes today and did the classes as I taught them. Took the day off from running. I am glad I have decided not to run at my favorite park as it is hard to resist, but there was another rape there last night, evidently not by the same asshole, but a second motherfucker. Now the police are telling women to only run there with a buddy.

The home repair project. Not much happened there yesterday or today for that matter. And as far as finding a full time job, I just received the notice for one I will probably apply for, though a friend and I are trying to come up with a consulting business we could partner up for. Which reminds me, did you all see that the H1N1 swine flu infected a flock of turkeys in Chile?? This is the worry - that the H1N1 will reassort with the highly infectious and virulent Asian avian H5N1. Not good. All the more reason to stay healthy, active, and well nourished!

Please send your comments to this blog!

Thanks, Poodle

Second Blog Post, Day 3 of 365

Hello! Day 2 of my blog experiment. (Had to skip yesterday as it was Sunday and both of my local libraries are closed on Sundays in August, and we don't have internet at home). Here's a picture of one of my local libraries. Would you look at that fireplace, the arching doorways, the old desks and their hallmark green lamps?

But I am super excited about this blog. For my web wizard friends, this may seem silly to get excited about, but I am far from being a wizard with computers, barely even computer literate, so this Blogger website is very user-friendly. Just before we got kicked out of the library on Saturday, I figured out how to put a hyperlink within my post (see the Julie and Julia link) that will navigate you to the movie's website, but when you close the window it will bring you back to this blog! How cool is that?!!

But I am getting ahead of myself....first thing's first...

Projecto Numero Uno - Learn Spanish! I found a super cool website that will teach you Spanish for free and it is super interactive and high quality. It is published by the BBC (not sure why the BBC is into teaching foreign languages for free on the web, but who am I to question their goodwill!) The website translates into My Crazy Life, and you can access it through Mi Vida Loca. (Yay!! It looks like I made another successful embedded link here!! That is so cool!!) You will definitely need HIGH SPEED internet to proceed through their sessions as it is loaded with videos and other interactive media. I can't imagine finding a better website for my needs (beginner Spanish), but if you know of any others or have other study suggestions please send them to me. Oh, and it looks to me like the "post a comment" is available at the bottom of the blogpage, so you don't need to send them to poodlewagner@gmail.com afterall, but you still can if you prefer. All of this is in preparation for this winter's trip to Argentina.

#2. 10/d = Eat 10 fruits and veggies a day. Hmmm. Well this one hasn't been quite as exciting, or successful, I fear, as my first project. I came up with a list of what constitutes a serving - and to keep it simple I basically consider one medium sized sample of each particular fruit or veggie a single serving. Not too scientific, I know, but simple. Here is a picture of a vegan veggie pizza I made the other day. I have never made pizza dough from scratch before and this turned out so yummy!!
I can't remember the recipe for the dough but it was super easy, especially since I used my 11 cup food processor to mix it up. The sauce was about 1.5 tablespoons of tomato paste, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, and 2 tsp of agave syrup, but only used about 1 tbs of the total sauce. The toppings were diced tomatoes, fresh basil, minced garlic, and fresh mushrooms. Ohhh sooo gooood!

Dinner last night was a huge salad, that had to be at least 5 servings for fruits and veggies. It had baby spinach (maybe 3 cups!), cilantro, Italian parsley, cucumber rounds, minced shallot, chopped sundried-marinated tomatoes, capers, fresh dill, fresh basil, raw pine nuts, and balsamic vinegar for the dressing. That was pretty good too. I drank about 3 cups of locally grown apple juice, so maybe that was pretty close to 10 servings of fnv's (shorthand for fruits and vegetables) afterall. I thought I had missed the mark by half. Obviously, writing down what you eat is a good way to keep track more accurately, than by "feel."

#3. Uh-oh, this is getting too big, isn't it? I couldn't remember what my third project was, so I had to review the first blog entry and then I got sort of lost in the editing/posting/viewing of this blog and had a little anxiety until I found my way back to the editing page. Phwew, I thought I lost all of the photos I posted already. The cumbersome size not forgotten, the third project is repairing the damage to our house. We got quite a bit done this past weekend. We met with the contractor, paid the first third of the balance due so that he can get the permits from the township and get started. Finally, I'm getting excited about this project now that it is finally getting up and going. Ask me if I am still excited come January 15, 2010 when it supposed to be all done. I have already looked at more kitchen cabinets and countertop samples than should legally be allowed to exist. When I have more time I will post the damaged house photos and try to update with frequent pix of the repair process.

#4. Exercise regulary and stay injury free (or something like that). Check!!

Saturday - ran 5k on the treadmill and taught a yoga class as a last minute sub. The instructor was there, but acutely overcome with an illness and asked me to sub the class for her. I enjoyed it, I just hope the students did!

Sunday - ran a 2.5 mile loop around the house, on the sidewalk. Not my favorite running surface, but my favorite running place is off limits now that a woman was brutally beaten and raped at my favorite park a couple of weeks ago, during daylight hours, with lots of people using the trail. Scarey! And god dam wrong.

Monday - ran the 4 mile Hill Loop around the house, on the sidewalk/streets. Again, not my favorite surface, but I knew I had the energy today and it wasn't too hot or humid this am, so why not? Then I took an hours yoga class at the gym. Perfect way to end a run - with an hour's stretch and relaxation.

#5. Keep this blog going and current for a year. Part of the reason why I wanted to learn how to create a blog, (well, in addition to the dream of becoming like Julie in "Julie and Julia"), was because I think it is important to stay as current as possible with technology. And not being a fan of the twitter or myspace or that other social networking site that my neices tell me is for "old people" - I thought a blog might actually have some use to it. Other than teaching yoga part time, treating animals with acupuncture in their homes, and receiving royalty checks for a textbook I wrote a few years ago, I do not have a full time job. Which leads me to a few more projects. And I will try to keep it closer to 800 words...

#6. Take care of Poopers. Who is Poopers? As an animal person you may suspect it is one of my pets, but it is actually my husband. And as he is really very shy and wants to remain anonymous in this public posting blog, therefore he shall be known by all the public as Poopers. But poor Poopers just had some major orthopedic surgery and according to the surgeon there was some nerve damage during the surgery and for now he can't contract the quads on his right leg. Going from a 3:02 marathoner, to someone who can't walk without crutches 3 weeks post-op, much less run after a surgery that was supposed to help him run again, he is very depressed and upset. Unfortunately it looks like he will require more than the expected recovery time for the type of surgery he had. And he will need lots of TLC. I will pass on any well wishes you send.

#7. Find a full time job.

If you read this, and happened to read this far, please let me know and please post to my comments!!!