cookies for breakfast

Sometimes you just gotta have cookies for breakfast.  I have done well all week, then no plans for breakfast today and since I am doing intermittent fasting, when I work out and then wait till noon to eat - I was starving and they were just starting at me.  The plain old cheapo store bought sandwich cookies.  Very boring.  But I am one of those who hates to waste food, so I grabbed the 6 or 8 left and just wolfed them down.  Booooooooo.

At least I have a plan for dinner.  Fish and baked potatoes, veggies.  And I am using the left of the broth (frozen - defrosting now) from Thanksgiving turkey.  Will puree with some roasted red peppers and have a yummy soup with lots of vitamin C.

Yesterday I was planning to drive to city to see my sick uncle and my dear grandmother, but the forcecast is yucky so I postponed.  Since I had front loaded my workouts and chores early in the week, my husband and I enjoyed staying home and watching Downton Abbey movie.  It was good.  Now we are watching The Crown.

I hope you are warm and cozy where you are.  If you have been very good, enjoy a little cookie treat with me.  Here are my newest 3 dogs I am getting there photos printed to put on my shelf with my current doggie and my doggie Chico who passed in Oct.  The last one is Chico.

ct.  I still miss him.

Nov 4, Shut the Front Door

Today I am thankful for our property.  We have 1 acre.  The lot is about the width of a standard city or suburban lot, but going back to a very deep back yard.  It backs up to our back neighbor's large back yard.  So, we don't have the view we used to have in the city subdivision, but we at least have a nice big yard and big beautiful trees and a nice bit of sky for a view.  Not bad.

Since my older male dog passed, we are getting another bigger dog for our newest dog to play with.  But, while visiting the animal shelters, I came across another small male Chihuahua and had to have him come live with us.  He is sweet.  I will post a picture of him tomorrow.

The point is, since we will have 2 larger dogs, we are going to fence in the entire acre.  This is only the short front side on each side of the house and one long side length.  The short side in back is already done and one long side on the south is already mostly fenced.  Part of our problem is the length of the south side is all grown up with weeds and trees and vines.  So I have been working on this for weeks and it is slow because I am doing by hand.  I do not want this stuff to grow back, so I have been pulling by the roots when possible, cutting with long prumers and sawing the stuff I can't get in the long pruners.  With a hand saw.  It is tedious, but I enjoy the physical workout.  

Today, I post a picture of my sweet Chico who passed just a few weeks ago and I whom my DH and i miss so much.  He was our first dog as a couple and I am so grateful we were his people and so grateful he made it to live in our retirement house for a year.  RIP Chico, we love you.

In and Out of My Comfort Zone

I work 4 ten hour days the week after a Monday holiday off.  Yesterday I worked 10 hours and then went home and changed and went to a new to me yoga class.  Well, that is after DH and I cleaned several areas where our older male dog had had...er, difficulties with his daily routine...I had noticed Sunday he was having issues when I walked him couple of times, but did not notice the last time I walked him.  Poor guy.  Hope he is ok today. 

Well, the yoga instructor must be a doctor or physical therapist.  He was really good at vocalizing ways to focus our poses.  It was a great class!  I am feeling it today, but that is a good sign.  When I walked in and put my matt down and was doing a bit of stretching, he asked me if I had done "ashtanga" before.  I just looked at him for a second and said "I am really not sure, not sure I know what that means".  Haha.  A woman I recognized from another class said, she was sure I had, as she had seen me in other classes with her.  Well, if I had, I had not much.  But I can see where Ashtanga should be a part of my normal practice.  Wiki defines it as:  "Ashtanga means eight limbs or branches, of which asana or physical yoga posture is merely one branch, breath or pranayama is another."  Basically, he had us hold each position for several seconds, to really focus on all the aspects of each joint/muscle being used and direct our energy there.  The breathing was so natural, it just came with the poses.  He made us do some unusual poses, like to ball up or really open up the chest and continue to make tiny adjustments to be able to breathe in a long inhalation and thus a long exhalation.  He said part of yoga is finding the breath, even when it seems you are too constricted (i.e. backbent or constricted in a ball) and focus on moving your belly butten toward the backbone to get used to breathing when it is hard.  He kept us for an hour and a half!  Oh, well, it was good!

I think everyone should try yoga on some level.  I wish I had started when I was a kid.  Have a great hump day, everyone!