Let's Craft Something!

Man, oh, man, is it good to be back here and on the internet.  I hate how flawed my week's posts were with forgetting to put pictures and not scheduling posts and whatnot.  I'm going to try to be better, which I do try to do every week.  I liked the silly dog theme for the title.  I hope "excited as a dog" makes sense; I was thinking about how excited dogs are when you get home.  Anyway...

Since people in real life keep asking how Harley, our sick dog, is doing, I thought I'd update you guys, too.  Remember how they didn't think he would be able to get up?  Well, he's moving around pretty well.  There are still times when he has to try again, but he is getting up and moving around.  He's on the dog version of Ibuprofen for now.  I don't know if they are going to add more medicine later when he's getting around like he used to.

He's up, moving around, and eating -- although you can tell he's lost some weight.  He still seems pretty happy, too.

I know I said I wanted to get a working meal planner for myself, but that hasn't happened yet.  I do pretty good to try to plan it out when I know I'm going to be home, but when I'm at Zach's it is a bit harder.  I have made progress, though it is starting to slow.  I just took that as a sign that I needed to tack on more exercise than just walking.

I felt like a total dork doing a Google search on "how to work out at home", but I did.  I actually got some pretty useful results.  I'm going to try putting a routine I found in Women's Health in place starting today.


I told Zach that I missed the classes that I was able to do at the gym at my college.  I did piloxing, which is a combination of Pilates and boxing, on Tuesdays, then used the elliptical and walked on Thursdays.  His mom brought me coupons and a class schedule for the local women only gym she attends.  I want to try them out, but I really don't want to go alone, to be honest.  Her package doesn't include classes, I don't think, so it would be extra for her to go to one.

I've been considering joining a gym.  Though I don't have a job, I have money put back from when I worked at Walmart.  That's my biggest con to joining one.  I feel like it would help me actually go, though.  I mean, if you're paying $25 or so a month for a gym membership, you'd be stupid not to actually go a few times a week.  I'm still unsure on it, though.  If her gym has a free week or something, I may try it.

Oh wait, speaking of not having a job, mom called to tell me about the substitute teacher seminar for our local city schools.  That's how I plan on spending my Wednesday morning.  About fifteen minutes after she called, I got another call from one of the school systems I did my student teaching in.  They wanted to schedule me for an interview!  I interview with them tomorrow at 3:30, so wish me luck and confidence!

I know it's a panel interview, so I'm considering making a few little portfolio packets for them, including my resume, sample lesson plans, etc.  Is that a little much?  I don't know... I'm just so excited and nervous!

Ugh, we finally got out router problem fixed.  We tried using a few other routers from my tech-savvy uncle, but no dice.  We did discover it wasn't the modem, which kind of sucks because then it would have been our power company's issue since we technically rent it from them.  But anyway, one huge headache and a new router later, I have internet again.


Unfortunately, the router issue isn't the only bummer we've had.  Our outside dog of 9 or so years, Harley, had to make an emergency vet visit.  He just wouldn't get up last Saturday.  The vet said he apparently had a stroke; he didn't think he would be able to get back up because he's such a big dog.  (He's a Border Collie/Great Pyrenees mix.)  That wasn't his only issue, but it was the most life-threatening.  The vet called the next morning to say that he wasn't getting up, but about fifteen minutes later, he called back saying that he did get up.  We brought him home on Monday and have been keeping an eye on him for any signs that he needs to go back.

We know with so many issues, it's just a matter of time, but he's still there.  If he had a vacant or pained look in his eyes, it would be an easier decision.  But that's not the case.  He still looks like a puppy -- just happy and loving in his eyes.  He looks like he's not ready to go.

Anyway, let's get off of these depressing topics...

Did you guys get to check out the meteor shower on the 10th through 13th?  I got two good nights of star gazing out of it; it was pretty cloudy the rest of the time.  We saw some that were so big that they looked like missiles!  Huge orange comet-like tail and everything!  I was so amazed.


Remember my huge upgrade from the Droid R2D2 to the Galaxy S4?  My mom just made an even bigger upgrade due to dropping her phone in a pool.  (The bag of rice trick didn't work.  I guess it had been too long or it was just beyond repair.)  She went from the Samsung Alias to the Droid Razr M.  Holy crap, Batman.  I tried to take care of as much of the initial setup as I could.  Zach said, "Aw, isn't that sweet of you!"  There's a fine line between "sweet" and "selfish."  I did it to save the headache of walking her through doing it.  She's adjusting.  It's taking a while for her to get the right touch for the touch screen, for some reason, but it's coming right along.

I've mentioned before that I'm reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series, right?  (The Game of Thrones television series, if you're more familiar with it that way.)  I made it to the second book, where things start to differ from the television series.  As you may know, the second book is called A Clash of Kings; however, I've renamed it to "A Crash of Kings" because every time I try to read it, I struggle to stay awake.  I don't know why.  So, I decided it may be a good idea to get the audio book so that I could listen to it while I was on the treadmill or something.  Such a great idea.  In one day I listened to about four chapters.  It usually works out where I'm on the treadmill for about one chapter.  I'm over halfway done with the book now.

Speaking of being on the treadmill, when we last talked, I said I was trying to lose weight.  During my absence, I've lost about 10 pounds!  Yep, about 5 pounds a week.  Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  I've been dieting and walking on the treadmill to build stamina before I start running.  I started doing half a mile each day, then a mile.  Next week, I'll do a mile and a half.  Of course, right now, I'm just walking; I'm afraid I'll hurt my legs if I start off trying to run.


Last matter of business: I had considered adding a blog post per week mentioning some of the things I had pinned or saw on Pinterest.  What do you guys think about that?  Just like a little highlight of a few pins, nothing too extravagant or anything.  It was just something I had been toying around with while I was only able to surf the internet through my phone.

Alright, sorry for the huge wall of text!  I had to catch you all up with what had been going on while I was semi-off-the-grid.