She's Amazing...

My sister, K, has been overweight for almost as long as I can remember. She is a beautiful girl, but just always heavy, very heavy, which caused me to worry about her health and wellness. Nobody in the family ever really said anything to her about it, that would just be rude.

She had done several periods of time with WW and was very successful, but always gained it all back, plus some extra. I think the gain back was because her husband wasn't that supportive. I think he was threatened by her weightloss and feared she would leave him.

About a year ago, K, decided she had had enough of being fat (I'm not being mean, she was fat, and she knows it). She started on WW again and this time made a total life change commitment. At this point she has lost well over 100lbs, looks fabulous and just plain glows. She has incorporated so many changes in her life and has made exercise a real part of that life.

Her husband still isn't that supportive. He is definately proud of her and likes a lot of the changes he sees. But he keeps talking about being afraid that she won't be able to go back to "eating normal". Obviously what he considers normal wasn't working for her and made her overweight. He is upset that if they go out with friends she won't have a drink because she doesn't want to waist the "points", which is actually kind of funny because she has never really been a drinker and most of the times wouldn't have a drink anyway.

I am so proud of K for what she has accomplished, she is my inspriation (not to mention I was always the skinny one and now she is. Who ever said a little sisterly competition wasn't a good thing?). Because of her success I am not much more successful with my weight loss and getting fit.

And now, may I present the before and after pictures of my amazing sister. Enjoy and let her be your inspriation too, she's as beautiful on the outside as she has always been on the inside.

Before

After

Shin Splints Hurt

A bunch. After the foot pain I got from the Avon walk as healed I am now dealing with shin splints that won't. Every time I think it's getting better, it doesn't. It really is messing up my workout routine. When I wake up with a swollen leg and pain I really don't want to go and work out. Even walking the dogs is hard right now.

I ice and ice and ice. I try to keep it elevated when I am home. But still I am in pain. I really don't want to go back to the doctor. I don't want to spend another $15 copay to hear that I have shin splints and need to ice it. I figure I will give it one more week. If it still hurts I will fork out the money.

On a lighter note...Rehearsals for the fall production are underway. The kids are excited, I'm excited and I think we are going to have an amazing show.

Fact or Fiction?

I have been doing a lot of research on pit bulls. I have two pit bull mix puppies. I want to know everything I can about pit bulls and puppies and how to make sure my dogs are healthy, happy and safe. But of course now I am so confused...

There are so many differing opinions, keep the dogs apart, always! If they get along, let them play together but keep them apart when I'm gone. If they are about the same age and get along and I walk them together and feed them together they will be fine together when I'm are gone.

I don't know what to believe now.

I have several neighbors with multiple dogs and they tell me to just let the dogs be together. That they will be fine.

I have talked with a friend I consider to be somewhat of a pit bull expert and he says they should be fine because they are about the same age and get along very well.

I often consider knowledge to be power, but right now I'm thinking too much knowledge may not be a good thing.

I got the call...

that nobody with a family member stationed over-seas ever wants to get.

My sister called today to tell me that MT was wounded. Fortunately, it is minor. His truck (or maybe Humvee) hit an IED (roadside bomb) and flipped. He broke his shoulder/clavicle thing and got some pretty good bumps and scrapes, but is going to be fine.

When S talked to him all he knew was he was being flown to the hospital in Germany. He will call later with details as to surgery and such.

The only other injury was the medic who was with them, he broke a vertebrae. He will also be fine. Everyone else was pretty banged up, but no fatalities.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I have an issue with the all powerful and don't go in for prayer, but for those of you who do, could you please pass some on to my sister and her family for piece while they wait to hear what is going on. And for MT that his injuries are really as minor as they say. AND for all of our men and women who are fighting a war that many don't agree with, but are still willing to give their lives for our freedoms and the privilege of saying you don't agree. (I love our soldiers!)

This, that and a whole lot of other...

This post will be filled with all kind of apparently random stuff...I haven't been able to log in to blogger for several weeks. I have finally just decided to download Firefox and all seems to be working now (damn IE). So, here is the past month in a nutshell...

1. The puppy formally know as BJ is now known as Fender and is a playful happy member of the family. He and Bella get along famously. They play hard and love even harder. Everyday when I get home from work I get the puppy attack, it's a full frontal onslaught of of puppy tongue, which is always great fun.

He is still having some housetraining issues and does not like the fact he is crated every night, but we have to do it. Not to mention he tore a whole in one of the sofa pillows and we aren't sure if we are going to be able to replace it yet.

2. School is well underway. So far so good, I think. The drama kids are fun, like always. The sophomores are...well...sophomores. I think the worst sign is the that when we were in the library today having a booktalk with the library assistant to help the kids pick out books, a kid laughed at the book that was about a girl who gets raped and then finds out she has HIV. When I asked him why that was funny his response was that he didn't know, it was just funny. Kinda scarey.

3. Avon Walk for Breast Cancer was this weekend. Once again it was a great experience. I didn't make it the entire 39.3 miles, I have an inflamed tendon in my right foot and it hurts...bad. But I keep telling myself and everyone else who feels sorry me, it won't need chemo so it was all worth it.

4. Today we saw the first signs of aggression in Bella. As we went into the dog park she was going to say "hello" to another dog on lease outside, like we always do when she snarled and lunged toward the dog. We opted to take her in anyway, and before we could get Fender into the park she was nipping at another dog across the park. I had to run over, I felt so bad, fortunately the owner said everything was fine. She knows Bella, so I think she knows that that behavior is unusual for her. After that she was fine, even with the second dog that she nipped at. A little later there was the start of a fight between her and another dog. Another owner we know sort of took responsibility for that one. He said he was trying to get them to stop eating the grass/dirt when both dogs were heading for the same clump and they started. Turns out it the second dog of same owner. So, this poor woman, both her dogs with issues with Bella tonight. I felt so bad. I don't know what was up with Bella tonight and I hope we don't see it again. Nobody seemed really bothered by it, I think they all know Bella well enough and know that we keep her in pretty good check and that she is in reality a really big love bug. But I can tell you, I won't be taking both dogs by myself again any time soon, just in case. This is going to be a two human opperation.

Okay, I think that is most of the information I needed to get out. Like I said, I have been trying to post, Blogger issues abounded, but Firefox to the rescue.