A shiny new year!

Happy New Year everyone! It's been difficult getting time to sit down and blog, but I hope that with the holidays over and done, life will settle down a bit. Did you make any resolutions for 2014? I resolve to renew my job hunt and to find a new job before the holidays roll around again! That is my biggest hope for the year. Besides making a new job happen, I'm not being overly ambitious with making resolutions. I plan to continue trying to take one day at a time when it comes to healthy habits...going for walks, drinking water instead of soda more often, eating breakfast, etc. etc. I would love to end 2014 in better shape (and healthier) than I was at the start!

The past few weeks have been rainy and messy outside, and it's made life difficult with our new dog, George. He's apparently younger than they thought at the shelter, and has so much pent-up energy that long daily walks are a necessity. When it's raining and we can't go, George becomes destructive. He chews through all the toys, rawhides, and treats we give him and then goes on to look for other things to destroy! He also hates getting wet, so instead of doing his business in the backyard when it's raining, he goes to the far side of the garage (next to the driver's door of my car) and poops and pees there! I am happy to report, however, that when we get to go for walks, he's doing much better walking on the leash. Despite being hyperactive and full of mischief, he seems intelligent and eager to please us. He's also a total love-bug. He will lick you all over and attempt to climb onto your lap, and generally just soaks up any ounce of affection you will give him. The best thing about George, though, is how quickly he has become devoted to Ginger, and she really seems to like him back. It's such a relief to us that Ginger seems mostly happy with the new addition to our family.


  Now that January is here, I'll finally have time to sit down and catch up with everyone's blogs. I hope you all had a great holiday season, and I wish for you a wonderful new year!

A fair start

How are your New Year's resolutions going?  I decided to devote the first couple of months this year to improving my health. The new habits I'm trying to establish are:

1. Eating breakfast. And by "breakfast" I mean something somewhat nutritious, prepared at home, and eaten shortly after waking up (as opposed to a muffin or scone purchased at work in the early afternoon once I'm starving).
2. Taking vitamins with breakfast.
3. Packing a healthy, appetizing lunch for work. Limiting fast food or eating out midday.
4. Drinking 8 (8oz) glasses of water, and cutting way back on sodas. I could drink Cokes all day long, and have been for some months now. That's not good.
5. Go for an extra walk (or do something else active) for 30 minutes, three or four days each week. I already take a long walk with my husband and dog every night, but I still feel the need for some extra exercise in my life. Most of the things I really enjoy doing involve sitting in a chair. Which leads me to my last health resolution for the year.......
6. ....take up some new hobby or sport, something active, that I will enjoy and can incorporate into everyday life.

I felt that these six goals were do-able, and not too intimidating. So far, I've had total success with numbers 1, 2, and 3. Number 4 has been harder. Although I've cut down on my Cokes, I haven't been drinking as much water as I need to replace them. It's so hard to learn to like plain water when you have a soft drink habit, even though we have a nice filter and it tastes OK. It's just dull and I forget to drink it. I need to get better at this!

As for the extra walks, I haven't done those even once yet. The weather has been bad--cold and rainy and miserable--so even my nightly walks with GB and Ginger have been somewhat shorter than usual. I'm trying to be realistic about it. I figure that getting more active is going to be a process, something I won't be able to accomplish all at once, and when I'm genuinely deterred by bad weather that's nothing to beat myself up about. I haven't been purposely avoiding it, which is all that really matters.

I would love some suggestions for number 6 (a new hobby or sport) if anyone has any ideas. I need something fun to do besides walking to get me up and moving! I've considered fixing up my bike and riding, but after that I'm fresh out of ideas. Anyone have any thoughts about this? Something you enjoy that gets your heart rate up? (Besides going to a gym. I shudder at the thought of that.)

How are your resolutions going? I hope everyone's New Year has gotten off to a good start this week!