Friday, April 17, 2009

Good movies, good times

Just got done watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua - loved it. Have you seen any good movies lately?

Today was a productive day, after dropping my husband off at work (he can't drive due to surgery he had and his right leg is in cast) I went to the Pat Brody Shelter for Cats and played with all the kitties for 5 hours. I love playing with the kitties at the shelter.

After the shelter, I went for an 16 mile inline skate on a rail trail.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the shelter's fund raising 'Pasta Supper', where we first have pasta and meatballs for supper then they have both an auction and a silent auction. Several of my friends are going!
Do you volunteer on a regular basis - if so, where? doing what?

All this week I've been working in my yard - still more to go. Planting pansies and some shrubs.
still much more to do.

Friday, April 10, 2009

When being a loser is a good thing!

Fantastic workout!

I've have on demand Exercise TV and I came upon a shortened version of the Biggest Loser Cardio Max. I loved it so much I went online and purchased all of the Biggest Loser Series.

Having the DVDs is way better than the free version because the DVDs offer not only the warm up and cool down, but most of them offer two additional exercise sessions to increase the intensity. The idea is that every few weeks you increase the difficulty by doing more of the routines on one DVD until you're eventually doing them all.

When I say 'most', one of them offers even more. The Work Out 2 not only offers a 15 minute boot camp, but an additional choice between a men's or women's cardio and power sculpt. (I prefer the men's workout over the woman). All and all 90 minutes!

My favorite is Boot Camp, as it's quite a work out and it has decent a decent ab workout. Power Sculpt also has a good ab workout, I think even more so that Boot Camp.

Another Nice thing is that they have the contestants from previous shows doing the working outs. The one down side is that sometimes the trainers are a bit chatty. Like when the brunette was trying to explain a move, then she moved to a different person all the while I'm waiting for her to explain the exercise and she's talking about why she's going to one person over the other.

You can turn it on to 'music only' but the video is still the same so I'd still be waiting.

The yoga one is my least favorite, but I have done the all the sessions yet.

If you're going to buy a workout DVD - buy ALL of these!

Do you have Workout DVDs that you like?

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Awards for great blogs to visit and revisit -

I Love Your Blog Award!
I'm so touched! Bevie from The Great Sea presented me with an "I love Your Blog Award".

Writtenwyrdd had given the award to Bevie and explained what I feel having received the award. That it truly does make one feel wonderful to know that someone thinks enough of my jibberjabbering to have taken the time to send me an award. Not only that, but to post a link on their blog, mentioning my blog and why she loves it.

I was truly surprised and tickled to have received the reward since I have only one blog where I touch on whatever subject takes my fancy!

I'm happy to continue the tradition of passing on the award. There are some rules for the award, but these rules are great rules to follow since they spread such good cheer to the bloggers that receive them.

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

I nominate the following 7 bloggers to receive the I Love Your blog award. (Some have received this award before, however, I see no reason not to reinforce that others enjoy their blogs! )
  1. Tia's Writing Blog Tia has posted numerous helpful 'how to' entries on her blog and I think quite possibly, the person who has visited my blog for the longest period of time. She's written 2 fantastic novels that I've had the honor and pleasure of reading: Starcaster and Forging A Legend. I wait most impatiently for them to be published. I 'met' Tia at Fantasy Debut as she was kind enough to review my novella: Into This Mind. I actually started blogging at her suggestion!
  2. Cat in the Buff This is a gem of a blog, offering fun cat stories (I never tire of these), cute things that Firestar has been up to, memoriam links (that I copied on my blog) and just a fun blog to read. It might well be the blog I visit most often. (Speaking of cat stories, this morning I heard some scuffle in the bathroom, then cat crying, I went running in, no cat, but the crying continued. Amelia had actually jumped to the top of the shower door and had fallen inside the shower - she was stuck and thankfully unhurt)
  3. Kristophrenia In addition to visiting my blog, Kristophrenia also has linked to my blog. I've also had the pleasure and honor of reading two of her magnificent novels: Battle of the Hexes and Grim Light that I'm impatient to see published!
  4. A Voice in the Wind Bevie IS a voice in the wind, a voice says "I'm listening" and I care about my fellow bloggers. I love the cat of the day, and every now and then Firestar pops over and blogs.
  5. Spyscribber I don't know how she manages to keep up so many blogs, but she does. Always something kind to say. Her blog entries often give me cause to pause and ponder the questions before I answer. She's such a sweetie!
  6. Dark Parables of a Christian Sister Carole was gracious enough to blog about my book, Into This Mind, after I mailed a complimentary copy to her. I had googled myself and stumbled upon her entry - I was very touched that she took the time to mention my novella. She covers a diverse topic of issues that she cares about and isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She has not only been supportive of my writing - when I was writing - but she's taken quite a number of writers under her wing. It's also fun and colorful!
  7. FairyHedgeHog I started visiting her blog because she has a cat, Rufus, who I heard about at Cat in the Buff, and then I kept visting her blog to play with the hamster she had - I could feed it, play with it, it was just so amusing, I finally had to fetch my own copy. She was kind enough to provide links and pointers. After visiting to play with the hamster, I started regularly reading her blog and found her entries to be varied and fun.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

When they're only memories

Our pets leave lasting imprints on our hearts, but around us, only memories.

Here is Precious laying on my husbands lap.

Precious wasn't originally my cat. Years ago, a different life, a different husband, Precious was my previous husband's daughter's cat. When she moved, much to my happiness, I inherited her cat.
I was quite attached to Precious, so it was a great relief!

Leibchen, the resident cat, wasn't all to pleased when Precious joined our house, and growled and became all moody, running away from me if he saw me holding Precious. But they became fast friends through out their life.

One of the cat names used in my book, Into This Mind was originally a nicknames for Precious. His nicknames were:
* Pookachoo
* Poopachoo
* Frat boy
* Baby boy (he was the youngest)
* Fat cat (started getting a bit rolly polly at one
point)

Precious was insistent about sitting on our laps, even if there was a laptop there, we had to move it as he would paw until he had his place.

The first time I ever saw a seizure was with Precious. I grabbed the phone, wanting to call 911 before I realized that I couldn't. I was so distressed I had to dial the number 3 times. It wasn't the seizures that killed him though, although the meds might have attributed to his kidneys shutting down. Precious died November 8, 2007, he was about 15 years old.

For those people dear to us, we have all sorts of tangle items, the t-shirt they gave us or the afghan that they made for us, something that we can hold and remember and treasure. But with our furry friends, it's only the memories to sustain us.

If you have a memory of your pet posted on your blog, let me know, and I'll include it in the side bar on mine. And please, share your memories here! My way of having something tangible to remember my babies.