Annoying weight gain

Since I have mad an effort to lose weight (most of January) I have gained 3 pounds. I'm working very hard to accurately report food intake and exercise outgo. I have gained 3 pounds. Today I was up another 2 pounds though I suspect it is water weight gain due to fast food eaten yesterday. I even changed myself from lightly active to sedentary to give myself fewer calories to work with. My calories are now 1540 base and I am doing something to exercise every day. I don't always make great choices but I am working to stay under every day. I am very annoyed. Seems like I only lose when I do a drastic diet.

Alice Yovich
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Beautiful day

I had some friends over to ride today. The guy, Nick, has lots of riding experience and his girlfriend who was riding for her first time. We discovered that Dixie really isn't a good horse for beginners. She didn't do anything dangerous but she didn't really go any direction Ashley wanted her to go. Granted, we didn't give her tons of direction as we just wanted Ash to sit on a horse and get a feel for it. Dixie followed Olympus around or stood by the gate but she definitely reverted to her old ram through anything self. Olympus, under Nick, was mellow and confident and made Maggie think again that she might like him to be her horse, though that discussion has been tabled for now. I watched nick walk, trot, and canter him and realized how much fun he'll be next weekend at 7IL. Maggie rode

the first time today as well. We have been up an down off her several times recently but today was the first day we'd asked her to move. Mostly she'd take a few steps and then stop and look at us. We were able to move her around by moving her front end and back end. She walked in a few straight lines but using the side pull she wandered around at a slow walk first for Maggie then for me. She seemed very pleased to have a job. We were pleased that it went so well.

I rode liberty who isn't wanting to canter in the ring. This will be something to work on in my next lesson.

Alice Yovich
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Sunday Projects

We are all involved in our many projects today around the house. We went to early church service, and then Peter and Maggie fed the horses while I went to the grocery store to buy groceries for the week. We had a rotisserie chicken, baked potato and broccoli for lunch, and I've made a pasta salad to eat with some leftover soup for dinner. I cooked another chicken in the oven which I will eat this week for lunches, and I took both carcasses to make some stock so I could make another really good soup either tomorrow or the next day.  I have another dish planned for later in the week. Since I work on Monday-Wednesday evenings, I do a lot of cooking on Sunday so that we have food all week and don't eat out. I had recently read that Dr. Oz recommends only eating out once per week because of the preservatives and chemicals in the food plus the higher sodium. It's pretty unrealistic that I can get through the week without eating out only once per week, but I have decided to make an effort to eat out no more than 1 time per day on the days that I'm driving around seeing clients for 12 hours. So, I have begun to cook things I can take in a cooler.

Peter is installing the dishwasher and Maggie is cleaning house.  We decided that she could do the weekly all over "home blessing" (as Flylady calls it) cleaning each week, and i would do the 15 minute zone detail cleaning that she hates to do.  When she has time to clean, she does a really great job and I would rather pay her than a cleaning woman anyway.

Yesterday we went to Benbrook and rode for a couple hours. We hadn't been out just the two of us in ages, so it was a pleasant ride. I let her pick the pace and Dixie was well behaved and Liberty was so laid back. Too bad he's not that mellow in competition.

I'm working on prizes for scamper and getting ready to start working on the taxes.  I have a couple of ebay things to mail and I'm getting that all organized too and planning to list some new things to sell. By the time it gets dark, we'll have accomplished a lot.

One thing that is frustrating me...I have begun to track my calories and exercise each day. I have been very careful to do it properly so that I am not cheating on myself...only I have gained weight instead of lost. I have been staying in my numbers most days and I have been exercising...just the scales aren't going down.

Snore no more?

I forgot to mention that I was able to be fitted for an appliance today that the dentist says will help my snoring and get me better rest...now I just need to get peter an appointment with the same dentist so he can have one too and we can both sleep better and he won't snore either.

Being Lazy

This week has hit me hard. I'm not really sure why, but I have been waking up with a headache. I felt better the day I used several doses of rescue remedy, so I keep thinking I should get up and go get some, but I'm sitting comfortably on my chair with a dog on my feet and I don't want to get up to fetch it right now.  I feel a little guilty that I'm sitting here relaxing with a dog on my lap, but then I realize how busy I have been and think that maybe this is just what I needed.  I have so much stuff I should be doing...prizes for scamper, etc., but right now, I'm really enjoying hanging out with Maggie finally getting caught up on Glee. 

The day started out grey, but nice out...it's now sunny and very cold.  Maggie had fillings today at the doctor. They had to give her gas and everything. She has a really sore mouth now.  The dentist suggested I should not make her do school work today.  After the dentist we went to the field and put blankets on all the horses, which they seemed to appreciate.  Maggie was feeling a little more crummy than she had from work before. So I rearranged my work schedule to work tomorrow instead of today and I have been enjoying an afternoon of Glee with Maggie.

but, I have sooo much to do...so, I have been working on sending marketing emails to people for my ride, the Girl Scout Scamper, making out raffle tickets, writing notes, catching up paperwork.  I have some hand sewing to do, etc. So, I have gotten to have a relaxing afternoon with my daughter and be productive at the same time.

Peter is home now and we're going to get steak for dinner.

It's been a heck of a day

First thing this morning, I spilled a cup of coffee into my iPhone. I actually have every hope that it will eventually be OK once it sits in rice overnight and dries out. It mostly works...I can listen to stuff through external devices, but currently the speakers don't work on the iPod part...And it rings and seems to work, but not as good as it could. At least I can talk and get my email even if the music part doesn't work. The tech support guy said he took his into the swimming pool once and it recovered, so I have every hope that it will be OK.

Then on the way to my pasture to meet the Equine chiro, the truck engine light came on...but it seems to have gone away, so I'm hoping it was a fluke.

Then we had the horses adjusted...Dixie is pretty out of wack..

Then I was supposed to go see a client, but he was home from school b/c of a cough. Between concern over the cough and my terrible day which had turned into a terrible headache, I begged off till tomorrow.  Hopefully he's not really sick and I can go tomorrow. I know that I am probably paranoid, but I figure if a kid has stayed home from school then they are probably sick enough that I don't need to go to their house. When I get sick I end up having to miss a lot of work.

So, then things started to look up.  I came home, installed Turbo Tax and an embroidery software program so I could redigitize my scamper design. 

Now we are all watching Castle together. It's just such a fun show.

First day back

Today has been a hard day back to work. I didn't get to bed at a good time last night so I was very tired today. I got some decluttering done and found that most of my patterns fit in a file cabinet drawer. I feel like I'm getting a cold but it's probably just tired and allergy.

Maggie started working with Dixie on some of the things Shea has taught me but it's hard to teach her and it's hard for her to feel the exercises done properly. I will probably let her have a lesson with Shea in the future but I hesitate. I like having something that is mine and I don't have the cash to to pay for two sets of lessons. I know what will happen if I start it. Maggie will be the one getting the lessons :-/. I know that makes me selfish but I like having something that's mine. They definitely need help communicating. And maggie definitely need to hear it from someone other than me but it's still hard to give up something I'm doing for myself.

I worked with Fiera successfully today using the same techniques from Shea. She did just great. She's going to be a nice riding horse.

Pockets is obsessed with Dixie and pretty set on not getting caught again. Could be a challenge to get him Friday morning. It's funny that he likes her so much because she's pretty mean to him. Makes us laugh. Pockets will come up to me but if I reach out to pet him he runs away with his ears back but the. He comes back to me again.

Alice Yovich
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The New and Improved Liberty

Today I went riding with a couple friends, Teresa and Karen.  We went to Benbrook Lake and rode the south trail.  We got Candy Kanes from the trees and moseyed down the trail and talked. It was great, relaxing fun. 

I say that Liberty is the new and improved Liberty b/c he is just very mellow now. The two lessons I have had with Shea and the subsequent practice on my part are helping him get right in his head and teaching me to ride him very differently.  He is now responding softly to my requests and even backed a little ways up a hill while the others were riding off.  I'm able to ride him in a bit, which I never thought I'd be able to do.

I think I have decided to ride CP this year.  I'm not for sure yet, but since I won't even get to do a ride before the beginning of April and I don't think that I'm going to be able to ride a lot until April, it doesn't seem fair to Liberty to expect him to do Open if I'm only going to ride 3-5 rides this year.  i haven't decided, but, like Maggie, a lot of my friends are riding this year in Novice and CP and I'm not sure I want to compete in Open more than I want to ride with my friends. Also, since I'm working on getting Liberty to be calmer and work more on obstacles, it occurs to me that backing off the speed for a year might do us some good. The flip side is that with the working out I'm doing, I may really feel ready to step up the pace for us both in spring. Not a decision I have to make today.