You Can Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!

Two words: Butter Cake!

More details tomorrow...

Getting schooled in Pinterest

I mentioned the other day that my friend, Mara, was going to show me how to work Pinterest. I have had an account for years, but to be honest, found it a bit overwhelming to use -- so I stopped. That was until Friday when she showed me how she uses it. Seems I was doing it all wrong! I was following folks and just sticking to the home screen. No wonder I could never get anywhere. Mara showed me how to use the search button to find different things I am interested in (for example, wine crafts), then from there I could pin the items I wanted to my board. Eureka! I spent yesterday morning cruising around Pinterest, and found it much more to my liking this time! I found some really great wine cork crafts on addition to a multitude of recipes I can't wait to try. Thanks Mara, for the Pinterest lesson! No I am off to do some more pinning!

30 day challenge: missed my deadline

Well, I am going to have to post twice today because I missed my post yesterday. I had it already to blog about getting schooled on Pinterest, but got some bad news last night which took up my mental facilities. Blogging, to be honest, was last on my mind.

This girl, the love of my life is dying. Yesterday was not a good day for her.

We received a diagnosis from our vet back in early May that she has adrenal gland carcinoma. Now we have had lots of tests done but nothing was conclusive. Kai has a growth near her tail but otherwise she has been a high functioning dog -- until yesterday. 

My husband found her laying in her pee , because she couldn't get up to use the bathroom. This is from the same dog who greets us every morning wanting to play ball. She did go to the vet yesterday because she had to have a rabies shot (which I personally think is why she had such a rough time yesterday). The vet also recommended she go on pain meds, so a hefty $75 later, and give her one pill (half her dose), and she is very loopy.

It's a blessing and a curse to be able to decide when your pet is no longer living the quality of life they deserve. We have talked about making that decision and are keeping a close eye on her.

Kai Lani Honua has had a great life! We got her at 8 weeks and have had 12 glorious and wonderful years with her. 

So anyway, that's the scoop and why I didn't get a chance to write yesterday. Stay tuned for what I learned about Pinterest.

Meditation time...

This morning I was up early for me (5:30 am); mostly because "the girls" were up too.

I had all intentions of doing the gym thing and was already to go. And then....

1) first my better half needs my help loading the truck for a BBQ event tonight

2) I realize I have compost to drop off at school and a bearded dragon to feed at school

3) and oh yeah, by the way, I needed to run to the post office

So by the time I get all of the above done, I have 15 minutes before I have to be at my part-time retail job. No time for a workout so I hit the sauna at our local gym and get ready to get my "zen" on even if its only for 10 minutes. When voila, the sauna gets packed and the elderly gentleman next to me wants to talk my ear off. And I let him, all the while seeking my meditation from the inside. I bid the elderly man good day and left the  sauna in a good mood and a little sweaty to boot, all in 10 minutes. Well worth it!

Wow! I actually READ a book.

Now I know what you are thinking, "Why is she posting that she actually read a book?" Well, this is the first time in many years that I have actually read a book for pure reading pleasure. Not because it was required for me during teaching. The book I chose to read: Catfish and Mandala by Andrew Pham. This came recommended by one of my students and so I figured, why not?

I won't go into a long summary of the book, because you can find that information here: GoodReads
It is a memoir of Andrew's life from his move away from post-war Vietnam, to ultimately returning on a bike. I really liked how the book meshed together memoirs from his past with what was going on in his pilgrimage to Vietnam. Even though the book was published in 1999, I do believe it contains some really vivid pictures of a post-war Vietnam and how not only the refugees from Vietnam (the Viet-ku) experienced struggles, but also even the native Vietnamese themselves.

Next up, not really a pleasure read, but a book I've wanted to read for a while called Plastic Ocean.This book was written by Captain Charles Moore who is credited with being the first person to identify the "Pacific Coast Garbage Patch." Here's a summary of that book if you're interested: Good Reads: Plastic Ocean.

Well, off to the gym, since that's the other part of my 30 Day Challenge. Blog - Check!

30 Day Challenge

So I have been challenged -- to find something to do consecutively for 30 days. I have decided to incorporate two 30 day challenges. (Drum Roll please......):

The First Challenge: 

• To spend 30 minutes on Pinterest and 30 minutes blogging each day for 30 days. So Day 1 Check!

The Second Challenge: 

• To get some sort of physical activity each day. (And just walking the dogs doesn't count)

So to my second challenge answer, I have found that I've been doing exercise all wrong apparently in terms of lifting. Check this article out: http://university.peertrainer.com/10-exercises-wasting-time/

Seems like I have some more learning to do. So Pinterest, Blogger and Exercise -- here I come!