The Truth Behind My Name (Also: Planking)

I was sitting at my desk this morning wondering what I was going to blog about today, since it's Tuesday and I'm trying to make that a post day. I have a few posts "in the works", but they're either in-depth or extensive rants and aren't ready for sharing.

I don't believe in karma. I do, however, hold a great appreciation for coincidence and irony. A few minutes after pondering this blog dilemma, I received a voicemail from a customer. It started out, "I was talking to a young lady at your office yesterday," and ended with, "could you please have that young lady call me?" I called her back, and the first thing she said was, "You said Amber? I couldn't remember your name when I left the message, but it's such an unusual name I should have been able to."

Thus contradicting my life-long belief that "Amber" is a fairly ordinary name.

(Counts number of Ambers I know....)

Congratulations, Dad. Not only did you help in choosing nine names collectively for your kids, you managed to pick ones that were relatively unique! Who knew? I certainly didn't.

I suppose now is a good time to share with you the history of my name. Wesley's name story is Mom, Dad, and friends in a car shouting out boy names until they hit upon one they thought sounded nice. Mine? I have the honor of being named after a character in "The Running Man".

Y'know? The Arnold Schwarzenegger movie?

Imagine my delight when I learned that tidbit.

At that point I had never seen "The Running Man". A couple years later, I walked into the living room while Mom and Dad were in the middle of it.

All that hard work learning to appreciate and accept my name started to peel around the edges.

This is why:

Don't even get me started on the suits. Nah, what gets me is that my namesake (or am I her namesake???) spends a good portion of her screen time screaming.

I mean, I probably would spend most of my time screaming if I was in her shoes, but.... Just no. It doesn't help that she plays in a Schwarzenegger movie. (For those of you who can't sense sarcasm through the screen or who haven't already learned this of me: I don't like Arnold Schwarzenegger very much. The fact that I've had to spell his name three times already isn't helping.)

<end rant>

I actually had thought of another topic to amuse you with before the aforementioned phonecall, so since I have the time I'll move on to that!

In the wake of my first post of the year, I sat back and reevaluated several aspects of my life. The conclusion at which I arrived is no surprise: certain things need to change. And unlike some people who are rational and tackle on thing at a time, I've gone for the overhaul approach.

I have a working budget in place and am trying to remain aggressively dedicated to it because, if nothing else, I need a car. I'm already doing OK with my eating habits but they could stand to be adjusted. And I'm trying to stay fit.

Since I miss my 1/2 mile jog at work every day because of the snow, I was starting to get worried about what to do in place of that (not to say a 1/2 mile jog everyday is all I need to do to keep fit, but it's a start). Browsing facebook around the New Year, I came across a post for the 30-day Plank Challenge and thought, "That looks my speed. I do need to strengthen my core. Why not?"

I actually started it Sunday morning, and this is what I have learned so far:

1) My thighs are already killing me. Everything else feels fine so far, so either it's too early to for the rest of my body to get on board the "good kind of pain" train or I have my form all wrong. Possibly both.

2) Never judge a workout routine based on the pictures. I should know this by now. I really should.

3) Never do anything like yoga with my dog around. The moment I lie down on the floor she's in my face. Either she's worried about me; she sees a perfect opportunity to snuggle; or, in her twisted way, she thinks I am finally submitting my authority to her. In any case, I have to ban her from my room when I do my morning stretched.

4) "The secret to getting ahead is getting started." - Mark Twain

5) Half of my problem must surely be the face that I'm trying to plank on a laminate floor.

I've never been very fit. (I ceased being able to touch my toes when I was, like, ten.) The idea is exciting, but I tend to lose my drive pretty quickly. We have Wii Fit and for a while I was going pretty strong on that, at least with a bit of yoga. But have any of you ever had the Wii give that shocked little "Oh" when you wobble on the board? Yeah, I got sick of that. I was walking my dog pretty regularly, but then winter hit and I'm at work sunup to sundown. So planking it is, until I break something or find a better alternative.

I'll keep you posted.

It's Spring...and I have Nothing to Say

I think it's finally safe to say spring is here.

I have never before been so ready for winter to go away. Yes, around February I will hit a phase where I'm impatient for the weather to turn, but this winter I about went stir-crazy. Usually I force myself to tough it up and remind myself how much we need the cold and snow, but not this year.

And now, at long last, the snow is turning to rain and I can abandon my winter coat. Woot!

In honor of the warmer weather, I've been forcing myself to get out more and walk my dog. (Her energy level from being cooped up all winter is half of what drives me up the wall.) I had intended to get myself a membership at the gym for my birthday. I even bought myself some neon-colored running shoes and promised myself that if I could keep it up for a month I could get some real running pants. (Yes, I have a self-bribing system I enforce to make myself perform. You clearly have never seen me in a gym.) I walked in, all ready to slap down my debit card. I took one look at the line of treadmills and shuddered. Then I saw the actual price for the membership and promptly left.

I'm not that dedicated.

So springtime! Of course, it would be easier to believe if all those bulbs I planted last autumn would sprout. Not a single crocus, no sign of my hyacinths and tulips.... Not one green tendril.

We did get more chickens. It's already been established that we are crazy, but just so no one forgets. And they are new breeds from the kind we have. I've officially lost count.

Soon most of the roosters will be gone, except for Rocky (our nicest Buff) and Gerard the Brahma because he's too funny to kill. Mom is hoping to hatch some chicks from our flock, but we kind of want to separate the chosen hens and Rocky to avoid any spawn from Gerard. Funny as he is, he has enough quirks that we don't want to see what sort of creature would result from crossing him and a hen. (If it happens, we're naming the thing Napoleon.)

The ducks have been loving the mud puddles. Poor Alfac injured his leg on the ice in the winter and it healed wrong at the ankle, so he has a permanent limp. Our driveway is a mess now due to the flooding, and I put my rain boots to good use.

Clearly I'm rambling. It has taken an hour for me to get this far. I'm working on a more "deep" post, but it's not finished. However, I knew I kind of needed to say something.

After the murderous winter season we endured, all I want is to see something green and living. My aloe plant just isn't cutting it. I have plans for a flower garden on one side of our yard. Hopefully we'll also get in a vegetable garden like we didn't last year.

We had a spring cleaning session among us girls a couple weeks ago, and I discovered two things: 1) the color of my floor, and 2) the fact that I apparently do not clean my room during the winter. Oops.

Ok, I'm done blathering. With any luck, I'll be back later this week with something more worthwhile, now that I have gotten spring out of my system.

Back to Walking (and blogging)

Aaaand.... I wrote most of this on Saturday but never finished. Right.
Let's just say it's been a very busy week. We had Missions Revival (phenomenal, by the way) in the evenings Wednesday through Friday, and I had a full work week. The weather has been gorgeous. It was like as soon as May hit, so did the warm weather. "April showers bring May flowers", anyone? The trees are bursting into "full leafery", as a friend recently described them. The chicks and ducks are growing, while my flowers are dying under their assaults. I didn't think that one through. We have one rooster who is getting huge. Especially his feet. Man, I need to post pictures!

The house is slowly but surely undergoing remodeling. I finally hung some stuff around my room today; stuff which had been sitting on the floor for the last five months. (Has it been that long?) My mirror, cork board, and elephant picture are all up. I'm getting a nifty blackboard of sorts made by a friend in church soon. I've never had so much wall space to fill!

One big thing for me is that I'm trying to get back into walking with Sasha at the picturesque-ly named but not-so-picturesque park a couple miles from our house. So far I'm up to two days. I was going to blog about that yesterday (Friday), but the day was weary and I didn't manage it.

Another good habit I'm returning to is waking before 8. Most mornings, I've officially been up at about by 7:15, though the sun gets me stirring closer to 6:30. Sasha finally gave up her habit of huffing and puffing in my face when I didn't wake up by 7:30. Now she waits quietly and analyzes my breathing, thumping her tail when I breathe deeply during a stretch. As soon as I swing my legs to the floor, she's on her feet and dancing around me.

She hasn't yet picked up on the new change in the morning ritual. I think she'll have it in a couple more days, which probably means she'll return to being my alarm clock. (Good thing, because half the time mine doesn't work.) Yesterday, she didn't get excited until I held the harness up for her to see, and then she couldn't keep still.

I had laid some towels across the backseat in hopes that it would keep her hair off the newly-cleaned seats. Right. She was bouncing all over the car and the towels were crumpled on the floor before we were out of the driveway. She isn't like normal dogs who enjoy sitting by the open window and feeling the breeze. She barely pays attention to the windows. She just wants to breathe in my face.

We arrived at the park and, to my delight, didn't see any other cars parked there. Then came the issue of me needing to carry keys, my phone with headphones, and treats, and having only one tiny pocket on my workout pants. I ended up shoving the treats in my pocket and gathering my phone, the cords, and the clicker in one hand, gripping Sasha's leash in the other.

Commence Sasha's excited lunging and dashing about and tripping me up. I've been working on "heel" with her, and she gets the basic concept, but doesn't realize I mean for her to keep it up the entire time.

Eventually her excited antics wore out and she settled down, for the most part, to walking. Well, pulling me, I guess. Can't say I expected any more. I called her to heel as often as I could and tossed her treats when she acknowledged me and fell into step beside me. It wasn't until we were almost to the point where we would turn around to head back when she realized coming to my side and walking there earned her rewards every time.

And, of course, I was low on treats. Right. Just as she started to listen.

We started back for the car. Now Sasha was almost constantly pacing at my side. I turned up the volume when one of my favorite songs came on, and we continued. I knew it'd all fall apart when Sasha discovered her treat disposal was broken, but for the moment, we were in the zone.

Then I heard voices behind me.

Looking back, I saw two people on bikes coming up behind us. We'd been kind of hogging the sidewalk. Smiling uncertainly, I tugged for Sasha to move over.

But as soon as Sasha saw the people, it was like she turned into a feral beast. She snarled at the bikers and pulled at the leash. One of the bikers has started to say hello in that funny "good doggy" tone, but stopped when my dog transformed into an angry beast before her eyes. They hurried around us while I reached for Sasha's collar. I think I may have dropped my phone, which I had tucked under my arm.

Sasha settled down quickly, but her concentration was broken, and it was back to lunging and dashing and tripping me. Oh, well. I'd run out of treats and had resorted to enthusiastic "good girl"s and head pats, anyway.

We were almost to the car when I saw the bikers had stopped near it at the top of the hill, looking out at the view of polluted water and seagulls, with a backdrop of factories. Glorious, no? I decided if they were still there when we reached the car, I should probably apologize.

"Oh, sorry about my rabid mongrel. She's quite possibly mad and hates people for no apparent reason. My excuse is that her brain is underdeveloped and the flight part of her flight-or-fight instinct is broken. Whenever she gets startled or meets unfamiliar people or animals she either gets severely defensive or ready to attack; can't be sure which."
When we arrived at the car, the bikers were still there. I shuffled Sasha into the backseat. She immediately hopped forward to the passenger seat and barked quickly. I rounded the car and made eye contact with the bikers.
"I'm really sorry about my dog. I don't know what her problem is." (Yeah, not sticking to the script.)
They were very understanding, suggesting without my prompting that perhaps they startled her. Maybe it was the traffic that set her on edge? (And that's a negative. It is Hershey who hates sirens, loud noises, and a big trash truck driving toward him.) You know, there's a dog park not much further down the road (they seemed to have gotten the impression that I was new to the area when I said we'd just moved and wanted to try out this park). Maybe she needs some socialization?
Is it that obvious I'm an inexperienced and rather careless dog owner? I'm trying, people. If I ever dare to get another dog, I'll know better, and that dog will have a lot higher expectations to live up to. Plus, we're all convinced Sasha just isn't quite right in the head. Her reasoning is all off.
Okay, and now that it's Monday....
So, obviously I need to get back to work on that whole post-a-day deal. This week is setting up to be a lot less crazy than last. Mostly. I walked Sasha again on Saturday. She did well, and we didn't meet anyone the entire time.
The trees are filling out still; as is our yard. But not our garden.
Well, gotta go.

Full Day

Today has been a long, though wonderful, day.

It kind of started around 4:30 this morning when I woke to Sasha licking my elbow. Still not sure what that was about. I actually woke up around 7:30 and was downstairs in time to say good-bye to Dad. Then came a few quiet hours shuffling around the house before Mom, Wes, and I headed out to run errands. We dropped my car off to get some work done, then went to a couple stores, a rummage sale, and a restore before picking up my car. We came home with a stove, a mattress for Wes, a kiddie pool (for the ducks), and some books and clothes for me (old hardback copies of Charlotte's Webb and Black Beauty). After unloading, Mom and Wes went back out and picked up a new bed for him from some friends.

The chicks and ducks were put outside for the day. They didn't wander very much, but they really enjoyed it once they got used to it. I found that the best way to get an accurate head count is to count by breed: "One Bantum, one Brahma, two Leghorns, four Americaunas, etc."

Then Wes got my bow (which I got a couple Christmases ago) and set up a make-shift target along the house. Turns out I can't handle a bow with a draw weight of 40 pounds. But I didn't break anything and didn't hurt myself = success. I was given instructions to practice drawing, starting at 10 reps a day, and build up my muscles (and I actually do have muscles now that I've graduated from home-bound homeschooler to working single).

It being the first truly nice day in the last couple of weeks, I decided I should take Sasha for a walk. I haven't been to the park yet, though Mom and the girls have gone a number of times. Heather and Hershey came along with us.

I was wearing a work-out tank and yoga pants. And was warm.

We didn't walk long. Heather suggested a jog, but that lasted no time at all before I started cramping up. And Sasha has two speeds: waddle or galumph. But it was fun. And, for the first time this year, I turned on the air conditioning in my car. (I'm so glad I have a car with AC!)

Home to cleaning, reorganizing, and playing with the fowl. And I managed to assemble a little shelf for our DVD's almost all by myself. I let Mom handle the nailing at the end. But yay me!

Then a friend stopped by so she, Heather, and I could run through a practice for a rather impromptu special for tomorrow. We've sung the song before, though it was a while ago. We had a recording of the music from the pianist at church, and we tried practicing with it playing on Dad's computer. However, the speakers weren't nearly loud enough, so we ended up moving to the friend's car to practice. Whatever works, right?

Around the same time, Allenna returned home from a couple days with some friends, bringing yard sale loot with her.

More cleaning, alphabetizing DVD's (how long with that last?), supper, and reorganizing. The fowl are now in the garage. And boy was it fun rounding them up! No wonder chicken chasing* is a game in some rodeos! The Polish especially, though some of the smallest, are crazy quick. And turns out possibly 5 of our 6 Buffs from the second group of Buffs are roosters. Yay.

I was kind of hoping to do nothing today (the last few days have been kind of stressful, for some reason) but it turns out this sort of activity was just what I needed. Maybe it was all the fresh air and going barefoot? All in all, a beautiful, enjoyable day.

Mom's been working in the dining room for the last week (or few weeks) painting, including the table. Now things are finally back to some order, and it's looking amazing. I love having a separate, good-sized dining room!

Well, I think Dad got a movie, so I'm signing off.

 

*Look! The chicken with the blue lei in that picture is a Polish!

Returning with Nothing to Say

Hi.

Yeah.

So, at first I was thinking it hadn't been very long since I'd posted. Then I realized it'd been over a week. And then I kept holding it off and holding it off because I really had nothing to say.

I feel like such a bad person.

Honestly, though, not much has happened. And I hate recaps, so I'll skip the details on the nothingness of my life. :) (Yeah, it's a little early.)

Mom was away for a little over a week, so I got charge of keeping the house under control. I'm getting pretty good at grocery shopping. Until the family starts yelling at me to hurry up, or one of the girls starts asking for something expensive that would mean we would have to sacrifice three other meals. There was a time when I could block this stuff out if I wanted to. Granted, I usually had a book in my hands or was right in the middle of writing a death scene, but....

Okay, I'm really rambling. Sorry.

Mom got home last night, which makes me happy. And now Hershey can stop moping, which makes everyone happy!

In an effort to encourage some positive habits in my life, I've been trying to take the dogs on a walk every morning (minus Sunday). It certainly has helped to improve their attitudes, though I still can't get them to walk properly. Sasha has been limping off and on for the past week, and I'm starting to think the pads of her feet might be sore from all of the trotting around on sidewalks and pavement.

Also, she's getting BIG. Still in the 40lb range, but she's now as tall as Hershey. Not as big and muscular, but as tall. She's going to be a beautiful dog when she's full grown.

Rambling again.

I really can't think of anything to say. This is quite irksome.

Bother.

Well, my twice a week schedule worked for a while. Guess I need to try, try again. Clearly, it also helped improve my style of blogging. (Or so it seems to me.)

I rearranged my room yesterday, reached 20,000 words in my superhero story (finally!), am spending far too much time on facebook (and considering taking another break from it, because it was so refreshing, but I'm not sure how I would continue to post my story there for some friends to read), and am not really liking this spring weather this early in March. It might mean puddle jumping for my birthday, but I would still rather have snow.

Yeah, I'm going to go now. I'll come back tomorrow and try again.

Morning Walk

I'm starting to love mornings. Perhaps it's the solitude. Perhaps it's because I get to wake up and get my brain warmed up in silence. I like sunrises over sunsets, I love to watch the world wake up, I love the first tones of morning birdsong.

Okay. That's all the poetic musing I can muster for now.

I was up by 7 today. Even though I do have a hard time waking up, once I'm finally (mostly) conscious, I do appreciate the chance to start my day quietly.

So I did my devotions and wrote a bit (I got a new notebook yesterday!). Sasha was stirring just past 8, so I got dressed and headed down to get her up.

I've been trying to walk the dogs more often. Sad as it is, they don't go for walks nearly as often as they need to (as evidenced by Hershey perking up and getting excited when the very word is uttered). I took Sasha on a couple walks between the time we got her and around the time she turned 5 months, but only now have I actually made the effort to get her outside. For a while I was reluctant to take both of the dogs at once, though I did feel bad when Hershey missed out. But now that we found his old harness, it's easier.

Still, I debated about whether I should get Hershey up and take them together, or do Sasha first and get Hershey later. Eventually I had to admit to myself that the chances of me taking Hershey later were slim. My motivation level kind of dwindles as the day goes on.

So I slipped into the girls' room (and had to capture Sasha before she jumped on Heather's face) and called for Hershey to get up. He was curled up next to Allenna and looked determined to stay there. Then I asked if he wanted to go on a walk. He shot up faster than I thought possible and hurried out of the room, even skipping his ritualistic morning stretch.

I told him to wait while I ran Sasha outside. She was almost ready to go back in when we heard a noise in the yard next door. Some little black terrier was yapping at us. I don't think I've seen him before. Sasha growled a bit, gave a little bark, and eventually ran back to the house.

Hershey was still pacing around excitedly, and Sasha has somehow learned the difference between me getting ready to leave and me getting ready to take her walking. It can't be how Hershey acts, because when we're leaving he automatically assumes he's coming with us, so he's just as excited.

So I had two dogs in my face while I got my boots on.

Suddenly, Hershey wasn't so excited. One, he had just realized that she was coming with us. Two, he was going to have to wear that nasty head harness. Believe me, if I didn't have to, I wouldn't subject him to the great humiliation, but we've tried going without it and he pulls like he has a dog sled behind him and the 5 other dogs are sitting inside.

I finally got the dogs settled and sitting at the door waiting for me to open it. Hershey hung back while Sasha kept inching forward. I opened the door and stepped out, Sasha on my heels. Hershey wouldn't move.

Dejected is the only word to describe how he looked: head down, ears drooping, eyes pitiful. But I gave the leash a tug and he slowly came out.

Then commenced a round of "Who's following whom?" I'm sure it wasn't me.

We got to the end of the road and saw another dog and owner wandering through the park. It was the neighbor who tried to help our Dexter dilemma, along with his old golden retriever. I pulled up the dogs and had them sit, because if they were walking it would have only been after the poor old dog. Hershey whined and Sasha barked a little. Then they were gone and we were on our way.

Sasha may not have learned to follow me when we're walking, but one thing she has learned to do without fail: sit when I stop moving. And I stopped quite a bit to get the blood flowing again in my hand. Much more of this and my left arm will soon be as strong as my right. (I walk Sasha on the left and Hershey on the right.)

Hershey trotted along beautifully, if a little ahead of me. Sasha dug in and tried to pull the entire time. She also tried to set the pace at a run, though I managed to hold her down to a quick walk. Through the park, around the corner, and back across the park to home again was all we did (I'm still not brave enough to wander the neighborhood alone, even if I have Hershey the tough-looking dog). Even so, I had worked up a sweat by the time we got home, and my shoulder is aching.

I offered the dogs some food, but they wanted to go out, so I put them in the kennel. Here's the thing. Sasha, being the socialite that she is, hates being alone in the kennel. If Hershey isn't with her, it's hard to get her in, and she won't stay for long. Hershey, on the other hand, refuses to go in the kennel if Sasha's there. However, he makes an exception in the morning, so they sat out there while I wrote most of this.

Now, while they're fairly calm, I think I ride the exercise bike for a bit and do some more writing. Too bad I can't write and ride at the same time.