Today Only

I'm going to -

- get my 10,000 steps in
- only eat foods that are good for me and will nourish my body
- exercise for 45 minutes
- get to sleep at a good time - 10 o'clock at the very latest

When I look at the big picture, that is - the I-still-have-53-lbs-to-lose picture - I start to feel really overwhelmed. I start to put a schedule on it, a due date, and then I start to enjoy - in my head - how great it will feel to have shed all the excess weight I have, and how much more I'll enjoy moving, and doing things, and being social (I've been there before, so I know it's true) - and then I start to wish that I was there now. And I start thinking that man, that's going to be a lot of work, and oh my goodness I'll have to stay on track for six months or more and never mess up ever ever ever...

Which is why I'm breaking it down.

To today.

It's just one day.

And every time I find myself wanting to look forward to "how awesome will that be when...?!" I'll remind myself that it will be super-awesome today if I get my steps in, eat foods that are good for me, and exercise for 45 minutes - today.

I can handle that today.

And then... I'm going to do it all again tomorrow.

Bed Makover

Earlier this year I upgraded from a twin bed to a queen. As one of my friends put it, "you're a grown woman now, you should have a grown up bed." My twin was less than a year old (I had slept on an oldoldold twin bed for years that creaked and squeaked every time I moved... no wonder I hadn't been getting good sleep for many many months!) so I posted it on ksl classifieds and sold it a few months later after reducing the price multiple times and taking a significant loss.

The exchange happened really fast - they texted, and came to pick it up hours later - so I called RC Willey and asked for the same bed I had bought in a twin last fall but in a queen size. After one night spent on the floor (big mistake - I'm not as young as I used to be), the bed came and I was in love.

Not only did I have enough room to stretch and sprawl, but I could stretch and sprawl with all three creatures around me and not kick any of them off. It was so nice to have that much space! Even now, five/six months later, I still sleep diagonally across the bed sometimes just because I can.

While I had the twin, I had used the same quilt I had had since I was 18 (a birthday present from the YW presidency). It was a light blue and white with flowers on it, stained from years of use. After getting the queen, I bought a bigger blanket in a light green color.

Seen here.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Kohl's with a 30% off coupon and came back with another pair of sheets (I love browns and creams).

New sheets seen here:

And a comforter! I can't tell you the last time I had a comforter on my bed. But it's brown and soft and warm and I love it.

I also grabbed a super-soft super-wonderfully-soft sherpa throw (the plaid patterned one). The underside is fuzzy and warm and fantastic. Then to protect it somewhat from the dogs if they jump on the bed when they're dirty I kept my old soft blanket (not as soft as the sherpa thing, but still nice) and overlapped it.

Max approves.

And so does Belle.

I'm a huge fan myself.

Visiting Veterans - Part Two (and sad news)

Max and I went back to work with vetereans last night. Once again, I feel like we had a great visit. I'll just get right into the things that I don't want to forget:

- being called "ma'am" many many times within a 60-minute period
- getting a chance to thank some of them for their service
- being thanked for thanking them for their service {often in the form of - "thank you for saying that."}
- the man from before, "Mike", who just loved Max the first time getting really excited to see him again in the hallway
- Mike telling us how it makes such a big difference when he sees Max - it relaxes him and he's nicer to people after the visit
- Max just being awesome again. I have a friend at work that I saw today and when I told her I went back last night the remainder of our conversation went like this - "and?" "they loved Max." "not surprised." (and she's not a dog person. I swear, this dog is magical.) (:

It was another nice visit.

And now for the sad news.

I was told on the way to the visit by Nancy (a mentor from TAU has come with me both times to get things settled and figured out) that after last night I wouldn't be able to go back because the staff didn't have anyone that they could keep in the room with me while I was there. I admit - I cried a little after hearing that. I have loved being there. I've said this before, but the big reason I wanted to get Max and I registered with TAU was so that I could work with veterans. I've specifically wanted to work with those struggling with PTSD and other psychiatric issues.

Nancy said that they've already done a site assessment another location for visiting veterans and that I can start there as soon as I want to basically. They'll have someone on staff with me all the time too. We swung over there and saw a few residents in a common area and visited for a bit. It'll be nice to visit there, but I really will miss the hospital even though I've only been there twice.

Visiting Veterans

I started this post writing the background to the therapy dog stuff that I've been doing. I decided I'm going to stick all of that at the bottom as more of an optional read. And I'll just jump into our time with the veterans.

Saturday afternoon Max and I went to visit veterans.

I was a little nervous about the visit, but mostly excited. I had been to the facility before, so I was familiar with the setup, and I knew we would be visiting in the TV room so that it was completely optional for the guys to come in and join us or avoid us completely.

While we were there we saw about 8-10 men. One of them stayed the whole time.


Here are some of things I want to remember -

- we walked in and immediately a  guy came up and wanted to pet Max, and then asked if he could bring him some water. I carry water around with me whenever we go on these visits, but I remembered from the class I took from TAU that some of the people you visit really want a chance to take care of/help/nurture something/someone. I told him that would be great. When he brought the water to Max I was so glad that Max decided he was thirsty. (:

- once we got set up in the room, Max was invited onto the couch. I put his blanket on there so he'd know he was allowed (he's not allowed on the furniture at home) and he settled in between two guys (one of them was the man who stayed the whole time, we'll call him Mike).

- occasionally I'd get Max off the couch and he'd spend some time with some other guys who had come in to visit.

- Max got called "Boss" by an older gentleman that was there.

- near the end of the visit, Max was on the couch by the Mike and decided to really settle in and get himself comfortable so he put his head on the Mike's lap. I love it when he physically connects with people like that.

- one other man we met started crying when he was telling us (Nancy, a mentor with TAU, was with me since it's a new location for volunteers) about two dogs that he had had to put down recently.

- throughout the visit the water bowl got moved aside and then different men would take turns taking it and offering it to Max again - just wanting to make sure he had enough.


It really was such a great visit. I loved it. I loved it more than I thought I would. And I think Max enjoyed it too. Of course, if I got a full-body massage every time I went to work (like he does) I think I'd really love it too. (:

We're going back tomorrow (there's some schedule shuffling happening but since I won't be able to go this Saturday we shifted it to Thursday), and I'm so glad this is going to be a regular thing!

Here's Max after the visit.

He always gets exhausted after visits like that. It can't be easy being so charming and lovable all the time. (:




And here's the background info that I was going to post before. If you're interested...

Some background because I can't remember if I've really talked about this on here (But I don't feel like looking back at old posts right now).

Last year November I took the handler's course for Therapy Animals of Utah (TAU). It's a day-long course where the human half of future therapy animal teams learn what their pets need to be able to do in order to become a therapy animal. We learned a lot about learning to read stress signals in animals so that we would know if our pet gets really stressed during visits. If the pet does get really stressed, you need to end the visit quickly and get them out of there. They want to make sure the visits are as enjoyable for the animals as they are for the people - and stressed animals don't enjoy visits as much as non-stressed animals do.

Anyway, after taking the course I signed up for the team evaluation in February. We went, and Max had an ear infection. They don't do evaluations in animals who are sick - including ear infected animals. So we didn't make it past the physical.

We got in again in March, and he passed wonderfully. They loved him.

One - big - reason I wanted to do this with him was so that we could work with veterans. I read an article a few years ago about a therapy dog that would visit veterans who were suffering from PTSD and I decided then that I wanted to do that with Max. I was already pretty sure that he was a prime candidate to become a therapy animal and that was one population that I really wanted to work with.

In August I went to this facility and started the process to become a volunteer. This includes a background check and two TB tests. I had to go back there after work three times in a couple of weeks. After that I had to wait for my background check to be completed. A couple of weeks later I got an email saying that I had passed (shocker, I know), and we started getting things set up.

A quiz and orientation with volunteer services, a few emails back and forth with my contact, a tour of the place I would be visiting, a visit with the nurse manager there (all of this taking place over 3 weeks or so), and I was good to go. Long process, but looking at our first visit, I can say that it was definitely worth it!

Bad Dog and Good People

Don't worry. The irony is not lost on me - not at all - that after mentioning that I have a raving-about-Max post pending I end up posting next about what a bad dog he is. I'll probably still post that other one (whenever I get around to writing it) because this post doesn't make that post any less true. I've realized that while he is an awesome dog in so many ways, he's still human. Or, not, rather. But you know what I mean.

Oh the way to take my brother to the airport I ignored a phone call from a number I didn't know (I do that). They left a message and when I played it I heard, "I'm on the trail and I have your dog Max." Before I could call them back, and as Graydon is parking the car and getting out, they called again. She told me where they were, I told her where I lived - just North of where they were, she said she'd walk him North. The problem is, I wasn't home, and I still had to go back to work until at least 3 (early day today, yay!). I told her that I have great neighbors and if they were home they would help me with this. I texted Marie my address and then called Susan. After a quick catch up chat she asks, "What can I do for you?"

This is how wonderful she is.

I told her it was sad, but she was right. Every time I call her I'm asking for something. I quickly explained and she said she'd get shoes on right then and walk toward the trail. I texted Marie to let her know my neighbor was walking to meet her and she texted me this -

my bad dog with Susan.

I thanked Marie again, she told me that Max was really sweet and "such a good dog." When they called him over he came right to them, when they told him to sit he sat...

He's a good dog except when he decides to be an escape artist! Drives me crazy.

Susan called me later and said Belle was in the front yard when she took Max home so she put them both inside. I told her that I owed her dinner for at least a week and she said "No, that's what neighbors do!"

I'm so glad that people like him when they meet him but I really wish he didn't feel the need to make new friends this way.

So there's my story. I have a bad dog, and I am so so so grateful for good - and super-helpful - people who go out of their way to help others. Marie mentioned this was their second "rescue" in as many weeks. What a good lady! And Susan and Brad are saints. They have been so helpful in so many ways. I am so blessed to have people like Marie and Susan in my life - and so is Max!

Big News!

I have a post pending that is going to go on and on about what a good dog Max is.

You've been warned.

(It actually won't be that bad - promise! But while a friend of mine was over at my house this last weekend being sick, he was at his rock star therapy dog finest and hung out with her a few times after I left the room. And that dog follows me everywhere. So he knew what he was doing. He knew. And he's such a good dog. (: I've come to the conclusion that if there's someone who doesn't like this dog, there's something wrong with them. Because he's just great. Right Jen B.? :)

On to the big news!

A few years ago I read an article about a therapy dog working with veterans. I decided right then that that's what I wanted to do with a therapy dog. Come last November, I finally took the day-long course required for the human part of the team. In February I took him in for our evaluation and we couldn't do most of it because he had an ear infection (they start with a mini-physical and won't do the evaluation if there are any open wounds, infections, etc.). March was full, we went back in April and passed with really good scores. I may have written about that before. Anyway, that's a summary of it all.

Then, this past summer our first therapy dog outing was to the West Jordan library. While we were there I was talking to Deb (the director of Therapy Animals of Utah - TAU) about trying to get started with veterans. She said she's been talking to the VA for a while about getting a team in there, but nothing had happened yet. She told me to go ahead and start the volunteer process since it takes a while (background check, TB tests...) and hopefully then it'd be easier for her to get us in if we were already ready.

First week of August I got in there with all the completed paperwork that I had been emailed and got my fingerprints scanned. I was expecting to have to get inked up, but it's all digital now. Pretty cool. I went back four more times in the next couple of weeks to get a TB test started and then checked - twice. On August 27th I got an email saying that my background check cleared (shocker, really). I called in, scheduled my orientation, and that brings us to today! I'll be going in this afternoon to go through their confidentiality policies, learning what code blue, code red, etc. mean, their emergency protocols, and then I'll be setting up visits! I'm so excited. I'm nervous - we'll be working in the mental health hospital, which honestly, makes me a little more nervous - but I'm more excited than I am nervous, so I think it'll be good.

And I found out yesterday that Max will need to be in my volunteer badge picture too, so I won't be able to get the badge today but I'll have to bring him back sometime to get that done.

Anyway, maybe boring to the two (one?) people that read this blog, and for that I apologize. But I'm really excited. (:

So Glad!

So glad that I had a love affair with running yesterday. So glad mostly because today was not wonderful. It wasn't horrible, but it was hard. Even the promise of listening to the next exciting part of my audio book wasn't a super motivation to get me on.

Don't get me wrong, it worked, but it was most definitely not a love affair this time around. So I'm glad I experienced yesterday. I'm glad because I know that means that there will be days that I absolutely love it. I'm also glad that I experienced today. I'm glad because I know there will be days when the last thing I want to do is get on a treadmill. But even if I walk more uphill more than I run downhill, it'll still be making me stronger.

My muscles are sore.

And I'm exhausted.

That's all.