Fit-bitten

LIAM WAITING FOR HIS WALK TO ADD 2500 STEPS TO MOM'S FITBIT

I am coming up to the one year anniversary of purchasing and wearing and incorporating Fitbit into my life, October 20, 2017
I have been Bitten by the Fitbit device. It is an addiction. It controls my actions. I love that it does. I  am an exhausted controller of me. I need someone else to help. I got it with my Fitbit.

Last year, I wrote a story about it. Here is a refresher.

https://liamlicks.blogspot.com/search/label/Fitbit

An excerpt from it

 What I have Done to Get Credit for my Exercise on Gym Equipment

Swung one arm while on the treadmill, using the other to type on my iPad...precarious

Hooked my Fitbit on the handlebars of my home row machine

Exaggerated hand motions while walking on both gym and home treadmills

Strapped my Fitbit to the pedal of my home row machine

Stuffed my Fitbit in my sock for all machines

These have been mostly successful...still working on the sock insertion 

Really???
I did all that???
crazytown

A year later I have discarded all these tricks

 and figured out a doable step-accruing routine

What works

walking in place 

while waiting on a line

  

plants
 one a time, taking to sink and back (I have many plants)

laundry 

increasing trips up and down stairs

parking
 far away from my destination
  
LIRR

walking the platform at the station when train-waiting

regular health club workouts

http://www.pushfitnessclub.com/new-hyde-park/

here I am below

PUSH FITNESS SCENES

 home gym workouts

BASEMENT EXERCISE VENUE

and walking Liam

who rests everywhere in the house between walks

                                                 

 most recent 7 day stats in screenshot below

I average 17,000 steps a day

this keeps Liam and me in shape

he maintains his 5 pound weight loss

MOST RECENT ONE WEEK STAT SUMMARY

Liam accrues steps by traveling to every chair and sofa

Liam resting

 


 and we are ready to go

LET'S GO MOM

 Woof, Woof

An Addiction Pops

LIAM LICKING LIPS AT THE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER BOOK

I rotate my addictions...try to keep them all even. I realized long ago this is the way I work to reduce my debilitating anxiety.
Occasionally, one pops out and attempts to break from the pack

What are they?

exercise/Fitbit

food

reading
plants

social media

wine

these are in alphabetical order

sub categories

are 
blogging

Crabtree's 

photography

the reading one is currently ballooning
see collage of borrowed books which all have temporarily resided in the house in the past month

my Kindle (below) is loaded with the borrowed eBook versions of the hard cover and my iPad (Right) can be loaded
And on my Kindle I have a purchased book, a rarity, author is a friend's niece
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39976003-must-have-faith


some books are sucked back before I get a chance to look

the books are almost all 14 day loans
how do I manage?

1-Paul is my human audio book

    he reads a share of them and after each chapter summarizes for me

2- In some I pick select chapters of import and skip ones of unnecessary description

    stop, skim, digest

3-I read all night

    I have restless leg, insomnia and all its accoutrements

    and Liam requesting a 2AM trip outside and a greenie

   these afflictions and distractions afford me hours of reading others may not have because they are sleeping 

pluses

less wine drinking

more knowledge

 reading builds writing skills
and I am a blogger
anxiety reduced by comfort of books
and immersion in stories, lives and worse problems

Minuses

others might want a book I have

book hogging is kinda selfish
anxiety heightened by book backlog
book due deadlines cause stress

solution

for book anxiety

have a Jack Reacher ready to download
he always works

and are you thinking

maybe she should go to therapy

or

be on meds

therapy-30 years, done

drug-cymbalta, current

this is as good as it gets

and it goes on

woof, woof

It Goes On

Everything changed in an hour.
Paul had a medical  emergency and we had to cancel our planned vacation.
Heart health comes first

He had classic disturbing symptoms
We got an immediate appointment at our internist
she prescribed a cardio cath.
There were several appointments and
No stents, no surgery
PVC is the diagnosis
premature ventricular contraction 
meds were prescribed

And then on the way home from the hospital the person who never sleeps (me) fell asleep and sideswiped a telephone pole knocking off my passenger side view mirror.
I had 3 hours sleep on a klonopin.
more appointments to fix the mirror.

Our week was revamped
and the next week of vacation cancelled

Our planned vacation was a car trip south
first stop to Wash DC to visit my parents
who reside in
Arlington Cemetery Columbarium
https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Visit
and then to
Southport. NC
https://southportnc.org/
to visit my childhood friend Lynne and her seaside town which features water, seafood and sunsets

Liam was to have been lodging in  
Best In Show Pet Resort
https://www.bestinshowpetresort.com/

At home
Life changes were instituted
New routines
I have accrued the job of pan-scrubbing wench (I am a star)
we do joint food shopping (I am in training)
curtailed wine drinking schedule (I am on board, sort of)
substitution of decaf for caf (not me)

and as for current travel...plans on hold...so
I found cloud porn and sunsets in my own backyard.
Not a sub for Southport, merely different
and took pleasure in our garden and its offerings

Incorporated 
A birthday outing with food and drink

hmm
a little black dog seemed to adjust to his cancelled vacay just fine

our fave restaurant, Crabtree's, reopened after their annual vacation

and we were able to attend its first Friday
August 24
we saw the regulars
we were all overjoyed to have our Garden Room reunion
All of us were there

and since
we had some sad news
Our dear friend, Dennis, whom we saw that night
died suddenly last week
Had we not been home we would not have seen him on his last visit to Crabtree's
Fridays will change
a beloved regular is forever gone
we will honor him each visit

I think I have found my next tattoo

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life:

It goes on."

—Robert Frost.

Woof, woof

The Ring

LIAM WEARS MY LEGACY AS AN EAR-RING

I had some surprising news. My friend, Barb, who passed away unexpectedly Dec 1st, left me her birthstone ring in her will. 
I was notified August 1 
Start of our birthday month!. 
And serendipity! Just in time for my birthday.

Received a document from her estate to be notarized 

If you look under "a"

You will see birthstone ring

We shared the same August birthstone- the green semiprecious peridot 


know anything about The peridot?
A friend sent this along
surely enhanced its preciousness for me
Traces of peridot are found in volcanic ash and Hawaiians believe they are the tears of the volcano goddess, Pele...
tears of a goddess!
see rest of story in the photo following

PERIDOT HAWAIIAN LEGEND

Despite such whimsical stories
Barb still hated the peridot.
In fact it may have brought her to volcanic
tears.

I love it

Was a running joke for years that had her mother waited another half hour she could have had the precious sapphire 

Her bday is 8/31...she was born 11:30 pm
So close

On Thursday  August 2, the day after receiving the notification, I sent off the notarized document. By doing what was legally required I trusted I had to set the ring on its journey to me. 
Would it have a chance to reach me before my birthday on Thursday August 9th?
YES
My inheritance arrived August 7th 
My dear friend Barb made it happen
This birthday would have been my first birthday without Barb. 
But it is not

I have her birthstone ring
she is here
we celebrated our birthdays jointly each year.
This year I will again and wear her ring and toast to an unforgettable friendship

Below see the ring in three views.

I am astounded. It is from Cartier.
Rubies on the side.
Very Large
Cannot be sized
Will wear on a chain.

It is kinda a chameleon
Changes colors
I am pleased and touched she left me her ring. 
I have something personal.

PAW RING

Liam wanted to pose.

It is his blog

Liam models the ring

look close 

you will see 
the peridot popping 
up on his
right foot

He tried to display it on his paw
as a bracelet




Woof, Woof

Fine Wine Art

I love wine
I love art
I love social media
these interests dovetailed to bring me to Leanne
and then follow her
on Twitter
on IG
on FB
Leanne paints pictures of wine for clients
and will put you in it with your wine. Or only your wine.
or several wines with women
her link
http://leannelainefineart.com/


I am on the left toasting my first
Leanne Wine Art Painting

And Liam enjoying sitting beneath it

Liam permitted me to have my photo first this one time. Usually his photo opens the LiamLicks blog story. A birthday allowance for his Mom.

Continue below his photo for the story

here is Leanne's Twitter page
there you can see all her URLs

and I might say we are now friends...and that she and I retweet each other. In the Social media world this is a sign of support and mutual respect. I have friends from Social Media. It is possible

I bought my first LeanneLaineWineArt for my birthday.
it is entitled Rich Summer Plum
and its story follows

and here it is on our wall...no frame...that is our cranberry wall color

RICH SUMMER PLUM

Liam had been advocating for a wine art painting. One of his fave relaxing places is the love seat. The unadorned wall above had a haunting emptiness. Here is Liam sitting and wishing for a wine art painting.

SPACE ABOVE LIAM NEEDS A PAINTING

and now we have it filled.
see below

Paul and Liam switch seats at times. Liam likes looking from a different vantage point.

the family loves it
Thank You Leanne
Woof, Woof

Let them Sniff

THE SNIFFER

I thought I was a too lenient dog parent on the walk. I had read that sniffing is a reward and should not be given too often. The pet walker must be in control... so the yanking from the trees, the poles, the hydrants was a constant. A struggle. For 10 years.
In addition, Liam often directed which route we would walk. And I would attempt to change it to the way I wanted to go. He is exceptionally strong and willful. My arms often felt as if they would pop out of my shoulder sockets...at times I was all twisted up in the leash.
And then a few weeks ago my dog walking life changed as a result of an article posted on FB by a friend.
Sniffing on the dog walk is to be not only tolerated but welcomed.
SNIFFING IS GOOD
Here is the link
https://iheartdogs.com/why-its-important-to-let-your-dog-sniff-during-walks/


An excerpt
Bolded

A long walk or run seems like the only way to deplete a young dog’s abundance of energy, but physical exercise isn’t the only way to satisfy their needs. If you really want to tire out your dog, you need to enrich both their body and mind at the same time. 

LIAM TREE SNIFFING

Sniffing a particular scent and then interpreting the accompanying information is the canine version of a mental work out. They won’t be running miles or building up muscles, but being mentally engaged is equally important.
Continental Kennel Club says,

“The effort it takes to sort and identify individual elements of an odor requires a lot of work. It’s a little like us trying to solve a tough logic problem—the required mental energy is tiring.”

Getting your dog to exercise their brain will stave off cognitive decline once they reach old age and keep them from chewing up your shoes when they’re young and eager for entertainment. A walk where they’re allowed to sniff until they’re mentally content is the perfect opportunity to address both your dog’s physical and mental needs.

Since I have read this article we are doing the sniffing walk.  There is no pulling by Liam or yanking by me. Liam walks at a reasonable pace. When he turns I turn. I never know what walk he will do. Will he turn into the park? Up Corwin?
Skip Baxter and take Ashland home?  Makes it new for me too. A daily adventure.
When he stops to sniff I do steps in place for my Fitbit. I'm doing my body, he is doing his brain.

ANOTHER SNIFF

We have met new neighbors and new dogs.
Liam and I have bonded.
We are in sync.
An improvement in the quality of my life. Liam is calmer on the walk. I can see his brain working. I am letting him be a dog
As my mother always said
"Liam is his own person."
Liam will be 11 on August 1.
Perhaps, the sniffing walk will make him smarter and delay dementia. Maybe me too.

And an anecdote
When I was a child I suffered consecutive drippy long-lasting colds. I was often at the ENT clinic in NYC. The doctors nicknamed me Carol McSniff. I was not amused. My parents were. I had no defense since all the adults loved it.
I suffered sniffling and McSniffing.
I am now reconciled to the synchronicity in my young life with my old life
Liam is now Liam McSniff-Nikol.

ARE WE GOING OUT SNIFFING MOM?

Woof, Woof

Pets and Vets

I like John Adams. I think of him on July 4th. He died on July 4th.
He and Jefferson died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826
But I have a bit of a grudge against him about July 4th.
and it is not his dying on it or his outliving his frenemy by several hours.
Fireworks
we have them because of him
He wrote about what he would like included in an Independence Day celebration.
See link

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2015/07/02/why-fireworks-on-the-fourth-of-july-john-adams-thats-why
Cannons were mentioned.
Actually I would prefer a cannon because it takes longer to load and the ball is sort of heavy. And not many people are talented cannon loaders.

Why do pets and vets suffer?
Not sure about pets...some primal fear in their DNA. Vets PTSD. Booms are evocative of war.
Here is the story link
http://www.hartfordcitynewstimes.com/news/july-fourth-festivities-may-not-be-so-fun-for-vets/article_8ee2240a-7ec0-11e8-b7db-170160ea864c.html

the fireworks start in New Hyde Park on

July 3rd

on streets south of us

It is done well

Grucci level

if they could make it silent

and only visual

not auditory

all would be fine

and notify us

as to planned time
and place
and duration
we can take anything as long as we know it will end
and please not 2 or 3 in the morning


these are not approved
they are illegal
neighborhood fun
not Macy's

we get out Liam's thundershirt

see it  https://www.caninejournal.com/thunder-jacket-for-dogs/

our weapon to combat the booms

we wrap Liam up and he hides in his paw blanket and my turquoise comfort blanket

And more July 4th.

And July 6th and 7th. They missed the 5th.

We have the thundershirt.

windows shut

AC blasting (which I loathe)  

and we take turns cuddling our shaking boy

With the support of veterans groups the regulation of illegal incessant indiscriminate fireworking is gaining traction. With a higher rate of survival from serious combat injuries, veterans are coming home and living in our neighborhoods and vocalizing their suffering.

Too bad it takes war to try to keep peace with the revelers.

at the end Liam stays down on the floor by Daddy Paul's foot

a safe place

Thanks a lot John Adams

Woof, Woof