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With Scotty being away for so long we have come to find a great appreciation for iChat. All Mac computers come equipped with a camera imbedded in the top center of the monitor. All this means is that me, a girl with minimal technology understanding, can have easy access to a video cam. Scotty and I have been able to see each other and chat every day. It has been about a week and a half since he left, but it seems like much longer. He is working very hard and sleeping very little. Although he probably won’t admit it, I think he is having a good time! Anyway, we have two more weeks and I hope the time will fly by!!

-Tiff

My intentions for today consisted of working out, showering, and spending the day at the computer working on my project. My workout came and went. My shower came and went. My morning and early afternoon at the computer came and went. Well, about 2:30 Jinx and Kooper decided that sleeping was getting old and it was time to go somewhere! I tried to field them off until 3:30, my type A personality has a schedule and there is no veering from it! At about 3:00 I gave up and decided to take the dogs outside of the gates. I leashed up the kids and headed for a walk out in O’side. We were doing OK until the very end when we came across a rottweiler protecting his front yard. My dogs are too naive to understand that they are merely an appetizer for this dog. What’s worse is that the family was sitting on the porch telling the dog to come in nothing more than a whisper. What’s even worse is that I can’t control two PUGS!!!! The dogs were barely chugging along prior to seeing the dang dog- long walks are sparse for these flat-nosed dogs. Once the rottweiler approached the fence, the hulk in both of pugs came out!! UGH!! Anway, it is my fault because I have not trained them to walk appropriately on the leash. They have no manners! So the picture above shows them in better times.. when they are sleeping! They are currently sleeping right next to me on the couch snoring louder than should be even possible. Jinx has all four legs in the air and Kooper has his head hanging off the couch. Ahh.. the life of a pug!

-Tiff
P.S. Yes I see that they don’t fit in their beds, but what you don’t realize is that they like to be tightly curled in their beds. Something about being in the fetal position….

This week is one of many vacations from week. I have the week off and “surprisingly” I am doing homework. My dear husband is working hard in Florida forgoing sleep and has left me to my own devices. I have been enjoying sleeping in later than normal and mid-morning work outs. I had class this evening and really got a fire lit up under my bum. Those that know (and love) me know that I am an overachiever if there ever was one. See, the way this works is that I have two classes that are primarily devoted to this huge project that takes upward of a year to complete. In order to truly start the research I have to write the first three of the total five chapters. I have to submit these chapters along with my data analysis techniques and all of the letters I have to send to administrators, teachers, and parents to the IRB- they make sure I am being ethical and that there is a purpose for my study. Most people have completed at least one of their three chapters in the first of the two classes. My previous teacher was less than informative, less than accommodating, and basically left me behind in the game. All of my classmates have completed all three chapters and are ready to submit their applications to start doing research. Me, of all people, am getting raised eye brows from the teacher telling me to get moving! Ahhh!! I am a perfectionist and don’t believe in turning in ‘rough drafts’ (or sloppy copies, as I refer to them to my students). I like everything to be done and done well so there will be less work later. So, tomorrow I am devoting yet another day to the computer. I have a good start on my next chapter and then I have all kinds of research to do for the third chapter. I am very lucky to have the week off, but how will I handle this time consuming project when life starts up again? My current professor is amazing and is a great support system. She has told us to contact her when/if we get to that breaking point. I am pretty well organized, but for as organized as I am, I am as much of a neurotic control freak when it comes to homework!! Oh yeah, I am working for an ‘H’ paper. H is for honorable. I will not settle for an ‘S’ (satisfactory) on something that takes almost a year of my life!! Oh dear Scotty, hold on!!

-Tiff

I decided to go to the gym today solo. When Scotty is home we go about 3 mornings a week at 5:00 am, which means a 4:40 wake up time! Since I have the week off, I decided that I would go without him. I don’t think I have ever gone to the gym by myself, but with my new diet I figured I better not stay immobile for too long. I have some weird anxiety about just walking in to a gym. Once I am in the comfort of my own treadmill or elliptical, I am OK. I also have an anxiety about using free weights and the machines, but that is a whole other post! So today I decided to do running on the treadmill and then on to the elliptical. I made it in to the gym and then on to my very own treadmill without hyperventilating. About 20 minutes into my run, a lady comes and uses the machine right next to me (keep in mind my anxiety about being at a gym). As I look around, I notice that I am on a machine that is relatively centered and there is no one on the machines to my left OR to my right. I decided to ignore this and finish my run. After my run I move to the elliptical. I awkwardly choose the one in the center up front. As I am about 10 minutes into this workout another lady comes up and gets on the machine right next to me! Again, there was no one down the line to my left and no one down the line to my right! I know no one would think twice about this, but because I have this weird thing about the gym, it sort of made me laugh. I just felt it was a funny story to go with my very first trip to the gym… alone!!

Welcome back!

Okay so Scotty is away yet again and though I have been slow to get back to the blogging thing, I am here with an update. Every Sunday I go grocery shopping. My full intention is to get groceries for one week and one week only. Who knows why, but it just seems to work. When Scotty is out of town it throws me off completely. Once you adjust to cooking for two, you seem to forget what it was ever like to cook for just yourself. Last business trip Scotty went on I got the normal food stuff and figured I would adjust portions. Needless to say it didn’t work too well. So this time I thought I would follow my mom’s ‘diet’, if we can even use that word. She has been living the solo life for a year now while she tries to sell the house- that is a whole other chapter in the blog! She has had good luck with getting the Lean Quizzines, Healthy Choice, South Beach, etc. meals. I love these type of meals for lunch, but never considered getting the pastas and other ‘real’ food type choices. I have always stayed with the pizzas and the paninis. So this time I got a whole new barrage of meals- as can be seen in the picture. In addition to the frozen entrées I decided to splurge and get crackers and cheese for my very own happy hour. So far I have enjoyed frozen burritos for lunch with a mini coke and a 100 calorie pack of chips. I promised Scotty I would not pack on the lbs while he was away, so I am planning on heading to Fuse gym every day…next week!!

The kids are also enjoying in a little luxury in their treats. I ran out of cookies and didn’t like giving them cheese any more!! Click on the pic of my treats to see the pic of pug treats!

Cheers!