Happy Goals

Thanks for all of the prayers. My grandmother had her first radiation treatment yesterday and from what I've been told, everything went well.

Alot of ya'll have asked how I like Happy (the Garmin) so far. I love it! So far, I've used it on our 10 mile bike ride on Saturday, our 4 mile run on Sunday, and our 2 mile run last night. I even used the heart monitor on Sunday. My heart rate got up to 188 and stayed there for quite a while. I'm not sure if that's normal or not, I'm about to Google it and see. Btw, if it's not normal, just know that I do have heart problems - nothing new.

Anyways, I had full intentions of putting some of my runs on here in nice little splits and graphs, but have found myself too completely exhausted to do so. Last night, I did look at my splits and they're horrible. As in, the first mile I ran a 12:29 and then the second a 14:01. But, I will say that I somehow hurt my hip after the first mile. So, I'm blaming that. LOL I think I just didn't stretch my hip flexor well enough. I'm definitely feeling it today.

Tonight calls for 3 miles. If I can walk like a normal person, then we'll run the 3 miles. If not, we'll figure something else out.

The 5k is this Saturday. I'm pretty excited. I looked up my '07 & '08 results and they weren't pretty, so I'm pretty excited about beating those times and possibly.. coming in around 38-39 minutes. That's my goal (yes, I'm slow), so we shall see!!

Unsettled

That's the way I feel today. Unsettled.

This weekend I found out that my Grandmother has cancer again. This will be her 3rd round with it. She's had breast cancer twice and now has cancer in her spine and back. I can't even begin to describe how that makes me feel. She's a real trooper. She really is, but in the back of my mind, I wonder, how many times can a person beat this fight?

Turns out, she has a gene that has been linked to causing cancer - I'm not sure what it's called or the stats on it, but I do know that other family members have been tested for this gene and thankfully, do not have it. But, this gene is why the cancer keeps coming back.

A while back, she was checked for cancer - just a "normal" screening and came back cancer free. Then, she started feeling numbness in her leg and so they thought it was probably a pinched nerve but decided to do an MRI, just in case. I'm thankful they did. Otherwise, they wouldn't have found it. It wasn't a pinched nerve. It was cancer.

So, today she starts her radiation. We're hoping she doesn't have to go through Chemo again. We shall see I guess. So, I'm asking you all to do me a favor. Pray. Pray for my grandmother and my family. Pray that she'll win this battle, once again.

My Husband Bought Me A....

Garmin Forerunner 305!!! Yep, you read that right! Let me tell ya about the surprise...

As ya'll know, I have a NikePlus and recently asked hubs if I could borrow is Garmin 305 for the upcoming 5k...

Well, he knew that I secretly wanted one, but wouldn't admit to it. My NikePlus works great and I saw no need in spending $180 on myself a new watch, when mine worked just fine. Besides, I could just borrow his - is what I kept telling myself...

Well, he sent me a text this afternoon letting me know that they were having a problem at work and wouldn't be home till later than usual. Nothing new, this happens a lot and to be honest, I was napping on the couch... Well, later on, I sent him a text asking if I should go ahead and eat dinner. He said yes. So, I ate dinner and watched a little tv.

He came home right around 7pm and pulled the Garmin out from behind his back! I flipped out!! LOL He said he left work at 4:45ish and went to our Best Buy. They didn't have the watch. So, he drove to the Shackelford Best Buy ( a good 40 min drive ) and they didn't have the 305, but had the 405. He knew I'd pitch a fit if he bought the 405 since it's so expensive. So, he had the store call the Benton Best Buy ( another 25 - 30 min drive ) and they had one left. He had them set it back and then he drove to Benton! How sweet is that?!

I can't tell you how excited and happy I am! I have the best husband! He knew I secretly wanted it, but wouldn't spend the money - so he bought it for me as a surprise!!!! Awww!!

Don't worry, it's charging up right now for tomorrow's run! And the name? It's name is Happy. Because that's what I am!!

Not So Wordless Wednesday

Yep. That's our boy, Bear! He looks a LOT different all shaven! Definitely doesn't look like our golden retriever! A BIG thank you to my Aunt Meg who shaved him, bathed him, and trimmed his nails! He looks and smells great!

So, this is what will be living in our house for the next 16 weeks. Yes, 16 full weeks. I haven't even looked at a calendar yet to see when that will be. But, isn't he cute? Oh, and the hubs isn't bad looking either :)

I just wanted to say a big Thanks to everyone for their comments on yesterday's post. It meant a lot and made my day a little better. Seriously, it did. It's nice to know that ya'll were thinking of me. That's the reason I continue to blog. I heart yall!

115lbs Of Fur... Living In Our House!!!!

As you know, Bear started his heartworm treatment yesterday. He's doing well. His heart, lungs, and all looked great - no heartworm problems there. The vet said his chest xray shows a "mild case" of heartworms (in his veins). So, I'm HOPING that maybe (just maybe) we can shorten the treatment time down from 16 weeks...to something shorter. We shall see - I'll be asking the vet this evening when we pick Bear up.

But, the vet told me something that I was unaware of. We knew that Bear would have to be confined during the 16 weeks of treatment - so that he doesn't "blow a blood clot", which could be fatal.... But what we didn't know was... The vet wants us to keep Bear INSIDE. Why is this a problem? He's 6 years old and has never been crate trained or housebroken. And did I mention he's 115lbs of FUR? So, after telling the hubs...we went to PetSmart and bought the biggest crate we could... and set it up. I also called my lovely Aunt who works at the vet's office and asked her to PLEASE cut his hair as short as possible. I don't care what he looks like - just short! ha!

So, I guess you could say that the next 16 weeks will definitely be blog worthy... and there will be pictures of our scalped dog! Let's hope we can housetrain and crate train him quick!!! Also, you'll be glad to know that Rocky is doing well handling being alone outside. He's a little depressed, but we plan on bringing him inside tonight to show him that Bear is here...just not outside yet. :)

Still no word on the job. Ugh.

Part III - More Pictures

The beautiful water. I miss it.

A tricycle out in the ocean. I wanted to do this, but hubs thought it was alot of work!

A close up of the tricyles.


Sailboats. We contemplated these too.




Getting ready to go snorkeling! We saw a shark (no kidding) about 30 feet under us. I didn't freak, but I didn't feel comfortable about it either!



The boat that took us snorkeling.

Waiting for the boat to be ready. Nice picture, huh? LOL

We saw a cruise ship.

A little looksie of the pier.



Hubs thought we should take a closeup of my makeup-less face!

Hubs, taking a little siesta on his flippers!

Hubs, ready to go!

The bottom of the boat.

We saw a TON of fish while snorkeling. It was my first time ever and I loved it (after I had my panic attack - I had to get used to breathing while my face was under water). They put out some fish food (minnows) to lure the pretty fish close to us. It was pretty cool. They were bright blue, striped, and rainbow colored - just like they are on Finding Nemo! ha! And while we were looking at the reefs and all the pretty fish...a shark (about 8 or 9 feet long) swam under us. All I could do was point at it - it's not like I could've swam back to the boat and jumped in! Everyone came up all at once and said "Shark!" It was pretty exciting, but the shark swam away. I was looking for him the remainder of the time we were snorkeling. :) But that was the only shark sighting!

Bahamas Part II

Here are a few more pictures to tide you over. Hopefully I'll be able to post more on lunch and tell some stories!

Yummy, yummy nachos! We had these almost everyday! Yum!

Christopher standing in part of a pool..thingie... Not sure what it's called.

One of the main pools.



Another picture of the same pool.



The swim up bar at that pool.

Another pool..

A relaxing spot. Those fire pits are lit at night. So, so relaxing!

The private island - we visited and it was awesome. But, we forgot the camera.

The brick oven pizza place. They make pizzas just how you ask them to!


Another pool. We liked this pool better, it was closer to our room.

The entrance into our building.

Christopher..hiding from the camera!

He decided to cooperate!

Bahamas Part I

I have so many pictures to share...and stories! I'm going have to chop all this up into several different parts... We'll start off with the small stuff. :)

Flying Through The Sky...Pretty Clouds!

Drinking a Margarita at Chili's in the Ft. Lauderdale Airport.

My Adorable Husband. He loves getting his picture taken. Ha!

Our Room @ Sandals - it needs to be remodeled! But, it's cute!





Our Balcony
They gave us robes!

Our Garden Tub - I loved it!


Shampoo, Conditioner, Aloe, and Lotion! Love it!

Part of our Mini Bar! Yep, it was all included!

More of the Mini Bar - both were restocked daily!

So, that's Part I. I know, not a ton of pictures, but I'm trying to break these up into segments that relate to each other... LOL

A little about our trip...

Friday morning we woke up at 3:45am, took our showers, checked our bags one last time, and then headed to the LR Airport! We parked in short term parking (don't ask why) and headed to check-in! Now, I had been worried this whole time about the weight of our bags, since airlines are now having you pay for your checked luggage and if you go over a certain weight limit, it cost extra. I'm not a fan of extra fees, especially if they can be avoided. So, I was a tad nervous when we stepped in line. What I didn't know is apparently those fees and weight restrictions don't apply if you fly international. I think hubs said that we were allowed 70lb bags each...or something...so they didn't even weigh our bags! So, no baggage fees! Hooray!

Our flight to Houston was pretty uneventful.

We had a slight layover in Houston before going on to Fort Lauderdale. I was pretty excited about going to the Ft Lauderdale airport, because I've never visited that one before. Let me just say, I had PLENTY of time to look around. We had a long layover and then our flight was delayed for another hour and a half or so. But, not to worry, Continental Airlines gave us food vouchers ($24 worth) and so we had a nice meal at Chili's (with drinks). Needless to say, those vouchers didn't cover but about half our bill, but still.. nice! So, after our meal, hubs and I read our books. Which is another huge thing - hubs bought a non-fiction book at the airport! I'm a big reader and well, he is not! He hasn't read a book since High School - so this was a major thing and I was proud as I helped him find a book.

Which, btw, he enjoyed his book and is almost done with it! He got something called Lords of Corruption by Kyle Mills and I was reading Killer Dreams by Iris Johansen. Which, I love her books...You should try them for a little something different. They're mystery/suspense books.

Anyways, we finally arrived at Sandals. We were picked up by our free shuttle. Our bags were delivered to our room (which is an awesome service) and we went and found some drinks! Since it was late (around 9ish) we didn't get to do a whole lot Friday night, besides relax. Which is what we needed after being in airports all day!

So.. A little about our room... It needs remodeled, but there wasn't a thing wrong with it - other than the bed was a little stiff. The mini bar was restocked every day and it was included in our package. (Hubs enjoyed that.) Also, a really cool thing is you could fill out a door hanger and check what items you wanted delivered to your room for breakfast the nex morning. It was something separate from room service and was also included. We didn't do that, because we found a great little place to eat brunch - we never got up before 10am! LOL But, I thought it was really neat that they did that kind of stuff. So, that's part I.. Part II might come later today or maybe tomorrow morning.

Sorry I didn't post more.. and gave you the boring pictures first - but I'm swamped at work! And this is all I could do on a 15 min break! Maybe I'll post more on lunch! We shall see!