An apology for a week of not posting! (Updates, questions for the readers, etc.)

So on Saturday night, my boyfriend's step-sister went into the hospital for problems related to smoking whilst on oxygen. For the past week, we have been between the hospital and home cleaning to make room for the newest member of our family. We decided to get a puppy about a week and a half ago, and have been preparing for the change in our lives to make room for a puppy who needed a home. The woman we had been communicating with was asking 40 dollars for puppies she had rescued from an Amish man who had been breeding a Catahoula and a Blue Heeler or Australian Cattle dog. She had rescued four, 2 males and 2 females if I remember correctly. The situation was heartbreaking to hear, but the man, being Amish, could not sell these dogs, and was starving them. The woman who we got her from, got her lumber from this man, and came to know about the dogs, and then found out something worse: he had been starving them hoping that they would die so he would not have to pay to raise them. So, at only 2 months old, the woman was forced to rescue the puppies, take them into her home, pay for vet visits, and find homes for them. She herself was a person who breeds pappillons amongst a couple other breeds of dogs, and paid for vaccinations and food until she could find homes for them. 4 months later a female and male had sold, leaving a 6 month old male and female to find homes. The male sold on Friday, and when we were able to drive (about an hour) to see them, we were inquiring about the female who was the last of her litter to go. We got there on Sunday she came out to meet us with a dog who had no name, but was incredibly shy. Within fifteen minutes, she was close to me, staring me in the eyes and had her front paws on my hips, staring up at me while standing on her hind legs. We decided to take her home with us, paid the woman the money for housing and vaccine (a measily $40.00 USD), and signed some papers to seal the deal. She was so incredibly scared since she hadn't been in a car since she was taken to the woman's farm, she even pooped on the seat! It was so sad but so cute. We named her Oogie,
and since she's been in her new home, I've been spending lots of time helping her adjust. She's incredibly sweet and didn't even bother anything while we were asleep even though she had access to everything, and didn't use the restroom inside even though she ate a bowl of food and drank two bowls of water before bedtime.

This is the photo that Joji took of her yesterday when we brought her home.

She hasn't really been a handful, the only problem being that she really can't handle car rides, but we have to get her able to handle car rides. Poor thing threw up today on the way over to the hospital so that mom could get blood work done. We took her to PetCo afterwards to get her another new toy, a clicker for training, and a couple cookie treats since she seems to like them more than the ones we first bought her. (They are peanut butter training treats, and are tiny and mushy...not sure if she cares for that.) We bought her a ham bone, two collars, a leash, a rubber bone squeaky toy (since it seems she's slightly teething still), and a tennis ball. We also are waiting on a name tag we bought online and a crate we also bought with the money Joji got back after that nasty dispute with that online gender therapist. So, after all that hard puppy-proofing work, my work isn't done, I'm taking her out constantly and giving her lots of love, whilst making sure she knows her boundaries (i.e. trying to chew on the computer cord). Speaking of which, did I mention she HATES baths? I'm not sure if it's the shower head or maybe she is claustrophobic? The shower is pretty closed in since it has shower doors...I'm not sure but it might be she's never had one because MAN did she struggle with me even trying to scrub her. But anyways, that's why I haven't been posting as much!

I just want to apologize to those avid readers. I really haven't meant to put my blog so on hold. I'm going to start posting everyday again. But now I have a couple questions for you, the readers:

Is anyone reading vegan/vegetarian or interested in being vegan/vegetarian while calorie counting, and if so, would you be interested in a "Meatless Monday" article?

Is anyone reading interested in reviews pertaining to trying frozen food entrees for weight loss, based on taste, in an article titled "Frozen Fridays"? Would you find it helpful for fixing food that is low-calorie in a timely manner because of a busy schedule?

Even still, I might do these regardless to opinions, but I just wanted to know if anyone would be interested in these types of things.

Alright, now I'm going to update my Food Journal posts. ♥!

Busy, again. What's new? And changing my schedule slightly.

My life seems to keep getting busy to the point where I can't even find time for friends. I'm not sure I really like it, and I feel very disorganized and scatterbrained no matter what I do or try. Even when I get enough sleep, I wake up exhausted. Today, I was literally dragging around trying to do anything and forgot to Food Journal in the midst of this.

So, regardless, I think I will be Food Journaling every FOLLOWING day. As in tomorrow I'd Food Journal what I ate today. I'm so scatterbrained and I already do Food Journal the following day in the wee hours but my sleeping schedule switched on me again, and even so, I'd like to get out of this Food Journaling/blogging at the beginning of my next day.

I don't like blogging in the wee morning hours. :/ I am feeling pretty reluctant to blog at all since my weight loss isn't going as planned. So, I'll be updating my blog according to my how my weekend was, aside from today. And I owe an apology to everyone who is reading everyday and has been noticing the lack of fluid posting in my weekends. :/

Okay! Well, off to updating! <3

An Inspiring E-mail and why I haven't been posting (Updates)

I received a wonderful e-mail this afternoon after waking up and weighing myself! (214.8 lbs. btw! :O) It was a wonderful e-mail telling me that someone out there had decided to make changes to their dieting/exercising lifestyle all because of my blog! I had no idea I'd ever hear that from anyone. Sometimes, simply because you never realize how what you're doing could positively affect another person. It cheered me up so much! I've been up and down the past few days. Really moody and all over the place. I'm not sure what's causing it...but it could just be my depression. But that e-mail just really helped me feel good about what I was doing, even if it is putting myself out there in the open realm of the internet for scrutinizing by anyone who so happens to come through my blog.

Anyways, onto what I was going to say. On Wednesday I was hit with really bad depression. I ate right, I'm losing weight, it had nothing to do with these things. It was just a really bad mood. I guess I just hate having to count calories at home on a home cooked meal! If it were my choice, I'd just eat salad. I would rather put myself through that than have to find out the calories in a cup of ground chuck. (And for some reason that is one of the HARDEST answers I've had to find.) But anyways, my bad mood got me in a fight, and my mood was shot. I also hadn't eaten anything since I woke up, so maybe that's what it was. We had to go to the grocery store to buy all this crap to make spaghetti and it really started bothering me, for one reason or another, I didn't eat until 9 o' clock, and my shitty mood just got worse and worse. By the end of the night, I was so overwhelmed that I had completely forgotten to blog. I of course had Food Journaled, just not blogged. And because of my bad mood, I just couldn't find it in me to blog right before it was time to go to sleep. So I skipped out thinking I would catch up the next day...

How wrong I was. The following night I missed out on blogging due to spending 4 - 5 hours over top a kitchen sink washing dishes. I was so exhausted I could barely lift my hand to write in my Food Journal. I still have more dishes to do tonight, but I am going to try my very best to get to updating my past few days worth of Food Journals. I also wanted to tell you guys that I'm really worried about our laptop. Our internet was running really slow...so slow I could barely update Tuesday. But we switched the modem off and on again so now the internet problem is fixed. But we're looking at paying a hefty price to go get a new battery for it. So along with that I've been sculpting my heart out trying to make us money through CSC or Candy Striped Cafe for those of you who don't know. We sell our items through here: Candy Striped Cafe @ Etsy.com!

Also, as another update the girl who was going to do an interview for my blog for "Wednesday's Weight Loss Inspiration Interviews" has not contacted me back. But her blog is on a semi-hiatus and I think she's going through a difficult time, so I don't really blame her, but sooner or later she'll contact me back. (At least, I hope!) In the meantime, if anyone reading has lost a huge amount of weight or knows someone who has (and has documented Before and After pictures), please contact me through e-mail at biernot.illiad@live.com if you would like to do a "Wednesday Weight Loss Inspiration Interview"! Thanks!

I'm going to try my best to blog later on tonight and catch up with everything!