Loving your Dog to Death

I love my Luna she's the sweetest, smartest, bestest dog that ever has been in the world. She's great. Today I was at a friend's house and he cousin was there with her dog. Her dog is a portly terrier mix. He's seriously one of the most obese dog i've ever seen. He looks heavier then the largest dog on this chart and he's so small.

The dog searched and found some tootsie rolls and when my friend asked her cousin if he could have one, the cousin said yes. This dog does NOT need candy. I mean he does have health issues, he goes potty a lot and has this soft growth between his front legs. His skin is white, except his stomach near is back legs there it's almost black. He's could be big because of health matters but I rather suspect the candy his owner gives him to show her love contributes to his obesity.

This reminded me so much of a time I spent 3 weeks in Cuernavaca Mexico on a homestay and the 'mother' of the house mentioned that the vet had told herr to keep her dog to a specific diet because it was obese and she did not stick to the diet. She said she loved the dog too much to not give her the treat she was begging for.

I kinda think she'd showed her love better to take her dog on daily walks and feed her the prescribed diet. :shrugs: It makes me wonder why we humans use food to show affection. When I'm feeling stressed, I eat. Take today, I've 3 major due dates next week and I'm sitting eating Doritos and blogging the opposite of what I should be doing. But this isn't about me, it's about the poor dogs who get fed too much because their woners have some mistaken belief that the food they give their pets means love. Food is sustance. It keeps us alive and allows us all to do the thing we enjoy, but it shouldn't be the most important thing in our lives. When we find ourselves thinking about food constantly, we need to back up and wonder why. Of course, its hard to when you're honestly hungry.

Back to dogs I will brag a bit and say that Luna is the perfect weight because I feed her the recommended amount of quality food just a few treats, we play fech every day and I do take her on walks. She did get a little big a couple of months ago because my wonderful sisters were putting food out constantly for her.

Every time the bowl was empty, they would put a cup of food in. I nagged them about that and they don't do it any more. Luna actually did lose a fair bit of weight when we went on vacation and I was the only one feeding her again and we were also going on lots of walks. She hasn't gained the weight back since we've returned, so I'm assuming my sisters haven't been giving her extra food.

Anyway, the gist of this entry is that giving your dog extra food he or she doesn't need is not love. Food is not love. Many other things can be love, but as a culture, we really need to get away from food as a reward or example of love.

All about MMU (That Mineral Makeup for the Non-Obsessers)

I love Everyday Minerals, totally HG for me. There are some problems with mineral makeup. For example, something it it can make your skin look really light in pics with a flash (that happens to me a lot). My skin is pretty combo and it usually disappears by lunch, but I just dust a little more powder on with the mmu and kabuki I keep here at work and I usually look fine. another bad thing, I never thought my skin looked particularly old until mmu highlighted some of my lines under my eyes. Errrg. All in all, I think its still worth the effort and undereye lines because this stuff looks pretty great on the skin and does not irritate my skin either.

One of the good things about mmu is its ease of application (once you learn how), and how it can really hide some imperfections. It doesn't make my pores look smaller, neither does it make them look bigger. They are there no matter what makeup I use :( But I suppose I'm used to them now.

http://www.everydayminerals.com/ If you order something, enter the code BmmEnc until December 10 to save 10%

You know, without mmu, I'd never have thought to mix foundations to get better colors. Now, even when I get tired of mmu and wear liquid (like last week) I tend to mix them up. For example, yesterday I mixed the Cover Girl mousse-y makeup with the CG Smoothers tinted moisturizer. Creamy Natural can look really orange on me, so mixing in a lot of the tinted moisturizer makes it match my skin tone much better. And I still get a fair amount of coverage.

Today, I went mmu again after a week away and I did miss it. I got a pretty good color match by mixing EDM Fairly Light Neutral, Sunkissed Fair, and Multitasking together. They were in various finishes including Intensive, semi matte, and original glo. I like it and will proabably wear it tomorrow again, just like this. I also used the waffle cone blush over it and then blended a it more.

btw, I love the ED fan brush, it is awesome for applying mmu blush and not going overboard. I also love their flat top brush for applying foundation. Totally awesome.

On the downside, I've been using CG lash blash for about 3 weeks now, and its already flaking. :( On the bright side, the flakes are big and thus easier to remove then the smaller flakes that just set into your skin). I'm thinking on finishing up my Full and Soft that I bought while in Williamsburg when I couldn't find any CG Lash Blast. I still bought the lash blast the second I saw some at Walmart, but still.

In more makeup news, I still cannot find the matte Milani lipsticks and am somewhat bummed. I just never think to go out of my way to check out a CVS since I know Walgreens doesn't sell it.

Also, although ED is HG for me, I still ordered the new ELF mmu.

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/

I got the starter kit #2. I'm a little worried about the lack of color selection, but I'll give it a whirl.

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/depts_minerals.asp?dept_id=1190

Also, these little tins are so cute.

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/products.asp?dept_id=1186

I got the cherry and candy flavored ones and I know its Christmas, so I'll probably go pick some up if they're available at the Fiesta on Buckner which is the closest store that sells ELF in my area. No the closest Target is sadly ELF deprived. A sad state of affairs at the time of year.

In other news, my parents need to give my 16 year old sister a camera for Christmas, seriously. I'm getting really tired of mine disapearing into her room and ending up with 20 pictures of her posing, but she never does anything with these pics and just leaves them on my camera. Bummer, this won't happen anymore if they would just buy her a camera. Please?

Cradle Robber

Well, I got asked out my a really hot guy a little while ago. I also gave him my number and he said he'd call tonight. The plan is for us to go out to the movies this Saturday night. Yay. I am happy about it, and surprised I was able to say yes. The only thing is that I reckon he's a bit younger then I am. I mentioned my sister was turning 21 and he asked how old I was. I wondered how old he was, but was afraid to ask. I reckon he's in early 20s territory. Like 21-23. I suppose I'll find out soon. I've never gone out with someone younger then me before, so this will be cool. I mean, my sisters have both had good luck cradle robbing, I feel like I've been missing out over the years :)

Now for the Post-Thanksgiving Guilt Stage

The lesson at church yesterday was based on a talk in the last General Conference from Elder Dallin H Oaks. Here's a link. It really inspired me to look at my 6 month goals and see which, to me, are good, better, and best. So these are mine, does anyone else have any goals they're thinking of right now?

My 6 Month Goals: Remember Good *, Better**, Best***
From November 26, 2007 to May 26, 2008

Health
--Lose 35 pounds***
--Take Luna on walks every day**
--Do a 5k*
--Go out to eat once a week***
--Bring lunch to work every day***
--Use all food I buy*
--Be a size 8 or 6**
--Do a workout video 2 times a week*
--Use all wellness time each week***
--Drink water constantly**
--No caffeine***
--No soda except for special occasions**

Home
--Keep trash removed from room**
--Vacuum carpets once a week*
--Keep sewing paraphernalia organized**
--Keep up with shredding junk mail***
--Water plants each week*

Time-Management
--Prioritize properly*

Social
--Go out once a week to some sort of activity (e.g. movie, museum, theater production, band, dinner)*
--Go to all YSA activities possible***
--Try harder to date*

Church
--Daily Scripture Study***
--Be current with tithing***
--Fast when proper and do so spiritually*
--Spend more time on prayers**
--Don’t forget to bless all meals*
--Get temple recommend***
--Attend church every Sunday***
--Do monthly visiting teaching*

Our Thanksgiving...

It's been a wonderful day and its days like this that remind me why I love my family so much. This is a picture of all of us today.

This one is just us siblings.

Today has been the first time we haveall been together in a long time, this is including random family members. There was Ann and her hubbie Tyson and their baby. There was Mary and her new husband Marc. There was Charlie and Phyllis and the two kids Sabina and Charlie IV. And there was me, my parents, and Kathrine and Susan. No one was in a bad mood, everyone contributed to cleaning and fixing up the house. We laughed non-stop. We played with the kids and talked constantly. There was something to eat to fit everyone's dietary requirements. I shared my love of sewing with Ann and Mary and discovered that Phyllis also sews, although only for the kids. I also found out that my Mom used to be pretty creative with her sewing. She actually used 3 sewing patterns to sew her wedding dress. I've never thought much about her sewing abilities because she never talks about them. Even though I talk about sewing A LOT, she never really contributes or offers advice.


Bro cooked everything and did a great job. He used Alton Brown's recipe for turkey and it was great. Wonderfully moist and flavorful. The only thing he didn't get right was Grandma's cheesy corn. It just wasn't creamy and spicy enough. And he used red bell peppers that looked good, but added a sweetness the dish didn't what will the corn.


Yes I ate a lot, but less then I could have. I'm full, but not stuffed today. We also have many leftovers this year, but I'm sure we'll finish them :) The weather also got seriously cold today and that's why we have the coats today even though we were all wearing tshirts on Tuesday. LOL.


Luna was well behaved and the kids liked playing with her at first, but I guess got bored with her, so we just put her in my room.


We went over to grandma's after the Cowboys game was over "Go Cowboys (G)". Then I got to have some a g'ma's corn and it was good. We also saw my g'pa, aunt Vivian, and two of her sons. They'd had dinner at their house earlier, but there just isn't space at their house for all of us and my aunt an all of her kids and their family and my other aunts and uncles and their families. If everyone came at the same time, there would have been 50 people in a relatively small area. It's not so bad when the weather is good and we can expand outside, but today the nip in he air would have made spending time outsde rather less fun. So by the time we got there, only my cousin John, his wife Adeena and their two kids and my other cousin Charlie(yes another one) and his wife Susan (yes another of those too). We visited for a few hours, just talking. We don't do that enough.


In more distressing news, my cousin John had to take his 2 year old little girl to the hospital for a bug bite that's got infected. The little boy also has a bite and they took him is as well, although his is better. Leatrice's has a black line running through it. This used to never happen, but the past month or so, Michael's had 4 bites and this is Lea's first one. I reckon they're going to have to do something about that. Dad and Brother Vanuelos went to the hospital to give the kids a blessing and hopefully they'll get better quickly and not get any more bug bites.

Yes, it was wonderful for all of us to get together and eat and I reckon we were a bit loud. Yes, we talk loudly and laugh loudly and did just about everything loudly. We were going to do the Karaoke Revolution.


It's been a good day, aside from the bug bites.

Here's me and Sidney.

This pic is just about the cutest one I saw. It's Charlie's Son Charlie and Ann's and Sidney.

On Eating and Holidays

Like many, I wonder why we eat so much during holidays. I don't know about ya'll, but for me holidays can be defined somewhat by the food consumed during them. Easter has the candy, 4th of July has hot dogs and hamburgers, Thanksgiving has the turkey, Christmas the ham, and News Years the black eyed peas.

We are a food-oriented culture, and that's okay. I love food, but sometimes lack the patience to prepare it properly, and I suppose this is why we have resturants. Convenience, laziness, quickness, tastiness, and socialization all have helped the restaurant industry grow so much. It's so hard to resist those colorful signs while traveling and in the daily life. When I live close the a fast food joint and its along the way I normally drive, I am much more likely to stop there to grab a bite, or more. If, on the other hand, I rarely see the fast food, I don't really miss it and cook my own food more often. The convenience of convenience foods really has led to so many people eating them daily instead of for the occaisonal treat.

For example, since the parking issues here at Eastfield began, I've driven to one of the many local fast food places much less often. This is also because my brother used to work almost the same schedule as I did at a building less than a mile from Eastfield and sometimes I would bring him something from one of the local places since he didn't have a lunch break and so couldn't drive away to grab anything. I think he mostly ate tv dinners. I can count on my hand the number of times I've left the campus this semester for lunch because of Bro and because it now takes so long to walk out to the car and back. That's 10 minutes or so right there.

There is a subway on campus, but I try to avoid it. It's still not really healthy, although the veggies are. Also I can rarely resist making the daily special a meal by adding a soda and chips and it can cost a pretty penny. I need to practice my avoidance for these unhealthy foods.

So I've been trying to bring food in more often. It's nice, but too often what I bring in is still a convenience food like canned soup or a frozen dinner.

Once I brought in a rotisserie chicken, but for some reason it just didn't fill me up and I was ravenous eat everything in sight by the time I got off work 4 hours later. Maybe if I bring the chicken and something a little more satisfying then salad, I'll be fuller longer.

It's odd, I was reading on a blog that most women don't eat enough calories and I have to agree. I shoot for 1300-1500 a day and when I really looked at what I was eating last week on Sparkpeople, I was sitting at 1100-1200 everyday and this is with pretty much ignoring my low carb lifestyle. Even at this calorie level, I don't loose weight, so I suppose focus is necessary.

So here are some potential avoidance strategies for when I'm craving, but not really hungry and don't need anything.

• Start sewing.
• Start working on Nanowrimo or some other writing
• Start homework
• Go outside and take Luna for a walk
• Call a friend
• Turn on Heroes or some other distracting tv show
• Remind myself of why I want to be healthy
• Look at pictures of obese people online (not a nice one, I wonder hoe effective it would be)
• Read a book

Maybe my goal should be to use these strategies for 30 minutes and if I still want it, then have it. I've heard of this before, but have not the excitment to carry it through. Maybe I will be more conscientious this time.

Short Term Goals (New Years)

• Lose 10 pounds
• Be smaller
• Take Luna on a walk everyday (no matter how short or how cold it is that day)
• Try to run a little on each walk, gradually building the walking into running
• Get 5 fruits and veggies a day
• Focus on reducing sodium content
• No caffeinated beverages.
• No sodas

Longer term goals

• Size 8 (I think I look best at an 8 with curves in the right places, but no bulges. I've only been a size 8 twice since my freshman year of high school. Once right after I got back from Germany and was jetlagged and not eating for a couple of weeks and once after starting low carb, but when the holidays happened, my newly svelte frame became a thing of the past.)
• Run a 5K
• Eat a reduced sodium, no added sugar, no high fructose corn syrup diet with some fish and soy eaten every week and also lots of fiber from veggies.

Hopefully wrting all this can help me tomorrow to resist the Thankgiving Feast. To be a good feast-er, I'll have the turkey, salad, pumpkin pie, and deviled eggs. I will eat only one bite eat of the mashed potatoes, stuffing, and creamed corn and that will be it. I woulod refuse to eat these at all, but my brother is putting a lot of effort into making them, the least I can do is taste them. I only hope I can keep it to just 1 bite and not all of it.

Also, I'm thinking of sending my parents a link to a food scale. I think it would be great for us to know exactly how much food we are eating before we eat it. Wish me luck :).

Next Sewing Project

So I finished that other dress Sunday night and last night whilst pondering Heroes(totally awesome btw) I decided to go ahead and try to finish one more dress to wear on Thanksgiving. This means I need to finish it today. Now I do have many other things I could be doing. For example, tidying up my room, cleaning the front room, cleaning the kitchen, filling the dish washer, finishing the hems on any number of dresses, sorting through my closet for summer stuff that can leave to make room for cooler weather garments, .....

This is not my pattern, but it is similar and I can't remember the number off the top of my head, so I can't search for it either.

I'm doing it with short sleeves and I'm not sure, but I may do white piping along the collar and front, or not I think it'll look classier without.

So yes, I probably don't need to try to finish another dress when I get home from work, but I will. Hopefully it won't take to long to complete. I'm making a shirtdress from an unprinted 50s Simplicity pattern. I'm not doing the zipper, and I'm sticking a circle skirt on it from one of the retro Buttericks.

I'm making it from some royal blue challis that's been waiting in my stash since last Spring. It was going to be Simplicity 3780,

but that ended up being made from a black, flowered hawaiian-esque print. This left my 6 yards of challis with no purpose :( This pattern doesn't need 6 yards, so I reckon the rest would make a glorious skirt or shirt, maybe not a shirt given challis' propensity for wrinkling. Wish my luck as I procrastinate on real work :).

BTW: My soda free thing is going pretty well. I picked up a grilled chicken saesar salad and McD and did NOT get a diet coke, instead I realized my thirst and had water. :pats back lightly: I'm a try to keep this up, but it is hard to train your brain not to expect soda at meals when you've drunk sodas with meals all your life.