An Ode to Buddy the Cat

This last week Mom’s Cat, Buddy, passed away.  He was my mom’s constant companion and she loved to spoil him.  Mom has taken it rather hard.  She says she can’t believe how much she misses “his little person” around the house.  He was such great company to her.  Some of you may remember that I did a painting of him as a gift for my mom back around Thanksgiving in 2010.  I called it "Mom's 10 lbs. Butterball".

Oil on 11" x 14" Canvasboard.

I remember when she first got him and took him for car rides.  I was like “Mom, you realize this is a cat and not a dog.  Cat’s generally have issues with motion sickness in the car.”  Mom said to me, “He’s going to be a “Car Cat” if it kills him.”  And that was the end of that discussion.   Buddy actually did end up loving to go with Mom on car rides.  He would either lie in her lap or perch himself in the back window of her car as they tooled together around on the eastern Iowa roadways.  The image of them brings a smile to my face.

A earlier watercolor of Buddy that ended up getting lost in Omaha.

Mom admits that Buddy could be stubborn at times.  (I think it might have been a bit of mom’s German stubbornness that rubbed off on Buddy?)  But Buddy purred a lot to let her know he was contented and happy.  Buddy would crawl under the blankets on Mom’s bed and sleep the whole night through.  He loved to roll around on the cement patio on sunny days and he enjoyed his catnip too.  He had a pretty good life.  I sometimes would tease Mom that she treated Buddy better than she ever treated any of us kids.  I also think that if I ever get reincarnated I want to come back as someone's spoiled cat. 

He was relatively young.  It came as some what of a shock to me because Buddy was only a little over 8 years old.  But I think that it’s always a shock and hard to accept loosing a pet.  Pets are a part of us and a part of our lives.  Then, there’s the wonderful unconditional love that we received from them.  It’s hard to loose that.  I still have my days when I see someone walking a black lab dog that I miss my old dog Rocky who I had for almost 14 years.  It takes time to get over something like that.  All I can say is “Hang in there Mom!”  It gets easier with the passing of time.  Mom- my love, thoughts, and prayers are with you.

Still Recovering & Buy Art From a Pirate?



Photo: "Mannequin on Deck"; Watercolor on 8" x 10" Paper. It and several
others will be at my art show this Saturday.

My body is still trying to recover from last weekend’s list of workouts I did.  Saturday, it was a hip-hop fast paced Zumba class where I’m sure I looked part idiot – part spasmostic.  It was a challenge to keep up and trying not to run into anyone else in the class but I will admit it was fun!  A good cardio workout too! 

Sunday came and I tagged along with Diane to a Boot Camp Work Out.  OMG!  During the warm up period, I found myself already in trouble.  1.5 minutes of “flutter kicks”?!!! (Flutter kick= lying on back, hands under small of back, lift legs off of floor and scissor kick without touching floor.)  The 1.5 minutes felt like 3 minutes of literally wrenching my gut. 

From there we stood up and did what I refer to as a “tsunami” of squats where we would “rest” for 10 seconds in the squat position.  Then as fast as we could go from squat to stand and back to squat in under 30 seconds.  We repeated this a few times and the “rest” was no rest no matter how much the instructor said it was.  My front thighs are still feeling this one today (4 days later.).  The rest of the Boot Camp went thru a series of dead lifting and “burp bees”, swinging kettle balls with push-ups, and arm press with 15 lbs. weight bar with jumping pull-ups.  By the time I got to the jumping pull-ups, my arms were saying NO MORE.  I had to opt out.

It was ¾ thru the day that I realized I was still signed up for reformer pilates early Monday morning and I was still very so sore from the morning.  But Monday morning came and I hated the thought of paying for a class and not showing.  So I went to class, but I’m glad I did because it ended up being a good thing.  The instructor took up some really good stretches at the end of the class that made all the difference to me walking half way decently.

I’ve been terribly stressed this last week getting ready for my 100 Salt Lake City Porches Art Show.  Click here to get the 411 on the art show.  I’m so stressed in fact that I have a sty in my right eye that seems to not be going away.  The last two mornings, I’ve woken up to almost not being able to see out of my right eye.  I’ve had to apply warm compresses on it to make the swelling go down.  I’ve been wearing my sunglasses quite a bit because I can’t wear eye makeup (I feel SO nude!) and my right eye is slightly swollen with red.  I just hope it goes away before my art show this Saturday.  I was teasing a friend that I may have to find a sexy eye patch to wear for the show.  “Want to buy a painting from a pirate? Argh!”    

Jump Board Alphabets & a Weigh In...

This morning was another Jump Board Reformer Pilates class. After the warm up, Laura our teacher has us do what I like to call Jump Board Alphabet.  We jump forms of letters onto the upright board by raising, lowering, or planting our feet together on the upright jumping plateform.  Mostly it's simple straight letters like A, V, W, M, T.  I teasingly told the teacher I refer to it as Jump Board Alphabet.  She teased me back that she may have us spelling words but I told her that might be a bit too complicated for 6AM.  But I always imagine
our teacher in a cheer leader outfit waving pompoms and yelling," Give me a "V"!"; as I'm jumping a "V".  It brings a smile to my face to imagine this.  I guess its better than grimacing while trying to do quite a bit of the rest of the Jump Board Class.  From the Jumpboard Alphabets we move on to other more complex moves in the class.

I will admit that I'm improving with each class but there are always new challegnes that are thrown into the mix.  This morning's BIG challenge was keeping a ball between my shoulder blades with hands behind head -elbows bent and trying to do a horizontal jumping cycling motioned sideways situps.  Yes, it was as hard as it is to say!  Coordination is a challenge to me and this reminded me of trying to chew gum and walk at the same time without biting my tongue.  I chose to jump very slowly and carefully because it was just challenging for me to keep the ball between my shoulders. 

AND of course, there was the "Saddle-Bags-Be-Gone" portion of the class.  I was about over after doing the single leg lifts on the one side.  Then, the teacher told us to turn to the other side.  I felt like the one leg was over done and I was struggling slowly to turn over.   Laura took one look at my face, laughed, and said," Sorry you're not getting out of this one by turning over slowly.  You still need to do the other side."  OMG!  Pain!!  And those DARN saddle bags are still there even if I can't see them anymore.  I KNOW because I CAN feel them!

After freezing my butt off on the way home in my car (No I haven't fixed the car heater yet), I weighed myself.  I'm down two of those 3 lbs that I had gained over the last couple of weeks.  Good News!!  I've tried to be extra careful the last couple of days and it worked.

11/11/11 & Saddle-Bags-Be-Gone!

Happy 11-11-11th! Not sure if it’s considered a happy type of thing or not. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. I never quite understood the superstition with numbers; especially #13. I always think its funny when I’m on the 14th floor of a building and I’m REALLY on the 13th. Course, there’s not that many tall buildings in Salt Lake, so I don’t get to humor myself in this way very often.



On the old phone system at my work, I was extension #13. I always found that interesting that the main receptionist’s phone extension was #13. Literally, all the phone calls went through extension #13. If that’s not asking for doom, I don’t know what would be.


I guess there are lines in Vegas at all the wedding chapels of people wanting to get married today. I also don’t understand this but I guess it would make it easier to remember the anniversary date. Something I always forgot to remember when I was married. Ooops! I guess that’s another reason I’m still not married. I’m also waiting for 13/13/13 to get married; when that happens I’m sure that all heaven and hell will be aligned and it’ll be a prime time to get married. Other words, NOT happening!


So, I’ve been going to these pilates reformer classes. This morning I attended my 7th class. Each class has been a new experience in finding new muscles that I haven’t used in a while. It’s been a rather humbling experience to say the least. I’ve also discovered how unaware I am of my own body; which is VERY humbling indeed!

Since early morning Monday’s pilates class I have still been feeling a mild pain. I should say that the pain has progressed from OMG! to a now mild. It mildly hurts when I cough, sneeze, or attempt to bend over. As my friend Diane texted me- “Sounds like a proctology exam!” Yes, it’s been an interesting week to say the least.


Thus, Friday morning arrives and it’s Pilates Jump board class! Okay, I survived it 2 weeks ago and legs are my strong point. I run and I bike. My legs are my strength. I was doing okay until we started doing the side jumps. Basically, you are lying on your side on the machine and folding one leg beneath as you use your leg closest to the ceiling to jump. Now here’s the tricky part—you are kicking your leg out between jumps. Either you are kicking it out front, or up and out, or out to the back. This is for 10 times each, and done in 3 rounds. I’ve NOW discovered what I call—“Saddle-Bags-Be-Gone!”


It’s the latest NEW & IMPROVED way to get rid of any remnant of a saddle bag that was trying to hug on to you glute muscle. Repeat this exercise twice a week, for three weeks and you won’t remember what a saddle bag was! This afternoon while I’m typing this in at my desk, I can literally feel my saddle bags shrinking and Lo-and-Behold I only have four more classes to go to lose those nasty saddle bags! OMG!

Oh, and did I happen to mention I've been bouncing around up 1 lb then back down for the last two weeks!  DAMN that Saddle Bag!  If I could just lose THAT!

Plank + Pilates = OMG! I DO Have Core Muscles!

Yesterday morning, I went to my fourth class of reformer Pilates. About half way through the class the cute spunky bright red-headed instructor had us (a class of 7) do the yoga position the “plank” on the reformer machine.

Oh boy! I think to myself I have a hard enough time doing the “plank” position on solid ground let alone try to do it on a machine that slides around. So here I am struggling to get into a “plank” position as part of the machine is moving around. I finally figure out where to put my toes; in the crevice between the shoulder rests. I place my elbows/forearms on the other side of the machine and slowly try to push my body into a “plank” position. My face is forming into a grimace as I’m struggling to get into position but somehow I manage it much to my surprise, or so I thought…


The instructor comes by, gently puts a hand on my stomach area, and states that I need to bring my abs up more to be in-line with the rest of the “plank”. So much for thinking I was in “plank” position! “WHAT?!? OMG!” I think to myself. I really don’t think my body will do that but I try a little harder. My face forms into an even tighter grimace.

Then, the instructor says to curl in those toes and abs towards your head. WTF! You GOT to be kidding! But I try to curl my toes up and my face forms into a grimace SO tight that I’m concerned about my eyes popping out of my head. Now I’m sure I’m starting to look like snarling bull dog. My bottom lip is almost to the tip of my nose. But instead of snarling, I’m emitting a small whimpering sound.

The instructor, then gently states to go back into plank position, I look up at her. I guess my grimace looked pretty darn funny because she breaks out laughing. It’s rather embarrassing to say the least! With that, I totally collapse into the machine. Meanwhile, everyone else in the class is still in “plank” position.


It’s as my friend Diane and I are leaving the class that I state that I must have NO core muscles at all. Diane laughs and states,” That’s why you are here! But I’m sure you have some core muscles.” It’s later in the day when I’m sitting at my desk at work that my core “abs” are SO sore. I’m sitting straighter than I’ve ever sat and taking small shallow breathes because anything else hurts. OWWWwwwie! My Abs! My Abs!

My abs are STILL sore today and it’s a whole day after. I texted Diane this morning...

“Holy crap Batman! I DO have core muscles! Who knew!?!?

My Knees! My Knees!

“My knees are killing me!” It’s like the punch line to a joke but I forgot the joke. This morning, I had to literally roll out of bed because my knees were sore. It rather reminded me of the growing pains I used to get in grade school. I decided to forgo the early morning bike ride and take it easy today.
What led to this knee pain? Well, I think it was a series of things, maybe…

Friday night, I ran a 5K Fun Run at a local church festival after work. I must admit I pushed it a bit. But I was very happy when I saw my time of 31 minutes 44 seconds. WOW, that’s almost 4 whole minutes off my last 5K run!

Saturday, I took a bike ride to scout out some porches for my 100 Salt Lake City Art Project. I didn’t push it but I DID do some climbing on some steep streets.

The Quaking Aspen trees along the upper American Fork/Alpine Loop Climb.

Sunday morning, I lead an American Fork Canyon- Alpine Loop bike ride which was two hours of climbing and a quick CHILLY decent of 30 minutes. The scenery was beautiful though I was hoping there would have been more Fall color. It’ll probably be another 1 to 2 weeks and it’ll be the height of Fall color.


But I’m hoping that it’s the combination of all of the above that lead to my knees being in pain today. That or I’ll have to start narrowing down what’s happening and I sometimes really hate to do that.  But the good news in all this is that I'm down 1 lb. on my weight.  I only have 8 lbs. till my goal weight!

Healing & "Canned" Lunches...

I seem to be healing. If all goes according to plan, my stitches on my calf will come out on Thursday. In the meantime, I’ve been keeping to wearing skirts or shorts. There’s something about having pants or capris on that rub up against the stitches. It’s kind of like wearing that scratchy wool sweater; just a bit of an irritant.

On the running front, I managed to run 3.5 miles this last Sunday and no butt cramp. Yahoo! I want to thank everyone for their help with and suggestions. I’ve been doing a series of exercises and stretches that may be the key to beating this thing

Artwork- "Steak Out" soon to showing in the Bark-N-Art Stroll in Park City this weekend.

On the weight loss front, I’m down the 2 lbs. that I gained a couple of weeks ago. I think the new “incentive” was that I started a new journal. There’s just something about a new start of filling blank pages that can be very appealing. Though, in the back of my mind I often wonder about someone discovering my journal years and years from now. I’m sure they will be thinking,”WTF?!?” My mundane details of my diet and exercising would prove as a good bedtime story. It’ll put you to sleep right away.


In an effect to plan my lunch time food at work a little better, I’ve come up with the “canned” diet. It’s a simplistic way of planning a lunch time meal; open a can, pour into bowl, and microwave (if needed). It’s an effective way to keep the calories for lunch under 350. My work desk drawer now comprises of low sodium soups, non-fat refried beans, tuna, and sliced beets. Yes, beets! It’s the one canned “veggie” that I really like. And yes, to your other question—I limit the refried beans to just once a week out of respect to co-workers.

A Pain in the A$$, Literally...

Last night it was raining so I went to the gym to work out. I ran 3.1 miles and then I proceeded to do a “cool down” of 16 minutes on the elliptical machine. It was as I was climbing the stairs to my third story apartment that I discovered I had a cramp in my left butt cheek. Ouch! I tell you it was a painful climb. I paused on the landings as I went up.


What I call the "Extreme Plow" yoga pose.

I have tried every stretch that I can think of to try to get this cramp out. I even did what I call the extreme yoga plow pose to shake this cramp loose. I soaked in the tub and then put ice on it afterwards. Then, I took the hot water bottle out after that. Nothing seems to be working! So today instead of my usual high heels I’m wearing a pair of funky brown short boots with skirt; a fashion statement I can pull off. But what’s really aggravating me is that I’m walking with a limp.  HELP!?!  Anyone have any thoughts or ideas out there?  The only other option I can think of is going in for massage.

And the Punch Line Is...

"And BOY are my arms tired!" 

I swam a mile this morning and OMG are my arms ever feeling it!  First off, I was amazed that I could still swim; and to manage that far out of the gate? Well, that was stupendous!  But in hind sight it might have just been plain stupid.  My arms started feeling it when I got home and started to make some breakfast.  You see, I met Diane at 6AM up at the pool and I was just barely awake enough to find where I laid out items from the night before.  No time for breakfast and besides I was taught never to eat before the pool.  Drowning just is not appealing.

So, I reach up to the cupboard door and pain strikes!  These muscles obviously haven't been used in while and they were DEFINITELY letting me know.  I managed through making a bowl of cream of wheat for breakfast but I had a full on grimace face when I put the bowl in the microwave which is above the refrig. in my apartment.  I was especially glad that I had canisters on the kitchen counter with sugar; a much more manageable level.  But later on, I found myself wishing I had mind control to turn off light switches.  Oh, to just think that the light switch is on or off in a thought; today it sounds pretty good to me.

During my swim, I discovered that it was time for a new swimsuit.  I had this suit for two years but age and chlorine had caught up with it.  It felt like I was swimming with a sack on.  The whole time I was concerned that it would stay on or some of those folks that wear goggles were going to get an eyeful.  Yes, I'm still not wearing goggles when I'm swimming. 

I tried one of Diane's new water toys out.  It's a set of paddles that you strap on to your hands.  Well, I should say I tried them but I didn't put them on correctly.  I found out later from Diane that they should be strapped so that the paddle is against your palm; not the back of your hand the way I had them.  That would explain why they didn't seem to work right for me; and also, explain the puzzled looks the life guards were giving me. (Though, it always seems like they keep a close eye on me-- I think it's the "Most Likely to Drown" sign I have on my forehead.)  I did, however, manage one lap in my warped kind of way with the paddles on.  Live and learn, I guess!  So anyway, for those of you that may have been like me, here's a photo of how to properly have the paddles on...

The proper way to wear the paddles.

Homework to do before next week's swim?  Get a new swimsuit.  Swimming in a sack is not easy.  And I need to do a bit more upper arm working out.

Sorry! It's Not Covered Under Warranty

The pain is back in my upper front thigh areas and hips.  It seems to be in more in the hip joint; deeper this time and it has me somewhat concerned.  I ran 3.1 miles yesterday on the "dredmill".  I thought I would be okay after doing a fast paced walk of  5.5 miles last Friday night.  I felt good after the walk and had no problems.  I managed to do a total 75 miles on the bike this weekend with no problems.  But last night as the night wore on and I started feeling a bit of pain in those areas again.  Then this morning I woke up and literally crawled to the foot of my futon.  OUCH!  The pain's back!

I stretched and it seemed to help a bit.  I'm walking a bit bowlegged-ly today.  I keep telling myself," Think of taking small steps; small steps."  Normally during lunch on Thursday's I go upstairs and see what the oil painting class is painting.  But no today.  NO climbing steps today; unless I have to.  I'm almost dreading going home to where those three flights of stairs await me.  OUCH!  Sorry if I'm sounding a little whiny here, but this is new to me.  I usually can just brush off most pain; get up and get on with life.  But this is affecting how I walk which is frustrating!  I hope I'll be okay tomorrow and this weekend for some bike rides.  I promised Diane I would ride with her for the Salt Lake Cycle Century on Saturday. 

But I can't help but ask...What's going on here?  Is it running on the dredmill?  Is it the way I'm running?  Is it the newer pair of shoes?  Or is there something else going on?  I'm fine after biking.  I didn't have any problems before the half marathon while I was training for it.  So what's going on?  Was there something during the half marathon that happened to my body that I didn't notice?  Maybe I'm just falling apart, and I'm going to need some assembly required.  Old age is setting in, and darn it; I'm stuck.  

Hmmmmm....I'm thinking I may have to go to the doctor's office for a visit.  Darn it!  I'm going to call in and see about getting it checked out.   I can just see the Doc saying to me as if I was a car or an appliance (my imagination running wild here..),"Its just your average wear and tear on the body.... Sorry that's not covered under the normal warranty.  You didn't think to purchase the extended warranty with the special exclusion clause, did you?  So, sorry."  And me thinking to myself... "I'm totally screwed!  Gee, and I paid the $25 for the office visit to hear this?!?"

A New Hairdo & On the Mend

I'm always going through phases-- blonder or redder for the most part. This last Saturday I got a new haircut with a bit of color. I told my hairstylist that I was ready for a change. She cut it with a little more layers to bring out my natural curl and then I went with a bit of a darker red. I finally this morning felt like I did a halfway decent job of styling and took a couple of quick pictures. (Why is there such a learning curve with styling your hair after a haircut?) This is for you MOM; now you can see what I look like.

And here's the result...

(I apologize for the raised eyebrows and the smirky looks. It's not easy holding a camera and trying to look semi-normal.)

Yes, that is all natural curl that most times I try to take the curling iron and wrestle it out of my hair. I'm really hoping that I figure out the new "do" before my art show on March 20th.

After the haircut on Saturday, I had made an appointment at a local massage place to see if I could get the pain in my top right thigh worked out. OMG! It was a very painful massage that I muddled through-- the young man that worked on my legs was kneeling on a stool near the table and using his elbow to get deep into my upper legs muscles and glutes. On top of it all, I was in a mood to chat. I talked the poor guys ears off. Not normal for when you get a massage but the funny thing is that we discovered we had a connection. He was friends with the neighbor boys that I used to hire to cut my grass about 10 years back. Small world!

I was walking normal out of the massage parlor but woke up the next morning to discover that my ass was on fire! He had told me that I would be sore the next day, but I had not expected this. All of Sunday I was going back and forth between sitting on a hot pad or sitting on ice. Talk about freezing my ass off!

Slowly over the week, my ass has been less and less sore. I've actually been feeling quite good and think by this Friday I'll be able to start back up with the running. YAHOO!