Apples

Since Fall is here are some random facts about Apples!

1. Apples will stay crisp in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. If you have limited space in a crisper drawer, store in an open cardboard box in a cool place like your garage or basement.
   
2. Apple picking season is generally from the beginning of September through the first week in November. Find an orchard near you at pickyourown.org.
3. Look for the most bright colored apples with a firm, crisp skin.
   
4. To pick an apple, palm it in your hand and pull upward. Twisting and yanking might disturb neighboring apples because them to fall and bruise.
5. Apples release a gas called ethylene that speeds their ripening. If the produce is to tart for your taste, let the fruit sit on the counter in a brown paper bag for a couple of days, allowing it to sweeten and mellow.
6. Pick fruit from the outer, most sun-kissed sections of the tree. The shadier area close to trunk ripens later.

Self Healthy Food Awards 2009

Recently, Self Magazine held their 2009 Self Healthy Food Awards, you can see all the winners on their website, but here are just a few that won and I have eaten:

Best Treats & Sweets:
1. Best Potato Chip- Kettle Brand Baked Potato Chips
120 Calories, 3 grams of fat.These are really good, they don't even taste like a "light" chip, I love the crunchy-ness that these chips have.

2. Best Granola Bar:
Kashi TLC Dark Chocolate Coconut
120 calories, 3.5 grams of fat
I haven't had this particular kind, but I've had the peanut butter Kashi bar and I honestly wasn't a fan, it was too dry for me. I like fiber one or special-k bars a lot better.

3. Best Cookie:
Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked Oatmeal
140 calories, 5 grams of fat, per cookie
These are SO good. My only problem with this, is while they are huge, it's very hard to not eat more then one.

4. Best Jam:
Polaner All Fruit
40 calories, 0 grams of fat, per tablespoonI've tried all of the different flavors polaner has of jams and they are great. They are all tasty and also work well if you are using them to bake.

5. Best Pasta:
Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Rotini
180 calories, 2 grams of fat, per 2 ounces

We use all of the brands of the healthy harvest pasta and they are good. You do need to cook them a few minutes longer then a regular pasta, but I definitely recommend trying this pasta.


6. Best Ice Cream:
Edy's Light Slow Churned Neapolitan
100 calories, 3 grams of fat, per 1/2 cup
We also have had a lot of the flavors of this ice cream, and we also like the Edy's yogurt blends ice cream.

Again you can see the whole list of winners here:
Self Healthy Food Awards

Pug Surgery Post Surgery 1 week

Well it's been one week since the Pug's luxating patella surgery! She is doing AWESOME! You probably couldn't even tell she had surgery a week ago if you didn't know it! You will see in the video she is walking like a champ! The past few days the scab is starting to fall off of her leg and the skin is starting to close up. The stitches are actually inside of her leg, so you can't see them, but you can just see the skin healing. Just like in humans, when the scab falls off, you get that pink looking new flesh and that's what she's got.

We are having a lot of trouble with her though, she isn't allowed to run, jump, etc, etc, for another 7 weeks! She doesn't quite understand that! We are doing our best though to keep it all to a minimum. She is wanting to go for a walk so bad, so we have taken her from our house to the mail box and just around the backyard a bit. Next week when she goes for her check up we will ask Dr. Cofone if he thinks a small walk around the block is fine.

One thing that is good, is that she has been able to move her bowels. Typically, after the luxating patella surgery, dogs, won't go to the bathroom(#2) for a week. But she has been going since last week.

She was given two pain pills. Rimadyl which she has been on before the surgery, because it's an anti-inflammatory and tramadol, which is a pain pill. She refuses to take the tramadol, so the vet said it's just fine to take the rimadyl. She actually was foaming at the mouth when we tried to give her the tramadol.

But overall, her progress is going well and we couldn't be happier. It's nice to see her, with her spurts of energy again!

Here's a picture of her leg:
You can see where the scab is falling off.

Here's a video of her, running around tonight:

Happy Birthday To My Mom!

Happy Birthday To My Mom!

Puggie Surgery Day 5

Just wanted to share a picture of her leg, Day 5 after surgery of bruising she is having.

Some Inspiration

The past two weeks I've been incredibly busy with school, lesson plans, and the pug's surgery. Which you can probably guess that means I haven't been working out like I should be or eating the healthiest way I can be eating. I've worked out three times in the past two weeks. I haven't gained anything, but I just don't feel the same when I don't work out. I'm *hoping* to resume running on Monday.

But in the midst of all of this, I found some inspiration today. I wasn't even expecting it, which is the best part. It seem to come at a right time too, because I'm in that "I don't want to work out or eat healthy zone", and needed something to get me going.

Well this did it:
These aren't my jeans, just a picture I found online. But they were my inspiration.
Why you are probably asking?
Well because my mom bought this one pair of jeans for me about 5 years ago, and I've never been able to wear them. I decided today I'd try them on to see if they finally would button and they did!
So now you can see why I said when I least expected to find some inspiration to keep me going, I did and it definitely was a boost for me to keep going!

Puggie's Home!

I'm going to *try* to do weekly updates on Puggie's progress, so that others who may have a dog needing the same surgery have places to read on what to expect, etc. Chris and I searched and searched for more personal experiences and only found a few. So I'm hoping this will someday hope someone.

So, Puggie is home. She came home last night around 7:30. She looked ok, pretty drugged up though. She gave a few kisses and was anxious to get out of the car. She is drinking like crazy, but I'm sure, because just like in humans, when we go under an IV or anesthesia, afterwords your pretty thirsty for some reason.

She's actually trying to walk on her little leg, which she isn't suppose to do be doing quite as much as she is. But, on the other hand that is a good sign, just because we hope she will hopefully recover sooner. We were afraid that she'd be a baby and not even walk on it(if you know the pug, she tends to be a drama queen!)

Here is a picture of her incision:

Doesn't she look silly with a shaven leg? She also has two front shaven legs, where the IV's where.

Here's a small video of her walking, remember this is her first day home surgery just yesterday.
Most dog don't even put any pressure on the foot.




A second video of her eating her dinner, don't mind our messy house, it's been one of those weeks!

Pug's Surgery

As most of my readers know, Puggie had to have surgery on her left knee. She has what is a called a luxating patella. Basically her knee doesn't fit into the socket properly causing it to pop out at any given time.

Today she had her surgery. At first the Dr. Cofone thought she had torn some cartilage as well, but when he opened her little leg today he saw that she actually also had a torn ligament besides the luxating patella. So they placed two pins into her knee and basically spooned out her knee cap to make the groove bigger. So she is all fixed.

She's still at the doggie hospital in Delaware and will be there over night till later tomorrow evening when Chris picks her up.

It's going to be a long road, as it is an 8 week recovery period, with just about 24/7 crating the first few weeks, if we aren't home. When we are home, she will be out with us, but she basically isn't allowed to use the leg for a few weeks. I'll update everyone tomorrow once she is home.

Keep Puggie in your thoughts please!

Where have I been?

I promise you I haven't forgotten about this blog. The past few weeks just went a little crazy! As most of you know, I took a year off of teaching because I started my own wedding business. I decided that teaching is what I do want to do and that the wedding business will just be a side job, so I started looking for teaching jobs earlier this year for this upcoming school year, and nothing was out there. With school districts making cuts, it's a very hard time for teachers to find jobs. Luckily, two weeks ago I got a phone call from a school to come in an interview for a kindergarten teacher position! I was offered the position and in less then 3 days, I had to come up with lesson plans and get a classroom in order!

So I've been a bit cranky, but I defiently am enjoying my class so far. I'm not used to getting up and working all day and then coming home and continuning to work on lesson plans, etc.

So, yes, I'm still here, and no I didn't give up on this blog. I'm going to *start* to reguraly post again.