Maintaining My Elderly Dog's Shape

Whenever I am at the park in the mornings and meet another pet parent, they always say "Wow, she is in great shape for her age!" I always thank them for the compliment and reciprocate the notion to their pet's age. But now it has you wondering on what keeps her in great shape?

She's very active. She goes to the park for about 45 minutes to an hour (depending on my stubbornness to get out of bed), multiple walks a day for 15 minutes (when I come home from work), and she goes camping with my boyfriend and me during the summer (we took her with us to Winchester and Baker last year).

She eats right. I've stopped giving her a lot of people food, but she does get the occasional bit of bread or chicken. She eats a grain free dog food, has joint supplements in the food along with joint supplement chews for when I leave for work, and all of her treats are grain free. PLUS I always make sure she has plenty of fresh water in her water bowl. Hydration is the key to life.

I try to take her everywhere with me. Is that a credible reason as to keeping her great shape? To me yes, to you, maybe not. But yes, I try to take her everywhere with me. I take her to friend's houses, my boyfriend's house, back with me to his parent's house, out to drinks at Schweinhaus, and many other places I cannot list. 

I also make sure she is up to date on her vet visits and check-ups. Maybe I should have her teeth done soon... I'll have to talk to Banfield about costs. But yes, she gets her monthly Trifexis (Flea, tick and heartworm medicine), and always has her Proin pill (for leaky bladders).  

What are some ways you keep your elderly pets in great shape?

Adult Goals Update: Cooking and House

I am doing very well when it comes to my cooking goal for the summer. I've made many brauts for me to have for breakfast before work and I roasted some sweet potatoes to snack on after work. I just threw in some chicken in the crock pot for chicken in the red sauce, which I will eat starting next week for my dinners after work. I love having food ready made just waiting for me to dish it up to eat. I should be wifed up. Wait, I need to learn how to cook other foods. Never mind. Haha!

The Week Ahead

Outside my window... It's cloudy and lovely, although I wish it was sunny.

I am thinking... About all the camp activities I have ahead of em!

I am thankful for... Everything and everyone around me.

From the kitchen... I ate a braut for breakfast and drank some orange juice.

I am hearing... My computer keys clicking as I type and Netflix.

I am watching... I'm watching Friends on my laptop.

Always one of my favorite things... To spend time with friends.

I am reading... Nothing.

I am making... Nothing.

I am writing... This blog post.

All the plans I have for this week... I work on Monday-Friday as a camp counselor. After my camp shift, we have a staff meeting to debrief the first day so I need to buy some juice or soda for the potluck. Then hopefully, I'll get to see Kaveh for a little tonight.

MudLynn Update... MudLynn is doing very well, she is laying next to me on the couch while I type this up. I took her to the park for a half hour so that she could be zonked for the day while I am at camp.

College Update... I'll have to retake the reading portion of the WestB.

Riding Update...  I just haven't had any time to ride because of work. I don't know how much I'll be able to ride this summer.

Late Night Crafts - Broken Crayons to New Crayons

So I just wrapped up the school year at my site for YMCA After School Care and found a ton of broken crayons, like beyond kid's use (tiny bits). So I took them all home with me and piled them into my muffin tin.

I lined each tin with a cupcake liner and then put the crayons in. I assorted them all by primary color (blues, reds, pinks, purples, etc...) and then put them in the oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes. I found a post on how to do it on Pinterest (LOVE). It was so cool watching them melt because they all pretty much had a metallic crayon bit mixed in with them so they looked a lot like little galaxies.

This is how they turned out! Pretty snazzy I'd say! The purple and dark blue ones definitely look a lot like galaxies. I can't wait for the next late night craft I dive into!

Adulting Goal Week 1 of Summer: Cooking One New Meal Each Week

Since it is now summer for me before camp starts, I've decided to cook a meal each week that isn't something I've cooked before. This week, I cooked a chicken and veggie stir fry with rice.

How delicious does this look?!

My roommate tried it and she said that the kitchen smelled so good and that the dish was very delicious. I'm going to be taking it to training this week because I have to take a lunch to my camp training so this will be yummy to take with me.

I gave some to Kaveh for dinner tonight and he really liked it. So I am definitely going to cook more often now. I'm thinking something a level up from stir fry.

Time to explore Pinterest!

Still In A Clean-Out Phase

Is it me or is anyone else in a clean-out phase? I've been going through everything I have in my apartment deciding if it's something I'll use or if it's something that should go to Good Will. I've downsized on things drastically creating more space in the cabinets and under the counter cabinets. It's crazy. I guess I've learned that I shouldn't hoard things/buy too many things. It's gotten out of hand.

I've pretty much made my closet exist on only one side, cleared shelves in the hall closet, cleared two cubbies in the cubby shelf by the front door, cleared two drawers in the bathroom/sink area and then reduced a lot of things down to the do-able minimum. I think this cleanout/toss out is because I've read a book during one of my semesters at a community college about living below the means so I guess that's where my mindset is right now.

My car's trunk is almost full of paper bags of things I've decided to get rid of/donate to Good Will. This time I will fill out the sheet at the drop off that I think goes towards taxes for donation to charity or something like that. So I will go out during this coming week to Good Will and drop them off so that my trunk will be empty again.

June Goals

I'm starting a new monthly blog post series where I write about the goals I set for myself each month. This is a way for me to see what I want to work on and inspire other bloggers to do the same. 

Cooking Goals

My goals for cooking is pretty straightforward, to cook something each day. I've been really bad when it comes to self care and eating so I am going to make sure that I have some meals prepared for me each day. Gotta adult at some point right?

It is also my goal to try something new on Pinterest each week. I made White Chocolate Funfetti Brownies on Saturday and they turned out so good! My neighbors came over and ate a lot of them.

Reading Goals

My reading goals are to just get back into reading for fun. My summer goal is to read all of the Harry Potter books. I'm almost done with the first one and then I have the second one to start! School just makes reading unappealing to me, even if it is for fun.

Camp Goals

Camp goals are pretty standard; self care, hydrating, sun screen, and not over stressing in certain situations. Those are my main goals for when camp starts on the 19th. We'll see how I do!

Pet Goals

My pet goals are varied. One, is making sure I get MudLynn out for as long as possible once I am home from work when camp starts and to start taking her out for an hour each day so that she can get the outside time she needs and wants. Two, to make sure I am doing the weekly water changes and filter changes for Siracha so that he lives for a long time, he's already lived for a year with his previous owner. Lastly there's Klaus, my goal is to monitor the weather so that on days when it is really hot, I turn his lamp off for the day.

The Week Ahead

Outside my window... It's sunny right now and it is beautiful.

I am thinking... About all the things I have to do this week since it is the end of the quarter.

I am thankful for... Everything and everyone around me.

From the kitchen... I ate some eggs and a white chocolate funfetti brownie.

I am hearing... My computer keys clicking as I type and the TV.

I am watching... Nothing, but my roommate is watching Magnificent Century.

Always one of my favorite things... To watch scary movies with friends and eat delicious food.

I am reading... All my notecards for my english exam.

I am making... Nothing.

I am writing... This blog post.

All the plans I have for this week... I work on Monday-Friday in the afternoon and MWF in the mornings. Since it is finals, I don't have class anymore. All I have are finals tomorrow morning and then a final on Thursday morning. I might go ride on Friday and then again this weekend.

MudLynn Update... MudLynn is doing very well, she had a sugar high two nights ago after she ate a brownie. She is now fine and is snoozing on the couch next to me.

College Update... I am going to apply to the Elementary Education Professional Program next year. I took the West B test and was astonished that I passed the math but not the reading! I'll have to retake the reading.

Riding Update...  I haven't been able to ride a whole lot because of classes and the work load. I did go ride this past weekend and really enjoyed being back on a horse. I just need my own horse.

My New Pets??

Hello all! If you asked yourself just now, "Did Sophia get new pets? Yes, yes I did. I recently have my boyfriend's snake Klaus living with me and today, I acquired a Betta fish from a college student who couldn't take him home with him for the summer; his name is Siracha and yes, he is red like the sauce.

I'm a huge animal lover, and animals just make the home feel happier and livelier. I get up each morning now and say good morning to my dog, Klaus, and Siracha. I have like a greeting schedule each morning in a sense. In all honesty, I almost adopted a little mouse who was in need of a good home, but I didn't make it in time to be his new mommy, but he has a new family now.

My next animal I know I want it to be a horse, that is my new goal for my newest family member/furry creature. I know this because I have always longed to own my own horse and hopefully one day, it will actually happen. My dog loved going to the barn, so a picture with her and my future horse would make the cutest Christmas card photo for my parents.

However, I think that is the reason why I worked at PetSmart part of my life - cause I loved animals. I've also gotten over my tiny fear fo reptiles and snakes. I've held Kaveh's snake and I've help the Bearded Dragons at PetSmart. I think that's the next reptile I'll get in my life, maybe when I'm a teacher. I remember having a Bearded Dragon in my high school Biology class.

I just really want to have a lot of animals once I have a good job and a nice house. I would like it to be on a bit of land so that I could have my horses there and maybe some goats and chickens. I guess I just want to live on a farm once I have worked a good job for a while.

Overall, I'm just a huge animal lover that loves having animals around me. I guess I'm almost a real life Beatrix Potter.