Aquacise Isn't Just for Old People

This summer I discovered an aquacise class at the neighborhood pool. I thought, "why not?".  My old knees can only handle one ballet class a week and, although I always have every intention of maintaining an exercise regimen on my own, my enthusiasm and self-motivation eventually wane.  But if I paid in advance to attend a class, then I would go.

The class wasn't crowded; in fact, quite often I was the only one in class.  At the same time, my son was doing physical therapy to recover from surgery.  Guess what he had to do as part of his therapy.  Aquacise!  Or something very similar to what I was doing.   He teased me that his aquacise was therapy but mine was exercise for old people. I couldn't really argue with him since I was one of the younger participants.

I've been suffering from a frozen shoulder for over one year now.  I couldn't even lift a gallon of milk into the refrigerator with my bad arm.  I did some physical therapy and my arm got much better but was never 100% again.  But aquacise and swimming have healed me!  The resistance the water provided and the range of motion required to do the exercises were perfect for my recovery.

Aquacise ended this week.  I will miss being outside in the water and the sun.  Hopefully I will have the time and self-motivation to swim at the pool once a week.  And hopefully my shoulder won't start freezing up again from lack of exercise!

Oh, and did I mention that I have a nice tan?

A hui hou!
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Spellcheck nightmares!

I love my mew iPad but I sometimes get frustrated with it's auto spell correct feature. And the typing in general. I kno I hit the keys but it often does not register. I'll end up with some funky words! So today I'm just going to type without correcting and see what I end up with!

One feature I do like is that I don't alway have to capita u2 be UAE it will fix it for me. For example, all these capital I's have been done for me. And after I type a period it automatically capitalizes the next letter typed.

On the keypad, you've the letters separate from the symbols. After typing an apostrophe, the keyboard automatically changes back to the letters! Some nice features but it makes for some confusion when going back to my computer keyboard.

Well, so far I have not messed up too much typing! This is not making for and interesting blog! Usually I end up with an unintelligible mess! (thanks, spell check for automatically filling in "unintelligible" for me!). That's the auto correction feature that gives me suggestions for spelling but sometimes leaves me with some funky words! When I don't want their suggestion, I have to press the x to keep my spelling. But I often don't relize that the iPad suggested a spelling I actually don't want. So then i have to go back and correct it mysel (which isn't always an et feat because there are no arrow keys to easily move through the document).

And look at that, the iPad did not auto correct "realize" or "myself.". I wish it could correct my punctuation because I'm not sure if I should have put the period inside or outside the quotation marks. But wait!! I think it did put a period after my quotation mark! I don't think I typed that. Well, the iPad does put a period after numbers when immake my to do lists.

A hui hou!
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Lazy days of summer!

I've been remiss writing my blog. I thought I would write at least two or three times a week. I'm writing this one on my new iPad, so generously provided by work!

So, what have I been doing? Taking ballet class once a week only, working on revamping the curriculum for the next school year, working in the yard, cleaning the house, taking aquacise (which my younger son says is for old people), crocheting friendship bracelets for my 7th grade girl advisees, reading, and watching all 12 seasons of Midsomer Murders!

I am obsessed with murder mysteries! Watching shows on t.v., reading books. I love to try figuring out who done it! I was like this in elementary school. My favorite books were the Encyclopedia Brown series. Sometimes I think I should have been a police detective. (I like shooting guns too!) But i don't think i could have handled the stress. If my work as a teacher keeps me up at night now, there's no way I could sleep if I was a detective! Maybe in my next life.

For now I'll settle for teaching ballet. Did you know that orchid is a Greek word meaning testicle? I digress, that was a quote from Midsomer Murders which is playing in the background. I better get back to my murder...

A hui hou!
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Completed: 5 Chores in 2.5 hours!!

Last night I made a rather conservative "To Do" list so that 1) I wouldn't feel overwhelmed and 2) I would feel a sense of accomplishment by getting things done.  When I woke up today, I got started right away on my chores because, knowing me, if I sat down to have a cup of hot cocoa and turned on my computer, I wouldn't get to my house work until the afternoon, if at all.

The big project for today was putting up the window film.  I covered the lower two rows of panes on the French doors in the family room and only two window panes in the living room because I ran out of film.  Watch the progress in the family room:

And here is the new dog's-eye view in the living room:

I think this is going to work!  Peace and quiet will be restored.  Well, as much quiet as can be expected with a terrier in the house.  But I'm eliminating the temptation for Siobhan to bark.  And I'll be able to remove the dining room chairs from in front of the living room windows so I can make way for a grand piano.

A hui hou!

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Doggie T.V.

Here is Siobhan watching her "television."  Her favorite show?  Scavenger Squirrels.  Those squirrels can really get Siobhan riled up when they are out there raiding our avocado tree.  She will jump almost 6 feet while barking at a decibel level that rivals jet engines. 

Therefore, I went to Home Depot today to get more window film to cover the lower panes of glass.  I love looking outside and so does Maya cat (especially late at night -- Maya will sit right where Siobhan is in the picture and stare into the dark abyss).  But I will sacrifice the view of my lawn to keep the barking down to a  minimum.  I will still maintain the top half of my view and Maya can sit in her cat condo and look outside (you can see part of the cat condo on the right side of the photo). 

If this works, I will also put window film on the front windows which are floor to ceiling.  When Siobhan sees something out those windows, not only does she bark but she jumps up and hits her paws on the windows, scratching the windows and wood.  I currently have three dining room chairs in front of the living room windows to keep Siobhan away from them. 

A couple of years ago, at the advice of our dog sitter, I actually spent hours installing curtains on the OUTSIDE of the French doors.  Because Siobhan couldn't see very well through the sheer curtains, it did stop her barking and jumping.  But I couldn't see outside!  So I eventually took down the curtains and put window film on the sides of the French doors and it worked.  I just didn't put it on the French doors at that time because I wanted to keep my view of the outdoors.  But now I can't take the barking and jumping anymore. 

I'll let you know how it works.

A hui hou!

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The First Day of Summer Vacation 2011

Now that summer is here, maybe I'll do a better job of blogging and posting pictures.  Today was a bit uneventful.  Dentist appointment (no cavities!), put away crap that has been lying around the house, trimmed the rose bushes, and now watching the first season of The Glades. 

Today's picture #1:  Malie doing what she does best ... SLEEPING!  She lay down on her dog bed and placed her head on the pillow that was there from the night before.  Usually she hangs her head over the edge but this time she placed herself perfectly so that her head was on the pillow.

Pictures #2 & #3:  Anna sleeping on the same dog bed.  Anna has NEVER been on that dog bed so I had to snap a few pictures of her.

That's it for today.  I really need to stop multitasking and just watch my show so I can stop rewinding.  A future post might be on the use of lay versus lie since I had to keep looking it up for this post!  Still not sure I used the correct words.

A hui hou!
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Follow up to "My Knitting Discovery!"

If you know of this method being used, please don't tell me!  Let me think I am Jeopardy-worthy and was the first to discover it!  Mahalo!

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