I have an eye appointment set for next week. In the mean time, I’ve been squinting to read everything.  By the end of each day I have such a headache! I can’t wait to get a new pair!!!

I try to walk every morning.  I really feel guilty if I don’t walk.  One of the reasons I wanted to get Cooper was because sometimes Mike can’t walk with me and I feel more safe when I walk with a dog.  Today was one of those days.  Every morning I go to the backyard and check the weather before I go.  There is nothing worse than getting all dressed at 4:00 in the morning and then finding out that it’s raining outside; been there, done that.  Today was no different. I went out there and the weather was muggy, but no rain.  Cooper and I got all ready and went walking . Cooper was acting a bit strange like he didn’t want to go, which has not been his MO.  I pulled him along though, because I’m the boss.

When we got about as far away from our house as we go, guess what happened!?  It started POURING!!!  No worries for me. I can walk in the rain.  I’m not going to melt. So we kept going…not that we had any choice.  As we kept walking, I started to see lightning!!  Meteorologist Troy Kimmel came to our school and talked to our students about the weather.  He showed pictures of lightning and what it can do to people, buildings, etc.  It was fascinating and a little scary.  I’ve never really been afraid of lightning, because I had some weird ideas about how it works. Almost none of them were facts, just things I created in my head. As we were walking, the lightning got brighter and brighter and I got more and more scared.  I wanted to get home as fast as I could, so Cooper and I just started running like maniacs.  If you think it’s hard to pull along a dog walking, you should try pulling him along running.  We must have looked crazy running down the street.

I am happy to report that we made it home safely, but we were soaked.  We didn’t get our four miles of walking in, so I hope that tonight we can go for another walk. Keep dry my friends!!

After we left Marshalls, we went to JC Penneys!  They have reduced all their winter coats to $20!  I’m going skiing in March, so what a perfect way to get a jacket for really cheap.  If it doesn’t keep me warm, I would have no problems giving it away at that price. I got two coats and a Columbia fleece!  I’m ready for skiing and didn’t even go broke!  Yea!!!

We had our second book exchange of the year today!  I love our librarian. She is so awesome!  She always comes up with creative ways to get people reading.  I wonder if she’s seen the Pflugerville book challenge.  They want everyone to read at least one book this month. Now that we had book exchange, I think I will be able to participate in this challenge!

To me, the best part about book exchange is sitting around talking to the ladies that show up. I really only go for that reason, since I’m not much of a reader. There are several of them that I really don’t get to talk to that much.  I’m so lucky to work with such interesting, funny, intelligent women.  I seriously have the best job in the world.

For the second time, I had no book to bring but walked away with one because some people bring several books.  I really need to read more so I can contribute.  I hadn’t even planned on taking home a book, but since I was there, they let me!! I’m pretty excited about the book I chose.  So many people have talked about it and the movie is coming out soon, so I better stop blogging and get to reading!!

I may be one of the only people in the world that doesn’t like Oreo cookies, but for some reason I absolutely LOVE Oreo Truffles.  They could be my favorite dessert.  I could probably sit down and eat a whole batch all by myself.  I’ve never made them before tonight.  Guess what!!?  They are SUPER easy to make!  This is the perfect treat to make for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day!

 Process Oreos in food processor until they are like powder. 

 Add softened cream cheese.

 Roll into bite-sized pieces and refrigerate for about 30 minutes…or until cooled. 

 Dip into melted chocolate and put on wax paper. 

Then place back in refrigerator until cooled. 

1 Oreo makes 1 truffle.  I obviously need to work on my dipping skills, but they still taste AMAZING regardless of how they look!!! 

I’ve been wanting to try Paco’s Tacos for a pretty long time, but I never thought it was open.  Turns out they are only closed on Mondays and the parking lot is in the back.  Every time I go to Marshall’s, I think about stopping.   Well, I finally did and I’m certainly glad that I did.  It’s a quaint little house with lots of funky decorations outside and inside. I got queso and shrimp tacos for lunch.  I loved them both. I wish I would have gotten the large bowl of queso.  The shrimp tacos have a little kick to them, but really good!  Our plan was to go there again and try their breakfast yesterday, but 290 is under construction, so we didn’t want to get stuck in the traffic.  I hope to bring Mike there soon!! I want to go sit on their patio and have a taco and a beer soon!

I am always in a constant state of struggling with my weight.  I started out at 151 a couple of years ago.  I noticed that one of my favorite people had lost a lot of weight and that motivated me to start watching what I eat.  I started trying to eat more healthy and started walking.  I started walking two miles about 3 – 4 times a week.  Over the last two years, I increased to a little over four miles a day.  Weekends I try to do 5 – 6 miles.  At this point, I weigh between 127 – 131.  I’ve maintained that weight for about the last year or two.  At one point I was 125, but people started saying I was too thin.  I really think that had to do with the fact that I didn’t have clothes that really fit me.  I’ve finally caught my wardrobe up to my weight loss.

Recently, a friend of mine told me that he lost weight by counting calories.  He talked me in to using the Livestrong Calorie counter to stay on track. He said that eating too little is almost as bad as eating too much.  The biggest thing I’ve struggled with on calorie counting is that I haven’t been able to figure out how to count my calories when my husband makes the food.  Well all that is OVER!! My friend at http://definitelyleopard.blogspot.com/ found a calorie calculator online!!  When you make something, all you have to do is add all the ingredients to their page and they will do the calculating for you!!  Recipe calculator is the way to go.  It is amazing what all you can find on the web!  I’ve slacked on counting calories because we’ve been trying to cook, but that all comes to an end today!!

I like the Livestrong calorie counter because it tracks the calorie intake in conjunction with the exercise that you do.  I use the endomondo app to count the calories I burn when I’m out walking.  I set up challenges every month for my friends and me to see how much we exercise.  It really keeps me motivated to be in a challenge with someone.  I also have my exercise posted automatically to my Facebook page, so it keeps me accountable.  On the days I don’t work out, I’ve had people comment to me to find out what happened.

Overall, I’ve mostly limited  my exercise to walking, but I’m trying to add strength training also. I got the multi-rep app on my phone, so every other day I do pushups, squats, triceps dips and sit ups. Every day the app adds to the amount I did the time before, so it is really starting to get harder.  I’ve only been using this a little while and my husband said he can already notice the difference, so I think I’ll keep this up.  I’m sure this will help me tone up.  I’m not as motivated to do strength training activities, so we’ll see how this goes.

After a few months without Jack, we decided to adopt a new puppy!  I wanted to get a puppy and I wanted a rescue dog.  Since I like to walk and sometimes have to go alone, I wanted the dog to get big.  Thanks to a very special person, I found the perfect puppy for our family! She picked him up and kept him for a week until I could get him!

We finally decided that his name was Cooper after trying out several names.  We’ve had him a few weeks now and he’s a pretty good little dog.  He already walks 4 – 5 miles with me.  (I asked the vet and she said that it was ok to go that far.)  He’s chewed up 2 iPod cords, and a lot of paper, but I really expected it to be much worse.  I’m sure there is more to come.

For some reason, he seems to only want to attack ME!! I’m going to ask the puppy trainer how I can stop that.  I’m not a fan of getting bit all the time.  Well, I guess I have to go now since he’s attacking me as I type!