A Lovely Day

Today has been a beautiful day. I went swimming at an indoor pool where I have a membership. The inside of the pool has been totally redone. It looks so nice. It was great to be swimming again! I want to start swimming a lot and taking lots of walks too. There are many good reasons for doing this, one of which is to help me sleep better.

When I was returning home I met my mom and stepfather walking Drew, their Scottish Terrier. Drew got all excited when she realized it was me in the car, when she recognized my voice. Although she's a dog she has a big wonderful personality.

I keep getting ideas for cooking using yogurt! So far I made a marinade/sauce for grilled salmon with plain yogurt and just a few other ingredients. I like it. I want to make some yogurt cheese and use it to make chicken dip, and maybe some chicken enchiladas. Yogurt cheese tastes kind of like a cross between sour cream and cream cheese. I'm not fixated on yogurt-- these are just some good ideas I think and I really want to try them and see.

I had a really nice visit with Mom this afternoon. We sat on the porch until it got too hot. Drew, Mom's Scotty, wanted lots of love and attention. She's like that when it's been a while since I visited.

I'm looking forward to church in the morning. I've already picked out my clothes and even chose which makeup and earrings I'm going to wear. Having these decisions already made makes getting ready a lot easier.

A New Puppy

My sister brought, Abby, her new Malti-poo puppy to my mom's house today to get her groomed. The groomer does home grooming but doesn't operate in my sisters location. First we had lunch. Mom cooked us wonderful omelets with ham, mushrooms, green onions and tomatoes. I brought the mushrooms and tomatoes and Jill brought the green onions, ham and light sour cream for a topping.

Peggy the groomer arrived. We're friends with her. The name of Peggy's business is "Precious Paws" which she has written on her car doors. She was so good and gentle at bathing and grooming Abby. Abby looks even cuter now. She wasn't all for the grooming process but she really seemed to be adapting well. As Jill says "She's real, real good some of the time." Jill also told us about how fast Abby is at running and how she jumps and leaps. She can already climb the cellar stairs and she's so tiny. Mom's Scottish Terrier, Drew, got to watch Abby get groomed. Drew is usually always locked in her kennel when Abby comes over. Today Abby was poking her nose between the wires of Drew's kennel. Drew likes Abby's company. It's sad to me that we can't let them play together. It's not that we think Drew would try to hurt Abby but Drew likes to pounce on things with her two front paws, which could injure Abby.

Afterwards I went home and had a good nap. I got up and took a mile walk. I want to go swimming soon and as soon as I get some bills paid and housecleaning done I'm going to. After my walk I wanted to go somewhere-- really to the library, but it was going to be dark soon and I don't like to go after dark because of the area of town it's in. I was kind of unhappy about this but I quickly got over it.

I started working on my recently acquired practice of online Bible reading/blogging. I love doing this. I'm following Professor Horner's Bible reading system. However since I started making blogging a part of this I only read about half of the ten chapters a day. Professor Horner's Bible reading system is a wonderful plan. You should check it out! For my Bible reading/blogging I copy the scriptures, that speak to me the most, from my online Bible reading for the day, into my scripture journaling blog and write notes about what God is saying to me through them. This is helping me so much spiritually and it's so good to be able to go back and read what God has been saying to me. It helps me stay focused and gives me specific things to pray about.

September Mornings

I've been thoroughly enjoying these September mornings. A taste of cool weather is so nice. The sunlight is beginning to mellow a little bit and it's just lovely. I got dressed for church this morning and sat and visited with my mom on her porch. Hummingbirds are frequently at the feeders and sometimes fighting. Squirrels scamper around. I also heard a couple of loud "thwacks". Magnolia seed pods are starting to fall. These seed pods are so pretty when they are closed and when they are open the seeds look like red beans. I'd been anxiously awaiting September and I love it.

Cat Watching

I was walking in the park and a white cat ran like a bullet into the park, so fast it looked like a blur. The cat got to a fenced in temporary storage area of the park, crawled halfway under a flap in the wire fence then just stood there frozen, staring back at me. I wonder if it was afraid it was going to get in trouble. A few minutes later the cat walked into the fenced area and then began climbing up on top of some stacked water pipes and stopped and stared at me again. Animals can be fun to watch. The cat is kind of wary but the temporary storage area is now it's own playground.

My Mom's Terriers

It's been an overcast day today but really nice and 70 degrees. I took a walk in the park and my breathing is doing better. I'm really thankful for this. I haven't had much energy today but it seems like my energy is on the increase now. I was sick yesterday and my mom really helped me a lot. My mom's two dogs, a Scottish Terrier and a Welsh Terrier, used to bark at me like everybody else. Now they recognize me from afar and don't bark. I always walk to the gate and talk to them. They didn't even walk to the gate today. They like me though. When they see me in the house they are very friendly.

Nice Day but Would Like to Feel Better

When I was leaving my 9:30am appointment this morning my stomach started bothering me. I went and got something my doctor had recommended and it helped. After lunch it was bothering me again a little bit and I though some frozen yogurt would help things. The sugar free frozen yogurt was yummy.

Then I went to Marshall's and found such a cute skirt and scarf, all for about thirty dollars. At Albertson's I got lucky because my doctor had already called in a prescription I needed. I also found some baby cucumbers, which I like to make California Rolls with; they're really pickling cucumbers, but we'll see how they do in the sushi. I went to Books A Million. I love their "Dream by the Fire" hot tea, which I drank while looking at some books and a magazine. I also bought another one dollar book today-- "The Fall of Frost"; it looks like a good book. Next I went to Walmart for some grocery essentials.

I got home and the yellow and white cat greeted me. He has been hanging out at the apartments apparently nonstop. Yesterday the guy who was taking care of the grey cat paid for the cat's adoption ticket-- that is he paid for the cat to be spayed and for her shots, so if anyone wants to adopt her they can free of charge. This hopefully will lead to her finding a good home soon.

I'm glad to be back home with the groceries etc. put away. I wish my stomach get back to normal.

Cats

The pretty grey tabby cat looked about half grown and it's sweet lengthy meows were often. The cat tried its best to block me from walking past it. I'm allergic to cats and the allergy causes wheezing. I prayed for the cat to find someone who would adopt it and give it a nice home. Soon a guy who lives in the same apartments as I do adopted the cat and unsuccessfully tried to let it be an apartment cat, then just kept the cat outside.

A few days ago he told me he would be out of town for a few days and arranged to leave the cat food in the laundry room. The cat always seemed to be meowing for food and would eat as often as four times a day. The cat's owner who was out of town, still wasn't back in town several days after I though he would be back, and I knew he had only planned on being in our town on a short term basis for a temporary job anyway. I purchased some more cat food. I enjoyed making sure the cat was well fed and talking to the cat.

Thursday morning when I wanted to feed the cat a big yellow and white cat kept lingering at the apartments. I talked to my mom about this she suggested getting the cats taken to the animal shelter, since I'm allergic to cats and was recently hospitalized due to a lung condition. The animal shelter men picked up the grey cat but the yellow and white cat ran away.

Later in the day I saw the guy who had adopted the cat and he said "I've been back in town for a few days." I told him what happened and he said he would pay for the cat to be spayed and for her shots if someone wanted to adopt her (he had also told me this before going out of town). I couldn't get a call through to the animal shelter today but I'm going to try to call again Monday and I hope and pray the grey cat will be adopted from the shelter.

The big yellow and white cat is still hanging out at the apartments a lot and this evening was rubbing against my legs when I was taking clothes out of the drier. My mom says the yellow and white cat looks like it has a home (which it looked like it was running for when it escaped from the animal shelter men) but she thinks it's here a lot because the grey cat was about to go into heat.

Am I Seeing What My Eyes Are Telling Me I'm Seeing

Rain is in the forecast. It rained for a little while this morning. The sun is shining now although it keeps getting overcast. Watching the nuances of the weather is so interesting. I was looking out the glass doors to my patio and I saw something, which I thought was probably a squirrel, climb to the top of the lattice. Then I thought, how can a small stuffed tiger toy be on top of the lattice? Then I saw that it was a squirrel from the side view.

Today I'm baking some bread with100% organic graham wheat. It smells so good and it's not even in the oven yet. There is a lot to baking bread but it's something I enjoy doing. This weekend my sister said she remembered watching me roll out bread dough and shape it into loaves and that I looked so cute.

My sister invited me to dinner Friday night and we ate ate a sushi restaurant, which was only my second time eating there. I decided to try the California rolls. The California rolls are great. Are they considered sushi? From there we went to the closing session of my sister's church's statewide women's conference. It was wonderful.

I was late for church yesterday and it really couldn't be helped. I didn't get to hear the youth choir sing. Our pastor's message was wonderful and really inspiring. It was about being Easter people in our everyday lives.

I've gotten a lot more in shape over the past two weeks, having worked out 8 of the last 14 days. Fitness is such a blessing. My back is kind of stiff though. I'll probably do some yoga. I've been wanting to be fit enough to do yoga. I like the "Yoga for Dummies" book. I like to do the first set of yoga for beginners, which takes only five or ten minutes and it makes my back feel so good.