The Ferrero Rocher Exercise

  This is an oldie, but goodie. At least I think! Forgive the rerun? :)

  The holidays have passed. The goodies like cookies, fudge, and candy are gone. What’s that? You say you thought I gave up sugars? Yes, I did. Most of them anyways. It seems that every here and there certain family members contribute to my fall off of the sugar wagon. This year my mother gave me some chocolate covered cherries. It’s a nostalgia thing. My grandmother and I used to share them when I was younger. As soon as I saw that box a smile came to my face even though I knew there were many sugars sitting in front of me.

  The Charmed One also contributed to the sugar diet. I unwrapped a small box of mixed Ferrero Rocher chocolates and wondered what I ever did to my loved ones to deserve such behavior! J So in the Ferrero Rocher were 3 dark chocolate, 3 milk chocolate, and 3 Ferrero Garden. Now… the Ferrero Garden was a white chocolate (my favorite) with coconut and a tiny amount of caramel drizzled over the top. As soon as that candy introduced itself to my mouth I found a whole new level of love. Oh.my.goodness. I am now on a hunt for more of those tiny pieces of heaven. If you ever find some please, please, think of me!

  Really that is not the reason for this rambling though. It's what those fabulous sin sugar filled candy leads to. You see, I haven’t got a lot of exercise lately. No exercise and increased sugar in the diet leads to Kelly feeling heavier. Kelly feeling heavier means Kelly is unhappy. I try not to hang in a state of Kelly unhappiness for long.

  Now I know that those amounts of sugars didn’t lead to my current state. If you haven’t noticed I am a little mellow dramatic sometimes. For effect. Yea. For effect, that’s it. So we decided the other day that we were going to start walking. The spoiled rotten Cavalier King Charles’ certainly could use a little exercise as well. I love to walk, if only we had a good place to do it. *I would not have this problem at all in Savannah* Just sayin.

Forsyth Park, Savannah

  A couple of days ago we put on the outfits, tied up the shoes, leashed up the dogs and off we went. The destination? Just down the road is a casualty of recession, a mini farm subdivision that was never built. Some geniuses bought the property, cleared off much of the land, paved nice roads throughout, but then found out they couldn’t get the land to perk. So it has sat. For a long time. This past summer someone did build a barn on the property, but nobody lives back there. It truly is a head scratcher.

  I have seen other neighbors walk back there even though there are No Trespassing signs at the entrance. So I figure it is safe. The first night we walked and there was no one back there. It’s a pleasant walk because there are no other dogs, or cars, or well… people. It’s a little hilly, but nice. The second night we walked someone was back there. With a chain saw. We made it to the new, beautiful barn and turned around. Both of us chickened out. We had managed to walk for two nights before we quit. Hmmm.

  We can forget walking along our road. People speed even though the speed limit is 45. Dogs are not always fenced in or caged. I don’t even know if the livestock is. *kidding* I just don’t feel comfortable walking on this road. The local park is nice, but walking there is strange too. We did it a couple of times, but the best walking seems to be in the Frisbee course. That presented some problems as well.

  So we will continue to try and figure this out. I know we will visit the deserted mini farm subdivision again, hopefully when there are no chain saw wielding men around!

  Do you exercise? What is your form of punishment exercise? Is it a daily thing, or few times a week thing? Have you ever tried the Ferrero Garden candy? What is your weakness when it comes to candy?

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Self Diagnosing

      Lately I've become more aware of a couple of my... er... personality quirks. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. Personality quirks. Maybe someone pointed it out to me, or maybe I kind of figured it out on my own (unlikely :)). Either way I have noticed my mind is making me work overtime. 

      Keep in mind I am self diagnosing for the most part. Or I was until tonight. Then I took a test online and found out my thoughts may be true. I've been telling friends and family that I think I may have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). I searched it on Google, read a little, and took a test one site offered. 

      At first all of my answers were no. I thought the questions were a little wacky. I started to think my thought process was all wrong. Then I hit a question that was along my lines of thinking. And another. Then another. By the time all was said and done I had scored a 12. Lo and behold a 12 and higher means the chances are high that I have OCD. Bummer.

      I know that many times when people hear OCD they may think of people who constantly need to wash their hands, but this disorder is much more than that. I worry that I've left the coffee pot on. All the time. Or that I've left the garage door open (when we lived in Podunk.) There were quite a few times that I would get up to ten minutes away from the house and turn around and go back to make sure that I did turn the coffee pot off, or close the garage door. 

      At first I just thought I wasn't focused. Which is likely. But it happens still. A lot. That is one aspect of the disorder. The second is the big one, that I didn't notice much until lately. Like since I started this job. It has been getting more noticeable to me. I will admit the Charmed One didn't believe that I had many characteristics of OCD until I read this, "Doubters and sinners are afraid that if everything isn't perfect or done just right something terrible will happen or they will be punished." (helpguide.org)

 http://www.helpguide.org/mental/obsessive_compulsive_disorder_ocd.htm

      That, my friends, sums me up in one tidy little sentence. I don't know why, but recently I've noticed that I try to be perfect (this only seems to be at my job). I strive to be as near to perfect as possible, even though I know its not possible. Which is screwing me up. I don't know if that makes sense. I messed something up the other day and now my sleep is broken because I have mind chatter. I think of this screw up and fret. Charmed One tries to tell me that I'm being crazy, or that what I think of as a screw up is a minor thing, but my body will not let it go. I'm nervous and jerky. Anxious. I think I have a fear of getting yelled at, or fired. And even I know if that were the case, which it will not be, there are more jobs out there. I will perservere. But my mind cannot wrap around that thought, no. It constantly thinks about that one screw up. 

      I love what I do. Maybe that is why I have a horrendous fear of messing up. This job came to me at a very bad time in my life. It picked me up when I was at my lowest, and I don't want to disappoint. And sometimes that is exactly what I feel I've done.

      I'm done now. All that is a little crazy considering it was an online test, isn't it? Or that this whole thing started from a self diagnosis? I do know that singers don't always hit the right note, artists don't always create a masterpiece, and running backs will eventually fumble. No one is perfect. Apparently I need to tell myself that all the time. 

      Do you self diagnose? Do you know anyone with OCD? Am I being overly sensitive to my personality quirks? 

      

      

Spelling is Evereethang

      There are times that I just have to scratch my head. Times that I just can't help but wonder, "What the hell?"

      There are so many times when I just want to spout out, "What is wrong with you?" Or, "What is wrong with America?" One of those times happened just the other day. While at work my co workers told me to check out the sign across the street. I went and looked, nearly choked, and broke out my phone. What did my unbelieving self see?

      

      

      Oh yes. This made me shake my head in disbelief. What is wrong with us? Not only is hiring spelled wrong it looks like it almost says shireings. Who approved this? And does Papa Johns really pay that much? Because really... 

      Sadly this sign stayed like this for a couple days. When I return to work Thursday I'll let you know if it STILL remains. That would be a truly horrible state of affairs. Is it just me, or is the moral compass of the U.S. going to shit? It seems we don't speak, or type, English anymore, but bullshitty slang. Lazy English, as I like to call it. 

      When did the English language start to disappear? Can we bring it back? Does your job/career allow for such indiscretions in spelling? Have you witnessed a misspelled sign lately?

      
      

Doggone Lucky

            I totes missed a blog Thursday. So sorry! I promise that I’ll try to do better.

            Speaking of doing better…

            I have a dog that needs to do better as well. I don’t know what has gotten into her the last few days, but she is pressing our buttons. She has completely lost her mind twice lately. The Charmed One got so mad at her the other night that a “Free” sign came out of nowhere. I had to interject before that sign was snapped onto the poor dog’s collar and taken out for the whole city to see.

            Then of course last night I took the Princesses out for their final walk of the evening. It was late, but there were a lot of people out and about. We went to our favorite park, and just as she was about to do her business lightning flashed. Now, she is a rescue so she is skittish to begin with. The lightning put her on edge. So we walked, she tried to get under my feet. Her sister did her business, ole Troubled One kept trying to trip me up. This resulted in me tugging at her leash a little bit. Well, she didn’t like that either. So she planted her feet and shook her head. Off came her collar. And off went the dog, running through the park.

I am the Queen!

            Then, of course, off went Kelly yelling like a mad woman. And pulling the poor other dog, the Queen. Keep in mind that the Troubled One’s real name is Savannah. So here I am, trying to run after one dog, yelling, “Savannah! Savannah!” Here is our poor elderly Queen, who DOES NOT RUN AT ALL. She prances. Imagine my horror when Troubled One went to cross the road. My heart about fell right out of my chest. There were cars coming. Fortunately they must have seen the dog on the loose and a crazy woman trying to run along to catch said dog, and virtually pulling another. I don’t know how, but she made it across the road and kept on running straight down the sidewalk. The Queen and I made it across the street, but by now we were well behind ole Troubled One. I quit yelling her name, her fate was totally in someone else’s hands. The only saving grace was she was heading right for our home, two and a half blocks away. I could only hope.

            I had tunnel vision. All I could see is one of my babies getting hurt or worse. She crossed another road thankfully with no problems. Then she made a quick right and ran up a set of stairs. My heart slowed slightly. I saw the Charmed One step out onto the porch and grab her. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

            Trust me when I tell you that relief flooded me, but my temper was another story. It wasn’t until late the next day that I was able to even think about how smart she is to know her way home. K

            Oh my lucky stars! Thank the heavens. Her collar has been tightened. A lot.

            Do you have pets? What have they done to cause you stress?