I'm still here. And still losing weight.

I never follow through with using this blog the way I intend.  I blame being so incredibly busy - which don't get me wrong, it's a good thing.  I'm glad my photography business has taken off this year.  It is a much-needed supplement to our income and for the most part I enjoy it.  Though I spent most of last night printing CD inserts, burning and labeling disks, addressing envelopes, ordering more supplies, and stuffing envelopes.  Not exactly what every photographer dreams of when they start a photography business.  I just want to take pretty pictures, but as time goes on I am learning there is more and more involved behind the scenes to keep clients (and the government...  hello, taxes and documentation!) happy.  It's not enough to take a pretty picture.  You then have to edit and deliver that picture to them, no matter what method of fulfillment you choose to utilize.  I realized about a month ago that I am, in fact, working two full-time jobs.  Right now that's okay, but I know burn-out will come at some point and I'll have to take a breather.

But that's really not why I'm here. Despite being incredibly busy (and sick for almost two weeks now) my weight loss journey continues!  I was over the moon when I reached the 30 pound mark.  Like seriously jumping up and down and squealing.  The dogs thought something was wrong.  Ha! And now I'm almost to 40 pounds and that seems so huge.  Almost unimaginable.  But it's happening.  For real. 

I swear I'm not trying to brag.  Honestly.  I'm trying to encourage.  Because I have now lost 37.5 pounds while working two full-time jobs!  I haven't deprived myself of anything, haven't starved myself (though admittedly it did feel that way the first two weeks while I was adjusting to the lower calorie intake...), and I haven't had to change my social life. We still eat out more frequently than we should, but I make better choices about my food when we eat out.  I don't have time to go to the gym so I don't.  I was walking at work on my breaks but I've been so busy lately that hasn't been happening, either.  (I plan to get back to that soon.)  Guys, I'm not exercising.  I HATE exercise.  And I'm still losing weight.  So what I'm saying here is if I can do this, anyone can.  A busy schedule is not an excuse.  I'd lose more weight faster (and it would be healthier for me) if I were exercising regularly, but to make this change in my life I don't have to have time to dedicate to exercise specifically.  And neither do you.  So stop making excuses, find out how many calories you should be eating daily, and start holding yourself accountable!

And for my friends who are also on a weight loss journey, I am SO proud of you.  Keep up the hard work! 

Current length of diet: 5.5 months
Current weight lost: 37.5 pounds

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I'm just playing around.

Downloaded a new app this morning that lets me tell stories with my pictures in a new format...  thought I would try it out here.  I'll be updating the storie of Landon's soccer games this season as time goes on. Contemplating whether or not this would be a good way to share some sneak peeks or just my Instagram shots.

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You should go get this app.

The single biggest part of my weight loss journey has been the Lose It! app on my iPhone.  Honestly, I can't say I have started exercising in earnest yet.  I've done a tiny bit here and there, but nothing substantial.  The biggest modification has been budgeting for and counting my calories.  (And if you don't have an iPhone you can still use the program through their website AND it's coming to Android devices soon!)  The app (or website) calculates your ideal calorie intake based on your current stats and your goal weight.  As you lose weight it slowly reduces your calorie budget because a lighter person burns fewer calories.  It takes all the guess work out of how much you should be eating out of the equation and does the hard math for you - constantly!

I'm paraphrasing what I read in the Lose It! book here, but the basic math is this...  if you want to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume.  It's pretty simple.  Yes, everything else that comprises the food you eat has a health impact (fat and carbohydrates, for example) but they can be ignored to a certain extent.  By limiting your calorie intake you are also limiting your fat intake because fat has calories.  Yes, it is better to make healthier choices, but I think that's really difficult in the beginning of the journey.  If I were to deny myself all the foods I love I would be a very, very unhappy camper!  I wouldn't last.  But with this way of thinking, if I don't want to skip the cheese on my Subway sandwich (and believe me, I don't!) that's okay.  As long as it fits in my calorie budget I can eat it!

The trick here is that you become aware of how many calories you are consuming and in turn you make healthier choices so that you can eat more!  When was the last time a single piece of pizza (380 calories) filled you up for dinner?  Even my nephews eat more than that sometimes.  Wouldn't a more filling choice be a large salad with grilled chicken and fat-free dressing (409 calories)?  You get more bang for your calorie buck when you eat healthier foods.  (Calorie counts are from the foods I would have personally picked for those meals and may vary for your favorite foods.)  So I have found myself eating more fruits and vegetables just because I can "afford" them.  This has led to the transformation of the green bean for me.  I would avoid them in the past because there are other things I would rather eat.  But when I found out you can have a whole cup of them for only 34 calories they became a low-calorie jackpot of sorts! 

The Lose It! app has transformed the way I think about food.  I am able to keep track of what I'm eating and hold myself accountable.  It is very black and white.  If I go over it's right there in big bold red numbers to stare me in the face...  and my friends that I've connected with who also use the app (and/or website) can also see how I fared for the day.  The networking tools are an added benefit because my friends can help hold me accountable and get me back on track if they notice that I'm slipping.

Another great thing about the app is that you can enter your exercise for a boost in your calorie budget for the day.  Spend 30 minutes on the exercise bike?  That buys you around 270 calories that you can "spend" as you like (or at least at my weight it does - your exact calculations may vary).  Or if it's the other way around and you see that you're going to eat 100 more calories than you have in your budget for the day (you can enter food ahead of time to help plan meals) you can see how long you need to walk around the neighborhood to burn those extra calories off and decide if that high-calorie dinner is worth it or if you should make a better choice.

Lose It! also has lots of restaurant foods pre-programmed in their database, and I find that to be a huge help.  If David and I decide to have Wendy's for dinner I can easily determine what I can afford.  I had a burger and small order of fries last weekend and didn't go over budget.  See what I mean about not giving up the foods you love?  I wouldn't do that every day because I know it wasn't really a healthy choice - but perhaps eating that burger and fries within my calorie budget kept me from binging on an even worse burger and a large fry later in the week when the cravings became too much. 

It's all about learning how to balance your diet and educating yourself about the foods you eat.  I was drinking organic chocolate milk because, hey, my mom always said I should have more calcium and that was a pretty tasty way to get it!  Turns out one cup of my awesome chocolatey goodness has 180 calories in it!  And I don't know about your glasses at your house, but ours aren't 8 ounces!  I was having at least two servings most nights before bed.  That's...  bad.  I still buy the organic chocolate milk, but if I have hit my calorie budget for the day I don't get to drink it.  And I certainly only drink one serving at a time.  And have you ever looked at how many calories are in peanut butter?! Peanut butter is supposed to be one of those healthy protein-packed snacks, but one tablespoon has about 100 calories.  One tiny tablespoon! 

I could go on about the discoveries I have made but I'm going to stop here.  Just know that knowledge gives you power, and when you really become aware of what you are putting into your body it becomes difficult to ignore the damage being done by a PB-heavy PB&J sandwich.

Current length of diet: 2 months
Current weight lost: 13 pounds

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Welcome to my journey in weight loss.

I'm 29 years old and I weigh way more than I should.  I've always been overweight...  at times it has bothered me and other times I have been fine with it.  But I've always known that it is something I should change, whether I let it upset me or not.  My doctors have (some politely, others notsomuch) all mentioned it, no matter what my ailment was.  (Sinus infection?  You should lose weight!)  And to be honest, simply seeing the word "obesity" written down on my paperwork under diagnosis was really upsetting.  Yeah, I'm fat, but obese?!  Turns out...  yep, I am. 

So when David and one of his co-workers decided to do a weight loss challenge I decided to jump in.  I'm not in their contest because it was deemed unfair with odd numbers, so basically I'm just trying to do better than David so I can kick his butt and gloat.  But more importantly, I know this is something I need to do for myself.

I have come to the conclusion that "dieting" (I lose that term very loosely because I am not doing a particular fad "diet") and weight loss have to become a sort of obsession when you're at the point I am in order to achieve anything.  I feel like all I have been talking about lately is my diet.  It helps that I'm excited about my progress (12 pounds lost since May 1st).  But I'm pretty sure people are getting tired of hearing about my calorie budget and my spiffy new pedometer and how many steps I've taken for the day!  But my mom, Samantha, and one of my co-workers have all started "dieting" too, and it's a huge help to be surrounded by people with similar goals and struggles.  And what we are doing is working!

I don't intend for this to become a blog about weight loss.  There are plenty of those out there, and that's not what this is.  This is just what I am going through right now, and I need a place to obsess and share - even if nobody ever actually reads it.  ;)  I'll try to share the things I have learned and the tools I've found helpful.  It is my hope that if I should fall off the wagon at some point (okay, it's probably inevitable given my track history) I will be able to look back at this blog and remember my reasons for the changes I have made. 

You don't get a before picture.  I took one, but it's not going anywhere because it's absolutely frightening.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to share it.  I'm also not telling you how much I weigh!  Maybe once I reach my goal I'll tell you how bad things were in the dark days... but for now that's just not something you need to know. It's something I cheerfully ignored for quite some time, so that's what I'll expect you to do.  ;)

Current length of diet: 1.5 months
Current weight lost: 12 pounds

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I'm still thinking about the bathroom.

I still haven't decided what to do with my downstairs bathroom.  I started browsing Amazon for towel racks, light fixtures, medicine cabinets, and mirrors.  I don't know if I'll end up using some combination of what I already have or replace it all.  The medicine cabinet is set into the wall, so that may prove problematic.

Anyhow.  I was poking around trying to get some ideas and it struck me that these rounded items might help with the small space.

I like the chrome look because it's modern.  I can't stand the wood that seems to overpower the room right now.  That's possibly because it's not the color of wood I would have chosen.  It's a medium color and just bugs me.  I also really like the black metal and dark brown metal look, but I'm afraid with it being such a small room that wouldn't work very well.  

The thing that is starting to concern me right now is that if I go with this chrome look things will be too matchy and it may start to look institutional.  I don't want it to be a cold, unwelcoming bathroom.  I'm also concerned about ordering these items on Amazon because if they don't match well I'll have to send them back.  Having said that, I really hate home improvement stores.  I really just don't want to go to Home Depot or Lowes and try to find something I like there.  Now if we had an Ikea I'd be all about it!  Maybe I need to save up for a little while and make a bathroom decorating trip to Atlanta (the nearest Ikea).  Much as I love the place, that idea doesn't really appeal to me, either.  

So I'm still thinking and mulling over ideas.  I think I could be on to something with the rounded look and the small space.  I guess that's a little progress. 

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I have the smartest dog.

So I'm sitting here crocheting a scarf for my sister's silent auction for Relay For Life. It's pink and REALLY soft. I sort of wish I could keep it. Anyhow, I had my yarn (Crayon in Begonia from KnitPicks) sitting on the arm of the recliner I'm sitting in as I worked. Bailey nosed at it and I told her no. She left it alone, no problem. I kept on crocheting. Then Ricki (one of the cats) jumped up on the arm and wanted me to pet her. She blocked my view of my yarn, half sitting on it. Next thing I know David is asking me, "What's that Bailey has?" My initial response was that I had no clue because there was a giant cat blocking my view. I managed to peek around her and BAILEY HAD MY YARN! She knew Ricki blocked my view! She knew that was her chance to take off with the yarn! I have never had a dog play off a distraction before! Honestly, my mind is sort of blown. It also happened to be insanely adorable.

Sent from my iPhone

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I can knit!

I'm about to finish my first knitted scarf! About to do the last finishing ... is that called a stitch? I still prefer crochet but I'm happy that I know ~how~ to knit now! Thanks Samantha!!

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I feel a bathroom redecoration in my future.

There are a few rooms in my house that I still haven't gotten around to really making ours.  I think the downstairs half bathroom is probably the worst since it is a room that guests often see.  I mean, I can't really say no, you can't use my bathroom because I still haven't decorated it properly.  We have been in this house for five years now and it's time I accept the fact we will be here for a while longer.  I initially hoped we would be able to sell after two years and buy a house with a better floor plan (this one looks GREAT before you move any furniture in) but I think you know what happened to the market.

Anyhow.  This bathroom is really dull.  I have a single thing hanging on the wall, the cheap-o towel rack that came with the house, and a plain white over-the-toilet rack. 

This is also the bathroom that we use to feed the cats, so we always have a baby gate set up to keep the dogs out.  I think it's a pain to have to climb the baby gate, but it's really the only solution I can think of. 

The major problem I've had when it comes to decorating this bathroom is that it is so small.  I really want to paint it a dark red (my accent color for the living room), but I'm afraid it would give the room a sense of collapsing.  From the beginning I wanted to replace the sink and counter with a pedestal sink to open up the space, but that means we would have to redo the floor because I am 99% certain they didn't put flooring under that cabinet.  If I'm going to redo a floor, I want tile.  So now we're talking about a new sink fixture and tile.  No big deal since it's a small room, right?  I wish!  I can't just tile the bathroom...  My OCD would force me to tile the entire downstairs (which is really my ultimate goal) so it would match.  So I'm stuck with the bathroom cabinet. 

So what color can I paint this bathroom that will match the rest of my downstairs decor (light biege walls, satin white trim, dark brown couch and furniture, and red accents) that won't cause it to be the most claustrophobic room in the house?  It's in serious need of fresh paint thanks to my dying my hair in there and dripping hair dye on the wall and other mysterious spots and stains.  So I'm looking for ideas!  If anyone has any, send them my way!  Especially if they have to do with decorating such a small space tastefully and on a budget!

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Did you see my status update?

The first blog prompt on the list-o-prompts I’m trying to use is, “How I use Facebook.”  I resisted signing up for Facebook for quite a while when it first became the big thing.  I endured endless harassment from Erin that I needed to create a profile and finally gave up because I knew that was the only way I would get her to be quiet about it.  It also became the best way to communicate with her and replaced our once daily emails! 

Since that time I have had a love/hate relationship with the social networking site.  In the beginning I logged in every once in a while to poke someone or throw a president at them.  Or maybe both.  Then as more people began to join and my network grew I logged in daily to see what everyone was up to.  Cyber stalking, if you will.  And then something terrible happened...  Someone invited me to join Mafia Wars.  Sadly I was sucked in like the millions of others who have become addicted to this mindless, pointless, never-ending game.  There literally is no end to it.  You can't ever finish it.  After that came FarmVille, Café World, Treasure Mania, that other one that was like FarmVille, Farkle, some sort of see-how-fast-you-can-type game, and others.  I wish I could reclaim all the time I spent playing them.  I wish I had seen them for the marketing ploy they were.  Though I will proudly say that I never once spent REAL money on in-game play.  I may have whored out my email address a few times for some bonus offers of farm cash or godfather points, but Facebook never saw my credit card.

Once I was playing the games, checking my news feed became an addiction.  I HAD to know what my friends (and acquaintances) were up to.  If I missed a chunk of time I would go back and keep reading until I was caught back up.  I got a little perturbed with family members if they didn’t know about something that was going on in my life because, duh, I posted it on Facebook...  Why didn’t you see my status update?  I consider that a low time in my life.

Slowly as I got busier with photography I stopped playing the games and spent more time editing photo sessions.  I blocked one game application and it felt good... no more stress about making sure my flowers were watered or harvested.  No more being sad because my friends didn’t come to fertilize my crops.

Now all of the games are blocked.  I think I’ve finally managed to hide all of the game apps from appearing in my news feed, and any time someone sends me a new teddy bear it’s ignored without the slightest bit of guilt.  Oh, and if someone answers a question about me?  I don’t care.  Answer all the questions you want about whether I'm cute or you have a crush on me.  I'm just going to assume you said good things because we're friends and you posted that you answered it on my wall and how crappy would it be for you to bring my attention to a mean answer. 

Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that Facebook has been my primary source of advertising I probably would have already deleted my profile altogether.  I rarely ever post a status update and when I do it’s more like using Facebook as a resource to answer a question or share an opportunity with people.  (Or yesterday to vent about the systematic raping of State employees' salaries, after which I was reminded why I don't ever EVER get involved in political discussions on Facebook.)  I do enjoy the photo aspect of it and seeing my friends’ photos, but I have my reservations about Facebook’s terms of use when it comes to my own copyright.  So I rarely upload any pictures I haven’t watermarked.  It’s a pain.  And for a while I had to take an additional step of resizing my images before I could upload them because of Facebook’s compression...  It made all of my pictures look craptastic, and that’s not good when I’m using it as a source of advertising. 

So for now I’m still on Facebook.  I’m careful about how I use it.  I think that has to be the case with anything on the internet...  You must be careful and look out for yourself because you can’t expect anyone else to look out for anything but their own best interest.  If that means making money off of your information (in Facebook’s case it does), then they’re going to do it.  Facebook isn’t there just to make us happy...  It exists to generate revenue for someone.

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Do you have a Kindle?

One thing I want to continue to blog about here is my reading. I’m worried I will forget my opinions about books once some time has passed and I don’t want that to happen.

I got a Kindle for Christmas, which I absolutely L. O. V. E. It’s loaded down with books already and I have no idea how I will ever find the time to read all of them. I’m reading so much more than I used to, but it still just doesn’t feel like enough. I often wish I had more time to read.

As an example of how much I love my Kindle, I bought David one for Valentine’s Day. It was definitely more expensive than I should have spent on a V-Day gift, but I had to do it. He had been eyeing mine, asking questions about what it’s able to do, and asking questions about the other e-reader options available. He had been reading on his iPhone, and I knew from my personal experience how bad that can be for your eyes. My eyes used to hurt when I read for a long period of time on my iPhone. My eyesight is really REALLY bad and I don’t want him to join me in that regard so I thought it best he have the proper e-reading display. I also knew he was on the fence about it and would not have chosen to buy a Kindle over the other gadgets that he wants. So I pushed him off the fence on the getting a Kindle side. Ha!

Back to what I’ve been reading. I’m sort of jumping around books lately because there is so much I want to read. I bought a book that was on sale for I think a little over a dollar in the Kindle store and sounded interesting. It was random trivia and I usually like that sort of thing. But this one wasn’t even worth the sale price. It was called Any Body's Guess!: Quirky Quizzes About What Makes You Tick. Let me just say there were no quizzes and the trivia was plain old boring. I did finish reading the book (I’ve told you I’m OCD) but it was hard to do so! I give this one a big fat YUCKY!

I’ve also been working on the Morganville Vampires series and have finished book four. I honestly am not sure how I feel about this series yet. It’s not bad enough that I want to stop reading it, but it’s also not really a compelling read, either. I could take it or leave it. I have a friend who said book five was where she began to dislike the series and since I’m already on the fence about it I have to say I’m not anticipating I’ll stick with this one for much longer. The series is about a 16-year-old genius who moves to a town designed and constructed for vampires. The laws there are not your normal laws (there’s a curfew and anyone out after curfew is fair game to become a late night snack; all residents must donate blood monthly) and I have to admit I find the characters a bit hard to buy at times. The 16-year-old genius in college early and away from home bit is just unnecessary. Why couldn’t they have made her a normal college student? I think the story would have been just as compelling without the silly naivete. I also find it difficult to believe her relationship with the 18-year-old boyfriend. Perhaps I just have low expectations of an 18-year-old boy living in a house with no parents and his younger girlfriend. Especially when said 18-year-old boy is described as a tough guy. I just roll my eyes a lot is all.

Currently I am trying to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I’m finding it difficult. I made it 11% of the way through the book while we were on vacation and immediately after, but I decided this week to go back and start over, taking notes on the characters so I could keep them apart. (I’m not so good with names and this book jumps around.) I’ve been told that this one is hard to get into so I’m reserving judgment until that moment that it finally clicks and I’m sucked in. I’m told this will happen. I wish it would happen soon.

And because I feel this  blog is lacking in the picture department, here's my reading buddy, Ricki.  When I was in school she was my study buddy. 

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I'm going to make a new effort here.

I often feel like I’m neglecting this blog.  I created it so that I would have somewhere to express myself when it’s not really related to my photography business and I don’t think my clients would want to hear about it.  But what I’ve found is that the things I want to talk about aren’t really things I should be talking about in a public forum.  I can’t vent about work here.  Nor can I vent about clients!  Every once in a while I have a session that really makes me wonder about people, but it would be inappropriate to voice my puzzlement publicly.  It also wouldn’t be appropriate to tell you here about the things I hear in court that I find interesting because there is a fine line when it comes to talking about my job and being an employee of the State and all.  (Did you know our lovely governor is trying to reduce my salary by 5%?  That’s a post I probably can make and probably will.)  I suppose I could tell you about my medical experience of having an IUD inserted in early January, but I doubt you really want to know about that lovely piece of biology and I don’t necessarily want the worldwide web thinking about that particular area of my anatomy, either.  My experience with it has been less than pleasant so far, but I’ll just leave it at that. 

So what am I going to use this blog for?  There’s the random contest entry that I get points for blogging about but don’t feel is appropriate for my photography blog unless it’s for a photography-related item.  I put those posts here.  And I do it very rarely!  I won’t blog about an item unless it’s something I believe in.  So yeah, I totally believe in shopping at Publix and I totally pimped out my blog for a chance to win a $25 Publix gift card.  That is something I can definitely use and you probably could, too, if you won it.  It’s free groceries.  Heck yeah!  But I’m not going to leave this blog idle save for the random venting post (when I can get away with it) and contest entries.  I’ve decided to make a concerted effort to post more here. 

But I need ideas.  I need prompts.  And honestly I think prompting myself with ideas that aren’t at the top of my brain is going to be good for me.  It will (hopefully) get me out of my rut and cause me to think about things I haven’t considered.  Or things I’ve considered but I haven’t really talked about.  So we’ll see how this goes.  I’ve found some prompts over at http://chrisbrogan.com that I’m going to use for now.  Hopefully you won’t find my writings too random or too offensive or too boring.  We’ll see how this goes!  And if you have any comments or suggestions please PLEASE jump in by leaving me a comment. 

Oh, and do you want to know an interesting fact?  You may not find it all that interesting but I pay very close attention to it.  All of the blog titles on this blog are complete sentences.  I make a concentrated effort to make sure that happens.  Don’t ask me why...  It’s just something I decided to do.  I like consistency.  I’m OCD like that. 

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There's a $25 Publix gift card I'd really like to win.

Just a quick note to let you know that there is a $25 gift card to Publix being given away over at ourblessedarrows.com.  I would really like to win it because hey, who wouldn't like $25 to apply toward their grocery bill?  But it's also an italian-food themed contest and I seriously LOVE italian food.  My favorite food to cook, as silly as it may seem, is spaghetti.  And whenever I don't feel good?  Papa Johns is just WAY too easy to pick up on the way home!  So this giveaway really works for me!  ;)

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Hola from Mexico!

I would have put the whole title in Spanish but I don't know how to say "from" and I don't know how to put those accents into Mexico on my phone. Which about sums up how well I'm doing down here as far as language is concerned. I know just enough Spanish to be dangerous. ;)

This morning we got up at the painful hour of 3:30am and caught a flight to atlanta, then on to cancun. (I'm typing this with my phone so I give up on proper capitalization of english words now, too!) I've never been to Mexico before, so I have been really excited! David's parents have their own condo down here, and it's amazing. I could so live here. It's in a safe area and really beautiful. I'm not going to say everything down here is beautiful... There are some areas that look less than inviting. But we are staying out if those areas.

I've already been scammed out of money - before we even left the airport, no less - so I hope that's over and done with for the trip. And I just have to believe that karma will get that waitress for the GINORMOUS tip she gave herself.

Speaking if GINORMOUS, there was a GINORMOUS spider in our bathroom. We're talking the size of a saucer! Okay, not really... But it was bigger than I'm comfortable with. Haha!

I've seen dolphins, manatees, sting rays, lots of birds, and a stray cat. Oh, and I got to pet a neighbor's dog, too! His name was Frodo. :) But back to the stray cat. If you're reading this, you probably know me, because I don't know why anyone who doesn't know me would care about my ramblings. So this next part should come as no surprise. I tried to pet the stray cat. Duh! It was hanging out at the restaurant we were eating at. I went over and called it to me... And then discovered it had a huge sore on it's neck. :( So I backed off. David says I don't learn, but I did at least have the sense to retreat when I saw the sore. (And besides, it was in a restaurant! I figured it couldn't be mean or it would be bad for business and they would chase it off.) I really wished I could give it some meds... and if we had been home I probably would have figured out a way to get it to the vet. But the poor kitty at Gringo Dave's will just have to keep mooching off of people's fish (he turned his nose up at the French fry I offered!) and hopefully get well soon.

I can't really think of much else to write about today... Other than they use a lot of cement down here. And that means our room sort of echoes. And David is snoring like CRAZY! *sigh* Good thing I remembered to pack my ear plugs!

Hasta mañana!

Sent from my iPhone

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