Salivary Gland

When I arrived home a little early to scoop Sadie up for her appointment at the vet she looked so excited. Even though she’s received several rounds of shots and was spayed at the vet, she still is excited to go… but then again, she’s always excited to go anywhere.

Sadie’s nerves kick in at the vet’s office when we go into the examination room and she is put on the display table. It’s heartbreaking to watch her little tail tuck under her legs. She looks at me with those scared little eyes that clearly say, “Mama, help me!” Gosh, I am the biggest sucker in the world.

Thankfully, today’s appointment went really well. I was immediately comforted when the vet said that the swollen lump was not one of Sadie’s lymphnodes… phew!

Apparently Sadie has a swollen salivary gland. Our vet told us that she should be fine, but to be sure to bring her back in if it gets any bigger. I think all of your warm thoughts helped! 😀

Dog Park

To celebrate Sadie’s healthy state, Ryan and I took her to the dog park for some running, jumping, throwing and catching.

"Try to Catch Me!"

Oh, Hello

Puppy Playtime

Sadie was really feelin’ the other dogs tonight. Normally she just wants to play fetch and run around with us, but today she made the most of her time with her canine playmates.

Miss Sadie

Proud Puppy Parents

Dinner

After the dog park fun, we came home to make a warm dinner, fit for a chilly evening.

Grilled cheese and soup!

Ryan slurped on beef stew while I elected to enjoy chicken noodle.

Campbell's Chicken Noodle

Chicken Noodle Soup

I’ll be completely honest with ya… this soup was not that great. I finished the whole bowl, but it definitely wasn’t an amazingly delicious bowl of soup. Not a chicken noodle soup I’d buy again.

My grilled cheese, on the other hand, was fantastic!

The Classic Grilled Cheese

Wednesday Night Dinner

I don’t know if it was all the salt in my dinner or what, but I wanted dessert almost immediately after dinner.

I opened up a Healthy Choice fudge bar and it hit the spot!

Fudge Bar

Yummy delish!

Why You Can Work Out for an Hour, But Still Get Winded Walking Up the Stairs

This has always boggled my mind. Why, when I can run or work out for an hour +, do I feel winded walking up a few flights of stairs?

Today I read an article on Health.com that broke it down for me:

“Unlike running, stair climbing has a vertical element. The upwards movements make your lower body muscles—quads, hamstrings, and glutes—work harder to lift your body weight against gravity. Common activities such as running, swimming, and biking get your heart rate up, but none of them have the vertical element. Most of your daily activities move you forward instead of up, which is why our bodies aren’t used to fighting gravity.”

Maybe I should go find some hills to run… though that might be difficult to come by in flat-as-a-pancake Orlando. 😉

Two Birds, One Stone

As I made the ravioli for last night’s dinner, I prepped my pasta lunch for today… gotta love killin’ two birds with one stone. (<– What an awful expression, huh?)

Two Birds

Sorry, I can never resist the opportunity for a cute animal picture.

My pasta lunch was t-a-s-t-y.

Noodle Bowl

Noodles + Veggies

My big bowl of noodly goodness included:

• Carba Nada egg fettuccine noodles (seriously, how good are these!?)
• Broccoli
• Portobello mushrooms
• Three cheese blend (Asiago, Parmesan, Romano)
• Garlic and olive oil marinara sauce

How am I not even slightly Italian? If you top anything with marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese, I’d eat it.

What’s your favorite type of cuisine?

I love Italian and Japanese… spaghetti and sushi for this girl!

Sadie Thanks You

Sadie thanks you for all your wonderful thoughts.

Thanks, Guys!

I’ll definitely keep you posted on her lil’ lump after our visit to the vet tonight. Fingers crossed!

Frog in Sadie’s Throat

Last night Ryan discovered a little lump in Sadie’s throat. 😦

I’m hoping it’s just a lil’ frog or something completely harmless.

Chillin' in a Throat

Fortunately I was able to make an appointment to take Sadie to our vet later this afternoon to have it checked out. All the research I’ve done on the internet has met a little freaked out…

I am 100 percent guilty of using the internet to find information on just about anything.

Do you use the internet to find important information?

Naturally, I try to use reliable sources (Wikipedia is not a reliable source…) and have found a lot of valuable information. Unfortunately when it comes to medical inquiries, I sometimes come across information that makes me nervous… Like the time I researched what a cancerous lump feels like in the breast after I felt my mom’s lump. All my findings indicated that her lump was breast cancer and it ended up being the real deal. Though it scared me, it helped prepare me for the news that followed.

I hope my little Sadie girl is okay! The good news is that she is acting completely normal… totally crazy. 😉 Our morning walk was more of a morning “jump all over the place with a stick in your mouth” stroll.

Workout + Breakfast

Today I skipped BodyPump because I think the new release is garbage in favor of doing my own total-body weights routine. It felt good to change it up a bit!

Before my weight routine I did 30 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical, mainly because I wanted to read US Weekly. 😉

I wanted cheese for breakfast like nobody’s business!

Cheese Puh-Lease

Today I made a Swiss cheese and egg white breakfast sandwich using 1.5 slices of cheese (the other 1/2 slice went into my mouth before it made it on the sandwich).

Cheese + Egg Whites

Ooey Gooey

It was so good and I give the Swiss cheese all the credit.