my little skittles

monday marked a sad day in the ashton family. we had to put our cat skittles down. he was only 8. he had congestive heart failure. skittles had stopped eating about a month ago. he'd eat to keep himself alive but not much more. we changed his cat food. last week i made an appointment with the vet. last wednesday he had a seizure. i took him to the vet on monday. after some tests we wre faced with the awful decision of having to put him down or try and medicate. if you knew skittles you knew meds were out of the question. his name was skittles for a reason. so, he was put down. it sucked. the kids had complete different reactions. max cried a lot and is still sad and carlie keeps asking for a bunny. and if we get a bunny can we name her daisy. oh my.

rest in peace my skittles. you were a crazy, crazy cat that will be missed.

going down, down, down

my weight is finally going down again. i'm down 2.4 from last week. the only kicker is it seems to involve exercising twice a day. usually gym at lunch time and then i've been walking or doing my wii fit at night. not that this is a bad thing ... but not sure if i can do twice a day forever. maybe my body just needed the kickstart?

the neck seems to be 95% healed which makes me happy. i still get some twinges in my arm but overall ... doing so much better.

happy birthday

wishing my wonderful four-year-old a very happy birthday today. hard to believe four years have passed since carlie entered our world. as happy as this day makes me it is also a reminder of my her namesake. carlie was named after her great-grandfather carl. he was taken from us far too soon. i learned i was pregnant as he lay on his deathbed. it was the last bit of news i got to share with him. i can still remember his wonderful smile as he said 'congratulations.' i wish he was here to see her. he'd be so proud. i know carlie will make his name proud.

and in gym news ... i'm back at it and going strong. i've lost four pounds in a week and that makes me happy. i will continue to be motivated :)

oh the pain

okay ... so i lost five pounds over march break. i was a chaperone on a trip to montreal and ottawa and i guess it was good for weight loss! however; on march 25 i experienced pain like no other. during a spinning class there was a tug in my neck and a fire that stopped me dead in my tracks. i took some pills and away it went.

but on march 29 it came back. a pinched nerve in my neck. for three days i could not move my head at all. my left arm was numb and tingly and it hurt. i cannot explain the hurt. so, for the past two weeks i've been side lined. no gym. no wii fit. just physio and some exercises. i'm sad. i'm gaining weight and i'm miserable. my physio lady told me on thursday i could go to the gym and walk on the treadmill and do the recumbent bike. it sucks but it's better then nothing. i'll start that on wednesday.

just one big setback in my goal to lose weight. hopefully i'll be back on track soon.

struggling

oh. this weight loss journey is not going quite how i expected. i fully expected to have lost some weight by now and be feeling a bit better about myself. however; i'm not. i've been going to the gym on a regular basis and even did a spinning class. i'm eating healthy and everything.

i wonder if it's stress. they say stress will make you hold onto your weight. i do have stress. sometimes i think i might just crack. i ugly-cried at work today. why? because i'm overwhelmed.

last week i had an ecg, walk test, chest x-ray, and then a stress test. my doctor found a murmur in my heart after exercising. the doctor who administered the stress test said it went well ... so that's good.

anyways, i hope by my next update i'm a bit more balanced and in a better place.