Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Competition Update

Well, I haven't blogged in a while and as usual couldn't sleep so I thought I would get on here and blog. After my really crappy weekend where I just about pulled miller for every standard run, I have to say it has all been uphill. Miller has been perfect on all of his dog walks and I can't be more thrilled. It is so nice to have a dog that truly respects the whole, if you aren't going to play my way then you don't get to play motto. At the last show in February, we had four perfect dog walks, two double Qs and two single Qs. The one single Q day was because in jumpers because of a missed weave pole that was the equipment's fault (weaves came apart in the middle but judge didn't consider it an equipment malfunction) and the second single Q was because in standard, he mis-read my rear cross Q and I didn't give it clear enough so he took an off course. That is fine with me, I will take it. We have AKC nationals in two weeks and I need that perfect dog walk. We have a show this weekend so we will see if the streak can stay alive! Right now, my attitude has not been about the run as a whole, but about his performance on the dog walk. I think because i have let the whole, got to get the Q attitude fall, and have just worried about one part of our performance, that our Q rate has gone up. He is a very steady, honest dog and I have to just trust him and know that he can do it. We only need 5 more QQs for our MACH and am hoping we can finish that up this spring. I set my goals high this year, finish my MACH, qualify for AKC nationals for 2010 and USDAA nationals for 2009. We only need one more Q in PNS to finish up the qualifications for all events at USDAA nationals. We need 4 more QQs for AKC nationals and about half the points. I feel so blessed to be having such a great year after such a crappy start. My attitude is good and I hope I can keep it this way, even through the bad times.

I just took miller for his annual vet visit and he told me that miller has the body and the heart of a 6 year old dog which makes me feel good. I also took him to a new chiropracter who says that he is in great shape and does not need any major adjustments at this time. I will just have to watch his weight and keep him conditioned.

I need to be watching my weight LOL! I am getting heavier and heavier and on a 5 foot frame, any extra weight is very noticable. I went jeans shopping last weekend hoping that i wouldn't fit in my usual size 6s and that i would be motivated to start working out again and watching what I eat. Well, old navy must be making their jeans bigger because of course the size 6s still fit. Dang it, so much for motivation! I will be seeing a bunch of my relatives at AKC nationals so maybe seeing the look on their faces when I see them will motivate me. I never had a weight "problem" until here lately. When I worked in CO, i traveled all the time and I consequently had to eat out all the time. In some foreign countries, i would eat mcdonalds three meals a day because i am such a wuss at trying new foods. Well, I put on a ton of weight, got up to 142 and my normal weight range is 115-120. I decided to try weight watchers and it did work but I only kept the weight off for about a year. Then 10 lbs came back and I went back to weight watchers religously to try and lose again. Well, that worked for about 6 months and then I started to gain again. I am fine when I am on the low points but as soon as my points get raised into maintenance, I loose it. Funny, I use to have such good self-control before I started dieting (and yes, I do count weight watchers as a diet. Anything that restricts your calories is a diet.) and now I have none. I use to be able to say no to desert or whatever and now I can't. Can't decide if it is because of the dieting or because I am just getting older. One of our big problems is my husband is such a good cook, but he cooks with butter and all kinds of fattening stuff. He also doesn't measure anything, just kind of cooks and tastes so I can't figure out points. We did try using olive oil, and spray butter and cutting back on certain foods, but again that only lasts so long before we go back to our old ways. We do eat out alot and when I initially did WW, I cut that out except maybe subway. We were so miserable. I didn't realize how much we enjoyed eating out and how much it bonded us. Our favorite thing is to either go out to old chicago and have food and beers, or on the weekends, go down to aggieville (bar district for the college kids) and have coffee and a brownie or coldstone. We need a new way to bond that doesn't involve food!

Well, maybe i am getting a little sleepy now. I will update my blog after this weekend and definatley after AKC nationals! Wish me luck!