Working on living better: TOLT

Hey there! I’m actually back home — did you miss me? You can catch up a bit with what’s been going on in my life with my Weekly Wrap. But today I’m Thinking Out Loud, assuming I can actually gather my scattered thoughts.

Living better, not longer (although longer is nice, too)
This month has been hard, and not just physically, although there’s that. There have definitely been way more nights of interrupted sleep than good nights. I’ve spent the majority of this month away from home.

It’s been hard emotionally, too, though. It’s so difficult to see my parents, once so with it and vital, in the state they are in now. My mom is still quite with it, but she’s physically much frailer, although it’s been three weeks since the surgery. And being my dad’s caretaker is wearing on her.

We are a long lived family, and I want to live better. I’m trying so hard to use my parents as an example. I eat better; I’m more physically active than they were at my age.

Is it just inevitable that this is what happens when you’re very elderly? I hope not. I want to break the cycle. I want to live better, not necessarily longer. I want to always be willing to learn new things, to be more flexible, to admit my frailties but do my best to stay strong.

It isn’t easy. It takes work. But what is the point of living longer if you’re unhappy?

Even the shorter days haven’t bothered me
Yet, anyway. I’ve been so busy most days that I’ve had little time to think about how short the days are getting. I suppose that’s a good thing — you can always find a silver lining if you look hard enough.

But I did notice that it was dark before 8 pm last night. 😦

What I’m loving lately
Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Quench Lip Rescue (affiliate link). But I wouldn’t buy it at Amazon, much cheaper at Sephora. It’s a non sticky lip gloss with good stuff and I’m just loving it.

I meant to try to take a photo but I forgot. Trust me, it’s pretty and feels good.

New Orleans, March 2017, anyone?
I saw the Best Damn Race in New Orleans on @runswithpugs on Instagram. Yeah, baby. I highly doubt I’ll get the $1 registration, but you can transfer your bib to someone else or defer to the following year. That’s what I’m talking about!

With the craziness of elderly parents, I never know what’s going to happen. It means training through the winter, of course, but knowing I could cancel if I had to or defer it takes the pressure off.

Hello, Mr. Judy, whaddya think?

It may have been love at first sight

Bandit update
Bandit continues to improve, although it continues to be the dance of one step forwards, two steps backwards. For instance, he’s taken to barking for a little while when he goes into his crate at night. Maybe we’re not tiring him out enough?

Or is it the fact that he’s getting a little more freedom in the house, and he’s testing his boundaries?

Earning his freedom

We have been trying out having him in a bed next to a couch, on leash; at night when we’re watching tv, sometimes I do it during the day if Gizmo isn’t being active. Mostly he’s been quite good, but last night didn’t work out so well.

Mr. Judy was having a tough day, and he was angry, and he was scaring Bandit, he ended up going underneath the recliner (where I was sitting). Down saved the day, because he was basically gonna choke himself getting out of there, but I told him down, and then was able to get him safely out. He went back into the kitchen, since he’s comfortable there (he normally gets gated in there at night while we watch tv).

Train your dogs, people, I can’t emphasize it enough. The basic commands. You never know when they could save your dog’s life.

In the good news department, he’s been doing really well meeting people on our walks, including teenage kids. I have everyone feed him treats. We had both dogs in the car together for the first time last weekend, and we took Bandit to the park.

He was a wild child initially — would’t even take treats, and he’s become a highly food motivated dog. He wasn’t when we got him, not at all, but now that tail is going furiously when he thinks a treat is coming. He did eventually settle down. No growling at dogs or people.

Speaking of growling, he started to do that out of the blue in his crate last night. No one was near him. No one outside, as far as I know. I let him out, he pee’d, and that was that.

I had my regular pet sitter come in to meet him yesterday. She’s actually the one that started the whole Bandit mess. The only person who has been in the house since we got Bandit was the trainer, so I had no idea how he’d react. But I have to be out a long time tomorrow doing my long run, so I wanted to see how she felt about coming in to let the dogs out into the backyard.

He barked, of course (I had him in his crate), but greeted her with a wagging tail, and when I let him out, he was jumping on her (in a good way). He was totally fine with her. I did tell her if he reacts differently to her coming in when I’m not there tomorrow, and she’s not comfortable with him, just leave. He’ll survive (I guess she could always let Lola out; she’d appreciate it, I’m sure).

While we were chatting in the backyard, with both dogs out, a rabbit suddenly appeared. Usually the dogs give chase and the rabbit makes its escape. Except this rabbit couldn’t seem to figure it out, and the dogs were chasing the poor thing back and forth like five times. I can call Lola off a rabbit, but Bandit’s recall is definitely not that good yet. I swear he came damn close to getting it, but eventually it did escape.

* Disclaimer: this is an affiliate link. I make a very small commission if you buy this product from Amazon after clicking through my link.

Talk to me. Tell me in the comments:

What are you loving lately?

What are you doing to live better?

Who wants to run the best damn race in New Orleans with me next spring?

I’m linking up with Amanda at Running with Spoons for her: