1 week of my 2 weeks Christmas shut down gone. But we've kept ourselves busy. Hubs took 2 days leave on the 27th & 28th to spend time with me for my birthday which translated to 6 non working days for him. The thing with me is that if something costs a lot, I need to get it on impulse. If I allow myself to think it over, it never happens. So on impulse, I went to Power Fitness on the 23rd & grabbed 2 sign up forms. (I've long discontinued my work place gym & have extra flabs to show for it.) I thought I would have a hard time convincing hubs to sign up due to ongoing costs. But surprisingly, he didn't protest. Perhaps it was becoz I told him, "This is something I want you to do with me & you can't say no." We headed down the next day to submit our forms, have our photo taken, orientation done & access card given to us. I signed myself up for gym plus unlimited classes & hubs for gym only since I don't think he'll be interested in classes.
Christmas Eve. We went to the gym for the 1st time. When we got home at 7+ pm, I noticed something was wrong with Basil. He wasn't as energetic, he was shaking, he wasn't very interested in his food which never happens. I was concerned & in the end, I made the decision to bring him to a 24 hour vet which cost me $200+. His lower back was tender upon palpation & the vet thought he may have hurt his back. He was given a painkiller injection which made him very woozy. Half an hour later, she felt that he was still responding to palpation & wanted to do some scans & hospitalised him but I chose to bring him home. Otherwise it would have cost us more than $200. I made a good call though for he was back to his usual self the next morning. Sometimes we have to remember that they're a business & we as dog owners do know our dogs better.
We were in Yanchep for a Christmas BBQ lunch organised by my group leader. I learnt it the hard way not to buy Mascarpone on Christmas Eve. It was sold out everywhere. Apparently, tiramisu is a very popular dessert during Christmas time. I was forced to use cream cheese instead which was less than ideal as it taste completely different. I had 3 cocktails & 2 glasses of champagne over the lunch & possibly dinner party. When we finally left at 5+ pm, I've had some barbie items, a fair bit of the various salads & heaps of desserts. Not exactly the best way to start the gym journey. Lol. Well, to our credit, we got home, rested a bit & worked out at the gym. I thought we were very "on", gym-ing at 9 pm on Christmas Day & that the gym would be deserted as everybody's partying away. Hah! There were many others at the gym working out too!
26th. Hubs was asked by his colleague to help feed his fish while he's back in his hometown for 4 weeks. He asked hubs to feed the fish 1, 3 & 5. Hubs questioned the fish not being fed on Sat & Sun but he was told that it was alright. This was Monday on week 2. When we got there, 4 out of 5 fish were belly up. I know nothing about fish other than they're very fragile. Did they die becoz they weren't fed on Sat & Sun? Was it water ph or temperature or lack of oxygen? We didn't know what to do & hubs just scooped out the dead fish. Sorry, I think dogs will fare better with me than fish. Since we were already all the way down south, we went to Cockburn Gateway to buy me my birthday present. I wanted an IPL machine & I just told him to pay for it. When you've been together for so long, presents get increasingly hard to choose. I had $85 (was initially $120 but I spent some of it) birthday money from my colleagues & he just topped up the balance.
I think it's very true that if you leave it to a man to plan something, it is always left for the last minute & in the end, you have to make do with what's available. I see it in other couples, even more so for hubs. He didn't make any reservations for dinner till 1 week before my birthday only to find that it's all booked out everywhere. (For his birthdays, all plans were already in place 2 months before the actual day.) In the end, Nobu was the only restaurant with availability on 27th at 8.45 pm. We were given a table overlooking the pool. You'd think that it being fine dining, the noise level would be low. We could hardly hear each other talk & despite the waitress attempting to speak really loudly, I still missed chunks of what she said. Dinner came up to almost $300 but it was so good I didn't mind the price. Not that I was paying anyway. Haha.
28th, my birthday. Started the morning with Konga at the gym. It was hard but I did manage to keep up majority of the time. Drove back home & found hubs just waking up. We had lunch at Bullcreek Hawker as recommended by 1 of my colleague. We loved their salt & pepper squid tentacles. It being Wed, we headed down to feed the remaining fish only to find that it had died. Hubs then said that he will return on Friday to drain the tank. It was gym in the evening & though I managed to finish my routine, I struggled badly most likely becoz of the exertion from Konga in the morning. I didn't feel older but I did feel that I really need to stick to a regular exercise regime. I'm not working at the moment which makes going to the gym easy. It is when I restart work that the challenge really begins.
So, we've come to the end of 2016. I've put in good effort at work, which, of course, I'll continue in 2017. I shall make a firmer resolve to take better care of my health & increase my fitness level. Health & peace to all.
I had a friend who was a vet and he told me pets are very tough and hardy animals. Most of the time they do not require much treatment and the owners are often over anxious. But I could not help it and always worry too much over my dog. Happy new year to you and Hubs.
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