Rats

I made it through the first week of the semester!  Now that all the boring talk of syllabi and administrative 'housekeeping' stuff, we can get into the fun stuff and start playing with programming.  I'm teaching three different languages this semester, two of which use the same IDE, so the big challenge will be keeping my brain using the right syntax in the right class.

We also made it through the first week of L's 7th grade year of homeschool.  Her workload is significantly more challenging this year, so it will take some planning and effort from both of us to keep on track.

 The big first week stress has also been complicated by a few unforeseen bumps--of course, because everything has to happen at the worst possible time.  L's laptop's harddrive died.  She uses that for homeschooling and has some software installed only on that machine, so I have to find time to get a new hard drive, try to transfer data from her old drive (if possible), and reinstall the necessary software.  Our Subaru was rear ended, so that's been in the shop getting repaired (since last week).   And, L adopted four more rats (all girls), who came home with us on Thursday.  We're hoping for a much smoother week this week!

We have a stray kitty staying in our first-floor bathroom recovering from her spay (done yesterday).  I was afraid she was pregnant, so I'm thrilled to have gotten her back last night spayed, healthy, and ear tipped.  She was incredibly scrawny and thin, so we're working on getting some weight on her.  The spay should help with that.

My fitness effort has taken an interesting turn.  I am trying to maintain my current weight but it may take some time for me to get the hang of it.  I have dropped a total of 51 pounds now, with the last several pounds' loss being accidental.  I am trying to find that magical balance that will allow me to maintain the weight I want to be at and still enjoy my full daily workouts (6 days a week).  It's so ironic that it's so hard to lose weight when you most need to but easy to lose it once you don't need to.  I'm still finding myself routinely shocked that I have become a person who LOVES to work out every day.  The harder the workout, the more of a sweat-soaked puddle it leaves me, the more I love it. I never in a million years would have anticipated becoming that type of person at this stage of my life.  I am feeling very healthy and strong and am really enjoying it.

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Update 9/17:  I started working on this post quite a while ago, but never quite got enough time to finish it.  I'm going to slap a few pictures of the ratty girls on and wrap it up finally.  The girls don't hold still for long, so it's been tough trying to get a good picture.  L built them a 3D-maze within a big cardboard box.  She changes and adds things to it every few days, and they enjoy running around and playing in and on it.  She named them Flower, Trixie, Frances, and Tessa.  They are getting along with the three boys, and they enjoy shared playtime when they're out together.  Their cage is huge and is identical to the boys' cage.

Now that I'm getting my routine down and feeling more comfortable with this semester's schedule, I should be able to blog a bit more regularly.