bottle opening workout anyone?

For dinner tonight I made up taco salad...one of my favorite easy meals to make. Or at least easy until I tried to open a new bottle of salsa. I don't know what I did before Mat, I guess I had stronger hand/wrist muscles because I sure couldn't open the jar tonight. I tapped it on the counter, ran it under warm water in the sink. Tried as hard as I could to open the bottle and when grimacing as hard as I could and a whole lot of muscle the bottle opened...and out came the salsa down the kitchen wall and counter and onto the floor.

Anyone know of a good workout routine to get these hands/wrists into shape? I still have four more weeks to go!

two weeks down, four more to go...

so, Mat has been down in Florida for a couple weeks now. I've been staying busy between work, volunteering at the yoga center, playing with Maddy and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.





Note the nice new flagging that is out for Maddy.  I had to get the fence fixed, because she realized it wasn't on and she could leave the yard, so I was starting to find her regularly down at our compost pile eating.  :-(  So, I spent a day trying to fix the fence and the light wouldn't turn on at the transmitter, so I had Ron come over and he got it all fixed up within 15-20 minutes.  Then I put the flagging up so Maddy would know to not go beyond the flags when she hears the beeping of her collar.  Yay!  I can now let Maddy out and not have to worry if she's running into the road.



Went for a beautiful fall bike ride at Bent Creek.  Perfect weather and the perfect way to wear out some energetic dogs!!!!  This weekend, I also put together some new pictures to hang up and I've rearranged the bedroom.  We'll see what else I'll decide to do on my weekends while Mat is gone.

magnificient sunset at Devil's Courthouse

Yesterday evening after work I met Mat at the French Broad Overlook and hopped in with him and Madera for a drive down to Devil's Courthouse. We enjoyed some cheese and crackers and watched the sun set. It was amazingly beautiful with some clouds and fog that came in to make interesting light.  For such a quick walk to the top (paved most of the way) we were a bit surprised to not share the view with others.  It was a lovely bonus to have the summit all to ourselves.

(I'm enjoying the view.  Below is Mat practicing his meditation/yoga moves!)