Pasta!

For July’s 400 Calorie meal, I’m comparing one of my husband’s favorite meals, spinach orzo salad. The two pictures are one of just the salad and one of a smaller portion of the salad with a salmon cake. Obviously, the salmon cake adds more protein and less carbs – the healthier meal. I wanted to compare the same dish to show a serving size of the orzo salad and the size that we often eat!

I added raw veggie strips to my meal (not pictured) to round out the nutrition. I often include raw veggies to up the nutrition of my meal without increasing the calories. It is a perfect addition to pasta meals. Give it a try!

Oh, how they love us!

The final lesson from our furry friends for July is probably the best – unconditional love. It is one of my favorites because pets are the only place where many people get unconditional love. There’s no judgement from them about what we look like or our life choices. They simply want to be loved and to love us. No questions asked. I think my favorite story of this is my dog Wolfgang when my husband was sick. Wolfgang was 6 years old when we got married, so needless to say my husband was very low on the totem pole after my daughter and me and my parents…well, you get the point! However, when my husband had shoulder surgery and had to stay in bed the first few days, poor Wolfgang was beside himself. He kept coming in our room to see what was wrong, lying at the foot of the bed – like a guard. Here’s a perfect picture of Wolfie in guard-mode….in his younger years!

The next time your pet jumps on your and wants a little love - be sure to give him all you attention, for just a few moments - he deserves it!

Zzzzz....

Well, today is a day that I did not need my beloved grand-puppy to teach me a lesson because I can prove that I have already learned it. The lesson – take a nap when you are tired! As you can see, Remy is great at napping…..

One thing we can say about our pets is that they know how to relax and nap! As an adult, we don’t often get a chance to take a nap. I haven’t been sleeping well the last few days and started to fight through this afternoon. Then I just gave in and took a nice long nap.  So, the next time you feel the need to close your eyes for a bit, curl up like a curtain in a sunbeam and snooze away!

Play, play, play!

Monday slipped on by before I realized it, so Pet Monday is Pet Tuesday for this week! 

A great lesson we can learn from our furry friends is one of my favorites – take time to play, every day. This is probably the lesson that most of us could most use. So many of us do not give ourselves fun-time, and most do not give it every day.

Playing can be anything that is fun to you. Our Remy loves to run around outside, and then stop and sniff and stop and sniff. It's the perfect example that we should take the idea and make it our own, do what we each personally find fun. Unless, of course, running around outside and stopping and sniffing sounds fun to you…then go for it!

Nature

I love spending time outside. Even just laying outside soaking up the sun and listening to the animals around puts me in a better mood. I love paying attention to my surroundings and taking it all in. It’s amazing what you see and hear. I never thought a bird chirping was a pretty sound, it actually used to annoy me until I sat outside for awhile and appreciated the beauty of it. I’ve found that I’ve formed a connection with nature and I believe everyone is capable of doing this. This can happen just by understanding nature and that everything is living. Also, by not littering and damaging the environment you’ll increase your connection with the environment because you’re respecting it.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to stay outside for a very long period of time, especially if you’re not a fan of the outdoors. Find something that fits you. It could be walking, hiking, sun bathing, relaxing outside, or even just eating a meal on your porch or deck.  Sometimes when I’ve been sitting in the house all day I’ll just stick my head out the door for a minute. I’ll take a few deep breaths of fresh air and observe my surroundings then go back to what I was doing but it always made me feel better. So there’s no excuse not to enjoy nature because you can always find a way.

Tips

·         Find something you like to do outside, this will motivate you to spend time in nature

·         Respect the environment, nobody wants to sit outside next to trash