Save Flowers From Hungry Rabbits, Valentine the Rescue Dog, No Sweets for 30 Days, and More...

Rabbits eating your flowers?  Last year we spent hundreds of dollars on flowers for our front and back yards only to have rabbits eat every last one within a week.  Larry and I joked that they were telling their friends, "Hey guys, come over to this house…they've got flowers for everyone. And tell your friends and their kids!" Seriously, every day we'd look out and there seemed to be more and more rabbits noshing on our annuals and roses. We tried spraying the flowers with a store-bought deterrent, but you have to spray constantly, especially if it rains.  Before the gardener replaced the flowers, I searched the Internet for a solution. I was not going to let those little buggers win again.


The solution?  I went to our dogs' groomer and asked for all the dog fur from their floor that day.  They thought I was nuts but gladly complied. I spread it around my flower beds and it worked! I was so excited! The rabbits must have gone to someone else's house (sorry neighbors!) since my yard was filled with "dogs."  I told the groomer that it worked, and she's going to try it herself this year.  When our flowers are planted in a couple of weeks, I will be armed and ready.

Valentine, the dog we rescued, is doing great. He still lives at the doggie daycare.  His leg is healed, he's sweet as can be, and he's looking for a home.

He runs…

He's obsessed with ice cream...

and he loves field trips...

No sweets for 30 days…ME…Lynne Moeller, the one who orders dessert instead of dinner, who eats candy everyday, and who could eat frosting out of a can.  THIR-TY DAYS WITHOUT SWEETS. Can you believe it?  People who love sugar as much as I do say, "I don't think I could do that. I love sugar too much." That's what I thought, too.

I started one day using the Lift app on my iPhone.  It's an app based on the premise that it takes 21 days for something to become a habit. Check marks and motivational sayings help keep track of the days. On Day 3 of no sweets I was ready to give up. I happened to see a friend's Facebook post that she was on Day 3 of no sugar (I wasn't as drastic…I still had wine, ketchup, salad dressing, etc. There's sugar in everything.) We exchanged phone numbers, and through encouraging text messages to each other, got through the 30 days. We'd send each other pictures of sugary treats tempting us at any given moment, and an instant, encouraging reply would stave off the craving. "You can do this!"  I couldn't have done it without this buddy system. The first week or 10 days was the hardest. And to be honest, I messed up three times: once in the early stages (Day 2, I think) when I had a bite of cookie cake, once out to dinner with friends when Larry and I shared a dessert, and once two nights ago when Larry brought home a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Rice Crispie Treat from a Chicago bakery (I know, right?) It might sound like I'm a big failure, and I suppose an asterisk is in order, but if you knew how much sugar, candy, cookies and treats I ate every day you'd be impressed. I stopped putting creamer in my coffee about a year ago and only drink it black. That was probably the hardest of all to change, so with that out of the way and already a habit it helped. But the "21 Days to Form a Habit" mantra is SO true. You really can change. I no longer need my nighttime licorice or ice-cream fix. If I do decide to eat something sweet it will be because I choose to, not because sugar has control over me. Interestingly enough, I didn't lose any weight, but I feel better so that's all that matters.

To help with cravings I drank Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea; ate plain yogurt with strawberries, blueberries and walnuts; and ate these (yum):

Two-minute Rule:  One more thing I want to share… On the Lift app someone mentioned the two- part two-minute rule to help productivity.  Here's how it works (and it really works!):

1. If you think of a task to be done and it takes two minutes or less, do it RIGHT when you think about it. It's amazing how many little things can get done this way.
2. If you have a big task to do, tell yourself you'll do it for two minutes and then allow yourself to stop.  Chances are you'll finish the task completely.

There you have it. My 2 cents.