Pretty Sure Ginger Read 'I Moved Your Cheese' Before I Took Her to the Vet

Ginger puts into action the teachings of "I Moved Your Cheese".

The same day I finished reading "I Moved Your Cheese" by Deepak Malhorta (IMYC) is the same day my cat, Ginger, decided to jump over the "cat gate". I found this hugely ironic based on the books examples of mice not accepting the maze they are in and either going over the walls or through the walls.

I have had a gate up for the couple of years; Ginger had a habit of peeing, or worse, on things I valued. I got tired of cleaning up after her so I got a cheap baby gate to keep her out of specific areas of the house. Even though I bought an extra tall gate, it isn't very tall; she could easily jump over it but never did.

I am guessing she was content in her surroundings, everything was provided for her; food, water, litter box, comfy couch, windows, etc. Anytime she wanted something and she could see me on the other side of the gate, she just whined until I got up and either fed her or brushed her. She had learned to live with her circumstances with the changes I had made for her, exactly what "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson advises.

Then something changed. I had to take her to the vet, resulting in a "cone of shame" attached to her head. I also had to move the gate to keep her confined to an even smaller part of the house to keep an eye on her. More change.

Ginger didn't like this change, she was not happy with being confined to less of the house, she wanted full reign of her domain. I am sure the cone on her head added to the frustration she was feeling.

Not long after I had left her to her own devices did I hear her plastic cone hitting the sides of things it shouldn't be hitting. I go and check on her and find her on the OTHER side of the gate! After feeling sorry for herself over the cone on her head, being mad at me for confining her to a smaller area of the house and probably general frustration over not being able to do what she wanted; she made up her mind and jumped over the gate.

When I saw her I was first mad at her for jumping over the gate; then I started to think how the situation was like the mice in IMYC. Ginger had figured out how to move her own cheese!

Ginger was fine with her living condition when I first put up the gate. She had plenty of places to go, far more than our previous home so having a reduced area from the total house was fine. She never tried to jump over the gate.

Then as decisions were made and changes were implemented that changed where should could roam, she became less satisfied with the conditions. She was so dissatisfied she final got fed up with it and decided to make her own decision and jump over the gate.

My solution? Get a taller gate. Because even though Ginger may be smart enough to figure out what many people can't, I have the advantage of being the human that can purchase bigger obstacles to a cats life.

My sweet Ginger. A reprise from the cone on her head.

Deal of the Day, "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson just $3 at Half Price Books!

I'm a fan of a good deal. I like dollar stores and I often search through sale things for great finds. Yesterday I think I did exceptionally well at finding a good deal on the book, "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson (WMMC).

I recently purchased "I Moved Your Cheese" by Deepak Malhotra (IMYC) for the Kindle; it was on sale for $.99. The reviews of the book talked about "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson (WMMC) and the similarities or differences between the books. The reviews can be summed up in this statement, "If you are a 'worker', you probably want to read WMMC; if you are 'leader', you probably want to read IMYC."

I started thinking about the two books and even though I read WMMC years ago, I didn't seem to have a copy. I decided I would go to Half Price Books and see if they had a copy. I found the book, it was $7.99. That seemed like a steal considering the jacket says $19.95. I also looked it up on the kindle and found the kindle price to be a shocking $16.99! Love being able to compare prices immediately!

I noticed there were several on the shelf and wondered if they were all $7.99. (Thinking a more tattered version might be less.) Sure enough, a few books back there was one for $5.99! Large print version. Who cares, it was $2.00 cheaper!

I was about to pay when I got a phone call, which prompted me to mill around and look at other books on the racks while I chatted. Do you know what I found? WMMC for the Super Buy price of $3! Of course I put the other book back and snagged the one for $3.

I found it strange when I asked about the difference in price the sales clerk didn't seem to think it was odd to have books in different parts of the store at different prices. I asked, "So if I had brought up the one that says $7.99, would it have run up at $3?" The answer? No. So strange.

Lesson learned; check all the books to make sure you get the one at the best price.

Did you have me to begin with?! Marketing email not targeting the right market.

I just received this marketing email in my inbox. The subject line says "We Want You Back!"

Really? Did you ever HAVE me?

Love how in the body of the email it says I bought a bottle of wine from them one time. Since I can't remember doing that, I am going to assume it was a LONG time ago.

Also, not their target market. I don't drink wine that often and probably bought the bottle as a gift for someone. Certainly not interested in buying a CASE!

If you are going to do an email marketing campaign, try and qualify the recipients. Makes for a better campaign and happier potential clients.

Got the jacket, ran the race - Hot Chocolate 5K success

This may have been the coldest race of my shirt running career. It started with me seeing a post on facebook about the weather on race day being 25 degrees. WHAT?! 25 degrees?! (Rethinking running.)

Went to dinner with a friend the night before and was laughing at how I would be running in the freezing cold. We both sarcastically thought I should sleep in and not run. A tempting thought but I already had the race jacket that was so heavily marketed I am pretty sure it is one of the only reasons people signed up for the race. My thought was, you can't proudly wear the jacket unless you run the race.

Similar to my experience with the See Jane Run race where it was canceled. I have no interest in wearing the shirt of the race, I didn't run it. (I did keep the champagne class though. :) It sits proudly with all the other "drink wear" I never use.)

Rather than waste the jacket I decided to dig out my ski wear and bundle up. I got out the neck wrap and this great headband/ear warmer I got from Team in Training. I set these two things aside along with my compression tights (thanking the Run On guy from several years ago for convincing me I needed them!), sports bra, tank top, long sleeved shirt, arm warmers and a fleece jacket. Oh, and can't forget the aluminum plastic sheet thing I got from the White Rock Half Marathon one year, keeps in the body heat. (It's what I am clutching in my hand in the photo.)

I got up the next morning and put on all my layers, went to the train station and waited. There were only two other people there, they looked at me funny because I had the sheet wrapped around my legs like a long pencil skirt, my arms crossed in front of me, slightly hunched over with my neck warmer up over my mouth. The perfect fashion statement. Whatever, my legs were warm.

As I stood outside waiting in my designated corral, I again had my sheet around my legs. Compression tights are good for compression, not so great for keeping you warm in 25 degree weather. I was wishing I had worn the tights and a pair of yoga pants. Lots of people were staring at my legs, or the sheet. Surprisingly, I was the only one with one of the sheet things. I would have thought more people would use them in cold weather...but then, I am perhaps the only one that saved it from the last race; I think the idea is you toss them when you get to the car. Little did they know they had a pack rat in the mix. If I could have, I probably would have picked up other ones out of the trash.

Again, whatever, I was warm...well, warmer, still fricking cold.

Right before we started I carefully folded up the sheet and tucked it into my jacket; wouldn't want to just throw it away! Freeze, freeze, freeze....and then we were off!

It was a good race. Nice pace and lots of space to run...or in my case, jog. Didn't even notice the cold after running for a bit. I did well, 34:15, my best time in more than a year. Part of that was due to not stopping, even at the water station; I was determined to beat my time at the Texas Half 5k, which I did.

After the race they had the most wonderful chocolate fondue and hot chocolate for everyone. So delicious!