Friday, February 27, 2009

Talking Trash

Remember The Office episode where Jim and Darryl play ping pong in the warehouse? Kelly talks all kinds of trash to Pam. "Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your boyfriend, cuz he stinks at ping pong." Pam can't take it and makes a huge effort to help Jim practice.

Trash talk can be inspiring!

Well, it has been a trash talking week at our house. Jenny says, "Do you need me to buy some new cleaner so you can mop on Saturday?" Cycle Guy says, "Meet me for lunch on Friday so you can tell me all about your plans for mopping the floor on Saturday."

Ya, its been bad. Well...The stats are in...the kitchen will be mopped...but by whom?

It's a tie, we both lost one pound. I'll tell you what though, all this trash talk made me work harder than ever. I should tell you about it every week.

Oh, the pressure!

Please share your ideas for next weeks biggest loser bet!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Braxton

Cycle Guy had a friend in college named Braxton. They lived together for 3 or 4 years and are still good friends. Braxton and his hilarious wife are quite the entrepreneurs with condos and a pizza joint, a day job and 5 kids.

With an unusual name like Braxton, it is common for people to mess it up. I've heard stories of him being referred to as Beagsley, Bergstrom and Branson. Mike is frequently coming up with new ones like Beakerston and Bergstrom. Well, Mike and I got to take a Florida Splash vacation last summer. Wonderful. We stayed at their New Smyrna Beach property and left a little note in the guest book. Of course Mike wrote the note to some fictional character like Bragerston.

Shortly thereafter a contractor of some sort came to do some work in their condo and being unsure of the name of the owners, looked through the guest book for some direction. Yes, the bill was written to Bragerston.

Cycle Guy told Braxton years ago that someday he would have a dog named Braxton. That day came when we bought our first house. Our Braxton is a Golden Retriever.

Braxton and I have a daily ritual. We walk our little girl to her bus stop. Brack loves this, and waits (er, I mean jumps around) impatiently as she gets her backpack and jacket.
After she gets on the bus Braxton and I walk back up the hill to the entrance of our trail. It's awesome and I love the people who made this little green belt possible.As soon as we get to the entrance I remove his leash and watch the amazing and instantaneous transformation from arthritic old man dog to rambunctious active puppy.
He runs, he sniffs, he marks and he runs some more always looking back to make sure I don't get lost or hurt (he is part Lassie).Sometimes we'll turn around and go back through the trail again and one day last week he stopped (I kept walking, he always catches up and passes me anyway). Not this time, so I called him to come. He just looked at me. I walked toward him, he went further into the trail. Obviously, I could see that he didn't want to go home. It was time to go home, I had things to get done. I stood my ground, he stood his ground. Pretty soon Jenny and arthritis won. Braxton lay down on the muddy trail accepted the leash and followed me quietly home.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Nachos and Fat Tuesday

Cycle Guy and I have a weekly contest. The Biggest Loser. It’s all about weight loss. I won the first couple, but, alas, my dedicated husband seems to be a better loser than me. I WILL win this week because the loser has to mop the kitchen on Saturday. I don’t want to mop the kitchen on Saturday. He will be mopping the kitchen on Saturday and I will smile sweetly and compliment his good work.


Today I went to my friend Jen’s house. (I know nice name huh?) We made a very cool project that is now hanging on the wall next to me. A charming display of my dazzling children.

While the mod podge dried, ~Oh Mod Podge, remember in the 70’s when moms would get greeting cards, cut them out and mod podge them to a small plaque to hang on the wall. Sometimes they would even buy a few of the same card and cut out parts to layer for a 3D effect! Those were the days~


While it was drying we went out to lunch. I know, but you still have to eat even when you want to be a loser. Being the loser that I am, I ordered soup and salad. So did Jen…and nachos…to share. Have you ever seen the nachos at Applebee’s? They’re huge, they could feed a small village in Cambodia, they are delicious, and yes I was a good friend and helped Jen stay thin by eating 1/2 of them.


Question: Is it possible to enjoy “Fat Tuesday” and still have a losing weigh in on Friday?


I’ll let you know, but here’s the plan: Ride the trainer 1 hour Tuesday, lift weights Wednesday, drink gallons of water on Thursday. Also on Thursday ~bake something wonderful for Cycle Guy~ this may be the most important part of the plan and must take place. Please leave all wonderful dessert recipes in your comments, I may try them all.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Find Love

Do you ever wake up in the morning with a song ~or as in my case, one line of a song~ going through your head over and over? This week every day it has been the same song. First thing in the morning, every morning, no exception. This is often very annoying or maybe it should tell me something, dream analysis? Not this week, this week I like it and I'll tell you why...

Mike listens to a podcast called All Songs Considered from NPR. To go along with Valentines Day the podcast from last week was all about love songs. The song from inside my head is a love song but not about romance and I have fallen in love with it. Find Love a ballad by Clem Snide is all about finding the things in life that make you happy and sharing them. Listen to it, it's great.

Since I have had the tune running through my head for 3 days now ever since Mike first showed it to me, I have started putting my own life into it. It's kind of fun. Here is my version...what would yours include? (Hopefully the gang at Clem Snide won't mind)

Don't let rainy days slow you down
Get your bike and ride out of town.

Find love then give it all away

Read a book to a 3 year old
Snuggle up when you're feeling cold.

Find love then give it all away

Don't be scared to connect the dots
Dig for gold in the parking lot

Find love then give it all away

Walk on beaches make castles of sand
Dig for clams, make a family band.

Find love then give it all away
Find love then give it all away