Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Just when I was prepared to ignore my husband this New Year

He called to say that he was on his way home from work, and they've finished everything they need to until Monday. Then he asked me, "Are you ready to go to Pittsburgh?"

Dude, now we can't go. While I'm used to living at the whim of your ever-changing work schedule, it makes my family crazy when I call them four times in two days to tell them we're coming, no we're not, yes...we are, no..not this time. Let's spend the New Year at home with our awesome kids and make it a fun evening (instead of me going to bed at 10pm to avoid kissing you at midnight--grudgy much?).

Maybe we'll go AFTER we watch Penn State kicks USC's ass at the Rose Bowl.

Plus, the eight-hundred dollars we'll save on the gorgeous New Year's Eve hotel room (ridiculous) can go to the YMCA of our choice (Milford or Ann Arbor) - and I'll be able to have childcare while I exercise this year!!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 29 - January 3

I did go for a 40 min walk with my dog on Sunday, but didn't count it as exercise because I had to stop every 20 seconds or so to get her head on straight again, so we seriously only walked little over a mile in that time.

Monday - Gilad's Bodies in Motion (back,abs) and Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad (arms,thighs,shoulders)

*Tuesday - No exercise - power outage all over Detroit metro area means day three with no power at husband's work. Burned up infinity calories being pissed at husband who cancelled our New Years trip to visit family (and have a night to ourselves at the hotel). Instead of having Wed - Sunday off, he'll be working on some crappy commercial. Once again work wins over family.

*Wednesday - Gilad's Bodies in Motion and Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad

*New Year's Day - Total Body Sculpt Plus VIII. Seems that TBS+7 was erased, and Saturday's show will be...8. So, 9 weeks until I can record '7.' Evs.

*Friday - Cathe Friedrich - Bootcamp. I love you Cathe, my arms and aching legs thank you too :) Also, poop-eating dog loves this workout because of the multiple opportunities to stand over me while I work on abdominals. Love you too Chloe!

*Saturday - 30 min on elliptical, 20 min running on treadmill. I have a professed dislike of elliptical machines but this one was really good (Star Trac Natural Runner). The only think that I'd probably say is that I'd prefer if the handles moved.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Apparently Exercise is Negotiable Week of December 22 - 27

So, no exercise Sunday or Monday. Parents were visiting. Didn't get home from church until 3:20pm on Sunday, That totally killed our day. We got a couple more inches of snow, but fortunately, it was so windy that most of the new accumulation blew off of the driveway and walk.
Gonna get exercise in every remaining day this week, and at least one 2-hr day.

Tuesday - Cathe Friedrich - Kick, Punch, and Crunch

Wednesday - Gilad's Bodies in Motion (X-mas eve fun!), and Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad.

Christmas - No exercise, except for the endless trips to the kitchen for cookies, candy, and the English foods basket that my sister sent me.

Friday - "21" and Total Body Sculpt Plus VI

Saturday - 5 1/4 mile run, abs, and lots of stretches. Calves are really tight

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Last Minute Gifts

Can we all agree to stop calling them last minute gifts until Dec 24th? Granted, I am a huge procrastinator, but it really annoys me when people everywhere are telling me they need to pick up 'last minute gifts' - for next week.

I plan on buying my parents last minute gifts. Meaning when they call to tell me that they're within 50 miles of my house on Saturday, I'll go out and buy their gifts.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 16-20

Okay, getting a late start on this too. But, I did manage to cancel much of my sleep debt last night. Slept from 9pm to 6:50am.

Tuesday - 5 1/4 mile run on treadmill. Had lots of fun. Ran to a DJ Ted Eiel podcast (superchunk?) Look for his podcasts on itunes - they're really good.

*Wednesday - Power Hour w/ Cathe Friedrich (arms, back, abs, buns, legs)

*Thursday - Two Gilads - husband worked out with me, laughing so hard must have been good for my abs.

*Friday - Spent 2 hours shoveling 10 inch snowfall, plus 4-ft snowdrift from driveway.

*Saturday - 30 minutes spent shoveling 4-ft wide, 3 to 4-ft high wall of snow that the plow deposited across the bottom of the driveway. There is a park across the street. A park with no houses, or driveways. Can you please plow towards that side next time, thanks.
*(edited to add)

Poor Dale

So...the week's starting a little slow around here. Sunday the whole family went to church - this is a literal first for our family. My husband grew up Catholic, but not a fan. I grew up Episcopalian, but the family stopped going before I was confirmed. I went to a 'Christian' church with my friend in high school for a while but was honestly turned off to that on my first visit ("AT&T just announced that it is discontinuing it's support of Planned Parenthood, I'd like to thank everyone who made an appeal to God and sent letters to help make this happen."). Still liked the idea of the local Episcopal church, but visited and the vibe there seemed a bit tumultuous. So, for the last couple of years, we've been discussing the Ann Arbor Unitarian Universalist Church. That's where we went. It really seems to align with much of our thinking, and looking around, everyone looked like someone we already hang out with - so we're going back next week. Now my kids can't blame me for at least introducing them to religion.

Yesterday I made Pioneer Woman's Vodka Sauce. I didn't have onions, so used onion powder, and substituted Fage 0% for Heavy Cream. I also added a can of white beans (is that why my hands were swollen this morning?). In college, I worked at a restaurant (Mario & Luigi's) that had the best Vodka sauce (super spicy), we used to pool our money to share a plate of it. I was afraid of burning out the kids sinuses, so went a bit easier on the crushed red pepper. I think I could have used more, but it was still really good.

Minutes after dinner, I wanted to sleep, but managed to stay awake w/ the boys to watch the Charlie Brown movie last night (I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown). We had just read that book yesterday, so 3-y-o really liked seeing the parts that were in the book.

I don't remember Rerun from Peanuts at all growing up. My husband says that he remembers Rerun as his favorite character. He, like Rerun spent most of his young childhood on the back of his mother's bike. My favorite line last night: "Over hill, over dale. Poor Dale."

Friday, December 12, 2008

Is it Bad

To make "Sangria" with leftover Shiraz and Honest Kids Tropical Punch?

Husband and I are about to find out. How does that go with sirloin?

Thursday, December 11, 2008

One month

After a month, all I really have to say today is to get yourself in front of NBC at 9:30, Elaine Stritch is back on 30 Rock tonight, and she is amazing.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Tree is Trying to Kill Me

Okay, I have the tree 3/4 of the way up and apparently 20 strand of lights are not enough!
At about 3:15am (because I procrastinated by organizing photos on the computer), I realized that I was a bit too charitable with the lights, and will have to find a way to pull a strand or two out of the tree.

Also: realized that I'm not a big fan of Christmas music. I'd rather sing along to Pete Yorn.

So now, I'm avoiding the work, and thanks but no I can't just pick up another strand or two of lights because these lights are clear/white/orange and look like candle light. I'm tempted to pull a strand(*or three) from the back (below window level and replace them with a clear strand).

*That's what I did. Plus, while I was out, dog that wouldn't poop before we left pooped in her crate.......and ate it. Sh** burps actually smell worse than actual sh**!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Tree Day

Putting up the Christmas tree tonight. Original plan was day after Thanksgiving, but needed to wait for husband to bring in sandbags so that I could put the base of the tree in a large planter (you know, sometimes it takes a few weeks for that to happen). In the meantime, went to Bordine's and they had beautiful (fake) trees. I was about two seconds away from replacing our 10-year-old tree (that takes me all day to put up) when I realized that it didn't have LED lights. Bad store!

They did have other trees with LED's, but not any of the trees that I liked. So, I went to Michael's - spent $99 on silk stems and tabletop pieces from the Metallic Shimmer collection (50% off + 25% off coupon). I'll have to add some silk stems to the old tree to hide its infernal ugliness. I'll try to post some pictures of the finished product.

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 7-12

Okay, so I forgot to take a day off yesterday. I was so excited that my husband was going to exercise with me that I forgot Sunday's my day off. So - looking for 6 day this week (maybe 7 with Sun). Two days on the treadmill, and one double day. Here's how it looks:

Sunday - Cathe Friedrich's Kick Punch and Crunch. Could not stop laughing at my husband at one point where we do these wide "straddle leaps" (don't know what they're called). Not his most coordinated or masculine moment. Sorry T, that I had to stop the workout to go pee.

Monday - Steve Ross' Inhale. Knew it would be an intense day when we started with tree pose. Really good and relaxing today.

*Tuesday - Day off. Working on two hours of sleep, finishing tree, and bathing stinky dog - I thought it best to put my focus elsewhere today.

*Wed - Total Body Sculpt with Gilad (X2). Arms,back,thighs,abs

*Thurs - No exercise/ there goes my six days this week.

*Fri - Two episodes of Total Body Sculpt with Gilad

*Sat - 5 miles on the treadmill, then abs before stretching

*(edited to add)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

I Love My Husband

For telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. Last night at 10:30, I complained that I had wanted to work-out 6 days this week, but was just going to go to bed. He said, "How about one Gilad?"

That's all I needed to hear. I put in a ponytail, turned on Gilad and did two shows!
He knows me so well, and I want to thank him for giving me the spark to get going.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Exercise is Non-Negotiable, December 1-6

So, the target for this week is 6 days of exercise, and at least one session on the treadmill (or at the track weather permitting). One double day needs to be in the mix this week too.

Monday - Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad (Bum, thighs, arms, abs). Also, took 3-y-o out in snow to play for 2 hours! Dragged the sled (with him in it) up and down the hills behind the house, then across the street, down through the unshoveled sidewalks on the block, around the park, and back home to shovel the driveway and sidewalk.

*Tuesday - P90X Plyometrics with hubby, then some abs.

*Wednesday - Cathe Friedrich Pyramid Upper Body and Core Max 3

*Thursday - Gilad's Total Body Sculpt Plus V DVR'd from FitTV. The workouts in Total Body Sculpt are consistently more challenging to me than the P90X workouts.

*Friday - Gilad "Shoulders and Abs II" and Gilad's Total Body Sculpt -"Inner Thighs, Abs, and Back." TBS used medicine ball, lighter and heavier weights.
Favorite today were the punching and knee combo.

*Saturday - 5 mile run (on treadmill) - did a couple of high/fast intervals to keep it interesting.

*(edited to add)