I Shouldn't Complain

I shouldn't complain about the cold. These poor little monkeys have to huddle together to try to keep warm. I hate seeing anything bad happen to an animal.

Easier Said Than Done

I am running a weight loss competition at my work and have another blog about it with information about weight loss if anyone is interested. I post Monday thru Friday with Thursdays being the results, so that is the only day that the post would be specific to the contest. I've dieted so much throughout my life that writing advice on a blog about weight loss is easy...actually doing it is harder. Actually, I CAN lose weight, my problem is keeping it off. I said I was going to lose weight as a new year's resolution and that is not going very well so far. I do need help, but can't decide if I want to go back to Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. I have had success with both. Or I may do a hybrid where I go to WW meetings and weigh-in's, but get food from JC. The JC consultants annoy me and make me feel bad when I gain weight so I think the less personalized WW meeting may be better although the format here in VA has not been as helpful to me as how it was done in CA. In CA, you weighed in in a cubicle and were able to have a conversation with the leader. Here in VA, you weigh in at a counter where there is no privacy and it's hard to talk to the person and all they want to do is process you. So I haven't decided what to do yet.

Here is the link to the other blog.

Blog schedule:
Monday: Recipe or food find
Tuesday: Biggest Loser TV show watercooler talk (from previous week in case you tape it)
Wednesday: Weight loss or fitness topics
Thursday: Weekly results
Friday: Potpourri

Just Because

It's not any kind of holiday, but I just wanted to say thank you to all our troops and their families.

Zut Alors!

So I found a "gentle" yoga class and went to the free sample class. It was indeed gentle, and at times seemed silly, but I could tell it was stretching me out. My neck was still sore after this class, but not as bad as the heated power yoga class I tried. I planned on signing up for the upcoming 12 week session of this gentle class but I just went online to sign up and the class is full! They do have a few other classes but not at times that work for me very well. I really wanted the 7:30pm class since I knew I could be home from work in time for it. Now I need to decide if I can do a 5:45pm class or on the weekend. My other option is to try a class at my work. I guess my search for the right yoga class continues...

Tiny Dancer

I've been listening to the 70's satellite radio channel on the TV lately and I forgot how much I love some of the music from the 70's. True, I was a wee tyke back then, but I have fond memories of wearing a tube top, short shorts, knee high socks (you know, with the stripes!) and being really tan because I was outside all day. Oh and I loved to roller skate around my back yard pretending I was a Solid Gold dancer on roller skates. I listened to music on a little radio in my room or my parents would blast their 8 tracks thru the house. This was a simpler time when kids were able to wander and play with no shoes on and we didn't worry about things so much.

Check out this clip of Elton John's Tiny Dancer from the movie Almost Famous. For some reason this scene and song put together really get to me.

Where's Tiger?

Almost as amazing as Tiger keeping all his affairs secret for so long is how he has disappeared since the scandal broke after his car accident on Thanksgiving. There is no proof of where he is, but here are the guesses from the gossip pages.

• Africa


• New York's Trump Hotel


• On his boat somewhere in the Bahamas


• Rehab


• In recovery from having plastic surgery because his wife broke his face with a golf club

• Various cities with various women
  

This guy must be paying off a lot of people to keep him hidden.

A Trip Around the World

360 Degrees Longitude: One Family's Journey Around the World

The Highman family had been planning their trip around the world for over 10 years. They scrimped and saved and the kids grew up always knowing they were going to travel the world. The mom and dad had high tech jobs in the Silicon Valley that they quit, they took the kids (ages 8 and 11) out of school and traveled around the world for a year. They home schooled the kids and brought books for them to read about the places they visited. I loved this book, but would never want to take a trip like this because it seems like too much work and too much sleeping outside. They spent $120K on this trip and most of it was spent in camp grounds and hostels. Oh...and they rode tandem bikes across Europe as their form of transportation. Not everything goes right for this family and they had to make some changes along the way, but they had a great time and never wished to be home. I'm surprised the kids were able to keep up with the physical activities they did and kept from being too bored by reading a lot. The trip started in Iceland and ended in Belize. Since I love traveling so much, I love reading about other people's travels. I know it's a good book when I feel like I'm on the trip with them, and I definitely did with this one. I highly recommend it!

Not Again

Looks like it's time to call Critter Control again. My cats are staring at walls and something is scratching from the inside of a built in wall unit. Time for Minky and Manny to get to work and earn their keep. I just hope my husband finds whatever they catch instead of me.

Book Reviews

I read a lot of books. For the most part I only read right before going to bed to help me unwind. I'm going to start posting short book reviews of what I read in case anyone is looking for a new book or ideas for their book club. I'm excited to start using my Kindle, but I have one more real live book to read before I switch to the Kindle. Books just stack up and then I give them away so I think the Kindle will be good for me.

Any suggestions for what I should read next?

It's That Time Again

It's time again to set new year's resolutions.

1. LOSE WEIGHT. And keep it off. This has been on my list every year for as long as I can remember. I tend to lose weight early in the year and then gain it all back (and sometimes more) in the second half. Last year at this time I weighed seven pounds less than I do now, but here I go again. My motivation at this time of the year is hoping for a beach vacation in the spring where I'll need to wear a bathing suit. I'm not sure if I can convince my husband to take a vacation this year, but I'll keep it in mind to give me motivation. I would love to be able to look like Carrie Underwood on the beach. I never have so I don't know why I would be able to by this point in my life, but I'll keep trying. I'm also running a Biggest Loser contest at my work so I'm hoping that will keep me motivated as well to be a good example to others in the contest.

2. RELAX. I really need to worry less. Anxiety is becoming a bigger problem in my life so I need to find ways to worry less. I'm going to try another yoga class to start with. The last try didn't go so well, but this new place I'm trying has a class that specifically says "gentle yoga"and for chronic pain.

Here's my motivation for # 1















What are your new year's resolutions???