Wednesday hops

The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Time to head over to Joyce's for Wednesday's Hodgepodge. Here goes:

1. It is officially fall here in North America...I realize not everyone who participates in the Hodgepodge lives in North America, but if you do what's your favorite memory of Summer 2011? If you're not in North America, what's your favorite memory of the season just ending on your side of the world?

I'd have to say my favorite memory would be the phone call from my son and dil letting me know I was going to be a grandma! I will always remember the excitement in my son's voice and his playful way of telling me.

2. Your favorite nut? You know I mean the edible kind, right?

Brazil nuts are my absolute favorite! It usually works out for me as most people pick around them - more for me!

3. What activity puts your sense of balance to the test?

Right now I'd have to say tae bo. I have a bad leg from a car accident years ago and have some trouble balancing on it to do the side kicks.

4. How would you describe your sense of humor?

Warped would be a good word for it.

5. September 28th is National Ask a Stupid Question Day...what's your stupid question?

Stupid question? Do the schools not teach kids to write proper English anymore? It annoys me to no end to read some of their posts to online discussion questions - and these are GRADUATE CLASSES!

6. Roller skates~hula hoop~jump rope...which activity would you most enjoy? Yes, you have to choose.

Roller skates - although I haven't been skating for years.

7. What's your most sentimental possession?

A whiskey bottle shaped like a horse that my dad gave me years ago.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Random thoughts? Seems like all my thoughts are random anymore. How about this: 87 days left till Christmas and not enough paychecks in between. 

Now I'll head over to Patrice's for a little chat on her porch. I do so love sitting on the porch with friends chatting about anything and everything.

Questions

1. Would you rather cook or clean house?
2. Who do you resemble in your family?
3. Have you tried e-books yet?
4. Do you collect anything?
5. What's your favorite fall tradition?

My answers:

1. I'd rather cook. It seems to me that the older I get, the more I enjoy cooking. Ironic in that the older I get, the harder it is to lose weight.
2. I'd like to be able to say my dad, but in reality I do look like my mother.
3. My daughter has a nook and absolutely loves it. My DIL has the Kendall and loves it. I've been debating on which one I want to get.
4. I collect snowmen. there's nothing like a jolly old snowman to give your spirits a little life.
5. Decorating for Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas! The smell of apple pie, pumpkin, cookies.................  It's just a cheerful time of year.

Week 2 day 1

I'm so glad to be able to report that I DID tae bo last night! Woke up this morning with some sore muscles - sore in a good way though - nothing that will interfere with life - just my body telling me that I need to do this a lot more.

The Tae Bo Story

My niece introduced me to tae bo about seven years ago. She came to my son's going away party when he was going into the Air Force. I commented that she looked great and she told me about tae bo.

A few weeks later I happened to be in Dollar General when a "Tae Bo - Billy Blanks" VCR tape caught my eye. It cost $1.00. I figured I couldn't go wrong with a buck so I took it home.

That night me and my daughter did tae bo for the first time. It was actually fun and you could tell you were working muscles not normally worked. I went back and bought more tapes. My daughter and I kept it up and I lost 26 pounds - quickly. I stopped doing it.

 Then came my daughter's wedding a few years later. OMG - I had gained A LOT - and for some reason I thought I HAD TO BE THE SAME SIZE AS MY DAUGHTER for her wedding. After all, there were going to be pictures taken - I couldn't look FAT. So back to the tae bo I went. I ordered the DVDs and started doing it every night - and it worked. I lost 63 pounds from January to June.

The wedding was over - I slacked up  and slowly put the pounds back on-although not ALL of them :).

Last year at this time I joined a "biggest loser" contest here at work. Did the tae bo - lost 17.5 pounds in 8 weeks.

Quit doing it. - gained some back.

So here I am now doing the Christmas Dress Challenge and I know what I have to do - Plain and simple - the weight will come off if I do the tae bo. And I really don't mind doing it - just need to force myself to make the time.

Christmas Dress Challenge

The scale was not good to me this morning. Weighing in at 169.2 - a measly .8 loss for the week - but I guess it's better than a gain. I'm hoping that it is partly due to the salt that I had yesterday. As far as the week goes:
I did keep track of my caloric intake and kept it <1400 on 5 out of the 7 days.
I did not do tae bo at all.

My goals for this week:

1. I will do tae bo
2. I will do tae bo
3. I will do tae bo

That's it for me - hope everybody else did better!

Saturday projects

I've been very busy today! First I made this

Pomegranate jelly. Making jellies and jams is one of my favorite things to do - which is a little weird because I don't eat any of it - just like making it. Biz eats a lot of it and I usually end up giving a lot away. I like to do baskets at Christmas filled will mini loaves of bread and a variety of jam and jelly. I've been doing it so long, people have come to expect it and usually let me know what their favorite flavors are. I wanted to try pomegranate because I knew it would be a little on the tart side. I did have to sort of "cheat" on this because we don't have pomegranates around here but I found some 100% juice and had to do it. Biz says it's really good. We'll see how everyone else likes it.

I'm always looking for new flavors so if anyone has any ideas let me know. So far this year I've done:
blackberry, blueberry, black raspberry, red raspberry, strawberry, peach, apricot, corn cob, green tomato, jalapeno (which is one of my most requested), and this pomegranate. I found recipes on Friday for both dandelion and honeysuckle jelly - sadly won't be able to try those till next spring.

Then - after doing all the laundry for the week (which involves multiple trips up and down the stairs and then to the clothesline and back), doing all the vacuuming and other household tasks and taking the dog for a walk ( trying to justify these as exercise because I still have not done tae bo) - I finished this.

And then I started another baby blanket.

Then I came and sat down at the computer to do some homework - finished!!  :)
This post is my reward for getting everything done!


As far as the diet goes, haven't been bad today but like I said - still haven't done the tae bo. We'll see what the scale says on Monday morning