The Secret is Wine...

So I have been on again off again with this whole weight loss thing. Really not having the motivation/desire. But two weeks ago I obtained that desire and ended the week with points left over and a 0 lb. weight loss. BUMMER... so what was the problem...

Here is what I decided. I put my nightly glass of wine back into the routine. When Blunoz was at SCC, deployment and geobacheloring it, I had a huge successful weight loss. But every night I had a glass of wine and a small snack after I put the boys to bed. This is something I had not been doing on a regular bases with Blunoz home.

So this week I put that back in on a nightly bases. Results... 1.5 lbs down. Hmm, is the Secret really wine? Are there any studies out there saying that is the key, or maybe that is why the French are really skinny.

Okay so I had to google "wine weight loss" and wow, there was actually an article in a 2006 Prevention Magazine saying I may be right. Hmmm... I guess I need to go buy more wine. :-)

On a side note about WW Online, one thing I always thought it was lacking was a place to record your measurements and watch those go down. Today as I was entering me weight, I saw that they have added that in. So today I measured, I sure hope to watch my waist measurement go down. :-)

Thankful Thursday

Wow, is it Thursday already? Where has the week gone?

Today I stop to think about what I am thankful for...

• a child who loves to read (out loud to his brother and quietly to himself).

• safe travels for Blunoz as he went half way around the world and back in about 54 hours.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

I have noticed a trend with some of the blogs I read..."Thankful Thursday". This is something I should get into, taking a moment to think about the wonderful things of life.

So today, even though the North Koreans did some cyber sabotage and damaged Verizon FIOS and my internet has been sporadic at best. I am still thankful for the internet and the phone. More specifically, Webkinz.

I have been sitting here for quite awhile (I don't want to think about how long) watching and listening to my boys play with one of their best friends (also seen here, and here and many other places). The thing is, he is now in San Diego and we are in Northern Virginia. There has been lots of giggling, laughing, singing (and yes some whining) as they have been playing games such as Dogbeard Battles (Battleship), Bowling and Webkinz Supermodels while on the phone.

Thank you to unlimited long distance, Webkinz and the Internet for allowing my boys to stay connected with their friends, even when we live thousands of miles from each other!

Catching up and Exercising with the Wii

Wow, it has been almost a month since I blogged. My life is just sooo exciting! :-)

First off I had poison ivy and the doctor put my on steroids that just totally knocked me for a loop. Those things are NOT mood enhancers. No, no they are not! It took some great self restraint to not completely lose my mind, I had to keep telling myself it was the drugs. Its the drugs I tell you Apparently I did a pretty good job at it since Blunoz did not notice a change in me, but boy did I feel horrible.

YB also has some mysterious thing going on with his wrist. His gymnastics coach noticed that he was not flexing his hand backwards. He flexes forward but when he crawls he bends his finger instead of his wrist. We have been to the pediatrician, the sports medicine doctor (2xs) and we are now waiting for the referral to the hand surgeon to go through TriCare. The sports medicine doctor does not think it is seriouss, but I would at least like to know what is going on.

So once again I am trying to get motivated. I need to lose some weight. I know, I know, I keep saying that and yet it doesn't happen. Life keeps throwing me curve balls that totally gets me off track. Have I mentioned I am an emotional eater? :-)

So here it is, almost officially summer as ES has one more day of school after today and Blunoz has a promotion ceremony in little over a month. I need to get back on track. I have kept up my exercising which means I have not gained any weight over the past month but then again, I haven't lost any either.

So I sat down to write this blog to give you my opinion on three different Wii Exercise programs. Everyone knows about Wii Fit, and this is Kevin's preferred use of the Wii for exercising. I do not like it as much since you have to stop and switch the exercises at the end of each little session. I have since invested in My Fitness Coach and now EA Sports Active. I picked up EA Sports Active at Costco on Tuesday (way cheaper than Amazon, they had it for $51) so I have only used it twice.

I love My Fitness Coach. Maybe because I am so used to doing Leslie Sansone video and I like exercise videos. Maya is the trainer and she kicks my butt whenever I use it, a good butt kicking of course. I like that I can choose what I want to work on that day, yoga, cardio, or toning by zone of the body and I can choose how long I want to work out. I also like that she asked how you are keeping up. The downfall of that is that it takes her about 10 seconds to "find the beat" after you answer. So even though I say I have 45 minutes, it takes a little longer but it is still more fluid than Wii Fit.

So far I really like EA Sports Active. I love that it uses the resistance band so you can continue to hold onto the controllers as you strength train so it knows when you are lifting your arms. I love that it puts the nunchuck in a leg holster so it really does know when you are moving the leg. They have a 30 Day Challenge on there that is supposedly done by Oprah's Bob Greene. I have done two days of it thus far and I think I have ran/walked atleast 4 miles in those two days and done way too many lunges. :-) My thighs and butt are burning! They also have a calorie counter going and it is pretty accurate to what my heart rate monitor tells me. With My Fitness Coach I am always way over their target calories burned even though I try to keep in the zone they recommend. EA Sports Active also is much more cartooney, much like Wii Fit. So the graphics aren't jumping around. I would say it is a good combination of Wii Ft and My Fitness Coach. It hasn't used the balance board yet, but it says it has the capability to do so. I will keep you all posted.

Now it is time to get productive and do some laundry and cleaning. It is a very glamourous life I lead, but someone has to lead it. :-)

My first baby is 8! :-)

Another year has come and gone in the life of ES. Last year I gave you a little background on his birthday and I sit here perplexed about what to write this year. :-)

In all honesty, we are very blessed with ES. 99.9% of the time he is a very good boy. Does what you ask; plays with his brother nicely; is calm and in control. Which of course makes those 0.1% outbreaks that much harder. But this post is not about ES being a bad kid, because he is not (but of course he has his moments).

ES is SMART. SMART and SMARTer! He devours knowledge and loves to talk about what he has read/learned about. According to him, his teacher says he is reading at a 5th or 6th grade level.

He thinks of the little details... A few Sundays ago in Sunday School his teacher was having the class act out a skit involving a chariot when ES pointed out to her that they did not have a horse for the chariot...so he graciously offered to play the part of the horse. Obviously the chariot did not have an engine. :-)

He has an imagination. He and YB are always making up games with their stuffed animals, army men, playmobile and/or legos.

He is kind, gracious and helpful to others. Just yesterday he set aside a spacial chair for our friend who recently had knee surgery and he made sure she had a foot rest. One of his favorite Sunday activitis is to help set up/clean up church.

He is coming out of his shell in little bits. This year he even tried out for a speaking part in the musical at school. I was disappointed for him for not receiving a speaking part because if you know ES; that was a huge deal for him to even want to do something like that, but maybe next year when he comes out even a little more and can be a bit dynamic.

ES is a blessing and we thank God for him everyday. He was born into a hard life of a Navy Brat, making his first of 5 cross country moves at a mere three weeks of age, but he adapts well and rolls with the punches.

Thanks for being you ES, even if sometimes you make me crazy. :-) Happy 8th Birthday!!!

Bike Helmets: Do you know the laws?

There is this blog that I sometimes read and have recently been horrified as she has posted pictures of her small children careening down the street on bikes without helmets. I was under the impression there was a helmet law. Well today she came out and basically said "don't tell me how to raise my kids"... which in general she is right. But like I said, I thought there was a law. So I googled... umm... where she is, there is no law! Check and see if your state has one, chances are it doesn't!
http://www.iihs.org/laws/mapbicyclehelmets.aspx
Who started this evil bike helmet law anyway?

My kids will still wear their helmets just because we already started down that line and we do move so much you never know what the next state is going to require. I also know people that have suffered some serious head trauma riding their scooters without helmets. So my kids will wear their helmets. :-)

Where did these people get their Driver's Licenses?

Today was a day of crazy drivers... well maybe crazy isn't the right word... anyway... is it a full moon? ES is equally nutty!

As I have explained in the past that I drive ES to school in the morning. Quite often as I creep forward in the line inside the school parking lot, I see kids bopping around in the car that are clearly not buckled in. Well as I sat ready to turn into the school, a car turned left in front of me with a child already bopping around in the car. I think in the parking lot it is unsafe to be bucked, I know we are all going about 1 mph but that is a moment when you get a multiple car pile up. So when I saw this kid unbuckled out on the main road I had to ask myself, "What are you parents thinking?"

So there I was, sitting at a stop sign in front of a store with a woman crossing the road in front of me. I catch something in my peripheral vision and it is a car driving up on my left side (wrong side of the road) trying to go around me just as the lady steps onto the curb and it safe for me to go. To prove the stupidity of this man, I start driving forward and oh the dirty looks I got and continued to get as I pulled into a parking space. Really dude, you were the one in the wrong, I was stopped at a STOP SIGN! Not sitting there for my health. Hazards were not on, just the brake lights.

So now I am driving down the main road in my town with the windows rolled down as we approach a stop light with a right turning lane. I am in the right lane in a two lane road. The car in the left lane decides to cut the dude in front of me off under the pretense they are going to get into the turning lane and make a right turn, and um, no they did not continue to the right turn lane and make a right turn. The dude in front of me, thus missed getting through the green light. So we continue along in our three car line and come up to another turning lane. The dude in front of me signals and moves into the turning lane, I signal and move into the turning lane and then... yes the car that just cut the dude in front of me off decides he also wants to go into the shopping plaza and starts to cut the dude in front of me off again. That could have been a three car pile up, good thing some of us were attentive to what was going on around us!

Yes, one more for the day... this one is minor but it makes you wonder what people are thinking... I was sitting at a stop sign waiting to turn left onto a busy road when a car came up next to me to turn right and pulled so far forward I could not see the traffic coming from the right. So I am sitting there looking to left at the BIG EMPTY SPACE WITH NO CARS IN SIGHT... wonder why this lady is not turning and getting out of my way so I can see the other direction of traffic. She sits some more, and I finally decide I have to be brave and creep out to see beyond the nose of her car. I think she was still sitting there when I safely made my left hand turn.

I used to think Hawaii had the worst drivers but after today I have to wonder... :-) Ok, I thought about it, Hawaii still wins!

So was that spew worth the wait? I haven't blogged in weeks, and this is what I come up with? Life just strikes me sometimes!