Friday, December 10, 2010

Nintendo Wii is Mean

I've never owned a scale, but last year around this time I decided to buy Wii fit to encourage me to be more active at home.  I dropped my gym membership a few months earlier and I knew I had to do something to keep active.  Things went great at first, but then I gained a few pounds.  The next thing I knew that mean Wii was yelling at me all the time.

"It's been 7 days, where have you been? You know you're just gonna get fat if you don't get your a** in gear."  "Hey lazy, want some fitness tips?"  "You've gained a bazillion pounds since your last visit."  "You're not very good at this -- maybe if you showed up you'd get more practice."  "You're overweight."

Pretty soon the mean machine had me so down on myself I only wanted to play Mario.  So this summer I started doing some running.  I really enjoyed it!  My goal was 3 times per week, but it happened more like twice a week.  That was okay though, I was having fun.  Then when it started getting dark at 4:00 PM I decided I had to give it up for awhile.  I may still try to get a run in now and then on the weekend, but I'm not that confident in the snow either.  SO, it was back to the Wii.  "It's been 200 days since your last visit... and you've gained weight... and you're unbalanced... you suck."  MEAN!

Since Wii tells me my weight in kgs, I always just gave it the benefit of the doubt.  You know what though?  That POS has been giving me a hard time for no good reason.  I have always thought I was at my healthiest when I was working in childcare.  I was outside at least twice a day, and active all day every day.  I also ate about 7 or 8 times per day (including usually 2 lunches!), napped on my breaks, and was still pretty exhausted when I got home.  Despite all the snacking, I stayed pretty slender during that period of my life.  So when I went back to school, and then eventually got a desk job, I naturally started putting on a bit of weight, and you know what?  I don't fit into a size 2 or 4 anymore, and maybe my bikini days are over.  And getting rid of my size 2 and 4 clothes has been sad, but such is life.

So today I decided to face the fear the Wii has instilled in me and do a kg/lb conversion online.  I've gained about 8 lbs since my daycare days (4 years ago).  8 lbs in four years.  So it would be nice to lose 8 lbs at some point in the next 4 years, but SERIOUSLY -- I've been letting a game system bully me over 8 measly pounds?

I'm over it.  Pass the chocolate truffles.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Oatmeal Chocolate Love

Ladies, if you're feeling a bit under appreciated at home can I suggest baking?  This is a conversation that happened at my house this afternoon:

Jason: Whatcha doin'?
Me: I was just thinking about baking some cookies.
Jason: Cookies? Mmm!  What kind?
Me: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Jason: God dammit, I love you!

Here is the recipe I use, but I make a few small changes.  Start with cold butter, cut into cubes.  Beat the cold butter with an egg beater until it's rich, creamy and whipped (2-3 mins).  Add the sugar and beat until well mixed, scraping sides.  Continue adding the ingredients as listed using the beater.  You may need to stir in the oatmeal, but if you can get away with it just use the beater for that too.  I reduce the baking soda to 3/4 tsp and the salt to 1/4 tsp.  I also substitute the chocolate chips with dark chocolate chips.  Yum!

What's a snow day without home baked cookies :)

Saturday, December 4, 2010

NaKniSweMo

Well, NakniSweMo has come and gone, and I'm still working on my Sweater For Scarlett.  The pattern called for knitting the top first, then sleeves, then the body.  I was getting really frustrated with the sleeves though, so I procrastinated working on them.  Eventually I decided it wasn't worth it, and I've started on the body.  I'll go back to the sleeves at the end.  I'm going to work on it over the weekend and hopefully have it done by next week.  I feel like it just needs a few solid hours, but I also need to get in a few hours of house work :S  We'll see which gets done.