90-Day Weight Loss Challenge

If you read my last post, you saw that according to the fancy-schmancy equipment at Lifetime, my real age is actually 39. That, plus the 90-day weight loss challenge I'm in the midst of, are inspiring me to get off my duff and go the gym, either before school, or even after a long day at school.

Probably the biggest change the Challenge has inspired is that I'm not eating ALL of the sweets and junk food that is constantly at school. I weighed in for the challenge on Monday, Aug. 9, starting at 154 pounds.

I weighed yesterday, and I'm down to 150. Not a ton, obviously, but it's a start. The person who loses the largest percentage of weight wins $250 Lifetime dollars, which can be used for lots of things at the club (like personal trainer appointments and stuff like that). Not too shabby.

I missed the kickoff party because I had something else I had to do that day, so I have no idea who else or how many other people are even in the club contest. I guess I'll just have to toil in solitude, competing against myself instead of trying to measure up to other people in the challenge.

I've been doing some weights workouts that I've not done before. Meeting with the trainer really helped with that kind of stuff. I'm also swimming and doing some workouts besides just running. It's a little tough to fit it in, because we are planning to run the KC Half Marathon in the fall, so I have to keep my running miles up, but try other exercises at the same time.

We'll see how it goes. I'll try to keep you posted. The gal at the gym did shoot a before photo of me, but I don't have it to share...

My "Real Age"

One of my favorite segments on "The Biggest Loser" is when the contestants visit Dr. H and he takes them through a battery of tests to determine their body's "real" age as opposed to their chronological age.

To me, that measurement really crystallizes what being morbidly obese does to one's body and life expectancy.

Today, Hubs and I went to our free "Fitpoint" exam at Lifetime. It's nowhere near as scientific and precise as Dr. H's on BL, I'm sure, but it does at least give you some idea of where you stand.

We each did a five-minute treadmill test, a sit-and-reach test, biceps strength test, and of course they check your height and weight. Based on my test, my body is 39 years old. 39! That's six years older than my chronological age.

With some fitness and lifestyle changes, my paperwork says I could get down to 25 years on the "body age" scale, which would be seven years younger than I am. Basically my biggest problem is that my body composition is 30 percent fat! I can tell you right now, it's my sweet tooth that contributes to that issue.

I like to work out, whether on the treadmill, going outside for a run, doing an exercise DVD, etc. The thing is, I've never had a trainer walk me through some sort of program for optimal fitness. We get three free training sessions with our new membership, so I'll be interested to see what happens if I can actually get on and stick to a program.

Oh, and in case you're curious, Adam's "body age" is 31. So, he's fit enough to be considered two years younger than we really are. Guess we know who will outlive whom in this relationship...

Good and good for you

I haven't written very much about the garden this summer. Last summer I posted about it all the time. I guess it's not "new and exciting" in this year two, so I don't really think about it.

The tomatoes are finally starting to come in, too, but they were so good we ate them before I took the photo above.

Last night, Adam made tilapia with zucchini, tomatoes and jalapenos, with quinoa. It's awesome to cook something when more than half of the ingredients came out of our own ground. It was delicious.

For the fourth of July, I made Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. The consistency was more like cake than bread, and it is really good with milk. Zucchini seems to be the one thing we always have a million pounds of, so it's nice to have different options for cooking it up.

I'd like to go see what's out there this morning, but since it rained heavily yesterday, I'd be up to my knees in mud, I think. I'll let it dry out today then head out tonight to harvest a little more.

We're using grass clippings between rows to keep the weeds down. It really does seems to be helping. There are a few things popping up here and there, but they are easy to pull. It's not like weedy grass is growing between the rows.

Last week, Adam made two different green beans dishes, and we froze a couple of bags. It took me about 90 minutes to pick beans from the entire row, and I had two full plastic grocery bags of beans. They are very tasty, and they freeze easily.

Spring Fever

One of my seniors went to the restroom today during editors' hour. When she came back, she said "There seems to be an unnaturally high number of people in the halls right now."

The newspaper editor in the room said "It's almost 7th hour, on a Friday, and it's April 2."

Nail on the head. Nail on the head.

It's getting to be that time - senioritis is setting in for seniors (and everyone else for that matter), and the weather is finally nice. The wandering ways and drifting minds make it tough to get through the week.

I suppose having a classroom with no windows has one benefit: I tend to forgot what the weather is like when I'm there the entire day. So, I am able to resist the call of beautiful weather a bit. That is, until I need to go up to the office, and I pass the wall of windows.

Usually, at that point, I'll quickly decide it's time for team-building activities that can be done outside on the back field. That gets us out and energized for a little while.

However, for today's reminder of what the weather was like I didn't even need to leave the friendly confines of room 450. About 9:30, the rain began pelting the roof. It was quick, but it was fierce. We heard a little thunder, but mostly just constant heavy rain. Even though they can't SEE it, that rain always gets the kids riled up.

On the home front, this time of year means it's time to get out and clean the partially decomposed leaves out of the flower beds, and start thinking about the garden. I'm hoping to plant a couple of blueberry bushes, some strawberries, and even some asparagus this year, in addition to all the stuff I'm sure Jeanne is planning on putting in the ground.

Driving the Dodge Caravan thru the Taco Bell drive thru

I watch a lot of TV. Those of you who know me or read this blog have probably figured that out. Despite that fact, I don't watch a lot of commercials. I'd say 75 percent of my TV watching is on the DVR these days.

I'm either not home, or too busy at the time the show is on, to watch it live. The other 25 percent is mostly treadmill time, when it's on as a distraction.

Lately, though, I've noticed two commercials that really chap my hide.

First, and some of you have already commented on this on Twitter and Facebook, is the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet. I'm just going to say it: Are you freaking kidding me? Unless that woman ate super fatty menu items at Taco Bell every day of the week earlier in her life, I don't see how eating Taco Bell can help you lose weight.

Sure, the "Fresco" menu items might be healthier choices than say, the Burrito Supreme, but it's not diet food. Give me a break. I'm pretty sure if I were to go on the Drive Thru Diet I would gain weight, since I don't eat fast food more than once or twice a week (a benefit of not being a newspaper photographer anymore, when I used to eat it all the time!).

The other commercial that is driving me crazy is the Dodge Caravan commercial that tells men "Because come on, what's more manly than driving around with your five offspring in the car?" Seriously? That's the measure of a man now? How many children he can father? Is Dodge trying to cash in on the Duggars and John and Kate "phenomenon"? I'm pretty sure the last thing the planet needs is a car company encouraging people to overpopulate the planet even more.

That Dodge commercial is incredibly sexist. It's okay for women to be stuck driving minivans, but if a man does it...He needs to be pounding his chest the entire time.

Are there any other commercials out there right now we can discuss?

Cabin Fever - It's set in

And, we are off AGAIN tomorrow.

I would be much more excited at this prospect if it wasn't 100 below outside, and if I didn't feel crappy. I must have a cold or bronchitis or something, because I've got an awful wheezy cough, and my body aches.

Good news is - it shouldn't be H1N1 or the seasonal flu, since I've been vaccinated for both this year (first time I've ever gotten a flu shot, at least as an adult). I'm not really sure how I got sick, since it was winter break and I was only around a few of my friends, my husband and my parents, and none of them are sick.

Maybe one of the other teachers got me sick on the first day back, or maybe someone at the gym didn't wipe off/sanitize the treadmill when they were done and I got their germs. Jerks.

So, today I knit some, watched a little TV, and read a book - "Olive Kitteridge." It's good. I'll read it some more tonight, but first I need to do a little work on my grad school assignments. I'll be reading those for the next few hours, and possibly doing a little writing. The more I do tonight, the less I have to do this weekend.

I just wish I felt like going somewhere, but I don't want to leave the house. Good thing we've got plenty of food! Adam is working tonight, so I'll do my work while he's AT work.

I may not be blogging, but I have been tweeting...

And here's the proof. It's a word cloud of words I used most often in the last year.

How does your garden grow?

So, if you follow me on Twitter, or if we're friends on Facebook, you've seen photos of our garden bounty recently. For tonight's dinner, we had peas, carrots, onions and zucchini straight out of the garden with our turkey dogs. It was YUMMY, even though as we were shelling the peas, Adam said "This is a lot of work."

Yeah, but it's worth it when you taste it.

This is what it looked like just after it was tilled in the early, early spring. Mom and Dad and Mom's friend Jeannie planted a bunch of stuff. Jeannie has been working it a lot, weeding and taking care of it.




This is what it looks like today. If anyone wants to remake the Stephen King horror classic "Children of the Corn" we've got the prime location for you.


Here's another view where you can see the corn, green beas, peas, zucchini, cucumbers, etc. Tomatoes are in there somewhere, too. As you can see, all the rainy and cool weather we've had this summer has lent itself to a bountiful green garden.

This is what we used out of the garden for dinner tonight, except the jalapenos and green beans. Saving the jalapenos for a little homemade salsa (we hope) and I took the green beans over to dad. He said he'd been craving some of those.

We'll probably be making some zucchini bread soon...


•••

Thanks for hanging in and continuing to check the blog. I'm a little overextended in cyberspace, and the blog has definitely suffered. I would still like to use it to keep in contact and to generate a little Google Ad revenue, so hopefully I can get it back up and running...

Summer time, where did you go?

Looks nice and warm in those photos, doesn't it? It WAS nice and warm on the days we set up and filled the pool, but since then, it's only been warm enough to get in it twice.

Twice!

Now, I can't be totally angry about this - the weather has been good for the garden (post and photos of that to come later this week), but we haven't done any lazing around in the sun and pool. Boo!

Hopefully, by the end of this week, I'll actually have photos of us IN the pool, instead of hanging out by the side of it.

Last night, we did eat dinner on the front porch, sitting on the swing. It was quite nice. I'm conflicted - usually I love hot summer weather, but being able to sit outside without breaking out in insta-sweat has been nice.

Summer vacay offiially starts tomorrow, so what the hell!

Look what one little trip to Wal-Mart can do for you:

Make you work your ass off. Mom decided to get an inflatable pool for the yard - improving and upgrading the rental property - so we set out to install it this afternoon while Adam was at work.

He missed out on all the fun.

As you can see above, Jayne had the easy job - supervisor/project manager.

Luckily, I had the airbed inflator, so we used it to inflate the upper ring. That made it go fairly fast. I can't imagine using a manual air pump (like a bicycle pump) to do it, which is what the introductory how-to DVD suggested.

The worst part was having to smooth out the bottom and try to get out as many wrinkles as possible. The box said READY FOR WATER IN 15 MINUTES. Heh. Maybe if you've done it a half-million times before.

By the time we were ready to stop and just watch it fill, two hours had passed. Those of you who have done this before - where did we go wrong?!

At least when I look at these two photos, I can see a definite difference in the "Before smoothing" and "After smoothing."

The water is still running. We'll be checking on it tonight, turning it off before bed, and starting up again tomorrow.

Hopefully the next post you'll see will have Jill relaxing on a floaty in the pool.

Chalk up one more reason to despise PCs

The plan was to post a bunch of photos from the family vacay tonight, but when I attempted to burn a CD on mom's laptop so that I could put them on my laptop, all hell broke loose.

Thought the CD burned. Brought it home. It's unreadable by my Mac. PC people? Anybody? Help here?

I think I'll just take my jump drive over there tomorrow and copy them on to that - no burning required.

I won't post too much about the trip yet - the photos will make that better. We got back around 3:30 this afternoon. Adam and I helped Mom and Dad unload the RV, then we grabbed dinner at Ruby Tuesday's (Adam was craving salad, and they have the best salad bar). We were going to go to a movie, but decided to come home and watched "Close Encounters." Then, Mom called Adam's phone to inform us that I had left my purse and phone at their house, so I had to run over there to pick it up. Good thing they're only two minutes away by car...

I did come home to find one baby bird egg in one of the hanging plant baskets on the porch, so we'll have to keep an eye on that to see what happens. It rained on us all the way home from Arkansas, but none here, I guess. I really need it to rain, since SOMEBODY was "too busy" to water my plants while I was out of town.

•••

We have one half day with students tomorrow, and then again on Wednesday. I've got grading and work to do in the afternoons, hopefully all goes well.

Summer vacation - oh so close!

I promise I haven't died

I've just been really busy, that's all. And, now I've gone and gotten you all excited that there's actually a new post, and it won't really be that long.

I spent part of last week in Phoenix for the National High School Journalism Convention, and I have tons of cool photos to post from that, as well as a trip to Minneapolis the week before that. I will do it this week.

When I got home yesterday, I headed straight to Panera to do some grading with Betsy. For some reason, I get more done there than I do at home. Adam was working at the Home Depot (or, the Dee-POT, as I call it) when I got back in town, so Betsy and I passed the time until he got home.

Adam and I ate at the "sushi train" restaurant - not really called that but it's what we call it. Shawnee-ites will know it as Sakura at 75th and Nieman. We loved it last time we went, but this time it was too close to closing time. The same pieces of sushi that no one wanted kept coming around on the train. Lesson learned - go earlier in the day if you're going to be eating sushi off of a train that circles a bar.

Then, of course we had school today. Stayed til 5 to get some stuff done, and then I HAD to get a run in. Only did that once while in Phoenix, and we go 18 this weekend. Yikes.

Check back with me later this week for photos and more. Kickball practice Thursday and the season starts next week, so that oughta be some good blog fodder...

For now, bedtime!

Spring Break

Wow, I really thought I would have written a few blog posts during break. Not working on school stuff, not on newspaper or yearbook deadlines, time to blog, right?

Well, not so much.

I've been doing lots of work around the house - general organizing and spring cleaning, cleaning up the yard (raked a lot today). Mitzi and I hit the Shawnee St. Pat's parade and the KC St. Pat's parade to sell beads for Team in Training. We did pretty well at both - sold all the beads she ordered, and didn't have to deal with drunk a$$holes, so that was nice.

Betsy came over Monday night and we shot some photos of stuff to put on eBay. I've got three items out there right now - hopefully they'll sell so I'll have some more donation money for Team in Training.

I got to have lunch with two out of town friends - Candice and her boyfriend on Monday, and Sharon on Wednesday. It's nice to a.) be able to see friends from out of town, and b.) get to go out to lunch!

Mitzi and I will be having a benefit garage sale on April 3 and 4, here at the homestead. If you're here in town, and you've done a little spring cleaning, we'd happily take your cast-offs off your hands! Consider it de-cluttering for a great cause...

I can't believe it's already Friday night of break. This week FLEW by. We didn't do anything special, just tons of little tasks and catching up on home stuff that gets sloughed off during school days.

Our group training is tomorrow morning at Longview Lake. Eight miles. Then, we've got our Silent Auction/Benefit Dinner at Red Robin on 95th and Metcalf. Hopefully tons of people can be there, and we'll get some good traffic. I'll be there a little early, handing out flyers to diners so we can get the 10 percent donation from Red Robin for their food bills.

I'm headed to Wichita tomorrow right after training - it's L's birthday party time again. The trip was supposed to be longer, but I couldn't get everything done before today. So, it'll be a quick down and backer.

I probably have no blog readers left since I'm not regularly updating, but if you're out there:

Ask me some questions. I need some writing prompts so I can get back in the blogging state of mind. You ask, I'll answer...

I service society by rocking.

We rocked it like a trio of 16-year-old goof balls last night. Adam's allergies have him pretty much out of commission (can we just decide - hot or cold weather?), so he had dinner with us, but then took medicine and went to bed.

The girls came over, and we hit three Shawnee locations: McDonald's (needed the Red Box), Blockbuster (only for the candy) and Little Caesar's ($5 pepperoni pizza). So, basically, for about four hours of entertainment, we spent $6 (pizza and Red Box) - Betsy had a gift card to Blockbuster, so the candy was free for us.

The great thing about Red Box is that you can reserve your movie online. The crappy thing about Red Box is that once you've reserved your movie online, you will still get stuck behind some idiot who is browsing the box for 10 minutes.

FOLKS! Look online, then go pick up your chosen movie. Or, let the smart people go ahead of you.

I'm telling you what - I wish I would have invented Red Box - when I got to McD's there were four people waiting in front of me to get movies. It's obviously a decent business model.

We chose "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." I grabbed the movie, and we headed across the intersection to Blockbuster. Grabbed Twizzlers, Peanut Butter Whoppers, Sour Patch, and a six-pack of Diet Coke. Yes, I see the irony in that statement.

The 16-year-old jokester behind the counter was quite impressed with our purchases. Wonder what his internal monologue was concerning the "old ladies" who were buying nothing but candy and Diet Coke on Saturday night. I don't think I've been inside that Blockbuster in 15 years. I was like a flea market in there - tons of random junk for sale, and a whole table full of DVDs - marked four for $20. As Adam says, Blockbuster is so 20th century.

Then, we crossed the intersection one more time to pick up the pizza. I guess Shawnee Mission Parkway and Quivira is like the nexus of the universe - you can get movies, pizza and candy all within 100 yards of one another. Perfect for a Saturday night in.

Once we returned with the pizza, we finished watching "School of Rock" on TBS before we started "N and N." Yep, we own "School of Rock" on DVD, yet every time it's on TV, we drop everything and watch it - commercials notwithstanding.

I enjoyed Nick and Norah, though I'm glad we only spent $1 to see it. It's definitely the kind of movie that my friends and I would have seen over and over and over and over in high school. We would have wanted to be those kids, and have that night out on the town, with all that "cool" stuff happening.

Well, except for the drunk girl throwing up everywhere.

I'm pretty sure I would have had a huge crush on Michael Cera, too, at that age. It's just how we rolled back then.

Lose it!

While I was at Crop A Ganza a couple weeks ago, Kat told me about a new app she downloaded for her iPhone, called Lose It. It's a food and exercise tracker that you can use on the iPhone like a food journal.

I am not one to carry around a paper calendar, or notebook or journal with me everywhere I go, and that's one reason the iPhone is such a great tool for me. I always have my calendar and a way to make notes anywhere. So, I might actually get into this Lose It app.

Since I was sick last week, I didn't exercise AT ALL. Starting to feel a bit doughy around the edges. I've never been someone who has major weight issues - I'd just like for my clothes to not be tight...

And, since I'm training for a marathon, I'm not going to be cutting major calories any time soon - need some of that food for fuel.

But, I like Lose It because you can track what you eat and drink, and you can add whatever exercise you do, and it lets you know how many calories you consumed, and what you have left in your budget for the day. You set a goal weight/date, and it gives you options like "I want to lose a pound a week" or "1/2 pound a week" or "maintain" etc.

There are a lot of brand-name supermarket foods and restaurant foods that you can choose from, with calorie information already entered, or you can enter your own foods. Since Adam cooks at home a lot, I'm entering information based off the Nutrition Facts label, and the app stores the info, so I'll always have those to choose from in the future.

Now, obviously, it's at best, a guesstimate of caloric content, etc., but it's still pretty motivating to look and see how many calories you have left for the day, or the fact that running 3.5 miles means I've added 300 calories back IN to my budget. It does make me see how much of a difference exercise can make in your daily life.

I like that I can pick and choose from foods already entered, and that I'm not having to do this with pencil and paper. I've been using it for just about a week now. Check back with me in a few months to see if I've stuck with it!

And, no, no one from Lose It paid me to say anything about their app, I promise!

•••

I did managed to get a run in this afternoon. I was dreading it since I haven't worked out for a week, but it felt really good. Mitzi came over and we ran around the neighborhood together. So, I feel like I'm back to making progress on the marathon training front.

In fundraising news, I've raised almost $1,900 so far! Just got donations today from Terri Wenzel, Thane Chastain and the Barbieri family! We are planning a silent auction to raise money, so if you know of anyone who would be willing to donate items, pass their names along to me...


Back to Biggest Loser.

The most productive Sunday in a long time

Man, we did a lot today. Nothing huge (except lunch with Denise, Jaime, Lexi and Denise's sister Annie), but lots of little stuff.

I started the day making French toast for breakfast. It's sort of my weekend morning thing. If I'm not getting up early to go run, and I have some time, I'll make French toast if we have eggs. Today's bread wasn't stale yet, though, so it wasn't my greatest FT effort.

After breakfast, Adam and I speed-cleaned the house. I knew that Jaime and Denise would want to see the place and all the work we've done, so we picked up and vacuumed and all that good stuff. We're definitely keeping a little bit cleaner house these days, because I feel like it took less time to do the somebody's-coming-over-hurry-up-and-clean bit.

I love having the house clean, but I hate housework. So, we're not really great at it, unless we have to be. Especially during the school year. The last thing I want to do after school or on weekends is clean!

I mean, sheesh.

We had a great visit with the Wichita crew. It's been way too long since I've seen them.

After lunch, I headed over to Mom's, dropped off the rent, then went and paid the insurance bill, then went to the car wash. My car actually looks like a black car again, not some weird dusty, salty grey color any more! And, I didn't even have to wait in line.

We've been (and still are) watching the Super Bowl. While all of that has been going on, I got my snail mail letter written for Team in Training. The letter is written, the donor form ready, the envelopes addressed. I did have to make an Office Depot run for toner. Nice that my printer was free, but I paid almost $40 for toner cartridges today. Boo. Good news, though, is that I'm up to $295 in donations. If you look at my website you can't really tell that yet, since a couple of the donations were cash ones, but they'll be on there soon. Don't be left out - donate today! (A little public service announcement...)

Hopefully, I can stop tomorrow after school and get copies made, so that we can have the letters ready to send out by Tuesday or Wednesday. Last night, via Twitter, I asked Ashton Kutcher to donate to the cause. Wonder if he will. He and Demi are busy being celebs at the Super Bowl this weekend, so I might have to retweet that some other time...What's the worst that could happen? I don't get a donation from him. Figured it was worth a shot!

After the letter extravaganza, I went through six month worth of photos on my laptop, to pick out new ones I want for Crop A Ganza. I'll upload those tomorrow so I can pick them up Wednedsay on my way home from work. I love being able to upload digital photos to the photo center - so freakin' convenient.

I even knit a few rows on a pair of socks I'm working on for Adam. Can't work on the sweater while watching football. I'm working on the sleeves right now, and there's too much counting and keeping track of stuff involved.

Whoop - time out - Steelers just won.

I'm only at school four days this week. Taking a personal day Friday so I can get to Wichita early for Crop A Ganza. Looking forward to it!

After all this post-game junk is over, I'm watching "The Office" then I'm off to bed. It's a school night after all.

Viva la Taco Via

Don't worry, those of you who check out The View Across Town. I did mean to post this photo here today, even though I put it over there yesterday.

Betsy was kind enough to babysit me for a couple of hours last night between my school gigs. I live just far enough from school that I would have had about 10 minutes to sit down had I driven home after school and then returned for the 8th Grade Activities Fair. Betsy is a little closer, so we hung out for a while.

We couldn't decide what to do for dinner. We almost went to Chipotle. But then I thought - "Hey, we've been talking about Taco Via for a few weeks, let's go there." She lives pretty close.

We didn't get to go to Taco Via THAT much when I was a kid because it's over at 95th and Antioch, but I have vivid memories of eating there - the old-school menu boards, taco sauce in little cups, out of ketchup-ish dispensers, the logo that you see up there on the styrofoam cup. I remember going there with Mom sometimes - probably after shopping trips to Metcalf South or movies at the Glenwood (the real, cool Glenwood).

I'm glad at least the Taco Via hasn't changed. Can't say that for the other two.

Got a new DVR just in time but...

I still don't think it will help us Monday night. Used to, we could record "Chuck" on NBC, while simultaneously watching "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS. When you've got a DVR that can record one channel and still show another, no problem on a night like that.

Well, tomorrow night, when one of my favorite TV shows returns five months early, we'll be in serious TV crisis mode at the Chittum's.

TNT is bringing back "The Closer" starting tomorrow. Usually, it's the show that keeps me from getting bored over the summer, but for some reason, new episodes start this week. In addition, TNT is debuting a new show, with Tom Cavanagh and Eric McCormack, right after "The Closer." Looks like we'll be taping in the living room, and watching TV in the back bedroom so we can get to all three...I know, I know, it could be a lot worse. We could have REAL problems to worry about.

I really hope "Trust Me" is good, and makes it. I have loved Tom Cavanagh since he was on "Ed" and stuck with him for the wonderful but woefully short-lived "Love Monkey" on CBS. I wish I could find season DVDs of "Ed."

Last night at Betsy's might have been foreshadowing of this impending TV bonanza. Adam and I grabbed a bite at Five Guys Burgers and Fries (really stinkin' good if you haven't tried it yet), and headed to Betsy's to help her clear off her DVR. It was 90 percent full when we started watching. They were shows that we don't typically watch - "Psych" "Top Chef" and "CSI." All were great, but as you can see, I think I'd have to quit my job if we became devoted to any more shows!

That's no good.

Reunited...and it feels so good

Kickball team extraordinaire El Guapo got together last night for our end of season kickball team party. It was REALLY the end of season party, since the season ended, um, back in October.

Most weeks when we played, it was freezing-ass cold outside, so we were layered up like Randy in "A Christmas Story."

Why does this matter at this juncture?

Because when we got to the party last night, I hardly recognized anyone. No one was wearing stocking caps, sweats, gloves, and four coats. People look really different when their heads aren't covered, you know?

It's almost like we're Kickball Superheroes. Mild-mannered young professionals who sometimes enjoy playing Rock Band by day, but come Thursday nights, we jump into the phone booth and miraculously change into uniforms for kicking some kickball butt.

I enjoyed some really good homebrew, and Adam and I both got to eat smoked ribs and brisket.

And, as with any party of twenty- and thirty-somethings in 2009, after dinner, the Rock Band was fired up. Seriously, what did we do with ourselves before that game was invented?

You will be traveling and coming into a fortune

Well, I will be, according to my Chinese food fortune tonight. Let's hope that speaks the truth for what will be happening in 2009 for me, and for you.

The year 2008 was a great one for us - a great "new" house, continuing to have good jobs in the sketchy economy, incredible friends, half marathon, lots of knitting, and family and friendily time.

Before bed tonight, I'll tack that fortune to my vision board, and see if "The Secret" can make it come true for me this year. Maybe I'll earn a fortune from Google Ads? Who knows.

Here's to another year of blogging, tweeting, living, knitting, crafting, laughing and loving.

Happy New Year to all - hope it's a wonderful one!