The Best $125 I've Ever Spent

A year ago, the start of 2011, I was bound and determined to lose weight.
I know, I know.  That sounds like every other resolutioner in the world.  But I WAS going to do it. I was going to stick with it.

I had had my second child in October of 2010, and had not lost all of the baby weight.  Actually, I hadn't lost all of the baby weight from baby #1 (and if we're being totally honest, I hadn't lost all of the college/early marriage weight I had gained either). 


2011 was going to be MY year.


For me, the key to losing weight is both diet AND exercise.  I can't do one without the other.  But how was I going to find the time to workout when I had a busy 2 year old at home and a not even 3 month old baby who was nursing non-stop.  Oh, and let's add the fact that I work full-time and I've got a husband too.  And I wasn't sleeping.  I wasn't sure how I would find the time or the energy.


I had started a new job in April of 2010, which allowed for so much more flexibility than the job I had held for the previous 6 years. While talking to one of my co-workers at the end of December about how to try and balance getting in a workout in my busy schedule she told me about the town's rec center which is less than 1 mile from where we work.  That was where she went at lunch to workout.


I informed my co-worker that I wasn't a resident in this town, so I couldn't join the rec center.  Then she told me that since we WORK in the town (and pay taxes, of course) that we qualified for a business membership!
Oh my gosh, how awesome!  It's like the clouds parted and the sun came shining down!


The kicker though, was that there were only a limited number of business memberships that they allowed each year, and they go on sale the first business day of January.  When they're gone, they're gone. 
I was waiting at the doors when the opened at 9:00am on January 2nd last year.  And I got my membership!


For only $125 I had access to the rec center's exercise facility, and of course the locker rooms and showers.
That's less than $11 per month for a gym membership!


The even better thing...it's not crowded.  EVER.  At least not at lunch when I go to workout.  In an entire year, there have only been 2 (TWO) times when I could not get on a treadmill to run.  In those two instances, I chose the elliptical instead.  (And to be fair, a treadmill opened up after about 10 minutes each time.  But when you've only got 20-30 minutes to workout, there's no time to wait)!


Since this is a rec center, it doesn't have the state of the art everything.  For instance, piece of cardio equipment doesn't come with it's own personal TV and fan.  But the equipment is new and there is plenty of equipment whenever I need to workout.  There are TV's to watch, and each piece of cardio equipment has it's own plug-in for headphones so you can choose which TV channel you want to listen to.  And since it's never crowded, I can change the TV's to pretty much any channel I want, because there aren't people already watching something.


This rec center membership has been life-saving for me.  It has allowed me to workout a few times per week, every week, for an entire year. 
I know that if I was trying to workout in the morning or after work, I would be much more likely to skip workouts when life gets busy and in the way. The lunch-hour workout is amazing.  I have energy when I go to workout (because I'm not still trying to wake-up at say, 4:30am).  On the flip side, I'm not dragging either from being at work all day.  It gives me energy for the second half of my work day.  I don't always get in the best workout, but a small workout is better than no workout at all. And it's consistent.  And I LOVE it.


My lunch workouts motivated 3 other women that I work with to get a 2012 membership to the rec center to try and get a little exercise in their day.  Wow did that feel good to know that my actions have motivated others to get healthy!


If you have been struggling to figure out how you can fit a workout into your busy schedule, I highly recommend trying a lunch hour workout.  And it doesn't take a gym membership to do either.  Even just putting on a pair of tennis shoes and walking around your work parking lot can do the trick (yup, I've done that too.) 


Here's to a happy and HEALTHY 2012!

"New" Microwaved Popcorn

I love popcorn.
I mean, who doesn't love popcorn (Ok, besides my husband!).

I think the absolute best popcorn is when my mom makes it over the stovetop, with oil, in a pan.  Delish!
I don't have the patience to do that myself, and I also don't like the calories that come with the oil.

I usually just do the standard pre-packaged, store-bought microwave popcorn. (You know, probably the only thing you think of when think microwave popcorn.---until now!)

I'm typically calorie conscious, which means I eat the oh-so delicious 98% fat free microwave popcorn.
Even that has tons of preservatives, which I'm not such a fan of, if it can be avoided.
I've asked for a hot air popcorn popper before, to which my husband responds, "yay, more crap!"
Then, probably a year or two ago I heard a trick about making your own microwave popcorn, using a brown paper bag (you know, like you used to pack your school lunch in) and popping corn.

I finally tried it last week.
I added about 1/3 cup of popping corn to the bag.  Nothing else.  Just plain popcorn kernels.
I folded the bag a few times (tightly).
Put it in the microwave.

Success!!

How have I never tried this before?  So simple, so cheap.  If I reuse the paper bag a few times, even cheaper!
The only thing I might do is add a little piece of tape to the fold on the bag, but this time it didn't matter.
So fair warning that if you're not careful, you might have a popcorn explosion in your microwave.  Just sayin'.

I added some salt and a little bit of spray butter

Now I want to expand into the world of popcorn seasonings.  Things might just get a little crazy.

Happy Popping!

The Perfect Gift

I love the holidays and gift giving. Yes, as much as I like receiving gifts, I love  giving gifts even more.

Every year, I am bound and determined to give THE PERFECT gift to family and friends.

　

I try to use a blend of homemade/creative with store-bought items to deliver the best gift someone receives that year. I typically try to stay away from gift cards. I'm not really a fan of giving gift cards because, to me, it just doesn't feel like a whole lot of thought went into it.

(Don't get me wrong, I like receiving gift cards, and do still give gift cards, but I think they have become too widely used as the go-to-easy-way-out gift. I mean, if we're just going to swap gift cards, we might as well just save our money and not even bother. Ok, mini rant over!)

I usually have lots of ideas. The problem is, I also have a budget. (note: the budget isn't very big)

I spend what feels like forever agonizing over what the perfect gift will be for each person on my list.

I get an idea, and then the next day it doesn't feel quite right. I think to myself, "Is this really the best gift idea? Is there something better?"

My stress level rises.

I dream up a different idea, and then it's over my budget. (I really try to stick to my Christmas budget).

My stress level increases even more.

Rinse and Repeat. Ugh.

After a few weeks...I'm out of weeks.  Christmas is here, and I'm still scrambling to find the perfect gift.

　

But this year will be different. I am vowing to make this year different.

I am teaching myself that when you have factors like kids, work, a budget, and wanting even a little bit of sleep, you just have to make do.

So, while this years' gift recipients will still receive some great gifts, I will NOT stress about it being absolutely perfect like I've done in years past.

This year's theme will be to give "great" gifts...maybe not perfect, but still great.

And that, in and of itself, just might be perfect.

　

　

...the rest is just sand...

My husband sent me an email yesterday, that I thought was only appropriate with Thanksgiving being tomorrow.

I did a quick search to see if I could find the original author (you know, to give appropriate "props"), but I couldn't seem to find the original author with enough accuracy to post it.

Anway, I've read variations of this story before, and while it is cheesy, it still rings true and helps put things into perspective, especially with the upcoming stress that I'm sure we'll all endure over the next few weeks.

I am thankful for so many, many things this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

　

　

The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions--and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else--the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first--the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

2,190 days

My husband and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on Saturday.
Some days it feel like we've been married so much longer than 6 years...other days it seem like only yesterday we were walking down the aisle.

So much has changed in the six years we've been married; and at the same time, so little has changed.

We decided to each take a vacation day on Friday from work so that we could spend the day together...kid free.  The kids went to the babysitter, just like any other work day, and it was nice there wasn't a disruption in their schedule for us to be able to spend the day together.
We didn't do anything extravagant (um, that was partly because we had a slight change of plans when we dropped a pretty penny to have a new furnace installed at the last minute on Wednesday....)
We dropped the kids off at the babysitter's, dropped the car off for an oil change, then went to Starbucks and actually went inside and sat and drank coffee together.  With no interruptions.  It was heavenly.  I even commented to my husband while we were sipping our coffees...."Is this what we did when we were first married, before kids, because I can't even remember".
The rest of the day was really just spent, together.  We visited a new restaurant we had been wanting to try for lunch, ran some errands, did some shopping. 

On Saturday my in-laws offerred to watch the kids while we went to dinner.
We tried another resaturant we hadn't been to yet, but had been wanting to visit and stopped for a drink after dinner.
We made early dinner reservations so that we'd still be able to pick the kids up and head home at somewhat early hour.  Because THAT is definitely one way in how our lives have changed over the past 6 years. 
It's not about just us anymore.  It's about our kids too.  Our family.
And our kids don't sleep in. 

Happy Anniversary to my best friend.  Here's to many, many more years together!