Christmas Presents!!!

We wound up opening gifts saturday night, sort of a last minute decision. We had  times set up to open gifts with other people and at other places, but for some reason we had never really set a date for ourselves this year. See, we don’t like to do gifts on the 25th, we like to focus that day on Christ’s birth, and it’s hard to do that if all you can think about are presents. I had been planning on going out after we’d all gone to a family dinner, but Nicole was so wired already we figured may as well. Above you can see that I did a good job – Chris is one of those folks who are impressed more by the thought than anything else. Curse him. I got him some ‘really stupid’ computer games and he was pretty psyched. (He and I have vastly different taste in computer/video games, and we affectionately refer to each others’ as ‘really stupid.’ Like, “I thought it looked really stupid, so I knew you’d love it.”)

Nicole started off being her usual enthusiastic and polite self. “A present? For ME?! THANK YOU!!!" I LOVE IT!” 

After we’d all opened a gift she got so excited about the opening that she just wanted to open everyone’s gifts. She didn’t even care what was inside! Well, except the Little People House, that she was pretty psyched about.

(try to disregard my horsey facial expression above. I must have been whinnying with joy or something.)

My gifts from Chris were all fitness gifts! A Wii Fit Accessory kit, and Your Shape for Wii. It’s a fast-paced workout that I would classify as definite cross-training. Cardio, strength, yoga, yadda yadda. I’ve done it three times now and I would say that it will likely produce results, all the pieces are there. If you pick it up and do it regularly, you must be eating pure lard if you don’t notice a difference within a few weeks. Also, whatever it is that Jenny is doing on the front of the box, you are not required to do that. So don’t panic.

Afterwards, I cleaned up wrapping paper and read the manual for my new game while Chris and Nicole colored in her new ginormous coloring book. (That, by the way, is the one downer about the Wii. If you’re anything like me, you like to up the anticipation by reading manuals for things cover-to-cover all excited-like, as if they’re some sexy romance novel or the flyers. However, Wii games tend to be so “Uh, durr” intuitive that there’s rarely anything in them… sigh. I remember the days of my youth when I could spend a good half-hour reading a nice Legend of Zelda instruction manual…)

All in all, it was a very nice little impromptu family night. I’m looking forwards to the traditional Christmas Eve gathering at my parents, where we will do a gift exchange. I’m looking forwards to watching Nicole “in her element.” She tends to be the delegated Christmas-present-distributor, as well as the assistant-unwrapper. As the only Small Person in MY extended family right now (well the only one we have access to) she is the star of the show, and she loves every minute of it.

Losing It

The weight, that is.

I've been asked for a few tips on weight loss. I'm down nearly 15 pounds now, by the way. And I'm anti-diet, so if you're asking me to tell you to gag down smoothies for a month you're in the wrong place.

See, I love food. I love food too much to be 'just friends'. Let's face it - most of us do. So it winds up as a love/hate relationship. We take breaks. Then we sob into a brick of cheese or a bucket of ice cream and we're back together. But it's not a healthy relationship. Every relationship needs to be a healthy one, and whether it's a man or a box of ding-dongs, you shouldn't be obsessing, over indulging, or spending All Your Time Together. Tis just not healthy, ladies!

How can something so wrong, taste so right??

So, first of all, I try to excercise half an hour a day. Don't tell me you don't have time, you're full of it. You're full of it and you know you're full of it. I'm sorry, if you're reading my blog right now, I'm pretty sure you can eke out a few minutes SOMEwhere. ;) Don't feel bad, I used to lie to me about it too.

And honestly, I don't excercise Every Day. I *try* to. If it doesn't work out that day (ha ha) then I move on and try again. Seriously, people, get over yourself. And get over excercising. It should be like brushing your hair, you try to do it every day, but if you throw it up on a pony one day because it's hectic you don't sit there either brushing your hair all night until you hate your hair, or cutting your hair off altogether. I was going to say brushing your teeth but that would be like admitting that I sometimes don't brush my teeth with my SAHM-self and i TOTALLY NEVER DO THAT.
So, tangent. Wow, okay, so a sidenote here, I've been described thusly : She does have a train of thought, it just jumps the tracks a lot. NOBODY WILL ARGUE.


Okay, so. Try to excercise every day. Even if you're just doing step while watching TV. I don't care if you don't think step is real excercise, is sitting on your ballooning patootie real excercise? Yeah, that's right. I thought so. Don't argue with me, I've lost 15 pounds. (I try to workout during naptime, for at least half an hour)

The other thing, with the eating. Try to eat more vegetable matter than anything else. And drink a gazillion glasses of water. If you're hungry, drink a glass of water first, wait a few minutes, THEN maybe eat.

Also, don't buy snacks. I don't care if your kids whine, tell them to suck it up and eat a broccoli. Just kidding, I do have a snack jar for my daughter. Buy snacks for your kids that you don't like yourself. Or even better, if you have the time, make them. But, I have the time and I sure have that jar of gummie bears, so no judgements here. But I also have super healthy muffins made with applesauce instead of oil. Just sayin. I mean, go ahead and pick up a bag of chips for movie night. But don't buy them with your groceries. THEY ARE NOT GROCERIES.

If you start off by eating more vegetable matter than anything else, and eating your veggies FIRST instead of LAST, you will find that eventually you'll start eating less. Or at least, I did. Except last night when we had pork roast, and I had NO VEGGIES. and enough pork roast to feed a small family. WITH GRAVY. FATTY, FATTY GRAVY. MMMMM. I love food. Did I mention that? But, hey, I let myself have a little date night with it from time to time.

So, that's about it I think. To be more specific about my workouts, I use the Wii Fit. I like something that feels like its sorta game-like. I'm ordering a salsa dance workout video as well, just for funsies. And I try to go for a 3k jog/powerwalk twice a week. Which has happened twice ever, before I sound all athletic-like.

You should also know, I've been the fat kid since I was five. I don't blink and lose weight. I have always had to work for it. In the past that has involved living off of coffee and oatmeal and other such stupidities. But I am a MOM now. I can't be sitting there staring off into the land of the stupid because I'm starving myself for a jean size. There's a two year old sitting here who needs to be fed, clothed, and not allowed to stick things into electrical sockets.

I lost those 15 pounds over at least six months. It's gradual but I am pretty sure it is for LIFE. I am looking better, and I am feeling better. 15 pounds ago my doctor wrote me a perscription for a weightloss pill. I'm 22, what a kick in the ass that was! (It's magneted on the fridge, if you're curious. Girl, we don't need fitness trainers and diet plans here in Manitoba. That's not how we do. DIYODS.)

Oh, and one more thing. Buy spanx and a good dress. You need to feel like the hot mama you are, no matter what your size. Work it, mama!