a place for my stuff

My Top Ten Favorite Best (not necassarily Scariest) Halloween Movies of All time

2011-10-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the count down to that most sacred of night when we celebrate the birth of the Great Pumpkinhead, and commemorate said gory event with a feast of sugar and hi jinks. So what better way to get in the mood for the hollowest of eve's than to sit in front of the television? Now that's what I'm talking about!
So here is a list of my ten favorite Halloween movies. If you want to share your favorite Halloween movies leave a comment below.

10. Night of the Living Dead
There's nothing like the original. Something about black and white makes zombies all the more creepy.

9. Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein
Sometimes some humor can make the creepy bad guys just that much more scary, as our boys Bud and Lou demonstrate in this classic. "Hey Abbott! I think Dracula wants to see you!"

8. Near Dark
One of the first modern movies to take the vampire lifestyle to a dark place. Near Dark shows that the bloodsucking nightlife ain't all its cracked up to be. But sometimes you can put the genie back in the bottle. If you get tired of mixing metaphors you may want to fire up the color tv and spin this up in your disc player.

7. Interview with the Vampire
Now a classic, but once this was romantic vampirism as it had never been done before. Angst and pathos fill our hero's heart, turning immortality into a prison with only one way to escape - the sweet release of death. I guess they would refer to it as the true death these days, or whatever immortals call the cessation of existence.

6. Monster Squad
Monster Squad is like a kid's ultimate daydream come true. Drac and friends move into the neighborhood and it is up to the boys on the block to save the world.

5. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Any version of this classic tale is a staple of Halloween but this Disney live action interpretation stands head and shoulders above all others. Get it? Head and shoulders!

4. Hocus Pocus
An old fashioned witch tale and one great looking Sarah Jessica Poarker make this a must have for the season. "Amok amok amok!"

3. Lost Boys
Once again we have a couple of unsuspecting youngsters happen upon the occult and once again they take up the challenge to beat back the spawns of hell. But this bunch adds just a little bit of 'cool' to the atmosphere.

2. Phantasm
A mysterious mortician does strange things at the cemetery and keeps a blade wielding flying orb as a watchdog. This one is just eerie, and likely to make you jumpy every time you pass in front of a mirror.

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas
What's this? What's this? An animated musical in the number one spot? Yeah, don't pretend you aren't familiar with Jack and the gang. This must play on the big night - or else!

Tablet PC

2010-09-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

Drawing on my new-to-me tablet pc is amazing!
The Intuos4 is great, but I could never get over the disconnect caused by looking at the screen rather than at my own hand when I draw.
I picked up a used Fujitsu Lifebook T4215 on Ebay for less than three hundred dollars. Yeah, that hurt. I had to do some extra side work to pay for it. I will have to unload my old laptop when I transfer my files to the new pc.
As great as the Intuos4 is, the less sensitive tablet has been so much more productive for me. I've been painting in photoshop and it has been a blast. I even got to doing some sketch studies - something I never did with the Intuos because drawing just wasn't fun with it.
I can't imagine how awesom the new Cintiq must be! It uses the same tech as the I4 tablet but has a giant 21 inch screen you can draw on directly.

Coffeecake

2010-09-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

Now that the weather is trying to cool off I am starting to bake more.
One of my favorite recipes is this coffeecake (I don't remember where I got this recipe but I know that my copy is falling apart and I better post this while I still have it written down somewhere):

Ingredients: •Topping:•1/2 cup brown sugar•1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour•1/4 cup butter•1 teaspoon cinnamon
- these are just estimates, I usually just throw these together by feel.
•Cake:•1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)•2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder•1/2 teaspoon salt•1 egg, beaten•3/4 cup sugar•1/3 cup melted butter•1/2 cup milk•1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation:Topping. In small mixing bowl, combine topping ingredients. Blend with fork until crumbly. Set aside.Sift 1 1/2 cups sifted flour with baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a medium bowl, beat together beaten egg and 3/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture and mix well.
Pour batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square or 9-inch layer-cake pan. Sprinkle topping crumb mixture evenly over batter. Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Partially cool in pan on wire rack. Cut coffee cake into squares while still warm.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

2010-09-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

As you all know, I love peanut butter. And I love baking. I am always on the lookout for a good peanut butter cake recipe. One that is not too dry, or too dense. Very often peanut butter cake recipes come out like breads. Which is fine and tasty, but not really what I want in a cake recipe.
And, as you may or may not know, Sarah just loves Sprinkles cupcakes. So, last week she and Betty were down in Santa Monica and they ended up at Sprinkles Cupcakes. Betty gifted us with half a dozen of their delicious little sugar bombs, two of which were peanut butter chip.
Magical!
They were so good I just had to see if I could find a recipe for them!
So I Googled up the the Sprinkles peanut butter chip cupcake recipe that owner Candace Nelson gave away on a morning talk show some year (or two) ago.
It was equally magical!
I don't know if it was due to the big globs of chocolate chunks I used, or all that creamy, natural peanut butter, but those were the moistest (yeah, I wrote moist-est!) peanut butter cupcakes I ever baked!
I urge you, to give this recipe a try if you love peanut butter half as much as I do! You can even watch the video on YouTube - just search for Lisa Quinn and Candace Nelson Peanut Butter Chip Cupcakes Recipe and enjoy!

The Shifflet Brothers, John Brown, and Mark Alfrey

2010-09-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

I blame all of them for my current sculpting addiction. If you saw any of their videos then you know what I mean!

Comic Con 2010

2010-07-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

I have found my paradise! Oh! And Scott Thompson was there!

Less than thrilled

2010-06-01T13:19:00.001-07:00

Overall been less than thrilled with the community aspects of this site. I now remember why I didn't sign up right away. I like the food log and burn meter, but I can safely say that if a couple of the other sites had these tools and if they were as easy to use then I would certainly head over to the daily plate or that other calorie king. The forums are populated by the usual "regulars" you get on any website. That would be fine, but on this kind of site you have a core audience of hurt, timid, shy, and/or quiet people. I have started blocking regular posters. Many moderators seem less than expert in their subject forums. You get what you pay for holding true here. The groups tend to suffer from too small an audience. A lack of participation or low turnout decimates the smaller ones. Personally, I feel alienated from my 300+ group now that my struggles are that of someone trying to drop below 200 pounds and training to run a half marathon next month. I neglect to post when I am successful because I feel that it may come across to some members as bragging (I can remember feeling that way myself), or when I am having difficulty losing because I am so far below the focus area of the group. I feel caught between the fit and the fat: too fat to fit in with the fit people, and too fit to fit in with the fat people.

June 1 and the plateau goes on

2010-06-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

Weigh in today at 229, up three pounds from last month but still within the 224-234 ten pound fluctuation that began around the holidays. The holidays of 2009! Six months!!!
Really, I'm not stressed. It was maddening at first, then it became funny, then morphed into something prison-like. You know, like accepting your fate. Now it is just the way things are. And being stuck here is better than being stuck there. Where is there? Back in the four hundreds, that's where there is. And it sure is good to not be there anymore.
Trouble is, in this case, you can go home again. If you aren't careful. But why would you want to? Missing the diabetes? The high blood pressure? The constant sweating and fatigue? No, I don't miss it and I don't want to go home again. Sure, Hostess cream-filled-anythings are heavenly and peanut butter on a spoon may be about as good as life gets, but those taste sensations come with a price tag that is just too rich for my blood. So I will keep on keeping on. Hope you have half the heart to do the same.

Terrible cramping after longer runs

2010-05-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

My long runs have been put on hold because I have suffered terrible cramping after each one. I mean, doubled over like something inside of me is trying to tear its way out painful. It doesn't start until I am about four miles into my run, sometimes after three and a half.
I read that some runners get painful gas due to a mild lactose intolerance that doesn't present itself until they run for longer periods. I do have a mild lactose intolerance, but it was very severe when I was a child.
I was just three miles into my run yesterday when I had a painful cramp that slowed me down. I worked through it, but at the end of the fourth mile it was getting pretty rough so I called it a day.
I didn't have any dairy Saturday, just in case, but I may need to cut that stuff out way earlier than that before my long runs. I hope that's the problem, anyway.

The eighth mile is the slowest!

2010-05-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

The eighth mile is the slowest. Not really. But my pace was way off today as I went out for my long run with the idea of conserving energy since I was adding another mile to my run. So what happens? I run my slowest time ever!
Well, that's not true. I couldn't run eight miles last year, and if I did I am sure I would have been slower. But somehow I managed a time 19 minutes longer than last week's seven miles. (1:48, fyi) Okay, I did run out of steam between 6.5 and 7, and most of seven could hardly be called a run. At one point I couldn't get my feet to look anything like a run. So I walked about a quarter mile, fired up the engines, and took off! (For about 2 blocks).
My toe pads are on fire, the balls of my feet feel as if they were raked across hot coals, and I got post runner's gas cramps that are doubling me over. I visited Mr Potty three times since I've been home. TMI?
You know what? I'm digging this entry. Really. Here I am, previously 401 pounds, and I am complaining about my 8 mile run. These are the things we should enjoy in our new lifestyle. That, and the fact that I burned a bunch of calories today. Mmm, hamburger for dinner? Nah, I'm just kidding!

7.1 - half way there

2010-04-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

I ran 7.1 miles this morning, farther than I have ever run before and halfway to my goal of running a half marathon on Memorial Day. I started experiencing gas cramps after the fourth mile, and they kept getting worse as I continued. And my stomach/back started aching from the bouncing motion - I think the excess skin of my panniculus is pulling on me and I am just not used to running for that long all at once. I wear compression pants, but I think a compression shirt is in order for these longer runs. Hopefully I will get better/tougher (and faster!). On the plus side, I burned over 1200 calories. Woohoo!

Fell, again!

2010-04-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

I fell while jogging last night. First time since my October trip. I am banged up, bruised, and sprained my right arm and hand but at least it is not as bad as last time. Sleeping was difficult, as well as dressing, and lifting my arm up over my head is painful and decidedly NOT recommended. It was dark, I was swatting at my left leg because I felt a bug land on me, lost concentration on where I was going, and stumped the toe of my shoe against a slightly raised sidewalk square of cement. I fell forward and tried not to throw my hands up like I did the last time I fell (when I bruised my rib). I was just over three and a half miles into my run, with under half a mile to go. I ended up walking the rest of the way home. Very frustrating.
So today I will be taking it easy, but I have to get back out there and run four miles tomorrow. I am juggling week 5 of the Hal Higdon Half Marathon training schedule and I don't want to lose any more time.

Klaus, the Easter Vampire Bunny

2010-04-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Easter vampire bunnies can do pretty much whatever they want. After all, it is their holiday. And they are vampires, what are you going to do? argue with them?

So I made up a new puppet for Sarah's Easter basket: Klaus. He is a vampire. He likes chocolate, Cadbury's Cream Eggs, jelly beans and - oh yeah! human blood! Watch out, friends!

Klaus is a standard rod-and-hand puppet, the kind I have been making for over a year now. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how well he came out! The faux hair hides the seams well, and the foam skeleton/body is barely visible even in the brightest morning light.

I didn't get his ears right until the fourth go, the first three were classic Goldilocks (too big, too small, too pink, etc. - you know the story), and I had to place his fluffy cotton tail twice before I got that right. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there! Klaus gave me a worrisome glare when I tried to swing the camera around to take a picture of his tail so I didn't push the issue.

I think Sarah got a kick out of him, and it was about time I made her a puppet of her very own.

Happy Easter!

February 228

2010-02-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

It's February and I weigh 228 pounds this month.
I have been stuck in the 220s since Christmas.
The only time I have ever weighed less than 220 was 13 years ago and involved my brief prescription of fen-phen. At that time I only got down to 218 pounds.
I wonder how much weight I'm carrying around in extra skin... It looks like a lot. I want to have a hydrostatic weighing but I don't know how all this extra skin will affect the results. I look bad, everything is saggy. I feel good. But I look bad.
My bmi now is 32.7. People tell me I don't look like it is that high. Of course, most of these same people never told me I looked fat when I weighed 400 pounds. Take it with a grain of salt...

Happy New Year 229

2010-01-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

I rang in the new year at 229 pounds. I haven’t decided if there should be an exclamation point there, yet. 2010: 229 pounds. If you remember, I rang in 2008 at 401 pounds. Two years, 172 pounds.
I am not completely happy about my slow progress, however. I lost over 170 pounds on the Lindora plan in just 10 months many years ago, making it hard to be thrilled at the same results in twice as long. Even less happy about the need to lose it all again after previously swearing to myself that I would not regain the weight. The only good thing to come out of this is that I truly believed in my ability to lose the weight, no matter how long it took. I remain confident that I can succeed. As long as I don’t lose sight of my goals. Which is the real trick, isn’t it?
No new year’s resolutions for me. But I am training for my first half-marathon at the end of May. My wife was all excited for the L.A. Marathon when it came through here last year. She caught herself up in the fervor and declared that next year she will run the marathon and begin her training straight away – and told everyone she encountered. Her running shoes have been gathering dust for almost 3 months. But I think the bug has bitten me. No longer is running a marathon something that I imagine wistfully, like winning the lottery. It is something that I know I can train to do, and soon! I talked to a coworker with some marathon experience, she has been following my running training somewhat over the last year, and we have decided to train for the Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half Marathon. A half marathon is a good goal for me, as it is a little more than twice as long as my current longest run.
So, I may not be happy but I am excited.

Christmas cookies

2009-12-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

A simple sugar cookie recipe, but loads of fun with our friends Diana, Steve, and Shane!

175

2009-12-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

This morning I stepped on the scale and it flashed 226 point something, because it is that kind of scale, but I never bother remembering what is after the point when the numbers before the point are so high. That marks 175 pounds shed since I began my endeavor on January 1, 2008. That is 23 months, seven days. Almost two full years.
I can’t believe it has taken me almost two full years to lose that much weight. I remember losing the weight on Lindora in just ten months. It was on a very restrictive diet, albeit very well supervised. But the results were there, and I did learn how to keep it off for over five years. Six years and change would be a little more accurate. But I got away from my plan, my maintenance. It was even something they warned me about – that maintenance required work and I could never go back to the way I was unless I wanted to go back to the size I was. But real life happens, and we sometimes lose sight of our goals.
That was all so much easier for me to do because I never did get my post weight loss surgery the first time. I still had the hanging skin and deflated belly roll, leg flab and chest excess – it was just smaller, thinner. And waiting. Waiting to be refilled. If I got away from checking the scale then it could refill itself with many pounds of fat again before I noticed a significant difference in the way I moved. If I had gotten the surgery then I would have noticed a new bulge or roll develop, but since it looked like the same old landscape it didn’t get my attention. Until I had to buy larger clothes.
That’s where stretchy pants perform their evil deeds! Stretchy pants allow us to lie to ourselves and convince us that we have only gained a couple of pounds – not twenty/thirty/forty! Stretchy pants lie!!! But only because we let them. And once you start listening to the stretchy pants it is not long before forty pounds becomes one hundred. Then one hundred invites its friends. And then you have to ask for a seat belt extender. And nobody wants to set next to you because your fat is squishily spreading into the next seat. Which, I guess, isn’t the worst thing in the world, but then you probably need a seat belt spotter to make sure you are belted-in securely because you can’t see over the horizon of your own belly button.
All that aside, I am fairly pleased with my success. Yes, I seem to be hard on myself for having regained the weight. I think I have that right. But I have a safe goal in sight: a healthy BMI. I don’t starve myself, and I try to eat right. Lots of fruits and vegetables, easy on the fatty meats. I take my vitamins and exercise regularly (except for this last month because I have hurt myself). I stopped smoking over a year ago, and drinking has been severely curtailed (those are the emptiest calories!). My blood pressure is normal and my blood sugar test good. And I can run a mile in under ten and a half minutes! That really makes me happy.
This post wasn’t meant to be this long – I only wanted something here to commemorate the milestone, not sum up my life’s work. Where is the pause button on this thing…

Have a nice fall!

2009-10-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

I can’t say this is my first running injury since I started training earlier this year, but this is my first injury from falling out on the road. I feel really stupid because it was a very light run and I am hurt worse than I think I should be.
I was out jogging with the wife, doing her C25K routine when I stumbled over a rock on the side of the road. I fell forward and brought my arms up to shield my head and face, but not quite in time. I went down on the side of the road with lots of loose gravel and palm sized rocks. Of course my knees and arms were scraped up pretty badly and I was sore but we were only a little over half a mile from finishing so I told the wife I was good to go and we finished our run.
After washing the dirt and gravel out of my arms and knees I noticed that I landed with more of my weight on the left side, that’s where the shoulder shows signs of the impact. I also jammed my left fist up into my ribcage – that’s the source of ninety-nine percent of my present discomfort. I think I bruised a rib or two. I couldn’t lie in bed to sleep, and getting up was torturous. I finally just went to sleeep sitting upright on the love seat. Deep breaths hurt. Laughing hurts. Bending hurts. Nearly everything hurts.
I took a sick day from work to rest and heal. Lots of vitamins, natch. I am moving alot better tonight. Thank the stars for ibuprofen, I can’t imagine how much pain I would be in without the stuff. I will be back to work in the morning but I don’t know when I will be able to run without pain. And I have a new pair of shoes on the way from Roadrunner sports that I am itching to try out! Oh the agony!

5 and 40

2009-08-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

I ran 5.1 miles on Saturday, on the morning of the day we had the party to celebrate my 40th birthday. Yikes! What a crazy day!
I was so thrilled with my time, 58 minutes give or take a few seconds because I don’t use a real stopwatch, and pleased with the fact that I did it continuously. Five miles has been a goal in the back of my mind through out my training. Just as 10, 15, 20, and 25 are milestones, 5 was the first. If I could somehow push through and knock that first 5 down, I knew the rest would fall eventually. And they will!
I am somewhat concerned about the really worn out feeling I had when I had completed the fourth mile and I knew I had some significant distance to cover before getting home. When I think about it I wonder if that is just my inexperience talking, because I know there are plenty of people that look at a five mile run as a nice warm up. I hope to get there soon some day. Looking at my training log I see that I have run 35.8 miles this month, for 5 hours and 52 minutes. I hate to say that I am pleased with my effort, because my goal is so much more, but it is still quite a ways to come from walking for fitness in February!
To top it off, I weighed myself after I ran and showered, and the scale kindly flashed back a 239 at me. It has been so long since I weighed anywhere in the 230s. I have a ways to go before I hit my goal weight, and I am not sure if I can get there without skin removal surgery, but I will give it the same honest effort that has allowed me to lose over 160 pounds and see where I end up.
And the birthday party was pretty fun, we had almost 40 people at the house (40 if you count the wife and myself – coincidence?), a chili dog bar, nachos, and nice big chocolatey Costco cake. And plenty of spirits to go around. I indulged, but not overly so. Still, since today is my actual birthday, I am avoiding the scale until tomorrow.
If I have to make a correction at least I know that I can do this. And Saturday I am looking at another long run. I still have to decide upon a marathon training schedule, the L.A. is coming up fast and I want to be able to finish it without walking, if possible.

Four miles

2009-08-10T10:18:00.001-07:00

It may not be the longest distance anyone has ever run, but it is the longest distance "I" have ever run!

I really can't emphasize that enough. I ran four miles Sunday, non-stop, in a semi respectable time. Less than 47 minutes - but I don't know exactly. At this point I am just keeping track of time on my cell phone (and the silly stopwatch function turns off when I close the phone to put it in my pocket, talk about useless).

My goal is the ever elusive 10 minute mile, but I haven't come close to that in weeks. The best time that I have clocked was 10:34, and that was a single mile attempt. Maybe I will get out some time this week and just try for time, maybe not. I have to remind myself that I still have some distance to add, and that 5 and 6 miles are the next milestones that I can reasonably strive to achieve.

Meanwhile, my weight has been dipping into the lower half of the 240s. That is nice, and I'm sure it makes running a little easier on my body. Remember, I was in the 280s when I started the Couch to 5k program.

Another change is my running attire. When I started the program it was winter and I used that as an excuse to hide in my running clothes. I wore a pair of 3xl pants from my heavier days because the belt kept them from falling down when I jogged, a black shirt, a 2xl black hooded sweatshirt, a black beanie to keep the sweat from my face, and my dark brown trail shoes. Now I wear real Reebok running shorts with a drawstring waist - and they are silver! I wear a white started athletic shirt, size XL, and a simple white headband to keep the sweat from running into my eyes. I used to look like a total thug when I went jogging, now I look like the average, albeit slightly overweight, runner out there.

I think I may go after the 5 mile goal this weekend. I really have to start upping my game, Sarah wants to participate in the L.A. Marathon next year, and if she does go through with her plan I want to be able to run it. I have six months, so I am reading up on marathon training schedules. I blame The Biggest Loser for this, because when we watched the contestants finish a marathon she was sure anybody could do it! Oh Lucy! What have you done?

Completed Couch to 5k program - April 17, 2009

2009-07-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

I have “completed” the Couch to 5K program last week. However, I have not run 5k, yet. I really do feel like I can, but my time is much too slow. Yesterday’s “run” (I say run because it’s easier than saying jog, plus it sounds cooler) slow as it was, only got me 2.5 miles in an ‘amazing-only-to-snails’ time of 34 minutes. I feel that the only way I am going to get to 5k(3.1 miles) in a time I find reasonable for myself is by adding the distance in the same fashion that I learned to “run” in the first place. That means a little walk break after I do my 2.5, gather my energy, then finish the run as best I can. Hopefully that will work for me.
There’s a charity 5k next month in Santa Clarita that I’m thinking about signing up for my first run. A lot of new runners articles stress signing up for a 5k as a means to motivate yourself, but to be honest I didn’t want to sign up for anything that would make me feel bad to back out of – I guess it’s the little fat kid in me (the one whois afraid to try something physical) that wins out in that scenario.
Which reminds me of an interesting story!
Speaking of little fat kid and running, I mean. When I was in elementary school I really liked to do things and this was one of those formative events that changed all that. We had a holiday event around Easter, sort of like an activity day. One of those fun filled events involved a “run” around the school several times. Now, one of my favorite teachers and some of my friends were lining up to take part so I gladly joined in.The run started out all right, some brisk jogging and idle chatter, but about a quarter of the way around the first lap the pace picked up. I struggled to keep up, huffing and puffing harder and harder until it became too hard for me to breathe. Gasping for breath and my face turning bright red, I just had to stop. Even though I had stopped trying to run so hard and rest I just couldn’t catch my breath. As a result I started coughing violently. And people were gathering around me telling me to take deep breaths and relax. But I couldn’t relax because I couldn’t take deep breaths! And my throat started hurting from my constant wheezing/gasping/hacking. I kept coughing harder and harder until suddenly I threw up. In front of everyone. I was mortified!Eventually they had to make someone come out and clean the area because my vomit was in the path of the other runners. So I slunk home, sad and embarrassed. And careful to never cause myself that sort of embarrassment again.
I think it is pretty darn cool that the little fat kid who couldn’t run around his school is now reasonably fit enough to run in a 5k.

2009-03-16T12:38:00.001-07:00

I always envied runners. But I was never any good at running. You probably know the story: whenever I would try to run my lungs burned and my heart felt like it was going to explode. That never seemed to go away so I just concluded that running was something that I would likely never get to enjoy.

But I told myself that when I got down to the 280s I would try. In the past I was able to jog for a short time on the treadmill in that weight range so I was sure I could at least try again. And this time maybe even follow through!

So I did a bit of research and came across the Couch Potato to 5K beginner's plan at www.coolrunning.com. I kept coming back to it in all my research so I decided that when I get down to my jogging goal weight I would jump right in. (Also, I wouldn't tell anyone until I was sure I could do it.)

I hit my jogging goal weight in February and I took the plunge. I added the world's slowest jog to my daily walking routine in little bitty increments.

And I thought I was going to die!

My lungs burnt, my body ached, and I think my heart actually exploded three times.

And that was just day one.

And So it continued for 3 weeks. Alternately walking and jogging (but mostly walking). Until the end of that third week, when-just-for-the-heck-of-it, I managed to jog an entire half mile!

And again my lungs burnt, my body ached, and my heart exploded. But this time only once! So i modified my plan by adding in the half mile jog to my week 4 training. But by the end of the fifth week I threw in a full mile! I did it! I jogged an entire mile without stopping. And the burning sensation was mysteriously gone!

So this is where I messed up.

I was so thrilled about running a mile that I just turned my workouts into running a mile. Everyday. For two weeks. And I was so sore I could barely walk. I hobbled around like a man at least 50 years older! And I experienced no growth in my ability to cover more ground.

Defeated, I returned to the training plan, not at week 7, as I should have been, but at the beginning of week 6. So I was sore AND I lost two weeks of training. Not that I have a race or anything planned (I am so slow at the moment it is sad and/or funny). And I could have really injured myself. Dumb.

So week 6 came and went as planned and I feel good. I am not sore and my breathing is getting better. No more fire in the chest. No more exploding heart (I hope!). But now I am on week 7 and I am struggling to cover the distance I should be running in the amount of time I the site suggests. Today I jogged for thirty minutes and barely covered 2.25 miles. That is short a quarter of a mile and over time by 5 minutes. But you know what is awesome about that? I can frigging jog for 30 minutes!

And you know something else? Jogging out on the road is NOTHING like the treadmill. There is nothing in the world like being out on the road covering miles. It is incredible. I haven't lost much more since I've been jogging but I am all ready reaping the benefits of it: my body is tightening up and I am wearing clothes that I should not be able to wear for another 20 to 30 pounds. I'm loving it! I can't wait to hit the 5k mark. I am confident that I will get there in just a few more weeks.

2009-03-09T13:54:00.001-07:00

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm an

Extroverted Reinventing Builder

2009-01-05T11:27:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year, I guess.
I mean, I guess I should be happy. Well, the economy isn't so hot, obviously, but maybe we should all be happy it is the beginning of a new year.
I am not too thrilled about the new year because that means the old one is over and I did not make my weight loss goal for 2008. I floundered at the end of the year and weighed in at 297 on New Year's Eve. That weight gives me a weight loss total for the year of 104 pounds.
I know that is okay. It's not great. And it does figure into the math of my weight plan (cutting out 7000 calories per week = 2 pounds weight loss per week) but I was so so far ahead before Thanksgiving that I was hoping I would meet my personal high goal of 120 pounds for the year (10 pounds per month). Darn holidays and my baking binge!!! I can only blame myself.
So, on New Year's Day 2008 I weighed 401 pounds and on New Year's Eve I weighed 297.
Don't ask me what I weighed the day after because I celebrated just like everyone else this year.
Here's to hoping 2009 is a good year. I don't have as much to lose this year so that is a nice way to start off for me.

Lemon Snowballs

2008-12-12T10:19:00.001-08:00

Ingredients: 1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon extract
2 cups flour
Powdered sugar to coat
Directions: Preheat oven to 350°
Beat butter with an electric mixer for two minutes, add powdered sugar and lemon extract. Stir in flour with a strong wood spoon until well mixed. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on aluminum foil lined pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before rolling warm cookies in powdered sugar. Place on rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar when cookies are completely cool. Makes about 3 dozen.

This Lemon Snowball is a recipe I came up with probably 8 years ago, give or take a year. I wanted something like those peppermint cookies they used to make around this time of year, or the pfeffernüsse cookies that are so popular with those EU folk, but with a more widely appealing flavor. I discovered those powdered sugar covered wedding cookies but for some strange reason I never really liked nuts in my cookies so they simply would not do. Anywho, I went with a lemon flavored cookie, covered in confectioner's sugar (rolled twice!) and here we have it. It is by far one of my most requested holiday recipes. Go ahead and make a batch - if you don't enjoy them I am pretty sure somebody you know will love 'em!

Peanut Butter Bombs

2008-12-12T10:09:00.001-08:00

1 cup butter, softened
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
Cooking spray or parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat softened butter with an electric mixer on medium for 1 to 2 minutes. Add peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla and continue to beat until all ingredients are mixed together (about another minute). Add flour and stir together with a rubber spatula. Dough should be light but able to hold a ball form.
Roll the cookie dough into 1 ½ inch balls and place on lightly sprayed cookie sheet (or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper), about two inches apart.
Bake for 15 minutes. Let cookies cool completely before removing them from the pan or they will explode! (I mean break. Ho ho ho!)

December 10 and going to fail.

2008-12-11T11:01:00.001-08:00

Well, the jolliest month is nearly halfway through and it is very clear that barring some sort of Christmas miracle I will not make my weight loss goal for this year.

I am extremely disappointed in myself.

At this point I have lost 104 pounds since January first. My goal is 10 pounds per month, so I really want to be at about 115 this week and staring down 120 by New Year's Eve. Doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Not unless I magically drop 16 pounds in 20 days. And so far, my best has been 13 pounds in a month. Ah, if only I could go to The Biggest Loser fat camp for the remainder of the year!

I am trying not to be too down about it around other people. They just don't understand, anyway. I realize what they are saying when they remind me of how well I have done overall and I try not to argue with them. They mean well, even if they don't get it.

You know, it's the same bug that motivated me to lose the weight in the first place that is sitting in my ear and telling me that I failed. I've been nurturing the pest all year so it would have the strength to tell me things like "don't stop" and "failure is death" when I needed to hear it, so it ain't gonna lighten up on me and say "Good job, fatso! Maybe you can do it right next year!" No, it's going to dig in its heels and drive me to finish the job.

Even though I am disappointed in myself, I would be more ashamed if I gave up now. Because "good enough" just isn't good enough. And sometimes it's okay to be mad at yourself.