Oh Yeah!

As a kid, I don't think I ever had fresh juice. In fact, I grew up on an entirely different kind of juice, Kool-Aid.
Yep, straight from the generation that brought you ADHD. I looked through a bunch of vaguely familiar Kool-Aid commercials on YouTube, and when I found this one it was a sudden flashback of Saturday mornings as a kid. Anyways, I have fond memories of waiting to see what color Kool-Aid was in the brown Kool-Aid pitcher. Would it be red, or would it be purple? I always rooted for purple, even though thinking back on it, I think I liked the red better.

Soon though, new flavors came out and the purple and red lost out to another color... yellow. Of the 28 flavors sold today only one has the iconic "Oh Yeah!" in it's name. Oh Yeah! Orange-Pineapple is by far the best Kool-Aid ever made, hands-down, no contest. It has just the right blend of, well, flavored sugar that makes you say, "Oh, Yeah!" Just to note, I stopped drinking Oh Yeah Orange-Pineapple rather abruptlyafter a friend pointed out that the Yellow #5 at the bottom of the list of ingredients could have some adverse effects on my man parts.

Today Tiff and I tried our own orange-pineapple juice. We only had two oranges left so we used them and half a pineapple. Oh, yeah, it was good. It was even better than the original! And while I love the idea of stirring water until you can't hear the sugar grinding under the spoon anymore, I think this might be a little better for me. -Yikes, I sound old.

Fresh Fruit

We knew going into it that we were going to go through quite a bit of fruit, so we (re)joined CostCo, the local membership buy-in-bulk store. We bought a box of apples, a box of blood oranges - we chose the blood ones because it has no associations with band fruit - a big ole thing of grapes, and the biggest bag of carrots I've ever seen. I saw the carrots and I said Yes! All in all, the four fruit items cost somewhere around $35. Each juicing we use a lot of fruit, so of that original purchase, last Tuesday, we're down to a couple of grapes and a whole bunch of carrots. And that all goes to one glass of juice a day each. Our second trip was to the grocery store for some more exotic fruits and vegetables, adding up close to another $35.

It adds up quick, but as Jack says, "You can change your life!" for about as much as a dinner out a week.

Juicing - Take One

So we've been juicing for a little while now, I was slow posting the first one. I'm going to be kind of playing catch-up with the next few days of Juicing posting, so bear with me, and enjoy.

Here's from the first time we used it, we carelessly turned up the TV so we could hear it over the soft hum of the professional juicer and forgot to turn it off for the video, so you can enjoy a bit of the Biggest Loser while you watch it.

Ab Work-Out

I've said one too many times that I haven't been feeling well for the past couple of weeks, but it has created a lull in working out. So, I definitely have not been building brain cells recently no matter how many times I get beat in Scrabble.

Unable to go to the gym - Tiff's adamant that I need to be completely healthy before I go back - we looked for ways to work out in the comfort of our own home. While we were surprised how hard it is to find a work-out video nowadays, we decided that our fourth floor living conditions might not be good for jumping, punching, and stomping - as it is we already shake some top shelf stuff just by walking too hard. So, we ended up with an Ab-Roller, only $18 at Wal-Mart.

It is really, really neat.

We decided that it can substitute for a gym work-out every now and then. I was a little hesitant to allow this as it makes sit-ups a cinch, plus can you really work your abs for a half-hour? I decided it was okay after I could barely move my midsection after working out for about 25 minutes. I then spent five minutes thinking about doing push-ups to complete my work-out... number 7 for the year. Yes, I'm aware how far off my goal pace of 4 work-outs a week.

I am really, really far off.

Anyways, the Ab Roller will likely be a substitute used sparingly by me, as I would much rather be on an elliptical. Hopefully, I can restart pretty soon.

The Mighty Jack LaLanne

As Tiff said, I haven't been working out as I've been a little under the weather lately. I just haven't been able to sleep much. I think this only reinforces my theory on exercise "correcting" my sleep pattern. A week later, I'm finally feeling a little better but I'm breaking out in hives for the first time in a couple of years.

So in the meantime, yes, we've begun juicing. We saw an infomercial in Jamaica, if I'm not mistaken, on the night before we got married, that was for Jack LaLanne's PowerJuicer Pro. Maybe it was just the romance in the air, but this infomercial spoke to me and I knew that I must start juicing. As Jack says, "You can change your life!"

It's kind of funny because in the 30 minute TV spot, that's about all he said. Jack LaLanne, the original fitness guru, may have an impressive website, but I think his wife, Elaine LaLanne is the new guru of fitness. She took over the infomercial, sharing all her great recipes, while Jack LaLanne made grand superlatives. "This is the greatest!" "You can't find fresher juice!" "You can change your life!" The clincher for me was, "Take the Juicer Challenge, and you won't regret it!"

Later, in my excitement for the juicer, I looked up Jack LaLanne on Wikipedia and learned that he's also said his two keys to nutrition are "if man made it, don't eat it," which I can somewhat agree with, and "if it tastes good, spit it out." If it tastes good... spit it out. This juicer bearing his name suddenly became much more intriguing. So Tiff got the sleek new PowerJuicer Pro as a birthday gift from her family. It went well with my gift of Yes to Carrots. Tiff was immediately enchanted by its shiny chrome, while I scoured the material looking for what there was to this Juicer Challenge as defined by Jack LaLanne. I couldn't find anything so the juicer challenge is simply to juice, everyday for ... let's say two months. The recommended four to five servings of fruits and vegetables is a lot of juice, but I would be happy getting three to four.

This may make a dent on my wallet, but on first judgement, I must say that juicing is the miracle I've been looking for.

Man Down!

Well, we've hit our first speed bump of the challenge - illness. John's been a sniffling mess for months now - we blame it on working the nightshift and never getting any quality sleep. We went to the doc before our Jamaica trip only to be given antibiotics for a sinus infection, which we both knew it was not. And sure enough after finishing the medicine, John was still going through tissues like a madman.

Last weekend he starting feeling a lot worse, fever and all. So we went to the doctor (again) and he was told to take claratin for allergies, which we both know it's not (again) and to come back in 2 weeks (because the last 2 months have not been long enough...) if he's not better.

So, dear readers, while exercising is on hold we have a new and (more) exciting challenge for you! I got ...drumroll.... Jack LeLane's Power Juicer Pro! for my birthday! John will be writing a real blog about it, but in short - it is an amazing juicer and we plan to stay with the health theme of exercising by drinking our daily servings of fruits and veggies. We did our first juicing last night - AppleCarrot Juice - and man was it orange. Details to come... stay tuned.

One Day Off

I worked out again yesterday. I did take Tuesday off and probably countered everything that I had done up to then. After just one day off, my enthusiasm towards waking up and working out took a serious blow, and I had to force myself to go. I'm glad I did though, not because my body feels oh-so-good, but because I said I would and I did.

My body does not feel oh-so-good either. If working out gives you energy and makes you stronger, I haven't seen it. I'm tired and my legs and back are sore. It's hard for me to judge being tired though, as I'm always tired from working overnights. While I do feel more tired than normal, I have this theory that basically says people aren't meant to stay awake all night, so maybe the exercise is just trying to help me sleep on a natural sleep cycle. Maybe not, I admit I've got some strange theories. I look forward to the point where it does give me energy and stops wearing me out.

I should note that Tiff and I have altered our requirements slightly. The study that linked exercise to brain development used hour-long workouts. At least, here in the beginning we are going to workout a required 30 minutes each day, and hopefully ratchet it up as we get use to it. As it is, I think my heart keeps racing the other 30 minutes. Secondly, I'm going to hold off on any more weights until after I go to the doctor. I'm afraid I'm doing it wrong and the doctor will say, essentially, stop doing that. So I plan to see somebody to try and even me out a bit muscularly before I push too hard. Safety first.

Running to Longevity

I feel like this could be a trend, but today on Yahoo's front page, my main source for news, there was an article about a study on exercise, and stop the presses, it's good for you. Actually four things increase one's longevity by 14 years: regular exercise, drink in moderation, quit smoking, and eat five servings of fruits and vegetables.

I can now put a big check by one of those. Now I just have to up my alcohol intake to start drinking in moderation, start smoking in order to quit, and eat fruits and vegetables non-stop all day long. Yesterday I had corn!

Three exercises in and I'm doing well. I stuck around in the gym for awhile despite other patrons yesterday. I did the bicycle for twenty minutes, and I feel it here and here (picture me pointing to my ass) but nowhere else. There were two guys in there, one who was hauling "here and here" on the treadmill and the other was lifting easily twice what I can lift. I don't think "exercise" was their New Year's Resolution this year. I'll bet it was their Resolution from last year.

Anyways, I doubt I'll go today as it's Tiff's birthday!! It technically puts me off track but life comes first. Happy Birthday Wife!

Hello my new shoes...

Check out the snazzy new shoes John got me for my birthday! It's going to make working out oh-so-much more stylish!

Day Two

I'm posting back-to-back, so if you have not read about the first day yet, read this first.

This morning I woke up early again, still tired and without enough sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep. So I got going kind of early, wasted some time, kissed Tiff goodbye, and walked through the cold rain to go workout alone by maybe 8:30. That's dedication.

What I failed to mention - I alluded to it - in the last post was that our tiny little gym with its falling apart equipment is run by our apartment complex, home of, I'm guessing 1500 people. It's actually pretty cool that they have anything, I guess, and the price is right too. We gave them a $20 when we moved in to use it, and we get that back when we turn in the exercise room key when we move out. But keep in mind that the place is small and, even if it's just the Tiff and I, we have to pull straws to figure out who's using what machine.

I was hoping for a quiet workout. Go in, do my thing, and leave. Ideally, I would see nobody. Boy, was I wrong. Three people were already in there, probably all with the same idea of avoiding people as me. Not to be deterred I turned around and went back outside, and I started running.

I was running in the cold. I was running in the rain. It felt good I was running again. I used to run for awhile in college. I got to the point where I enjoyed it and looked forward to it, so I liked that I still could run pretty strong. I was confident. I would run through the apartment complex, maybe through the next-door neighborhood, and return to the exercise room to do at least some time on the elliptical, and maybe even some weights. I had it all planned out.

About a hundred yards later, I was huffing and puffing and rethinking my plan. I ran, well, slowly jogged through the apartment, cut out the neighborhood piece, and lapped around to the exercise room in about 15 minutes, still thinking I would try to spend some time in the exercise room, if nothing else to at least warm up. It was about at this point that I realized I had lost my $20 key.

I had put it in my sock to run, which looking back on it, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I hated myself by now. I hated the cold, and the rain. My ear started to hurt like the time Tiff and I climbed Stone Mountain in the rain about this time of year. I was not happy. I slowly plodded along, and maybe a quarter of the way around, I found my key at the bottom of a large puddle.

I'm not sure why, I guess pure determination, I returned to the exercise room which now had a few more people. It was more crowded than I have ever seen it. Needless to say, I came home, wet, sweaty, cold, and with an ear ache. While day one went well, day two went not so well. Oh yeah, I was only out for about 35 minutes, but it counts as a full day. It shouldn't in the future, but today, I'm counting it. Only 206 left.

The Workout Begins

So yesterday I finally started the exercise sacrifice, if exercise can be called a sacrifice. We had to start yesterday in order to get the required four workouts each week in, because for some reason our workout week is Wednesday to Tuesday. I'm not really sure why that is and I don't remember any conversations about it, but it's never been in question. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

God, I look good on camera. I'm like a ...ummm... natural in front of the ...uhhh... camera.

Did you notice our state of the art workout facility? It's a pretty tiny little place with one elliptical machine, one treadmill, two bikes (one of which doesn't work too well), and four different weight machines. It's not too bad if it were all ours, although we still have to trade off on the elliptical, but if there's anyone else in there it's pretty awful.

I didn't want to do too much, being the first day, but I was still shooting for an hour, so I did, I think, 28 minutes on the elliptical and then some weights, which Tiff and I are still deciding if they count towards brain development, but I'm pretty sure it will have to for the sake of the sacrifice. Anyways, Tiff took a break from her workout to take pictures. At some point, she switched her camera to video, so here's a video that begins with me posing waiting for a flash. The surprise, ironically, is natural.

So the challenge begins and as I mentioned, it was a challenge. I'm going to have to remember that getting very little sleep for a few days in a row, staying up late the night before playing Smallville trivia drinking games, and waking up early does not make for ideal workout conditions.

Wii Have a New Challenge

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here! I’ve missed it! December was a challenge-less mess, I must say. After the no-sweets challenge, we were feeling good. We did a poor job blogging about it, but a month with little-to-no sugar made us both feel great, even if we did have to skip the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. And, what better way to ease back into dessert than by having your first cake be your wedding cake?!

That’s when it all went downhill. Vacation… “It’s all inclusive!” was the motto at our resort in Jamaica, and they weren’t kidding. No sacrificing there, that’s for sure. Twenty four hour buffets and snacks and lazy days at the beach make a girl forget all about sacrificing. We only thought about these challenges once on the whole trip and it was during our newlywed debut on stage playing the Couples Game Show while everyone ate their dinner. There are many great questions and answers that came out of this game, most of which are too embarrassing to have in writing. One of my questions was:

What’s the one thing your husband talks about all the time and you think it’s so boring you stop listening?

John’s answer to this was “My Challenges?” which made everyone laugh but me! I actually love these things, so I’m setting the record straight, here for all three of you readers out there! My real answer was football. Duh.

Anyway, vacation and the holidays flew by and now here it is January and I am more than happy to be back on a challenge, especially this one! I pushed for the exercise challenge with a little help from the Wii. My little sister was one of the lucky ones this Christmas who got the almighty Wii. We spent a lot of time bowling, playing tennis, and throwing our backs out trying to hit a Wii baseball. We also took the Wii Fitness Age Test, which asks you to bowl the best you can, hit as many tennis balls in bounds as you can, and hit as many homeruns as you can, then at the end it reveals your Wii Fitness Age! When I found out I was 66, the exercise challenge was locked in!

Unlike the other challenges, this one has no end in sight, which I hope doesn’t affect my success rate of 100 percent. In the next few days we will be setting up all the details. We’re getting a goal tracker for the blog, taking lots of different tests to track our possible brain improvement, and I’m even getting new tennis shoes which I haven’t done since high school. Yep, I work out so little that my 1995 Adidas are the only pair of tennis shoes I own. We’re also going to track our weight and blood pressure and any other cool stuff we can think of.

It’s a true New Years Resolution, one that I’m sure thousands make each January. And if we can be successful - John working the night shift and having no energy, and me with my old tennis shoes to prove to you that I am only one step away from being completely anti-exercise, then really, anyone can do it!

Green Christmas Follow-Up

Although Christmas is over, it's still worth talking about. Like how my mom got me a book of pentagames! Thanks mom! And to explain more about the Green Christmas that Carrell celebrated this year... or well, last year. In what could be seen as an attempt to save the world, she simplified her Christmas and did without much of the fuss this year.

Her primary goal was to do something different this year, so she attempted to get stuff out of her house rather than see how much junk she could get to fill her house. She decided early on to extend this to her gift giving this year and raised the amount of thought put into gifts. As she says, "It makes no sense to buy stuff that nobody needs." And she's right. Last year, my mom got me a crystal that you can plug in to change colors. Thanks mom!

My mom made candied pecans for everyone every year. Although we never called them pecandies, I clearly remember her making them and especially the way it made the house smell. As I grew older, and I presume in need of less emotional protection, I also remember my mother's obligatory resentment towards the whole process.

Carrell's house smelled of her obligatory gifts too. While she accepted the fact she would need to have many small gifts, she used it as an opportunity to get rid of some stuff. As a teacher, she has gained a mighty collection of mugs, which have recently moved to be about neck-and-neck with apples as the most cliched gift for a teacher. Mugs with apples on them of course taking the cake and eating it too. Mugs filled with fresh cedar chips that smells like fully decorated Christmas trees is the same idea as both frankincense and myrrh, and those worked out as pretty good gifts. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing exactly how wise Carrell is.

Now for wrapping her presents, she used nothing bought at the store and, much like me and batteries, claims she never will buy wrapping paper again. She used tissue paper and brown bags which they say is at least bio-degradable. Plus, brown bags you can get at the grocery store. Carrell's decorations consisted of decking the halls with boughs of holly, which to me, makes sense. There aren't too many songs about decking the halls with inflatable light-up snowmen and merry-go-rounds that go on sale in late October. I'm not saying there shouldn't be such songs; in fact, I can think of quite a few things to rhyme with Wal-Mart. She also used pine cones and gourds and other stuff from the great outdoors. This also included cattails, which surprise to both her and me, are filled with white seeds that fall out of it with the wind day after day, like snow! I saw her house and it looked great! Even before the tree!

The tree that I have proudly on display, I got on Saturday, December 22 for $35 even though it was in a bin marked $24. It was a surprise for Tiffany that I was getting a tree, and I was in hurry, so I didn't say anything... plus, I'm me and probably wouldn't have said anything anyway. Carrell got a tree on Sunday, December 23 for free even though it was marked $60. I guess good things come to those who wait... and go green. It's a pretty nice looking tree too.
Her one concession was lights. Although she fought against it, she worried her house was too drab and un-jolly from the street, much like the Fredianni's of my childhood, so she pulled out the fake candles and set them up in the windows of her house where they've been in Christmases past. She quickly defends herself however, saying that she hopes to find energy-saving ones in the future.

All-in-all, it's pretty impressive feat, and now that Christmas is winding down and trees are being drug out to the curb, she gladly reports that the best part is that there is hardly any clean up and she's got all she needs for next year.

Here's to that! And a final Merry Christmas 2007 everyone, and hello 2008!

Exercise

I have quite a few challenges in mind, and I'm having trouble deciding which to dub my official New Year's Resolution. It might not be all too exciting to write about, but I'm going with one that fell to the wayside during my makeover challenge. Exercise.

Exercise won out as it's the most common of my planned sacrifices, and I feel I should try to make these challenges somewhat relateable. And while I'm sure the world is all clamoring about which they'll try first, a no meat diet or a no sweet diet, I predict exercise finally will be my ticket to mass popularity and my own paparazzi detail.

Maybe not. But hopefully, I'll at least feel better. I should say, though, that while I'm excited by the possibility of feeling better, that's not my focus here. And I'm also not too concerned about my weight, although I will be keeping an eye on that. My goal is to get smarter.

Recently, smart people have done studies proving that exercise not only causes people to do better on tests, it actually rebuilds brain cells. I like the idea of rebuilding my brain. It's something that, after five years out of school and two years working overnights, is probably desperately needed... not that I didn't kill off a good amount of brain cells in college.

So... New Year's Resolution: I will exercise four days a week for an hour a day. There is no deadline for this one, it's just a change in life. I've already got a bad feeling about this as night has fallen on New Year's Day and I'm still wearing my pajamas.