"Who is that dangerously unbalanced woman?"

Today my Wii Fit told me that I am unbalanced. It also said that I'm overweight (who would have guessed?!) and gave my Mii some lovely love handles in the hip area to remind me. It also asked me if I find myself tripping when I walk. I guess this means I need to work harder to get into shape.

I must say, though, that in spite of the little digs at my fitness, it is a very enjoyable game. Bud got it for Christmas, and we've all had fun trying to ski, snowboard, hula-hoop, do yoga and a variety of balance games. I even find I have sore abs...probably from trying to do the jack-knife ab workout in the strength training.

So, in order to get into better shape, Ben's talked me into running (or jogging, in my case) a New Year's Eve 5K. (That's 3 miles, for those who don't know.) I'm so very slow at it. Several years ago, ('98 to '99) we ran a "Beat the New Year" 5K in Salt Lake. It started at 11:30pm, giving you a comfy 30 minutes to finish the race. Only, it wasn't so comfy for me as I didn't beat the new year. I was about 4 minutes slow. (But I wasn't the last finisher--I think I was 2nd to last.) My time hasn't improved since then, but I guess I'll give it a try. This one isn't officially a "beat the new year" race. It starts at 10:00pm. I figure I should be able to beat it anyway. ;) If anything, I figure it'll be a great way to start a New Year's resolution of excercising more regularly.

Oh, and 5 points if you can name the movie my title line is from.

Family Christmas Party

Last night we had our family Christmas party with Ben's family. It was so much fun. All 3 of his sisters were able to come this year. Ben dressed up and played Santa again this year, though he didn't stuff his costume. He was a very under-nourished Santa! He passed out presents to all the kids, and even adults, too. It was great fun seeing his bros-in-law sit on his lap! Little J. couldn't get enough of Santa--had to sit on his lap about 4 times. It was so cute. His twin sister A. was too scared to even look at him. About half way through handing out presents, Mister (who had been the first to jump into Santa's lap) turned to me and whispered "That's not the real Santa." I acted shocked and said, "Who is it, then?" "Daddy!" he exclaimed. At which point Lemur (who had been more reluctant to sit on his lap) took a better look at him and realized who was in the Santa costume. It was so funny. My SIL got pictures of everyone. I'll have to steal them from her, or you can look at her blog--Allreds--from my blog list at the side.

Triathalon....

I'm tentatively letting a friend talk me into a triathalon in May. (Yes, laughter is appropriate at this point. Please, don't try to hold it in!) Here's the thing, though: I'm not a swimmer...or a biker...or a runner. (Remember, I'm a jogger--a very slow jogger!)

So, here's what it includes: swim 13 lengths of the pool, bike 11 miles, and run a 5K. I've been running 3 miles a day this week (see Dec. jog log), but today I decided I needed to see where I'm at in the swimming department. I think I swam a total of 18 lengths--and I think I did 13 lengths in about 15 or 20 minutes. This is probably a laughable time, but I was resting in between each length, so I wasn't really trying for a great time. Here's my problem (well, one of them, at least): I can't swim with my face in the water. I don't know how to breathe doing it--I can't exhale and inhale without sputtering and coming to a dead stop in the water. So, I do a lot of backstroking, and a fair amount of some weird side crawl. This is definitely going to be a challenge for me. I'll need to hit my friend up for some pointers, as she is practically a fish.

I haven't attempted the biking yet. Maybe I need to hit those spinning classes which have always put a fair amount of fright into me. But I really need to find some brave soul who wouldn't mind coming with me so I don't make a fool out of myself all alone in front of all the hard-core spinners.

We'll see what comes of this. I guess at the very least I'll be improving my health, providing I don't drown, of course.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

If you look closely you can see Bud just to the right of the white screen.

Jingle Bells

Missy is 3 or 4 kids from the front. (When I pan over to Bud, you can only see the top of his head, just to the left of the conductor's stand.)

Orchestra

Last night my big twins, Bud and Missy, had their very first orchestra concert. They were so excited, and they did a great job. Missy plays the violin, and Bud plays the viola. They played Jingle Bells, Jolly Old St. Nicholas (I think--I'm having a momentary memory lapse), and Carol of the Bells. They played with students from 4 other elementary schools, and last night was the first time they had played all together. I thought it was pretty good for only taking lessons since the end of September. When I have more time, I'll try to post a couple of clips of the video I took during the rehersal.

Christmas Lights

Didn't I just take these down from last year?! Bentley keeps telling me it's time to put up the Christmas decor. I seriously feel like I just did it or, rather, undid it. He told me he keeps forgetting it's Christmas until he goes to work and sees all the decorations. Okay, honey, I got the clue! So, today Missy helped (well, more like watched) me string 1000 lights on the Japanese maple, plus more lights on the bushes, and wrap the pillars on the front porch. It took a while, but the house looks nice! I wasn't about to go on the roof this year to hang the icicle lights. Though, Lemur said that I needed to so that Santa would know where to come. Here's a picture Buddy took of the house.

I also went to my quilting class today. We need to practice, practice, practice the machine quilting before attempting our quilt projects. Here are my first tries. It's really fun to do. But, as you can see, I really need lots of practice to get it even and consistant, and I need to practice doing one thing so it looks good. I just did whatever, wherever--star here, heart there, a snowman, a little flower or leaf.

December jog log

12/30--3 miles
12/27--16 lengths of the pool
12/24--3 miles
12/18--18 lengths of the pool
12/17--3 miles
12/16--3 miles
12/15--3 miles
12/9--2 miles
12/4--3 miles
12/1--2.4 miles

I petered out last month, thanks to a nasty cold I caught. It wiped me out for 2 weeks, and I'm still coughing up junk. Hopefully it's the worst of the season and I don't get another one (or worse, the flu--the shots better work this year!). I'm committing to doing better over the holidays--I need to do better.

Ugh, I think I'm fighting the sickies again. I just need to wear a surgical mask and get a Costco-sized dispenser of hand sanitizer.