Five Minute Friday: VIEW
So I’m sitting at my son’s ball game tonight when AKAJaneRandom texts me about Five Minute Friday.
This, by the way, was my view at the time.
Got home late, got kids in the bed (late), read to them two chapters of Kingdom Keepers II (the serial that we’re reading), grabbed the iPad and gave the Five Minute Friday Party #FMFParty on Twitter a whirl.
The writing prompt for tonight was the word VIEW, to which the immediate thing that came to mind was the view of the sun rising in Haleakala, Hawaii. I had the pleasure of going there with John several years ago, and we drove up to the top of the volcano in the middle of the night to watch the sunrise. It was one of the most glorious and incredible VIEWs I’ve ever seen, before or since. Pictures don’t do it justice. But then most of the best views really are better in person, aren’t they?
P.S. So writing that took five minutes but digging up the photos I wanted to use and adding links took like an 15 extra minutes so this was more like a 20 minute Friday.
Oh, and adding this P.S. just took up another minute, so make that 21. :)
Workin’ Out
I joined a gym, and for the first time in a long, LONG time am actually serious about not just losing weight but being healthier.
Caden’s first grade class studied the human body a few months back and he learned about the heart. This prompted a conversation about heart attacks and whether not I was going to have one.
Now, you have to understand that once Caden learns about a potentially bad thing he is afraid of it. It’s why he doesn’t like to fly or doesn’t want to go on a cruise boat. He learned on TV that sometimes there are crashes or accidents an knowing that has made him afraid.
Similarly, learning that you can have problems with your heart made him a tad fearful of that too.
He asked me at bed one night if he could have a heart attack. I told him I thought it was pretty unlikely given his young age and no family history, no heart problems and that he was active and exercised.
So he asked if I could have a heart attack. Um, well, I dunno … maybe? I’m young and no family history, but unlike Caden I don’t exercise and I don’t eat healthy consistently.
His concern, as well as just general displeasure with being overweight and with huffing and puffing after just three flights of stairs, gave me the motivation I needed to go for it.
A great new gym was just built a few miles from the house and they have a child’s playroom that the kids LOVE!. One day, I had done a class for an hour and then went to get them from the play room. They begged me to go workout some more that they wanted to stay longer. Having them go with me and not complain about being there has been a HUGE motivator to go and to keep going.
So far I’ve only lost a few pounds because getting my diet figured out has been a challenge. Working out makes me hungry! And eating the right stuff has been an adjustment. I can tell my endurance improves every time, so even if I’m not seeing the numbers plummet just yet I know it’s making a difference.
My motto is to just move. Because my job and my hobbies are fairly sedentary I don’t move enough. I’ve tried the 10,000 steps a day programs and on a good day I might hit 3,000 because I do a lot of sitting. Sitting to write, sitting to read, sitting to knit, sitting to sew, to watch movies, and so on. So going to the gym and just spending the entire time moving is something. While I’m on the treadmill or elliptical I read or watch movies so I’m not really sacrificing my hobbies to add exercise, which is another motivator.
My goal is to go up the three flights of stairs at work without being totally winded at the top. Also to improve balance and flexibility, flatten my poochy tummy by strengthening my “core,” and train to run/jog/walk a 5K. The trainer tells me I can shed 60 pounds and 3 sizes and get my BMI in a healthy range in 6 months to a year depending on how much I work out and well I control my diet.
Sounds good to me. I’ve been going at for a month and will have an evaluation of how I’m doing in about 2 months. More to come then! Wish me luck!
Superheroes Eat Too
We finally made it over to Supper Heroes restaurant last weekend.
In our neck of the woods, locally-owned burger and chicken places pop up from time to time. We definitely like to try new places and sometimes take others there or make it a family favorite.
Every thing I’d heard about Supper Heroes from those who had been there was good, and we had to, of course, check it out for the superhero theming.
We all ordered pretty “safe” entrees, nothing too out there, ahtough the menu packs lots of variety. The boys had chicken fingers and I got a bacon cheeseburger. I had to try the fried green tomatoes too, because fried green tomatoes are my favorite vegetable.
It is still considered a vegetable, even if you batter and fry it … right?
The burger reminded me of a Red Robin burger but on sourdough toast. The green tomatoes weren’t the best I’ve had but it may be because it’s too early in the growing season to have them fresh. I’ll just have to try them again. ;)
Finn didn’t have much to say on the chicken — keep reading for his full review – but he liked watching Star Wars Episode 1 on the flat screen while we were there.
The favorite part for Caden was that the dessert that came with the kids meal was your choice of a Little Debbie cake. (And, being allowed to play his brother’s iPod during the meal. He wouldn’t even look up for a picture.)
I don’t generally eat slaw but the look of this slaw was intriguing. It little red flakes in it that turned out to be cayenne pepper. The slaw was kinda sweet, so the cayenne gave it a sweet-heat flavor.
I saved the best review for last though.
From the outside, you wouldn’t even know there was a restaurant in the building, much less a super-hero restaurant.
So Finn, the thoughty 9-year-old he is, said:
“From the outside it looks kinda boring, but on the inside it’s pretty awesome.”
‘Nuf Said.
Check ‘em Out @ 1812 Winchester Road (Huntsville AL).
Also check out the reviews and photos by AKA Jane Random and Rocket City Mom.
The Color Purple
At what point does a life event become a blog post? Sometimes it’s after the fact. Other times? Well, other times, you can be still doing said event and writing the blog post about it in your head. This was one of those times.
Me coloring my hair, in and of itself, isn’t really blog-worthy, because, really, women color their hair every day, right? What’s so special about that?
But something set this time apart to me. That something was the color purple. I just knew I would blog about it when the color I put on my hair was PURPLE, as in the color of Barney and grape jelly.
The color is actually Cherry Truffle, which sounds delicious doesn’t it? And it describes the color surprisingly well — a dark chocolate with a punch of deep red. But to achieve this color on your hair, the color applied is apparently Barney Purple. No one would buy it if they told you that on the box though.
I mix and begin to apply the color and it’s getting more and more purple as I go. It occurs to me at this point: what if it’s not supposed to be purple and I’ve done something wrong or it’s a bad batch and I actually end up with, um, purple hair? It was too late then, so I kept going. I resolved that I’d either accept and embrace purple hair or … call Amber, who cuts and used to color my hair, and see what she could do. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. But I didn’t know that yet.
When it was time to rinse, oh my word. The purple goop I applied had nothing on the purple-hued water that came running off my head. I’m talking the color of grape Koolaid! I was alone in my bathroom but literally laughed out loud when I saw what resembled a bath tub full of Welch’s grape juice.
As I continued to rinse, the water changed from resembling grape Koolaid, to freshly brewed tea, to iced tea, to clear.
I was relieved, after drying my hair, to see no more purple but instead a pretty shade of deep red and chocolate.
Good times, pretty hair, funny blog post. :o)
