Just a couple days…

Until I announce my first giveaway!  Stay tuned if your keys are chilly…

Final Monday Yoga Update

So I’m not going to update you on the Yoga Meltdown every week like I did with the Shred because I don’t think there would be too much to say.  But I will give you my review of Level 1, which is the only level I have tried thus far.

It’s different.  It’s certainly not your traditional yoga, which I’ve never tried but always supposed to be relaxing.  Jillian’s yoga is not very relaxing; instead, it’s more of a cardio yoga.  You’re constantly shifting positions, going faster as the thirty minute workout progresses, and her voice is in the background explaining the moves and encouraging you on.  See?  Not conducive to any kind of relaxing self-improvement.

Being that I’m new to exercise in general and have never touched anything like yoga, I found some of the moves difficult.  Jillian’s theory here is that by using your own body weight you can increase your strength even better than if you used weights and the DVD box claims you’ll lose five pounds a week doing it.  Well, I’m pretty sure the average person doesn’t lose five pounds a week doing it.  It had me sweating, but my heart rate didn’t increase nearly as much as it did during the Shred.  I find that I only burn about 150-200 calories per workout.  An extra 150 calories burned per day isn’t going to help anyone lose five pounds in one week.

But I do feel it working my muscles and it’s something fun to try.  I have been really slacking in my exercise this week due to some physical health issue, but I’m hoping that within the next few days I can get back in the swing of things.  I find the Yoga Meltdown works best for me, personally, when I do it after a ten minute break following my daily dose of the Shred.  Combined with the Shred it helps me feel like I’m actually accomplishing something with my body, but I still feel like I’m not doing enough.

Anyway, I have read on the interwebs that Level 2 is much harder than Level 1.  I can’t say when I’ll try it, but I’ll update you when I do.

Tuna Burrito Wraps!

It’s Sunday and I actually have a recipe for you!  What’s more, I made this one up by myself, so take a minute and be proud of me.  I tried to make it super healthy and failed a little bit.  Anyway, this makes a great lunch or for dinner works well with a caesar side salad.  We wolfed them down before I could take a picture.

Tuna Burrito Wrap:
Makes 2 servings, prep time is less than 10 minutes
480.5 calories per serving

Ingredients:
2 tortillas
1 stalk celery
1/2 tomato
1/8 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2  5oz cans tuna in water, drained
1/3 cup lite mayo or miracle whip
2 big romaine leaves
garlic powder to taste

1. In medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the celery, tomato, cheese, tuna, mayo, and garlic powder

2.  Warm tortillas in microwave for about five seconds until they’re soft but not too warm.

3.  Lay romaine leaf in center of each tortilla and scoop half of tuna mix onto each leaf.  Roll until a burrito and enjoy!

Actors in Strange Places

Sometimes around lunchtime I turn the TV on for some Headline News and the channel that was on the night before was NBC, so briefly I end up seeing a bit of Days of our Lives (or DOOL as the hardcore viewers call it, which sounds a lot like drool, which I think is what the vast majority of DOOL’s viewers are doing while watching.)

Anyway, sometimes during the brief two minutes it’s on, I recognize people who you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to see.  For instance, about a year after Passions went off the air, the only soap that I ever religiously followed myself, I found that most of the characters had been transplanted into DOOL.  I wondered briefly if there was some sort of cross over plot line.  Did they all move from Harmony?  Are they even related to each other in DOOL like they were in Passions?  I don’t have the patience to find out the answers.

But today I found out that Mr. Sheffield is now on DOOL.  That was trippy for me.  I love reruns of the Nanny and I thought he’d fallen off the radar.  So I look him up on imdb.com, the Internet mecca for when you need to know anything about anyone who has ever been on TV or in a movie, and I found out that he’s done a ton of stuff since the Nanny, including Hannah Montana.  So how about that.

Lofty Goals

Do you ever find yourself in a cycle where every day is exactly the same right down the emotions you experience?  Give me a time of day, I can tell you what emotion I’m most likely feeling.   It’s not that I want to drastically change my life, but it’s starting to get really frustrating that this is what every.single.day is like for me:

10pm: Get in bed.  Read, watch a movie, talk to hubby.  Usually feeling pretty optimistic about life right now.  I’m going to get a good great night’s sleep and get up “early” and accomplish a lot.

12pm: Lights off for hubby.  I’m still wide awake.  Making a mental list of things I should do tomorrow: vacuum, dust, workout, clean off the kitchen table….  Writing it down doesn’t help the ideas just keep coming.

1am: So much for that good night’s sleep.  I know I’m going to have a hard time motivating myself i the morning, but my goal’s for tomorrow are starting to get more lofty.  I’m going to work out three times, I’m going to cook a gourmet dinner, I’m going to get up early and make hubby a fancy breakfast burrito…

2am:  My goals are getting stranger the more sleepy I get.  I’m going to repaint the whole building, I’m going to craft something, I’m going to sell it on Etsy, I’m going to find a way to cure cancer, I’m going to leave the TV off all day, I’m going to book Mittens a spa appointment… I’m going to win an award for all I accomplish…

3am:  Loftiest goals thus far: I’m going to clean out the closet tomorrow!!  I’m going to organize the bedroom!  I WILL SCRUB THE TUB!!

6:30-8am: Hubby get’s up, showers, inevitably wakes me up in the process.  I pee.  I wake up a bit.  I think to myself, “Hey, I should just stay up!  Think of all I could do today.  I could take a small nap in the afternoon if I get tired…”  I get back in bed after the pee.  “Eh, I can sleep until 9 or 9:30 and still get a lot done.”  I set my BlackBerry alarm.  Emotion: Somewhat optimistic but mostly sleepy.

9:30 or 10: Alarm goes off.  “#^*% it.  I’m going to back to sleep.”  Emotion: Indifference.

I will not tell you the actual time I get up.  It’s horrifying.  Emotion: Pissed off at myself.  Severely.

Lunch time emotion: Still pissed off, but tomorrow will be better.  Maybe I’ll still get a lot done after my work out(s).

Work out emotion:  Hating Jillian Michaels.

Just completed work out: Loving Jillian Michaels.

Shower time: I feel great because my muscles are a little sore.

20 minutes later:  Muscles back to normal so I feel like I didn’t do enough.  I feel lazy.

I start cleaning: Stuff is getting done.  At least the floors aren’t covered in cat litter (the one thing I do every day is vacuum.)

Hubby pops in for ten minutes:  Feeling depressed that he’s been gone all day, then leaves again for class.

I distract myself with TV, baking, reading, Internet, the three Twilight soundtracks, what have you: Feeling happier.

Hubby comes home:  Happy to see him.

10pm: Get in bed… tomorrow will be different…

Lather, rinse, repeat.