Let's Talk About Lube and Getting Things Blown

Pervs.

Not THAT kind of lube.  Get your mind out of the gutter.  I'm not Dr. Ruth doing a sex talk up in here.

So here is the story and hopefully telling it will help someone out as opposed to just making me terribly embarrassed that I was unaware.

I love my treadmill.  Not only does it allow me to walk and run when South Dakotan weather is nasty humid hot or -35F chilly, but it gives me hope.  It is my exercise buddy.  It doesn't judge me when I am forced to slow my pace.  It welcomes me back whether it's been since yesterday or a week since I visited.  It makes me healthy by taking care of me in a way I cannot do alone.  Yesterday it failed me.  I turned it on, it powered up, ran for a minute and then died.  I turned it on again and the poor thing tried again before powering off.  In desperation, I fled to the interwebs for answers.  I didn't call my husband to save me.  I didn't yell for tech support.  I sought to help my friend the treadmill.  After ages of sifting through the inevitable misinformation, I found a manual for my Schwinn 6100p treadmill.  Girding myself for the upcoming challenge, with my cute little pink and purple tool kit in hand, I began the delicate surgery on my dear friend.  Once naked, I inspected each fuse, wire belt, metal thingy, computer board and circuit, and everything else.  After checking that all was secure (and removing the toy mousie that God only knows how it got in there) I broke out the lube.

I sprayed under the running belt and along the rotating drums to reduce friction.  Apparently, this should be done regularly.  Oops!  So I lubed the hell out of him.

Then I gave his bits and pieces the blowing of his life.  He's never been blown like that thanks to a big ol can of compressed air.

Sparkly clean, not a speck of dust, primed for performance.

I plugged it back in.  Held my breath.  Pushed the power and start button.

It works!  I fixed it all by myself.  Now back on to the task of letting my treadmill help fix ME.






Moral of the story:  To do routine maintenance on yourself, your equipment might need some too.

Only Four More Sleeps Till Christmas

It's a tad early but to quote my favorite Christmas song:

"There's magic in the air this evening
Magic in the air
The world is at her best, you know
When people love and care
The promise of excitement is one the night will keep
After all there's only one more sleep till Christmas

The world has gotta smile today
The world has gotta glow
There's no such thing as strangers
When a stranger says "Hello"
And everyone is family, we're havin' so much fun
After all there's only one more sleep till Christmas

'Tis the season to be jolly and joyous
With a burst of pleasure we feel it all right
It's a season when the Saints can employ us
To spread the news about peace and to keep love alive"

I'm really trying to LIVE these song lyrics this week. I'm rocking an updated ticker:

 

But it doesn't make me feel good. I still feel fat but fake it since I feel like I'm supposed to be overjoyed.  But I'm trying.  I'm trying because of people like YOU.  I have been SO blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life that cheer me on, motivate me, listen patiently, and are just beautiful people inside and out.  They believe in me even when I can't bring myself to.  Never taking for themselves, they just give and give.  I have never met such beautiful women in all my life.  It's the kind of beauty that inspires others to be better people.

They ARE Christmas.  The feelings of joy, love, peace, and hope that surround us all.

Merry Christmas.  Happy Hanukkah.  Feliz Navidad.  Joyeux Noel.  Shalom.  

Thank you.

Victory Food

So, I'm still depressed but thankfully the gods of health and fitness have decided to take pity on me and add to my weight loss tally.

I don't get how this weight stuff works.  I'm super careful, eat exactly where I should be and nothing.  Then I say the heck with it, eat pizza (to be fair I gorged on pizza), have root beer floats, and almost call it quits and lose.  WEIRD.  I'm not complaining.  I'll take the loss.  i just wish I understood it.

ALSO:  There is this super sweet and beautiful girl I met on the internet who sent me a pair of jeans that didn't fit her properly.  THEY FIT ME!  They're a size 14 and they fit me.  Get this, when I graduated high-school, I was wearing a size 16.  When I started this whole dieting thing I was wearing a size 18 and even then they were tight.  I hope everyone trying to get healthy can experience the absolute, bubbly joy like I felt when those jeans slipped right on without a fight.  No spillage over the waistband either!

So in honor weight loss victory, I decided to try for a breakfast victory this morning.  On the menu:  maple sausage links, half a grapefruit, cranberry juice, and a delightful cheese soufflé.

 

Mini Cheese Soufflé

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup whole milk (I didn't have any so I used 2% with a splash of cream in it)
• 2½ tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 5 large eggs - divided with yolks and whites in separate bowls
• 1 cup coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Grease 6 individual ramekins with butter. Coat each dish with the Parmesan cheese.
3. Heat milk in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering.
4. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until mixture begins to foam.  (about 3 minutes — avoid browning). Remove saucepan from heat for 1 minute.
5. Pour warm milk into flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Return to heat and cook, whisking constantly until thick (2 to 3 minutes). Remove from heat, and whisk in paprika, salt, and nutmeg.
6. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, whisking to blend after each addition. Sprinkle in cheese and whisk to incorporate. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, scrape soufflé base into large bowl. Cool to lukewarm. (about 10 minutes)
7. Beat egg whites in a clean, large bowl until stiff but not dry (you can use an electric mixer).
8. Fold whites into the soufflé base a little at a time. Transfer batter to prepared dishes, divided equally.
9. Set dishes onto a sheet pan, and place in oven on the lowest rack level. Immediately reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Bake until soufflés are puffed, tops golden brown, and center moves slightly when dish is shaken gently (about 25 minutes). Avoid opening oven door during first 20 minutes.
10. Serve immediately.

Depressed

Yes, I'm depressed.

No, it's not dire.

I don't feel like doing anything.  I can make myself, but I still don't like it.  I'm in such a mood that I'd rather sit on the couch and not move as opposed to doing almost anything.  I'm actually feeling a tad better today.  I wanted to blog about this on Thursday but simply could not bring myself to do so.  Not that I didn't want to, I just couldn't be bothered.  I think it's the weather.  The holidays.  The final exams coming next week.  The scale creeping so slowly in only 1/10 of a pound increments.  But I'm not allowed to be depressed.

That's my sister's "thing".  If she comes off as depressed at all, everyone is calling me and asking me to check on her, pleading with me to be extra kind to her, and just in general revolving the entire universe around her.  If I'm depressed, I get told that I'm not and that I need to be less dramatic.  Wonder why I learned to just shut my trap and not bother anyone with my problems.  Whether imaginary or legit.

Bollocks.

To distract myself yesterday, I made a couple candies to the holidays.

Hard caramels that (if I may toot my own horn) rival Werther's Originals.  My first try!

And I made gumdrops!  The red ones are orange flavored and the green are lemon.  I think they'll be used to decorate the gingerbread house I'm making with my niece this year.

The gumdrops aren't ready yet as they take two days to cure, but I have sampled a few and they're delicious!

Also, i think it's about time to start thinking about New Year's resolutions.  It IS coming fast.

UGH! I Feel Squishy

I am still trying to battle Thanksgiving.  I ate reasonably, didn't drink but one non-water beverage, and even avoided gluten pretty darn successfully.

Except for the dip.


YOU HEARD ME!  Hi!  I'm Anna and apparently when you mix a brick of cream cheese with taco seasoning and then top it with cheese, tomato, lettuce, and olives... I can't stop eating it.  Like, I would stop and realize I was licking my fingers even though I swear I don't remember ever taking a chip to that dip.  Super-salty taco dip equals major bloat.  MAJOR.  I woke up on Friday morning an weighed EIGHT pounds more than I did on Thursday morning.  It made me want to vomit.  So I've been eating as clean as possible since then, avoiding salt and gluten, and am almost down to pre-turkey day weight except for a reasonable 1.5 pounds that I can feel as a squishy fluid all around my waist.  So no weigh in for me this week.  I'll just be happy to lose this bloat.

But I'm a self hater.  I made naan tonight.

Delicious flatbread, grilled outside, a touch of char to the edge, but super soft none the less.  I totally ate like four of them.  So yeah, I'll be squishier tomorrow morning.  I can feel the itching beginning already.  Guess what?  SO worth it.

In other news:  I've decided to start working towards item #1 on my 101 things in 1001 days list.  I've started working on a few (including learning a piano piece by heart, new soup creations, and smiling at babies) but the first goal I wrote down was "Run a 5k for time".  I don't just want to complete the run, I want to race!  I'm starting the Couch to 5K program again as soon as finals are done and this time I'm going to really work on my weakness.  Pace.  I haven't been able to develop a good rhythm that doesn't have me blowing the majority of my energy before the second leg of the race.  So I'm working on it.  I wish I had someone to run with to help with this.  I'm too intimidated to hang out with the local running club.  Maybe I'll feel legit enough post-5K-race.

Empty Victory

I'm feeling down again.

I don't understand why my body, or brain, or whatever, is letting this fat chick take control.  I should be be pleased today.  I've done it!  I've officially moved to the other side of my weight loss ticker.

I was happy, don't get me wrong.  I got that wonderful, warm, cheerful feeling in my heart but it faded so quickly.  Second after it was replaced by the insidious voice of that fat chick inside me.  I thought I was destroying her but the whispers have began again.  Looking in the mirror, I don't see twenty-six pounds gone.  She whispers, "what's the point of weight loss if you can't see it at all?"  Reminds me that I still look fat. She makes me look at the spots on my naked body that are disgusting and obviously not changed by weight loss.

Twenty-six pounds is a lot!  That's the weight of three good-sized newborn babies.  You would think I could see something.  Heck, I think I should see something.  But no. That bastard of a fat chick is still in control.  Why won't she leave me be?  I just want to look in the mirror once and think "ooh.  I look good!"  Is that too much to ask for?  I mean, I didn't even really feel pretty on my wedding day.  This sucks!

Happy Monday! No, Really.

I've been suffering from what I refer to as "the weekend bloat".  It's due to my weekend eating being a tad more free and less regimented when it comes to salts, gluten, and fats.  So to be fair, I don't really suffer on the weekend.  I enjoy myself immensely.  It's the full pound or two of bloat that is in evidence on Monday and often until Wednesday that makes me suffer.  I feel all squishy around my mid-section and I think it's really visible in my face.  BUT not today.  i hopped on the scale this morning and it said I am .2 pounds less than I was on Friday morning!  That's not a big loss at all but since I sorta expected it to say I was up two pounds due to bloat, I'm thrilled.  I guess this low-cholesterol diet IS good for something besides torturing me.

In other news:
I made the best salad EVER.  So simple, healthy, and amazing it taste like one of those bad-for-you meals.  It even looks unhealthy.  I failed to pick up tomatoes at the store so it was a tad lacking today but generally it tastes like a BLT.

It's just baby romaine lettuce tossed in a balsamic vinegarette and then topped with a half ounce of cheddar cheese, two diced hard-boiled egg whites, and a serving of turkey pepperoni that I crisped up in the oven.  It really is delicious!  Especially with tomatoes diced as well.