Counting Calories

Joe's mom told me about a cool website: www.Sparkpeople.com . This is a free website where you can set fitness and nutrition goals. It also makes it easy to keep track of how many calories you take in and how much exercise you have done. My goal is to get in better shape, and in the process hopefully lose a little weight. So today I started by entering everything I ate. It's amazing to me how many calories are in processed foods... especially salad dressing, tortillas, mayonnaise, butter, and of course M&Ms.
I figured I better eat a little bit of chocolate, so I will have my fill for another month, but have say that it totally wasn't worth the 100 calories for 8 M&Ms!!
And then the veggies have just about zero calories in them. I really need to eat more of them...

Here are my totals for today

I made it!!

My goal on New Year's day was not to eat any chocolate, or anything with chocolate in it for a month. I went through withdrawal, denial, and temptation, but I did it! Against my faith in myself. Now I think; why not have some chocolate today, and then go without for another month? Make it a goal to have chocolate only once a month? Ok , maybe I'll change the rules a little, so I can eat chocolate sprinkles on my bread, and have some hot chocolate once in a while. Maybe from now on the rule will be that I can't eat JUST chocolate. No M&M's, chocolate chip cookies (or dough), chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream etc. In short, all the stuff I like to binge on. Life really isn't that bad without it!

Stats

My cousin Jenny had a fun thing on her blog. Statistics about her marriage. I decided to take the liberty and do some plagiarizing (I'm not in college anymore right??) Joe and I have been married for 7.5 years. I had to think really hard about some of these, because we have had a lot of change. Hopefully these next 5 years will be a little more stable.

number of homes lived in: 9
number of states lived in: 4
number of wards attended: 11 (2 of our wards got split)
number of cars driven: 9 (these are cars we actually DROVE)
number of cars owned: 14 (I'm sure I'm forgetting some!)
number of schools attended: 2
number of degrees earned: 2
number of callings held: 8
number of jobs for Joe: 3
number of jobs for Jessica: 2
number of kids: 3
ER visits: 2
Trips: ?? at least 2 a year
number of diapers changed: 6 diapers x 912.5 days x 3 kids = 16,425 (conservative estimate)

I have noticed a trend in our car buying choices. We don't seem to be able to make up our mind as to what car we really want to be driving. Every time we get new ones I think we are set, and will just drive them into the ground. But then I always manage to find something I don't like about them (like size, gas mileage, function) and we end up with something else and better (or so you would think) The problem really is that you just can't have it all. You can't have a nice big vehicle that has all the right functionality, with good gas mileage! My quest for the perfect car is far from over.....

Friends' blogs

I have become somewhat addicted to reading blogs. I check all my friends' and family's blog every day, and am somewhat disappointed when nothing new is to be read. I love being able to keep up on my loved ones' lives. I have even gone so far, as to convince 2 of my friends that it's a good idea for them to start their own blog, and that I'll be checking it daily. Thanks girls!

State of the Union

I find it hard to watch the State of the Union address. Most of the things said, seem like empty promises. Plus, Bush's time is almost up, and so are his chances to change the world. He's had 8 years, and I'm disappointed in the result. Not that a different nominee would have done any better (Al Gore, or Kerry). That's the problem.... we only get to choose between the lesser of two evils. Hopefully Romney will win the primary's and I can vote for the first time in my life, with a real hope that the person I vote for will be elected to be president of the United States. Yes, I am 27, and have never voted in my life, because I have just become a United States citizen in August.

Skunk

Tonight as we were watching the Guiness World Records on TV, we hear my cat meouwing in his crazy voice that sounds like one of my kids. We have had trouble with neighboring cats visiting and fighting with our cats, so I thought it was that cat. I turned on the porch light, and saw to my amazement that it wasn't a cat, but a skunk. She/he was eating my cats' food!! Imagine that! I guess skunks like turkey and chicken too. We had fun watching her, the cats just sat and watched her as well. In this picture you can see my cat in the foreground, disappointed that his food is being et by a skunk. He was smart enough to stay back!

Two down

Today we got rid of 2 of our animals. We sold Cookie and our mule. Cookie was just costing us money, and in addition to that she was mean to my horse. I am still planning to sell Faith as well, but that won't be as easy as Cookie. It took us a while to get the mule into the trailer because he wasn't tame. The most exciting thing about this was the way Faith reacted to all of this. We put her in her stall, and she worked up a sweat, and freaked out. I think I am going to wait a little while before I get another horse, because it's too cold, and I don't have very much time to ride anyways.