Warning this may be LONG I have so much to blog about that I think I may just put it in one long random post as opposed to a bunch of shorter ones like I usually do. Sorry if I lose ya! Today is the last day of the first week of the January Exercise Challenge! So if you haven’t already, don’t’ forget to send me your results (I’ll email a reminder too). As for me I got 2 days in so far and we’ll see about today. I’m working from home due to weather/storms (more on that later) so I won’t get in my 2 sets of stairs but maybe I can do a DVD or some ellipticalness. I did the first half of my Yoga Booty Ballet: Abdominals & Core on Wednesday and used 5lb weights for the arm portion. BIG mistake for the first time in a long time, towards the end of the work out I had to drop down to 3lb weights and let me tell you my triceps are not too happy with me today but oh well, at least I know they still work and I must test them again today/night. Then Thursday morning woke up and did 5 push-ups using our new Push Up Pro. The husband’s goal is to do 10 every morning so I thought I’d give it a shot too. Even on my knees those things are tough. I have no idea if I did them right but at least I tried. Then I did 2 sets of stairs at work (15 flights and then 17 flights) so I have 5 APs for the week so far which is A LOT compared to what I was NOT doing during the break. Food yesterday got a little out of control (see below), but that’s okay, today will be back to normal.

The scale number is slowly creeping back down. I had gotten down to 132.2 on the 26th and stayed between that and 133.6 until NYE day. We went to Cambria and Hearst Castle for New Years which means a 3 hour road trip and even though I packed TONS of water and a couple healthy snacks we still ate crappy. I realized that I don’t drink much water when we do road trips because I hate having to stop in general more or less to use some nasty gas station/public restroom. There is not enough seat covers and toilet paper to protect me from the grossness that breeds in those places. Sometimes you have to but I always get skeezed out and then stop consuming fluids. Last WI for 2007b was 133.6. I didn’t WI on January 1st because we got back late but January 2nd decided to be a little mean coming in at 136.4. I realize some of that was water retention and some was crappy food intake and TOM deciding when it would really make its formal appearance but come on, I said GOOD-BYE to that number long ago. Today I’m back to the 134s but TOM is also here so I should be back down early next week. Either way I am still at or under my Lifetime goal of 135 so all is well in the land if size 6 :).

Storms, now this may not be something totally unfamiliar for a lot of you, but for us here in CA and more specifically the Bay Area/North Bay, we are NOT that familiar with them nor are we very prepared for them. Our weather isn’t great but it’s not bad either. It rains on occasion during rainy season and we have fire seasons because it gets dry and sure we have the occasional earthquake but those of us who are natives aren’t really fazed by them. We don’t get snow unless we want to drive approximately 4 hours north to the mountains (Tahoe area) and we sure as hell don’t get storms on a regular basis. Shit we freak out during the first “rain,” and according to the husband it’s the same way east coasters freak out during the first snow (in relation to driving). We just aren’t used to extreme weather. I am now sitting here typing on batter power and by candle light because we lost our power at around 9:30am but if you clicked on either of the links above or watched the Today Show you may have heard about these storms that are hitting us out here. It’s BAD people. So bad that the news even said to stay home and telecommute if you can, which is exactly what the husband and I decided to do. It took a bit of convincing to get mister “I’m used to this weather and can drive in anything” to stay home, but once the wind got so strong that it shook the house AND the coffee table that his laptop is on, he decided it was probably best to not drive in. He’s only lived in CA for 6 years but you’d think by now he’d realize that even though he may be an expert bad weather driver, the rest of the Bay Area isn’t and all hell breaks loose at the sign of a few droplets of water more or less POURING rain AND high winds (50-70 MPH). It’s like we all get retarded, me included (hope I didn’t offend anyone by using that term) and forget how to drive. According to the news, the last time we had storms like this was in 2005 or 2003, now I can’t remember or even look it up, but it’s been long enough that we all forgot what to do again. The good thing is that they have been warning us and encouraging people to prepare for flooding that seems to always happen in wine country and oh yes, let’s not forget the mudslides, we have a season for that too apparently. So anyone who has ever visited here and been awestruck about all the beautiful houses built on the side of the hills and mountains. This is about the time that those home owners are not so happy about the gorgeous views. Yup, you got it, some of those homes have fallen off or slid down or even started sinking in the past. It’s insane.

Now in addition to the horrendous rain and winds it’s garbage day and you guessed it lots of cans have been knocked over and garbage spilled out. Well for the most part everyone in our area is capable of cleaning up their own garbage but we do have a little old lady (like 75+ yo) who lives across the street from us who is all alone and my husband, mister social, knows all the neighbors (I keep to myself) and likes to watch out for the lady. At one point we heard a BOOM that startled us so we looked out side to see what happened but didn’t see anything, although we did notice that the lady’s garbage cans had toppled over and some garbage had fallen out. Well what does my kind and wonderful husband do? He goes outside in the rain and wind (it had slowed and lightened a bit but he still got drenched) to pick up her garbage cans and clean up the debris. It’s those little things that make me realize why I fell in love with him. Who does those things anymore? Not many people in big cities that’s for sure, but then again I did marry a small town country boy from RURALL PA.

OMG before I forget, there is nothing more eye opening than watching the morning news while drinking your coffee and hearing about a 100 foot tree that has been uprooted and fallen and then realizing that it happened only blocks fro your home. Talk about a “HOLY SHIT” moment.

Okay, I think that’s enough rambling for now. Just got our electricity back at 11am and I want to post this before it goes out again. Good thing we love candles and have a ton as well as a gas stove to make tea and soup. Those of you who live in areas where this is typical Winter weather, I don’t know how you do it…

If anyone is interested to see how we’re doing out here you can click here and here for info and pictures. Hope we don’t blow away!