Monday, July 21, 2008

An interesting article

So I am not sure who might find this interesting, but a few years ago, my honey (Marcus) introduced me to NPR (National Public Radio).  It's a great talk radio show with loads of different stuff. I listen to it on my way to work in the morning (Morning Edition) and then on my way to picking up Irene (All Things Considered).

About a week ago (maybe less) I got to listen to a section on Morning Edition having to do with recommendations for reading on an Airplane.  It was a combination of both adult and kids books.  It really sounded fascinating..but of course, since I was driving I couldn't write down the books.  So I went up to npr.org and searched.  Lo and behold, here are the recommendations.  I think I'll be picking up a few of these.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91364064

I did a small search.  Some of the books are on http://www.audible.com .

Friday, July 11, 2008

Gathering my thoughts

Well, this year has been a roller coaster. I don't get the feeling it's going to settle down any time soon. January began the era of Grandpa care. June entailed the end of an era with passing of Grandpa Kuchta. The estate is getting in order and as we go through his personal effects there are so many things that have been found. ID cards, and patches from 1919 for service. He was in the army at one point I believe. We've come across a bible that was written in czech. It's positively amazing to see the history.

Things coming:
Change in vehicles. With the gas prices we're getting rid of the Honda Odessey. We're going to a Toyota Prius if fate is kind to us. There is a 4 month waiting list on that one. *rolling eyes*. We'll see.
Estate closer. Fortunately I am an in-law so I am happily ignorant of the process of this for the time being.
Parents going to Scotland.
Getting the landscaping dealt with
Repairing the deck before winter
Re-sealing the deck before winter
Praying our retaining wall can last 1 more year so we can put together funds to deal with that. It's going to be expensive!
Our leaning fence in the front yard

whew..and I am sure i haven't listed it all. But listing helps. I really need to get my notebook check list. I think it will help my brain a lot.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Wii Fit here we come!

Well we were able to purchase a Wii Fit this weekend. :) YAY! that will teach me not to pre-order something that has had a serious amount of hype lately. :D. Got a tip that a shipment was coming in to Toys R Us on Sunday morning. Apparently they got a shipment of Wii's as well. There was a decent line outside when we got there at 9am (they open at 10). Marcus was first in line YAY!. We took it home, unpacked it and had a blast.

I have a Wii age: of 29 based on a fitness test. Still overweight..but when did we not know that one ;) I think my BMI was something like 28.++

Marcus had a Wii age of 44! But what's amazing...his BMI was 22.++!!! Really? Seriously? I am so happy at that. I haven't fattened him up tremendously in reality. His metabolism is really still helping him. We just have to get him moving (which he seemed to know for years). I had serious doubts. I thought for sure he was considered overweight given how I was. But nope!! Just needs to move some more! So we've taken on the Wii Challenge. We're going to exercise on the Wii Fit for 3 months - every day and see how the system works. I have to say it'll be interesting. You never really know your weight, but rather it's based on you BMI which is what is more imporant. It then charts your work so you can see your results as you go. The Wii Fit is actually pretty amazing.

Irene even loves it. We took video yesterday of her learning to hoola hoop! :D it was adorable. My favorite is the ski jump. Tonight is the Yoga. That was hard when I tried it yesterday! Talk about control. Am feeling it in my back. Other things we tried: We did tightrope walking, light jogging, doing headers with a soccer ball into the goal (while missing panda bears and kleats (sp?)). Yoga had a load of different poses that helps you to streagnthen and tone. Aerobics had dancing and many others. The Balance games were just all really inovative. We've unlocked maybe 4-6 extras (Irene having unlocked the most). Tonight I intend to that record holder ;). Unlocking more games and exercises has to do with the amount of time you spend with teh Wii Fit. Irene did 30 minutes. So it looks like for about every 5-8 minutes of work out you unlock something in the early part of the time. I expect that as you work out more, it will take longer to unlock some of the more choice games.

Oh! I believe I mentioned our Wii age above. Let me explain this a bit better: Wii Fit through a series of tests tell you how "old" you are based on your fitness level. It's not your real age it's trying to guess. It's tell you how old your body is based on how good or not so good your center of balance is and how quickly you can correct it. I am sure it is doing much more during the test (not sure what), but it is truly amazing how it works things out.

If you have a Wii, I highly recommend this. Never have I wanted to get off my duff more to do exercise than now. If you want an excuse for a Wii, never could I have imagined a better option for buying a video game system. Non-violent, group entertaining and most of all...just Fun.