Giving Sore Muscles a Whole New Meaning

I know why the bulk of the USA is overweight!! Starting a workout program at the gym or even a home for that matter is painful, and not just mentally :) Why in the world I start and stop...start and stop...start and stop is utterly insane and almost beyond endurable to my poor old muscles. I have avoided the stairs in the house all day because going up is so hard, and going down is excruciating.  My floor is scattered with toys because it hurts so bad to bend over, I would rather walk over them than pick them up and have to holler in pain.  If you have ever dreaded just a simple act like sitting down on the toilet because of the lactic acid screaming in your thigh muscles...then you know my PAIN!!! I didn't even want to leave the house, because walking is awkward and I feel like people either think I have a swagger or have to poop ;)  I sat in bed last night with a heating pad on my lap, and although it felt great since the cold weather has moved in; it surely didn't help with my muscle soreness.  And did I mention my going back to the YMCA is gonna happen, but I whence at the inevitable next date with the eliptical and free weights.  I know where my problem stems from so I suppose we should talk about it.

For ten years or better I was either a group fitness instructor, personal trainer, or physical education teacher, but the old gray mare just ain't what she used to be.  Unfortunately my mind is nowhere near the age of my body.  In my mind, I can still use all the same machines and lift the same amount of weight. But my body is in the process of saying, "I don't think so!" Then of course, I have been working out with my 12 yr old daughter who is quite strong and young.  We both have a bit of a competitive personality, so neither of us want to be outdone by the other.  I know, stupid to think I could possibly just begin my workout program after many moons and could ever keep up with that young muscular little thing!!! So, tomorrow I will be the one on the treadmill trying to walk it out, and no one will be calling me grace that is for sure.  Say a little prayer I don't just go flying off the back and someone catch it on video like those in the video above. Only watch it if you are ready to laugh out loud :) Gonna get this weight off once and for all, so no pain no gain, right? I suppose I will have no choice but to smile and just move on ;)

Julie's Chocolate Martini on Recipe Wednesday

Just in case some of you need a little something to wash down your happy pills today like me, since your candidate didn't win last night. And no, I am not suggesting we all drink ourselves into oblivion...because that won't do us any good. But it doesn't hurt to mix up a yummy drink to sip on and take the edge off :)  This recipe is great for just making one, or enough for a whole group of friends and family!  I will choose to calm down a bit before I write about the disappointment I feel over the election, and pray. But one thing I know for sure...no matter who won president of the United States, my Father is still King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and reminding myself of this is how I fell asleep last night once the news stations called the winner. What else is there to do now, but smile and just move on :/

Julie's Chocolate Martini

1 shot Godiva Chocolate Liquor
1 shot Vanilla Vodka (I like Absolute)
1 shot Kahlua Coffee Liquor
1 shot Bailey's Iris Cream
1 shot Milk or Cream depending on how many calories you are willing to intake :)

Place all in a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake well. If you want to get fancy, lightly moisten the rim of your martini glass and dip in hot chocolate powder mix; or skip the moistening of the rim and dip into a small saucer of melted chocolate chips. Glasses can be prepared in advance if you are expecting company.
Drizzle around the inside of the martini glass with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, pour drink mix from cocktail shaker, sip and enjoy!!!

(Double the above recipe if your shaker will permit in order to make more than one at a time for guests)

If this is too strong, you can always add more milk or cream. Or if you would like, to omit the milk or cream, that will work too.  Don't drink too many as they pack a punch, and for sure NEVER drink and drive!!!

The Way it Was Back in the Day...

It really is mindboggling to me how fast time is flying, and my life is moving. But what is more staggering is when I think back at life when I was a kid verses now.  And even though it certainly doesn't seem that long ago to me, when I sit and ponder the changes and advances, holy WOWZERS!!! So, on my 41st Birthday, I thought I would share a few of those wowzers with y'all to tell the young whooper snappers how it was; and remind the rest of us old farts...

Technology is just really beyond comprehension!!! I just stood in my kitchen and downloaded onto my iphone all of my favorite Christmas albums via Rhapsody by searching the artist name then looking for the picture on the record album I remembered as a child.  So let us recap this, and break it down. I have a phone that is also a computer, needs no cord, doesn't have buttons because it is touch screen, is also a video chat device so I can see who I am talking to face to face, can hold more of my favorite record albums than I probably can even remember exist, and that is just the beginning.  I can text, write books, read books that download in a matter of seconds, send letters, make calls of course, my kids can keep busy by playing games or watching a tv show I have saved...hold on here, lets put on the breaks!!! My phone alone can do things that didn't even exist when I was little.  Here is the fun part, let us talk now about what we didn't have back in the day!!!

No privacy, because our phone was connected to the wall by a cord and was usually located in the kitchen where everyone always was around to listen.  There was no call waiting, no caller id, no answering machines for heavens sake!!! If someone called and you weren't home...no one would ever know unless they called back, shocking!!!  You always answered the phone in case it was an "emergency" or important and there was no way to avoid that ex boyfriend or telemarketers.  And if your favorite show came on and you weren't home, you where just straight out of luck.  There were no DVR's, VCR's, and I can remember when there wasn't even CABLE or a REMOTE CONTROL!!!  Never forget the day we got our very first cable box, and yes it had this really long long cord so you could stretch it to the couch to change the channels by sliding the little bar down the line to the number channel you wanted and there were only about 25 channels. This seemed like a ton, because before there were only the 4 or 5 local channels.  We only watched cartoons on Saturday morning, so I would get up super like 7am so I could make sure to get it all in before noon rolled around and WWF came on! VCR's showed up when I was in high school, but were expensive...and programming them to tape your show was not easy.  Sometimes the tape would run out and you would just miss the end; and there was no option to just catch it on Netflix or the internet.  Which brings me to my final little bit of humor on life in the olden days.

Let's start with the fact that there were no computers, so if you had a paper to type it was on the old typewriter.  I used to cringe if I made a mistake because that basically meant starting the typing all over, unless of course you used white out, which in my perfectionist mind was not an option.  Secondly, no internet to do research on for papers would create a trip to the library, looking things up in Encyclopedia's and not the Wiki kind, LOL!  And heating up your food, there were NO MICROWAVES...so we either used the oven or the stove top and figured it out.  Yes, TV dinners where in metal-tray containers with aluminum foil covering the top of them:)  We popped popcorn in a pan with oil and a lid since microwave popcorn didn't exist. And the list goes on and on with things we didn't have compared to today. It was a different era, different way of living really...not better, not worse, just different.

We played outside till after dark, rode our bikes everywhere, baseball or kickball games in the street, chase or hide and go seek till midnight, only to be called in my our Mom yelling our name at the top of her lungs from the front porch, not by calling or texting us on our cell phones.  Life was grand, and we have evolved much in my 41 years, but it does make me often miss the way it was.  However, I will be the first to admit I am all about using the technology we now have, and I am certain we simply can't have it both ways.  And so time marches on, and I remember back to what my Mom used to tell me about not having color television, and my grandma about not having central heat or air conditioning, and many still didn't even have running water.  We evolve, society changes, life changes, we change, and there is no way to stop it anymore than there is stopping time.  What else can we do but smile, and just move on ;)