New Playlist Songs

I went running again tonight, and went a little farther since I downloaded new songs to my ipod.  I love the beat and energy of the first, and the cheesiness of the second; it could be from 1987!

Reducing Myself Monday

Today I weigh 140! Besides following my plan, I also ramped up the exercise by bike riding, running twice and doing a fitness DVD.  I plan to do the DVD again today - I am so uncoordinated, but at least it gets me real sweaty, so I assume it is working!

A Slim Dime and an Dwarfish Surprise

I spend a slim dime at a garage sale today for two dwarfs that emerged from German Kinder Surprises circa 1994.


I love the surprise of what you can find at a garage sales.  And, I'm always surprised at what can be found on the internet.  I learned a lot about Kinder Surprise today after I got home with my dwarfish treasures.  Here are a few 'facts' that surprised me:

• Those poor souls in the USA do not get Kinder Surprise Eggs because they are banned!  Something about a choking hazard.
• Kinder Surprise started in the early 1970s.
• The toys are very collectible; especially those from Germany which were of a higher quality (I could feel it when I picked these two darlings up!)
• These dwarfs came in a set of 12 called Garden Dwarves; you can buy the set for $16 on ebay now.
• The most collectible are a set of Smurfs issued in Germany in 1983
• When you type surprise and dwarf over and over again, these two words start to look weird.
• I am craving Kinder Surprise chocolate now!

RRR and Running!

I just got back from a run and I feel great!  I've done a lot of running over the past few years (at this time last year I was regularly running over 10K), but lost my motivation.  I had a few stops and starts this spring, but decided that I would give myself a nice long break.  But its time to get back at it.  And to do so, I needed a new playlist!  One of the joys of running is to 'check' out while checking out new songs and artists on my ipod.  Before my run I downloaded a bunch of new (2010) alternative songs.  Here are some new favourites...

Reducing Myself Monday

It has been a few weeks, since I posted about my weight loss, basically because there has been none :-( Today I weight 142.  Going on vacation derailed my weight loss.  Although I avoided all the abundant ice cream and caramel corn stands on the Oregon Coast, I was not watching portion size etc.  So, here is the first post to get me back on track.  I have to remind myself of the plan that I posted about in May.

1. Weekly weight in on Mondays.
2. "Eat food, mostly plants, not to much" & avoid the sugary, doughy stuff.
3. @ meetings - only tea or fruit.
4. Portion control and mindful eating.
5. @ restaurants, leave something on the plate.
6. Early to bed.
7. Extend doggie walks.


I am also aware that my thrift shopping is going to be impacted if I don't lose a few pounds.  When I visit my sister in the lower mainland, we have a thrifting routine.  If she has three pieces of clothing to try on and I only have one, she takes my item in the change room and models it for me, and vice versa.  Since we were the same size, we could judge whether we wanted to buy the clothing or not without even trying it on ourselves.  But she lost 12 pounds recently on Weight Watchers!  So I have to somehow catch up, or else go into those stinky changerooms and try my own clothing on.

Old Dishes from my Childhood

Yesterday, I posted about re-purchasing the dishes my family had in the 1980s.  While they make me feel nostalgic, I am really on the lookout for the dishes my family had in the 1970s (and used as camping dishes in the 1980s).  And apparently many other people covet these mid-century lovelies, because the online prices are really high considering that many people had these! They are a Kathy Winkle Broadhurst pattern, and I finally found a piece at the thrift store.

 My mom says she still has the platter, so I'll have two pieces soon.