Tidbits

• I've been laid up for the past week with what I self-diagnosed as sciatica. I finally made it back to the gym yesterday and had a nice, easy workout. My husband was concerned I was going to get addicted to ibuprofen. If anything I was addicted to my hot water bottle. I think I've finally kicked it.
• I've discovered the reason I'm a Gleek. It's one of the (very) few new shows that's not a reality show. Every single program on the TV right this second is a reality show, unless it's a rerun.
• I'm off to England tomorrow to visit with friends. I will eat like royalty which will undo any progress I've made at the gym. 
• We took Meg's little guy for a couple of hours on Saturday. We had a lovely time in the park with him, but he was so happy to see his mommy again he started to cry. It was the sweetest thing ever. 
• I had a dream about my cat, Obie, last night. For new readers to my blog, he died last year just a few days before we were married. In my dream I told him that I miss him and think about him every single day. Then I had to go because Samuel L. Jackson was trying to break into my house through the upstairs window and I had to defeat him.

You Capture - Outside

There's something about seeing the buses hop over the little bridges on the Grand Canal that makes me laugh. It almost looks like a cartoon!

I walk through these trees on my way home from the gym. They're starting to change color and the leaves are already falling from them, swirling around in the wind. Autumn is just around the corner!

Ode to the Hot Water Bottle

Dear Hot Water Bottle,

You are the greatest invention of all time. That's right, even better than sliced bread. You keep me warm in the cold winters here in the British Isles. There's nothing better than getting into a bed that you've already warmed up for me. Even my cat loves you. I had to buy a second one for her to use because she was hogging the bottle from me.

This morning you were nice enough to come to my rescue. Yesterday I was doing the laundry and I did something to my back. I popped the ibuprofen, but this morning I was feeling a bit stiff. I asked the husband to make you up and put you under my back. You were like a kiss from an angel! I have to say though, I'm a bit nervous that it's August, I have you tucked under my back, and I'm not overly hot. Does that mean the summer is coming to an end?? I'm not ready to use you on a regular basis just yet.

I love you, Hot Water Bottle.

Love Always,
Kim

A short book review

I just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Loved it! It's the story of a young girl whose mother sends her to live with a foster family as she can't care for her. Her foster father teaches her how to read, opening her up to the world of words.The setting is a town outside of Munich right at the onset of WWII. The book is narrated by 'Death' which puts an interesting perspective on everything. It's a long book (over 500 pages), but it doesn't feel like it. I can not recommend this book enough.

A book I won't recommend? No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Blech.

I also just realized the book I'm reading now, The Glass Fern, is the first one this year by a female writer. What the heck!?  I'll make a point to pick more female writers on my next trip to the library!

You Capture - In the kitchen

It's been tough times around our kitchen this week.

RIP Pampered Chef Bar Pan. You served us well!

The first chip. My husband was just happy he wasn't the one to do it.

One good thing that happened in the kitchen was I made some vegetarian chili. It was thumbs up from both of us! I posted the recipe here.

You Capture - Everyday Items

My handbag hanging out on a bench.

The butter dish that I got in England. I was ridiculously happy with this purchase.

I like to kick it old school with my technology. iPhone, schmyPhone!

Ooo....Curvy!!!

Look at me! I used to be a hottie!!!

This picture was from the summer of 2006, right before I moved to England.

Look at me now! I'm a nottie!!!

WTF!!!????

Back in 2000 I did Weight Watchers, cranked up my VCR to do Tae-Bo and I lost 50, yes 50 lbs. It took 6 months. I managed to keep it off until 2006 when I moved to England. In the 4 years I have been abroad I have managed to gain it ALL back. This sucks. Apparently the fact that I walk, oh, I don't know at minimum 3 miles a day, has meant nothing. It makes me think though, if I didn't walk that much, how much would I weigh now?? That's too scary to think about. Quitting the gym 6 months ago probably didn't help things either, but it was just way too expensive and the classes available during the day were not great. Every couple of weeks I will reminisce to my husband about the wonderful gym I belonged to in Baltimore. The classes...the yoga that was included in the membership....the POOL! Oh, how I miss that pool. I'm tearing up as I type this.

You may remember last summer when I did Bootcamp. I really liked it, but the winter sessions are too far for me to access, so it that's a bit of a bummer. The spring/summer sessions are in the Phoenix Park, which is great, but I'm not going to lie, the whole 'no bathroom' thing really stressed me out. I'm my mother's daughter. Also, with this whole 'trying to conceive' biznaz, I didn't want such a hard core workout. If I did get pregnant, I didn't see how I could modify this workout. I'm sure the instructor could have modified it, but really, the bathroom thing was more of an issue.

You then may remember that I bought the 30-Day Shred video. I had high hopes, and actually the video is quite good, but I'm just not a video person. Apparently, I need to pay for my exercise in order to succeed. Way back in 2000 I did my videos, but then I joined a gym in 2001 and I've never looked back. I love going to the gym. I love doing classes, I love that stupid killer stair machine, I love the pool....ahhh....the pool. Kim, snap out of it!

So yes, I need to pay money to exercise, but I'm not willing to pay the ridiculous gym fees here. Even in the crap economy, gyms here are still charging rapacious joining fees. So ridiculous. Then the other weekend we were on a day trip to Wicklow (which is where the above picture was taken) and the bus passed a Curves. Now I've never been a huge fan of the idea of Curves. Mainly because one of my former coworkers went there and she was freaking annoying. Not to mention, she was my mom's age. I wasn't interested in working out with old ladies (sorry mom) and I like dudes at the gym. I don't really like them there, but I don't mind them so I never felt the need to go to a ladies-only gym. I have a friend here (who is not old) and she goes to Curves. She looks great and she's had success there, so the wheels started turning.

I looked it up online when we got home and lo and behold, they were having a great introductory deal: 6 weeks for 49 euro. I emailed up a friend and conned her into joining with me. Today was our first day and I'm happy to say it went great! Well, except for the part where they weigh and measure you. This is when I rediscovered those 50 lbs I previously lost. When I got home I pulled out the WW stuff I forced my husband to buy for me a few months back. Here's the thing about doing WW in Ireland. I find it more difficult to do than when I did it in the US. Basically, a lot of the things that really worked for me the last time aren't available here. I ate a lot of soup for lunch (don't get me started on soup here), the selection of ready-meals here is not as good and the ones they do have are boring/yucky, and there is no ground chicken available here. There are even restaurants in the US that have a special WW menu with the points already worked out and everything. Oh! And my biggest pet peeve are the nutritional labels on food. They usually list the information per 100g, even if the serving size is say, 15g (I'm looking at you, mayo). So yeah, I can do the math, but what's the point of nutritional information if it's not realistic? The worst is when they do it for 100g and there aren't even 100g in the package, like a small bag of crisps.

I'm hoping to rediscover some jeans in my closet. I'm hoping my arms will be less spongy. Mainly I'm hoping to rediscover the old Kim who is currently covered in fat. That Kim is a hottie!

Gifts

Wes went to Liverpool this week and brought back gifts. I think it's fair to say the cat loves hers! There's a receipt in the bottom of the bag, so it's really two gifts in one.

You Capture - Summer

Summer in Ireland means you can't take a picture without a tourist popping up out of the blue.

It also means the heather is blooming in the mountains and the hydrangeas are beautiful!