Flowers and Flab

We have flowers on our minds.   Leftover bulbs are waiting to be planted and we have some Wyoming wildflower seeds my mom sent. Rich also needs to plant a new crop of herbs or tomatoes in his aerogarden.  I have never had much of a green thumb but we've actually done pretty well with keeping green plants alive in our house and growing some flowers in the spring and summer.   These are from two years ago--I was so thrilled to see their vibrant colors after a long winter.

After Rich's long day yesterday, he actually took off work today, we both slept in this morning and then went out to breakfast at Amelia's.   We also stopped by the Community Center to sign up for the Unalaska Biggest Winner Challenge.   This is going to be a lot of fun and will help us to stay on track to a healthier lifestyle.   We weighed in and picked up our materials from Alena, who was having a great time signing people up.  I hear that 41 people had enrolled  by the end of the afternoon--what a fantastic response!  For more info, look at www.unalaskabiggestwinner.blogspot.com or at Alena's blog, www.therealunalaska.blogspot.com.   If you are local, I think you can still sign up by contacting Alena or Char at 581-2742.  Rich and I are so inconsistent in our "healthiness." We will go for months on end eating such healthy  meals at home, rarely eating out, and working out regularly at the gym.  We are usually thrown off by going on vacation and even though we swear we will use moderation while we are traveling, we end up eating lots of wonderful (calorie laden) food, insisting on dessert with every meal (we have to TRY it, right?!) and never removing our work-out clothes from the suitcase.  We do try to walk a lot when we are on vacation, but that's about it. Then we get back home, look at our bellies with disgust and promise ourselves we will go RIGHT back to the gym.  For some reason, it is just so hard to get back into the habit again and we find the weeks flying by.   This is the most I have ever weighed except when I was pregnant with my girls!    (I used to blame any extra pounds on "the three kid spread," but how many years can I claim that when the youngest is now 26? LOL) However, it's not just about the weight but about having strong bones and good muscle tone and strength and flexibility as I get older.   To keep myself honest and motivated, I have put out a 20 pound challenge to the other folks out there who need to get rid of some belly flab and get in shape!   Who wants to join me?

I'm trying to read my book club book, The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, but I am finding it a little tedious and actually kinda boring.   Anyone else have an opinion about it?  Since I am falling behind on my 100 book challenge, I hate to waste my time on something I'm not that interested in.  :)