Hard to believe 2009 is almost gone. It’s been a good year for our homeschool. Unlike public schools, we haven’t taken a lot of days off other than sick days so Richard is halfway through third grade. Karen is slowly working her way through Learning to Read.

While I won’t say Richard’s favorite subjects are reading and language arts, he isn’t fighting them either. Some lessons he does actually enjoy. If fact, a few times he’s worked ahead without realizing it because he was enjoying them. I don’t make him do that subject again until the others are on the same lesson when he does that. He lost his reading workbook for a week so we only did language arts. Then when he found it over the weekend, the next week we just did reading to even them back out again.

They’ve been sick the last week so it’s been about 10 days since we did school last. He has trouble getting back to the books after a break so today is a bit of a challenge. I debated just waiting until next week since Christmas is this week, but my husband said back to school today.

Math is going well for both of them. This year Richard is learning multiplication. I found Schoolhouse Rock on Youtube. They had some fun multiplication/skip counting songs which is helping make it stick. There was Sesame Street “ladybug picnic” about counting to 12, which helped Karen. She’s starting to use the colored joined blocks rather than individual units to represent numbers.

It was a trip down memory lane for me. There’s also language arts and history songs. Remember “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, get your adverbs here” and “Conjunction Junction”?

History doesn’t seem as fun as last year (to me anyway). There aren’t as many interesting activities and more reading. Perhaps that’s because most of the activities are homestead chores which we normally do everyday since we’re studying westward expansion now. Still, he’s enjoying it. Today was about the invention of barbed wire and he got to draw his own picture. While he was sick last week, he dug through the box and read Cricket in Times Square. I’m not sure when he was supposed to read this, but oh well.

Karen is slowly working her way through Learning to Read. I have given up on the primer. It was way too hard and didn’t relate to the lessons very well. It only made her frustrated instead of confident when reading. Hopefully the new Sunrise edition fixed this, but I haven’t seen it yet. I’m using Bob Books instead, which actually go with it surprisingly well.

We haven’t managed to do lessons with her very consistently. This is working out pretty good though because she gets overloaded if we do too much at once. Then after taking a few days break, the old material has sunk in and she’s ready to move on.

It will definately take a year to work through Learning to Read at the pace we’re going. Today she finished lesson 21 out of 90 and the first 4 Bob Books by herself. We also read the fifth book together. I may start to do lessons with her more often, but don’t want her to get overloaded again. This is just kindergarten after all. I want her to enjoy it, not have school seem like work.

She still sounds out several of the words, but the number of words she can read has greatly increased. Today’s lesson had 31 words to read in a minute. I don’t time her, but we do read the lists. She got through the entire list and read most of them without sounding them out today! Last time we tried this same list she could only get through half of it, even sounding them out.

She’s generally enjoying the lessons. I don’t always do every page in a lesson since there are often several pages of the same kind of thing (again, the Sunrise Edition has fixed this). If I know she understands, I’ll move on. If she’s having trouble, we’ll spend 2 days on the same lesson and do all of it. The schedule has us starting language arts in 2 weeks. Hopefully, that won’t give her too much work.

Since we took the past 10 days off, we won’t take much off for Christmas except Thursday and Friday. After regular school work is done this week, we’re learning traditional, spiritual carols and reading of the birth of Jesus. He’s the reason for the season after all. I feel in the rush of modern consumerist Christmas, we sometimes forget the real reason for celebrating and get caught up in the how. That’s why it’s important to sing songs like Silent Night, Joy to the World, and Oh Come all Ye Faithful instead of just Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman.

The temperature has been pretty cold the past few days. We live in the hills above Fairbanks where it’s usually a little warmer in the winter and cooler in summer. Still, it was -25F up here last night (-35 in town).

Part of replacing the kitchen floor was removing the old radiators. My husband wants to replace them with under floor radiant heat, but hasn’t had a chance to yet. As a result, there is NO heat in the front quarter of the house. Even with the furnace on, the kitchen and living room was down to low 60’s. I made a fires in the woodstove which brought the temperature up nicely in the day.

I chopped more wood and got another fire going late this morning. By early-afternoon the temperature in the kitchen was a comfortable upper 60’s. I decided to make a turkey breast that’s been in the freezer too long for dinner. It cooks at 375. I thawed it gently in a pot of water on the wood stove for a few hours before turning on the oven.

Well, I didn’t take the oven into consideration last time I put wood on the fire. My son just checked to temperature in the kitchen and said it’s “seventy-oops”, aka 77! OOPS indeed.

This recipe is a twist on the classic macaroni & cheese casseroles. It tastes similar to lasagna for a fraction of the cost and time. It takes only about 15 minutes to make.

Ingredients:

4 boxes macaroni & cheese,

1 large chopped onion,

Prego or your favorite spaghetti sauce

1/2 – 1 pound ground meat (I sometimes use Spam even)

fresh chopped mushrooms

Make mac & cheese as directed on boxes. Using skim or fat free milk won’t be as creamy though.

While that’s cooking, fry mushrooms and onion with meat. Drain any fat. Add to prepared mac & cheese.

Cover with spaghetti sauce. You don’t want to use too much or you can’t taste the cheese. Just make it pink instead of orange. Mix well.

Everything can be adjusted according to your tastes and what you have on hand. We don’t always add meat. It’s so easy my son can help make it. If you want to you can even put it in a casserole dish, shred some cheese on top, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until the cheese gets good and gooey for extra lasagna feel.

My weight hasn’t changed as much as I was hoping this week. I’m down a pound and half to 163.5  However, my size has. I now have dents under my rib cage where a fat roll used to be. And their getting bigger. My upper arms are a lot less floppy too. Yeah! Oh, and I can feel my hip bones again.

As I add and tone muscle, fat should melt away (hopefully from my butt and thighs) and the scale will go down. I’m not as short of breath doing workouts and other physical tasks, so I know my endurance is increasing. These are just some of the reasons the scale shouldn’t be the only measure of fitness.

The Turbo Jam guide has a page for recording your monthly measurements for 6 months to track your results. I took my measurements Sunday. I taped it to my wall next to the mirror by the bedroom door. (I’d tape it to the mirror except it’s an antique.) I can’t wait to see how it will be next month.

The moves are getting easier. Still a great workout; I’m just getting more coordinated. I’m even getting the hang of “twist”. Practice definitely makes perfect. I’ve done TJ 6 out of the last 7 days. I’m loving Turbo Jam more and more the more I do it.

With the kids being sick and my husband out of town, I missed going to the gym last Friday and this Wednesday. Yet with TJ, I didn’t have to skip working out. I want to get more DVD’s and the new fit ball routine. I did fit ball on our cruise this spring and it really adds to the workout. I asked my husband to get me Turbo Jam: Get on the Ball for my birthday.

Eating has been good. With sick kids and my husband out of town, we haven’t eaten out this week. I did make a big pumpkin custard, but we ate it over 3 days for breakfast and kids bedtime snack. That was the only sweet. I’ve been trying hard not to snack, especially before bed.

We had sandwiches a few days for lunch. I was good and instead of having a full one, I shared with my daughter. She only eats half anyway. My bread machine makes huge loaves so one slice is about the size of 2 store bought bread slices.

I did have seconds for Wednesdays’ dinner. I love different veggie soups and usually have seconds. Wednesday was vegetarian borscht with a small spoonful of sour cream. I figured the soup had very few calories since it was just root veggies (including the last of this year’s carrots) and water so the small amount of sour cream in 2 bowls still didn’t make a regular meal’s worth of calories. Yet, it was very filling because it had fiber from the potato and cabbage. It was also loaded with vitamins.

My husband is getting back early Friday. The kids are on the mend getting over their colds. Hopefully, that will mean I can get to the Zumba class Friday night. I still will do TJ 20 Minute though in case I can’t get to the gym. I’d also like to go skiing again this weekend.

According to the weight loss plan we made last year, I should be at 145 this month and 140 by April. It will take plenty of hard work, but I hope I can get down to that then with Turbo Jam. I want to get paid again, but that’s a lot of catching up to do.

I just read a slightly disturbing article on Yahoo “10 Holiday Foods worth the Calories“. The idea is that because they taste oh so good, it’s ok to splurge. What are these 10 diet busters? Bread pudding, chocolate cake, cheese, fudge, quiche, roast, jelly doughnuts, pot pie, peanut butter, and “everything ala mode”.

That’s quite a list. Whoa! That kind of thinking is what has caused us to become one of the top five overweight nations in the world. It’s enough to make the scale soar just reading most of it.

A few items on the list can be part of a healthy diet in moderation. These include cheese, roast, and peanut butter all of which provide protien. However except for the peanut butter, moderation’s not recommended in the article. Instead, it is more of indulgence and using the cheese and also the peanut butter in yummy calorie laden desserts.

Quiche can also be healthy when make with low fat milk and veggies. That’s definitely not what the article has in mind. They talk about full cream, heavy cheese , bacon, and loaded with fat. Oh, and don’t forget about the crust.

You can indulge in these if you plan ahead and cut back on other foods. If you enjoy the foods on that list like I do, denial isn’t a good option. Instead, make healthy substitutions like low fat milk instead of heavy cream. Sugar can usually be cut in half when making recipes without much difference in taste. If someone else is doing the cooking, take smaller portions or leave some on your plate. That way you can still enjoy your favorites, without packing on the pounds.

Just because it is a holiday, shouldn’t be a reason to over indulge. You’ll only regret it later as you have to work even harder to get rid of the pounds. Instead, enjoy your favorites in moderation.

Rockin’ Body is another Beach Body program. It stars Shaun T. He’s this fit black dude. He’s funny, energetic, and a good teacher. However, I wasn’t very impressed with Rockin’ Body overall. I think it would be more fun in person, but was rather lame at home.

The set I got has 7 workouts on 2 DVD’s. The one good workout is Rockin’ Abs. This is the best quick ab workout! It’s fun and I definitely feel it. It’s also the only reason I didn’t return the entire program. (Makes me wish I went with my original plan and ordered his Hip Hop Abs instead.) If the rest of the program was a good as this, it would be great, but sadly, it’s not.

The other workouts didn’t seem like dancing, just flapping around mostly  or old school aerobics and floor work instead. There’s a lot of down time transitioning between routines and/or moves. The costumes and backup “dancers” were very immodestly dressed with way too much spray on tan. The set and lighting were distracting.

The music was one of the worst parts. I was expecting with a name like Rockin’ Body to have some great music. Instead, it was poor remakes that will leave you disappointed if you love the original tunes. Most of the music is unrecognizable and the songs they brag about are only remakes. It also doesn’t fit the choreography very well in places; either your working hard in the slow part of the song or the music is pumping and your not.

Yes. I did give the program the benefit of the doubt and try them several times before giving up. I think they were trying to do too much extra stuff to create a concert mood which really detracted instead of enhanced the workouts.

The exercises themselves are pretty good. I just couldn’t really get into it. I still dig Rockin’ Body out every once in awhile for variety but these videos spend most of the time on the shelf.

Just about all my life I’ve been embarrassed by gym clothes, both wearing them and seeing others wear them. When I was young, I was embarrassed because I was so small for my age. They had to special order smaller uniforms for me. Now, I’m overweight. Nothing seems to fit quite right. Either it’s tight in all the wrong places or way too loose.

There seems to be primarily two types of gym clothes: those to hide and those to show off your body. It’s hard to find something in between. I want something modestly covering but not in the way of exercising by being too tight or loose. And believe it or not, it is possible to be completely covered yet totally immodest if you look melted and poured into your clothes. Comfort is also a must. So what’s a body to do?

Don’t try serious exercising in sweats, especially cardio, unless you need the added warmth. They are called sweats for a reason! It only took one workout for me to figure that out.

I first started exercising wearing my old stand by of loose cotton shorts and t-shirts. Comfort all the way, but not as practical as some of the new workout clothes. After arguing with myself over the need to spend money on exercise clothes, I decided to start small with bra and shorts or pants since mine were old and no longer fit properly anyway.

This fall I went shopping for new gym pants or shorts. After trying on many pair, I found ones that are perfect. They are made by Danceskin and come just below the knee. There is a small slit to allow better knee movement. They are form fitting but not overly tight. The waist is also up at my waist, which was hard to find since most only came up to the hip, to better show your belly. I can move comfortably in them. They are ultra soft and wick the sweat. They sell them at my gym for twice what I paid at WalMart for the exact same thing so be sure to shop around.

Sport bras have changed a lot from the old tank top style I had in high school. Now you can get different support levels depending on how much impact you will be doing. There’s also many different strap and cup styles for comfort. Wiggle around a bit when trying them on to see if you will get the support you need and still be comfortable. There’s nothing more annoying than trying to exercise in a poorly fit bra.

Your exercise bra shouldn’t be your shirt, no matter how cute it is. Nor should your shirt be another bra over the top. That seems popular in my gym recently. There’s lots of exercise shirt designs that are modest yet won’t cause you to overheat or restrict motion. And by all means, wear an exercise bra! Floppy top is sooo gross.

I guess what I’m trying to say is when it comes to gym wear, be comfortable, but cover up! You probably aren’t as good looking as you think. That may be rude, but true in most instances. And if you are good enough to flaunt it, I still don’t want to see. Leave something to the imagination. With the new styles and fabrics, you don’t have to compromise comfort or modesty when exercising. Properly fitting, modest gym wear on a fit body is more inspirational than a lot of skin.

Oh, and proper shoes are important. However, there is no need to go overboard. Since everyone’s feet and needs are different, I’m not going to say much more about them. In fact, at home doing my exercise videos (Turbo Jam right now) I usually wear just socks on the carpet or even barefoot.

We had a huge moose in our yard a few minutes ago. It came up the house to munch saplings. When it stood in front of our living room windows, it’s back was above the window sill and that’s about 6 feet up. My daughter saw it in the woods and thought it was a horse. Looking at it close up through the window, I think it is bigger than a horse. It’s one of the largest (at least tallest) moose I’ve ever seen, and being in Alaska, I’ve seen a lot.

I was sure glad for the widow glass. Not only as a barrier between us and the moose, but also it kept our smell from the moose allowing us to get up within a foot of it’s head. At one point I was eye to eye with him. That was weird, watching each other up close like that.

Yes, I did get pictures. Not sure how they’ll turn out because of the glass reflection. There’s another smaller one down by the garden.

After last night’s rant I’m doing better today. Still haven’t exercised yet, but have found the DVD’s (See update below ) Now  that today both my daughter and son are sick, I don’t have to worry about keeping them apart so she won’t get sick. I again woke up at 6am this morning, but stayed up and read. Perhaps I only need 8 hours instead of my usual 10 for sleep this winter, weird.

My diet improvements and 3 days of hour-long exercise helped lower the scale a pound and a half for the week to 165, thus raising my mood. I’m still 10 pounds above my lowest early in summer though. At least the scale is starting to go down again. Hopefully, I can keep it doing that. My husband has to go to Seattle for business. I usually loose weight when he’s gone since I’m too busy to snack.

So my plans for the next week are more of the same: working on eating healthy, small portions and exercising as much as I can. Pretty back to basics, no-nonsense fitness but it’s what works best for me. I just need to stick with it.

As soon as I can get the kids settled, I will exercise. Not sure if it will be a half hour or full hour yet. They are driving me nuts pestering each other. Today’s one of those when if they were feeling better, I’d have them play OUTSIDE.

UPDATE- 5:30 PM

I just finished Turbo Jam: Punch, Kich & Jam. I’ve not done this one before. I didn’t trip myself up or forget to switch sides like I sometimes do with the other TJ’s.

I tried to keep the kids in their rooms but they actually got into it too asking proper form and trying some of the moves. That was fun, but distracting sometimes. Still, I was able to finish the whole 50 minute workout without wanting to quit (except kid interruptions).

She says it’s more athletic than some of the other TJ’s. I didn’t think so, particularly compared to Cardio Party. Still, it was a great workout, especially for your core and balance. There was enough variety to be fun instead of just a workout. I wasn’t eagerly anticipating the end like some videos. The flow from move to move was perfect and the music cued it great. I’m sweaty and a bit sore, but not particularly short on breath or ready to collapse. Like she says of all the TJ’s, you can do any intensity you want from high to low impact which is one of their best things.

Overall, it was an enjoyable workout. Another BeachBody hit! I’m not sure why I didn’t want to try it last night. Just looking for an excuse to be lazy I guess.

Now for another healthy dinner of marinated baked salmon. I’m going to try a rice one-pot casserole with broccoli, sauted mushrooms, onion, and a little garlic. And of course cheddar cheese, but I’m going to shred that onto the top rather than make a heavy sauce. I hope I added enough water for the rice. MMMM, smells good anyway.