Why pop stars should not be role models

I don't keep up celebrities. Well, except for Arthur Kade, of course. But I saw a headline on during my daily news rounds this morning that caught my eye: "Justin Bieber doesn't know what the word 'German' means. No, really." This I had to see.



"We don't say that in America." Really, kid?? We don't say "German"? Or maybe he thinks that no one says "What does ______ mean in German?" in America. Either way, this does not come off well for him.

When I first saw the video, I couldn't help but think, "Damn. Another blow to the American educational system." Then I looked this kid up (I honestly didn't know who the hell he was) and it turns out he's Canadian! Sorry, Canada, this one is on you.

Testing the mobile blogging

Sure, I might be sitting smack in front of my computer with my blog
account open on the screen, but I really want to see how well this
email blogging thing will work from my Blackberry.

Am I poking my own crazy? Perhaps. But it's so much fun!

--
Sent from my mobile device

I am the worst blogger in the history of blogging.

I am. I really am. I've reinvented this blog twice and still have no idea what I want to do with it! Originally The Bastard was supposed to help me with it but he lost interest in about 5 seconds.

I think I'll just post whatever comes to me. That's what normal bloggers do, right? Hell, it's not like anyone reads this, anyway, so to hell with expectations!

Yeah, I think that's what I'll do. I need to play with that whole email-to-blog thing. I keep getting ideas to write about when I'm not at the computer and then forget them all when I finally sit down. I have a Blackberry that's email-capable, so I really ought to use it. I wish Blogger would make an app for it, though. That would probably be easier/more reliable.

Ah, stream of consciousness writing... it's an interesting thing, isn't it?

Crochet man wins teh interwebz!

That is all.

Oh, My Aching Back!

So the P90X has been on hold this week. I don't know what the hell I did to my back, but it's been hurting like a sonuvabitch. It's my lower back, right where my spine meets my pelvis. I haven't even been able to go get it checked out because we don't have health insurance right now. I've been shopping around, but we just can't afford it right now, even with all the cash I've been saving on groceries lately (another receipt coming soon - just haven't taken a pic of it yet).

My MIL, Nurse Mommy, has apparently been having similar issues. She, however, has been able to see a chiropractor about it. She's instructed me to put ice on it and do stretches. The stretch she recommended:

Sit in one chair with one leg propped on another chair of equal height, leg stretched out in front of you. Lean over as far as you can and hold it for 10 seconds. Repeat for other leg.

It's starting to feel better, but I don't want to push it. I've just been able to stop taking the anti-inflammatories that the Bastard had gotten for his knee back before my layoff in the days of health insurance. He was prescribed 60 pills. I think he took 1.

I also suspect I have the flu. It's been going around my office and everyone looked pretty green at the department meeting. I left right after to work from home, feeling green myself.

This week = FAIL.

Grocery Shopping - Ur Doin it Right!

Dude. It is amazing how much money you can save if you actually use coupons and look at the circular ads before you shop. I almost cut this bill in half! Granted, we didn't have to buy much this week, but that's mostly due to the fact that I was able to buy two 3-lb bags of frozen chicken tenderloins for $1.69/lb last week!

I have a Kroger card, so I get coupons in the mail from them, plus I use online coupons from Shortcuts.com and Cellfire.com. I've also used a few on Kroger's website, but their selection of online coupons has really sucked lately. I've also printed coupons off of Coupons.com which usually has a pretty good selection.

Anyone looking to save money on groceries, though, should check out the circulars first and foremost. Check the store's website - Kroger, for example, has their weekly specials online. If you look at that first and plan your weekly menu around what you already have and can buy on sale, I guarantee you'll save money. That's how I found that chicken on sale - I checked the ad!

So I weighed myself this morning...

We've been slackers. I will admit this. We haven't done more than a couple DVDs per week for the last month. We have, however, been watching our diet. Maybe not exactly as Tony Horton suggests, but we have been watching fat and calories, and using the deep-fryer a LOT less. I've also been checking the nutritional information on the back of my frozen meals that I take to work for lunch, which is something I never used to do. My lunch shopping strategy relied solely on the price tag. While I still take that into account, it's no longer the only factor.

So what was the result? 141, baby!! And I've even had a few Girl Scout cookies in the past month! This brings the weight loss from (our half-assed attempt at) P90X to 7 lbs, and total weight loss overall since we started working out to 14 lbs! I can feel it, too. My pants fit better and my tummy looks better in tighter shirts.

Still more work to be done, though. I'm not quite to the bikini tummy. But I am getting close, and I'm damn proud of it.