Healthy Baby's One Baby Boomer Rebelling Against, Frumpy, Dumpy and Lumpy

The countdown begins. The new year is just hours away, 2013 here we come. Yeah, a new year, a time to reflect on 2012 and have hope for 2013. I love New Year resolutions, but before we talk about this years, how about revisiting the ones we made on January 1st, 2012. How'd you do? Each Jan 1 our family gets together and we make a collage of our hopes and resolutions for the year. We then post it where it can be seen throughout the year. I'm looking at mine now.

I wanted to:

1, enjoy being a grandma for the first time ( check),
2, eat healthier foods ( most of the time, and I do read all food labels now, so check)
3, start a hobby like gardening or photography ( haven't started these, but maybe blogging counts so check)
4, get into an exercise program ( check, going to CrossFit and loving it)
5, rebuild, (check, after a few stressful years I was looking to 2012 as a year to wrap up loose ends, close some needed chapters and move on to better things, done)
6, enjoy our family ( check )


Here is a list of some of the more common New Year Resolutions, is yours listed here? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you're resolving (or at least working toward) for 2013.

Drink Less Alcohol
Eat Healthy Food
Get a Better Education
Get a Better Job
Get Fit
Lose Weight
Manage Debt
Manage Stress
Quit Smoking
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
Save Money
Take a Trip
Volunteer to Help Others

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

"Pot" was something your mother cooked with

"Grass" was something you mowed

"Aids" were helpers in  schools and hospitals

"Chip" meant a piece of wood

"Coke" was a cold drink

"Hardware" was found in a hardware store . . . and "Software" wasn't even a word!

It's finally warmed up to 30 degrees! Now there's a sentence I thought I'd never say. These Alaskan days are cold. All last week it was in the negatives, like -10, -4 and that was during the day. A consequence of the warmer weather is the onset of SNOW.  I expect we won't see the asphalt driveways and highways until May.

I try to go to CrossFit 3 days a week, it's so easy to talk myself out of it, especially now that I'm in Alaska and the sub-zero temperatures, ( -10 as I write this) remind me that I'm warm and cozy in the house and the thought of leaving it is not inviting. But yesterday I sucked it up, put on the parka and headed to the Box, (or gym as most fitness places call them, but CrossFit likes to call the gyms Boxes)

Those who can did it like this, I did the 1st round with the scaled down version using a PVC pipe,  &  used no weights at all for my 2nd go around.  I know, the squat is a scary thing to think about,  I mean what about those knees?! Well as I'm told and it has proven to be the case with me, if you  are instructed to do the squat the correct way with the weight on your heals and knees out etc. then  you will not have those knee problems. I know that one priority with CrossFit instructors is making  sure that proper form is being used at all times. The last exercise was the jump roping. If you can do double unders, (where the rope goes around twice while you jump only once), then you did 75 of those. If not then you did 150 single unders, (regular jump roping), so that's what I did. Of Course with CrossFit, everything is timed.  I did this WOD in 27:48 minutes. I felt really good about going and doing the workout,  so much so that when  I got home I rewarded myself with a home made  full fat chocolate latte!

It's been about 20 years since I've fixed this carrot raisin salad and I have to ask myself why. It is so good and simple to prepare. The reason could be because up until recently I had to hand grate my carrots, but now that I've upgraded to a food processor this step takes but a second to do. There are many variations, but I kept this real simple and  combined 2 cups of grated carrots, with a couple stalks of cropped celery and a large handful of raisin. That's it. The cropped celery gives it a nice crunch and the raisins add the sweetness.  If you haven't served this salad up recently, may I suggest you give it a try.