Day 2 of 84 in the StSC: I ate how many calories? Ah, but I did how much exercise? Beginning on those push-ups, and other updates and spontaneous bemoanings....plus a bit of blathering on anime music for Susan the ScooterButt Sister... And where do the forks and socks go? Can someone tell me? Plus: Visualizing it----the Warrior Doodle!

Here we are, day two. I hope day one went well for you all.

Caloric Weapon misfire: Dang. My rifle drooped some. I went over calories. This is rare for me and it irks me. But, there it is. I wonder if I had a weird psychological thing going on like, "Oh, a challenge ended, lemme be lazy one last time before I throw myself into the next one."

I'm not used to using starches much, and when I input the rice, and tallied the EVOO, well, there we go: 1435.

That makes it more necessary for me to be at 1200 today. An occasional "feast" day  of 1400 calories is fine--and how relative is THAT feast, huh, for the gal who used to eat 2500 in one sitting easy! This I know. Warriors can't slack. I don't want that to be habitual while on challenge, though there will be celebratory times when I will want more on certain days. For optimal loss, 1200 will do it. I've seen the proof of that.

Anyway, this morning, I feel LESS great. So, maybe my starch experiment is gonna be mighty short-lived. I like feeling super-duper. I don't wanna screw that up. My self-discovery continues, I guess.

On the exercise battlefront: 1 hour of Pilates and 25 minutes of walking. Well, thank God this weapon is primed, as it should make up for the overages in the caloric dept for yesterday.

On the push-ups stealth maneuvers: I dropped a couple times for some modified attempts last night after my walk. If you're working on that, too, and need to do it modified, like me, here's a short video primer and here's a really short one that might help.

Note: If you are one who can't afford to invest in a lot of exercise DVDs, don't have On Demand free exercise videos with your cable, and don't have access toAmazon or  Netflix videos (on demand or otherwise), remember: The internet is your buddy. Youtube, Sparkpeople,  and other sites have free exercise demonstrations from Yoga to Pilates to Bootcamp style to Zumba to Jazzercise to various spot exercises and etc. Lots of personal trainers put good stuff out there foryou.

Just seek and you will find.

Canteen check: Got my water/fluids in.

Vitamins inventory: Consumed, general, sir, yes, sir.

Prayer deployment: Yep, you all got prayed for. I even asked hubby to join in with that, and I posted on FB to my pals to consider praying for us.

Encouragement: Well, I sure posted on a lot of blogs! I didn't get everyone since Sunday, but nearly!  And my thanks to all who stopped by and filled me up with good wishes.

Note to Susan re comment yesterday: While hubby and I didn't continue with CLAYMORE (I might recheck that one in future, as the ladies there do kick beastly hiney), is the opening theme you like the one by the group Nightmare~~"Raison d'etre"?  (romaji and translation are HERE, though not video.)~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loooove the J-rock boys!!!  I have a cd of theirs, the one that includes the songs used in DEATH NOTE (terrific anime! really good tunes!) I like that band. Not as much as Buck-Tick (my fave)  or L'arc-en-Ciel or Vamps (kinda tied) or Abingdon Boys School or Sid or Uverworld...but they have some fun tunes. Lead singer just goes a little flat or pitchy sometimes. But when he's on it...he's ON! ; )

I think the closing theme is beautiful with its Celtic bits/meets symphonia/meets J-Rock: "Danzai no Hana~~Guilty Sky"

And I love singing along with anime themes, so when they add the Romaji lyrics, I just love dat. Lately, I get a nutty kick out of the silly ending theme from DENPA ONNA TO SEISHUN OTOKO, the one that goes, "Kaze hiku no, kaze hiku no" in that little-girly ootsy-cutesy voice. Such fun....

Sleep: Working on making it longer and better. Really, I am!

Silly personal side note which will assure you I'm odd and rather dorky: I'm running low on my discontinued Les Bains du Marais "musc blanc" huile de soin, and that's like my "time to go to sleep" aromatherapy. Oh, man, I love that stuff. I shower, rub it on my inner forearms and chest and shoulders, so I smell it as I doze off. So relaxing. The bestest musk scent ever. Why do they discontinue stuff I love?  Like FIREFLY (the TV show), or FELL (the comic), or like the TRIBECA flatware from Oneida.

Here me, world: If anyone wants to send their Musc Blanc huile to me, I will love you forever and ever. And if you have Tribeca dinner forks, them, too. I just ordered 6 from eBay out of desperation. Got the knives, salad forks, spoons. Forks: no. They're gone. Huh?  I have no idea whey we keep losing forks. And athletic socks. We're disorganized idiots, I guess. Socks and forks. Do demons pilfer forks in the night?  Are Fork Gnomes visiting my apartment while I shop for produce, then take my forks for subterranean feastings? Maybe aliens abduct them while I'm in a Les Bains du Marais White Musk dream haze?

Well, I guess I rambled enough. My apologies. It's a flaw.

I will endeavor to make this a stunningly good challenge day. I will pray it goes stunningly well for the 552--oh, wait, just 52? Whew!--of you fellow challengers.

Okay. New day. Time to deploy the weapons and be a warrior for health!

Here's a doodle by Rettakat on the warrior theme:

I really like it. Thanks, Retta! And I want to LIVE that mentality.

Happy and healthful Tuesday to all challengers and supporters!

In The Challenges of Christmas, Sir Allan Gave to Me....

Did you know that the first of the 12 days of Christmas is actually December 25 (or 26)?

I've known folks who think it's the 12 days leading UP to Christmas. Not so. It's December 25th, Christmas day,  through January 5th, the eve of Feast of the Epiphany ( January 6). It might be thought of as well as 12/26 through 1/6. Basically, the post-Christmas events.  Whichever tradition you follow, it extends the feeling of Christmas--family time, presents, food, fun.


I was born in Cuba, as were all my siblings and, natch, my parents. When I was little, I got gifts on January 6, left under my bed by the Three Wise Men, who brought gifts to the young Jesus. Here in Miami, there's a tradition in the Latin community to have a Three Kings Day Parade. (Not just here. All over the nation, but hey...)

Tangent: For those of you with great and/or weird senses of humor, you'd love the King Mango Strut--are you listening, Carb Tripper? Heh. The Strutters may need heavy coats and boots this year!

Because a niece is going out of town with her kids for December's holidays, my family will be harking back to the old tradition and exchanging gifts on the 6th of next month. I've advocated for this change for years: you can really get deals at those After Christmas sales, and you avoid the holiday shopping nightmare that happens post-Thanksgiving. I'm all over that. :)

Anyway, as you've noticed, surely, we're barraged by Christmas carols lately. Not a bad thing. I love Christmas music and singing along. In honor of the recent challenges (and current) hosted by Allan of Almost Gastric Bypass blog, I am belting out "The Sons and Spawn Challenge 12 Days of Christmas". No, it's not funny. It's almost all too real. A lot of what I've been eating (minus the briny turkey, as I didn't make the turkey for Thanksgiving. But his turkey sounded yummy and I wish he HAD made it for me. )

If you're a challenge mate, just change it to the stuff YOU are eating these challengey days. Make your own Spawny carol.

For brevity's sake, I'll just do the LAST stanza and list the days altogether. Feel free to sing out loud. It burns more calories than just reading:

On the Challenges of Christmas, Sir Allan gave to me:

Twelve water wagons
Eleven lists of lite meals
Ten egg white omelettes
Nine briny turkeys
Eight cups of decaf
Seven scooped out bagels
Six spoons for measures
FIVE PROTEIN SHAKES!
Four frozen bars
Three berry salads
Two apples, baked...
And a  bowl full of low-cal veggies.

Aaaargh, and what would a pirate on a diet say on TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY?

It may be Talk Like a Pirate Day everywhere else, but in my house,  it's TALK LIKE A FATFIGHTING PIRATE DAY!

And tell me, ye fellow fatfighters, just how would a seafaring outlaw talk off the pounds?

1. "Be that lite rum, me pretty?"
2. "Keep that devilish loaf of yeasty-beasties out of my beard! Ah, but hoist that roast chicken over to my petard!"
3. "I'm goin' over the side for my daily laps with Ol' Davy J."
4. "I gather this here giant squid carcass is low-carb..."
5. "Do I look too stout in this leather waistcoat?"
6. "What eyepatch? Oh, no. That's my emergency stash o' jerky."
7. "Even my parrot feasts upon low carb bran crackers."
8. "This ain't no feather in my cap, matey. It's a quill with which I jot my calories upon my daily scroll."
9 "Let the whole crew join SparkPirate.com to track the booty we consume!"
10. "I'm not happy to meet ya, wench. That's an organic zucchini in me breeches I'm warmin' for my supper."

What's your dieting pirate saying right now?

(Hey, Allan, post #2. Heh.)