Buy.com iPhone app

Sometimes my sister is totally hysterical. She found out that buy.com has an iPhone app. I was over her house Thursday night (getting ready for Zumba) and she was using the barcode scanner to scan everything in her house. See, you can point the iPhone camera at an item's barcode to scan it. Then the app finds the item on buy.com so you can get reviews and deals on stuff. I have to admit that it was pretty awesome. I took a few minutes to play with it myself. It was super easy to use. Just scan, type or even speak what you are looking for and *boom* there it is. I know that sounds dumb but so many apps take forever to do a simple search. We went through a good portion of my sister's house in less than a half hour. (She has a lot of stuff so that says a lot.) I'm just amazed at how fun it was. Stuff like this shouldn't be fun. It should be boring and informative. This makes me want to run out and buy an iPhone. I wonder if there is a Android version available that I could use on my Epic.

Speaking of apps for my Epic, should I start reviewing phone apps? No one in my house has an iPhone but my mother, my sister, and my stepfather do. I'm sure I could get them to tell me about their favorites. Maybe this will be a new feature!

No more snow please!

Today was a snow-filled day. It started shortly before I left for Zumba class, which made the drive slow-going. By the time the hour-long class ended, a good inch or two had fallen. Then my daughter had her first swim class for Level 5. Luckily, the roads were cleared by the time we had to leave. But the snow was still falling. It slowed a little as we walked into class but it was back in full force on our way out. In all, I think we got three or four inches. (I'm terrible at guesstimating that sort of stuff.) At least I don't have anywhere to go tomorrow. I'll be spending the day doing laundry, snuggling with my daughter, and trying to stay away from Googling things like North Carolina health insurance. Whatever I end up doing, I want the snow to stay away!

Goodbye Kitty

This weekend was a bit emotional. One of our cats, Therin (named after Lews Therin Telamon from the Wheel of Time series of books), passed away. While he wasn't ancient for a cat, he was about 13 years old and he had a heart condition. Unfortunately, taking him to the vet would always set his condition off so it was difficult to get any real readings from the ecg machines. Anyway, he had been sick for the past few months. He took a turn for the worse on Thursday. He pretty much stopped eating since nothing would stay down and his breathing was erratic. Of course, we spent a lot of time snuggling with him and trying to feed him via syringe. Sometime Saturday night, he passed into the next world. He will be missed.

RIP Therin.

What a weekend

This weekend was filled with activity. Unfortunately, none of it involved watching jdoramas. My daughter had a winter tap performance at one of the local senior centers. It was pretty cute. Their costumes consisted of black shirts/leotards, jeans, garland as skinny ties, and a bow in their hair. The idea was that they would look like Christmas presents. I think the seniors enjoyed the performance. My daughter and I also took in a local performance of The Nutcracker. We both enjoyed it, even though it was difficult to find the venue. If everything goes well, we'll probably check out a few other performances from that dance company. Dance has now filled our lives to the brim!

Zumba results

Since I was so sick last week, I completely forgot to post the results of my 6-week (plus one class) Zumba "diet." In the seven weeks that I cut high fructose corn syrup out of my diet and went to Zumba class once a week, I lost a total of 12 1/2 pounds. Granted, I probably gained a few of those back last week when I spent the entire week zombified on the couch. However, I have now upped my exercise regimen to two Zumba classes per week and I walk on the treadmill at work when I have some spare time at lunch. (That usually ends up to be about 15 minutes per day, four days per week.) I'm still trying to keep the HFCS out of my food. With any luck, I'll be down a total of 20 pounds by the end of the year. No need for the best weight loss pills for women for me! Good ol' exercise will do the trick. I'll be sure to give you another update at the end of the year.

So tired

Why is it only Wednesday? And why is today going so slowly? I'm ready for the exit signs pointing to the end of the week. Not that this weekend will be dull. I have to drop my car off for inspection Friday night. They'll work on it Saturday. (Let's all hope everything is fine and it won't cost a ton.) Then Sunday is Trick-or-Treating. As always, it takes forever to get costumes ready. I need a vacation!

Weight loss update

I don't think I talked about this yet. As I said before, I am taking a Zumba class on Thursday nights. Tonight is the third class. (Technically, it's the fourth. The first class was a demo and, even though it didn't count toward the six sessions, we still did a harsh workout.) While my daughter was at swim class this past Saturday, I decided to give in and weigh myself. After three full weeks of a high fructose corn syrup-free diet and exercise, I have lost eight pounds. (Ha! Bite that herbal phentermine diet drugs!) If my weight loss continues on this path for the entirety of my Zumba class, I will have lost approximately 20 pounds in seven weeks. I am fairly confident that I can hit that goal. I only wish I did this sooner!

Halloween

Halloween is quickly approaching. Originally, my daughter wanted to be Hit Girl from the movie, Kick Ass. That would have been fine. However, no one makes a child-sized Hit Girl costume. (Not that I blame them. I understand the reason.) I would have sewn one for her...but my material handling skills are a bit lacking. Especially in the pleather area. So she has switched to a cute (and girly!) Mad Hatter costume. I'm debating wearing a costume to match hers. Either Alice or the Red Queen. Though the March Hare did pop into my head too. What do you think? Alice, Red Queen or March Hare?

My non-diet diet

I don't really have a lot to talk about. So I'm going to talk about the "diet" I am trying out. It's not some fad diet or anything weird. I'm simply not eating foods containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). That means no soda (I could drink things like Pepsi Throwback but I'm choosing to eliminate all soda), no Stove Top stuffing, no Heinz ketchup, and many many other foods. I have to read the ingredients on everything because HFCS shows up in unexpected places, like bread. My family switched to a honey wheat bread with no HFCS. It is still delicious. This is my second week on the 'program.' There have been some rough patches but, overall, it has not been a difficult task. I have found that I don't have the munchies nearly as often. I'm not sure if it is a result of all of the water I have been drinking or the higher nutritional value of the foods I have been eating. For example, even though Crunchy Cheetos do not contain HFCS, I have been snacking on raw green beans instead.

I have also signed up for a zumba class on Thursday nights for the next 6 weeks. In addition, I have a jazz funk class on Wednesday nights. With any luck, I'll be able to drop a couple of pounds by the time the zumba class ends. I'll try to remember to let everyone know my results.

Until then, here is a video of a lecture given by Robert Lustig about HFCS:

Darn Weather

There have been some major storms rolling through the Northeast, which is why I haven't been posting anything lately. We had some power problems on Friday and that sucked a lot. I hope everything is back to normal now, even though it's still raining off and on. In homage to water falling from the sky, here is Madonna's Rain.