What to serve at a wedding reception

These are seasonal beers, so if you are going to have a summer wedding, these would be a couple excellent beers to serve at the reception.

Just a tip for all the wedding planners out there.

exercising soreness

This week I have done some slalom skiing, played soccer (as the goalie), did a little running, step boarding, hula hooped, walked a tight rope, ski jumped, and to top it all off, I did some yoga. My leg muscles are really sore....
Of course I am talking about the Wii Fit. The good news is - I am in the "normal" range for the BMI. The bad news is.....another pound or two and I might not be. But, so far it is really fun and everyone seems to enjoy it. The hard part is finding the time. Just getting home from work, I have to make dinner. After dinner on a full stomach? Not so good. I guess I could get up early and try to do some exercises. I already get up at about 5:15 though....
It will be interesting to see if this really does anything. Even if it doesn't shed pounds, it's still a good way to get the heart pumping and tone. It's just plain fun.

Nintendo ROCKS!

What a crazy week. We heard back from the insurance company about our totalled car. They are giving us diddley squat. Jerks. Nothing for the recent $1200 repair work that was done. Jerks. Then Kevin's Macbook Pro died. Well, the video card went out - so all he sees is a black screen. His warranty expired about 5 or 6 weeks ago. Of course. Fortunately, I purchased the laptop with my American Express card - did you know they offer an extended warranty just by using the card? So, Whew! Kevin's laptop is still covered. American Express rocks too!!

So, why does Nintendo rock? I emailed them about my disappointment in not being able to purchase a Wii Fit. The only ones you can find are from re-sellers at a grossly inflated price. Well, someone called me back. A really nice guy named Zach. He listened to my sad story then offered to sell me one at the MSRP. Which, of course, I snapped up immediatley. Kevin said Nintendo is supposed to have some of the best customer service on the planet. I would have to agree - they rock!

Our poor car...or is it our poor pocketbook?

Last weekend, someone hit Gary's parked car in front of our house. It's totaled. Gary had been driving the car for only four days after putting $1200 worth of repairs into it. We're just sick about it, and hope to get some of that back - but we have to argue with an insurance company, and you know how that is. They are going to look at the car today and give us an amount. Gary is driving the caddie we got from his sister Karen's husband, John. He sold it to us about a year ago for $2 grand, the blue book was something like $5 grand on it. We figured it would be an OK car for the boys to drive, I guess it's a good thing we had it around! The poor woman that hit the car is a cancer patient. She was just feeling good enough to go out after spending the last few weeks getting chemo. She didn't get hurt, but her car was totaled as well. She was reaching for a water bottle and didn't see our car. She hit it pretty hard, it moved an entire car length and got pushed up on the curb. That totally twisted the frame - you can't open the driver's door and the doors on the other side aren't flush any more. We had decided to invest in the repairs because it has been such a great car, it had never been in the shop prior to this. Gary figured if we got the repair work done (new catalytic converter, disc brakes and fixed a leak in the power steering fluid) that the car would last another three or four years.

It's funny, when they gave us the estimate for the repairs, my first
thought was - "if we put that much money into the car, something will happen to it." Crazy.

and done!

The diet didn't last past day 5. Too hard on a long holiday weekend. We had tickets to the American Players Theater on Friday night, so we had a bottle of wine before the show. (Which was great! We saw "Ah, Wilderness!" by Eugene O'Neill ) Anyway....Saturday we went to Galena and ate at one of the local restaurants - which was very good. On Sunday, we cooked out, a "beer can" chicken. Always awesome. As you can see, the diet would have been impossible over the weekend. On Labor Day we intended to eat at Avanti's - an Italian restaurant in Verona. But, it was closed, so we decided to eat at the Bistro in Mount Horeb. Also closed for dinner, although it had been open during the day. Leftover chicken was dinner on Monday.

I did weigh myself yesterday. I unfortunately did not weigh myself the day before I started the diet, but I had done so about a week before. From that time until now, I have lost 7 pounds. Whether it was all on the diet or not, I don't know. My weight fluctuates anyway, so it's hard to tell. Gary and I have simply decided to eat healthier (although we don't really eat too much junk as it is!), have fewer drinks during the week and to continue exercising. I will continue walking during work. We're also trying very hard to find a Wii Fit - which is nearly impossible.

Luke got "Rock Band" for the Xbox. I can't do anything beyond the easy level, but it's still great to play. The boys are really good at it. Most of the time, Luke sings, Kevin is playing guitar and Ethan is the drummer. It's fun to watch them play.