I'm melting......

I know I've been MIA lately, but let me just tell you that ChiTown went from having weather in the 50s and 60s straight to the middle of summer in about a week's time. The past few days, we've had heat index readings in the triple digits!!! Anyone who knows me (or has been a long-time reader) knows that I don't tolerate heat very well. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to just hide out in the house (preferably the basement!) because Stud Muffin started driver's ed last week, so I've had to leave the house to drive him there, then pick him up an hour and a half later. [8741, has it been this bad by you, too? You're so much further north and much closer to the lake, so I'm hoping for your sake, it's been a little cooler!]

[**It just occurred to me that the weather widget on the side over there must use readings from downtown Chicago, which is always cooler than where I am. Sometimes, there's as much as a 10 degree difference thanks to the lake. Trust me, it's HOT!! As I type this, at 9 am, the widget says 80, but I know it's warmer than that here. Yesterday, one of the banks I passed in my neighborhood said 104!!]

Oo, but one "good" thing that's been happening is that for that hour and a half, I've been walking. Yep, I've finally started doing something about my obese state! There is a beautiful university about 2 minutes from Stud's school, so I've been dropping him off and heading over to the campus to walk. A friend has been joining me on Mondays and Wednesdays, then the other days I've been walking alone. There's a beautiful little pond in the middle of the campus that I've been walking around. Stud starts driver's ed at 8, so it's still fairly early when I'm walking, and the sun isn't completely up and blazing yet. But, hell, it's still pretty freakin' hot! By the time I pick him up, am ready to go sit in a meat locker!

The only down side to walking with my friend is that she always wants to go get breakfast after we walk. Last week, I let myself eat some yummy breakfasts (fresh blueberry crepes, for example!) because it was my first week of summer vacation. (Naturally, I was able to rationalize it by thinking, I would have ordered these anyway, so at least I walked for an hour first!) This week, I made much healthier choices, and asked them to keep the toast and hashbrowns.

Because I've had to get up and out so much earlier than usual during summer vacation, I've kinda been forcing myself to run errands and things in the morning. Normally, those would be done in the evening, after the sun goes down! Unfortunately for Studly, there have been a lot of errands. The worst part of all this running around is that MY AIR CONDITIONER DOESN'T WORK IN MY CAR!!!! Oh my Lord! It's so bad. But, I know if I go home, I won't go out again, so we've been suffering through it. The air will come on sporadically, so we do this interesting little dance of - Open the windows! Oo, air, close the windows! Ah, crap, open the windows!
On another positive note, though, I've also been working out with my Wii for at least 30 minutes every day. Did I mention way back in May that my sibling bought me the Wii Active program? I LOVE IT!! I'm currently doing the 30 Day Challenge, which gives you a daily workout that's about 20-25 minutes long. I've been doing another 30 minutes, sometimes an hour, by using either my Wii Fit, or designing "custom workouts" on the Active. So far, so good. I was able to lose 3 pounds the first week. Now, if I can just do that about 35 more times, I'll be at goal!

I was thinking that I should be put a ticker here on my blog to track my progress, because then it would force me to be accountable. Back when I first got my Wii, I was so gung-ho, then I let things get in the way (well, OK, my foot problems were the biggest obstacle, but I've been working on that) and I didn't follow through. It's easy to lie to myself about why I don't exercise or eat right, etc. But, I could never deceive my Bloggy Buddies, so maybe if I include you all in my "plan," I'll have better results. Not to mention, you guys are the most supportive, kind, wonderful group of people a girl could ask to have in her corner!

OK, it's decided! I'm going to go look for a ticker right now! Then, I'm off to the basement for a little Wii Active! (and then, maybe I'll catch you all up on what the heck's been going on around here that past few week! Don't say I didn't warn you....)