7 Quick Takes (#44)

1) After 5 straight weeks of going to the gym 4-5 days for group workouts, I finally mustered up the courage to pull out the scale.  I knew what my starting weight was from my inability to squeeze in fat clothes.  And, without any modifications to diet, I was ecstatic to see that I'm already down 7 pounds!!!  I LOVE my gym! I have always loved working out but just didn't have the money to join the gym.  But Jason felt really bad that his Christmas presents to me this year were a gym membership, and a vacuum :)

Credit

2) Here is the weirdest thing about living in the Bible Belt Buckle of America: Christian Music 24/7 everywhere you go.  Maryland friends: Can you imagine working out at the gym and doing your stretch/cooldown to Christian music???  It is so weird!  I keep waiting for someone to complain.  Or sue??  During our "Last Chance Beatdown" workout, the instructor jumped up and turned off a song even though the curse words were censored.  She apologized too!!  It is really weird down here, but not necessarily bad?  Just weird.

3) Speaking of the Bible Belt - people still have these signs in their yards:

Beer and wine sales were legalized in Tyler last month and you can frequently find me frolicking up and down the bountiful aisles at the grocery store.  With so many options, I never know what to pick.  So I get one of each :)  (And I wonder why I can't lose weight???  Oi...)

4) We have some really generous friends.  Like the kind of generosity I wish I had but will probably never possess.  I know you can't take with you, but I am all too aware that money doesn't grow on trees either.  So, our generous friends gifted us the most beautiful furniture for our living room:

Now we just have to figure out what to do with all the other furniture!!  Our house looks like a used sofa store.

5) What's cookin?

When I lived in Mexico for a month during college, my host mama would always serve warm corn tortillas with every meal.  She picked them up every couple days from a neighbor.  They were so delicious.  When I came back to the US, I couldn't find corn tortillas that weren't rubbery and stale.  So I just quit buying them. But this week, I am soaking my organic corn in some water and pickling lime to make my very first batch of homemade REAL corn tortillas (recipe).  It is super easy but requires time - 2 weeks before I dig in!!  The pot of soaking corn smells like cornbread and it is taking every bit of self control to not cook these early!!

6)  We went to a babyshower for one of the fellow mom's in our Catholic Mom's Group this morning.  They wrote that gifts are not necessary and that just the gift of your company was enough.  Well, I didn't know the mom very well since I had only met her once.  I didn't have a chance to pick up a small gift before the party and time was running out.  Jason told me not to worry about it since I have a tendency to go overboard with these things.

Who was the only one not bearing gifts???  Such.A.Jerk.  As I saw all the other moms trickle in the door with their gifts, I just ran to the food table and started stuffing my face.  It's my only coping mechanism for anxiety.  (Not really.  If it was socially acceptable to drink at 9:30am...)  I sat there during (what felt like) 4 hours of gift-opening with my head hung in shame.

7) And the kids were so tuckered out from the party that ALL THREE fell asleep at the same time.  I really can't remember the last time this happened....

Check out the *sober* Quick Takers at Jen's!