The Nuts

"The Nuts" is the absolute best possible hand in any given hand of poker. It's the unbeatable, unbreakable hand. Having "the Nuts" is a very good thing but eating the nuts all night long is not.

I love playing poker but I haven't figured out how to do it without stuffing my poker face full of snacks. I always have fun getting together with friends and taking their money but I hate taking away all the extra calories along with the cash. I'm happy I came in 1st place last night but I'm not happy about all the crap I ate.

I had a decent dinner before heading out so I wouldn't be tempted by the snack food but it didn't work out so well. I ate baked tortilla chips, nuts (pistachios, cashews and walnuts) and then it got really bad when some leftover fun sized Halloween candy got broken out. I had a few Butterfingers and a few Health bars before I pulled in the reins and stopped myself from a full fledged binge. I felt so gross and disgusted with myself. I didn't want to eat that crap but I did it anyway. When will I learn?

I need to be able to resist the temptation to eat just because it's there and everyone else is eating it. I need to figure out how to have a social life and stay on my healthy eating plan.

I can't even use alcohol as an excuse because I gave that up for Lent so I was only drinking water. Maybe I should have given up chocolate for 40 days instead of vodka.

It looks like I'll be spending my time at the gym this this week working the chocolate off my poker face.

Winter Games

I'm addicted to the winter games. I especially love the alpine skiing, snowboarding, snow cross, speed skating, nordic combined, figure skating, biathlon ... I love it all. I have watched almost all of the competitions except for curling. For some reason I just can't seem to get on board with that "sport" (is sweeping really a sport?) but everything else has me glued to the tv.

I get so impatient listening to all the commentators drone on and on about the same few athletes. I'm not crazy about NBC's coverage because they are too focused on just the American Olympians. I'm proud of my fellow countrymen but the Olympics are about all countries competing not just the USA and Canada. I have been recording the day's events and then watching them back the next day while trudging along on the dreadmill. It definitely takes some of the dread out of it.

I've been thinking of changing the focus of my workouts to training instead of merely exercising to lose weight. I think it's important to have something more than just weight loss to focus on whether it's beating your last time, increasing the amount of weight you can lift, or just getting more balanced and flexible. I need something beside the scale to measure my progress and keep me motivated.

I haven't been skiing or snowboarding in a couple of years but I'm going to dust off my gear and get out on the mountains to play before the season is over. Let's hope Mother Nature pulls through and dumps some snow here in the northeast.

What is your favorite Olympic sport to watch? It's time to get out and play!

Facial Expressions

I never realized how many facial expressions I use when talking until I smashed my face. It hurts a bit every time I raise my eyebrows and I can't seem to stop myself from doing it. Maybe this is a good excuse to look into botox. As much as I would love to get rid of the wrinkles I don't think I'd want to permanently give up my expressions.

Would you or have you had or considered botox?

LOOK OUT! DANGER! SMASH!

Is there a support group out there for klutzes? I could really use one.

It's pretty comical that my mother worries about me when I'm out snowmobiling, ATVing, hiking, bungee jumping or playing other potentially dangerous sports because I generally only get injured doing every day things, you know, like when I broke my foot walking down my driveway or the klutzy move I made yesterday.

B and I were carrying a marble counter top into the camp yesterday morning when I slipped on the ice and snow and smashed my head on the marble. OWWWW! OMG! Pain! Blood! OOOOOUCH!!! It was awful. My sunglasses broke and there was blood everywhere. I have a cut above my eyebrow and my eyelid is swollen and looks like I have dark purple eye shadow on. I guess I'm lucky I didn't make contact with the marble an inch one way (eyeball) or the other (temple) because I expect that could have been much worse.

I gave myself a day off from the gym due to my injury. I've been keeping my eye on ice and feel ok but I didn't think it would be a good idea to go to the gym and get the blood pumping.

I called my primary doctor's office and the eye doctor to ask if they think it's necessary for me to have it checked out. I didn't black out, I'm not having any problems with my vision or any headaches so my doctor didn't think I needed to come in unless it gets worse. I spoke to the eye doctor too and she said I could come in the office if I wanted but she thinks it will be fine.

UGHHH! It seems like these things only happen to me. It's a miracle I can get through the day without injuring myself. It's a good thing I signed up for COBRA coverage so I still have health insurance. A person like me should never be without it.

I don't usually post photos of myself on here but thought you'd like to see my big puffy black/blue swollen eye. Please ignore the fact that I am long overdue to have my brows waxed. It doesn't look like I'll be getting them waxed anytime soon.

If anyone asks me what happened I'm just going to say "oh, this is nothing, you should see the other guy."

Not only did I mess up my face and look like I went a few rounds in the ring with Rocky but I broke my new funky sunglasses ;(

So, do you like my pretty purple eyeshadow?

Hero or Villain?

Last night was the first episode of the new season of Survivor - Heroes vs. Villains. There's no more Outwit, Outplay, Outlast - this season it is Return, Revenge, Redemption!

Even though I've watched every single season there were a couple of contestants I don't even remember (Candice? Danielle?). I've been watching Survivor ever since Richard Hatch bared his pasty white a$$ for the world to see (ewwww). It certainly wasn't pretty but it was good reality tv (is that an oxymoron?).

I definitely enjoyed some seasons more than others and cheered for some villains (hello Boston Rob) and couldn't stand others (Coach and Tyson) and was happy to see their torches snuffed out.

I think this season is going to be like no other. In the first challenge they had two pretty serious injuries. The competition was fierce. Stephanie had her shoulder dislocated and popped back into place and Rudy broke his toe in a couple of places. These people are out for blood and it should be exciting to watch.

One of my favorite castaways of all time is Stephanie who was the only member left after her entire tribe was wiped out and she was left all alone at her camp. Some people thought she was whiny and irritating but I didn't care, I was in awe of her smokin' body and amazing arms. She is tone and fit but not a skinny skeleton. Her arms don't look as defined as they were in her past seasons but she still looks fantastic.

Will the villains continue their evil ways? Will the heroes take off their capes and turn to the dark side? In a game all about outwitting, outlasting and outplaying people, would you rather be considered a hero or villain?

Snow Way!

Snow emergencies were called, kids got out of going to school, businesses shut down and we ended up with a grand total of 1.5" of snow. Yes, that is INCHES not feet. I didn't even have to pick up a shovel. What's going on here? Mother Nature is apparently lost and needs to get a new map or a good GPS.

We desperately need snow up in the mountains of Vermont so I can go snowmobiling this weekend. I'm so jealous of everyone in NJ, PA, MD, DC, NY, CT and R.I.

The winter Olympics in Vancouver start next week and they are scrambling to get the mountains covered since they haven't had nearly enough snow. They shouldn't have to build ski slopes out of cardboard and hay bales.

I think Mother Nature is screwing with us. If you see her, please give her directions to the mountains up north.

Who Dat?

Every time I hear "who dat?" I think of Janet Jackson's song Nasty.

"Hey! Who's that thinkin' nasty thoughts?
Nasty boys!
Who's that in that nasty car?
Nasty boys!
Who's that eatin' that nasty fruit?
Nasty boys!
Who's jammin' to my nasty groove?
Nasty boys!
Ladies? Nasty boys don't mean a thing
Oh you nasty boys"

After this past weekend I started hearing "who dat eatin' that nasty food?" I hate to admit it but it was me.

Congrats to the Saints for winning the SuperBowl for the first time in franchise history. The Saints certainly had an amazing season and I can't think of any other city that is more deserving and in need of some extra attention and financial assistance than New Orleans.

My apologies to the Saints and the Colts but I didn't really care who won the SuperBowl this year. It was an exciting game and I'm glad the Saints won but my football season ended when the Patriots got knocked out. How did Drew Brees get all pumped up to play after having a beautiful baby boy and Tom Brady seemed anxious to end the season as early as possible? Oh
well, spring training will be starting soon enough. Go Sox!

I also have to admit I spent more time playing poker and eating all sorts of salty sugary snacks all afternoon than I did watching the game or the lame commercials. I should have been fully
satiated after eating a big bowl of beef stew with fresh hot wheat bread but I couldn't stop myself. I started snacking on chips and dip, crackers, carrot cake, garlic bread sticks and whatever else was on the table. UGGH! Does it ever get easier to resist?

I've been on a roll working out hard at the gym and eating healthy reasonably sized portions but one weekend of mindless social eating sends me right back down the slippery slope of regaining any weight I so painstakingly lost. The scale says I'm up over 5 pounds but that doesn't seem possible. Apparently my body doesn't know about the mathematical equation that says I'd have to have eaten over 16,000 extra calories to have gained 5 pounds in two days. How can it take a month to lose 5 pounds and two days to gain it right back? It really isn't fair, is it?

I'm going to need to put in some serious extra hours at the gym this week just to get back to my pre-weekend weight. It shouldn't even be possible for me to gain 5 pounds in a weekend but the scale does not lie. Let's hope some of it is from all the salty snacks I inhaled and it won't take a month for me to lose it again.

Drew Brees and the Saints get to go to Disney World and I'm going to be spending even more time at Planet Fitness.

Who Dat gettin' right back on the healthy living bandwagon? ME!

Thematic Photographic 86 - Water in any form

ICE, ICE Baby.

Water is such a powerful element that has the ability to sustain us or destroy us. We need water to survive and at the same time we can be destroyed by droughts, floods and powerful rain, ice and snow storms. Our daily lives can be turned upside down because of ice.

My favorite form of water is obviously snow but considering the fact that I was kept off the snowmobile trails this past weekend because of all the rain that promptly turned the trails to ice I decided to enter this week's Thematic Photographic with an icy picture.

To participate in Written Inc.'s latest Thematic Photographic theme, "Water in any form," please click here.