The First 100 Minutes

I just had to share this picture which appeared on the Drudge Report today ....



"Mad Magazine's new Obama cover spoofs the notion of the president's first 100 days but accelerates it to his first "100 minutes."

"The caricature shows a completely stressed-out Obama puffing on several cancer sticks simultaneously as he holds his head in his hands. (That's what happens when the world knows your're a reformed smoker who admits to occasional lapses.) An open bottle of Pepto Bismol is on the desk, as is a bottle of Excedrin.

"Meanwhile, splayed out on the desk before Obama are newspapers (including the Chicago Tribune!) with blaring headlines like "Automakers Broke!" "Taliban Threat!" and "Dow Crashes!"

Seriously, I don't know why anyone would wish to have the nightmare job that being President certainly is!

the first duty of government ...

"The first duty of government is to protect the powerless from the powerful."

"Our party has always been the voice of the powerless and the voiceless.They have been our natural constituency. Let us add to this list the most powerless and voiceless member of the human family: the unborn child."
~Gov. Robert P. Casey (Pennsylvania, Democrat, May 1992)

[Note: Gov. Casey's plea to the Democrat party platform committee ultimately fell on deaf ears. In the midst of his talk, Casey was interrupted by Rep. Nancy Peloci of CA, (who is now the Speaker of the House) …. Peloci said something about everybody there sympathizing with Casey's religious view (Casey's Catholic), and Casey interrupted right back with the words "this is not a religious issue. This is a moral issue. Let me continue, please."]




One of President Obama's first acts last week was to sign an executive order to permit the funding of abortions in foreign countries.

"What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person, and what kind of a society, will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually?"
~Jesse Jackson, 1977

I hope he has a change of heart, too.

Getting Back on Track

Hi. This morning's email from the "YOU on a Diet" doctors had the following good advice for me and for those of you who may have eaten stuff you shouldn't have recently.

The Keys to Sticking With It -- For Good

"A person who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake." --Confucius

Week #3: Slipped? Stuck? Snap Back On Track
Took a detour off your program? No worries. Life happens, and one of the keys to long-term victory is learning how to recover from missteps. Here are the secrets:

1. Pretend it never happened (sort of).Get right back on the program. The YOU Docs -- RealAge experts Michael Roizen, MD, and Mehmet Oz, MD -- point out that when you make a wrong turn on a highway trip, your GPS doesn't let you get 50 miles off course; it alerts you right away. Make a YOU-turn as quickly as possible.

2. Don't beat yourself up.Missteps are not signs of failure. They're speed bumps that help regulate your journey. Don't judge what happened; instead, use the lapse for useful info on what gets you into danger and how to keep moving forward.

3. Look at the big picture. Check your tracker(s) to see how far you've come. Focus on more than the numbers; think about whether you've had more energy, self-esteem, and passion for life. Pay more attention to your overall progress than to the individual days.

4. Have a backup plan. People who have a backup tend to meet their goals more quickly than people who see themselves either on or off the program. Figure out what you'll do when, say, your walking buddy is on vacation or flight delays leave you stuck eating airport pizza.

5. Revisit your program. [refers to the "My Goals, New Year New You" weight loss helps available for free online]

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Our five-day vacation in St. George was much too short. The nice thing is it’s only a 4-hour drive (or less), so if we just have to get away anytime soon (hint hint), we can be there in a relative jiffy.

On the way down, our only stop was when we stopped for lunch at Wendy’s at about the halfway point (Fillmore, maybe?). On our way home, we didn’t stop even once because we ate lunch in St. George before hitting the road.

Somewhere around Nephi, our car’s gas warning light came on indicating the need to fill up with gas. But, I remembered seeing a TV show that said you could actually drive quite a long way after the gas light came on before running out of gas. As I recall, they had tested several cars that kept going for at least 20-30 miles after the light came on.

So we got home without stopping for gas. It took us only three and a half hours—and we were not speeding. It’s also nice that on some stretches, the new speed limit is now 80 mph. And there were no construction zones to deal with like there were in the summer!

Jen very kindly got us into her time-share condominium for the four nights we were there, and at a bargain-basement rate, too. Thanks Jen! It was so-o-o-o-o much nicer than a motel!

How Much Global Warming Have YOU Shoveled?

Europe and the UK have had unusually cold weather during the past month. (Someone suggested that the reason Russia cut off gas to the Ukraine was because of the cold.)

The white in the above photo is sea ice caused by below zero temperatures in the UK.

The above cartoon appeared in a Belgium newspaper this week: Finally!--A good use for Al Gore's book, it said.

Many people in Saskatoon (Canada) just laugh when they hear anyone talk about "global warming." During this month, they've had the longest and the coldest cold spell since records first began to be kept in 1896.

How much "global warming" have YOU shoveled so far this winter? This is the snowiest winter in Orem since we moved here. Some years we barely got an inch total. During the past month we've had a couple of feet of snowfall.

Slow and Steady

This morning The Knight announced his 8-pound weight loss (since New Year’s Eve). Yesterday he nearly killed himself playing racquetball with Jen—and this after slaving to clear the driveway of snow! They also plan on playing again on Friday.

My dieting and exercising efforts look puny in comparison. My excuse is I have been battling with a bronchial affliction since before New Year’s. And I’m old. And my body keeps rolling its eyes and muttering “Here we go again—the Yo-yo Dieter is at it again! Time to shut down the metabolism!”

I also know that “slow and steady wins the race”—doing my reasonable best, one day at a time. Oh, I have zero expectation of being the “biggest loser.” I am just happy to have my children as comrades in arms in this Battle of the Bulge. I am in a contest against myself not against them.

I may come in last on April 5, but I won’t be throwing in the towel between now and then. My plan is to keep eating healthfully, and exercising to the best of my ability. Everyone who “finishes” (keeps on keeping on) is a winner in my book!

Starting Off on the Right Foot

The Knight and I just returned from walking for half an hour at the Orem Fitness Center. We walked verrrrryyy ssslllooowwwly: because we are sooooo out of shape! We only walked 10 laps (about a mile and a half). BUT! I have faith that if we keep at it, maybe by June or July we will each weigh thirty pounds less and will then be able to walk … oh, maybe, semi-fast! LOL

I found a diet soup recipe online today which I made for our supper tonight. It was yummy, full of vegetables, and only about 50 calories per cup. The recipe was from Good Housekeeping.com. and recommended by the YOU on a Diet Doctors. The whole recipe makes 28 cups of soup. (I made about a third of a recipe to see if I liked it.) The reason the recipe is so big is so that you can eat it every day all week.

Thanks to whoever it was who suggested that we have a family “Biggest Loser” contest. It’s easier to stay motivated when others are in the same boat with you. The way I look at it, we will all be winners, if we stick to it!