I just joined the Biggest Loser contest at UVU. The person who loses the highest percent of their initial body weight wins, with prizes each week as well a grand prize at the end. My problem? A woefully efficient metabolism. No matter how much I’ve exercised and dieted, the weight doesn’t drop. My body is very good not only at living within a very tiny caloric budget, but also at saving some of those calories for later. The net result over a few years of living off 900 calories per day? 5 more pounds and zero energy.

So my goal is not only to lose weight, but to figure out how to get myself a spendy metabolism. And the wise words of my friends mom are seeming to make more and more sense.

The kids and I were going through old pictures today when we ran across a picture of the worst wart ever. You’ll have to click “more” if you want to see it — don’t look […]

Add a scoop of icecream to make this taste just like a hot fudge and caramel sundae with pineapple on top. It’s really just your typical Pineapple Upside Down Cake, only made with a brownie recipe instead. And I use the term recipe loosely.

Dichotomy is the death of creativity, and our political system is the ultimate example. Case in point: there have to be hundreds of ways to solve the collective set of healthcare problems we’ve got, and thousands of ways to solve the individual issues, but all our energy has been focused in fighting for or against the plan in place. So let’s brainstorm instead.

I bought the School House Rock DVD about two years ago, and got a pretty good laugh when I caught Mary running around the house singing “Conjunction junction, who lost function?” A funny chica she is.

That’s of course not exactly how the song goes. It says “What’s your function?” instead, and the function is to hook up words and phrases and clauses. And then we learn about several conjunctions and how they work. I’d like to focus on the word “but” since we’re sometimes oblivious to its power.

Twitter is just full of great ideas: RT @Crazycanuckblog: RT @hbaskas The 40th anniv. of 1st moon landing is July 20th. Know anyone planning a special celebration? Looking for ideas. #moonlanding A mid-summer moon landing […]

I’m going back to college! Granted, I’m not staying in the dorms with my two kids, but I figured I’d celebrate the occasion by posting two student-friendly recipes. For those of you who believe microwaves serve little other purpose than to make popcorn and heat TV dinners, here are two easy tricks we’ve discovered quite by accident.

Before you scoff at microwave food, consider that these sneaky recipes take less time than running out for fast food that was probably microwaved anyway. And they cost less and taste better to boot. So whether you’re a student or not, when you’re in a rush, hungry, and looking to save a little time and money, give these a go and let me know what you think 🙂