If you love it, why not do it for (a little) money?

I've decided to become a ZUMBA instructor. This became a realization over our trip during the holidays. A friend has been inspiring me to keep myself fit and happy through dancing. She has been a motivating force in my weight loss efforts, whether she knows it or not. Her ZUMBA classes make me feel stronger each time I attend and I feel worlds better about my body than I ever have. So, I was sitting at my in-laws' house and decided after speaking with my friend when I decided to invest the money in ZUMBA training. My training session won't happen until February 26th but I'm SOOO excited! I go to classes every week so why not get paid to party? :) The thing I need to work on though is performing with a smile. I get to concentrating so much on the moves that I'm doing in class that I forget to smile and that's what I'm going to have to learn. I probably won't be able to smile ALL the time but at least whenever I make eye contact with the students, I better look like I'm having a good time! I'll also probably have to learn how to shout and holler every once in awhile during class to make it sound like party!

I've officially spent a lot of my Christmas money on ZUMBAwear. I should be fully outfitted for my classes that I would like to teach. I'm so excited to turn my information into the gym and maybe other places so that I can get in and earn a little money. I might even look into working at Curves since they now have the Curves ZUMBA in the Circuit. The best thing is the fact that Kyle 100% supports this endeavor. It is a pricey endeavor but he knows it'll make me happy and healthy. That's the best kind of support to have! :) I know that the money I earn as an instructor is peanuts compared to what this is all costing but it'll be so much fun and it'll be a little bit of pocket money to have on the side. I can't wait til February!! Now I just gotta get myself in really good shape so that all this ZUMBAwear actually looks presentable on me. hehehe

PointsPlus (new WW plan)

Weightwatchers came out with a new plan this past week called PointsPlus. What does that sound like to you?? Plus means more, right? Well, that's kinda how you can look at it. It's the Points program redesigned based on today's scientific and nutrition research. I haven't started this new plan yet but I plan on starting day 1 of the new plan on Sunday. That's usually when I get back on the horse and ride until the following Saturday. Anyway, the best thing that I've learned from reading about the new PointsPlus program is that ALL FRESH fruit is FREEEEEEEE!!!!! That's right, people, fresh fruit has a value of 0 points, as do most veggies-but that was the same in the last Points program. Anyway, I am so overjoyed at this new development. I was always kinda resentful of the fact that if I chose to eat a banana, I'd have to give up 2 of my daily points and when you've already got a low daily target of points to start out with, well, that just didn't seem fair. I mean, there were a lot of ridiculously unhealthy things I could've chosen to eat besides the banana...SO--with this new development, when I'm hungry for a snack or I just want to eat a lot of fruit, I can do just that without being penalized by using up points. This whole plan is of course, to try and get people to pick up those fruits and veggies more often rather than the 100 calorie chip bag or the brownie. I'm so excited about this. Now, this doesn't mean that I can gorge myself either. I have to use common sense and listen to my body signals and eat only when I'm hungry. I still have to get all my good health guidelines in such as healthy oils (psh, I don't even make it a point to count those because I use olive oil each time I put something in a pan to cook it) and dairy and whole grains and what not...which leads me to my next point: daily target and bonus allowance pointsplus.

My daily target of points was a whopping 24 points. My weekly allowance of bonus points was 35--this all sounds like a lot but it really wasn't when you factored in everything you were "supposed" to eat versus everything you wanted to eat. haha.. So now my daily target is 29 and allowance is 49! However, most of our foods we've been used to eating regularly have gone up in pointsplus values so it kinda evens it out, probably. Anyway, since I haven't tried it yet, I will write an update on Saturday more than likely to tell you how it went. That poor orange bin at WinCo will be emptied by all the people (specifically me) trying out this new plan. I LOVE ORANGES AND GRAPEFRUITS!!!!

Can you believe it???

Idaho (southwestern part) was hit really hard by a winter storm and we got about 7+ inches, maybe even closer to 10 in some areas west of Meridian!! That's huge for the Treasure Valley apparently--it might be rivaling the first winter we were here because when we were here for our first winter, many people were saying it was a heavy snowfall and unusual. Well, guess today might've beaten that. AND it's only the end of November/early December! We don't usually get that much snow until later on in the winter..like, January or something. Anyway, it was such a ginormous amount of snow, that traveling conditions were extremely dangerous and so the school districts cancelled school. NOW THAT'S A BIG DEAL! They don't usually call off school here. I had that sub job planned for today but it's better that school was cancelled because I didn't need extra dangerous driving conditions for a job that's only gonna pay me $75 for the entire day (including traveling from the first school to the second school).


I shoveled snow today out of our driveway. What a pain in the... The snow was HEAVY. I probably will feel it in my shoulders tomorrow or maybe even later tonight. The muscles in my shoulders were already spasming earlier this afternoon after my first go 'round. The second go 'round, I spent the time clearing more off of the sidewalks since we have a corner lot, figured it'd be nice to do more than just the portion in front of the house. I didn't get all of the side lot, but hey, I think people will forgive me. I have a picture or two of the snow. I have one that I took right after I started shoveling the driveway. It's so thick!! I have to figure out how to get it here on the computer from my phone..I'll get Kyle to help me. :)