Category Archives: Stray thoughts

Thinking about resolutions and words for the year…

Posted on by

It’s that time. The close of one year and beginning of another seems a good time for taking stock, making plans, setting goals for the year ahead.

I don’t know how the tradition of making New Year’s Resolutions first got started. I dutifully made them each January as I grew up and forgot about them in a few weeks’ time. After a while that seemed pretty ridiculous. Then I began to make goals rather than resolutions. And then later on I began realizing that the things I pondered every year around Jan. 1 were things I needed to be working on all the time anyway. So I happily gave up on the whole idea.

This year in several articles and posts going around, some have gone so far as to say Christians shouldn’t make resolutions, that resolutions smack of moralism and even legalism, putting a focus on our efforts, on trying harder, rather than on grace, and we should rest on God’s promises to us rather than making promises to Him.

Well, of course we should rest on God’s promises and His provision of grace and forgiveness. Our resolutions or goals or lists for ourselves don’t make us more accepted or loved in His sight. But does that mean we should never resolve anything or promise God anything?

A few years ago I made a study of the statement “I will” in the Bible, said not by God or Satan but by people. “I will” is a statement of determination, sometimes a vow, or we could even say a resolution. There were many I found, and that’s not even including “I will nots” or statements that say the same thing in different words.

And then our pastor has been leading us through the book of Job for the past several months and started a series last Sunday on Job’s resolutions from Job 31, beginning with “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” The rest aren’t stated quite that way, but resolution can be inferred from the other behaviors Job lists in his defense against his friends who felt that he must have sinned and sinned big to deserve the affliction he suffered.

So there are Biblical grounds for making resolutions (not necessarily Jan. 1, but whenever needed, though January is a good time to examine ourselves and our schedules, etc.).

Our pastor made a little study booklet to aid in going over this section of Job in the next few weeks, and in it he nails the crux of another problem I have with resolutions: how to reconcile the fact that it is God who is making the changes in us with our efforts or promises or resolutions. That’s something I’ve wrestled with nearly all of my Christian life. It’s God who does the work of change in us, yet He requires our cooperation. He doesn’t run roughshod over our will in salvation or in sanctification. But what is God’s part and what is mine? And why won’t He just make me holy without requiring me to makes choices throughout the day as to whether to yield to the flesh or to the Spirit? If I were Spirit-filled, wouldn’t I just automatically do, feel, think the right things without having to make the conscious effort? Those are the kinds of things I wrestle with and I’m very excited that it looks like we’ll be going over some of those things in the coming weeks at church.

Pastor did bring up Jonathan Edwards’ resolutions, which begin with the statement “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.” There are key elements there: that our resolutions be agreeable to God’s will, and that we acknowledge that we can’t keep them on our own and need His enabling.

So…I haven’t started making any lists yet, but I’ve been mulling this over and reading with interest several posts and links people have been putting on their blogs and Facebook. Thanks to a couple of you for letting me think through some of this in your comments section. I probably should not have taken up so much space there and should have just waited til this blog post to “think through my fingers.” 🙂

I’ve also seen a number of people choosing a word or theme for the year over the last few years. I had never heard of anyone doing that before, and wasn’t inclined to myself: I knew there would probably be several words to list areas God needed to work on me about. It’s not a practice laid out in Scripture, but there is certainly nothing wrong with it if it done as led by God. I wouldn’t necessarily want others to feel they should do this just because they see others do it and make it the new spiritual fad. But the blog friends I know of who have done this aren’t approaching it faddishly but rather with much thought and prayer.

Even though I hadn’t intentionally sought out or prayed for a word for the coming year, one that keeps coming to mind is intentional. Having good intentions is a different thing from living intentionally: I need to intentionally work those intentions out into everyday life. A former pastor once said that Philippians 2:12b, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” meant first of all not to work for your salvation, but to work it out like a math problem, taking it to its logical conclusions: in other words, take those high and lofty ideals in the Bible, those rock-solid doctrines, and work them out into your everyday lives. I can see many areas in my life, both the spiritual and the practical, where I’ve been floating along for years without making any real progress. Thinking, studying, and meditating on these areas is good and necessary, but they need to translate into action. And maybe that’s where resolutions or goals come in.

Another factor I wrestle with in all this is the time it will take. In a couple of areas in particular, making changes is going to take some planning. And then, too, just the thought of schedules and such to implement some of these things makes me cringe, but that may be my lazy, resistant-to-change flesh.

I am thankful that the next verse in Philippians 2 says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” I’m seeking His help and guidance both in the willing and the doing.

If you’ve read this far, you deserve a pat on the back, so consider it done. 🙂 Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

If you’re interested, here are some of the other posts that have fueled my thinking about resolutions:

A Resolution on Resolutions. Advocates that resolution-making might better come after Easter than New Year’s Day and that “New Year’s resolutions were meant to be inspired by repentance and redemption; they were never intended to be the path to them.”

A New Year’s Plea: Plan!

Trading One Dramatic Resolution for 10,000 Little Ones

A Different Kind of New Year’s Resolution. “My daily perseverance requires embracing God’s promises, not inventing my own, which I cannot keep. There will come a time for resolutions in the conventional sense, personal goals and the shouldering of responsibility. But the law will bear crops only where grace has fertilized the soil. So, at least for the first month of this new year, my focus will be not on what I plan to do better, but what has been done perfectly for me.” (Note: theologically I’d disagree with a couple of his resolved statements).

Many of these people I have never read before, so please don’t take this as an endorsement of everything on their sites. Most were found through recommended links of people I do know.

Every day is a gift

Posted on by

Yesterday could have been one of those no-good awful very bad days.

As I was waiting on my cream of wheat to gel in the microwave, I noticed anew the sad state of a burner on the stove that had been spattered with bubbling potato soup a few days ago, and thought, “I really need to clean that up.” As I took my half-formed cream of wheat out of the microwave above the stove in order to stir it, I bumped the microwave and the cream of wheat spilled onto the burner pan in question and its neighbor, looking, honestly, like someone had thrown up on them. So I took that as a sign to clean up that burner pan now.

The next several hours were fine except that I got out the door to go visit my mother-in-law later than planned. I have to pass through three school zones to get to her place, and at the wrong times of day that can be a nightmare. Plus I like to be home when Jesse gets home. He’s capable of being home alone, but I can remember the difference in my teens between coming home when Mom was there — warmth, interest, communication — and coming home an empty house when she was working to  — lonely and desolate. This is Jesse’s last year before college, and I want his memories to be of mom being there when he gets home from school.

So on my way to Mom’s, thinking I should make it past the one school zone that lets out earlier without too much delay, suddenly traffic came to a grinding halt in both directions. As several cars made three-point turns to go back the way they had come, I inched forward. It looked like one of those big construction vehicles had stalled (it looked like a truck in front but had a large long crane-type arm on the back), and from what I could tell, had been hooked to a tow truck. Hooked because evidently it was either too big or too heavy to be on the tow truck. But the tow truck, in making a wide turn onto my road with that unwieldy beast tethered to it, had swung too wide and almost went off the slope on the other side of the road. I was almost at the last turn to Mom’s place, so I hated to turn around and try to find another route when I didn’t know the area well (and the GPS wasn’t giving me any better ideas). I kept thinking about it, but every time I was just about to, I’d see some movement with the stalled vehicles and think we were just about to get going…and then realize we weren’t. I ended up there for about 45 minutes to an hour. Thankfully with all of this study about the sovereignty of God in Job, the Lord enabled me to take it all much more patiently than I might have otherwise, but I still stewed over the waste of time for all of us involved and prayed for the situation while listening to some nice classical music on NPR and occasionally flipping through the mail I’d picked up on my way out.

Finally the vehicles blocking the road got mobile and we were all on our way. I visited Mom a while and then, on the way back, felt my blood sugar slipping a bit and decided to pull into a fast-food drive-through for a little snack. But the line wasn’t moving. The guy parked where orders were placed looked like he was having a conversation rather than placing an order, and no matter how much he talked, he wasn’t going anywhere. I assume he was talking to someone in his truck while waiting for someone to take his order. Finally I decided to forget it and head home for a snack, saving money and calories and any more waiting time.

And then I got stopped in backed-up traffic again, this time for a passing train.

I finally got home, a little rattled, harried, and hungry, glad I had an hour or two to unwind before dinner and wouldn’t have to wait in line again for the rest of the day.

Elisabeth Elliot has a devotional I can’t find just now about how even little things that don’t seem to have a major purpose can be taken as the Lord’s will for the moment, and Amy Carmichael has written about God’s grace for disconcerting “little things.” I thought, “Well, Lord, I don’t know what purpose you had in all of that. But thank you for helping me not to get as frustrated as I could have.”

Later in the evening I was sorting through coupons, flyers, catalogs and such while watching The Biggest Loser. I decided to clean out the file folder of restaurant coupons and discovered in it an envelope my mom had sent some time before she died containing several pages from a desk calendar that she thought I’d find interesting. I had glanced at them before but I am sorry to say I had never gotten around to reading them, and I felt bad that she had taken the time and care to send them to me and I had neglected them.

I kept the envelope out and went through it this morning. The desk calendar was evidently a compilation of different Chicken Soup for the Soul books. One particular story was about a lady whose daughter was in the children’s ward of a hospital after surgery and who made friends with a bright cheerful six-year-old boy named Adam receiving chemotherapy for leukemia. One rainy, gloomy day, this woman remarked on what a depressing day it was, and Adam answered, “Every day is beautiful for me.”

Wow. Every day is a gift. For a middle-aged lady stuck in traffic as much as for a six-year-old leukemia patient.

Assorted thoughts on the anniversary of 9/11

Posted on by

  • “Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew. “ –  President George W. Bush, December 11, 2001
  • “For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” Isaiah 25:4
  • I don’t know how one defends against a plane flying at you. I believe in a strong military, but “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.” Proverbs 21:31.
  • Those who saw 9/11 only as an act of judgment and thought they knew whose sin “caused” it need to remember Luke 13:1-5: “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
  • I’m grateful people turn to God in an hour of need: I just wish they realized they need Him every hour.

Rambles…

Posted on by

I don’t know if anyone reads this type of post, but I’m just rambling about what’s going on in our lives lately…

Last weekend we spent a few days at our old house in SC to get it ready to put on the market. We hadn’t put it on the market yet because the market was so sluggish we felt we’d lose money on it and because about half a dozen houses were up for sale on our street (which might make a potential buyer wonder what’s wrong with the area). Jim’s company has been helping with the old house payments as part of his relocation package, but that’s coming to an end before long, so we need to get the ball rolling. If we can’t sell it in a reasonable time frame, we’ll look into renting it. Jim already looked into a leasing company, which would help since we’re in another state, but I’d really rather be out from under the responsibility completely.

Jim took off a few days and went down on Thursday; Jesse and I went after school got out on Friday. I don’t think I had been back to the house since Jeremy moved a year ago. Jason and Mittu did some work on it while they lived there, and Jim and Jesse took a few excursions over the summer to paint and do minor repairs. So it was good to see those.I certainly don’t miss those stairs, though.

My main order of business was cleaning: mopping all the rooms that didn’t have carpet, wiping out cabinets, dusting windowsills, vacuuming, cleaning up the stove and counters, making runs to W-Mart, etc. It looks a lot better, but it’s discouraging, because the more you do the more you see needs to be done, but at some point you just run out of time and energy. But we got it to the place where the realtor could take decent pictures.

We also took everything we had left in the attic (Jim and Jesse, actually, did that) and a heap of things Jason and Mittu had left and sorted through what to keep, trash, or donate. I finally let go of a number of toys I had held on to for grandkids some day. Funny how I had more of a hard time letting go of some of the toys than the kids did. But I tried to look at it realistically. When mine were little, my mother-in-law kept a box of toys for the kids to play with at her house, and they were all old, faded, labels torn off, etc., and the kids just weren’t motivated to play with them even though they “worked.” So I tried to look at things through that lens, and it wasn’t necessarily easier to let them go emotionally, but it did help me to be more practical.

I also had one box of the kids’ work from our four years of home schooling and a couple from elementary school years. It was fun to sort through those. Though there is a part of me that wants to hang on to all of that, I decided not to keep rote stuff like spelling tests and math exercises and workbook sheets, but rather just the things that showed some of their personality and creativity. I’m looking forward to going through the papers I kept more carefully.

Jesse got to go for a few hours to a youth activity our old church was having. He tries to touch base with friends whenever we’re there, and he missed a couple he really wanted to see, but I’m glad he got to do that, at least.

While Jim was there alone he just slept at the house — we have one couch and love seat still there. But when Jesse and I came down we all stayed at a hotel. Jim went back to the house early Sat. morning to get started, while Jesse and I finished getting ready and packed up. I had two dresses on hangers in the closet and laid them on the end of the bed so I’d be sure to see them — and somehow I missed them, even though I took another pass through the room to make sure we had everything. 🙄 I drive myself crazy with double and triple checking things, and still miss or forget things. Sigh. Thankfully the hotel found them and sent them to us, though it cost about the price of one of the dresses to do so!

We ended up getting back here about 11 p.m. Saturday night, exhausted. I had thought we might stay for the Sunday morning service at our old church, but Jim wanted to get back. I was dragging through Sunday, and though I don’t usually like to get meals out for Sunday dinner, I asked if we could this time. We brought home Papa Murphy’s pizza. I did get a good nap in the afternoon.

Our Labor Day was just a low key day. Jim and Jesse unloaded some of the stuff we brought back, cleaned out the cars, I did laundry and such, Jim and I took a nap in the afternoon. We had some much needed rain — no thunderstorms or heavy pouring, just gentle steady rain that was very pleasant to fall asleep to.

I’m still working on the best way to schedule my time since school started back, mainly struggling with where to fit the exercise in. I like to do it before showering, but during the school year I usually shower first thing. So I’ve been trying different things — still haven’t found an ideal situation, but I’m still keeping up with it. I don’t want to lose what ability I’ve worked up to, even though some days I exercise through gritted teeth because I don’t want to do it. But usually by the time I’m done I’m glad I did.

That’s probably way more than enough rambling for one day!

Praying for all in Irene’s path

Posted on by

As most of you know, my oldest son is in RI, and this will be the first time he has weathered something like this on his own away from home. For many even beyond the hurricane’s direct impact there are possible heavy rains, winds, and resulting power outages.

Praying for all in Irene’s path tonight and tomorrow.

Update:  Jeremy lost power and Internet this morning and it is still off — don’t know if they have an estimate yet about when it will be back on. They had some heavy winds and intermittent rain, but as far as I know at this point no major problems in his area. His work is dependent on both electricity and Internet, so I don’t know if he knows yet whether power is on there. Thanks for your prayers! It seems like the main thing I’ve been hearing about Irene is that it is not as bad as it could have been. But if you’ve ever lived within an area even on the fringes of a hurricane or tropical storm, you know it can still cause problems. Praying those without power get it back soon.

Update: Jeremy did get his power back later Sunday night. He went to a friend’s for the evening and said there were some fallen branches, but otherwise things were fine in his area. Thanks for praying! I’ve seen some new coverage even Tuesday morning of those still without power and with flooding — I’ve been praying for them and will continue.

Happy Birthday to me!

Posted on by

I’ve posted this for New Year’s Day before, but it is appropriate for a birthday, too, I think:

O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed in Thy presence,
in Thy service, to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,
sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
to supply every thought,
speak in every word,
direct every step,
prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire
to show forth Thy praise;
testify Thy love,
advance Thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with Thee, O Father as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning,
my ear open to Thy calls,
my heart full of love,
my soul free.

Give me Thy grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear by my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.

From The Valley of Vision

A year in Tennessee

Posted on by

Last weekend marked our first year in Tennessee, so I thought I’d jot a few observations.

I love the hills that can be seen from almost any vantage point and the mountains seen in some places. I don’t think I have ever lived in a completely flat area, but this is the hilliest. That means, though, that very few pieces of property are completely flat, at least from what I have seen, and it’s interesting to watch people try to cut their grass at an angle. 🙂

(Photo courtesy of bean-stock.)

After we had been here a while I was jolted to realize this is the first time I have lived in a state without a coastline. Even though we didn’t get to the coast often in other states where we lived, I still missed having one. But for a landlocked state, TN has a lot of rivers, lakes, and creeks.

I thought it would be cooler and less humid here than in SC since we’re further north, but there doesn’t seem to be much difference.

I’m not a football fan and orange is my least favorite color, and here I am right in the middle of University of TN fandom. 🙂 So I don’t voice my lack of love for football or orange, not because people would assault me, but just out of respect. I do think it is neat how the whole area rallies around its team.

Our small town does much the same with the high school team. Where we lived previously, the powers that be closed down the small community high school and built a mega-school away from the main part of town, but here the high school is on the main street of town, and if you try to drive down that way on a game night, you have to watch out for people streaming over to the stadium. I like that even though I don’t go to the games.

We live outside of Knoxville proper, and I don’t think this happens there so much, but in our area I’ve been astounded at the number of men who do all manner of errands all over town without shirts on.

I love my house. I like its compactness and the way it is arranged. I’m still working on getting a few things up on walls and getting the sewing/craft room arranged.

I’m still getting used to driving longer distances to most everything except Jesse’s school.

Knoxville does seem more manageable, though, than some cities. When we lived outside of Atlanta, I was a nervous wreck if I had to drive into the city at all. It may just be the GPS that makes me feel more secure, but I don’t think getting lost in Knoxville would be quite the nightmare it would in some cities.

We enjoy our church a lot, but I still feel like I am getting to know people and I maybe don’t feel quite as settled and thoroughly at home, but that takes time — we were in our previous church twelve years, so I am not going to have that degree of settledness after just one year here. But it’s coming along.

The changes within our own family have been the hardest things to deal with, going from everyone being at home or close by to being scattered, but Skype and iPod Face Time help take the sting out of separation. The one thing that gives me the most pangs is Jesse’s transitions to a new school and the fact that he won’t graduate with the class he grew up with in SC. But he has adjusted well and made friends in his school and youth group, and there are great people at both.

Though transitions and change are hard, overall it has been a good year, and we like where we are.

Randomness

Posted on by

I have a couple of topics in mind to blog about, but this morning after I spent time responding to comments and e-mails, there wasn’t much time left, so please forgive this random listing. 🙂

I’m trying to be better about responding to people. With most of you with whom I visit back and forth regularly, I don’t necessarily respond to every comment unless there is something specific that needs a response because we do touch base often. But with someone new I do like to visit their blog or send them an e-mail and thank them for stopping by.

Last night I was preparing a stir-fry with chicken, shrimp, and fried rice (and a few stray vegetables). Suddenly I realized that what I had just liberally doused dinner with was Worcestershire sauce rather than soy sauce. The only thing I knew to do was get the soy sauce and douse it even more liberally, hoping it would cover up the Worcestershire sauce taste. I decided not to tell my family and just see if they noticed anything: I figured if I told them the mistake ahead of time, they’d approach it with an “Ewww!” attitude. It must not have been too bad because almost everyone had seconds. Jim did ask me if it was from a mix. 🙂 After they were pretty much done, I told them about it. It did have more of a tang than stir-fry usually does, but it wasn’t horrible. I’m just glad it wasn’t completely ruined.

I wonder if Curtis Stone ever has moments like that. Somehow I doubt it.

In other news….Jesse got a car. A truck, actually. My oldest son says we’ve “gone native” Tennessean. But we’re ok as long as he doesn’t drive it without a shirt — I don’t know how many men I have seen driving trucks without shirts on without their shirts on driving a truck. Weird.

Jeremy is coming to visit next month! 😀

School starts in a couple of weeks. This will be the last year of high school for my last child. Sniff, sniff. 😦

I am definitely ready for cooler weather.

I am not sure how I am going to get exercise in, though. I like to do it before my shower, because, of course, I get sweaty. But with the usual routine I get up at 5 to have devotions, shower, dress, get ready for the day, etc., before school starts. I definitely don’t want to get up any earlier. I suppose I could do the exercise before the shower and have devotions later in the morning. But I do like to have them first before my mind starts going multiple directions. Of course, once Jesse starts driving himself (still working ion getting his full license) I won’t necessarily have to be ready for the day when he leaves school, though I’d like to be in case something’s wrong with a car and I need to run him to school. I’ll figure it out eventually.

Speaking of exercise, I’ve tweaked my routine in a way that is working out better. I had been doing 40 minutes, but on the Biggest Loser Kinect game, sometimes a 40 minute routine ended up being two 20-minute routines repeated. I didn’t like that, particularly if a given routine had a lot of unfavorite exercises anyway. So I cut it back to 30 minutes, and most days I do an additional 10-20 minutes with one of the other videos or games I mentioned or on this game’s “Freeplay” section. That’s working out pretty well. I’m just about to raise the intensity from “Light” to “Moderate.” I’ve been choosing “Moderate” for the Freeplay exercises, and that’s been going ok.

I’ve been disappointed that the weight loss has not been greater. I’ve only lost 8 1/2 lbs. in 7 weeks. But I am getting stronger and increasing stamina. I’m able to do exercises that I couldn’t or could only barely do in the beginning. One day I did the Wimp Aerobics video: a couple of years ago when I was trying to use it, with its segments A-H, I never got past E. This time I did the whole video easily without feeling tired or winded at all. So all this exercise is accomplishing something. Just not the main thing I want it to yet! I have been cutting down in a couple of areas, but I probably need to start keeping track of calories. I just hate to do that because it is so tedious, but it does help.

Well, time to stop rambling and get to the list of things to do. Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Tell me why I should get an iProduct.

Posted on by

Ipod? Ipad? Iphone? What do you use? What do you like and dislike?

What prompted me to ask is that I have a birthday coming up and I was thinking of asking for an iPod so that I could listen to music, podcasts, and audiobooks wherever I am. But it is an expensive device to have just for that one purpose, and I do have radios and CD players in most rooms of the house. I know there is an ap for almost anything one could think of — so what else do you use your iPod for?

One son thinks I should get an iPad. I could definitely see it better (important at my stage of life), but then easy portability is lost since it is so much bigger. I couldn’t tuck it into purse or pocket.

Does an iPhone do everything an iPod does? Maybe it would be best to just get an upgrade to my phone.

I await your experiential opinions. 🙂

My experience with video and gaming workouts

Posted on by

A while back when I mentioned using the Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout for the Kinect, Carrie asked me what I thought of it, so I thought I’d answer in a blog post and expand it to include other electronic workout systems I’ve tried.

The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout for the Kinect begins with a body scan and a series of questions. There is a fitness test as well, and they recommend a fitness program or you can “do your own thing” and choose exercises you want to do. If you go with one of their programs, it tracks your progress. You can select light intensity, moderate, hard, etc. (they suggest an intensity based on your fitness test), how many times a week you want to work out, and how long you want your sessions to be, and which trainer you want. I started with a light intensity and 20 minutes a day six days a week.

Then each day when you log on, you just go to “Today’s Activities” for your workout of the day as well as choosing a diet or lifestyle task for the day (like eating part of an apple instead of a sugary snack or going for a 30-minute walk.)

I tried to take a few pictures of the screen during one workout:

That blue figure in the lower right hand corner is me — taking a picture instead of exercising. 🙂 The Kinect, if you’re not familiar with it, can “see” you, and that is the image it sees. It’s almost like a silhouette but more 3-D-ish. It does help in that you can see if you are positioning yourself like the trainer. It turns blue between exercises, green if you’re doing the exercise right, red if you’re doing it wrong, and a muddy color if you’re somewhere in-between.

The figure in the upper left corner gives you an idea where you are in the workout. I love seeing it get to the end! 🙂

They always have a random character in the back doing the exercises as well, and you can change its hair, eye color, shirt color, etc., to look like you if you’d like.

I apologize that this picture isn’t centered, but I was having trouble with balance in general at the moment. 🙂 I’ve mentioned before that my balance is not good since having transverse myelitis, and my foot is propped up on the couch behind me there, but Virtual Bob said that was okay. 🙂 But what I wanted to show in this picture were the bars above me, the ends of which also turn red or green depending on whether you’re doing the exercise correctly. Then at the bottom it shows how many calories you’re supposedly burning and how many repetitions you’ve done (on exercises that have repetitions: on something like this where you just hold position, the little blue bars go across the bottom til time is up.)

I didn’t think to have someone video the workout, but of course someone else did theirs and put it in Youtube:

Thought it was funny when his little character was eating pizza instead of exercising.

It also has a weigh-in once a week. It doesn’t have a way to weigh you in, so you have to get your weight some other way and then enter it. Also everything you do — how well you work out, your weight loss, your “lifestyle” tasks, etc. — all go into a “score.” I don’t pay much attention to that — I’m just happy if it keeps going up. They do have “challenges” like the show does once a week, but it is kind of silly — they just have you do certain exercises that propel your character toward whatever it is supposed to be accomplishing in the challenge. They also simulate the show’s weigh-in and eliminations, and yes, I was up for elimination the second week when I gained .9 lbs.! But I have lost every week since then.

So what do I think about it? Well, you definitely get a good workout. The whole first week I was achy and felt like I had the flu, even with just 20 minutes at light intensity. That went away after a while, but I do work up a good sweat every time. There is one setting that is such a high intensity you’re warned not to try it unless you are already in good shape, so I think any level could get an adequate workout. I like the silhouette and the fact that I don’t have to hold the controller. I have definitely developed more strength, stamina, and flexibility over the weeks I have used it — and lost 7 lbs. so far. (I’m not dieting per se yet — I know I need to work on that but I hate the tediousness of counting calories or grams or whatever. At this point I’m just cutting way back on sweets and trying to make general better choices in what I eat. I know when I do adjust my diet more the weight loss will increase, but I am pleased that just exercise and cutting back sweets has resulted in a 7 lb. loss so far.) They seem to use some of the same exercises a lot, but they do vary others, and just when I am on the verge of getting bored, they throw in a new one.

The down sides? Entering information is a little tedious. Since the Kinect doesn’t have a controller, you use your hand. To enter anything you have to hold your hand in the right position, and to enter information, like the weight you’ve gained or lost, you have to hold up or down arrows until it gets to the right place. It’s very hard to get that exact, because even when I am holding my hand still, onscreen it appears to move a bit.

Because of balance issues and bad knees, I can’t quite do every exercise they bring up, so I wish you could skip or eliminate some, but I haven’t seen that as an option (in the prescribed fitness program. If you’re just choosing random exercises to do, of course you can skip the ones you can’t do as well) . I do a modified version, so I know I am still moving and burning calories, but then you get the little red screen and silhouette saying you’re not doing it right, which is not really a big deal but it bugs me. On the other hand, some exercises that I couldn’t do at first I am able to do now for short periods, so I am sure that is one reason they don’t let you “skip” — we’d tend to just do the easier ones and then not really be challenged or strengthened.

I haven’t tried this game for the Wii, but it looks pretty similar except for showing your silhouette and having to have the controller on you. I haven’t watched the whole video here, but it looks like a higher intensity than what I use (I assume you can set the intensity for the Wii as well as the Kinect). Some of the catch phrases and tips are even the same as the Kinect:

I have tried Wii Fit, and you can get a good workout there as well, but they have a lot of emphasis on balance, which I don’t do well on. Wii Fit also weighs you with their balance board so you don’t have to go and do that separately. The more you do with the Wii, the more it unlocks new exercises, and that keeps it from getting boring.

It’s funny that though I detest boxing as a sport, I feel the most worked out on both the Kinect and Wii Fit with the boxing exercises.

I’ve also used the Biggest Loser Power Walk DVD and really enjoy it. It’s divided into 4 15-minute segments in which they take you through a number of steps that are supposed to equal a mile, and they add different types of steps, arm movements, even light weights (I used canned foods 🙂 ) to add variety and intensity. Though it is not the full-fledged workout of these video games, it does get your heart rate going. It doesn’t take long til you feel like you have everything they say memorized, and I am thinking of turning their sound off and listening to my own music or maybe even an audio book while working.

I’ve also had on my shelf for a while but just opened a DVD of the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jump Start. I haven’t looked at the bigger segments of it since I had already started with the Kinect, but they also have 10 minutes workouts for upper body, lower body, and cardio and they’re easily doable yet they do put you through good paces as well.

What I like about both DVDs is that they use previous contestants, and they don’t always get things just right — you’ll see one of them look for a minute at the trainer and then take a few steps before they get the rhythm right, or adjust their clothes, etc., and the fact that they’re not perfect makes you feel more comfortable than the video game characters. Plus they always give modified versions of what they’re doing if you can’t keep up or don’t have the equipment they do.

I’ve also years ago used several videos set to classical music by a teacher from my alma mater, Linda Haught, and I was just wishing they had been converted to DVDs — and I just found that many of them have been. In the video version, you start with the warm-up, then work as far as you want (she listed suggested stopping places depending on whether you were a beginner, etc.), then fast forward to the cool down: I am sure that process would be much easier with the DVD. The one I used most was “Wimp Aerobics,” which at the time was not as professionally done as her others, but was great for low impact workouts (her parents were her back-up exercisers.)

Really any of these will give you some exercise, with the convenience of being right there at home without having to take the time to go to a gym and pay their fees. I love the Kinect game and I think it does give me the best workout of all of these, but we already had a Kinect system — I don’t think I’d spend money to get the X-box and Kinect (they work together) just to get this game. But I think there are Biggest Loser games for just about any current video gaming system. And of course, there are other fitness games besides Biggest Loser ones — I just tend to gravitate towards them because I watch the show and know the name, so I have some idea of their background.

When I found I could handle the 20 minute workouts pretty well, I tried to up the intensity to 30 minutes. But when the next workout seemed to go on and on and on, I discovered I had set it to 40 minutes instead — twice as much as I was used to! The first day at 40 minutes seemed extremely long, but I was able to do it. Previously I had been doing 20 minutes with the Kinect game and then 15 with the Power Walk DVD, but when I started doing 40 minute workouts (and actually they go 43-48 minutes), I stopped the DVD. But sometimes the 40 minute workouts cycle through the same exercises, which gets boring. So I think I am going to go back to 30 minute workouts and then add either 15 minutes of the Power Walk DVD or one of the ten-minute segments from the 30 Day DVD. I’ve been working out with the Kinect 5 days a week, but I may go to three or four and then use something else on the other days just for variety.

So, that’s my regimen for now. This is the first time in a long time I’ve exercised regularly. To me the convenience of being able to do it from home helps: I would be much less motivated if I had to go somewhere else, but for some people that is more motivating than working from home. I am struggling with adding 40-50 minutes of exercise into my schedule, but I have become convinced that I need to do this, so I am trying to adjust getting everything else done around it.

On a side note, I’ve always used Bob as  trainer with the Kinect game, but once my son chose Jillian and did things wrong deliberately just to see if she’d yell at him, but she didn’t. 🙂 They do alternately compliment or “get after” you depending on how well you’re doing.

And there you have my experience. Have you tried any of these? What works for you?