The treadmill died.  Just a few days into my revolution, too.  We’re going to try a part and see if that fixes it.  *hoping it works*  I’m determined that this will not keep me from getting my 2 miles in per day - it will not.  It may have to be a million jumping jacks or marching in place… but I’m going to do it.   So take that, Murphy!

We got Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas (just the game, not the whole works).  We already had GH3 and Rock Band.  GHWT has Michael Jackson’s Beat It - that was my deja vu moment.  Thriller, MTV and all that.  Before MJ got totally weird.  Anyway, I was doing vocals for Beat It and decided to sing some of Weird Al’s Eat It instead.  My boys were like, “WHAT?”  Eat It works just fine, by the way.   I think instead of the game saying “You Rock” after completing a song on GHWT, it should say, “Y’all Rock” but they didn’t ask me.

Also, I’m trying to decide if I should be concerned that I can do vocals for Paranoid by Black Sabbath flawlessly on Rock Band.  Hmmmm.

Revolution is defined as:

The act of revolving, or turning round on an axis or a center; the motion of a body round a fixed point or line; rotation; as, the revolution of a wheel, of a top, of the earth on its axis, etc.

Also:

A total or radical change; as, a revolution in one’s circumstances or way of living.

I’ve never been much for resolutions, so perhaps I need a revolution, a radical change.  However, I know myself well enough to realize that I can’t just change everything at once and expect to keep it up.  So I have a goal to change one thing at a time.

My first goal is to walk 2 miles per day, every day.  I did 2.15 miles today on the treadmill.  Watching video on my iPod helped pass the time - I have a lot of X-Files episodes left to watch.

I have plenty of other changes I need to make but I’m going to try baby steps, like Bill Murray in What About Bob?  It worked for our finances, maybe it’ll work for something else, too.

In the end, it will be a revolution - the question is, will it be a radical change, or just turning around and being right where I started?

“mom, why are you crying?” my five year old asked.  it was this story that did it.  a nearby private school gave encouragement to a state correctional school’s football team this year.  it gave me a lift in my spirit, too.

i have been looking for it all day!  well, it’s the ornament of the empire state building.  i’m undecorating… and i’m anal about putting the ornaments back in their original boxes/packaging… which makes for a very boring day.  i have a group of ornaments from our nyc/ct/boston trip in ‘02 and i need the empire state building to complete the group so i can pack them up.  it’s got to be somewhere!

today my second son is 13, so we have 2 teens in the house now.  he is the best christmas gift ever!

23 years ago i married my best friend.  we celebrated after church by going to dinner at chili’s - all 6 of us.  chocolate shakes all around - yum!

also, my brilliant (and very patient) husband figured out how to get dvd on my ipod and then told me how to do it.  it does take more than 3 steps but it’s a lot cheaper than buying a mac. as long as i don’t lose the index cards i wrote the instructions on, i’m good!  lol!

when my son got his license, they gave him this poorly photocopied slip:

it was already highlighted this way - he was getting his provisional license.  the part that i found humorous was the source, also highlighted.  dallas morning news research.  for some reason, it seems the texas department of public safety should have their own source without having to use the dmn, dontcha think?  whatever!

i was meeting a dear friend and her husband for coffee over the weekend and santa was right there in the ihop, going table to table.  when he got to our table, he asked me if i’d been good or bad.  i told him i’d been bad.  he seemed shocked by my answer.  instead of giving me one of the candy canes in his hand, he dug in his sack and pulled out a piece of coal for me.  my friends said that they had been good, very good.  they both received candy canes.

even though i am saved by grace through faith, i know i am still wretched and undeserving here in the flesh.  i still sin regularly.   if not in my actions, then my thoughts.

santa, i believed in you when i was a kid.  then i found out you weren’t real.  i know now who’s really watching if i’ve been naughty or nice.  i found out he still loves me, even though i am a sinner.  and this season, i focus on a tiny baby born in bethlehem, a baby born to die, so that i might live.

so santa, while i have fond memories of watching for your sleigh flying across the dallas skyline all those years ago, i’ll just take my coal and lay it at the foot of the cross.  he loves me.  no matter what.  i am thankful.

it looks like it is not directly supported.  i may have to buy some software to convert my dvd’s to a format playable on the ipod.  bummer!  i bought the entire collection of x-files and think it would be cool to watch them on the ipod… but it’s going to make my brain hurt to figure it out.  i googled and got confused, partly due to a sinus headache but mostly due to terminology way over my head.  i need something that says:  step 1) put dvd in your computer’s dvd drive, step 2) push start and dvd’s will be automatically converted and put in itunes.  is this too much to ask?  maybe i can do that for a price!

on the upside, i have put a bunch of music on there with no trouble.  my inlaws got me an itunes gift card, yay.  i haven’t figured out how to use it yet, but i will.  i need to figure out what i want to buy with it first!